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H A V E N A C A D E M Y
G R E A T H A L L
K I N G D O M O F M I S T R A L

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The joys of people watching kept Bren entertained until they were all ushered into the great hall to hear from the Headmaster who was not someone he was particularly familiar with coming from Atlas. He could read the mix of anxiety and excitement that was on the faces of most off the students that were standing around him. He was excited, that wasn't something he would deny, but part of being from a well known family meant keeping an impassive expression overall. Eventually he'd get out of that mindset being in school. Eventually.

The Headmaster certainly was chipper. He was pretty sure he'd heard more encouraging speeches at the fancy party's hosted by the Atlas upper-class than the one she was giving. Still it seemed at least somewhat fitting since there was probably a high chance that at least someone would get hurt, maybe die, during training. He had no intention of being one of those people though. He was confident in what his mother had taught him and what he'd learned in combat school. Maybe it was meant to get those who weren't really committed to the idea of being a Huntsman to run out before the school spent too much time on training them. Might be brutal but at least it was honest.

He was curious about what the hunting grounds were, as he imagined many of the people here were. At least those of them from outside Mistral that was for sure. He was fairly certain there was at least one other person from Atlas who was present though he hadn't spoken to her. Though he sincerely doubted that any of the people here from Mistral had any idea what it meant either. The initiation, as far as he was aware, was a carefully kept secret so that no one would be more prepared than anyone else. Nevertheless he was here to prove himself and there was no way he was going to let some speech run him out of the academy and back home.

As the speech drew to a rather inconspicuous close and the hall all stared blankly forward he made sure to check his coat pocket for the ID that would get them into the hotel. Haven was nothing if not prepared it seemed. Patience didn't seem like too difficult a trial, though for some it might be a bit harder. He was content to stay inside and wait until they were retrieved.

He side-stepped out of the way of a shorter student who nearly ran into him and was talking seemingly at random to whoever would listen, "Still excited even after that doomsday speech we just got huh?"

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As with the rest of the students, Artemisia soon found herself in the large room with the rest of the academy newcomers. A quick look around revealed her the location of Midori, the student she spoke with right before coming in here. She also spot the taller guy she almost had a fight with. Truth be told, he was hard to miss with his 6'5 height, towering over the others near him. The rest were unfamiliar faces, except maybe for a few who seemed to draw attention back when they were outside.

In a way, headmaster Lockhart was as Artemisia imagined. She looked like an experienced Huntress and spoke like one, with an assured tone and going to the point, something which the red head respected a lot. Her speech, however, was different than what may have been expected from a Headmaster. Then again, it made sense. This wasn't some school, it was a Hunter Academy. Everyone here would soon risk their lives: while studying to become a hunter and for the rest of their lives. If this speech would deter anyone from marching on, then surely they were in the wrong place to begin with.

Artemisia listened intently to the speech, as was expected of her, then confirmed her identification card was in the pamphlet. After the whole thing, she left and headed straight to the Hotel. Everyone would end up over there anyway, so if they had to discuss might as well be in the comfort of the Hotel. Once over there, she would check in, find a comfortable enough seat in the main lobby and crashed in it, sighing deeply.

"Patience? Man... that's just plain bad luck." Artemisia...wasn't known for her patience. Still, orders were orders. Maybe there was some kind of place to practice while waiting in this Hotel?

Location: Haven Academy

Mentions: @PrankFox

"Still excited even after that doomsday speech we just got huh?"

"Eh? Oh, yes of course! Sure it should be concerning, but anyone who planned to take this seriously should have been as ready as they could be already! If a little warning like that spooked them, well, I guess they weren't going to be making it far either way. I'm not gonna worry though personally, right now it should be fairly easy. Go to the hotel, and wait for things to kick off proper. Might do some maintenance while I wait, I'll have to find something to do." Midori was caught mid stride, figuratively speaking, and practically rebounded off nothing to shift his focus on the one who'd made the remark to begin with. Tall, sturdy, brilliantly red hair and impressively blue eyes. Well dressed too, and Midori had to look up, as usual, to meet the boys gaze. He offered a warm smile as he finished rambling, however briefly, and extended his hand as he picked up from where he left off on his ramblings.

