Monday...

Diamond grinned evilly. “In that light outfit? How very brave of you.” She seemed a little frightened at Datura’s suggestion of fighting immediately though. “What? Fight? Here? No! These halls here are haunted by the Goodwitch, terrible scare! She sees you devastating property and you’re done.” The thief looked out the window: “Good weather today, let’s go outside, the forest is great. If you don’t mind a few splinters.” she chuckled and was out the window, landing on the lawn below and shooting Datura a challenging look.

"Goodwitch? So she does still work here after all." Yes, it would probably be best to vacate the building. Of course, Datura had bigger worries than a chewing out or some vandalism charges if she caught the woman's attention.
Pushing the thought from her mind, the ex-beacon student walked over to the windowsill and looked down. Fortunately, the drop wasn't so far that either her legs or the ground could end up damaged in a worse case scenario. She climbed up onto the small ledge outside the window and jumped. The impact with the grass sent small shivers up through her feet to her body, not entirely unpleasantly. They were familiar, actually.
She turned to Diamond. "While we walk, let's agree on what finishes." She flashed a smile at the student's look. "Aura down, first blood...what do you prefer? I have experience with just about all options."

Diamond’s fingers were downright itching, hungry to sink their claws into that tender neck- Bad! she reprimanded herself, having to control herself. “Aura down, wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty face.” She grinned, not saying more until they reached one of the sand pits. The fresh air seemed to do her good, as she was already starting to calm down. She supposed she just had to get out more. Being alone in between walls led to introspection and philosophy, and that was maddening stuff.

Walking to the other end of the arena, she dropped into a guard. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Datura shrugged her jacket off, flicking it onto the grass just outside the pit. "I hope you don't mind close combat. It's all I really have the equipment for." Not entirely true, of course, but honesty had never been her policy for a good reason. It was only her opponent's underestimation of her that allowed victory in several life-or-death situations.
Wordlessly, the silver-haired fighter gave each wrist and ankle a quick flick. Small spikes, about half an inch long each, now jutted from both sets of bracers. The hidden chambers nestled in her palms and arches remained collapsed. She gave a small nod, more to herself than anything else.
"Start."
She took off, the sand seeming to rush underneath as she darted towards her target. Hesitation wasn't going to get anything done here.

“Hhahahahaha!” Diamond laughed, excited to get to the battle. As she watched Datura approach, she readied her strike. “Too bad you came upon a scumbag!” She yelled back a slip of a warning before thrusting one of her arms forward. It seemed like the entire appendage morphed into a blade and extended meters forward, the tip racing straight for Datura’s heart.

It’s useless. I can try to deny it all I want.

Murderer!

I can try to be afraid of becoming it.

Monster!

But the truth is…

Criminal!

I love the feeling. I am not anymore afraid of the

KILLER!

I embrace the killer. I welcome her. I am her.

---

This by far wasn’t the fiercest of battles Diamond ever fought, but it left her with her heart beating like none in a very long time. She lost, not badly, and she didn’t mind as she thought she would. That skimpy clothed woman was rusty, but her training was good, better than Diamond’s, and the thief was simply outlasted.

Once Diamond managed to pick herself up from the dirt she has been tossed to, she thanked the woman politely for the entertainment, and then slapped her for abandoning her own ‘daughter’ to hang around herself, pointing a finger back at the school and telling her to go fix it.

---

Diamond stood in the headmaster’s office, wondering what the summons for her were about. Sure, it might have something to do with the fact that she broke curfew - again - but why would Ozpn himself sumon her for that?

“Oh, miss Frost. I take it you have missed the evening announcement?”

“Ah….”

“Let me give you the details then. As you are no doubt aware, mr. Chideta has left the school under some unhappy circumstances. That not only leaves you with one team member short, but also without a leader. I have reviewed the reports from your missions from all of your team members, past and present, and I decided to offer you the position.” the headmaster said, with a knowing smirk on his face, offering her a folder of files.

Diamond knew she put mostly everything into her reports, and she remembered the fact that she mentioned she did not want to be a leader. But there wasn’t much choice, was there? Someone from the outside? Blasphemy. See how well that worked for Cobalt. Emerald? She loved that bundle of happy fluff as much if not more than the nex guy, but the faunus couldn’t keep her attention on one thing for more than eleven seconds. Oswald? That guy seemed like he was just looking for a glorious end half of the time, and she was not about to let him, or allow him to drag the rest of them with him to the edgy depths. She would at least care to keep them from harm’s way. Maybe to a fault, she could see choosing their well being over the success of the mission, even if the mission was protecting a kitten orphanage from being impacted by a train full of explosives.

