[IC] Flames of Vytal : Hunter's Mettle [High Casual] [World of Remnant]

[Raijinslayer]

Silme Raana

This is what i get for trying to be fuckin' patient for once. Goddamn Old-ass bastard of his blacksmith and his stupid hearing-impaired ass!!!!

Silme seethed internally as his Scroll started to buzz, already knowing what the tell-tale ring meant and feeling less than prepped for the job. Not only was he still irritated from his defective weapon giving him a goddamn migraine, but with his meeting with Azu out of the blue, his mood had been very much soured. Looking around, he was certain that the other Huntsman and Huntresses would be eager to set out, and the last thing that he needed while on the hunt was company. However, after this repair, he was going to need more than a little Lien, and thus, he couldn't afford to be left out of this hunt . . . or be the last one to arrive at the destination. He did a quick rundown of the info, making sure everything was in order, before picking his bag and tossing his gauntlets inside. Jogging up to the counter after some tall ass white haired chick left it(Probably a fuckin' Atelesian), Silme slammed his bag down onto the counter, soon followed by all the Lien he currently had on him. Silme spoke quickly, with only the faintest bits of restraint holding him back from yelling at the man.

"Look, like I was trying to tell you earlier, my gear is busted. If you could fix it, great, deduct the cost from the card. Or take all of it. Whatever floats your damn boat as long as this gets fixed by the time I come back from this job." Shoving the gear and Lien towards the man(but not before pocketing as many of vials of dust as he could), Silme turned around to the exit, wanting to leave it at that. While less than wise to leave his gear unattended, he was confident he'd be bale to track his shit down if any low-life thought it was worth taking. Right now, he just need to get the repairs at least possibly out of the way so he could focus on his curent job. that being said, Silme couldn't resist letting his frustrations with the old geezer slip out just a tad as he made his way out the doorway. "Also, it might do to invest in some goddamn hearing aids while you're at it.

With that business concluded, one way or another, Silme focused on the group forming in front of the store, Azu and the giantess from before. As much as Silme wanted to go it on his own, he had no way of leaving the island by himself. He'd come here on a airship commissioned by the Academy, and it's not like he could just take it out where ever he wanted. As such, he would have to settle with hanging around with them, at least until they were on the mainland. After that, he'd likely ditch them, trusting he could move better by himself then they could in a group in order to reach the job location faster.

With this plan in mind, Silme skulked over to the group, doing his best to put on as neutral an expression as he could manage, which shifted somewhat between boredom and apathy as he regarded the two.

"If you've got a ride of this fuckin' rock, then I guess I can lend a hand. All I'd be doing otherwise is twiddling my thumbs." As he spoke, the wolf faunus cast his gaze over his two 'companions'. The giantess was, well, a gigantic woman, not quite towering over him, but definitely beating him out in the height department, not to mention the fact that she looked like she could dead lift an Ursa without breaking a sweat. His gaze fell to hr gauntlets, the bulky armaments looking as if they probably added some deadly kick to what was likely an already powerful punch. Honestly, she seemed to be the opposite of what he'd come to expected from Atelesians, but he doubted that she was truly any different then any other.

Speaking of expectations, when his gaze shifted over to Azu, he couldn't help but feel a shadow of a frown from making it's way to his face as he remembered their previous interaction. While some part of Silme, the part that remembered how Azu had been quite a diligent,if overly-serious, tutor of sorts(perhaps even a friend) to him in his early years at Atlas, the majority of his mind couldn't help but fabricate an offense from the action, taking it as deliberate blow to his pride that she had thought him needing her damn charity. The fact that he was going into a Hunt without his gear was certainly not going to escape the girl's notice, and he was certain that behind any pretense of concern or care that she might pretend to express over that matter, that she simply laughing at him from behind those insufferably blue eyes. Just the thought of it was enough to get Silme's teeth grinding, though he did his best to keep his cool. That being said, as was often the case, his faunus features clearly gave away his current emotional state, as the ears atop his head were currently laid flat against his head, a clear sign of irritation or anger for anyone who has been around faunus for any significant amount of time.

[Lemons]

Alright, looks like we got two. One or two more, I think, before we should head out.

Tori was, at first glance, unsure about the girl. She looked...oh, what was the word? She couldn't quite place it in the single word that she wanted to—tip of the tongue and all that—but despite the long sword hanging on her shoulder, the girl looked like if she took a single solid hit she'd be down for the count, and like she wouldn't be able to punch something out if she had rockets strapped to her fists. Oh, right, that was the word: fragile. And weak.

