OOC: w/ Kiddo
IC:
The airship arrived soon enough and Schwarz dragged herself to an empty seat, glad to finally have some place to rest other than the cold, wet ground. Not that she wasn't already soaked in sweat and half covered in mud. She just wanted a shower and a bed.
But the school's staff was having none of it. When the headmaster himself approached her with something, she knew it wouldn't be a casual chat either. Listening to the message, she nodded in silence, twisting the black queen between her fingers.
True, she had no idea what 'actions' Ozpin spoke of or what Coral's history was. However, the fact was undeniable that she gave her simple instructions to follow. If the situation was bad, she was supposed to just run. She either couldn't do even that much, or just disregarded it and got herself knocked out before she could. Either way, Schwarz didn't exactly want to trust someone so unreliable with her life. And Coral's behavior earlier was only strengthening the argument.
Her eyes widened a bit when she heard that someone actually died during the initiation. Granted, they were told that they will receive no help, but she doubted the parents of the student would be so understanding. nodding slowly, she acknowledged.
What happened next made her think her luck was cursed. First her partner was a terrorist in the making, and now someone missing an arm? Was the headmaster trying to make this difficult for her? She was too tired to deal with this! Taking a deep breath to calm herself to handle this politely, she looked over to her new partner.
The girl looked like a sturdy build. She liked that. Herself, Schwarz was nimble and hit hard, but couldn’t take much punishment once her aura reserve - beastly as it was - was gone. Having someone able to take a punch on her side didn’t seem that bad. “Hi. Name’s Schwarz. I’d offer you a hand but-” she shrugged apologetically, showing her right palm still covered in a layer of mud. And walking to the bathroom seemed like too much effort right about now. “I’m sorry about your partner.”
Ravira followed the headmaster when he beckoned her to do so. Her spot had been nice and warm, but one didn't ignore Ozpin when he wanted something from you. He lead her to the medical wing where she'd been just half an hour earlier, and where the latest batch of wrecked rookies sat recuperating from their trials. This was the last group, and it seemed that they'd been especially unlucky; Ravira had watched their fight on the monitors in the waiting bay. Part of her wished that she could have been there for the excitement, but then again, she'd had far too much excitement on her own, so perhaps not. She probably would have been even later than they had the teachers not decided that her situation had gotten way out of hand and beyond the scope of the initiation.
She was quite unsure what was going to happen to her. Her partner had... died, and she hadn't technically completed initiation herself. Sure, she'd had... well, but still. She wasn't part of a team, and she didn't have a relic. Was Ozpin going to kick her out now?
It was with relief that she listened in on the headmaster's conversation with one of the last group. Given a new partner; thank God. She smiled as best as she could at the headmaster as he abruptly turned and left them, and then looked at her new partner. Another Faunus; she flinched internally for a moment, but quickly chided herself. No, that was unfair; just because her other partner had been Faunus and hadn't worked out, didn't mean that this person would not. And she was a strong warrior; Ravira had been awed by the damage swan girl had managed to deal almost single-handedly to the Kings.
She stood awkwardly for a moment, suddenly thankful that she had her staff to keep her hands occupied; her shoulder itched like crazy, and she doubted she'd have been able to follow the doctors' orders to leave it alone otherwise. She listened to Schwarz's introduction, and nodded encouragingly. "I'm Ravira. I'd shake your hand, but... I'm a bit shorthanded at the moment!"
Her lip trembled, but instead of busting down crying, she managed to twist out a weak grin that she reinforced with a giggle until it was genuine. No, breaking down in front of Schwarz would not make a good first impression. She felt faint for a moment, and took the chance to sit down in the chair next to her partner. Yes, blood loss had a tendency to make one faint. "I saw you fighting; you're quite good!" She avoided the topic of her ex-partner completely.
Schwarz stared blankly for a while at Ravira’s introduction before turning aside, trying to muffle the snorts. “Sorry. I didn’t quite expect that.” she apologized. If that was her missing an arm or a wing, she’d be pretty damn down about it for the rest of her life no doubt, definitely not making jokes about it.
