Gren was about to trigger the targets when he heard Skyra arrive. Today was getting better and better; he hardly had to go on a wild goose chase after these two! ”Hey Skyra! Yeah, I got your weapons ready, just like ya wanted them.” Gren reached behind him and took out two pair of swords. They were a bit longer than Skyra’s old blades and golden. Along with them Gren had a quiver with arrows, both steel tipped and dust infused. ”I balanced these blades to your specification. Light and sturdy, with an edge that could cut through flesh and bone. And, of course…”

Holding the blades together at the tips, he hooked the blades together and stretched them apart. A metal wire connected the two blades and Gren then attached the two swords by the hilt. Suddenly the two swords became one bow blade. He did a small flourish just to show how smooth and swift the weapon is even in his hands. After showing it off he transformed the bow back into two blades, handing it and the quiver to Skyra. ”I’m not much of an archer myself, but hopefully you’ll like them! The quiver has twenty regular steel tipped arrows, five fire dust, five ice dust, and five electrical dust arrows. I’m sure there are others dust combos too, but ha ha ha… I’m broke.”

Gren may have gotten overzealous about helping and upgrading everyone’s gear pro bono. Between his own projects, working on Sangue’s arm, and the titanite exploration, Gren has been spending much more than his business brought in. If he was more prudent with his money he could be back to his previous levels, but right now he was quite into the red. But no sense in letting Skyra feel guilty about that. ”Anyways, let’s get some practice in. I got a target range set up for ya, head on over to range two.” As he said that he pushed the button for Emerald’s targets. Suddenly hundreds of targets, small and large, rushed out from their hidden panels. If Gren remembered correctly, Emerald specialized in crowd-control and large groups of enemies. So he sent a bunch of targets for her to deal with.

For Skyra the targets were different. There were less but much faster, requiring more precision rather than area of effect. That being said how exactly the two girls intended to deal with their targets were entirely up to them. He’ll just keep making sure they have something to shoot until they run out of ammo or he runs out of targets.

@Abillioncats@PyroDash888

As Emerald's mom gave Diamond a once over, she could see recognition drawing on her face. "Yeah, that would be me. It is very nice to meet you!" Diamond greeted, her eyes ticking back and forth between Ivy's eyes and the offered cookie. That had to be a trap, Diamodn was sure of it. No one ever gave her something for free, all gifts come with strings attached. It smells heaaaavenly though! "Thank you!" she mumbled before taking the sweet.

"I'm actually on my way to find Emmy, if you would like to join me?" she asked one cookie later. Her face fell into a grimace shortly after. "No, we're not. Emerald suffered some cuts she'll have scars to prove, and for a short while ishe was poisoned. Fortunately we had a teacher on hand with knowledge of how to counter it quickly. Other than the scars she should make a full recovery with no lasting effect, but... It's not the bodies I am worried about. She isn't sleeping well, I hope you can help her, because I am at my wits' end. To top it all off, now I have to tell her our team leader got arrested." she sighed.

"Well, shall we?" she asked, her arm hinting the direction.

@ABillionCats

@Lucius Cypher@PyroDash888



The targets swarmed all around, grouped up and moving together as Emerald got into a battle stance. Without much hesitation she opened fire into the larger groups, firing a few shotgun blasts. The shotguns more or less functioned the same as her old weapons, the only real difference was the weight of them, the increased weight was noticeably affecting her aim, so she adjusted accordingly. Once she was satisfied with that she pushed the mechanism in her gauntlets, cause the parts inside to click the they switched. She grinned excitedly, this was the part she really wanted to test. She fired a single rocket out of each gauntlet, which each destroyed a large amount of targets when they exploded.

The explosions were loud and big, but nothing compared to the massive explosion her aura cannon could create. Emerald wouldn't complain though, as amazing as her aura cannon had been, it's biggest drawback was it's one time use, and how vulnerable it made her when it completely drained her aura, her injuries were proof of that.

Now with the rockets, she could have six loaded in each gauntlet, giving her twelve explosives she could use during a fight. Plus they didn't such her aura dry, that was a big plus.

She ended up going trigger happy and using all her rockets, there were a lot of destroyed and burning targets in her wake. She giggled as she turned to look at Gren. "I don't think I need to test the other prototype, I like these!"

