[IC] The Heroes of Beacon

[Guess Who]

The tiger faunus replied to Robert's rhetorical question with a sound of irratance in his voice. "Well, either this team is filled with jerks, or there's something about me that's sending a very negative vibe to them," Robert thought to himself. He then saw the guy who had slapped his hand earlier start yelling at the boar faunus. "So, he's not only mean to me," he thought. As Robert began to follow Priscilla back inside the airship, he noticed the tiger faunus start acting funny. Was it dizziness? Or maybe he was injured? Robert thought of helping him out, but the boar faunus noticed his teammates peculiarity as well and beat Robert to it. "Great, missed a chance to repair some bridges with these guys. Oh well. Better luck next time," Robert thought. Then he realized the irony of the thought, considering how luck had treated him up until now.

Robert followed Priscilla back inside the ship. Not knowing what to do to pass the time now, Robert began playing with the idea of team names in his head. "The Avengers! No, Tai doesn't have a tragic past so what would he be avenging. The Justice League! No, we're not large enough to be considered a league. Guardians of the Galaxy! Nah, we're not defending the galaxy. The Fantastic Four! No, too cheesy. The Teen Titans! That's probably even cheesier. Maybe it's a good thing that the school faculty chooses the names and not the students," Robert thought to himself.

[The Irish Tree]

A rather uneventful and trash-grimm kill-spree through the forest had eventually brought Beliya and Gideon to a clearing; a nice break of scenery from the blood-red trees, now there was just blood-red grass, and soft dirt underfoot.

"...Hmm..." was all Beliya murmured at Gideon's question. It WAS true that she had a reason...but did the people of Vale really just open up that quickly? No matter...it wasn't beneficial for him to know anything about her, it was just simple small talk. Continuing to take it slow, unaware of Gideon's wound's condition, she eventually stopped her march, turning her one-eyed gaze to Gideon before saying: "I suppose you have the right to know...but not the whole thing. I don't want to bore you with my life story, not until I've published it." With one hand, she gently pulled back the bangs over her right eye and revealed it.

To call it an "eye" anymore would be an exaggeration, if anything. The flesh of her eyelid was scarred deeply, and the entire area around it was burnt as well. While it wasn't clear if the eye was still functioning behind the scarred eyelid, it was at least obvious that whatever had caused the injury certainly wasn't human. "I came here for the most worthless cause. I want revenge." was all she said as she removed her hand from her bangs, and they fell back into place to cover her right eye. Turning around quickly, her ears flicked a little as she said: "Sorry for showing you that...But, since I told you, would you mind if I asked about your own story, Gideon?"

[OldManWong]

Gideon's features softened with understanding as he nodded, as if attempting to show his approval through his eyes, "Revenge is one of the strongest urges humans can feel, especially those who believe in a just society and feel they must exact equal if not justifiably harsher punishment." Gideon states solemnly, his face hardening as Beliya returned the question to his side of the court. He had foreseen the question rebounding but hadn't had the time to come up with some excuse as to why he was there. At loss for words for only a moment, he gathered his thoughts and shrugged.

Running a hand through his hair he gazed at the open field, his eyes losing their intensity and appearing more distant as he recalled the bane of his existence, the heavy weight that rested on the weak heart.

"I'm here to recuperate, as if I came here to enjoy some resort." He chuckles to himself before growing solemn again, "that sounds a bit pretentious, doesn't it?"

Gideon goes silent, remaining that way as he loses himself to his thoughts.

[Galgarion]

Bridgett rocked back as if she had been physically struck by the severity of her partners rage "Abel..." she said quietly, touching him lightly on the shoulder "It's not so bad as all that. We are all fine, and I don't know about you, but I didn't feel like walking all the way back... He was just trying to help." Bridgett forced cheer into her voice and grinned trough her pain at Abel for a moment before walking over to Gren. She gently lifted his chin to look him directly in the eye, "Gren, it's not quite as bad as he is making it out to be, he just a little stiff and sore from his landing. You know better now though, right? Later, when cooler heads can prevail, go apologize to him and I'm sure everything will be fine."

Bridgett then realized the her over excitable partner had wandered off towards the medical team. What the? He didn't seem injured, did something happen while I was away? She started walking over to him, garnering some concerned looks from the medical staff due to her tattered clothing and arm in the makeshift sling. She saw the faunus partner swaying back and forth on his feet a little and tapped him on the shoulder "Hey, you ok? Want me to get you a medic?" When he didn't respond she turned back and yelled "Abel, Gren, you might want to get over here, something isn't right." Recalling his seizure from earlier Bridgett lowered him gently to the ground. Kneeling next to him, she held his hand, recalling that she had heard somewhere that a comforting presence can make a large difference.

