By sixth period, even someone as indefatigably amped as Lauren found herself starting to tire of the whole school routine. After the stretch of more traditional courses that served as the meat of her morning between combat class and lunch, Lauren found herself once again lapsing, taken prisoner by a pattern that dominated most of the first third of her day and now threatened to do the same to her second. The heart of her sudden lethargy was simple - she just kind of knew everything.

Now, that could certainly be the power of black excellence talking. In fact, it probably was. Definitely.

But that was also a problem. The majority of her day was devoted to things she already knew how to do, things that with a likelihood bordering on total fucking certainty she probably didn't want to do. Lunch was an exception to the rule. So was combat class, where Ben had first piqued her interest - a lot like someone bungling the fuck out of your order at a restaurant before you realize it tastes better than your old favorite. Trying the other white meat, if ya will.

But Armory? Survival? She could have made As in those classes back when she was young enough to finesse niggas with Charl-E-Cheezie tokens.

Rich kids thought they were gold doubloons. Pirate movies were all the rage back when Lauren was growing up, and she had a keen eye for kids who wanted to reenact their favorite movie scenes. You tell a kid that they can go ahead and play pirate with real treasure, and they'll part with all the allowance they think to ask their parents for. Why not? Always more where that came from.

And as long as they kept paying, Lauren could say the same for her "doubloons."

Anyway, that was the whole point. These were skills Lauren had picked up long before her time at Beacon, and they were things she usually practiced in more exciting situations than those jury-rigged by the professors. Practice would have no doubt been the same story. The new class, though, had the potential to be a different story. She'd heard Luke extolling its virtues with the same dogged optimism she had come to expect from someone who extolled Krillin as the world's strongest human. It was taught in a lecture hall, of all things, and was supposed to be a pretty theory-driven course, combining honest know-how with room to practice. Lauren didn't have much to do with Dust in terms of combat style, and even if she had, there was always something to be learned from new applications.

After all, Lauren wasn't above the chance to try and use the ol' noodle. With most of her team in the same class to worship her, she would probably be a wet noodle at that, too.

When she slipped into the hall, the windswept black beauty wore a synthesis of two different styles, the maroon-and-black blazer and skirt of Beacon Academy over a black t-shirt and leggings. Her hair was still ruffled into tufts that fell along her deep green eyes, resembling Luke's save for the fluffiness in place of the Shiroyaman's scruffiness. She was still wearing the stolen cap from Survival class with a vaguely familiar looking badge in place of a wing insignia. Her tongue was running along the inside of her bottom lip, where she'd scrawled something with a neon lavender marker.

AIR LAUREN

There was no seat free between Ben and Luke, but there was one free between Ben and Amy. Lauren's backpack received that chair of high honor for itself, hanging from the back of the chair by a strap and revealing a nudge of the con artist's white jacket, wrapped around a vaguely rectangular package. Lauren plopped down into the chair herself, but it was only for appearances. Both of her legs were slung over Ben's lap, with one arm around his neck and her body pressed up against the side of his. It was a lax position, tilted back, but Lauren made it look as casual and ergonomic as the ramrod posture of a copy typist.

Her eyes found the instructor, widening as her seat shrank the gap between the one to its right.

"Yoooo, no way," Lauren whistled, her voice a breathy whisper that carried to her assembled friends. "No fucking shit. Aaaaaaaaah. This little bitch helped me know I was gay."

Beryl was tired.

So very, very, tired.

Her semblance was crazy useful, a fact she knew well, but it came with a cost. Using it also used aura. And with how much she had just used it she had very little of that precious resource left. So it was with little of her normal perky attitude that she stumbled into Dust Apps.

Apparently she wasn't the only one late. Only a few other students had shown up yet. Why she didn't know, maybe the other classes had run overtime or something. She was just too tired to care at the moment.

She mumbled an apology to the teacher as she scanned the raised seats for a good spot. Super buff dude she didn't know...crazy airship highjacker...and Luke. Well at least there was someone here that she knew. Hopefully he wouldn't mind.

A bit of stumbling later and she collapsed into the seat beside Luke with a groan of relief.

"If I fall asleep please give me a kick under the desk."

---

With the simulation now over thanks to Lauren's sky pirate antics, Robert waved goodbye to Gren and Yue, telling them he had enjoyed his time making the shelter with them. Even if it ended up going mostly unused. He didn't mind though, it's better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back and regret. His dad told him that once, or perhaps he had read it in a book at the library. Either way, the redhaired hunter-in-training had enough regrets in his life to add another to the list.