Then, of course, she remembered that not everybody operated like she did, and that guns existed. She'd spent so long working on her own that she'd somewhat forgotten the use of any weapons other than Sigyn. She thought she'd been a pretty decent shot once, but she hated guns. No connection to them. She saw something like a revolver on the girl's belt and nodded slightly to herself. All things considered, that was pretty obvious, and she'd been pretty stupid to call her fragile and weak. If she was here and getting alerts from the Vytal board, she'd been through a combat school and graduated. That should definitely be enough. Still, given how she spoke, she was more than likely a bit of a nonconfrontationalist, someone who would rather dance around issues than go right to the heart of the matter. Well, she thought, at least it's just for one job.

Then her eyes fell on the boy that came up to her, and a single thought went through her mind: Now that's more like it.

Yes, he was slim. Yes, he didn't look like he actually had any weapons on him, which could be a problem, in theory. Yes, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. But he was decently tall, covered in lean, strong muscle, and looked like he could take a hit. And, as a plus, he was a Faunus, so there'd be something in there that made him superhuman in some way. Always a plus. To Tori, it didn't really make a difference whether there were additional ears on someone's head; it was all secondary. What mattered was whether or not he could handle himself in a fight, and he certainly looked like he'd be able to.

Then he opened his mouth, and Tori looked up at the sky. Whoever's up there, thank you. Thank you for sending me someone who knows how to NOT mince words. One of the reasons she'd never signed on with a team after she graduated from Atlas was that pretty much anyone she met had a seemingly-unbreakable addiction to small talk. They would talk, and talk, and talk, but in the end, they wouldn't really say anything. Ever. Even when they did, it was so buried in the endless mountains of words that it was impossible to tell what they were saying anyway. To Tori, with her blunt, direct nature, it was both totally asinine and insanely frustrating. She just wanted to tell them to shut up and say what they wanted without beating around the bush like some sort of little brat from Vale. And, more often than not, she did. Hence her lack of companions. Finding someone who, at first impression, seemed to be just as straightforward...how long had it been since that had happened? Since way back in school? She couldn't stop a wan smile from breaking out on her face as she thought of it. I wonder if he likes to drink. He looks a little young, but feh, did that ever stop me?

She nodded. "There's a charter boat on the southern coast. I've paid for passage to and from already. Good thing too, because I've got nothing left in me." She shook her near-empty change purse, then held out a massive armored hand to each of the two, looking at each of them once. "Tori Frejsdottir, Atlas Academy. Don't fuck me with, and I won't fuck with you. Sound good?"

[tobiax]

"Atlas, huh?" the Huntress in blue remarked, now standing behind the gathering group in the entrance way, "Honestly you give me more of a Shade vibe. Straight to business with you, I like it."
She then passed her bright eyes over the group that had assembled. Scrappy, to say the least. Except for the blue haired girl- hopefully she was at least a good shot, or had a worthwhile semblance up her sleeve. The woman idly adjusted the climbing claw strapped to her right hand before settling her weight on her back leg, her long sleeves seeming to eternally drape over her arms and cover her wrists, regardless of their position.
"Looks like you could use my services. When are we leaving?"

Maroon gestured to the blue haired young woman, "You're good. Just put your fasteners in your bag. You work on your time when it's on your dime. And you," he gestured to the impatient Faunus boy, at which point, he gave an exasperated sigh, "Don't get yourself killed. You're going to need this. I've never been able to wrap my head around all that high tech stuff. I may be a weaponsmith, but I'm primarily a metalworker. This thing, whatever it is," the burly man held up the weapon, offering it back to its owner, "Would do much better on the field then behind my desk. Maybe if you can sus out exactly where the problem starts, then I can do something for you, but for now, it'd take me about a week of taking it apart and putting it back together to figure out how it works. And it doesn't look like you have that kind of time, or a way of getting that much Lien without it. We have a deal kid?"
The smith offered his hand out towards Silme, ready to strike a deal.

[Shadow Daedalus]

Having rested for a while, Ryuu's Aura had recovered enough to begin working on the stitched wound marring his side by the time the job request had come through. It wasn't enough for him to utilise his Semblance as he pleased, but it was good enough that he wouldn't have to worry about it by the time he arrived at the mission location. Using the supplies he had brought with him, he filled the 4 Dust reserves on Ryujin with Burn, Lightning, Freeze and Earth, moving the Gravity Dust to top up the reserve tank responsible for powering his quick-draw technique.