[Lugubrious]

Abel greeted Gren's simple response with a blink. He hadn't expected a straight-up apology from the boy, whose shining green eyes and bulky armor gave the appearance of a brute. Much less had he expected a sincere apology, but Gren's voice conveyed what his hidden face couldn't. This guy actually seemed genuinely unhappy that he'd put the lives of his companions at risk.

Which, Abel considered, was exactly what he had been wanted.

While others might have given an affirmative smile, as if to say everything was okay now, he did not such thing. He merely listened to Bridget's words, which hammered in the final nail in the coffin. "Yeah," he finally breathed. "Maybe I was a little hard..." Avoiding the eyes of the others, he peered out over the cliff's edge at the sea of red leaves.

His focus was brought back to those around him when Bridgett's concern alerted him that someone was hurt. Following his partner's voice, he found Kuhaku limp in Gren's arms, with Bridgett kneeling at his side. "He looks bad," Abel remarked uselessly. As if realizing the profundity of his comment, he quickly moved on. "Medics!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, not wasting any time. As the small team of medics approached, his eyes shifted from Kuhaku's twitching body to Bridgett. Strain and exhaustion were obvious on her face, despite her best efforts to keep up a good image. Nothing was visible through Gren's carapace, however. "Maybe you ought to get checked out too."

[The Irish Tree]

Beliya gained a soft smile at Gideon's comment, though she knew that all of it didn't even apply to her; considering she wasn't even technically human. But, she didn't want to bother him with the details...she wouldn't drag someone out for her own revenge either way. She did, however, take not of his slight change in expression when she returned his question in kind.

"...Recuperate? Interesting..." was all Beliya could think to herself at his explanation. She had a feeling deep down that he wasn't telling the full truth...shame, she was honestly curious. But, naturally, it seemed like not everyone was so easy to get information out of. Not wanting to press details, Beliya responded plainly at first, simply saying: "...Possibly." After a few moments, she felt as if she should clarify, not wanting her bluntness to offend her partner. "I don't mean it in an offensive way, if anything, I'm fairly certain that if we were being completely honest here, you'd be sick of me already." Figuring that she should still survey around, she walked around the clearing a bit, her ears atop her head flicking every now and then as twigs and leaves shifted. Nothing was nearby that she could hear, at the least.

[harinezumikouken]

Strength draining from his body, Kuhaku could no longer stand and crumpled to the ground. Gren arrived just in time to catch him as he fell, Miss Belle at his side seconds later. Breath coming labored and ragged, his lungs struggled to properly feed his body oxygen. His skin grew colder and paler as he was covered in a thin layer of his greasy sweat. His senses began to abandon and betray him, rolling through the process of punishment in rapid succession. His teammates and the people around him were saying things, he could understand that much for now.

But soon their muffled voices were completely deafened by a persistent ringing, blocking out all sound with its high-pitched tone. His vision went next, shapes and colors mixing and blurring until they were replaced by complete darkness. His eyes rolling back into his head. Last was the worst of all, the waves of near-unbearable pain. Pressure building within his head, it felt as though his head were in a vice with someone slowly cranking it attempting to crush his skull and spill its contents onto the ground. Powerful jolts of pain shot down his spine and spread throughout his body, causing him to curl up into a tight ball of miserable suffering.

Shaking violently, he made a horrid choking noise as he clenched his jaw tightly. Grinding his teeth loudly against each other. A white foam began to build at the corner of his mouth. He then closed his eyes tightly as his body seized up from pain equivalent to being tortured to death by electrocution. Like a gunshot, an particularly powerful wave of pain rattled through his body and acted like an 'Off' switch. His mind and body no longer able to tolerate the episode, he shut down. Instantly, he grew silent as his body slowly relaxed and became completely limp in Gren's arms. On the edge of consciousness, sorrowful tears streamed from his eyes.

Voice weak and small, he pathetically mewled out a few last words, "Please...don't...let me...forget...them..."
Begging to no one in particular.
He lost his grip on reality and consciousness, blacking out.

