---

For being a tall, masked faunus still breathing heavily from the exertion of Physical Education Skye was surprisingly unnoticed as she tagged along behind the familiar forms of Luke and Ben. Of course any that did take note of the worn out creature generally avoided trying to engage her in conversation. She did not look especially receptive and indeed she might not have noticed if anyone had started talking to her.

Tired, bloodshot eyes scanned the classroom for other familiar faces like Ashe and Yue. Despite being as exhausted as ever Skye's mood had improved since the game and she was eager to introduce everyone. Then again judging by the gathering around her teammate she would need some introductions herself. Catching sight of Yue Skye waved to her and picked a seat with open spots nearby, not too far from Luke. However, she had yet to spot Ashe, who she guessed might just be a little late.

She went to Survival after Grimm Studies I think. I wouldn't be surprised if she's even more tired than I am. My last class was actually.. pretty fun. And nothing compared to fighting an enormous Grimm... I hope she makes it.

As if summoned by her thoughts the young faunus made her appearance and Skye waved her over. Unfortunately it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out something was really bothering her. Ashe wore a sour face that was plain to read at a glance and she took one of the seats right next to Skye without a word.

"Ashe? What's wrong?"

Ashe sighed and glanced Skye's way for just a split second, then returned to staring a hole in her notepad, where she had drawn up copies of the class catalog and schedule. "Bad day, that's all. Could this wait until after class...?"

Skye couldn't help herself; she was taken aback by the shortness of the response and the edge in Ashe's tone. Even though logically Skye guessed something had happened during her last class she found herself wondering if she might have done something to upset Ashe. But of course that was just paranoia,
it had to be. Though she tried to repress it Skye could not respond without sounding pathetically dejected. "O-oh. Of course, if that's what you want..."

Ashe looked up from her notepad again and gave Skye a forced smile. "It's fine, really. I just want your opinion on some things later."

The word 'fine' did not sound right in Skye's head, but she realized that now was simply not the best time to go over what was really bothering Ashe. She would just have to wait until the end of class. She glanced in Luke's direction then towards the professor who looked about to begin the lesson. Perhaps introductions should also wait until later? "Alright. Whatever I can do to help."

Ashe returned her borderline murderous gaze to the front of class and waited patiently for the lesson to start. The tip of her pen was steadily burrowing deeper and deeper into her notepad. "Thanks, Skye. I really appreciate it."

"Of course." Skye nodded and turned her attention towards the front of the classroom just in time for their professer to begin the class with one of the most impressive demonstrations she had ever witnessed. Skye already knew there was so much someone could achieve using Dust, especially when combined with other modern techniques, but freezing fire? She hadn't thought such a thing was possible. Obviously she had a lot to learn. Luckily she was finally in the right place.

The fox faunus leaned forward in her seat, focusing intently on their teacher's words. She also paid attention to her classmates, too. Most of them already knew more than she did and she tried her hardest to commit everything she heard and saw to memory.

When the call for a volunteer for the next demonstration went out it wasn't like Skye didn't want to raise her hand but she resisted the urge. She'd already spent most of her limited energy throughout the day. Any more active participation in class she felt was likely to push her into mindless, unthinking survival mode. Not a good state of mind to have in a class where failing is not an option.

Instead she watched, waiting to see who would get chosen and what would happen next.

---

---

What the hell was that? That class was going so well at first! I finally got to show off my precious Tiger, and I was totally pumped to prove Beacon is where I belong. The hell with what mom says. My moment to shine, and then... Anna splashed more cool water onto her face before going back to staring at herself in the mirror.

"Come on, what is wrong with you? Pregnant? Ha! As if."

Turning off the water and turning away from her reflection she leaned against the sink. She could still taste the bitterness of bile no matter how many times she rinsed her mouth out. Her thoughts were stuck on Survival class and her embarrassing performance, or rather lack thereof. Everything had been going just fine, she made an impression with her marvel of a weapon and the class was set to happen within a massive simulator. She was already familiar with such things from practice at home but that one blew the simulator she had right out of the water. Even so she was sure that class was going to be a piece of cake.

She had been so very wrong.

It started with some dizziness and nausea before the simulation had begun. She paid it no mind at first, after all she had been drinking hard the night before. However, within a few steps forward on that sinking ship that mild dizziness flared into a monster worse than any of those all too realistic Grimm. It was all she could do to catch herself on Tiger before faceplanting onto simulated deck.

From there she had contributed nothing and felt lucky just to make it to a lifeboat without vomiting. Of course that small victory hadn't lasted long. She was grateful no one had bothered her on the 'island' and for the distinct lack of comments on the mess she left on the simulator floor. Grateful but fiercely embarrassed with herself. Annabelle Valentine's debut was a complete disaster. At least that class had ended quickly and utterly fantastically. She felt a pang of regret that she had not been a part of that, and worse she had forgotten to ask for the recipe to those cupcakes.

But as soon as that class was over she had quickly gotten herself to the bathroom to clean up and clear her head, which was still spinning a bit. She was surely going to be late for her next class at this rate but it had taken this long just to start feeling okay again. Guess I should consider myself lucky I didn't have to go to the infirmary. What a mess. How am I even gonna make up for that? Not like I can be sure that won't happen again, even if I am feeling better. I was feeling fine during Armory, too.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud clattering of a custom built robot hindered by twelve feet of cannon forcing its way past the bathroom door. Ugh, I forgot to tell him to drop that thing outside in the hall. Too late now.

Tiger stopped once it made its way to her, bringing with it the duffel bag she had asked for. With a smile she thanked her unique weapon just as if it were people, just as always. Tiger still had a lot of kinks to get worked out in programming but even as he was she loved her mechanical companion.

She went through the bag quickly choosing an outfit much better suited to an outdoor practice class. Some light blue shorts and a matching sports bra caught her eye and a light pair of sneakers which would be so much better than the crumby uniform shoes. She changed quickly on the spot and tossed the bag back on to Tiger before taking a deep breath.

"Alright, probably late as hell but let's go try to salvage this day. Tiger, follow. And mind your damn turns." I have got to modify that beast sometime soon.

After taking a deep breath, Sangue glanced at the course.

On paper, Practice fit her rather well. It had much less to do with coordination and much more with her individual capabilities, unlike the other classes she took. What many others commonly misunderstood about her was that she had a somewhat impulsive nature, which was partially related to Apophis raising her and her experience when she was alone. That impulsive nature focused solely on herself- it was a selfish thing. It briefly surfaced back when she didn’t take Ben’s advice while facing the Megaladeus in class, and she continued to try fixing it.

She figured that if she wanted to get over her trait of rushing things whenever she got nervous, she needed to be more confident first. And Sangue was more confident with others if she felt less like a liability. If there was one thing BASL had taught her that Apophis hadn't, it was that a group can be its own individual entity- and she had to be a part of it to make it complete and not hold it back.