His weapon adequately re-filled, he slipped a number of uncut Dust Crystals into a pouch on his left hip, Catalysts for his Semblance should he need them, and slipped out of the Inn room he had been staying at. He stopped briefly to collected his washed and repaired robes from the Innkeeper's daughter, who had offered to clean and stitch them while he rested, before heading out towards the centre of the village. As he walked, he noticed that the blacksmith's shop was still quite busy and inadvertently drifted closer in time to overhear one of the gathered patrons, a Huntress with a robust physical build, introduce herself. The blue girl from before spoke up, and the Mistralese took the opportunity to move closer to the group. Once she had finished speaking, he waited a second before introducing himself with a slight bow.

"Room for a lone swordsman? Ironiji Ryuu, Beacon Academy."

[chukklehed]

Azu had her own hand halfway to Tori's when a third woman showed up out of nowhere and invited herself to join them. She hesitated for a moment, mentally regaining her balance and completing the handshake when a fifth member came to join the group. Five's a crowd isn't it? I've never heard of a team of hunters having more than four people before. Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all, I should just stay behind and let them take- Her indecision played on her face as Azu tried to avoid talking herself out of taking this mission. Being around accomplished hunters was the best way for her to accomplish her personal goal here, and that was what finally tipped the balance for her. Besides, she didn't want to leave these poor people depending on Silme

"I am Azu Vermilion, also from Atlas. I specialize in Dust application." She tried to mimic the formal speech of some of her classmates, deciding it would make a professional first impression. This was her true debut into the world of hunters and huntresses, and she was determined not to mess it up. She retrieved her hand from the other woman's grip and returned to the counter to collect her purchase, packing it carefully into her backpack before returning to the group.

[Lemons]

Tori shrugged at the dressed-entirely-in-blue girl, the one that had said she seemed like she was from Shade, and gave a wan smile. "We leave when we're all ready to go, I assume. That's usually how this kind of thing works, as far as I'm aware." If she could have under the circumstances, she would've taken a moment to rub her hands together and laugh madly; more and more people were coming up to her, and at this point, the crowd was larger than a traditional team. And that was a-ok to Tori. She turned to the young man that came up to her, sizing him up. If I were going to trust one person here to watch my back in a real fight, it would be this guy, she thought confidently, taking in the long sword at his waist and the easy way he carried himself. Being tall always helped. Tori always seemed to equate height with combat skills—a bit of a faux pas on her part—and the other tall one, the faunus, seemed a little apathetic and shifty to be trusted to watch someone's back.

She held out her gauntleted hand as he approached. "There's always room for a lone swordsman. Tori Frejsdottir, Atlas Academy."

She turned then to the newly-introduced Azu, a somewhat pensive expression on her face as she realized something, then snapped her fingers three times in quick succession. "I recognize you from somewhere. I know I've seen you, but you're too young for me to have known you at Atlas." She took a moment to think before shrugging. "I'm sure it'll come to me. Maybe you visited Svartheim once."

"Either way," she said, raising her voice to be heard by everyone, "looks like we're about ready. We're waiting maybe ten more minutes for any stragglers, then we get going. Charter boat's on the south coast of the island. Get ready to pass through the forest to get there, it's a pretty grim place." She chuckled inwardly at her joke.

[Raijinslayer]

Silme

Silme's eyes shifted away from the giantess and her posse to address the blacksmith, the initial bite of his eyes softening slightly as his an embarrassed flush over took his features. Of course some random blacksmith in the middle of bumfuck nowhere wouldn't be able to fix up some atlas egghead's science experiment of a weapon. With a somewhat petulant huff, Silme took both the gauntlets and the lien back from the man, running a hand through his hair as he struggled to formulate some sort of apology that would allow him to save some face.

". . . Fine, you've got yourself a deal, tho these things aren't much better than arm guards as they are. Still, maybe I'll be able to stumble upon a solution." Silme gave the blacksmith a wave before turning back to Tori's posse, which had seemingly double in size during his conversation with the Maroon. Looking between the sword user and the strange blue-clad woman, Silme felt an urge to say to hell with all this and ditch the mission entirely. This was more people than he'd been expecting, and he had already been less than thrilled about the amount of people he'd started with. However, he swallowed his pride, reasoning he'd only have to deal with until they hit the mainland, then he could fully ignore them once the hunt started.

With this in mind, he made his way to Tori, not particularly loving the idea of spending even more time idling about. Especially not 10 agonizing minutes.