She looked at the file, and then at the headmanster: “I know you read what I said about it. Forget all of it. I’ll do it.” she said, taking the file and looking at the files. Personnel files to be exact.

“Well, then, your first task is to select the final member of yoru team. Ther eis one student you already know, and then there is a transfe-”

“Her. I want her.” Diamond said, sliding the file of one miss Valentine across the table. So, Swansong fell apart, huh? Well, I’d take the guy’s grill, but that’s all there is appealing on him. Besides, the girl has a walking gun. Closest to a tank we can have right now, and Tank was awesome.

Ozpin looked briefly surprised at the speed of the decision, but shrugged it off. “Very well, miss Valentine will be joining you from tomorrow. I shall not keep you longer. It is clear that you intend to do thing differently, but I also expect results. If this does not work, I may be forced to disband your team and shuffle you around to fill the gaps. You have what it takes, Diamond. You just have to believe in yourself. Oh and, the shcedule has changed somewhat, so if you wish to change any of your attended periods, please drop by miss Goodwitch’s office.”

“I shall. Have a lovely evening, sir.” Diamond nodded a goodbye and went to look at the changes.

Tuesday...

“Why did I have to keep this class?” Diamond groaned as Peter Port’s voice hammered at her skull, numbing down any remnants of a will to live. And to top it all off, the only period she had with someone on her team was the last one, and even then it was just Oswald. That guy was as fun as a basket of dead puppies. Unfolding a scroll under her desk, she looked through her contacts for victims.

To: Cancerstick buddy

Hey, do you think Prof would mind if I lit one up? Head honcho told me some crazy stuff and I could use one.

And don’t even get me started on the team name...

@Awesomoman64

As he walked into the Grimm Studies class, Trad took a moment to look around the room. It had only been a few days, but for reason he felt like it had been forever since he had set foot in this room. Maybe the long mission combined with the three day weekend was throwing off his sense of time. Either way, he was actually excited to be here. Now he just needed to find an available seat, better yet, one next to a familiar face.

At first he considered sitting next to one of his old teammates as he was curious to see how they were doing, but once he saw Robert, he knew he had to sit next to him. Up until now, Robert had been a zombie. He had been broody and unresponsive all morning and at lunch he pretty much avoided everyone. Yet now here he was, smiling and chatting with two new faces like he was his old self again. Something turned his mood around and Trad wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

“Well, look who's feeling better.” Trad stated as he took a seat next to his teammate. “And just in time too. If you had kept frowning any longer it might have become permanent. See you met some new friends.” He said as he looked passed Robert and give Llyr and Cian a quick wave. “Hey there. Names Trad Oak.”

Just then Trad felt his scroll go off in his pocket. Slipping the device out he read the upset message of his smoking buddy. Of course. Just as one friend cheers up another gets down in the dumps. Balance of the universe and all that. With a sigh Trad sent a reply.

To: Bad Habit Partner

Well, we’re only in an enclosed room with 20+ people. So probably wouldn’t be the smartest.

If you need to vent go for it. Clearly we’re not doing anything too important.

@Guess Who@Suku@Rekaigan@Forsythe

”Thank you!” Despite her initial fears everyone was quite receptive. This would be her first real interaction with people outside of her family’s circle, and while she doubts anyone knows of her lineage Yue wanted to make sure that she didn’t besmirch her family’s good name. Taking a seat among the others Yue listened to their chatter and tried to get caught up to speed with the topic. Seemed like they were introducing themselves. Yue managed to get their names and when it was time for Yue to speak her part she bowed her head and spoke clearly and concisely.

”Yes, I just came here a few days ago. I’m part of Team KYS (Kiss), one of their newest members.” Shortly after saying her part Ashe, one of the new students who introduced herself, mentioned to not mind Skye and her mask. Yue had spotted it on the way in and had a brief moment of tension upon seeing it. A Faunus in a mask was a deadringer for the White Fang, but luckily Skye explained her reasons and eased Yue’s mind. Though now Yue was worried Skye needed treatment such as medication and a balanced diet. It was then that Yue decided that she would do some shopping later today: she was going to make food for her team and Skye and make sure they were eating plentifully and healthily. Yue would have to cut back on some expenses as her allowance wasn’t infinite, but it was a small price to pay for the wellbeings of her new friends.