-----------
@Kaithas@Forsythe

Ivy knew Emerald's injuries had been serious, but hearing more about them from one of her teammates first hand made her heart stop. Now she really wanted to find her daughter, she gave Diamond a sincere nod. "Yes, I'll join you, I'm afraid me and Andrew would get lost, considering this is our first time here...oh!" She turned to look at her husband, who was getting reacquainted with an old friend by from what she had overheard with her sensitive ears. "Honey!" She called, grabbing his attention as he turned to look. "I'm going to look for Emerald with her teammate here, we'll give you a call when we find her."

"Alright, I won't be long!" Andrew replied, giving his wife a quick wave before turning back to Wisteria and the other man. Wisteria had resorted to laughing nervously and a couple 'maybes', it was pretty obvious to the seasoned huntsman that she clearly recognized him, but for now Andrew refrained from letting her know that he knew that. "I'd have to agree, appearance alone wouldn't be enough to be sure..." Ms. Desree, Wisteria, after overhearing her name, Andrew knew it was without a doubt her. "...of course Wisteria is a really hard name to forget, how long has it been? Over twenty years?" She wouldn't be able to deny it now, unless she wanted to pretend her name wasn't Wisteria.

Diamond noticed the drop in Ivy's mood. She could only imagine how horribly she must have felt reading those letters and records. She decided there and then that none of her children were ever allowed anywhere near a hunting academy. She lost plenty people and she doubted Cobalt was the last, there was no need to add one's own family to it. Giving Ivy an encouraging pat on the back, she put on her bast bullshitting smile: "Come on, he will be fine. I'm sure seeing you will make her forget all about the bad stuff, she has an attention span like that."

"Now, where would she be hiding..." she grumbled for herself, fishing her scroll and firing up the socializing app Emerald roped her into. If one needed to find her, that was the place to look, as Emmy liked to post just about anything on there, from what she ate to how she thrown paper planes in class. "ah! She'd be at the range, something about... Rockets?" Diamond raised her eyebrows, smelling danger in the cocktail composed of Emerald Felicia and rockets. She shot a message to Oswald in case he wanted to join them later.

"Right this way!" the ex-thief told the elder faunus and lead the way.

As they approached the range, frantic explosions could be heard from good distance away. When the racket subsided, Diamond cleared her throat to draw attention: "Hey, Kitten! Someone wants to see you!"

@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@Abillioncats

Apophis wondered if he should laugh at the last comment Amaranth made about her name, but he realized that would just be him laughing for no reason.

Her ruffling her hair almost prompted him to do the same. He had some long-ass hair that only had its length hidden with the numerous things he tied it with. Sometimes, a good shake caused some random item to drop out of the ponytail he had.

He knew he needed a haircut someday. He just never liked paying attention to his hair, though.

Then there was Sangue's self-proclaimed best friend, which Apophis wondered if that was something to be proud of, immediately dropping a Fuck Bomb as soon as it was her turn to speak. Good impressions. The way she was struggling to lift up a fucking shield was the greatest way to assure him that Sangue was in safe hands.

...Eh. Maybe the shield was 10000000x heavier than it looked.

As if the girl squirming and trying to get the shield up wasn't obnoxious, she literally fired a single shotgun round straight into Apophis' ears with her intense scream when some woman strode in.If she was just a bit louder, she could have shattered his eardrums.

He figured out the next technique he should use against anyone who pisses him off.

Screaming. Really loudly. Lauren loudly. That sounded right.

Well, she was happy, that was for certain.

Judging by Lauren’s extreme reaction and the intelligible and thoughtful words she used, Costa was her mom.

She had a damn good body for a mom and sure knew how to show it off. Turning away from everyone for a brief moment, Apophis made sure his stitches were still on before turning his gaze to the others again.

“Apophis,” the ex-manhunter greeted simply, leaving almost everything important about him aside to make himself less significant. “I’m, uh…”

Glancing at Sangue, who seemed to silent admire how pretty Costa was, he lazily pointed at her as he grumbled, “I… know her well, I guess. Not really a guardian but I just hang around.”

---

Sangue approached Costa silently, looking up to her with an idle expression. Yet, something about her movement made her out to be more timid than usual.

It was probably because the woman was Lauren’s mom. Her parent.

“Hel…lo,” she spoke. “I… am… Sangue Naga…”

She bowed politely as she looked up to Costa.

"...It's... ni...ce to meet... you..."

@HereComesTheSnow

Gratia Mindaro - Beacon Cafeteria (Monday, Early Morning ~6-7am)

"See if a polearm is effective."