Her expression grew rigid as her feet carried her. It wasn’t wrong of her to acknowledge that she moved faster than a good portion of the students, considering her stamina and speed in themselves were disproportionately superior to her strength. But she wasn't the strongest- and keeping the bar of rectifying that was going to drive her to keep herself in check.

---

Yun quickly (and quietly) slammed her notebook shut when the professor started her lecture, a small smile on her face while leaving no traces of recognition to her doodles.

For the most part, Yun paid attention to her professor’s words, though she would've laughed a bit at something she noticed during the lecture had it not been for the fact that she was in class. Her proper attention returned when the professor explained how the ice and fire Dust mixture worked exactly.

There seemed to be plenty of other people interested in volunteering, and she felt like watching would help her. She wasn’t too acquainted with Dust use yet, after all. Still, it didn't hurt to raise her hand, so she did just that.

---

Hana glared at Taidan for a brief moment, almost commenting on the nickname he gave the freshmen, but she barely succeeded in holding back. No, exploding for trivial reasons was unbefitting for a leader. She needed to keep her cool and understand her teammates a little better. Perhaps there was a very good reason as to why they were the way they were. Perhaps they had to do what they had to do, otherwise they wouldn’t do what they normally do.

Right?

Right!

The pencil in Hana’s hand scrunched up as she took a short breath, her smile faker than the statement, “no lawyer went to Hell.” She was only holding back because he was her team mate. Yes. And also his face was at the opposite end of “punchable.”

Hmph!

---

Hana listened to the professor attentively.

Professor Iderson seemed to fully understand that scribbling on a paper about Aura was less likely to save someone than actually understanding it. Hana didn’t have any doubts about that, and in fact, was rather hopeful to get some good things out of the class. Considering she had to get close and personal to push her potential to its furthest without burning out her Aura, Aura Control was by far one of the most important concepts she had to take advantage of.

She softly shook her head as the professor asked if anyone had questions, though her eyes did glaze around the classroom- mostly at her teammates in particular. She still kept most of her attention on the professor.

Selena turned her head towards a familiar blond boy. He was the guy who shot her down during the rugby game last time. she didn't hold any grudge of course; it was a good play and it made Selena figure out she needed to step up her game. For some reason the guy was really formal. She guessed that he must've had a military family or something, they're usually like this. She just chuckled and raised her hand up towards him. "No need to be so stiff man. Selena's fine. So you must be part of my team huh? I'll admit I don't quite remember who I was with, so it's nice to meet ya." She also waved at the faunas girl, Iona. Selena gave her a friendly smile and extended her hand. "So you're part of my team too? Cool, cool. Hope we work well together." And finally, some kid who was doing weird stretches came over and said yo. Selena actually chuckled and nodded towards him. "Yo. Feel limber?"

@Tominas@Nevix@Driving Park

Iona had not tried to interact with anyone when she was deposited at Practice, instead hoping to look around and try to gather any information on what she might be dealing with. She deduced that before her was an obstacle course of some sort, and-

Before she could get any further, she suddenly found herself being forced to interact with people.

First a serious-looking woman who turned out to be the Practice professor greeted her and the other apparently new guy. Of course on Iona's first day, the professor didn't have time to explain anything and a TA or something was teaching. "Good..." Iona said sarcastically to herself. Ah well, at least she had some time to-

“Pardon me, teammates Selena Cecilia and Iona Murasaki."

Iona blinked.

As Blaine introduced himself in a very...rigid way, Iona blinked a few more times as she looked at him quizzically with her head titled to one side. She struggled with constructing words to say after the display. "Um, hi...it's a pleasure to meet...you?" Her words trailed off as she gradually turned the statement into a question. Before she had a chance to abandon sentences anymore the white-haired girl standing next to her took control of the conversation in a much more professional way than Iona had before addressing Iona.

"So you're part of my team too? Cool, cool. Hope we work well together."

"I guess I am," Iona responded, continuing with a little grin, "I look forward to finding out."

So that was three out of the presumable four-person team, which was apparently called "Obelisk". That's an odd name, she thought to herself. More importantly though, where was the fourth t-

"Yo."

Oh.

He, like the white-haired girl, seemed pretty normal, so Iona responded in kind. "'Sup."

@Tominas@Nevix@Norschtalen

Gren had to admit, once things were explained a bit more, his interest was piqued. Even for someone like Gren, dust was too volatile for him to work into anything beyond bullets and grenades. His experiments with a dust powered Jet Pack being an obvious indicator of his expertise when it came to handling those materials. As the professor continued, he took a brief moment to look at his own hands. Being a little over 90% cybernetic, he wondered how his body would react to Dust being infused into his synthetic flesh. He wondered because he knew that since he had this body, his own Semblance has, in a way, weakened. It's range and versatility had been limited to an area around him and a considerably smaller one than when he was entirely flesh and blood. This concerned him since if it's his will that can activate the Dust, and his own will is questionably present as it is, could he actually manipulate Dust as the teacher expected?

"Well, no reason to think it wouldn't. Semblance and dust are two different things. Besides, I'm slowly regaining my ability with my Semblance too. Bit by bit."

Soon Tearlag asked for volunteers. While many hands went up, Gren's hand stayed down. He wasn't too certain how he might change the normal variables of Dust due to his body, not to mention he has no idea what the teacher planned for. It could be embarrassing. Instead he blinked a few times to activate a video recording through his head so he can review the lessons later. And if it just so happens that he records something funny, even better.

When the professor put it like that, it... Honestly made perfect sense.

Not why it worked that way, that was probably a whole field of study in and of itself. But the how made sense. Dust reacted to energy. Even the more unstable, raw forms needed something to happen in order to set them off. Aura, whatever its metaphysical properties, was a form of energy. Energy that could be measured, stored, and utilized. That explained how Dust could interact with one's Semblance. It wasn't a very difficult leap from there to grasp that Dust behaved, when you boiled it down, the way you intended for it to behave. Which meant manipulating it was part science, part...

Well, after Cirsium's display, art was the only word that came to mind. It wasn't rote memorization of mixtures, or compounds, or equations. It was like smithing, that way. There was science to know. There were techniques to learn. But the difference between a competent smith and a great one was much more intangible than that. It was a sense you developed after untold hours of practice. Mastery of Dust seemed to be much the same. Once you understood the underlying principles, it was practice, practice, practice until it became second nature. Few of his own weapons made active use of it, it couldn't be applied with his Semblance (could it?), but there was no telling when it might come in handy in the future. And even if he didn't practically need it, he wanted it. That was awesome.

