@Plank Sinatra@Silvan Haven@Write@Crimmy

--

Vega Venetia - Team VGNB - Dorm

Vega realized that both her teammate’s parents were here… and some other hunter named Jericho as she glanced at him for a second.
“Oh it’s no big deal…Ms. Gracious is doing fine.” And motioning to Beryl mom “It is wonderful to meet you as well.”

Vega then noticed Bianca besides her, "Hey, looks like we got some visitors to our dorm."

Vega to everyone, “Please come inside” motioning them to enter in as she made eye contact with Jericho, “Hi.” She nodded at him with a half-smile. Who are you?

Vega did not expect her teammates parents and some other dude with Beryl come in. It was quite abrupt and Vega was not looking suitable considering she took a nap with her Haven uniform on. Not that she cared as of right now.

Mindaro Mondays - A-Side

The sight of a girl in a ruffled Haven uniform meant only one thing: the team leader of Gratia's team. They may have not have met the girl, but it was clearly the same person who their daughter acknowledged as being in charge of Vignoble: Vega Venetia.

Down to the weird dressing habits. It looked to them that this Vega girl had been sleeping in her modified uniform instead of pyjamas.

"Gratia isn't being a bother for you is she?" asked Severa, although her tone had a strange note of curiosity (towards the clothes). Next to her, her husband was whispering to Jericho that giving knives to cute girls wasn't the right way of doing things.

“JEEEEEEEEEEEER.”

"Haha, c'est super to see you too kid," said Valentinian immediately with a warm smile, reaching out to ruffle Bianca's hair in greeting. "You've been holding up fine?"

There was a note of concern in his tone as his voice softened. Gratia had vaguely mentioned the tribulations the "birdbrain" had gone through in a message, and the Mindaros could not help but feel worried about their daughter's friend.

"Feel free to contact us if you need anything," added his wife with a light nod. "We're always willing to assist, okay?"

Vega was inviting them all in, however, and it was probably for the better if they carried the conversation into the dorm. And then they could see Gratia's room!

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz

With a wide smile, I took her hand and shook it firmly. As expected, it was a dainty little thing that you wouldn't ever believe belonged to a grown woman with the ability to murder you in over 700 ways, but her grip was just as firm as mine. All in all, it was a good shake.

Okay, then all that was left was to make things official, right?

"I suppose I've got catching up to do at the library... Oh, Sense-- Er, Ms. Cirsium, sorry... What's the period and room number?"

Close call, there.

If I was going to show up for class, I needed to know where and when I was supposed to be learning, after all.

It'd have been a horrendous start if I was late, or something. I'd done enough of that in high school, and after trying in earnest to become a properly academic-minded, driven and diligent student over the course of six months, I didn't want to blow it all away now...

I mean, if the going got tough the going got tough. I'm not a man who runs away from hardship any more.

I owed it to my mother, my sisters, my sleazy uncle, and everyone else who had helped me along the way.

And most of all, I owed it to...

“Of course.” I replied warmly to Gratia’s parents. “Don’t worry, I’m taking care of myself.” I glanced in Jericho’s direction, opening my mouth to start on him. But, he had company and knowing him he’d make himself run to Atlas and back if he screwed this up. I looked back in the Severa and Valentinian with a slow nod.

“I should be off, Stella is waiting.”. I curtseyed once more and bowed my head before beginning to make my way past the group. As I passed Jericho I just gave him a small smile. “It’s good to see you again.” I said avoiding him any humiliation and moving past him.

I slid my headphones back onto my ears, and hummed along as I took a few steps outside. It was definitely starting to get colder. Nothing I couldn’t handle, of course. But still – I had always preferred summer and spring vastly to fall and winter. Though the fashion options did extend a fair amount, in which case a case could be made in my heart as to why fall is the superior mid-season over spring.

On my way to the armory I made sure to snag a cinnamon bun from the cafe taking a huge bite into it. That was certainly a bonus in the cold weather. Warm food was all that much better.

Finding the armory in no time at all I gently tugged open the door and was met with Luke and someone I didn’t quite recognize. I quickly shut the door behind me sneaking in as Luke shook her hand. She seemed to be about 23-25? I was never a good judge of age, but she definitely seemed older than Estelle. Meaning she was probably a teacher or a parent.