[OldManWong]

Gideon followed Beliya out into the clearing, thankful for the lack of pressing questions. The breeze, allowed to flow due to the lack of expression began to sway Gideon's hair, his nose upturning as he slowly inhaled the air and looked to the sky. The air was still too humid, but there was little that could be done to change that beyond burning down the entire area. Listening to Beliya he set his hand behind his head; stretching out his back. "I doubt I'd grow tired of you from a simple self-introduced summary." Gideon states, as if defending himself, "Though I might be slightly tiresome in your eyes." He smiles warmly, gazing around the treeline of the clearing, as if deciphering between the movement of brush and any grimm in the area, "Is there a time limit?"

[Jangel13]

Greyson smiled as he went and kept sharpening his sword and he waved slightly when he saw Robert and Pricilla come back from their walk. Greyson was able to tell that something happened with their walk because otherwise they wouldn't be back so soon or Robert wouldn't be giving some faunuses the cold shoulder. "how was the walk guys?" Greyson asked them wondering if they wanted to talk or not as Greyson kept sharpening his sword and soon his rock got to small and he had to drop it, so Greyson grabbed another rock from his bag before he went back to sharpening noticing that the blade was getting better as time went on and after another rock or so he would be able to kill anything again as he made sure not to move his broken leg to much so it would heal quicker. Greyson's sword needed to be able to cut through anything when in trouble like when he cut through that giant sitting bull gut to kill it from the inside out.

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren didn't really listen to what the others had to say. There was only one thing that mattered right now and that was to get Kuhaku help. Gren moved with such speed and purpose that anyone who didn't get out of his way was stepped around or over, but nothing they could do would stop Gren. He went all the way to the Infirmary and went up to the first staff he saw. "My partner, Kuhaku, he's injured. He needs help. Please!" The doctors took Kuhaku away from Gren, but they needed Gren to step outside the operating room.

Gren eventually wandered outside the infirmary pacing back and forth. Though he looked deep in thought he wasn't thinking of anything. He was just counting the seconds and minutes it took for the doctors to tell him something. Soon a nurse showed up and told Gren that Kuhaku is stabilized. However the doctors could not allow Gren to see him just yet, not until Kuhaku shows some sign of consciences. "Well.... How long do you think it should take?" The nurse said in a few hours. Hours. Gren didn't know what to do with himself. He politely bowed his head and took his leave. He would be back in exactly one hour to see if Kuhaku had awakened yet. In the mean time Gren... Gren wanted to go pick some flowers. Something to calm himself. Despite his stony face expression, Gren was a maelstrom of negative emotions and internal suffering.

[Guess Who]

Greyson's question broke Robert's train of thought. "Huh? Oh, the walk. Yeah, it was nice," he responded. He looked over to Priscilla to see if she would give her own input or make some gesture showing her opinion, and then continued talking. "We ran into another team that just arrived from their trial. They don't seem like the nicest people, though. Two seem to be mad at me for some reason, one pushed me over, and the other one hasn't said a word to us. Anyway, what have you Guys been up to? Do you know why there's a whole bunch of trash outside and the only thing anyone will tell me was there was a crash? Which still doesn't make sense to me really,"

[paigesweetheart]

Priscilla noticed Robert following her, so she stopped so he could walk next to her. "Robert. I'm so sorry fo-.." And then she was interrupted by Greyson. "Uhh. The walk was okay. I liked it, actually. I just didn't like the fact that when people is trying to help, they don't take the help. But other then that it was fine. Haha and then Robert tried to get some food? From wasps, I forgot the name, but thankfully they didn't spot him, because I am highly alergic to wasps. Anyways." She said running a hand through her hair entering the ship and sitting down, sighing. "How were your little talk guys?" She said smiling at her friends, raising a leg on top of the other while she waiting for them to respond to her. "Seriously. I am hungry."

[Flamelord]

Well, more people had showed up now, though the other groups of partners seemed somewhat busy with a collapsed student, if what he was seeing was an indication. But his attention was soon drawn back as the two returned from their walk, hopefully enlightened, or not in such a good mood since some sort of confrontation appeared to have happened

"Yes," he replied simply to Priscilla before looking over to Robert. "That is what was formerly another groups method of getting back to the landing site, riding in that with velocity provided via weapon. It did not survive the landing." He fell silent then. If they cared to learn more, they could go find the people who had built and used the thing. He, on the other hand, would endeavor to make sure that his partner didn't try to follow their example. With his luck, he'd probably break his leg or something.