He did do a little bit of a double take, though, when Lauren piped up. Not because she had the right answer, but because of the accent she was putting on. And the fact that she was actually piping up in class. It was nice to see her paying attention. Most of the morning classes she seemed utterly bored in. But that accent...

What are you doing, babe? Luke, do you know?

"Bianca Nuit," a voice called out over the din of the Practice course.

The students had all begun running the obstacle course that Rowan had pioneered and Jer had improved. The Gold Stripe sat back, watching the various students intently, only occasionally dipping his head down to look at clipboards featuring past scores or the Scroll running timers that sat atop it. Occasionally he would hand out praise or criticism - "4:22, Gratia. Good." or "5:13. Have you ever considered a career in the library, Fallson? It's more fulfilling than this, and you won't ever have to jump." - but mostly he was silent, choosing to observe on his first day and then direct people into what it seemed like they enjoyed, be it the practice range, Semblance training, or just screwing around on the course again for fun. That third category would have been where he sat. He would have been alone in that.

Only one student seemed to be exempt from the free period, however. As Bianca Nuit finished up her time - 4:30 - Jericho whistled for her and waved the Scroll and clipboard at her, finally standing up to his full height and walking towards her as she moved towards him. He read her the time and then looked down at the heiress, cocking his head slightly to the right. When he did, his hair, matted down by sweat minutes before, fell over the end of his eyebrows in layers. He pushed it back and wrapped a band around it, revealing his forehead.

"4:30. Not bad."

My chest rose and fell I was eight seconds over Gratia’s time and not the best in the class, but I was also only days out of the infirmary and my wings accounted for at least a bit of resistance, even when they were folded. Even though it pained me to do so, I jogged over to Jericho as he waved me over. His status as a Teaching Assistant not doing much to dissuade my eyes from appreciating his station as a Golden Stripe, secret agent and absolute looker.

“4:30?” I called back as we approached one another, I finally stopped placing my hands on my knees for only a second taking a quick breath, before standing back straight. “I could’ve done better.” I said, staring back out at the course, my chest rising and falling fast enough that I couldn’t speak too much.

I probably couldn’t have done much better. Granted, I had been in a pretty large scale fight during Grimm Studies and Survival wasn’t much of a rest, I had given my all during the course. I straightened out my crop top and glanced down at my shoes to make sure the laces hadn’t budged all that much before looking back up to Jericho with a big smile. “I don’t suppose you’d be able to help me out at all this period, as the teaching assistant?” Had life been a cartoon there would’ve been a glint in my eyes and a shimmer to my smile as I stared up at the young man so below his pay grade it was almost leaving a visible physical effect on him.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I have something to show you before you break off into independent study.”

That could be taken the wrong way. This girl isn’t well.

Jer reached down to the chest holsters he’d left resting beside his perch and pulled loose one of the Manticores. He inspected it for a second, cocking his head fondly at it, and then turned his stare to Bianca.

“Beryl Harken tells me you have bad luck with guns,” he explained. “I have a trick for you. Basic defensive discipline where I’m from, but it’d probably be black magic to most of the wheat farmers in this country. Here, hold this. Don’t touch the trigger until I tell you. My dad and I designed these to blow the limbs off a Grimm and the supports out of a skyscraper. I don’t need it going off through my palm.”

My smile faded a little bit as I took the gun in my hand. I looked at Jer and for only a second, I felt like I was falling out of my own body. His voice snapped me back out of it. My hand was tightly gripped around the stock of the weapon, so tightly that I felt my nails dig into my hand just a little bit. I shook somewhat but I tried my best to ignore it.

“Yeah don’t worry I won’t touch the trigger – though I doubt the thing is even loaded.” I said quietly looking at the weapon. My hands had generally stopped shaking but I couldn’t help but be over-aware of where I was pointing the weapon. It was fixed on a spot with nothing around it.

“Okay so what’d you want me to do with this thing?” I couldn’t believe I was so rigid. The usual Bianca would’ve been better. No I want to be the usual Bianca! “And next time feel free to skip over Beryl and come right to the source of the info!” I said readopting my warm smile and allowing myself to breathe a little easier. I felt my heart slow down a little bit as I reminded myself where I was.

Not in Mistral, not in that van. With Jericho, in Vale.

I took a deep breath in through my nostrils and out of my mouth. I was ready to learn.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Easy, Stallone. You should never take this thing being loaded or not for granted.” Jericho lifted the other pistol up with his gloved hand and eyeballed the distance between the end of the barrel and the shooting range. “The original design for this was something to go on the heavy-duty variants of the Atlesian Knights. My dad and I worked for half a semester to try and make a mockup that could even be fired safely by something with human limbs. My teammate was screwing around with it while I was making dinner one night and broke his arm in two places. This shoots down family trees, Bianca. Always practice gun safety, but always practice this gun safely.”

…

“Oh my God,” Bianca said, “was your teammate okay?”

…

“What the hell are you talking about? Bright? He was fine, he laughed about it eventually. To hell with Bright. Do you want to learn or not?”

For a split second, I was taken aback by Jer’s attitude about it all. Bright was fine? He laughed about breaking his arm with a gun?

Atlas was terrifying sometimes. All I could imagine were people driving down the streets, firing off guns… Wait, it’s just like that movie Luke was watching! What was it?? Less than content Tom?

No....

Sad Sam??

Hm....

It didn’t matter.

“Yeah, of course I want to learn!” It was at that moment that it was decided. I had to impress Jericho with my learning capabilities. I had to become the best student he had ever taught. And that started with not mentioning the movie I couldn’t come up with. “Okay, I’m listening, please continue!”

“Alright. Good.” Jericho eyed Bianca skeptically for a second before placing the gun he held down on the bench again. That left the gun in Bianca’s hand, which he nudged up to about his chest level before nodding and taking a step back. “You seem like you’re more specialized for fighting Grimm than me. I’ve spent most of my school life fighting other things with guns. Guess I’m a people person. Still-goddamn it, hang on. Laurent, 4:09! Good run!”

His Scroll had dinged, notifying him of another student successfully finishing the course. This girl was one of the last few to start the course, and now she looped around, black hair clinging to her forehead and hanging over her eyes. Her panting was wild and angry, her stare smoldering at the young man who had belted out her score.

“Uh huh,” she said, in an accent laced with venom. "Merci.”

“Go Viv!”

The Scroll dinged again. Sparr, 4:11.

“Go VIVE!”

I felt a warmth spread to my cheeks at the compliment as I watched Jer call out to the other students. It was something of a rarity to get a compliment like that from him - you knew it was genuine, he always was.

“Yeah, well I’ve trained in that regard for a while I guess. So I’m happy to learn something…” I trailed off for a second, looking at the gun. I looked back up to Jer with bright eyes and a calm temperament. “I’m always happy to learn something that will help me protect others and myself.”