It fulfilled the criteria that Luke had listed. The length provided by those weapons would solve his issues with reach, and also serve as a force multiplier for the harder hits that he sought. If he was so worried about being short and slow, then Gratia was certain something in that vein would be perfectly fitting. And unless he wished to upgrade it into something more, it wasn't likely to be a difficult weapon to familiarise himself with in a rapid amount of time; the idiocy required to fail in that regard was far greater than any possessed by the other teenager.

"Let's hope you do take to it more naturally than my supposedly extreme eating habits."

Even though her tone was as measured as usual, there was a certain pointedness to her words.

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, The Breakfast Club

H-Huh?

What did she mean by that? Nobody said anything about excess, had we? She kept her same cool vibe, but her word choice said otherwise. That tone was still the usual frigidity we all knew and loved, but...

No, there was something else there. Something that came all the way out of left field. What a dangerous thing to deal with when it was expressing itself through an acid tongue...

I tried to rectify my mistake at once. After all, misunderstandings were probably the least optimal outcome of this conversation.

"Calm down, it was just an example. Liking things isn't extreme."

It really wasn't supposed to be a dig at her, and there was no way in hell I was dumb and blind enough to be calling her fat.

I would need a lot more than a polearm to keep myself alive if that were the case. I lived with three inhumanly powerful women. Or, one woman and two girls.

Insensitivity about weight was something I had just about literally beaten out of me by the age of 15.

"A polearm... I have had a little staff training, so I probably wouldn't make a complete fool of myself."

Anything was better than Nunchaku. Maybe as a more developed and refined adult, things would be different, but I remembered whacking myself on the head far too many times to ever really consider relying upon them.

If it's on a chain or cord, no thanks. I'm too clumsy.

Ah, youth...

"It would be fairly versatile, that's for sure. You have any experience with them, or have you always been zoned into the sword and gun?"

I may as well have asked. If she suggested one because she knew something about them beyond the simple knowledge of "well yeah it's long and deadlier than a punch" that just about any game could give you.

@HereComesTheSnow

Gratia Mindaro - Beacon Cafeteria (Monday, Early Morning ~6-7am)

"It isn't," she said, her words final.

Her enjoyment of confectionaries aside, it looked as if her half-arsed suggestion had attracted more questioning from Luke Schwarz. At least he, unlike so many of those aggravatingly irksome fools in the unwashed masses, seemed willing to actively better himself for more power rather than throw about pathetically empty declarations of intent, which was a slight notch in her estimations of him. What elaborate answers he expected from someone who used a fucking sword, she had no goddamned clue about, and why he expected her to give him hints at breakfast was even beyond her mental faculties. It was fortunate for Schwarz then, that she wasn't averse today to sparing some time on him with her non-zero familiarity with staff weapons. It wasn't like there was any other shit for her to do until they arrived, and she certainly wasn't going to fucking greet them after sweating out in a training session.

"I've made use of one before," replied Gratia Mindaro impassively, her stoic words succinct and to-the-point. "My sister does so as well, when necessary."

If one were to stretch the definition of what constituted a "polearm" or "staff", the weapon Galla at times called upon could technically fall within its realm. The fact that few people could use one was entirely irrelevant to her; as long as it could be swung around like a fucking staff, then no shit it counted as one. Otherwise, she would've wasted all that fucking time on reading and practicing the techniques in that cunt's shitstained books, but the skills fit well enough, so it was a fucking staff.

Whether Luke Schwarz would see it in that way was another question. Her onyx eyes, flatly focused upon the boy's face, refrained from flicking over towards his cowlick. Their frequent encounters with one another since transferring in had allowed her to conclude that he was prone to exaggerated reactions, which was very much assistive in her observations of his stupid ass hair. The emotions he displayed upon his malleable face could possibly be connected to the motions of the cowlick with little difficulty, which was fucking great for her hypothesis. The assumption that it was representative of his emotional state was still the one with the strongest amount of evidence backing it, and the accumulation of more for her data set would allow for solid confirmation of the strands' actions. It had to move for a fucking reason, and all her observations would allow her to prove it without any doubt.

And by refraining from elaborating specifically on what her sister's "staff" was exactly, she could induce 'surprise' in Luke Schwarz, possibly bringing about motion in those strands of hair. The Mistralese teenager had yet to properly test that emotion, but given that they were in a situation with few other variables that could interfere with her test, there was little better time than the present to do so. It would provide essential data, and if it was lacking, she could repeat the test in a better environment.