"Right, introductions, can't forget those! Midori Yoake, it's a pleasure to meet you! You definitely seem like you were all but built for this, I can imagine you'll go through the initiation with flying colors, you and plenty of the other people I've seen around already as well. I'm hoping anyone who sticks around is serious about this though, I don't want to see anyone getting buried, I mean who does right? But I'm hoping the scare speech was just that, to spook those who aren't ready or prepared for this, well, as ready or prepared as we can be given how little information there is floating around out there! We should probably get going though, don't want to be late, right? Can chat on the way!" It seemed, better or worse, Midori had decided he would be walking with this new friend to the hotel, after all, most of the folks seemed off put by his outgoing approaches. Someone approaching him first that didn't already at least know him was a pleasant change of pace, and it would no doubt become apparent the energetic young man loved to chatter.

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H A V E N A C A D E M Y
T O T H E C E L E S T I A L S W A N
K I N G D O M O F M I S T R A L

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There was a brief flicker of surprise and amusement across Bren's face as he was assaulted with a sudden deluge of chatter from the other student. He had heard him talking at a rapid speed to other people, but he had assumed that maybe they were familiar with each other. Apparently it was just how he talked. It took him a moment to piece together the individual topics that were in the rush of words. "Hard to tell with a Headmaster who has the most universally impassive face in the country what the real intention is. You'd think someone would hear about it if students are dying during the initiation." He did agree that this would probably be the easiest part of the initiation. All they had to do was sit and wait for the assistant to come and get them. There was the possibility that there would be something more to this part, but he could only guess, or wait and see.

He reached out and shook the other boy's, Midori as he very quickly learned, hand before having to focus all his attention on his bespectacled companion. "Bren Adalwolf. Pleasure to meet you as well." He was much more used to either being by himself, or being in more serious company given the the combat school in Atlas, so this was a bit more than he was planning on handling. "Hopefully not, but the Headmaster didn't really seem like one for jokes." If someone did die that would reflect poorly on the school in his opinion. Clearly Midori seemed intent on continuing this conversation on the way to the hotel. He followed after him after a pause and a faint sigh. What had he gotten himself into.

Still he didn't want to be rude so he matched pace with Midori, it'd be useful to get to know other people since he might end up being paired with them for the remainder of his time at Haven. If he was trapped in conversation he'd make the best of it. "So what's your specialty then? You mentioned maintenance so I assume mechanics of some kind?" Maybe if he could find a topic that just set Midori off on a tangent he wouldn't have to do much talking himself.

"Well she seems nice. . . " Silme mutters from his seat amongst the crowd of prospective students, finding the whole thing to be a bit over-done. This wasn't some battle royale bloodbath, this was an academy testing ground, they weren't going to intentionally try to get these students hurt to that degree, so it felt like a pretty cheap scare tactic on the part of the school. Still, it made it clear that they might try to pull something at this hotel, so Silme flipped open his Scroll to register a few vids to help him keep awake just in case. He'd spent too long training just to get outed in his sleep.

As the crowd dispersed and started heading towards the fancy residence, the faunus spotted Midori off in the distance chatting with some other guy. For a moment, he considered walking over to say hey, but after catching some sideways glances from both the younger and older students milling about, decided that he should keep to his own advice. Best that the gearhead gets some more socially acceptable friendships rather than just being stuck with Silme and his thug stigma. Shoving the pamphlet into his pocket, he couldn't help the slight flick of irritation that his tail made as began his walk down the long winding set of stairs. While he hadn't minded too much on the way yup, knowing that he'd come all this way only to stick around for a 5-minute lecture definitely soured his mood a little.