After being dismissed by Ms. Stella Nuit, the boy would begin his short walk to Practice where he would take the first empty seat he saw. By some miracle, he had not only arrived on time, but had actually sat his ass down in a chair early... mostly because he had forgotten to change into his practice clothes and was still wearing his school uniform. With these few extra minutes of free time granted to him by his punctuality, Robert pulled out his scroll and started up a game he had downloaded last night.

For the next five minutes, Robert would farm for the in-game currency needed to summon more characters in the mobile game's gacha, quickly extending into the beginning of class time. Despite the RNG giving him only the weakest and most common jpgs, the redhead was hooked. The only saving grace he had was that he hadn't paid for any of the microtransactions, though that was mostly due to his less than ideal financial situation than because he had any semblance of self control.

When Jericho warned the class of the upcoming physical exertion that he would be putting them through, Robert still had his nose in his scroll, not even looking up for a moment as he followed the class like a mindless zombie. The gacha had consumed him, just like so many other poor souls.

When the professor finally called for the end of their ‘football’ match, Sand found herself letting out a small sigh of relief.

She was not sure who had won. The game had turned rather confusing half-way through, though perhaps dangerous was a more apt descriptor should one look at the tattered remains of clothing that dangled over some of her classmates. It made her wonder if Trad had destroyed his shirt at the very beginning of the class simply because it was a foregone conclusion that it would be unusable at the end of it.

She had been spared part of the chaos near the beginning, something she attributed to the fact that she and the person she had chosen to mark looked like identical twins. A disappointingly small number of balls were thrown in their direction. That had changed for some minutes when her clone had slipped away and left the class, but it quickly became the case again when the other team realized every ball that came vaguely close to her invariably ended up glued to her hands.

Catching balls with her semblance had at one point been a routine exercise of hers, and this was little different. There are reasons why I am never allowed to play goalie, she thought with a feeling somewhere between embarrassment and pride.

Thankfully, unlike some of the more passionate students in her group, she and her attire had gone relatively unscathed throughout the debacle, meaning all she had to do before the next class was to pick up her duffle bag and head out. As the gaggles of chattering students filed out of the class, she merely pulled her Scroll out for directions and, not waiting for Trad, set out towards Practice class.

---

As the throng of students dispersed, heading out from the gymnasium towards their other classes, it became easy to single out those sharing hers. She followed that particular group at a calm pace until she caught sight of two larger groups of students milling about.

Knowing she had arrived at the training site, she looked over the gathered faces until she caught sight of a familiar one.

She began to walk towards him when a familiar voice drew her attention. The other student from Atlas, Jer, approached the group she was moving towards, before instructing them to be ready in a minute.

Ah, so this is what he was talking about when he left. At least he’s wearing his own face this time. Having a person that looked near identical to her overseeing her training would have been a bizarre prospect. Though I never did get an answer to my question.

Putting that out of her mind for the moment, she sidled next to the person she had recognized before. “Robert,” she greeted amiably.

No answer came, as Robert’s eyes remained glued to his Scroll’s screen.

Arching her eyebrow, she leaned closer, peeking over the redhead’s shoulder to see what had consumed his attention. Colorful graphics and multiple gauges with numbers on them greeted her, with small pictures of characters that moved across the screen. Sand’s eyelids drooped as she realized he was completely engrossed in a video game.

“Class is about to start,” she said dryly, giving him a firm poke in the ribs. “Will be hard to practice with your Scroll out.”

@Guess Who

@FlitterFaux@Write@Plank Sinatra



Emerald yawned as she reached her fellow students gathering for Practice. She was a little tired from Survival, but she was sure she'd wake up as soon as she started blasting targets in Practice. She was looking forward to it, since guns and explosions were kind of her thing.

"Alright! I'm ready to blow some shit up!" It was then she noticed who their instructor was.

Blink blink. Hey, she recognized who that was! "Heyyyy...it's that unreasonably hot guy from Armory class!" Well, this was an unexpected surprise.

It was then that Emerald just so happened to notice Bianca. It was hard to forget those fluffy feathers of hers after all, but instead of being distracted by the fluff she focused on where Bianca was looking, it seemed she couldn't take her eyes of their sexy instructor.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Emerald grinned, and then proceeded to wave a hand in front of Bianca's eyes. "Helloooo~ Whatcha lookin at?"

She was gonna make Anna proud.

---------------------------------------------------

@Crimmy


Violet let out a sigh of relief as she listened to the instructor for Dust Apps. She seemed a lot more level headed and reasonable than their PE instructor. She didn't even want to think about what happened in PE.

Violet was ready to learn about dust, she used them extensively in her arrows and the more she could learn uses for them the better off she'd be as a huntress.

Sangue promptly found her way to Practice.

It was hard to tell what she was thinking. Her expression refused to change frequently, after all. Some students often wondered what went through her mind, while some simply paid attention to how she looked rather intimidating to look at. For while her intentions may be far from hostile, her looks were not exactly welcoming.

