[IC] RWBY - Return to Niflheim

[DSquiggs]

The massive rays of warming light blanketed the land below. For the first time in almost three weeks, the sky was clear of Grimm. Or at least mostly. A few of them were in pursuit of an airship that could barely stay a flight. Black smoke burst from the sputtering engines, aerial Grimm weaving through them. A few of the students were able to fend off these creatures, but they were quickly running out of time. The pilots struggled to hold the beaten airship, but a sigh of relief came over one of them when they had spotted a shiny structure in the distance. Hopefully it had been the place they heard about, because the ship was going down either way. One of the pilots flipped a switch on his helmet.

"We found it," his voice blasted through the loud speakers. "Just hold them off a little longer."

"Ha," a voice mocked through his headset. "We'll get right on that." The pilot didn't take kindly to the sarcasm in the boys voice.

"Just get the job done, Grehn."

He was at the back end of the airship with the other survivors from the kingdom of Atlas. Dust effects blew harshly into the wind from the open hatches on either side of the vessel. Grehn held tightly onto a strap above him, his clothes threatened to rip from his body. The Grimm had been toying with them, circling behind and observing. Occasionally one would poke at them. After a few moments of playing the mouse, the pilots had managed to apparently reach a distance close enough to their destination. Four feint, but powerful explosions rumbled into the air not too far off. Suddenly, all the remaining Grimm had disappeared in a bright red fiery light.

"Hmph," Grehn was unimpressed. He looked to the few other students on board. "Atlas firepower is way better." Some chuckled.

The same pilot from before had come over the loud speaker once again. " The signal is strongest from that tower over there. That must be it. Prepare for a rough landing"

The pilot had chosen a spot to the north of the base. It was the clearest area and the only one capable of comfortably fitting the vessel. Once the crew had emerged from the ship, they were met with very few people. Two of them being the legendary Hunters from Beacon Academy, to which the pilots addressed immediately. Grehn didn't hear what they were saying, but he imagined they were discussing the crew's last three weeks. Grehn looked around the small base that Beacon Academy had set up. It was like staring at a mini replica of Beacon Academy. There were a number of students approaching them now that Headmaster Cobal had motioned for the new crew from Atlas to follow him.

"I do apologize for the lack of a welcome party," His voice was calm, just a little deeper than his appearance might let on. "It's been a bit hectic around here." Cobal pointed out a few areas, but Grehn wasn't paying attention. He was taking special notes of a select few students who had seemed like they were at their breaking point. He couldn't help but to question what was going on.

Cobal spoke again after turning to face the new arrivals. "Please, take this time to introduce yourselves to the others. Get to know them." He paused only for a moment. "I will be honest, life is going to be rough here. You will all need each other in some way or another.

Cobal took note of the time. He then began typing into his PDA system, making eye contact with each of the new students. "I recommend as much sleep as possible tonight. It's hard to come by these days. I apologize, I must tend to some business. You two gentlemen please follow me." he pointed to the pilots. "If you need anything, my door is always open. Please don't hesitate."

Grehn watched the headmaster walk off with the two pilots. He walked in the other direction back towards the airship. First order of business was food, and the ship had plenty.

[Storm of the Ages]

Hours had past, and chaos drenched the sky with dust and grim in levels she hadn’t known before gram. Every moment she lived now was a moment away from her own demise, yet she had grown used to it somehow. It could have been worse, Ash could have been wandering around Mistral in search of safety, but in gram she had some thread of security that could help her through the days. She wanted to continue on her scarves, reinforcing her seasons in hopes of making them stronger, but the noise became too loud for her sensitive ears to bear, and the faunus had to investigate.

Instinctively she took to the highest point she find, perching on an old turbine, and gazing at the ship that just came in hot to their north. “Fresh meat,” Jade said below her, unwilling to miss this show too. The eccentric teacher studied each passenger as they met the other instructors and lipped their values to the wind.

“Where do you think they came from,” Ash asked lightly, unsure of how the huntress might react.

Jade spied back and smirked at her discomfort, “They’re Atlas, my lil pup.” One move seductive looked follow before the huntress moved back to what she really wanted, information on the newbies. “I have an assignment for you.”

It was trouble and she knew it, yet the faunus wasn’t in any position to say no. “What kind of assignment?” she said reluctantly.

“You see that one in the green? I want to know everything you can about that little minx. I want to his hopes, his dreams, where he lived, where is his going to live; EVERTHING.”

Ash looked to the poor boy with uncertainty. “But..”