”As for class, I’m not certain. I know the teacher should be Professor Port. Perhaps he’s busy with something?” Yue looked around towards the cages containing Grimm. While she had no doubts at the abilities of Beacon’s teachers, she imagined it would be difficult for even a seasoned hunter to wrangle one of those nightmares into a cage. The fact they could even do it was a testament of their skills. ”I wonder if they could be tamed… No, no don’t be silly. These aren’t animals. They’re monsters. The fact they could even be put into cages was probably an intense feat.” Yue once had flights of fancy of using music to calm Grimm and lead them as a merry band of creatures in the wild, but those were fantasies of a young girl who didn’t know better. Grimm were monsters that needed to be killed. That’s how it always been, and how it’ll always be.

”Do you think it’s difficult to cage grimm? I don’t imagine they’re exactly obedient. Otherwise someone may have made a circus of grimm.”

@Azereiah@FlitterFaux@Write@Krayzikk@NarayanK

@Awesomoman64@Guess Who@Rekaigan

Grimm Studies

"Cian Kuze" Cian replied to trad with a brief nod. Cian physically relaxed a little there was very little chance that things might go wrong but sometimes fear was unexplainable. This was the same case with her but she was always the first to admit that her past shaped her in more ways than she would like to admit. Though with that said she did ease up and started to smile slightly perhaps things wasn't going to be so bad after all. "Llyr was it?" She asked the squid like faunus making sure she heard the name right she didnt want to make the wrong impression which happened a few times. Causing some faunus to think she looked down upon when she messed up their names or reacted with fear in some cases.

---

Llyr turned to see a new face. So many people to talk to, all showing up at random! Good ol' Robbie, such a people magnet. The Faunus gave the newcomer a quick look-over before making an overly gracious bow before the two whom had just introduced themselves. "New friends indeed! Well met, Trad, Cian! I am Llyr. Llyr of the Seven Imaginary Seas! Llyr the Cephalopod of Destiny! Llyr the Faunus that'sreallygoodatcheeringpeopleup!" He let out a sharp bark of laughter, his hands on his hips in some proud, triumphant pose. He had introduced himself twice to Cian. Not that it bothered him.

"Should you forget the name of this Squid, he will remind you! TEN FOLD!" he exclaimed as he grabbed Cian's hand, putting his other on her waist like they were about to dance, moving her slightly away from the other two. And dance they did. He suddenly twirled her on the spot before leaning her back, his hand supporting her, their faces coming quite close to each other as he did this. He gave her a cheeky smirk before he brought the both of them back upright, letting her go as if nothing happened at all. How he managed to pull this off in such a small space would remain a mystery. Even to himself.

He looked back over at Trad, his grin still as warm as ever, "I assume you're Robbie's partner? Friend? Spouse? Hypeman?" He questioned in a joking manner.

@Crimmy@Ayazi@LokiLeo789@Plank Sinatra

Beacon Academy-Armory Class-Beryl Harken

"The teacher here is pretty casual so I don't think he will have any problems with that." She said as her eyes returned to her classmate's face. "I've never been to the garage myself, don't have a vehicle to store there. But from what I remember its somewhere on the other side of the pool building."

"Cool."

A fifteen or twenty minute walk was probably for the best anyway. Geni seemed distracted by his nap, Luke seemed distracted by another girl, and Grat seemed like she would stab whatever distracted her in the heart. He'd slip out, carry his bike back, and hopefully by then everyone would have settled into whatever rhythm they usually worked in and there would be no one left to bother him. He met Beryl's gaze and nodded.

"Alright. You lead the way, and we'll figure it the hell out from there."

"Well, I guess we're alike in that regard. I tend to take things to excess as well...though you've probably noticed that, based on what I'm trying to create here." He noticed Gren's nod in assent to avoiding messing with the blades anymore. As awesome as a drill might have been, it ultimately came down to a distrust of slapping a thousand moving parts into a weapon. Even this attachment itself would barely move, just launch the blade forward at absurd speeds.

Aside from that, it was hard not to join in on Gren's optimism. They would have the parts before the end of classes if his future employers had their delivery estimates in order. And it wasn't like he was throwing five different weapons together into one monster of a contraption like Gren did with his God Eater.

Yeah. They had this.

And then there was Emm and Anna. Anna the Lewd. Anna the Defiler. Anna the Tech Goddess. Yes, Anna, let us just go over the '3D rendered model' later tonight. What a wonderful idea that would be. Maybe they were taking it a liiiitttllleee too far.

Maybe. Maybe not. That was for hindsight to decide, he figured. Anna's ambidextrous display was impressive, and not in any sexual way, either. It was just cool to watch. It seemed like this little group of theirs was really in their element.