[DoktorSchnabel]

The drone hovers in front of Brucey's eyes, close enough to force him to cross his eyes a bit to maintain eye contact with the tiny machine. The tiny thing jumps up to hover in a fixed position above Brucey's head and stays there, constantly adjusting itself to stay facing the direction that Brucey is facing.

Brucey and Ineko arrive at the cave after a few minutes of walking, and silencing of the grimm in Brucey's arms. "Shhush... little one, just stop squirming." He said as he increased the pressure of his forearm against the grimm's throat, before the the monster's thrashing ceased. Brucey and Ineko came to halt at the entrance of the cave, shortly followed by a drone flying in and coming out as quick as it went in.

"THE LIGHT LEVELS IN THE CAVE ARE LOWER THAN 0.389 LUX." Ineko announced with a yell, before his drone flipped over in front of him and Ineko's tools appeared. He began to work on the small drone with speed that baffled Bruce."How does he move that quickly without fear of making a mistake up?" Bruce thought to himself. Ineko moved his hands away as the drone slid a little panel back closed on it's underside and suddenly righted itself. It's front ignited and shined a light enough to brighten the cave enough to walk around without fear of tripping or bumping into walls.

The trio entered the cave and walked downhill for about five minutes before reaching a 90 degree drop. Brucey looks over the ledge followed immediately by the drone accompanying bruce as a lantern, illuminating the subterranean hole. "It smells like Grimm." Brucey states. He looks at the walls that are far too slick to climb down at any reasonably slow rate. Brucey thinks about how to slow his ascension, as he wouldn't want to recklessly charge into unknown death.

Brucey suddenly thought of something ingenious. He kneeled down and opened the right cerberus jaw and drove it into the rock near the top of the hole, he then rose up to his feet and tugged hard at the the chain connected to it and jumped off the ledge while keeping both hands on the chain connected to the right jaw and rappeled down the side of the vertical cavern.

[MonstersHand]

Marwan continues his journey through the crimson forest that was Forever Fall. He couldn't stop thinking about the cryptic instructions the teachers had given him. Not only that, but it felt like he had been walking for ages with no sign of anyone and he was starting to get hungry. He stops, going for one of the two chocolate bars he brought along with him, he decides to save them for later and continue walking. Pushing through through the low hanging branches, he notices something behind some bushes. Swiftly he dashes to the nearest tree on his right. He decides to climb the tree to get a better look at what was behind the bushes. He perches himself up half way up. "I..Its another student.", he whispers to himself with a surprised look on his face. He spotted a long haired girl crouching behind the tree. he drops down from the tree and calls out to her. "Hey you, behind the bush. Why are you hiding?"

[Skyrte]

Immediately after Bruce rappelled down the cliff edge, Ineko followed. He struggled a little bit, having never really rappelled before with chain. He botched the landing, stumbling a little bit, but he caught himself. Immediately after his recovery, he looked around, seeing dozens of holes bored into the walls of the large cavern they were in. If something lived in those holes, they were surrounded. Ineko frowned at the thought, if they were surrounded, the only way out would be to fight their way out. And both of them had no idea what kind of creatures lived in these caves. After he finished the thought, he heard a chittering and turned to where it was coming from. He saw a large insect like creature crawling out of one of the holes. It chittered again and then the entire cavern was filled with the thunderous uproar, drowning out all noise. Save for one word, said by a rather loud armored student.
"SHIT."

The insect like creature leapt down and Ineko got a better look at it. It was a massive mantis, standing roughly 9 feet tall. It slashed at him horizontally, which Ineko dodged by ducking. As the blade passed over him, the drones on his back undocked and flew upwards, scanning the area. A small map appeared at the corner of Ineko's HUD, and on it, dozens of red dots crawling out of the walls. Definitely surrounded.

Ineko thought curses as he dodged slash after slash, it was incredibly fast. And Ineko barely could clear its attacks, after a moment of gauging his opponent he went on the offensive. He stepped inwards, avoiding two slashes. Leaning in, he punched the center mass of the creature with both fists, opening with an oriental martial art based on an animal, to fight an animal. The mantis staggered back, then went right back into the fight, slashing again. Ineko caught the right upper arm of the mantis and punched the joint with his other fist. The impact tore the arm off of the creature. It reeled back in pain, meanwhile, Ineko tossed the arm aside and dashed forwards. Thrusting his right arm into the gaping wound, he got as far as his elbow. The entire torso of the mantis then exploded in a massive flash of light, lances of lightning arced to surrounding creatures and fried them. Other lances arced to the walls and ceiling, disrupting the relatively thin rock and dirt above their heads. Ineko didn't notice it however, he was hard pressed to defend himself against the other creatures.