“You’ve been wanting some alone time with Prism, haven’t you? She could really be the dust mentor you’ve been needing. It will even help you start stitching past your four seasons.”

She stroked fall, and couldn’t deny the diminished of quality on the rest of her scarves. Ash was a perfectionist, yet somehow she couldn’t match the quality she had put in her first creation. What was the most bothersome, however, was just how much the huntress knew about her. Painful memories of the long week she was her prey seared in her head before the young huntress could move past them. “You promise?” Ash asked.

“Do I ever lie?” the Jade said with a smile, gazing at the boy with green hair.

“No,” she whispered to herself, giving fall one last stroke before condemning one of her new comrade to no less than a night of emotional turmoil.

[Scarifar]

Michelle sighed. it was a relief to be able to see the sky once more now that all the Grimm were gone. It had been a rough three weeks, with all the Grimm attacking the ship. Plus, she had learned during the trip that she had a minor case of motion sickness, which did not help matters. Now that the ship landed, she was glad that the nausea and the urge to throw up had lessened immensely. She looked around to see what would be her new home. She didn't quite know what to think of it, but she supposed she would have to make do. It was certainly not perfect, but it was far better than nothing, or worse, dying. Then there were the announcements soon after landing, which were about trying to encourage her to chat with others, get some rest, among other things. It would be a relief to finally get some proper rest, that was for sure. She sighed again, and started looking around for a place to sleep.

[Zombehs]

He had been on the walls of Gram to await the arrival of the latest airship, and defend the Academy in case such a situation came to be. He watched apprehensively as the faraway shape was harassed by dark shadows, biting his lip in irritation at being unable to do nothing. A relieved sigh was heard by those around him when the defense systems roared four times and burnt away the darkness harassing the newcomers to Gram. “Alright, there shouldn’t be any trouble now, but I want a few of you to stay on watch just in case.” The voice of their supervisor reached them and, to no one’s surprise, a number of individuals turned to Lian almost immediately. Nodding good naturedly, he turned around to glance at the land outside the Academy’s walls as others began to figure out who would be accompanying him for the duty.

Eventually, he and the others had been dismissed as the threat level was lowered and finally dropped. With a sigh as he stepped off the walls, he took a look around at the organized chaos before him. He was used to it he supposed, being one of the earlier arrivals to the Academy and thus having been around for the arrival of others. It was always like this when receiving newcomers, though it wasn’t as bad as the mad scramble would have implied. Weaving his way around people that made their way to places they had to be, he figured checking out the new arrivals wouldn’t be a bad idea.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Amon had been on the ship for the last three weeks and had been helping to defend the ship by providing a shield of the other students to hide behind in between their openings to fire at the grim. After the skies had been cleared of all the grim he was finally able to take a break and put his shield onto his back as he took a seat near the door of the ship as he waited for them to finally land. When they landed he saw that they had been greeted by a few people and smiled as they had finally made it to Gram. He was glad when he heard that they could finally rest after their long journey, plus he really needed to restock himself on dust and ammo as he had run out almost a week ago.

He saw one of the girls that had been on the ship with him walking away from the ship and toward their new home and decided that he would go say hi to her since they hadn't talked on the ship that he could remember. He hurried to catch up to her as she had a head start and put a smile on his face as he matched her pace. "Looks like we finally made it. Glad we don't have to fight off grim in that cramped ship anymore. I don't think I actually ever caught your name, mine is Amon."

[All_The_Science]

It had already been three weeks since Gram had been established and yet Aden still had no clue how the rest of his family has doing. The constant “what ifs” that filled his head made sleep an all too rare commodity for him. But in the end, the only option he had was to keep moving forward, so instead of moping about like a brat he kept himself busy. So whether it was volunteering for patrols around the perimeter or taking up night watches on the wall, he did just that. The work didn’t keep his stupid thoughts away for long, but it certainly helped.

The airship had landed just as Aden was coming back from one of his patrols. At first glance, it seemed like the thing was holding itself together through sheer stubbornness rather than parts, as the hull was beginning to look frighteningly similar to wiffle ball. Students were already beginning to disembark the bucket of bolts, with expressions that couldn’t seem to choose between relief and exhaustion. Aden could hardly blame them, as he remembered just how trying his own journey had been. It seemed like he wasn't alone in that regard, as various students and teachers stepped forward and offered to show the new arrivals around.