Fuck yeah.

@Lucius Cypher @Abillioncats @FlitterFaux

As everyone around him socialized Gren put his focus back into Oswald’s weapons. Unless they needed something from him, Gren didn’t even give a verbal response. Just low rumbling grunts or a flat “Yeah”. Putting his mind back onto Oswald’s weapon he had to think of a few things. For starters, he needed to make the pile driving device sturdy. Making moving parts study was Gren’s specifically: the God Eat was pretty much a perpetual motion machine that can still bludgeon and cut things and remain functional. Making it powerful however would be Gren’s biggest challenge. The God Eater is as big and heavy as it is because he lacks the skills to make something just as powerful any more compact. Not that such a thing doesn’t exist: he knows one person at this school who actually has what Gren considers a better version of the God Eater, and she can fit it into a purse.

Coco’s gatling gun was truly a marvel of technology that Gren personally thinks that even he, as a cyborg, can’t nearly compare. Fully formed that weapon is nearly as big as the God Eater is, yet she can transform it, ammo and all, into a compact purse smaller than Gren’s head. If he could get his own weapon to do something similar, Gren would surely be an engine of destruction. Even if Gren’s gun is a bit more complicated due to all the other weapons he’s strapped onto it, he could easily just create additional armaments that are also compacted and use them as needed. Or in other words, he could have more dakka.

Alas that sort of tech isn’t known to Gren. He isn’t sure if Coco made her own weapon or if someone else helped her, because none of Gren’s sources could find anything similar. Plenty of magazines and biographies have information about weapons that telescope, bifurcate, or are even fuse from smaller parts, but nothing like Coco’s shrinking minigun. And that’s not even starting with whatever sort of ammo she puts into it whenever she’s on a mission. Gren needs at least one minute to shred a Death Stalker with sustained fire or cleaving it with his chainsaw, which is much harder than it sounds because those things have a tendency to fight and move around. He’s seen what she could do.

But Gren wasn’t going to let himself just stay at his level. He knew what he could do because of what others have accomplished. And he’s already set a few precedence himself. So instead of being envious of what people like Coco could do, Gren needed to work towards being able to something just as great. No more wallowing in his self-pity of powerlessness. And more importantly, Gren needed to help Oswald improve too. To that end Gren stopped working and looked at what he just created. A pneumatic piston, specifically four of them built into a single device small enough to serve as a handle. It was based off the type of pistons that used to be Gren’s “Muscles” before he upgraded. They were actually more powerful than Gren’s current muscles, but lacked finesse and fine control. But in this instance the only thing that mattered was force in the greatest concentration that could be mustered.

Of course the entire thing was useless without a power source, which in this instances would be dust. A small dust shard ought to be able to produce enough energy to power the pistons for three or four shots. At least that’s what Gren hypothesizes considering he hasn’t tested it out yet. There was also the matter of range: Gren didn’t really consider it but he was wondering if Oswald expects the impact of his pile driver to be enough to strike enemies from afar from the air pressure alone. Certainly would be cool as hell, but not exactly something Gren was thinking of when he made it. Still it looks like this thing was working. All they needed to do now was put a blade on it and see it in action.

”Anyone got a spare blade they don’t mind losing?” Gren said as he started sifting through his various piles of God Eater scraps for blades that aren’t actually teeth to a chainsaw. He wasn’t going to have much luck.

@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@FlitterFaux@Abillioncats

Robert gave an awkward laugh as Trad approached the group, joking about how he had brushed off the rest of the team late last night and all morning. He felt far from comfortable knowing he had been so rude to the people that were supposed to be his friends. Well Grane was more of a battle buddy to rely on in a fight than someone to go hang out with around Vale, though Sand and Trad were still people he enjoyed spending time with. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was just... dealing with stuff. I don't want to really get into it now and risk returning to my sour mood, but for now... Well I'm back to feeling like me again," he replied.

Turning to Llyr as he asked for an introduction to Trad, the redhead student replied back in his best announcer voice, "Actually, I'm his hypeman. Trad over here is my team's resident tank. Wielding his weapons Gram and Sfa- Snai- Sva- his shield, Mr. Oak is capable of becoming the greatest immovable object Remnant has ever seen and it isn't because of all of those bags of chips and cigarettes. No, because my steadfast teammate here can use his semblance to root himself to the ground, becoming absolutely invincible with the only draw back being the inability to move. Should this warden of Beacon ever enter the ring, you'd be a fool to not put your money on Trad Oak!" After finishing his long winded introduction, Robert flashed the shieldbearer a smile and a thumbs up.