I continued to hold the weapon steadily facing away from everyone and at the ground. I could see the safety was on, but I wanted to be sure. I wanted to get this right.

“You’re laying it on too thick. But fine. Don’t point the gun there, point it here.” Jericho held the weapon back up to his sternum again with one hand, fingers of his ungloved hand wrapped around the barrel. “So, with all that in mind that I told you about this gun, what do you think happens if you pull this trigger right now and I’m holding the barrel?”

“You-” I stopped for a second. Just breathe. He knows what he is doing.

“The firing mechanism would activate, the bullet launched, it would go throw your sternum and potentially kill you.” I said, taking little pauses in between words to allow myself room to keep my breathing even and steady. I felt the breeze pass through me and it was only then that I remembered where I was, in class pointing a gun at my…

At Jericho.

Another deep breath. “The gun would kill you if I pull the trigger.”

“Hmmph. Yeah. Okay. Think fast.”

Jericho’s free hand reached around the space between them and flicked the safety off. The Manticore rang out like a small rocket launch, like a spacecraft attempting a doomed escape from the earth. Bianca visibly jolted, but Jer appeared unfazed. If anything he looked more mischievous. His eyes were twinkling playfully, and when he looked at the startled heiress again one of his eyes quickly closed and opened.

“You think you can kill me with bullets? I take your fucking bullets. C’mon.” He pulled the gun away from Bianca’s trembling hands with little effort, displaying it with it pointed towards the ground. “Relax, Bianca, it’s alright. I’m about to teach you something that’ll save your life. Catch your breath and look at the gun when you’re ready.”

It took every modicum of control to stop me from just screaming for a split second. I felt all the adrenaline in my body rise up to the tip of my tongue in an instant. “Jesus. Fucking. Christ.” I felt my lips move without permission as I crouched down for a second only to return up in another. I felt eyes on us but I couldn’t even consider the social ramifications of my actions I just allowed the energy to leave my body.

In those few seconds I felt my heart rate start to return to normal and I looked at Jericho, my cheeks blazing hot. I thought about slapping him, but at this point I was pretty sure that would just further fuel his antics. His wink and the sound of a gunshot was scorched into my mind. Okay, think we’re good.

Then I heard it again in my head, the gunshot and the wink. “Shiiiiiiiiit, Jericho.” I waved my hand like it was burning hot and took a step back to let myself calm down away from him for a second. What the fuck was this class.

Okay. Okay you’re good.

“Alright what am I supposed to see here?” I said walking back towards him with an unsteadiness about me that was as plain as day. I looked at the gun the way someone looked at the ground who was afraid of heights. Just barely letting it enter my peripheral.

Jer could sympathize, however slightly, with a girl having no idea how guns worked. But honestly, Bianca quoted mob movies enough that he would have thought she could handle the merest sound of a close range gunshot. He would hate to see how she would respond if she had to remember how to choose between a gun and a cannoli.

“You see this? Here I have my fingers completely around the barrel, pinky near the ejector. But how far has it gone back? Not at all, right? Watch this.”

Jericho leveled the pistol over Bianca’s shoulder, in the air towards one of the drones. When he pulled the trigger, it just clicked. Click. Click click.

“Nothing, right? This is a ten round mag, but it didn’t recycle once. It’s stopped up. Now the triggerman needs to fix the gun manually to be able to fire again. Giving you time to swing the Hermes from hell that you bring everywhere and take him down. And see? My hand wasn’t ripped off, my Aura took whatever force the hit actually had. It’s fine. I’m fine. And now you never have to worry about a gun again. Nobody’s gonna know what the hell to do when you just rush up and grab it. Nobody really knows how it works except us. And now you.”

Us.

“Y-yeah.” It was hard to rationalize everything that was happening to me these days. Some days were kind of gloomy and overcast, others were a bit better. But, today was different. “You’re fine.” My eyes darted around where any wounds might’ve appeared. I was ready for the blood to start staining his shirt, but, it never did. He stood there, a confident look about him holding the gun in front of me so I could see it. I examined his hands holding the weapon. They were worn much more than most Mistralian’s would have been. It was always something they were proud of - something to show off how delicate and beautiful they were.

Jer was different in that way. He didn’t have to try and flaunt some pre-described beauty. He just sort of exuded a knowing that was in itself, beautiful. “Well, thank you for teaching me that. Today I just feel like I’m learning a lot.” I said, adjusting my posture, grasping my wrists behind my back and shifting my hair out of my face a little bit. “Seriously, I know you’re busy you don’t have to spend more time with me if you don’t want…” I trailed off looking at the surroundings.

It was such a pretty day outside. “Besides think of what the other students will say! Private lessons, it’s just ripe with scandal.” My eyes twinkled a familiar way and I smiled upwards at him leaning towards him a little.

“Shut up. We’re going to work on your Semblance next.” Jericho’s hair was pushed back by the band, but he fingered it anyway, eyes scanning over the rest of the students as though he was searching for a glimmer of potential. “What would you rather have me do? Sand is from Atlas, she’ll be fine. If I worked with Grat the next place I’d be holding a gun is to my tonsils. I could wear lead-lined sneakers and body armor and have a higher vertical than Robert Fallson. I was throwing kids like him off the monkey bars when I was nine years old. In a more enlightened time in a real combat school we would have expelled him out of mercy. I would only ask him for help on a mission if that mission was getting lunch money.”

He shrugged and turned back to Bianca, face expressionless again.

“You’re in the middle of the two extremes. You toe a line between a lot of potential and terrible at everything. I can work in that zone. Semblance. Chop chop.”

Hmmm… I can’t tell if I should be offended or feel like I’m being courted but I definitely think it is one of those two possibilities.

“Well… Now that you mention it, I did do something, different a little bit today.” I said dropping my handbag on the ground with a incredibly loud thud. Like dropping a massive boulder. The dirt descended just a little underneath the weight of the bag. “So I’m not really sure how it works but I flew really fast, way faster than I usually can, and I think I… Glowed a little?”

I tried to recall the moment it happened. It wasn’t necessarily my semblance, but when it happened I lost control of my spear. Which made me think it probably affected my semblance.

“Yeah, so, I don’t know if that’s worth looking into but it is definitely something I don’t really get.” I tried to explain.

…

“Bianca,” Jer deadpanned caustically, “god damn it. That sounds straight out of anime."

He exhaled, eyes closing together tightly and then opening with the dull acceptance of a man who knew that death would be a private victory against the torture.

“Okay, fine. Let’s make you a Saiyan. God damn it, Bianca.”