@Plank Sinatra @Kaithas @NarayanK

Ohhh I'm going to suffer for this.

But, Ben mused to himself as he watched Lauren struggle to lift his new shield, it was kinda worth it. This was funnier than anything else he'd seen over the weekend. She was really trying. Like, he was almost thinking of telling her to chill before she hurt herself trying. He would've, if he wasn't putting so much work into not laughing. Lauren was pissed. Joyous Guard was always going to be a great prank, before he got around to getting it to recognize her, but this was beautiful.

He made a mental note to borrow the battery from Lawnslot later. It’d been in her care long enough to get an Aura signature off of, and it wouldn't take too much to add her to the shield’s whitelist.

Not that he was ever, ever gonna tell her about how that was the technical term. Some battles you don’t fight.

He was just about to tell her to relax when a woman that had to be her mother showed up. The family resemblance was way too strong for her not to be, even though calling her Lauren’s mom seemed impossible. Costa, she said her name was, really didn't seem that old. But she was definitely a Negasi. You could see the prototype Lauren in the way she moved and carried herself. Lauren was thrilled, something Ben honestly hadn’t seen before. She was always pumped up but not like this.

Bastille’s captain couldn't hide a grin and a quick, quiet laugh anymore. He walked back to his shield and scooped it up with one hand to put it back on his back; then he walked towards Lauren and her mom, pausing halfway between them and his team with a little wave.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Negasi. I'm Ben.”

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, The Breakfast Club

"Y-Yeah."

So it seemed like her consumption of sweets was a sore point...

Well, learn something new every day, right? Still, that wasn't exactly something I'd have expected out of her. Being honest, I wouldn't have expected many sore points at all outside of "Napoli's existence" and "anything that harms Bianca", but I guess that's what I got for thinking I could perfectly read a person after knowing them for a week or two.

Granted, those couple of weeks felt like an eternity, so maybe my whole perception of time is screwy in general. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd lost track of everything.

Well, never mind that.

"Ah, so you both are familiar with polearms, then? That's pretty helpful. I'm sure I can't exactly bug your sister about it, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to pick your brain about how to use them some time."

My plate was now clean. Good breakfast all around, and one that provided the brain with the necessary energy to start working at full capacity again.

Which included remembering just who exactly I was talking to.

"Not that I'm asking you to teach me, I mean. That'd take up too much time, and it's a lot to request of anyone— more along the lines of some pointers, or sort of 'cross-referencing' every so often to make sure I've got everything straight."

I couldn't imagine her being too happy about the idea having to stack weaponry tutelage on top of being my math cheatsheet. Even as a friend, it'd feel way too much like just using her, which wasn't my idea of a good time.

Wait, that didn't sound right at all.

"You know, before I burn bad habits into my muscle memory."

...

Sometimes, everything just clicked, and the cosmos made sense for an instant. That was pretty much the feeling Amy got when she saw Lauren hugging her mother. Family resemblances weren't always obvious, but this one was--in a flattering, good way. Costa showed Lauren at an older, more mature phase in life. Still sparky, still with the same impeccable fashion sense, but a little more controlled.

It also did occur to her that this was going to be a long day of saying her name over and over. "I'm Amaranth... Errr, Amy Desire," she said, smiling slightly and walking up to Ben's right side, waving as she did. Couldn't exactly expect Costa to extend a hand in greeting when her daughter was currently consuming her attention. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Negasi." There was another pause, as the l sound on the front of 'Lauren' formed before she shifted, guessing she should use the woman's daughter's real name around her. "Lorena missed you." She smirked, finishing with the obvious.

@HereComesTheSnow

Gratia Mindaro - Beacon Cafeteria (Monday, Early Morning ~6-7am)

The dark-haired huntress' onyx gaze, flat and impassive as even the hardiest of stones, didn't move a single inch from Luke's face, as if she was studying him in some manner. Something seemed to stir in her eyes, a faint trace of motion that was gone as soon as it had arrived; it appeared as if that Gratia was at least willing to seriously consider the boy's request, even though it was for something more than simply providing assistance in mathematics.

"An actual teacher won't let you fuck up like that," she said finally, crossing her arms. "Your habits better be free of bullshit when I'm giving pointers."