@FlitterFaux@Lucius Cypher@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN





Emerald made a cute pose as Anna took her picture as she listened to Anna's questions, suggestions, and nonsense. They really were a lot alike, Anna was just more mature and talented! She's so cool!

Emerald shook her head, she could be in awe of Anna later, they had to get back to business! "I figured that my scroll could handle the more complex stuff...if I use the voice command already in my scroll I don't have to worry about the goggles having as much tech stuffed in them if my scroll is doing most of the work..." Emerald's eyes widened. "...you think I'd look cute in glasses? I mean, I do want them to be durable but...how cute are we talking?"

Emerald's train of thought was interrupted by the awful noises provided by Gren's tinkering. Well, it wasn't actually that awful, but Emerald had far better hearing than most due to her cat ears. For some reason though the noises were bothering Anna a lot more, that was kind of weird. "I'm not sure where the earplugs are, I typically use earmuffs cause those actually fit my ears..sorta..."

That reminded her of the headset that was given to her by those soldiers from the...mission. Oh...that's right, most of them died...

She bit her lip and looked down at the assembled parts she'd removed from Gren's helmet, she started playing with one to look busy. Don't think about it...don't think about it...it's fine...you're fine...

"Ah!" Emerald let out a noise as she realized she'd been playing with a circuit a little too roughly, it was now cracked. "Damn it! Stupid piece of crap!" She chucked it to the ground far below her, she didn't need cheap shit in her goggles anyway... Wait a sec, why is the floor way down there?

It was then that Emerald realized she was floating roughly two feet off the ground above everyone else.

"Wow...this is new." Emerald wasn't sure what was happening, was this her semblance? She'd never been able to just float in the air like this. "Oh my god..." She tried moving, she found it was a simple thing to do, she started to circle around the room, dodging heads and whatnot as she did.

"Holy shit I can fly!"

She giggled and flew around Anna and the others a few times. "You guys should try this sometime it's great!" Emerald wasn't satisfied with just that though, she flew around some of the other students in the armory as well.

"Sup Gratia...Krysanthe...Vega...lion boy who I don't know...bai!" Before they could get a word in she'd flown off to pester another group of people. @LokiLeo789@Eklispe, @Crimmy, @Ayazi

She flew just above the heads of the otter girl and the hot dude next to her. She didn't really have much of a clue who they were so she figured now was a good time to introduce herself. "How's the weather down there? No, you're not dreaming, catgirls have mastered the power of flight, the future is now!" She smiled.
@Plank Sinatra@Silvan Haven

So that's how it's gonna be.

Not dreaming.

He wasn't dreaming. Even a well-loved phrase of his like 'God damn it' wouldn't cut this.

God has damned this whole land.

Not that Jer Piper was surprised to see a catgirl flying. This was an unfortunate constant in his life, like someone tripping over the same stair, or always hitting the same pothole on a relaxing Sunday drive. But normally there was an order to this sort of thing. The kind of serenity that came with a pattern.

• (a.) Be Jer; look up at the ceiling.
• (b.) A catgirl is flying between your head and the ceiling.
• (c.[a.]) Because Bright has noticed this catgirl trying to linger in Speer's room,
• (c.[b.]) and launched her into the mesosphere.
• (d.) Problem resolution.

This broke that godly pattern.

And what does a devil do, but the jobs that God has not the stomach for?

Just as his hand was leaving the desk and straying to his chest, a tail thwacked it casually. Beryl Harken was smiling.

The two guns in his chest holster went untouched.

God has damned this whole class.

"Atlas is the future," Jer reported dispassionately. "There we have catgirls there that can make puns, leap skyscrapers, hunt crime, and still make it back before curfew. Levitation is cool, too, though. To the second graders."

Annabelle Valentine
Armory

That's a good idea, having the scroll itself take most of the workload. It would let us fit a lot more features into the visor itself. If she does choose to go with the smaller model it will take some time to get parts that good ordered and shipped. Hmm, Ozzie's gone quiet. Either he's getting fully into his work now or... No, I'm sure he's just busy at this point. Lots to get excited about.

"No spare blades, Grenster. I only brought the essentials from home and haven't done any major shopping yet. Aren't there some generic bladed weapons over there?" Ah! And earmuffs, perfect!