The class was really, genuinely, truly interesting. Blowing the student's minds at the start had been some inspired teaching. Both the impressive dust display and the breakdown of how it had been accomplished. Everyone in the room was now focused on the diminutive teacher at the front, many with raised hands and doing their best to show how into the material they were.

Beryl was not one of those people.

Oh she was as interested as any other student there. Dust was a significant part of her hunting style. It complimented her semblance and reduced the strain on her aura. An essential bit of synergy that her current state only reinforced. But no matter how much she wanted to share at the professor with laser like intensity her body just wasn't cooperating. Her physical form screamed for sleep while her mind desperately tried to stay conscious. Luke's little test kick had sent a spike of adrenalin through her and earned him the best mumbled grunt of thanks she could manage.

Even with that she found her eyelids drooping all too soon. Her tail twitched sluggishly in irritation as she mentally berated herself.

Come ooooooooooon Beryl! You can't afford to fall asleep now. Especially not in the new teachers first class...wait, what if she calls on me? Please don't call on me!

The mild terror and subtle attempts at becoming just another one of the faceless silhouettes proved to be quite helpful in keeping the clutches of sleep at bay. Now if only she could avoid having to speak up for the rest of the class. There was no way she could speak right now without slurring half her words.

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

Note to self: fancy Dustplay is way more exciting to all these brats than me bumping my gums about for an hour. But that's not really some grand epiphany, you know? If you're not a cool enough teacher, nobody will want to listen to all your blethering about, even if that's where all the nitty-gritty's stuck. It's a real shame, but that's just the reality of how things are. When you're some snot-nosed brat and all you want to do is faff about, listening to lectures is the very last thing on your mind. Doesn't help that a lot of the trainee Huntsmen and Huntresses who come into halls are already partially journeymen in their fields, so some of this is stuff they might already know.

But some of them don't know. They might be cannie lads and lasses, but their noggins might not be filled with anything. Or they just might not be able to discard what they already know to understand the greater depths of what Dust can do for them.

So that's why I'm here.

"Afraid I can't get all of you down here," I say apologetically as I look around at all those raised hands. Everybody wants to be up playing with the Dust, you know? It's where the fun is, but just like in real life, there's unfortunately not enough to go around. Sometimes it's just first come first serve, or if you're an Atlesian, first one with the bags of dosh. "I'll pick the two who raised their hands first - Diamond Frost (@Forsythe) ... Lucas Schwarz (@HereComesTheSnow)? Can you two step up?"

I don't know either of them too well, but no shame in getting some eager beavers to help.

"We'll be digging deeper into Dust Theory a little bit further into the semester," I continue, clapping my hands together. "It's going to be very intensive, so I recommend doing some reading by yourselves too so you can get your nuts around everything."

No need for them to buy the textbooks though, because those were bloody costly. The library had everything they needed, eBook versions included.

I wish Shade had that amount of money back when I was a wee quine.

"Anyway, we'll be visiting the basic concept of Dust reacting to your will today." That was what these demonstrations were going to show, after all. "Your aura and semblances - expressions of your inner energies - can catalyse a Dust reaction, but that's because it's your will that the Dust activates. Think of it as like flicking a switch. The electrons are all in the circuit, but it's only when it's complete can current start flowing."

I pull out two more vials of Dust, larger ones this time, from my sleeves. It's just 'Water' specimens now ... mostly; no need to make too big of a mess.

"Diamond, Luke, take these vials and try focusing your aura without wanting to catalyse them, could you?"

Well.

Fate favors the bold, so they say. I may not have been quite first, but luckily our professor was feeling generous enough for two— and luckily, her eyes were sharp enough to tell that I'd just eked out second place from the cavalcade of would-be demonstrators that had also leapt at the chance.

"Yeah, sure."

Unfortunately, that might have been the easy part.

Shimmying out of the row, I took a second to give Beryl a quick nudge before fully extracting myself from the seats and descending the steps towards the lectern. I did promise to try and keep her awake, after all. It wouldn't do to get distracted and just let her nod off during the important stuff.

Important stuff that I was about to be part of, to boot. By my deeds, I'm riding to Valhalla. Witness me.

If I'm gonna die, Bianca, I'm gonna die historic on Fury Road!

...I don't think I gave her the best sell on that movie. I'd be surprised if she even remembered its name.

Hey, considering my semblance, am I a War Boy or the Organic Mechanic? I can heal others, but I'm also familiar with the interpretation that regenerative abilities are akin to cancer...

If the expression of my inner energies manifested as two lumps on my clavicle named Barry and Larry, the only Dust I'm applying is that of fire, directly to them.

Er, I had better get back on track.

I accepted the vial presented to me, carefully eyeing its contents. Those familiar powered crystals, colored a deep, deep blue that made you think of the ocean. Hmm.

Working with water? That made sense. Hard for us to hurt ourselves with unless we were dumb enough to breathe it.

"Diamond, Luke, take these vials and try focusing your aura without wanting to catalyse them, could you?"

"Focus, but don't catalyze, got it."

I nodded, murmuring that a few more times under my breath. In theory, that ought to be perfectly simple given how she explained it. Just make sure not to ask the dust to do its thing and it should be a cinch. Like we established earlier, the system's more like a computer than a chemical reaction— Dust needs both the power source and the information of a command to start working.

In theory, I should have no more trouble with this than I would turning my laptop on and then just not touching it.

I felt my brow furrow as the outside world faded and I looked inward.

Aura is the self— an expression of the soul and will. Introspection in its most literal form is necessary to harness it once it's been unlocked to you. After all, this is who we are. We are projecting ourselves onto the world to alter it physically whenever we utilize this stuff, so it's no accident that specifically handling it has more steps than "use aura and do thing".

Settling into my nerves, I took stock of the conduit of energy that courses through them. I am the vessel, and the vessel decides the flow. If I wish to focus the flow upon something outside of me, I must provide that impetus. You cannot touch something without first extending a hand to reach it.

My mother was a wonderful teacher to have brought me up from not knowing my left from my right to being able to do this so easily in such as short timespan, really. Being able to turn the senses inwards to find a well of energy that you were previously blind to is easier said than done. We focus so much on the world around us in our normal lives that the stuff lying within goes untapped, then unnoticed, the unrecognized.

Alright. Ready to work with it now. I focused on the vial, and the Dust within, and began reach out to it with that energy of will and soul. I wanted to leave my mark upon it, and I wanted it to do something for me. You cannot move that something, impart power onto it, without pushing.

It's not as if you don't notice the changes an unlocked aura brings— every sense clears, every movement feels weightless and free, and you understand intrinsically that you are more you than you were before. You feel new and improved, and the energy that's supercharging you is at the cusp of your perception, a tingling in the back of your mind. Basically put, you know it's there, but without either training or pure dumb luck, you don't know how to grab a hold of it and make it do what you want.