“Nice to meet you ma’am, my name is Bianca Nuit, a pleasure.” I said, remaining on my best behavior. Who knows, it could be his mother after all.

@Plank Sinatra@Write@Crimmy@Ayazi

Beacon Academy-Vignoble Dorm-Beryl Harken

Jericho's protest just earned him an amused smile from the otter Faunus. Then, continuing in her self appointed duties as hostess, she led the way into the dorm. It wouldn't do to clog up the hall after all.

Lasai followed her in, crossing her arms as her eyes scanned the room like high powered radar. She may not have been around as much as a mother should be but hordes of Grim wouldn't keep her from acting the part whenever possible.

The room was as clean as could be expected of a quartet of teenagers expecting a parental inspection. It wasn't hard in Beryl's case. A few weeks wasn't enough time to accumulate much more than she had brought with her. There were a couple romance novels on the stand by her bed. Labels on the spines indicating that they belonged to the school library. Aside from that and a personal pillow there wasn't a whole lot of personality to the young Huntress's section of the room.

Beryl fidgeted nervously as her adoptive mother peered about the room. It went on for quite a bit longer than it needed to in her opinion.

"Alright. I'll give you a pass." Lasai finally said. She took a few steps a plopped down on Beryl's bed, leaning back and supporting her weight with one hand. "I was kind of expecting an ocean of blue junk to come spilling out when the door opened."

Mindaro Mondays - A-Side

Gratia's side of the room was, despite the lurid and terrifying imaginings of Jericho's Atlesian-addled mind, not something that one could have found within the pages of the Necronomicon. The reality was quite the opposite; the elder Mindaro daughter, in the time that she had been present at Beacon, had managed to accumulate a number of items that suggested a certain normalcy to her non-hunting lifestyle.

Her pale bed was as sparse as one would expect, differing little from those of her teammates, but the 'stretched-out' nature of her blankets suggested that she was very much taking advantage of the larger sleeping accommodations (relative to her tiny bed back in Mistral, which Galla had already stolen). An electric guitar, not plugged in, sat on a stand next to the bed, and a folder of music sheets could be found sitting on the wooden chair next to it, awaiting the next practice session. Behind it was a small, wooden bookshelf, upon which rested many well-worn textbooks, the D&D 4th Edition Player's Handbook, a Dungeon Master's Guide, a number of scientific journals (mostly focusing on the field of Aura), Saga of the Swamp Thing Vol. 1, and what appeared to be a straw-haired voodoo doll, its purpose unknown.

Sitting on the desk next to her bed was a framed photo of the two Mindaro parents, a few ballpoint pens, a few short novels and a shopping list that was seemingly made up of cooking ingredients. There were several bound notebooks present as well, with one incredibly bizarre-looking one having the title "UNLOCKING AURA IN FLORA - F.M." sitting on top of an old-fashioned CD player. Her bag sat on the ground next to the desk. A grey cardigan hung off the back of the desk chair, likely a piece of clothing that Gratia had thought of wearing before deciding on staying with her traditional coat.

"She's certainly made herself at home" said Severa happily as she scanned the room. "And my, this dorm is bigger than I thought it would be!"

"No wonder Gratia's stuff's everywhere," agreed Valentinian, moving around. "It's almost half the size of notre maison!"

---

Mindaro Mondays - B-Side

It's fucking genetic? What the hell is wrong with this family?

Scientifically speaking, it was a curious thing, watching Lauren's demeanor shift so fluidly. For a girl who seemed so perennially cheerful and easy-going, it was clear that Ben's reaction had touched on several nerves - and perhaps, possibly, even wounded her.

There was certainly a look of surprise on her face; after all, Ben had never rebuked her before, and she wasn't doing anything to him that she wouldn't have done in front of Amy or Sangue, or even just to tease him when they were alone. But it was clear that Ben was trying to appease Costa Negasi - who knew Lauren best out of all those assembled, and was, if her look was anything to go by, almost expecting this - in throwing his best friend under the bus.

Lauren's enormous emerald eyes had gone somewhat glassy, the spark lost as Ben wrapped himself around her and prevented her from getting grabby again. When he squeezed her shoulders, no doubt trying to play it off, the spark returned as an inferno. The glare Lauren gave Ben had a clear message.