She stood up to go fetch the much desired ear protection but a sudden outburst made her jump. "E-Emmie, what-?" Hold on. How is she suddenly so much taller than me? Ooooh... Emerald hadn't gotten taller. She was floating! What the hell?! This is insane! Annabelle cheered Emerald on as she began a series of aerial acrobatics throughout the classroom. Briefly she wondered if she should remind Emerald she was wearing a skirt. She picked up her scroll and began to record the event instead.

It would just ruin the mood if I pointed that out now.

To say Sepia woke up feeling unwell would be an understatement. As she came to, her first thought was of just how hot she was. The immense pile of fluffy blankets and pillows that formed a structure almost like a nest on her bed had metamorphosed into an oven at some point during the night and she was starting to feel thoroughly like an overcooked...something. "Something sweaty, anyway." She ran a hand through slightly damp curls, surprised at its slight shakiness. "Huh. I must be really hungry." Ignoring how her head pounded when she sat up, the dog faunus disentangled herself from the suffocating mess that used to be a bed before she twisted and turned in it all night. "I really hope Yue made food. The issue of how I've never so much as touched an oven isn't something I want to go through right now."

Hm. Maybe the other girl could teach her sometime. It would be nice to spend some non-mission time together.

-

By the time she slid into one of the very last vacant seats in Grimm Studies, Sepia was very grateful for the lack of obstacles on her way to class. While she would normally jump at the chance to socialize, today was just not a good day for first impressions. At least her spot was in the back. Maybe if she made herself extra small during class, she wouldn't be called on for anything. "If I get pulled down to fight, I'm definitely going to puke." Nausea had been building up all day, and even someone as admittedly slow as her could figure out why. Everyone here was just so stressed. Between the student body of teen angst and Datura's wacky hormones, Sepia's semblance was starting to get on her nerves for more than just the usual reason."Buck up. It just means that there are people here who need help. It's not their fault that being a teenager is just one crisis after another." She chided herself internally.

The brunette leaned forward and propped her chin on her palm. Her eyelids drooped. Well, one did. The other felt...weird. A chill ran down her spine. "I forgot to put it back." Quickly, she pulled down a section of hair to cover the left side of her face. A class where she would doubtlessly alternate between anxiety and sleepiness. It could be worse, really.

Shuai Taidan - Grimm Studies

The door at the back of the lecture hall clicked open, and a solitary figure immediately slipped through, surreptitiously glancing around the room even as he made his to a quiet seat far from the front where the lecturer for the class had yet to appear. He was a pretty young man, his handsome and delicate face framed by long, flowing hair. There was no ponytail today - no scrunchies, headbands or any other accessories were present - and instead the pink-streaked brown was on full display, dropping down around his shoulders like a tsunami of strawberry-chocolate syrup. Two long, extended parts of his fringe dropped around his cheeks, and a simple, thin cowlick drooped from the top of his head.

Clad in a militaristic uniform, the young man shuffled into his chair, plonking down without taking out any books, or really, even having anything to carry learning materials in. The reason being that Shuai Taidan, senior student, had absolutely no need to turn up to a first-year class. He didn't even have a class this period.

Yet despite it, the violet-eyed fellow decided that it would be fun to sneak into the back of a class and see what the youth of today was learning.

"Yeah, exactly! Señor 'My cock is the eighth wonder of the world' Lloyd built this giant, high-tech, super-powerful shield and then slapped a goddamn fingerprinting system on there! He knows a nigga hates being fingerprinted!" Lauren was wearing a pout on her face and had her arms crossed tightly, tonfa jutting out at an awkward angle in her hand. She didn't seem to notice that both barrels were dangerously close to kissing her jaw. "So now I'm gonna have to return fire on dude."

She uncurled her arms and tapped the notebook with the barrel of Lawnslot.

"Behold, Project White Bronco!"

She beamed.

"A triple-function hyper-ballistic battleaxe, capable of cutting through anything short of an airship in ax mode, a ballista function capable of launching a Huntress across five football fields, and reverting to the original Caledfwlch and handheld scutum. Lemme tell you, these things? They're one hell of a building block, dude. The more I sketched the more ideas I had!"

She hugged the tonfa close to her chest with a beam.

"I should find a way to incorporate my other idea into them...could store them inside the shaft, but that could be volatile if one of the tonfa went off or something...hrm...oh well, anyway, that's what your girl is cooking! Plus I'm gonna put a better security system on it than even Joyous Guard...it's gonna ask for Cap's fingerprints, his weight, his dental records, his dick circumference, even how many times he got in trouble in kindergarten. It took me two weeks to collect all the data I needed to code in, but a visionary never rests!"