You don't get to tell your Aura to do things with just an inclination without either a semblance or lots of practice.

As for little ol' me, what I wanted to do was pass that energy through the the Dust. To get the electrons in all ready to go in the circuit, but not flip the switch that would set them flowing until I wanted to. Filling up the car with gas but don't start the engine might be another way to look at this.

This was the tricky part, for the reasons that only could be brought up as the doubled edge to my truncated training.

That is, the task of simply charging it with power and not immediately folding that into, "okay, activate". Dust is a natural Aura conduit, and as such, has a now-familiar sensation that I'd liken to a sort of pull when encountering projected aura. When training to enter Beacon Academy, I'd quickly associated that pull with "activation"— after all, utilizing Dust is an overwhelmingly important skill for a Huntsman, so priority one was making sure I could catalyze it in the blink of an eye. Now, I was having to rein in that instinct I'd so dutifully beaten into my own head.

If I had been trained the normal way, without such a rush, this would just be as simple as removing the final step of "Project, Energize, Catalyze.", but for me it was unfortunately closer to "wind up and swing, but don't follow through when you hit the ball".

I carefully let my Aura flow into the powdered ultramarine. I was so used to the expected outcome of "elemental power unleashes" that at first, my only indication that I was even doing anything was the sensation of my Aura reaching outward and being pulled into the vial.

Energize.
Focus upon transferring power.
Not transferring command.
Focus.
Do not catalyze.

...

I released a small breath, one I hadn't realized I was holding, when I heard and saw the telltale shimmer of charged Dust within the vial.

Whew.

"That's harder than it sounds."

What was that about doing a lot of reading and intensive coursework?

Oh yeah, that study group was going to be the minimum.

As luck would have it, speedy determination won Diamond another round. Getting up with a tiny smug half-smile, she walked to the stage, wondering what was in store for them. As she walked, she looked down to her right arm. This class has better be worth shuffling the schedule. We'll just have to see if I have all threeandahalf limbs intact at the end of the semester. That, I suppose, would be the harshest scale I can put you on, Teach. the girl thought, listening to what was her task.

To be frank, Diamond felt her throat dry a little as their exercise was presented. Now, the dust she wielded already conformed to her thought very well. The fact that it was in her nerves probably helped a lot, but ultimately, it was her aura that powered it, not her thoughts, those just gave it shape, purpose. And it has served her rather well - as she found out during her impromptu fight for her life with Vanhomrigh, she could command it well enough to create moving constructs, or act on a whim of a thought - less even, an instinct! She would desire to shield herself, and her mind would somehow make the dust work towards that purpose without a conscious thought. When she thought about it, she learned on few occasion that such unconscious actions opened new alleyways of the dust's use to her - such as when she broke a component in Vanhomrigh's rifle without being able to see it, something she couldn't do before or repeat since. In short, with enough determination, perhaps training, or simply if the conditions were good, she could make dust do anything.

Only now, she was told to do the opposite. It was beginner stuff really, when she thought about it. There were steps to using dust, and just because she did them instinctively didn't change a thing on that. And yet, in her admittedly few days of usage of the Nature's Wrath, she never paused and thought about how it was able to be so. And now, when facing the prospect of having to will the dust to do nothing at all, she felt awkward like a toddler trying to stand up on it's two feet for the first time. Do what now?!

Mind kicking into overdrive as she took the vial of water dust, a bot of sweat ran down the back of her head. This was going to be so embarrassing when it won't work, all that eagerness and nothing to show for it!

Okay, calm down, Dee. Baby steps. You just need to wish for it, like always. She took the vial and held it by the tips between her open palms, looking at it and... Nothing's happening!!! she yelled in her head. It didn't help when Lucas succeeded and made it look so easy. She tried to remember and go step by step through what she was doing when she used dust normally. She didn't usually pay much attention to what she did, because she just did it. Perhaps analyzing a sample then? Something simple, a small spell to look at in detail.

She set her ice dust to create a simple snowflake, so no one would even notice her doing it. Instead of focusing solely on where the snowflake should be, how big and what shape, she also felt for what was happening to herself. A thought - the decision was made. The flexing of her finger that acted as a trigger. The tiny tendril of her dark aura that ran up her arm. There, it sank into her skin, and brought the dust out form where it resided in her arm and spine. Then came the slight buzz in her back. All followed by the satisfied, ecstatic feeling when the snowflake appeared on the tip of her finger and melted instantly form the heat conducted form her skin.

She tried to recall that buzz, how it felt, when it happened, what lead to it. Then, she looked at the vial again, and attempted to replicate it. Imagine a dewdrop on my finger. Go for it. Let it free, and then stop. Abort. Cancel.

All her effort resulted in an actual dewdrop appearing on her finger as well. There went that theory. The stress and anger were mounting. Why is it not working?!

Dust acts because you will it to act. The teacher's words rang around her head.

But how could she will the dust to act, and yet not to act? It was a contradiction! Or at best an unstable state, infinitesimally small moment between nothing happening, and something happening! And yet, looking at the other student before her, it apparently existed. And pardon her, she didn't quite know how to perform a limit calculation with her aura!

Okay, this isn't working. It's not math, no matter how much you'd like it would make as much sense as math does. If the problem is that I am thinking about doing something... Maybe it's not about thinking about it doing nothing.

Dust acts because you will it to act.

Maybe... it's about not thinking. At all. Emphasis on wrong word there, Teach. Dust acts because I will it to act. she realized. Looking down at the vial again, she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled, reaching out wit her aura, wrapping the tendrils around it, weaving them into it. She just let it sink in, like the small fraction that reached to the dust infused in her. Slowly popping her eye open, she looked in bewilderment at the object in her hands, now shimmering and active.

Something you don't remember form your childhood - baby steps are fucking hard!

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

I'm not sure if I got my point too clearly to these two. Some people think otherwise, but teaching's a bloody hard job, you know? It hinges all on your ability to communicate, and if people hear what you're yapping on about and assume one thing when it's actually supposed to be another, then it's your fault. If you screw up the explanations, then all ye be doing is teaching your brats to cut about the actual key information you want them to get into their noggins.

If you're a terrible teacher, then you'd just blunder on without caring about that. Humans hate thinking that they're wrong. Supposedly it feels like being punched in the face to acknowledge that you've done a dobber. But if you've gone and grabbed yourself an education degree in the first place, then you should know that making sure your students get things right is more important than your face, you know? Society might judge you as lesser if you've been turned into a proper munter, but that's nothing new. Your brats thinking that the pish you've accidentally taught them is correct is far worse.

That's why I step in to help elaborate on the point I'm trying to make with this demonstration. Actually, this is one of those places where the brats getting things wrong is good. It's important to sometimes know what falling over's like before you can run, you know?