F i n e. I won't be gentle next time.

"Yeah," she said casually, "let's go see Pops, gang."

Her mother's smile was unreadable.



The sound of his name being shrieked by a voice - that voice - had nearly made him throw a knife on impulse.

Regardless, for the sake of those present, Jericho decided it would be best not to try and violently detach himself from Bianca Nuit's clutches for now. He slipped both of his knives into his chest holsters at Valentinian's suggestion - even though impressing any of the menagerie of girls around him was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment - and followed Beryl's lead into the room, instantly taking its measure as the Mindaros chattered.

Certainly doesn't look like anything esoteric's going on...

His gaze fell upon Grat's electric guitar, and he stopped on his path towards the dorm's large window to stare at it for a second. From what he knew of Gratia the music lover, it probably shouldn't have been so surprising that she knew how to play something. Maybe it was just the idea of her enjoying doing something that felt so alien.

Then again...

His gaze drifted towards the Mindaro parents, taking the measure of their daughter's room with an innocent glee that made something in his normally-iron stomach twinge.

"And my, this dorm is bigger than I thought it would be!"

"No wonder Gratia's stuff's everywhere. It's almost half the size of notre maison!"

His gloved hand clenched so hard that, were it not for the material that made up Judgment, he might have made his palm bleed.

This isn't a third of the size of a Gold Stripes flat...

How goddamn poor were they?

And if they got her this guitar setup before she came here...?

Something unfamiliar in his chest ached for a second. They seemed like good people. Fate was cruel to give them the shaft like that...yet each of them found joy in the smallest of things, were filled with empathy to the point where it became as much of a flaw as having no empathy, and seemed to keep their heads up about their crappy circumstances.

Their humanity was staggering. Especially to a non-human like Jer. He swallowed.

"Cool room," he heard himself agreeing distractedly, before he even gave himself permission to speak out. "Nice guitar, too. This was my second one."

@HereComesTheSnow@Write

Teàrlag Cirsium - Armoury

Oi brat, you were going to say 'sensei', weren't you? Don't think I didn't hear those syllables coming outta your gob. I don't think this is the right place for you to be letting your power level infect you, you know? Not that I know what a power level is or anything, but if you starting throwing out nonstandard nomenclature in your day to day life, people are just going to start judging you. That's just how they are, forming opinions on others based on the most superficial of actions and shunning anything that doesn't properly conform to society's norms. That's why everyone wears a façade, a persona based on what they think is acceptable, so that they don't have to worry about who they truly are being hurt by the uncaring words or criticising stares of the majority.

It sounds so shallow, but it's the world we gotta deal with. Every bugger in society's the same, hiding their genuine selves behind a mask.

And when you show something that this vapid world of ours considers incorrect, it'll get crushed like an empty can of cola under a hydraulic press.

"It's sixth period in I707," I say, letting go of his hand. The room's not a real bonnie sight, but it does a real solid for lectures. Brats always complain to me about how little leg space they get when they're sitting down, so I ended up grabbing the place that doesn't cramp them up. Bit of a pointless problem to have tried to fix, but I personally know how annoying those chairs can be too (source: Shade Academy's horrible budget). If the brats work better and get me a better reputation with happier legs, then I'll go to that effort.

Not because I sympathise or anything.

"Hope to see you prepared for the first class," is what I add. I'll need to officially shunt his name into the records later, but that doesn't mean he can bolt off and start slacking. Even if the lad knows some of the basics already, he'd be a right daft bugger if he didn't try and get some pre-reading done. I'm not going to let these kids futer their time away, you know?

Especially not with that girl with the giant sweater that just came in!

Wait, ma'am? This brat's actually managed to not mistake me for a student? I mean it's not like I'm happy about this or anything but that's a real surprise, you know? When you can count the number of times this stuff happens on one bloody hand, you start taking what you can get. Might be a bit small, but after being irritatingly judged by others based on how I look, having somebody who doesn't just think their surface impression's entirely correct is a pretty big breath of fresh air.

Polite lass.

So what brought her here?

"Teàrlag Cirsium," I reply, turning my eyes onto her. It's a real big bugger of a sweater. "I'm the student counselor and Dust Apps teacher."