If the boy wanted to rapidly familiarise himself with a new weapon, then her simply giving advice would do almost jackshit to actually help. He needed far more resources than simply her observations, and without an actual teacher who could impart their polearm knowledge upon him, he would be consigned to pathetically flail about on his own until the Festival dawned upon them. The biannual competition was one that the Mistralese girl was rather intent on participating in; to face the supposed 'best' of the other Academies in battle was an enticing prospect. A chance to crush anybody who crossed her path.

If Schwarz too sought to fight, then he would need to take advantage of everything he could in order to improve.

"And if they aren't, I will burn them out for you."

How better to improve than in a fight?

Lauren had been wearing a grin with all the earnest glee of a puppy as she latched onto her mother, but now she appeared struck dumb. The use of her full name by Amy had changed her face, turned away from her team and staring directly into her mother's enormous green eyes; she wore the chagrined look of a girl whose panties had all been replaced overnight with folded up pop quizzes and subpoenas.

The look was born and killed on her face in a hummingbird's heartbeat, snuffing out under the weight of her enormous grin like a dead ember.

"This is my team, Mama!" she introduced excitedly, letting go of her mother and bouncing backwards to join her team. One arm gripped Sangue's prosthetic tightly around the shoulder in a one-armed hug, and Lauren kissed the girl's cheek with gust. Her free hand flourished, producing the bowing Sangue as though she were the eight wonder of the world. "This is Sangue! She's, like, the cutest girl ever, she's like if I had a little sister that you left in the forest and she kinda sun-bleached or something...but she's, like, super nice and we just swore a blood oath of sisterhood last night! Desire, too!"

She cocked her head towards the ex-stripper. Costa Negasi's eyes fell on Amy briefly, examining the girl - and, no doubt, the illustrious and unique leather jacket she was wearing over her bare body - with a faint note of defensive skepticism.

"Am's a little surly and she's always got a migraine, but we love her anyway! She can twerk almost as well as me, you should see Ben's face when--" Lauren continued, enthused.

"I see."

"Oh, fuck! Right!"

Clearly she'd been building to this, despite her best attempt at pretending she'd forgotten the lone boy on the team. Lauren left Sangue's side and quite literally leaped onto Ben's back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a full Nelson and snaring her legs around his waist. Her tight clothes - or, rather, Ben's clothes - strained, and the unbuttoned collar of her new burgundy henley was downright abyssal as she leaned over her captain's shoulder to beam at her mom.

"This is Ben! He's, like, my best friend on the whole planet - ever! I mean it!" she insisted, although her mother had clearly not said anything to the contrary and was now looking at Ben with a mix of amusement and understanding; it was an expression that conveyed sympathy with an amount of finesse Lauren quite possibly would never possess, but nonetheless the same note of protectiveness that she had while looking at Amy had positively calcified as she looked at Ben.

"He practically ate me out in front of the entire combat class, and I broke his neck with my thighs!" exclaimed the organic ebony backpack currently clinging to a mortified Ben. "Ever since then, we've been mwwwwwwwwwwwwwah! Inseparable! He reads books, he's responsible, makes me eat vegetables, and his Semblance gives him a humongous dick that can turn to tungsten and skullfuck giant monsters!"

...

Unfazed, Costa gave the whole team a wide, lush smile.

"Well, that sounds very practical," she joked with a wry politeness, one corner of her grin quirking up in a familiar show of amusement. "It's an honor to meet you all, team...?"

"Bas-fucking-stille!"

"Basfuckingstille," she finished smoothly. "Thank you for keeping a careful eye on my daughter. I know she can be quite the little gremlin when around the people she loves."

"Nuh uuuuuuh. If I was a gremlin then none of them would be able to get me so wemmmphrlgrglgrgl!"

The rest of her bawdy joke had been muffled by Ben's shoulder.

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, Breakfast Club

...

I've made a terrible mistake, haven't I?

That was what I had been thinking then. Of course, given that I had just engineered a situation in which an aura-eating berserker would be involved with combat in the slightest, it'd have been hard to come to any other real conclusion. She was already a hard enough taskmaster when it came to intellectual pursuits, but now that combat was in the mix...

I wasn't too optimistic that these would remain simple, casual rounds of drilling or advisory.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will and then some..."

More like rounds upon rounds of adversary.