"If you've only funnelled Aura into Dust for the express purpose of activating it before, it is," I say, taking a look at their two vials. There's definitely a lot of energy being pumped in there - a bit of a wasteful amount actually - but that's what you'd expect when you haven't really tried doing things like that, you know? "Both of you were definitely racking your noggins for what the Dust was supposed to do."

Which is just a step too far.

"But it looks like you've gotten a bit of a hang of the exercise." I smile at them. A teacher's supposed to give their students positive reinforcement if you want them to succeed. And I do. "Your aura is both power and intent. It's what you can do and what you want to do. That's what the Dust reacts to. You put the energy in ... but it won't go off until you will it to."

It's something everyone does unconsciously. After all, why are they going to do something with their aura if they don't want to do it? That's the thought process, but knowing to differentiate there's pretty important and key to using Dust in more advanced ways.

"Think about your aura fields. If you've always got a layer ready to protect you, why doesn't Dust activate when you're holding it?"

I pick up another vial - this time one full of 'Crystal' - and pour a little bit into my left hand. Nothing happens. That's what everybody expects. Even if they think Dust is volatile, it shouldn't explode just because you're touching it.

I wiggle my fingers a bit.

There's no explosion, but the Dust converts immediately into glowing orange crystals.

Maybe it's my ego talking, but I still think it's bloody cool.

"Because I didn't will it to. I didn't want the 'Crystal' to explode or form."

Hopefully that's a good enough explanation for every one of the brats, because I'm going to take this a little further.

"Mister Schwarz, Miss Frost, please activate just the 'Water' now."

I take my own (prepared earlier, like in those cooking shows) vial and lift it up to the light. There's a lot less energy flowing through it than the ones the brats' have got, but most people should be able to unconsciously recognise that yeah, my Aura's parked inside.

"You should be getting something like this."

Water spins to life, filling up the vial as expected. And in the centre of the miniature maelstrom, uncatalysed particles of all sorts of Dust, as if a rainbow had been caught inside. A rainbow that hadn't been activated.

I did say it was only mostly 'Water', after all.

She read me like an open book.

Professor Cirsium had a good eye indeed— Or my poker face wasn't quite as good as I liked to think. Better get that squared away before the next time Dawn challenged me to a round of Old Maid. Then again, I've never really been a good liar, but all that aside: she was right on the money with her diagnosis.

I've never charged Dust without meaning to activate it. A reaction was always the end goal, and never the steps that would naturally lead up to it. As I said, I came into this rushing to the finish line every single time. It was a mentality thing, which I'd understood already. All it required was switching the mentality from "charge and activate" to "just charge". I'd always understood that.

However—

Only the Water Dust in this vial.
Nothing else.
Get flowing for me.

My thought process to get there was wrong. I was pulling myself back, restraining, treating my aura like a dog on a leash. If I didn't specifically focus on just charging, something would go awry; that was the source of all my overzealous concentration. Technically, for the purpose of what we were trying to achieve in the exercise, making sure to not get ahead of myself and activate it was the right call...

Quickly yet gently, the vial began to grow heavier as the radiant blue powder disappeared, replaced by crystal clear water. I watched as the hidden contents, interspersed within the dust as a million hidden tests, began their prismatic dance within the vial as the currents of the activation formed a tiny whirlpool within the glass, casting an entire spectrum of energized, yet mercifully inactive particles in a twirling dance.

"That's awesome."

I had the wrong order.

It was as she said, after all. Why does it not activate purely via contact with Aura?

Because we aren't telling it to.

I was too busy worrying about making sure that I didn't tell it to— or you could say I was fretting over telling it not to. I had the concept, but until that point, it wasn't clicking in the way that meant I really had it. The difference between knowing about something, understanding it, and being able to do it.

But what was more work? Telling one thing "yes", or telling a bunch of things "no"? To activate the water dust, and only the water dust, I just needed to only tell the water dust to activate. Not to sound like a certain sword enthusiast, but that was really it. I didn't need to put my energy into trying so hard to hold everything back when all I wanted was to push one thing forward.

...Man, I'm dumb. I'd worried about things turning on just because I plugged them in.

It really was just a matter of flipping a switch.

@Write@Plank Sinatra



“One...two...three...” I counted as I warmed myself up with some stretches, I threw a few jumping jacks in to boot, can’t be too careful right? I was one of the last students up for the obstacle course, which was fine by me, this would let me show them all up.

What? You think just because I can fly that I shouldn’t be so concerned about how fast I am? I’ll give you two reasons why that’s wrong. Reason number one, I can’t always be in the air. Like it or not, I have to be on the ground sometimes. Reason number two…

…I’m fast as fuck boi! They would all eat my dust! I was at the starting line, waiting for the sound off. As soon as I heard it I was off, moving like a speed demon on a beeline towards her target! Nothing would slow me down. Obstacles? HA! If you could really call them that! I dodged, I flipped, I jumped, I hopped, I skipped, EASY. No semblance required!

I flew around the course; the finish line was in my sights! I wasn’t sure what time I was at, but I knew how I could shave off at least a few seconds, at the last meter I leaped with all my strength and tackled the ground just beyond the finish line! I crashed stomach first but hey, that’s what my aura is for!

“4:00!” That’s the time I heard. I’m not sure if anything else was said, but I didn’t really care, I slowly rolled onto my back and started to laugh loudly.

“HAHA! YES! I WIN! YOU ALL SUCK! WOOO!” I shouted this and similar things for a while, this was what they got for making fun of my height! SO WHAT IF I’M THE SHORTEST STUDENT?

Well anyway, the important thing was that I showed my superiority. Faunus power! Yeah! They’d all have to take me seriously now!

…

Huh? What was everyone else doing? They seemed to be doing other things. It was like they didn’t care!

Well, whatever, I was the fastest and they couldn’t say otherwise. It was then I happened to notice that our hot teacher seemed to be giving Bianca some one on one teaching time.

“Hmmmmmmmmm...picture time.” I took out my scroll and snapped a few. I’d give them to Bianca later, she’d appreciate them, I was sure.

Alright, baby steps are over I guess. Diamond thoguht with a pout. And just when this was getting interesting. She just had to imagine the vial filling with water and... ta daah. The vial exploded into life, the residues of the other bases whirpooling inside of the glass like a pretty kaleidoscope of colors. I'm a magical girl! Yey! Transformation on! she rolled her eyes under closed lids.

Still, something bugged her. I distinctly recall that other bitch teacher saying you don't have your aura up all the time. Call up a godsdamn council and find out what is orthodox. Sheesh. She looked at Lucas, and wondered about another thing. The woman put a lot of emphasis on the every time she spoke the word. Ever curious and always the asshole, Diamond raised her eyes form her vial, and focused on the one Lucas was holding, attempting to activate the fire in it, wondering whether his aura somehow prevented hers to operate it.