"I say we've waited long enough, and that the number of people assembled is more than enough to deal with whatever we're dealing with. Wait any long, and the Grimm will be long gone while we go through another round of pointless introductions. So can we just fucking leave already." Silme didn't bother addressing Azu and the rest beyond a sideways glance, recognizing Tori as the one calling the shots at the moment and, as a result, the only one worth talking to.

. . . Well, maybe not the only one. Silme contemplated in his mind as his gaze fell on Azu, remembering his earlier outburst with a click of his tongue. The only way to understand the workings of one Atals egghead is to find another atlas egghead, and Azu was the closest he had on hand. However, the likelihood of him assisting her after his earlier. . . 'outburst' was extremely close to zero. So unless he apologized to her (no way in hell), he likely wasn't getting her help in the matter. Which meant likely another month of slamming his head against the wall.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

[tobiax]

"Tori Frejsdottir eh? Definitely Atlas." the woman remarked.
Closing her eyes, she then took a moment to stretch, clasping her hands and leaning back into the air behind her. Afterwards, her hands were slipped into her sleeves, during which time, a soft clicking could be heard. A moment later, and she produced a hand gun from her combined sleeves.
"And in case you hadn't checked the listing in its entirety," she began- seemingly to no one in particular- with her hood masking a roll of her eyes, "You'd know that there's no clear record of the Grimm activity in the area. We have no way of knowing exactly what we're running into. Best be cautious. That's why I'll be inspecting the scene first once we arrive, if no one has any reasonable objections."

[Lemons]

"Everyone ready? Good? Good. Let's head out."

Punching her gauntlets together one last time as if to make sure they wouldn't fall apart, Tori picked up and shouldered her backpack, heading towards the door. She strode through the streets, looking far better than she did the last time she'd walked by in the opposite direction. Shading her eyes, she looked up at the sky; it was approaching late afternoon, so the sun hung low in the sky and, more to the point, to the west, in front of her. She paused a moment to wait for anybody lagging behind to catch up before turning.

"Alright," she said, pointing to a sign that said DOCK - 15 MILES, "here's the deal. The dock is about six, seven miles to the south. The road winds around the forest, since people don't like going into it. Full of Grimm, y'know. So that's the question. You guys want to head into the woods and maybe fight along the way, or walk about twice as long and probably not get to the boat until two or three in the morning?"

Of course, they could always stay at the inn in town, but she neglected to mention that. She'd never quite liked sitting still when she had something she needed to do, so she really did want to get going today. Personally? She wanted to head into the forest. She still had a lot of pent-up frustration towards that gryphon to take out.

[Raijinslayer]

Silme

"Oh shut up, you wannabe-know-it-all bitch," Silme couldn't help the growled response that made it's way past his lips, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the blue stranger, ears flat against his head as he turned to face her. He knew an insult when he heard one, and he would be damned before he let this one slide. "What the fuck else could it be?!?!? We know for a fact it ain't bandits, or else it would have said so in the quest description, so the obvious answer is that it's Grimm. It might be some new form of grimm, Maidens' fucking know the bastards have a habit of surprising us with shit like that, but still just a fuckin' Grimm. So take the oh-so-high-and-mighty attitude of yours and stick it right up your goddamn ass."

Silme almost spit at the woman's feet, but just held himself back from doing so. He'd gotten his point across, and whether the bitch took to or not wasn't his issue. He listened to Tori list their options, and felt that the one they should take was obvious. "If we take the long path, we might as well stay here, the Grimm-oh wait I'm sorry, 'unidentified target' will probably be long gone by then. Silme made especially dubious air quotes around the word unidentified target, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of the stranger's warning. They were Huntsmans, and Huntsman only got called in for Bandits or Grimm, as there was little else in remnant that really required them to step in and handle things. "They don't tend to stick around too long if it ain't their turf. I'm sure with this many Huntsman, we can handle one trek through a forest to cut the travel time down and actually get there in time to do something."

[chukklehed]

"As always, your powers of rash decisionmaking and guesswork are astounding, Silme." Azu said, moving past the group towards the door. "If the posing said unidentified, it means unidentified. Grimm aren't the only things in need of a Huntsman's attention. It could be nothing more dangerous than bandits with only a basic grasp on their auras, but if there's even a chance regular soldiers aren't enough and they can't guarantee success, they'll send us in first. If you actually paid attention in class instead of mouthing off to the teachers, you'd have learned that." She stopped at the door, turning back to look at Silme. For just a moment, a hint of concern showed in her eyes before it was replaced by her normal level determination. "Still, don't take this mission lightly. This isn't training or supervised combat anymore. There's real danger out here now. We can't afford to make mistakes that could get us or other people killed."