"I guess I'll dig around for one, then..." I lamented, hoping to not too openly show fear in front of her. "I can certainly ask Bianca for help with using the pointy, spear-y end of it, so that's a place to start."

And here I had just gotten used to not treating her as a wild animal, too. Forget making progress, I felt like I had actually regressed here! I can't become a friend to someone who scares me half the time!

Honestly.

Demanding teachers was one thing. In fact, I was very much experienced with them. It was why I was fine with having her lecture me through integrations without as much as a flinch, for instance. But that same Gratia, being as demonstrably vicious as she was in a fight...

Would she be able to tone it back enough for me to learn?

"......."

This wasn't actually my first time asking this question, was it?

No, no it definitely wasn't. I asked the same thing at least once before. Six months ago, in fact.

I asked it about April, when I first realized I would have to train with and under her at the Summit of Fists. How did that turn out, again?

Well...

---

"Hey Dawn?"

"Hai?"

"Make sure you have your strings ready whenever we see nii-chan."

The youngest Schwarz cocked her pretty little head in a manner not dissimilar to an inquisitive dog.

"What for?"

"Feel like I need to punch him for some reason."

"Ah."

She straightened back up with a smile.

"Sure thing!"

"Thanks, sis."

---

"I'll be sure to mind my P's and Q's when that time comes, then."

I'm not gonna die. Maybe get beat up, but not die or even get sent to the hospital. I'm a champion at getting beaten up and coming back from it.

That was what I told myself once and was telling myself again, and it had been working so far to be fair.

So why would I worry about fighting an aura-eating berserker when I had my semblance and natural grit to back me up?

...

Wait a minute

@Plank Sinatra @Kaithas @NarayanK

Even after a relatively short time, you build up a tolerance for Lauren’s antics. You had to, or you'd go crazy trying to keep up. Dealing with Lauren was something Ben could do. Dealing with Lauren in front of her Mom, who had already sized Amy up before she turned her sights on Ben, put him in uncharted waters. She had to know how her daughter was, but she didn't know him; so as much as Lauren’s rambling amused him, and made him smile hearing the esteem she held him in, her Mom’s first impression of him probably shouldn't be out of her daughter’s mouth.

Thaaaat’s enough.

His best friend's bawdyiest joke was cut off by his shoulder, mostly because it went up when he twisted his arm up and around to ruffle her hair.

Now for a little damage control, before she makes people think I'm… Don't even have a word.

“She is a bit of a gremlin,” He admitted, still ruffling her hair. It was really, really apparent that those clothes were hers now. They weren't going to fit anyone else. Not something to think about right now, not in this context. ”But she's a good teammate. Better friend.”

“Don't know if she told you, but she joined the team after we lost a member. Showed up right before combat class. She did snap my neck, I try not to hold it against her, but the rest isn't quite that inappropriate.” He gave Costa a smile, stepping forward (now that her hands were free) with Lauren still on his back to offer her a hand to shake. ”But we wouldn't trade back for the world. She's been really helpful, especially on our mission, and she's fun as hell.”

“Probably not news to you, but you've got a hell of a daughter ma’am. Glad she's my friend.”

Apophis gladly remained silent as he looked around the Armory, naturally taking an interest to the presence of metal all around him. He was a bit of a collector, so it was only natural for him to at least pay some attention to the place- even if it wasn’t some kind of legendary forge that rose from the underworld or something. Although he remained near the others, he let his mind wander about, his hollow eye taking in the details of the academy’s Armory.

Sangue, on the other hand, remained quiet. When Lauren wrapped an arm around her, the red-haired girl made no attempt to break free. She rather enjoyed Lauren’s warmth, and out of everyone in BASL, Lauren easily had the highest body temperature. It made her feel fuzzy inside. And safe. A weak blush appeared on her cheeks due to the heat she felt.

She didn’t know what it meant to be “sun-bleached,” but it must have been a harmless thing if Lauren described her like that.

She blinked without much thought when Lauren pecked her cheek, glancing at Lauren, and then at her pretty mom.

The snake noticed how Costa seemed a lot calmer than Lauren, who was practically bursting with energy and joy. But despite their differences, Sangue could tell that the family loved each other well. It was nice to see.

As she glanced at Ben, who explained how Lauren fit right into the team to Costa, Sangue looked back at Lauren’s mother with her idle expression still unchanging. The faint blush that had appeared earlier had yet to vanish.

Meanwhile, Apophis wondered if he should just start eating before he lost the food he brought.