Even as she gazed through the classroom, she continued to think about Lauren flying and how cool it looked to her.

Though, her thoughts died down as she remembered her teammates wouldn't be around for the class.

Quietly making her way to the seats, she noticed Emerald talking to Bianca with a questionable, but nevertheless valid grin. Robert seemed enamored by his Scroll, though Sand was next to him talking about something.

So Sangue sat alone, hoping not to bother them. She instead found herself staring at the instructor, neither expectantly nor rudely. She began thinking about what she hoped to improve in Practice.

---

With earphones on, Yun took a seat at the Dust Apps class. She somehow managed to get past P.E. without understanding anything. But it was still pretty fun! Sports was always a good thing- especially if competition was tight. She was more of a basketball person since her neighborhood was kind of into it, but that didn't mean she was unwilling to not learn something that could be fun.

She was too impatient for golf, though. In golf, she discovered that her golfing had an exclusive affinity with water.

Yun eventually took off her earphones and crossed her arms, briefly observing the classroom around her. Everyone around her was undoubtedly competent, so she'd have to work hard- especially considering that she wasn't a prodigy like some others.

She took out a notebook and she clapped her hands once.

Alright! I'm gonna work hard in this class.

Yun started doodling in her notebook.

@Plank Sinatra

Gratia Mindaro - Practice

Having already made her way to the beginning of the obstacle course before Jericho had even revealed himself to be the class demonstrator, Gratia Mindaro was tying her long hair back into a ponytail, a black hair-tie hanging loosely from her mouth as she gathered her flowing locks into position. For the purposes of her current class, the Mistralese girl had eschewed both her signature coat and the dark, pressed uniform of Haven Academy for a simple, black and viridian exercise tracksuit: an outfit far more suited to the intensive physical activity required in Practice.

If some obstacle course could even be considered 'physically intensive'. Only the shittiest excuse for a Hunter would treat it as anything more than a mere facsimile of the struggles that plagued the rest of one's hunting career. It was not a matter of life and death. There was no sense of danger, no eager expectation for the moment where the slightest of stumbles would bring an end to everything they lived for. Even with an Atlesian agent having somehow fucking managed to take command of the course (not that she was particularly surprised; Vale was always willing to open its arsecheeks wide for a pounding from whatever 'innovative' new sexbot Atlas had manufactured in the past week), she had absolutely zero expectation in the obstacles' ability to come even close to killing her.

Not that she would have even given them the chance. What huntress would she be if something like an obstacle course could fuck her over? That was something exclusive to drooling retards, and fortunately for her, she was the scion of parents who weren't so incompetent to slam an infant's skull into a wall. Gratia Mindaro was a Hunter. Her prey was not some junkheap of scrap metal. It was wealth. It was fame. It was power.

It was the Grimm. And the prize for their eradication -



- was their happiness.

She breathed in quietly, loosely stretching out her legs. Onyx eyes locked onto the track before her, scanning the course with cold, clinical efficiency.

Practice was warm-up. A way to keep her reflexes sharp until the next mission.

And she would complete it with nary an issue.

Her ponytail was held in place.

She wasn't going to waste any more fucking time.

Gratia Mindaro started running.

Let's see what bullshit you've pulled out of your arse, Piper.

@Ayazi@NarayanK@HereComesTheSnow@Kaithas

Shuai Taidan - Senior Aura Control

"Ah, the freshies have the obstacle course today."

Taidan glanced out the window at the courtyard, elbow resting against the sill and propping up his chin. The dark-haired student seemed to be in a contemplative mood, purple eyes wistfully watching the younger Hunters attempt the obstacle course. It was a somewhat nostalgic sight, a memory of a time when his year could just run around trying to beat each other in speed rather than think in-depth about the mechanics of controlling one's Aura. It was super interesting, yeah, but all the metaphysical implications around the malleability of his very being was kinda a lot more complex than just playing around. He thought it was definitely some snazzy stuff, but ah, the simplicity of youth was something he missed.

So what if he was only maybe three years older? That totally meant he was a geezer compared to all the young, innocent minds that were adjusting to the Beacon Academy lifestyle! Age wasn't supposed to be a number, it was a mindset!

Which, on second thought, actually sounded more to be the actual thing than he thought. Nobody knew how old Goodwitch or Ozpin were, right? The latter had been bossing everybody around for a while, but he didn't actually look like he was somebody's grandpa. Besides that wacky white hair, Ozpin was kinda youthful-looking, wasn't he? How old was the guy supposed to be? Maybe he could ask.