"Yeah, you've sketched a whole bunch. Sketched me out!"

How on earth would that even measure for--

I very quickly decided not to follow that train of thought, for fear of coming up with the obvious answer, and instead focused upon the other egregious offender in that list. Lawnslot being a tonfa and shotgun both allowed for--

No.
Stop.
Not happening.

"What kind of microchip contains your kindergarten time-out record?!"

Really, everything else was at least a physical measurement...

Lauren simply continued to throw her winningly radiant smile at me.

Well, if anyone would find a way...

"At any rate, this certainly covers a lot of bases with those three functions."

A sword and shield for a defensive approach.

A ballista for long ranges, making closing in more a choice than a necessity.

A battleaxe for taking big things down where neither of the former two modes had enough sheer stopping power to cut it.

Like a Manticore.

"Come to think of it," I ventured, eyeing the base weapon as it sank further into the fields of Elysium. "If Lawnslot retains its original functionality, you've also got a shotgun in that thing too, don't you? 'White Bronco's' gonna have something for just about every situation, if you back that with dust cartridges."

Impressive ideacrafting...

You'd expect nothing less from a girl who conned you at every turn, but her brain obviously wasn't single-track like yours truly. When she earnestly wanted to get something done, it was just as sharp as when she wanted to swindle you out of your wallet, well-founded concern, or innocence.

Admirable versatility was her middle name.

Ah, to speak of Lawnslot, Dust Cartridges, and versatility...

I quietly laid out my own drawings, looked over and cleaned up by Ben during some downtime in Math the period before, and indicated the bottom half of my general concept for my own new weapon.

"Hey, if it's not any trouble, would you mind letting me take a look at Lawnslot today? I'm not planning on swiping it from you, or anything, I just need to get an eye for how it works as a firearm— I unfortunately didn't get too much of an education on gunsmithing, so I need a base template to work off of."

I frowned.

"And, with Cian being moved to another team, we're down a long range weapon— so a shotgun at the end of a Bec de Corbin's better than nothing."

It wasn't at all that I didn't welcome Skye aboard with anything aside from open arms— but Cian's departure in Ozpin's grand reshuffling scheme left us with a very, very wide hole in our situational coverage, to put things mildly. Even if I were a heartless pragmatist, I'd be missing her.

Thankfully, though, I'm not. I have human reasons to miss my first friend here.

Stay strong, little rabbit...

It was an unfortunate side effect to an unfortunate event— not the unfortunate event itself. If I could emulate 'White Bronco' with 'Crow's Beak' in its versatility, it would at least be able to deal with the side effect.

"With how minimalist I would assume Lawnslot is to still be an effective tonfa— I'd imagine taking cues from it would help me avoid throwing off the weight and balance of the polearm when it's whole."

Any more that it would need to be, with the spike on top being a drill and all...

"Only if you can spare it, though. If you're gonna be needing all day..."

My finger drifted up towards the gnarly head of the conceptual weapon, lazily circling the cornucopia of attack options it bore.

"I can just work on all this. No biggie."

@Eklispe@LokiLeo789

Gratia Mindaro - Armoury

"Surprising description to receive from a fucking lion."

Gratia Mindaro's tone was as flat and emotionless as always, her cadence changing not even a single iota as she unravelled a coil of wiring, one hand reaching for the clippers even as the thin conductors slowly flowed through the fingers of the other. Though she had finally deigned to address her newest teammate, the stoic Mistralese girl's onyx eyes did not flicker his direction even once, and instead continued to focus on the project sitting on the desk.

The scent of burning solder was still detectable, the iron currently resting on its stand rather than held between her hands. Her priority for the time being was to set up the rangefinder in her contraption, and until the wiring was completed, there was no need for her to make use of it for the time being. Not that it would be long; she had already planned out the shape of the circuit, and a rough sketch, its lines sharp and notes written in a clinical, almost mechanical handwriting, sat nearby, ready to remind her of what steps she needed to take. The Frankenstein-esque creation would still look incredibly shitty, and the arrangement of the wires only contributed to that, but the judgement of the ignorant masses was far too unimportant to consider.

It was a prototype, so it could look like a fetus after a run-in with a coathanger for all she cared. Turning it into something that looked more respectable than the vomit-inducing crap in Venetia's wardrobe could wait until later. Making sure it would work was more important.

No, it would definitely work.

She knew it would.

All she needed to do was, once the prototype had been completed, to rid it of any annoying bullshit that could crop up during operation.