@Krayzikk@Kaithas@Plank Sinatra

@HereComesTheSnow

Gratia Mindaro - Beacon Cafeteria (Monday, Early Morning ~6-7am)

The cowlick was drooping. Despite the reserved manner in which Luke was attempting to act in, it was immediately clear to the Mistralese girl that her response had instilled in him enough emotional stimulus for his hair to move, if her hypothesis continued to hold true. The question was what exactly that movement represented. Hesitation? Fear? Despair? The underlying suggestion of a spar was already beginning to bear fruit for her research; if assisting him in his training would provide her with more evidence, then there was little reason for her not to. She was already fucking helping him with his schoolwork; doing the same for his combat skills for some reasonable gain was perfectly acceptable.

"The staff aspect would be something Nuit could also cover to some extent," she said, eyes glancing down from the strands of hair to meet Luke's grey orbs. "But you should work quickly to find a suitable polearm. You don't have time to fuck around on that."

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, Breakfast Club

"Yeah, that's true. Best case scenario is me having until the end of week before I need something again..."

I steepled my hands, a small part of me wishing for a pair of orange glasses and white gloves, and racked my brain.

Quite a few images flashed to mind. Even without my remedial education on hunting and weaponry, I would have always been able and likely willing to come up with at least five variants of weapons like this. They showed up in games all the time, and while I'm no historian or enthusiast by any means, I had already learned a thing or two about the potential options provided to me by the general category of "polearms".

Halberds.

Glaives.

According to some, Bardiches and other such greataxes.

Even a Naginata wasn't out of the question, but...

The thing was, a lot of my studying the types of Grimm under Tanner's careful tutelage had been done under the assumption that I would either be landing blows with blunt force or piercing straight through with the head of a drill. I wasn't so delusional as to believe I could get by without ever knowing where I would need to, say, cut or chop at something, but with the time I have until the next sortie being measurable in days...

I needed as smooth a transition as possible.

That narrowed it down a good bit.

"Something that offers sheer blunt trauma as well as enough puncturing power to penetrate thick skulls and tough armor... A weapon I won't need to switch targets all too much for, in other words."

I looked back up to her.

"That sounds like a Lucerne Hammer to me."

@HereComesTheSnow

Gratia Mindaro - A Brain, an Athlete, a Basket Case, a Princess, and a Criminal

"Lucky for you that my familiarity with polearms focuses on blunt trauma."

That would make it far simpler for her to tailor her advice towards Luke's specialities. Her younger sister's "weapon" essentially did little more than crush the fuck out of anything in its path, and while its weight wasn't concentrated specifically at the end, she could at least apply vaguely similar principles to the use of a hammer. However, that was something she would deal with later, once Schwarz actually found himself a Lucerne Hammer and a teacher willing to train him in the basics. Now that her breakfast had been completed, she would need to rendezvous with her family.

They had likely already arrived, and she needed to find them.

Haven had not been too far from her home, but the distance between Beacon and the world where she had grown up in was far vaster, separated by the gulf that was the blue sea. Her chances of meeting them were scarce, and thus she refused to waste her time away from their presence. The fact that Ozpin was willing to pay for every student's family to visit was a fucking godsend, and she was grateful for the powerful man's decisions.

"I need to go meet up with my family," she said in her usual impassive tone as she rose to her feet, chair sliding back quietly as she reached her full height. "Work on finding a Lucerne Hammer or build one as soon as possible."

@Crimmy@HereComesTheSnow



With a clear agreement between everyone Cian let out a small sigh as she started to head towards a better location somewhere private between them so she quickly knocked out the normal shooting range. Plus they only asked to see it not actually for her to use her weapon. With that in mind it was a relatively quick trip to one of the training fields that littered the school. Sure it wasn't the best but in case they did ask for a demonstration it was a quick show since they were on a training field. "So what exactly is it you need just a look at a weapon or more of it in action?" Cian asked as she slung off the strap of Byakko carrying the silver briefcase in her hands her finger slowly making its way to change it to its basic form.


Tristan let out a small sigh as he looked around the area a empty training field one of the many that dotted the campus of Beacon. Somewhere both safe to show the weapons but should be private enough that it wouldn't bother anyone else seems like Cian knew what she was doing after all. Still time to show his weapon huh well if anything shouldn't be to hard to just reveal the weapon and if needed a few movements dealing with said weapon.