[Shadow Daedalus]

Since returning Tori's greeting, Ryuu had been content to stand back and allow for the remainder of the group to work out the details of the planning. It wasn't his mission after all, he was only tagging along for the payment, so he was content to follow someone else's lead within reason. He stood at the edge of the group, one arm resting casually on Ryujin's sheath as he distributed more of his weight away from his still-healing wound, listening as Tori and the still unnamed woman in blue took the reins on the mission.

He started thinking over the two options presented: If they took the longer route, they would be able to better preserve their fighting strength but the situation would go unaddressed for longer, but conversely if the mission was a matter or urgency, the shorter route would afford them a faster reaction time at the cost of being worn down by potential combat enroute. He turned his head to make his thoughts known, but before he could open his mouth he was cut off by the irritable wolf faunus. He turned to the man with a sharp expression, bordering a scowl. His initial impression was that he would be an abrasive element at worst, but now he was less optimistic.

He was saved having to scold the bratty Huntsman by the woman with light blue hair, Azu. He shook his head to cool his temper, before he turned back to the two impromptu leaders, pointedly ignoring Silme.

"I'd like to preserve our strength by avoiding unnecessary combat, but if this is as time sensitive as you make it seem then it would make more sense to cut through the forest."

[tobiax]

The woman in blue raised a finger and placed it to the side of her nose, as if to indicate herself to the group.
"I happen to have a certain knack for reconnaissance," she stated somewhat openly, "I could check ahead of us, pick out the best path, then we could mitigate wasted time."
She then smiled under her scarf, and slid rather smoothly, leading with her hip, over to Azu. She stood close to her in a rather friendly posture, which matched the tone her voice now took.
"So, what do you bring to the fight?" she asked, leaning in to make eye contact with the younger girl.

[chukklehed]

Azu startled at the woman's sudden closeness, blinking slowly as she processed that she was being asked a question. "I- uh- I bring Dust? I mean, I specialize in Dust application, like I said earlier. I've studied the effects of each type I carry, both alone and in concert, which gives me quite a bit of versatility in combat. Beyond that, I have an analytical mind well suited to problem solving and strategizing, and am somewhat skilled in weapon maintenance and repair."

Taking a breath after her explanation and trying not to notice that the woman's scent filled her nose, Azu hesitated for a moment before asking her own question. "What- what about you?"

[Raijinslayer]

Silme

"Still, don't take this mission lightly. This isn't training or supervised combat anymore. There's real danger out here now. We can't afford to make mistakes that could get us or other people killed."

Silme froze at those words, the glare he levied after her a mix between disbelief and smoldering anger. He took a step towards her for a moment, almost as if he was going to confront her on the matter, but seemed to think better of it, contenting himself with another glare as he levied his response. "Trust me, I'm well aware of how dangerous Grimm could be. My old team made quite sure of that, remember?" His voice carried none of the usual passion behind it, only cold, barely held back anger as he turned away from her to walk off in a random direction. He needed to put space between them before he did something drastic that he would regret. His eyes glanced skyward, noting the descending sun with a feeling of dread, forcing himself to take deep breaths. It's fine. You can get through this. You'll be just fine.

A few more deep breaths, and Silme had managed to calm himself down, though anyone could see that he was growing fidgety and impatient, his foot-tapping rapidly against the ground as he turn his head to glance at the rest of the group present. "Can we just get the fuck on with this already?! We can walk and talk as we go, so let just get the hell out of here."

[tobiax]

She took pause, inwardly delighted at this response. It could be fun to match wits with this kid in their off time. Instead of responding, however, her eyes lit up with a hidden smile, as she raised a finger past the side of her nose, as if to indicate that something was a secret.
"You know what, I think I like you, kid. Got a Semblance?"
She then noted the still-to-be-stowed luggage, and held out her hand, taking it into hers and stepping just out of Azu's line of sight.
"Hold that thought," and without another word, the young woman vanished, leaving only a soft fluttering sound.
Not even a minute later, the woman returned with a dusty step, placing a hand on Azu's shoulder to alert her of her presence.
"There, taken care of. Thank me later," she informed rather quickly, as she began to strafe closer to the group, now congregated at a road sign.
Placing a hand under her chin, the looked at the sign, while addressing the group without altering her gaze.
"I'd suggest the more direct route," she chimed in, "I'm sure we could pick and choose our fights, and, after all, we are Huntsmen and Huntresses. Taking care of Grimm this close to a village- especially on an island this small, well..." she trailed off purposefully, not feeling the need to say any more.