@Write@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz

I saw her look.

Aah, she definitely noticed. I was hoping I'd not spoken clearly enough, but my Mother's training had unfortunately succeeded far beyond allowing for that. I was to speak clearly and with confidence in my words, even if they were expressing a lack thereof. The rare times my hurried and harried preparation for Combat Academy shone through, it made life a little harder by broadcasting my own inherent strangeness.

Thanks, O Momma...

Well, no use crying about the past now. Best to just put the slip-up behind me as she had, and focus on the future trials. Plugging the class and requisite number (Sayonara, Language-san), I regarded the teacher with a wry, self-deprecating grin.

"I definitely will be, I've made that mistake too many times befo--"

“Nice to meet you ma’am, my name is Bianca Nuit, a pleasure.”

"Eh--"

I turned with a start.

"When did you get here?!"

I hadn't heard her walk in at all! If the wings were her owl-inherent trait as a faunus, did their providing silent flight come with them?!

What a fearsome natural ability! Forget Hunting, you should take up Ninjutsu!

Sighing, I shook it off and raised a hand in greeting. Good lord, you scared me.

"Nearly made me jump out of my skin... Morning, Bianca. How're you holding up?"

Vega observed the parents as they checked out her dorm. She could notice how Lasai was a bit sterner with Beryl by hearing her tone of voice. Gratia parents, Severa and Valentinian seemed shocked about the room size. For her it was downgrade this dorm for it was way smaller than her room back at her estate.

Vega moving besides Gratia parents, “Oh yes, its home alright though I wish I could go back home. I miss my old bed. And Gratia really did get comfortable with the room.”

Vega side of her room differed from her compatriots. Besides her messy bed, the sheets were of high quality along with the pillows. Near her table was a bookshelf containing several books ranging from the sciences to the humanities. Tucked near the side of the bookshelf were two musical cases containing her Alto Saxophone and Guitar. Her table was orderly and clean. On it were a stack of textbooks for her classes. Pens, pencils and markers were standing on a holder. Then there was a desktop pc, humming for it was still on except for the screen. Her scroll lay near the keyboard.

But, near the holders were two framed photos. The first one was larger than the second one. It bear an insignia Venetia, a large family photo set just outside of what was a large estate with several formal looking people. Vega was there, it was not hard to spot her since she was wearing her Haven uniform without her smart glasses. She was on the upper left with her older sister, both who looked solemnly pensive.

The second photo was more dated in quality. It was another family photo but only with her sister and parents. Her father stood with a confident smile and latched behind his back was Vega as a child smiling brightly with her mother standing over her older sister with her hands on her shoulders in the environment of a garden.

"It seems that our little soirée here has reached its end." Cian said as she noticed how things was wrapping up. "So with that said and done younger sisters of Luke is there anything else you need?" She decided to ask despite what happened they were after all originally here to see her weapon. Her byakko was a unique weapon or so she liked to think but than again she was a bit biased on that account since no matter what for her Byakko was always the best in terms of weaponry.

"Come now Cian it dont be hasty to leave from these fine people." Tristan said with a smirk she may have not said anything but the fact he and Jack was teasing her was getting to her. In a sense she was starting to crack and become flustered. A bit more and perhaps she would break? Now that was a idea one worthy to experiment on perhaps. "So Cian is the reason you want to leave is to meet a mysterious boyfriend perhaps or perhaps a lover that I your dearest brother know nothing about?" Tristan said a chesire like smile crossing his face as he flicked the stick of the candy out of his mouth as he awaited the eventual blow up his sister figure.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Cirsium!” I said still scarfing down the last bites of my cinnamon bun. Luke turned to me with all the shock of a gazelle, wide eyes, and the whole ordeal. “I just got here now. I’m supposed to be meeting Stella here, but I think she’s running a few minutes behind schedule.” I said with a smile. "I'm holding up alright, thanks."

I tapped my foot on the ground. Things were different now, I'm not really certain as to what that meant which I suppose was part of the problem. It seemed as if I may've interrupted something, so for the time being I simply nodded at Luke with a smile and took a step back so they could continue the conversation. She pulled out her phone to fire off a few quick text messages.