But Aden wasn’t one of them. Instead, he stuck to the side and scanned every face that got off the ship. At the same time, his logical part reminded himself just how stupid he was for doing so. The ship was obviously from Atlas. The odds of them picking up stragglers from Vale were closer to none rather than slim, but he still found himself looking for familiar faces.

[Storm of the Ages]

Fall waved in the wind as she clumsily leapt closer to the ship, trying to stay out of sight. Ash had never been stealthy, which was strange for a faunus, yet she like to believe that she had a little bit hidden in her. He growing eyes spotted another clear spot just above the ship and like wild beast she lunged forward with all might, falling atop the roof with a clank.

“Should have just used my scarves,” she growled to herself, knowing to would have been stupid to try. It certainly wasn’t prohibited to use weapons inside the academy, but doing so often brought unwanted to other, and the woman was still unsure if everyone inside could be trusted. Lazily, she found her feet and perched just above where the others filtered out, scanning for her ticket to prism.

“Where is he?” she whispered with a panic, seeing several characters leave, but none quite as green as the man. To the side she saw Aden had similar intention, and pondered asking for direction but her perky ears picked up something below; movement inside the ship.

Ash slide to the side where a hatch was still open and slipped inside the ship while other anxious evacuated. Their attentions where all set ahead, except for one student who seemed to be headed off in the opposite direction. The long ship ride didn’t seem to affect him at all, a fact that worried. Without hesitation, she pulled her scarf to nose and shadowed the hunter to see where he was off to.

[DSquiggs]

Grehn's eyes were glued to the screen of his PDA device as he approached the Atlas ship. One hand was on his stomach, rubbing in a circular motion. He didn't notice that his face looked saddened. When he was close enough, he took a step into the ship, but came to a halt immediately after. He put his device down by his side and looked around curiously. A strange feeling came over him, but he paid it little attention. He was on a new mission, now. He started walking again, turning left at the first chance. This brought Grehn to a small dome like room, a table in the middle and counters lining the walls. He went straight for the fridge located at the opposite end of the entrance.

"Let's see, " he said in a low voice. " Not much to eat." There was a short moment of silence as Grehn looked over every item twice. "Screw it. I'll have to make do."

He hooked his foot around the leg of the table, still gazing into the fridge and beginning to grab for food. He dragged it across the floor and once it was by his side, Grehn began stacking. There was no thought process to what he was doing, just picking and setting. Containers of different meats were thrown in no specific order, the fruits tossed gently. Two sodas were carefully placed on the counter to the side and after he had set them, Grehn stood up and looked to the entrance. No one was there, but he couldn't be sure someone would walk in at any moment. He returned to gaze upon the remaining food. The rest of the food was grouped up on the top rack, and he was able to bear hug the rest of it. He struggled to bring it all to the table. He dropped a thin bottle of some kind of sauce. The table was now cluttered.

"I guess this will have to do," he whispered to himself. People have always yelled at him for eating all the food, but Grehn always replied with the same kind of answer leading to 'What food?'. It was indeed a lot of food, and Grehn would happily eat it all. He whipped a chair from the side and sat. He interlocked his fingers and pushed outward. A loud series of cracks echoed in the room.

"Hehe, Ah Yea!" Grehn immediately started picking at random containers. "Let the mess begin."

[DSquiggs]

Grehn's eyes were glued to the screen of his PDA device as he approached the Atlas ship. One hand was on his stomach, rubbing in a circular motion. He didn't notice that his face looked saddened. When he was close enough, he took a step into the ship, but came to a halt immediately after. He put his device down by his side and looked around curiously. A strange feeling came over him, but he paid it little attention. He was on a new mission, now. He started walking again, turning left at the first chance. This brought Grehn to a small dome like room, a table in the middle and counters lining the walls. He went straight for the fridge located at the opposite end of the entrance.

"Let's see, " he said in a low voice. " Not much to eat." There was a short moment of silence as Grehn looked over every item twice. "Screw it. I'll have to make do."

He hooked his foot around the leg of the table, still gazing into the fridge and beginning to grab for food. He dragged it across the floor and once it was by his side, Grehn began stacking. There was no thought process to what he was doing, just picking and setting. Containers of different meats were thrown in no specific order, the fruits tossed gently. Two sodas were carefully placed on the counter to the side and after he had set them, Grehn stood up and looked to the entrance. No one was there, but he couldn't be sure someone would walk in at any moment. He returned to gaze upon the remaining food. The rest of the food was grouped up on the top rack, and he was able to bear hug the rest of it. He struggled to bring it all to the table. He dropped a thin bottle of some kind of sauce. The table was now cluttered.