Taidan thoughtlessly blew a long strand of pinkish-brown hair away from his eyes, reaching out with a delicate hand to brush his bangs to the side. It was probably rude of him to hit up the boss for his age, wasn't it? A second of extra consideration cemented that view in his mind, and the resident pyromaniac prettboy extraordinaire nodded, immediately switching focus back to the class he was in.

Aura Control!

The advanced manipulation of one's soul. It was a really snazzy thing, and one he had to admit was strange and beyond his understanding at times. There was just so much food for thought: like, just how did it work? How could he change the bits and pieces that could make up himself just with belief? Was his Aura really his soul in the first place? What did his soul really mean? Where was Shuai Taidan inside the concept of the soul? Would extensive use of aura have any effects on his personality - on his very being?

Hm, maybe that could be the topic of his final year thesis.

"Hey." Diamond waved to Oswald as he was leaving class, herself leaning against the wall opposite the exit, a frown on her face. Instead of PE, she's been stuck at the infirmary, getting her arm poked and prodded. She originally went there when it started feeling like ants were crawling under her unfeelign skin. She didn't have much hope, but she could nto fathom why it took the good doctor thirty minutes to figure out it was just a phantom. And what could have possibly bene in my eye that needed to be shone on by a fucking searchlight? I can still see a black dot in that eye!

"Finally a class where yee lot didn't leave me alone to rot. Do you need a piggyback to the next class?" She smirked with a challenging tilt of a head. since her schedule was reshuffled again as teachers and parts of herself came and went, Diamond had no idea what this particular class' teacher would be like, but hey, it could not possibly be any worse than Vanhomrigh... Riiiiight?

@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

The end of Survival class was interesting to say the least. One of the other students, Lauren, launched herself-and two other girls- up into the Bullhead above and managed to re-route it to the island. A creative solution, all in all, even if it made his little signal fire look pedestrian in comparison. Whatever got the job done, really, he wasn't in it for the glory.

Though glory would've been kind nice.

He was greeted by a nice little surprise on exiting the Survival classroom, however- Diamond! Giving his team leader(?) a nod in greeting, Oswald stepped out of the doorway. "Harr harr, Diamond. While it'd be nice not to have to walk, somehow I'm not sure you'd have a fun time carrying my ass in dead weight to Dust Apps."

With that, he took off to the classroom.

---------------------------------------------------

This teacher looked like she belonged on the other side of the lectern, but alright. If she was teaching, either she was old enough to be a professor or she was good enough to have earned a position like some of the other younger instructors.

He wasn't gonna argue.

@Forsythe @Crimmy

Damn.

Ben wasn't a stranger to working with Dust, it was one of the skills you kinda had to learn when you worked on weapons for Hunters and Huntresses. As soon as you'd learned the more structural stuff, of course. You had to have that background, because Dust could be involved anywhere in the process. Could be at the end, as something added on. Could be worked into the very metal you were working with. Hell, back in the day some people had it imbued in their own bodies. Kinda extreme, but that just showed how versatile the stuff was. He must've used it at least a couple dozen ways since his Dad started teaching it to him.

But if how he used Dust was like a caveman discovering fire, the teacher was like a pyrotechnics show. The gap was that wide.

It was why he signed up. Practice was important and all, but he could do that any time. This was a chance to learn the applications of Dust from someone who clearly knew what they were talking about. And, admittedly, learn from a legend.

He'd been a kid, too. He wasn't going to pass up a lecture taught by the T in TSUN.

Now taking notes, that was going to be an issue. His arm wasn't exactly pinned, but he couldn't exactly reach the desk, either. He'd have to set his Scroll to record the audio, copy it by hand later. He ruffled Lauren's hair in the meantime, at least as close as he could get with that cap on her head (that was going to be a story later) and gave her a grin. That answered the question as to where she was.

His arm dropped back down to help support her waist. Didn't look like the easiest posture for her to maintain.

"Right?" He said to Luke, under his breath. Last thing he wanted to do was be caught talking in Cirsium's class. "Gotta learn how to do that. See you saw her Festival, too, Lauren. Hey."

"Hopefully we'll get some more permanent knowledge out of her, then." I wryly responded in a similarly hushed tone.

Come on, we're in class with an extremely qualified professor here, Lauren.

That can't be comfortable at all, Sis. In my book, you should really save that for when you don't have to pretend to keep a lid on it...

Despite my internal grumblings, I still did manage to catch the supremely haggard entrance of my favorite otter, Beryl Harken. With the way she collapsed into the seat, offering only a tired grumble at response to my breathed "Heya," I had to wonder— What on earth had happened in Survival? I mean, Lauren looked fine, even a bit too relaxed— Literally just sitting on his lap!— but my poor boatmate looked the definition of tuckered out.

Estelle Nuit must've been one maddening taskmistress...

Well, anyway.