Sender: Lil Miss Perfect/Bianca Nuit
Recipient: Group - Hunter in the streets, Grimm in the sheets (Gratia Mindaro, Lucas Schwarz, Beryl Harken, Jericho Piper)
Message: Hey all!! Just popping in to see if anyone is free for some coffee in about an hour. Hope everyone is having a good family day ~~

Smiling as she heard Luke's phone buzz in his pocket she opened up her messages from Estelle scanning through them briefly before firing off a message asking if she was on her way. Returning back to reality, she felt as if she was... Queazy?

---

Estelle liked to walk when it was cold out. It wasn't about getting cold, rather it was the idea that she got to get warm afterwards. She really enjoyed that. That recovery process was heartening. She felt her phone vibrate and before she managed to grab it she knew what it was. Realistically, Bianca was being impatient - what else was new. Scanning the phone her sisters name appeared, as expected next to an inordinate amount of question marks and exclamation marks was the question 'when are you coming'. She had a lot of great features, her patience just wasn't one of them.

"In all fairness, she probably got that from me." Estelle said with a brief chuckle to herself making her way to the armory. Walking through the school felt different when you worked there. It completely changed shape. It felt more like a home, which was nice but an unfamiliar feeling to be certain.

She decided that she should buy herself a drink tonight. In order to celebrate.

"Last time I got a proper drink was out at the bar-" She caught on before she managed to verbalize the thought to herself.

Lauren Negasi still had her card.

The details were blurry, but Estelle was pretty sure she exchanged her credit card in order to get her number.

"Shit." She pulled out her phone and immediately found the suspect contact.

Sender: Estellise Sidos Van Heurassein
Recipient: HBG (Hot Bar Girl)
Message: Hey. Uh, this is Stella. By any chance do you have my credit card?

I need it back.

---

Not too long after I had sent my text Estelle came strolling in looking like a model as usual.

"Hey Stella." I said giving her a quick hug as she warmly returned the favour. She looked a little pale for having been walking in the cold outside. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine. Might have to cut coffee short - I have an... Appointment, with... Someone at the school." She said glancing over at Mrs. Cirsium's direction. "Ah, sorry to intrude, My name is Estelle - I'm Bianca's sister and I'll be the new Survival teacher."

She also looked in Luke's direction with a warm smile and a nod. Ever since I had joined his team she started to appreciate him a lot more.

"Hello Luke, how've you been?"

@Suku

"Huh? Boyfriend? Cian you have a boyfriend?", he asked. With Gratia gone his attention was now back to Cian and co. He was about to head off to the Armory to look into Luke, maybe, but he'll stick around just a little longer. It seemed like teasing to him, given the kind of girl Cian is, it's not likely she does have one, but he was enjoying this a little.

"Hmmm... That might be important. If you do I'd need to make sure it doesn't affect you in a mission", he surmised. No matter what he would say though, Cian was still being put on the spot by Tristan.

@Lucius Cypher@PyroDash888@Forsythe



"Nya?" That was Emerald's response as she heard Diamond call out. Emerald slowly turned around, her jade eyes somehow growing larger as she saw who was with her teammate.

"MOM!" Emerald tossed the prototype weapons at Gren without a second thought as she beelined toward her mother. "Momomomomom!"

She practically launched into her mother like a rocket. Ivy, being used to her rather hyperactive child, caught her daughter swiftly and pulled her into a tight hug. "Mom oh my gosh when did you get here I was gonna wait for you but then I got distracted with explosive weaponry!" Ivy smiled and simply put a finger on her daughter's mouth for a moment to shush her.

Ivy chuckled, "It's alright Kitten, your father and I arrived not too long ago." Ivy's face became more stern as she looked over her daughter. Emerald was covered in plenty of bandages and quite a few scars and bruises.

"M-Mom! Don't call me that in front of my friends!" Emerald blushed and squirmed a bit in her mother's embrace as Ivy continued to look her over. Emerald noticed the concerned look on her mother's face and got nervous. "Mom I'm fine...it's not as bad as it looks."

Ivy pouted her lips, before gently touching the spot where Emerald had been stabbed. This caused Emerald to visibly flinch. "Owowow! Don't touch iiiiit..."