[The Irish Tree]

And so, the passage of time marched on, and the battles were waged, the injuries and scars garnered, and the friendships that would last formed, or simply waited to form from the fires of battle.

---

The room was lit dimly, the iridescent blue lights on the ceiling and floor providing most of the light, before the massive overhead screens activated, both displaying the same picture. As each team was formed, the 4 were displayed above, and Ozpin named each in turn, beginning with the examinees from the Emerald Forest, each pair receiving applause from the audience.

"...And that concludes the teams formed from the Emerald Forest pairing ceremony. Moving on, we have the teams formed in Forever Falls..." Ozpin said, with an air significantly lighter than the speech he'd given before. Almost looked like he was happy, even. Of course, the Forever Fall pairing ceremony hadn't gone off with as few hitches as its Emerald cousin had. Many were injured, unable to attend the ceremony for a few, but it didn't matter, they had passed the test and were now among allies. Even if they did not stand beside their comrades for the final bit of the ceremony, it was cemented that they were together; a team, that shall stand together, or fall divided.

"The first of the teams to partner together, was team PRGT (Purgatory), who felled a beast that protestors had tried to free several years ago. Regardless, they faced the menace with courage, and coordinated to bring down this... 'Edgar', and secured their cards, the Ace of Spades. Good luck to you, Mister Fallson, its your team now."

"Next, is team BKGA (Blackguard), who managed to defeat one of the academy's advanced combat machines with its limiters removed, showing great use of their surroundings to heavily damage the old train tunnel atop it, and retrieve the Queen of Clubs cards. Not an easy feat for novices. While she cannot be here to stand beside those who were uninjured, Miss Belle shall lead you."

"Team AEJS' (Aegis) pairing was a rather...odd one. Auriel and Emlyn managed to steal their card, the King of Spades away from the mighty Datura who wandered the mountains, and assisted Jack Orpheus and Savan Everstone in eliminating a Nevermore Nest, and felling a Nidhogg that swept into the area. Auriel Connoly has been chosen to lead."

"BBIG (Big)...I do apologize, we had trouble forming a name for you all, managed to literally stumble upon their card in the deep caverns of the Forever Falls, showing great strength and coordination in eliminating a Gastrodon, a rather powerful Midas Classification Grimm, avoiding any serious injury, before retrieving the cards of the Jack of Diamonds from its final resting place. Beliya Karsakov has been chosen to lead your team."

”Team CMLT (Camelot)...I do believe it is worth noting that your team was rather...odd, honestly, Ms. Goodwitch and I had expected a much different turn of events from what you experienced...I still don’t know how a datura could get that big solely on mountain vegitation. Regardless, your two pairs managed to acquire two pairs of the Queen of Hearts hidden in different locales, and, impressively, found each other. Choosing a leader was difficult, but we’ve decided that Cynthia Dea shall lead. Oh, yes, that’s right…” As he was finishing, Ozpin reached into his pocket, drawing out a zip-locked bag of what looked like powdered chalk. “Ms. Kunrai. You seem to have misplaced your rock...take care not to do so again..”

”Team PHGM (Pilgrim), I must congratulate you all on felling the Nemean within the cave northeast of Forever Fall, and reclaiming the Jack of Spades cards. It was no contest of who would be the one to lead, for showing great leadership abilities, we’ve chosen Pan Neverell for your leader.”

Ozpin took a pause as the teams finished being announced, before he tapped his cane on the floor of the stage once. ”You have all performed well in coming this far, but this is merely the first step of the miles ahead of you. For now, rest and take joy in your victory. For the next four years, the people beside you will be your allies, friends, and your peers. Take some time to get to know them, for your lessons begin tomorrow. Dismissed.”

At that note, the crowded audience thinned as students returned to their daily lives, and the teachers simply returned to their classrooms. Ozpin, as he does, simply faded into the crowd, leaving the teams to their own devices for the time being.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Auriel proudly lead his new team from the ceremony to their new room. "Well, looks like this is where we'll spend our time here at Beacon. The...next...four...years." He was tired, weak and battered from the battles, and his body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises. He'd have a few new scars before long, he was sure of that. Thankfully, though, he and Emlyn didn't have to work with that strange girl who had told them that the Datura had the card in it. That would have been awkward for everybody.