Next thing she knew her abilities were being complimented. While it was nice to hear, she didn’t quite get why. It didn’t quite hit her until that moment that she actually had a hand of killing about one and a half of a pretty massive snake grimms. sighing, she shook her head: “We were lucky, but if you had audio, you’d know the whole thing was a disaster. Everyone but few just did their thing, no teamwork whatsoever. Kind of worrying if you ask me.” she confided.
Speaking of teamwork though, she couldn’t but wonder: “I didn’t see you fighting, I suppose you made it in and out earlier. Since we’re a team now, what is your style?” Then her eyes fell on the staff Ravira was holding, and her eyes widened with gleam: “No way. Another mage?” she asked. while dust usage was common now, most still preferred the easy way through ammunition. The mages weaving dust with more exotic applications were a bit rare, and she was eager to compare notes with any other she could find. At least her luck was kind to her in one aspect, and it appeared one of the professors, Mrs Goodwich, was an extraordinary one.
“Ah, no, we didn’t have audio.” Ravira caught herself as she poked at her shoulder, having placed her staff down across her lap at the first chance. She picked it back up as she awkwardly rotated her shoulder back and out of her line of sight. “But yes, it didn’t look like things were going smoothly on the teamwork front. I’m sure that we’ll work well together, though!”
“Yes way, another mage! I blast things with lasers!” Ravira held up her staff menacingly, but decided against attacking anything in an airloft skyship’s sick bay; probably a good idea. “And I can give people shields, so there’s that. But, lasers!”
"That remains to be seen... first thing tomorrow." Schwarz said regarding how well they would work together. While it was cool to have another mage close by to train with, she was wondering if Ravira had any short range backup. "Lasers are hot. But what about close range? You do look to be able to soak more damage than I do, but can you also dish it out?" she asked, wanting to know whether she will be tasked with defending in the future. Then again unlike Swansong, Ravira's staff looked like it could very well reshape someone's face with a good clobber.
Schwarz couldn't say she was entirely happy the thought of being on defense. She could theoretically make do with her kind of aura reserve, but that could leave her without the ability to hit in a prolonged fight. "Oh, and I am a fire mage. The whole deal - from enchants to dragonbreath." she hinted, "I do best either on the front line or... I suppose using others as my weapons, supporting their efforts." she tried to explain, "I'd show you my weapon but I lent it to someone." Which makes me wonder, where is my baby? There better not be a dent, Stahl! the swan thought, looking around for the concerned person.
First thing tomorrow? Ravira didn’t know what Schwarz was talking about, but she just kept smiling through it. It probably wasn’t important.
And, sadly, Schwarz had to ask about close combat. That was not Ravira’s strong suit. She put on a frown and shrugged. “Eh, I… can handle myself in close combat, I guess.” She swung the staff around, carefully knocking her partner on the head with the end of it. “I can whack people with a stick! Fear me!”
“If you like being on the front line, that’s fine with me. You keep all the agro, and I’ll make sure that nothing scratches you. And I’ll fire lasers.” She hoped that it would be a workable arrangement, but the way that Schwarz looked at her when she didn’t say that she was great at close combat was a bit worrying; the look held some sort of resentment, and that wasn’t the sort of thing that she wanted sent her way.
Hoping for some way to talk about something else, she looked closer at her new friend. She was going to complement her pretty wings, but stopped with her mouth open a bit, and decided to ask a maybe more informative question. “Have I seen you somewhere before?”
It looked like defense wasn't particularly Ravira's favorite situation either. Oh well, the rumor mill said that the final teams will be made of four members. It was too early to worry about that when they only knew half of the variables.
Aaaaaand there it was. Great. Schwarz facepalmed. "Yes, you probably have. White dress, playing a piano most likely. I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread that around though." she looked at Ravira with pleading eyes, before chuckling, "Then again, the god damned ad was in yesterday's paper. With my luck half of Beacon already knows." she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, sure; it can be our little secret. And in exchange, you must never, ever tell anyone that I'm a leftie! Got it?" Ravira mimicked Schwarz's pleading eyes before laughing. "I'll make sure to grab every single edition of that paper and rip the ad right out! Your secret is safe with me!"