"I'll definitely be up for comparing notes with you guys— But," I began before turning to Beryl specifically, still at a low, breathless rumble that would hopefully not carry out to Professor Cirsium past the aimless chatter of the crowd. "If you really want me to, Beryl..."

My right foot launched upwards into a swift, firm tap against the faunus's calves, rubber and toe digging into the muscle just the slightest bit as demonstration. At full blast, she'd have to be dead not to at least notice, but this one was just proof of concept.

Surely that'd do, so long as I noticed in the midst of my note-taking trance.

After Survival Class was Dust Apps. Nothing new or unusual to Gren; he mostly spends this time reloading his bullets, testing new ones, and maybe a light bit of experimentation. He recently got his hands on some gravity dust, or at least what he's told is gravity dust. He'll use the class to figure out if it's real or if he got scammed. Either way after school he'll have a visit to make. Getting to his usual seat and getting his usual stuff out, today was a bit different from previous Dust App classes. Seemed like they had a new teacher. Teachers, much like students, came and went here at Beacon. Some couldn't handle the things that go on here, others just vanish and are never heard from again. Gren's learned not to question it by now. "Teàrlag Cirsium. Why does that sound familiar? Maybe I've seen her name before or something."

The new teacher was much like any new teacher; eager. Gren had a few ideas of what she might have in store for class and he'll give her about a week before she'll eventually just let everyone "self-study" like all the other previous teachers. Or maybe he'll be wrong, that'll be a nice change of pace. The teacher also did a small display with the dust which Gren just sort of stared at and waited. He was going to guess that she had more to show then just a little pyro/cyrotechnic trick. He would have asked how she did it, but he kept quiet knowing that she was about to explain it in just a moment.

Practice

---

"One minute?!"

Orrin looked and sounded horrified, his mouth agape. He looked like someone had told him that he had a minute to live, instead of a minute to catch his breath. Then, he closed his eyes, and a blissful calm came over him. A broad smile lit up his face and, for the next few moments, he forgot that he was surrounded by other students.

"One minute! Of course! One minute is just long enough to get loose!"

He turned his neck to the left and to the right, audible pops sounding off as he did so.

"Yes! Loose...loose and..." He twisted at the hips, and a chorus of defeaning cracking sounded as his back popped. "...limber!"

You actually just said that out loud, didn't you?

He looked down at the ground, face burning a bit.

You only get one chance to make a first impression.

He gulped, looking for somewhere to flee to. He found his safe harbor in the form of three students. A blonde-haired boy with pants in a state of disrepair, a faunus girl, and a girl with white hair. He tried to think of the lesson he'd learned from the "limber" incident just moments ago.

Be cool. He thought for a moment. Do I say 'hi' or 'hello?" His eyes widened. No! Of course! All the coolest hunters say...

"Yo."

@Tominas @Driving Park @Norschtalen

It turned out as she had thought that joining a school in the middle of the school year was probably not the best idea that could have been made. Cliques had long been formed, people knew each other. Not that Blaire thought she'd particularly care. At least not before she had experienced it first hand for the first time. She had never been in a school for her entire life and so, such... communality had escaped her.

Though...

Blaire frowned as she observed the students that arrived in the practice field. A lot of them were... very... well, silly, to put it mildly. Tacklehugging, hugging and prancing around without wearing any pants...

Somehow, right now, she was kind of happy that she didn't know any of them. She decided to postpone the "getting to know your classmates" part until later. Or never, she had nothing against that.

So, Blaire unsheathed her khopesh and turned slightly away from the rabble to practice some swings. With a blade like that, one had to use a different technique to a "regular" sword and that took time to perfect, naturally. Even now, she wouldn't allow herself to be called "the best khopesh huntress or future huntress", since she had no idea who else used such an exotic weapon as her.

Yes, Blaire knew she should have introduced herself to her new classmates, make friends. Some of them would sooner or later be her teammates, as far as she had heard. But right now, she couldn't be bothered to go out of her way to do so. No, she wasn't "scared" of contact with others. In her mind she huffed at that thought, having been called that by her guardian once.

Her cat ears twitched happily at the sound of her curved blade whooshing through the air in front of her.

Lesson number one of working with Dust, above all else, is and always will 'safety first'. It can be pretty volatile stuff if you don't know what you're doing, so a healthy, tekul respect for its dangers is a must if you don't wanna get a real hard wallapin' from what should be pointed at hordes of Grimm rather than you or your mates. So lucky for me, I didn't need to look like a right daft git who wanted to do a Toontown impression to grab all the kids' attentions. Not that I'd have forgotten safety regs for my own course or anything. You're definitely not that big of a dunderhead yet, Teàrlag!