Ivy gave Emerald a look. "You shouldn't running around with a wound like that, much less testing weapons." The older cat Faunus shook her head. "You're just like your father, he never gives his wounds a chance to heal either." She bopped her daughter on the nose. "You take it easy the rest of the day, you hear? You don't want to reopen that wound."

Emerald pouted and squirmed. "Boooooooo..." Her attention was quickly brought to the basket of cookies that her mother revealed a moment later.

"I'll give you one of my cookies Emerald...if you promise not to do anything stressful to your body." She waved a cookie in front of her daughter.

"That...that won't work on me anymore! I'm sixteen!" Emerald protested, though her eyes began to follow the motion of the cookie. It smelled so gooooood. She suddenly reached out and snatched the cookie, looking at her Mom with a blush. "Okay...I promise."

Ivy smiled and rubbed her daughter's head.

@Ayazi@Plank Sinatra@Silvan Haven

Mindaro Mondays - A-Side

"We got it for her when she nabbed a place in Haven," said Valentinian, smiling nostalgically at the sight of all the old, well-worn textbooks. "She really was une bosseuse, so we saved up as much as possible for one."

"She kept spending all her own money on the textbooks," added his wife. "We couldn't afford to send her to combat school, so she tried to do a lot of self study."

They were clearly quite proud in all of the effort their daughter had put into becoming a huntress.

"Does Gratia still categorise her wardrobe once a week?" the Mindaro patriarch asked Vega after a second.

Sapphire and Demetra's one on one was interrupted by the sound of a pair of footsteps and oddly enough wheels. Sapphire looked up and saw Oswald in a wheelchair coming around the corner being pushed by Diamond. She was marginally glad to see him but now was a very poor time for them to be interrupting. Sapphire released her sister from the hug and pulled her shirt sleeve down to hide the scars. It was Demetra's choice to keep her suffering to herself and whether Sapphire agreed or not it was her responsibility to keep Demetra safe and that included respecting her wishes.

Oswald greeted Sapphire as they approached and Diamond marched away in annoyance leaving Oswald parked next to the sisters. During the commotion Demetra with her back to Oswald wiped her eyes as best she could hoping that he wouldn't notice she'd been crying. "Hi Oswald," Sapphire said unsure if she should extricate herself from the situation to make sure her sister was alright. Then without Diamond Sapphire wasn't sure if Oswald had the power to travel on his own and she knew Demetra wouldn't want someone in need abandoned for her sake.

Sapphire motioned towards the little girl next to her. "Meet my sister Demetra. Demetra this is Oswald. He's one of my classmates and his dorm's down the hall from ours." Sapphire turned to her but Demetra hadn't made any motion that indicated she'd noticed Oswald. She was staring down the corridor where Diamond had disappeared. "Demetra?" Sapphire asked a note of worry rarely heard in her voice.

"She's so angry." Demetra murmured still staring down the hall. "At her friends, at herself, at the world." Demetra's head turned to look at her sister slowly. "She doesn't like you much..." Demetra trailed off then suddenly she turned very abruptly her eyes locking onto Oswald. She gave him a deep penetrating look, biting her lower lip. It almost seemed she was searching for something she hoped she wouldn't find. Then her eye changed slightly, they were far away and so melancholy Sapphire wanted to hug her again. She looked like she was going to speak for a moment (or possibly burst into tears) but the moment passed, her eyes cleared and she looked like a perfectly ordinary ten year old girl again. She smiled. "It's nice to meet you Oswald, My name is Demetra."
@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

Oswald frowned as Demetra appraised Diamond. She wasn't wrong, not in the least. Diamond was, at best, displeased whenever she had to be near Sapphire. Their argument on the very first day of class showcased just how different the two were. And yet, these two dramatically different students were probably the closest thing Oswald had to friends in this place. As sad as that was, Oswald wasn't particularly concerned about making friends at Beacon.

Something about Demetra bothered him, though. Something painfully familiar, enough to send a pang of hurt through his heart. The look she gave him reminded him of Blaine. So full of pain, so full of hurt. It was probably how he looked just moments before.