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

"Don't do that."

I step into the girl's line of sight, blocking the Schwarz brat from view. When you've taught for a while, you can tell when somebody's coming up with some bampot idea that's going to result in nothing but trouble. And what Miss Frost just then was a perfect example of one of those ideas. Some bloody idiotic brainwave that was just utterly unacceptable. I'm disappointed. I really am. The brat seemed so eager to take in all the theory and participate, but it looks like she missed the lessons on not putting her fellow Hunters at risk.

"I could sense your attempt at activating Mr Schwarz's vial," I continue, my eyes bearing down on her. This frustrates me, you know? I don't like dealing with troublemakers. Beacon is supposed to the premier hunting academy, a place where the trainees we're supposed to instill our wisdom into should already have a firm noggin on their shoulders. At minimum, these brats should be aware that they're going to be responsible for the lives of their fellows. I'm not expecting absolute units in the realm of good behaviour, but there's a bar that they should at least be able to cross: don't try and hurt other students on a lark.

Maybe that's too optimistic of me. Maybe that's not even possible. Youth are rowdy like that. But it's frustrating. Could Diamond Frost at least have made the effort to even pretend when in the middle of class? I've been standing right here. I can tell exactly what you're doing, you know?

"Catalysing a Dust reaction in another student's hands, without their knowledge, is absolutely unacceptable. Not only did it put Mr Schwarz at risk of injury, it's also an utter breach of trust."

A spark flicks out from my left pointer finger as I hold it up, an electromagnetic pulse pulling the two vials that the two brats were given back to my possession. I'm not letting them hold onto the Dust any longer. Not now.

"I'm disappointed, Miss Frost."

I really am.

Diamond's success might've been limited. Maybe. But her intent would still have involved a vial being set ablaze right underneath Luke Schwarz's nose. That wasn't right. A student here shouldn't have to worry about their classmates trying to kill them. Not when the Grimm were out there. It was frustrating. It was behaviour I couldn't, at all, condone.

"Stay behind after class," I say. I breathe out, disappointment and disgruntlement sagging out. "We'll need to talk about this. Now go back to your seat and wait there."

Lauren watched the events unfold with wide-eyed, unblinking innocence. From her flesh-and-blood throne atop Ben's lap, the trap queen's feelings about the ballooning spectacle were hidden behind a pair of huge emerald eyes; they trailed the Dust that zipped back into Professor Cirsium's hands, abandoning Luke and Diamond.

"Wha..."

Diamond had tried to catalyze the Dust in his hand? Deep fry her little Royal Wok? Send her little Short Round to see Kali Ma? Napalm her beloved little Agent Orange? Right in front of the class? It was hard for Lauren to believe that the Atlesian had the brass; any of the dozen-or-so physical fighters in the class could have snapped her down the middle, weirdo arm or no weirdo arm. She didn't look put together enough to dress herself in the mornings. Her entire demeanor and outfit looked like it was cobbled together from other thugs who had spent their month's rent on Amy Desire.

Her head tilted over to her teammate, looking for a reaction. To Lauren, who rapidly felt like the only person left alive in this school with people skills, it was obvious that there was still sexual tension simmering between Desire and the girl who had just tried to leave her little protege...well, simmering. She was looking for a hint of condemnation, but she was also taking the chance to casually slip her hand down past Ben's thigh, to the backpack she'd left tilting between his chair and the one she'd vacated. Her fingers closed around her jacket, but after that, her arm didn't budge.

"That's so fucked up," she grumbled, making a hmmph into Ben's ear from her mouth's place beneath it.

She took a deep breath, head lolling back onto Ben's collarbone as she stared up at his saddle brown hair until she could make out individual strands. She forced herself to calm down - to rationalize, instead of standing up and atomizing Diamond Frost with a beam that not even her crabs could escape. Nobody ever got away with a crime of passion.

On the street, it was random acts of violence - like the one Diamond had nearly just perpetuated onto her charming little hoodie boy - that you were most likely to get away with while squeezing out your victim in the process. Lauren just had to live by her own game plan, her own coda, and let the others react with the low murmurs of anger she heard brewing around the room.

She would play it cool.

THUMP

The sound of Beryl's tail hitting the floor was easily audible to anyone even remotely nearby. She was sitting straight up in her seat now, any hint of drowsiness gone. Her hands flat on the table before her and staring at Diamond with eyes like flakes of glacial ice. A nearby student looked at his coffee in confusion as it abruptly began churning.

That little Grimm had just tried to detonate Dust in a fellow classmate's hand. In luke's hand, one of her best friends at Beacon. It didn't matter that there probably wasn't enough Dust left in that vial to cause serious damage. It didn't matter that Professor Cirsium had stepped in before anything could happen. It didn't matter that Luke could have simply healed any damage done while his aura was down.

Diamond had just tried to harm one of Beryl's friends.

It activated instincts built up over long nights in the less savory parts of Mistral. The kind she had cultivated to watch over an entire church full of children in a city full of predators. Those predators were still keeping their distance even now, the otter faunus had made it quite clear that certain things were off limits.

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Though Sepia was disappointed about not being able to participate in the demonstration, her thoughts were not able to linger on it. There had definitely been a bad feeling coming off of the blonde girl now standing at the front. As the professor's words confirmed her suspicions, however, precisely what was said only served to confuse her. Stay behind after class? Beacon sure was a strange place if they were always this harsh on students playing around with a tiny pinch of dust. Back in Laire, a few burns and nicks just meant one lived a full life and was learning to be appropriately aware. People even showed scars off on certain holidays by painting them bright colors. Then again, maybe the cause for concern was merely that the audience may become distracted from the actual lesson.

Curious as to how the two demonstrating students would react to the professor, she scrutinized them closely. As she took in the girl's expression, a thought occurred:

"Is she trying to flirt with him? I don't feel anything like that between them, but it is a classic approach. A mild attack indicates both interest and power, after all."

Did that seriously just happen? Diamond just tried to activate Dust in somebody else's hand?

Oswald didn't even know you could do that! He'd never been taught that such a thing was possible- though it was likely to avoid incidents like this.

Yes, they all had Aura. Yes, they were all trained well in its use. Yes, the odds that Luke would have ended up with anything worse than a minor burn and a few small cuts were minuscule. But you didn't aim an 'unloaded' gun (there was no such thing, really) at somebody, either.

Because while the odds were probably at least 99% that nothing seriously bad would happen, that meant that if you did it enough....

You blew somebody's face off. What the hell was Diamond thinking? Oswald simply stared at the front of the room with disappointment and frustration evident on his face. Fucking really, Diamond? Come ON!