Still, lighting a hand on fire bloody hurts, you know? Pulling off a trick like that with Dust means you need to hide it somewhere on your body, and when it goes off, the fleshy human bits aren't going to be out of range. 'Tis just a scratch though; nothing that I haven't suffered the horrible ravages of (exaggeration) before, and it looks like none of the students seem to have gotten the scoobie on what I just did. But they're all looking at me; they're concentrating; they're paying attention. Oi oi, was a bit of fancy Dustplay that exciting to you folks? It's not that I'm not unhappy or anything that the demonstration was a success, but that was a lotta bang for its buck, wasn't it?

I guess kids like their explosions more than blethering about.

Most of them do, at least.

One of the brats - that same luchadora lass who ran away with my jacket on family day (@Ryonara)- is already doing her own thing and playing around with Dust. I'm contractually obligated to bump my gums before you can get started on anything, you know? It's sorta rude to already go ahead before I get on with the rest of the script. All those fees you're paying are going to waste right now!

So it's my job as a teacher to save her from the crushing despair of high-interest loans (they're bloody awful unless you're an Atlesian and can afford a pet Faunus) by calling out to her. "Miss - " I pause for the slightest of seconds as I recall that quine's name. Not because I'd forgotten or anything. I'm proud of the work I put into memorising their names and photos when I got their class list. "- Guan Yue. You can work with the Dust tags later."

That's some stuff she can play around with in her personal time. The time all my students will have at Beacon is limited, only a pucklie of one's lifespan, so they needed to make the most of it. Not just take it easy and think this is time to bludge. Not when every wee bit counts to their life expectancy. It's a memo they should all be getting.

"Moving along, does anybody know what I just did?"

I'd expected some of them to be having a chaynage day, but surprisingly, a bubbly bonnie (@Plank Sinatra) popped up immediately from the back, waving a hand around enthusiastically. Except -

"Scuse me! 'Ello! You used a powder form of fire Dust to create a reaction first, and then a hidden score of ice Dust as a reaction to cool 'er down! It coulda been powder up your sleeve, in your sleeve, or even a henna tat. Any woulda worked, yeah? So fire, water, and air, all in one chimera!"

- You might be a cannie eager lass, but oi, what's that accent supposed to be doing? I'm from Vacuo, you know? I can hear that accent being jammed into the facsimile of a twit's pretty clearly like creme between Oreo biscuits. Is that the persona you're trying to throw up for this class, because it already sounds very squint!

Her fake accent aside though, she was pretty right on the money. I don't have a henna tattoo and I've never even thought about getting one, but it's definitely one way to keep Dust stored on/inside the body. My method's a wee bit more straightforward than that (no clypin' about with infusing the elements into the skin), and I hold up my arm, that ozone smell intensifying a bit more as a tiny bottle is pulled out of my sleeve by electrostatic forces.

"That's right, Negasi," I say, directing a congratulatory smile at her as the bottle of blue and red power drops down into my hand. It's hard for them to see anything special about it, so a camera rotates around to point at my hands, showing off what's going on - the tiny hole in the top of the bottle - on that big projector behind me. "I pulled a mixture of Dust out of this container and initially activated just the 'Fire' for that big spurt you all saw."

I hold back the urge to do it again. It's not like I want to show off or anything. I just want to emphasise some points, yeah, that's it.

No other reason.

"And when that reached its zenith, the remaining 'Ice' that got pushed up got to work themselves."

I debate mentioning the versatility of even just a single type of Dust like Ice and its heat transfer properties, but I decided to shuffle it into a later time. I don't want to confuse the brats too much. Even if they're cannie folks, there's no guarantee for how quickly they can get their noggins around this.

"Just because they're mixed together doesn't mean they need to be activated at the same time," my lesson continues. "Crystallising the 'Fire' inside some frozen gas and 'Ice' isn't the only thing you can do with this combination either. It's just the one thing I thought would be cool to show you."

Aaargh Teàrlag no, don't accidentally make a pun!

Don't let the brats see. Don't crack a smile.

"Which brings us to the main point of this intro class."

Most people make use of Dust through their Aura or Semblance, but others just straight up make use of stuff in the physical realm to ensure that their weapons are working properly. Trying to go into huge detail on the metaphysical concepts underlying it would have heads in a tizzy this early, so I sum it up neatly.

"Dust acts because you will it to act."

"I made use of the 'Ice' Dust's ability to 'freeze' for that tower of crystal, delaying its activation to after the 'Fire' already was in motion. It's the same way any of you might incorporate Dust into your Semblance usage; you can just think, and it becomes part of you, right?"

Once they get this basic idea down-pat, a lot more concepts open up.

"That part of 'you' conveys what you want the Dust to do, so it does it. Request in, result out."