"Well, you're not wrong about Diamond. She's...We've had a rough weekend, but hopefully things will be a little easier from here out." Forcing a half-hearted smile to his face, Oswald gave Demetra a polite nod. "And it's nice to meet you too, Demetra. Your sister's been a good friend for me." Chuckling a little bit, Oswald nodded at Sapphire. "So, how have you been enjoying Parents' Day so far? It's been...confusing for us so far, I guess would be the right thing to say."

@Prince of Seraphs

@Crimmy

--

[color=fff200][center]Vega Venetia[/color] - Team VGNB - Dorm[/center][/color]

Her parents were proud. After all Gratia had worked hard to become a huntress. She is a hard worker despite her attitude at times. “Well it all paid off. She’s a good teammate and a great friend.”

“Oh yes, I saw her sometimes categorizing wardrobe” as she responded to Valentinian.

@Crimmy@Write@Suku@Sho Minazuki

Luke Schwarz

"That's good..."

I did all but force her to tell me if anything was wrong from the cruise onward, so if she wasn't doing all that well, I'd figure I'd know about it by now. She knew that if I didn't and found out later she wouldn't hear the end of it. The extents of my nosiness were unrivaled within our circle of friends.

My scroll buzzed in my pocket, prompting me to check--

I looked up, and Bianca looked up from hers. She smiled.

Bianca, I'm right here. Not off in the distance.

I frowned. Shouldn't the script here be different? This calls for cheek, I have enough little sisters to understand how these things work. You giggle and smirk at me and I sigh and snark at you. That was how this went.

...Well, maybe things were just different with teammates...

The door opened, and a tall white-haired woman strode in. Normally, even though she was an undeniably attractive older woman, I wouldn't stare--

But, as her addressing me by name suggested, this wasn't a normal situation. I maintained my eye contact by wearing as flat and level an expression as possible, like a bad knock-off of Gratia.

And on the inside...

...H-Hello?

Yes, Stella-- Estelle Nuit? While I'd count myself lucky that your self-introduction reiterated everything I needed to know about you, why didn't that stop me from panicking and trying to figure out where I had seen you before? It was getting crowded in here, you know? Just up and tossing the ball into my court-- You really don't mess around, do you?

Then on the defensive and safe playstyle I'll go.

"I'm doing about as well as I can, Ma'am. Yourself?"

---

"That should be everything, but if you want to demonstrate it in action we won't turn it down, right sis?"

Knuckles cracked and storm-colored eyes shifted around, searching for a lead on where the armory was.

"Breathe, sis."

---

My scroll buzzed again.

It wasn't Bianca or the group this time...

Puzzled, I looked down.

"Ah."

I needed to thank Dawn more for having some actual concern for my well being, unlike the sister she was ratting out.

When in the face of imminent danger, a calm demeanor is a must.

I flipped it shut.

"Yeah, I should be free once we're finished up here. Sounds good."

@Suku@Sho Minazuki@HereComesTheSnow@Write

Gratia Mindaro - Campus Grounds

Is he legitimately retarded?

The quiet buzzing of her Beacon-provided Scroll, however, distracted Gratia from voicing her thoughts to the brain-addled moron(s?) standing before her. Pulling out the device from a pocket, she dispassionately brought open the messaging application with a tap of a pale finger, flicking through to the newest message. As expected, it was from Nuit; nobody else would have made use of a group chat to contact her.

Reading over the text, she decided that she would provide a response later. There was business she needed to address with the Faunus in person. Right now she needed to meet up with her parents. They must have arrived by now.

"Galla, take this, she said, handing over a notebook and a pen to her younger sister. "Record any correlation between emotional state and hair motion."

Galla, true to form, did not question the directive, merely nodding in the affirmative. With that, the elder Mindaro immediately handed a folded map (with annotations) to the more excitable-looking of Luke's sisters before walking off. As much as she wanted to make sense of his shitty hair (which appeared to, for a reason only the Lord could have fucking known, run in the family), finding her parents was a greater priority. They were likely following the directions given on the map she had sent, and if she knew them as well as she thought they did ...

They were probably already heading towards the dorm.

And being exposed to Vega Venetia.

---

Mindaro Mondays

"Then I hope you can continue to be a good leader for her," said Severa, beaming at Vega. "She doesn't have a strong tendency for making friends, so please stay by her side for us."