"So, the first order of business would be to get settled in. Make yourselves at home and such." Groaning and stretching his arms, Auriel looked around, deciding upon one of the beds near the wall. He didn't have much in the way of personal property, but he did take the time to set a small arrangement of his Itzamna feathers on his nightstand, in addition to the small necklace he wore. It served no functional purpose and really wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but it had been a gift, and as such he wore it whenever he went out.

After getting himself set up, Auriel turned to his new team. "So, now that our lives aren't in danger and we've managed to officially become a team....why don't we get to know each other a little?"

[Esayo]

Emlyn was surprisingly less upset than he thought he'd be when Ozpin announced Auriel as the leader. He wasn't sure what he'd expected after his poor performance, but it wasn't a leadership role. As it stood he was more relieved that he was actually in the school, and allowed to stay, that was the important part.

On the way back to their room, he clutched Mirror to his chest, and observed the other two boys who would make up the rest of his team. Jack and Savan, was it? He was fairly sure he remembered their names, and didn't have trouble connecting the faces with the ones that were shown. Jack was a shady looking guy, and Emlyn had more than one or two impulsive insults surge through his mind at the drab outfit he was wearing. But he'd put up with Auriel's swamp armor, he could stand Jack's less-offending ensemble.

Savan was something different. He had a childish look to him that Emlyn couldn't help but find unsettling. And his weapon, an umbrella? Really? At the very least he was more pleasant to look at than the others; he wore a much softer pallet of clothing that actually looked quite good.

Once they reached the room, he was quick to drag his two suitcases his own section and set them down. He checked to make sure all of his clothes were still there, and was content to see that they were. Another time he would set them up in the closet, but for now he was too distracted, and Auriel was calling for their attention. Introductions? Well, he was a third done already, might as well get the rest out of the way.

He stepped forward, clearing his throat and standing up straight as he could. "I am Emlyn Jyri Ampelios. Auriel already knows me, but as for you two... I am here, because I am going to be a legend, both in this school and afterwards. As my sister before me, you can expect me to excel, perhaps even more so."

A smirk stuck onto his face even as he stepped back. As far as introductions went, he was fairly proud of that one, even if he was still a bit frazzled from the test. These other two, they'd learn why he was here, and what he was going to be.

[Lugubrious]

Though he had always been a big guy, it was today that Abel stood tallest.

As he stepped off the stage, a rare smile graced his face. He looked around at the other students, just now finishing their heartfelt round of applause, before casting a glance at Gren. To be sure, he had never pictured what sort of man lay beneath the hulking armor, but he hadn't expected an orc. He had no qualms about his new teammate's race—he had already proved himself in battle, and despite their brief confrontation concerning Abel's unscheduled flight from the junkmobile, no hard feelings remained between them. Gren was every inch the warrior that Abel was proud to call his ally. Seeing their faces projected larger than life on the auditorium's screens and the name 'Blackguard' formed to christen them cinched it all.

As for the others, his joy extended to them as well, though they were not here. Having just half a team onstage while all the others had four (most of them seemingly uninjured, no less) put a small dent in his satisfaction, but the guardian wasn't about to let that get him down. Ozpin choosing Bridget as leader initially surprised him, but after a few moments of consideration it made sense to him. Kuhaku seemed reckless, Gren a little oblivious, and him...well, leadership didn't exactly suit a defeatist. Abel envisioned a smile spreading across Bridget's face as he and Gren delivered the news to her hospital bed.

Hearing about PHGM didn't surprise him at all. Pan, Hansen, Gretchen, and Mary had seemingly formed a connection long before their cards sealed the deal. The mention of slaying a Nemean only cemented the fact; Abel had experienced the wrath of those creatures firsthand from atop the walls of the kingdom. Mary looked to be as excited as he had been, but took it a step further by exuberantly waving to everyone with both arms, eyes closed in adulation.

Before long, he and Gren were on their way. Though not usually the talkative type, Abel couldn't restrain himself. “That was pretty great! Dang shame Ku and Bridge couldn't come. Want to visit them in the healing place and tell them the good news?” He brushed a hand against his blue coat, which he had put on specially for the ceremony. Honestly, after seeing it among his things and remembering how much nicer it was than his plaid hoodie, he seriously thought about a wardrobe change.