I pause for a moment, scanning the seats to see their faces. I could push that part of the script up a few minutes early, just so it gets cemented better into them.

"I think it'll be easier for you to understand with another demonstration. Does anyone want to volunteer?"

---

@Lucius Cypher@SevenStormStyle@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@FlitterFaux@Forsythe@Kaithas@Abillioncats@Silvan Haven

@Crimmy

Diamond had to admit, this teacher she was starting to like. Not so much for her style, which for her included too early practice and nowhere near enough theory, but this was precisely the class she needed. Few sentences of the lecture in and already new useful information was piling up. Dust could affect your semblance? Why doesn't the entry level book even mention that?!

Thatwas fire remarkably close to her hand though. I wonder - How hard did you have to clench your teeth? the ex-thief thought, before the call for volunteers arrived. Without much thought, Diamond's arm went up. She was going to make use of the class by gods. And if she doesn't like me, well, can't get worse than Vanhomrigh in rage mode, can it?

In the mass of Tearlag Cirsium's assembled pupils, my mind was ablur as I rapidly notated everything I thought to be remotely important.

Including the long and short of what my peers had apparently already understood. Note comparisons in the future would probably be crucial.

I have no clue where Lauren pulled that Hermione impression out of, first of all. To say it plainly, she was startlingly... gung-ho about trying to sell this one. Putting the accent on is one thing, but beginning to add hints dialectical slang was entirely another. If this was her power as a conwoman, she could probably do a pretty decent job pulling the wool over the eyes of anyone either not paying close attention or aware of her real voice... Not that the Professor seemed to mind.

Well, hm.

I doubt they've met before, or that she cared enough, because her priorities obviously lied within continuing the lecture as she rolled right along.

"..."

So, wait: the Dust could be blended, but the constituent parts could individually be triggered? Wasn't the activation catalyst necessary the aura?

Wouldn't that cause both types to react? I can understand that if you somehow delayed it, the frozen flame was created by the freezing of the ice dust as it was dispersed by the upheaveal of the air and convection and all that, but wouldn't the initial input of aura be in contact with both elements as it flowed out of one's hand?

Especially if it was a homogeneous mixture?

Hers might not have been, in fairness, plus I doubted that mixing would change the chemical structure— But if it required pinpoint activation, that would be simply unfeasible to be teaching any first-years, let alone me.

I frowned. Our teacher continued, explaining that it didn't need to play out as I had been imagining, which was indeed cool and all but had unfortunately frozen my thought process in place—

"Dust acts because you will it to act."

Wait.

That was it?

I don't know about having a semblance that takes use of that ma'am, I just bleed on people to make them stop bleeding— It's really as simple as just willing it to happen or not happen?

"Request in, result out"...

She called for volunteers, lavender eyes scanning the room.

I gave it a moment's consideration, eyes narrowing and brow furrowing as I rolled the idea of just tell it what to do in my head—

And rose my hand.

Whether I clearly got it or not, this could end up being a one-on-one coaching session for the practical application of the concept by a certified expert on the matter.

That's worth giving it a whirl, even if I pratfall the first attempt or two in front of everyone.

IC: Amaranth Desire, Realizing a Physics Class Might Exist

…

So if you’d asked her a week ago, Amy would say that she didn’t understand Dust at all. The Fury didn’t use it anywhere in its construction, her Semblance was entirely independent of its usage--at least for now, she’d get back to that topic later--and she generally just figured it was some level of bull#### stacked on top of something resembling science.

Then she’d had to make the Crimson Angel armor.

Now, she still had next to no understanding of Dust theory, but she knew something about its application. It was akin to a car mechanic, she supposed, who didn’t know the physics behind the explosion of gasoline in an internal combustion engine, but nevertheless knew how to fix one.

Still, she’d rather know that theory. It’d probably help a lot.

She’d been kinda out of it until Lauren had slammed her backpack into the chair next to her, still a little on the football game previous. Amy had changed out of her PE outfit back into the closest semblance of a uniform she had, her blazier over a somewhat tight-fitting t-shirt with the image of a divergent lens on it. Her lips opened, as if to speak--

"Yoooo, no way," Lauren whistled, her voice a breathy whisper that carried to her assembled friends. "No fucking shit. Aaaaaaaaah. This little bitch helped me know I was gay."

There was no way she could follow that. Nor Teàrlag’s demonstration.

She raised her hand as a volunteer for the follow up, her eyes straight forward, on her teacher.

What?

It didn’t matter who had volunteered first. Not at all.