A piece of wire was clipped off, and Gratia lowered the end to another pin, carefully noting the change in current being measured by a multimeter.

She was making progress.

Ashe nodded as Yue spoke. So this girl was also new - though clearly slightly less-so than herself and Skye. Wonder what her entrance exams were like... The entrance exam had been an impromptu thing, running off of the remainder of a past group exam. She'd been effectively thrown head-first into a forest in the ass end of nowhere with the task of finding a ball-point pen that'd been dropped in front of a Death Stalker den. She shuddered at the memory - grabbing a pen without getting herself horribly killed by a pair of gigantic scorpions wasn't exactly her idea of 'fun', but had she refused, she'd have probably been stuck in the woods with a bunch of Grimm much longer. Yue had already been assigned a team, surprisingly enough. It would be a little while before Ashe found out whether she were on a team or not, or so she assumed.

"Still teamless here. Arrived yesterday, passed an exam, started classes this morning. I'm still feeling like a fish out of water. Kinda glad you two-" - she patted Skye and Yue's shoulders once - "decided to talk," said Ashe as she produced a blank notepad. Might as well get out stuff for class, even if it might end up being a free period...

Yue commented on Grimm capture: one of the few things Ashe herself actually knew about Grimm in general. She'd seen it done many times before, though as with fighting them, she never directly took part.

"How hard it is to catch them depends on the species and age. The ones in the cages here were probably pretty easy to nab - for the most part you just stand in front of an open cage door and jump out of the way when they charge. They're not exactly smart. But..." She looked towards some of the larger, bonier specimens in the back before continuing, "...I get the feeling that Port personally wrestled some of these into their cages the hard way. Wonder what he looks like."

A few moments passed before she excitedly piped up again. "Oh, what classes are you two taking? It'd be nice if I knew people in Survival and Dust Apps."

Having comrades again seemed like it could only be a good thing, and making friends had, in the past few minutes, become a top priority. She hadn't been planning on trying it until she'd at least been in class for a couple days, but it was unavoidable and possibly a good thing that her schedule had been moved up.

@Ryonara@FlitterFaux

"Aye, takes a predator to know a predator." Geni retorted, mocking Gratia's deadpanned tone. He had taken a liking to igniting her ire; as it seemed to be the only way to get her to acknowledge anything outside her work.

The pale-haired faunas picked up one the Apex twins—which he rightfully dubbed Panthera—and turned it in the light to try and garner some sort of solution to the problem. A quick fix would boil down to a simple greasing of the shifting mechanism. Sure it wouldn't last long but it sure as hell wouldn't prove as hearty a task as removing the shifting axel from the entire column and putting a lock in place to smoothen out the module shifting process. Just thinking it proved arduous.

Unless you wanna grease her every few weeks, might as well work on the permanent solution now. he concluded.

With a plan in mind Geni set Panthera down flat and set out to find tools to further his endeavors. An impact driver with socket adapter would suffice in removing the outer ring of the axle.

As Geni searched a voice from overhead caught his attention. Intrigued, he looked up and found a female student looking back down at him. She even greeted him before soaring off to another section of the Armory.

"Doesn't take a predator to know that she'll fall at some point, and when she does, I'll laugh for her." he sighed. Geni's search resumed.

@Crimmy@Ayazi@LokiLeo789@Plank Sinatra



Jericho was doing his grump thing again. A distinct desire to remove the catgirl floating above them in his eyes. Despite how amusing Beryl herself found the display she did have to admit that their classmate was being a bit silly.

And silliness wasn't something that the young hunter next to her had a very high opinion of. It was time to step in before he could get any more agitated.

"It is certainly impressive for a cute little girl like yourself. Unfortunately," She said, rising to her feet and pulling Jericho up with her. "My friend and I were about to go get his armory project. The teacher is taking too long for our original plan to work."

"You may want to return to your seat before he gets back." The otter Faunus called over her shoulder as they left. " The Professor may be a casual one but I doubt he would appreciate students flying around the classroom."

And then she was gone, Jericho easily keeping up with the fast jog she had broken into.

They crossed the campus quickly. It may have been big but the part they were heading for was nearby. It took them a minute to pass the pool building, Beryl giving it a brief look of longing as they passed by, and another minute to reach the student vehicle garage.

That it was a big building went without saying. It had to be to hold the many and varied vehicles the students of Beacon owned. Gratia's confiscated Didoci SUV was in there somewhere as well as the Altesian student's bike.

Bounding up to the door Beryl pulled it open and politely held it for her companion.