IC: Rowan Iderson

The first actual class day of Aura Control was always Rowan’s least favorite. Whether a fault in her understanding of Aura or as an inherent difficulty of the subject, she never really found that a traditional classroom was too… encouraging of her particular study of the craft. That was why she taught the majority of the class either outside or in the gym--that, and that getting students to focus on classroom learning in the final period of the day tended to be difficult at best. Still, demonstrations like the one she and Esther had performed a week ago were flashy but didn’t actually teach much, and a few days in the classroom tended to form the backbone of what would come after.

A few were generally all that were necessary. These were seniors--they tended to have the basics already down. The ex-soldier was already at the blackboard, a piece of chalk in hand as she wrote the date in the upper left corner, using a lazy but legible print. “Alright, everyone,” Rowan said, turning to face the classroom.” Most of you’ve been here long enough that you should know who I am--but given exactly how much of a class turnover we have, I s’pose I should introduce myself anyway. I’m Rowan Iderson, and this is Aura Control. If you’re in the wrong place, you should probably get to where you’re s’posed t’be.”

She raised her eyebrows for a moment, appraising the class to see if anyone moved. She shrugged when no one did, her eyes glowing amber briefly as she flicked the piece of chalk upward with her thumb, flipping and spiraling before clattering to a perfect landing on the bottom sill of the blackboard.

“I don’t exaggerate when I say that this class’ll save your life more than nearly any other. Weapons fail. We’ve not documented all of the Grimm. No matter how much I love ‘em, tactics and maneuvering can become impossible or ineffective. At the end of the day, you’ll reach a point where all you’ve got to rely on is you. And in those situations, your Aura, your conditioning, and your intellect constitute everything you’ve got. Soul, body, and mind.”

A sigh left her lips, her thumbs sticking in the loops of her belt. “With that, Aura Control ultimately comes down to what you’re willing to put into it. We’ll have exams after a fashion, but this class is primarily a participation grade. I’d rather you actually learn how to protect yourself than to be able to write an essay on the origins of Aura theory. We work on an alternating schedule, with each classroom day setting up the following day’s applied exercises. I’ve already sent the syllabus to your scrolls, so with all that taken care of I’d like to get into the lesson for today, which is on methods for reducing Aura damage through psychological minimization of threats. Any questions, before I continue?”

"I'm telling you, these bad boys are going to be legendary after a little more testing." Isaac's voice was just barely audible over the roar of the waves below. "Even as they are now, I'd say some people in the village are going to fall on their knees and pray for the Under-One to spare them." Though Sirius couldn't see the other girl, she was familiar enough with her wicked grins to know one when she heard it. Unfortunately, she couldn't share in the moment. Serving as anchor for your dust-obsessed partner while she plants her latest instruments of terror in a Ratatosk burrow can become an all-consuming task when said burrow's entrance juts from the midway point of a towering seaside cliff.

It really would have been a better plan to uncoil the rope before they had walked all the way to the drop-off. However, put one person with too much enthusiasm and another with too little foresight together and "shoulda's" would invade the day. "Shoulda made sure your tether was long enough" in this particular moment. As a result of that little oversight, Isaac wasn't able to simply repel down by herself. Instead, Sirius found herself and the sheep faunus tied together under the logic that "we can't possibly both fall at once", and clinging to a sheer stone wall absolutely drenched in sea spray.

A few feet below where the blunette was free to let her mind wander in the simple task of keeping a tight grip, Isaac was putting the final touches on what she had simply christened "the bomb, sweetheart". Jammed awkwardly in the largest non-inhabited crevice available, Sirius knew the unholy patchwork of an explosive to be composed of meticulously stapled-together crystals of every type and combination of dust known to Laire. The thing was undeniably beautiful despite its wrong-ness. It looked like an inverted geode - all sparkling colors on the outside, ugly grey bits of ramshackle aura-activated device hidden on the inside. Needless to say, this practice detonation was going to be more art (read: Isaac screwing around) than science.

Just as the thought drifted through her mind, there was a sharp curse and a distant, heart-sinking splash. An eerie, calm numbness seemed to spread through Sirius's legs as she strained her neck to look down and over her shoulder. A brown face wearing a nervous smile stared up at her.

"I dropped the remote."

Sirius immediately glanced up above, noting their distance from the top. The safety of flat ground never seemed further away. She swallowed. "Oh-okay. I think all we can do at this point is brace our-".

...
...
...

There really are so many colors in the world, was the only thought that came to Sirius as the crests of water seemed to reach out to grab her. Right now, she wasn't even registering the hail of stone pinging against her aura or the odd lack of any sound. Not even the fact that she was probably about to drown, or that her companion's expression of absolute joy would negate later claims of any "accident" causing the scene unfolding around above. All she could watch was the bloom of elemental power shredding through stone and grimm alike.

Dust...dust was so cool.

...

Sepia Russet - Dust Apps

From the front row, a hand shot up and a silky brown tail wagged.