"I guess this will have to do," he whispered to himself. People have always yelled at him for eating all the food, but Grehn always replied with the same kind of answer leading to 'What food?'. It was indeed a lot of food, and Grehn would happily eat it all. He whipped a chair from the side and sat. He interlocked his fingers and pushed outward. A loud series of cracks echoed in the room.

"Hehe, Ah Yea!" Grehn immediately started picking at random containers. "Let the mess begin."

[Storm of the Ages]

What Ash saw as she tip toed her way into the foreign ship could only have been described as a massacre. Rations left and were placed on the table for the taking and there seemed to be no end to strangers apatite. At first she thought the man might have been preparing a meal for his friends, but no such people were behind her, and he started eating before he even had the chance to prove him wrong.

Likes food, she scribbled in a notebook that was previously sheaved in her satchel. Her pen slashed across the paper like a knife to a lamb; every little piece of information providing the sacrifice she needed to survive. Sloppy, messy, inconsiderate, she added, making sure not to miss one thing in her notes. She wanted to write down more, but there were only so many adjectives she could spare, and Ash knew Jade wouldn’t be satisfied with simple observations. Instead, she pressed her book closed with clap and tucked it back to its rightful home.

The next part was to be the hardest in her mission, and the faunus knew there was little room error. She took a deep breath and loosened her scarf, followed by a few nudges on her cloths to make sure nothing would give the wrong impression. A few light steps lead her out of the shadows and few more lead into the room where the green man was already well into his meal. “Hey-“ she said too softly to be heard, and instantly shrugged it off. Social situations were not her strong suit, and talking to strangers definitely made things worse. Her lowered for a moment, then raise again when she was ready to engage the beast. “So you like food..” she stated. “That’s cool.”

[MonkeyBusiness]

As Amon kept pace with the girl he was walking with he slipped his hand into a small leather pouch he kept hanging from his hip and noticed that he was out of the cookies that he normally stored in the pouch. His stomach groaned in protest to not having anything to eat all day and he suddenly remembered that there was still food on the ship that he could raid. "I'm sorry, but I must leave you right here there is something I need to take care of right now. I hope we can meet again." He said with a smile before turning around and running back to the transport ship faster than most people could think a person with a large shield on his back could.

When he approached the mess hall he slowed down and could hear someones voice on the other side of the door which confirmed that he wasn't the only one to have the idea to raid the mess hall before leaving the ship. Amon peeked around the corner to see a stranger wrapped in scarves who was just on the other side of the door who seemed to be trying to engage someone in conversation and that was when he spotted Grehn sitting at the table with a large pile of food. Without thinking the blonde haired boy ran into the room past the newcomer while grabbing a chair from the wall and the shield from his back with the other hand which he used to block half of the food on the table from Grehn's greedy hands while sliding the chair into place. "Your not taking all the food this time." He told the shotgun user with a smile on his face as he grabbed a container of his own to see what was inside.

Amon had completely forgotten about the girl standing at the door for a moment but than suddenly turned toward her. "I'm sorry for my rudeness. Would you like to join us for a kind of celebratory meal for arriving?" He told the girl with a kind smile while gesturing to what remained of the food at the moment.

[Scarifar]

Michelle heard a voice next to her and quickly turned around, seeing a boy introducing himself. "Um, hi there, my name's Michelle," she said to be polite. She wasn't really one to socialize, so she definitely hadn't talked to him during the three-week trip. Then he said his farewells and left to go back onto the ship. She wondered briefly what it was that was so important for him, then thought nothing more of it. Her stomach suddenly growled, and she looked down. Come to think of it, there was an announcement that said something about food. She was loathe to go back onto the ship, but she was hungry, and she figured that if she managed to stay on the ship for three weeks, she could do it for a little while more.

Going back onto the ship and into the mess hall, she noticed that she was clearly not the only one inside, and there were also some faces she did not recognize. She tried to ignore them, pulling her hood down as she got a tray and gathered some food, then moved to an empty table and started to eat.

[Zombehs]

There was definitely an increase in activity the closer he drew to the northern landing site, and Lian nodded as he passed by some familiar faces accompanying those that were unfamiliar. ‘Atlas.’ He made a mental note of the uniform some of the newcomers wore and guessed that was where the airship had arrived from. A fair distance, and one that was revealed when he finally got a look at the transport’s condition. Beaten and battered to an extent that he hadn’t noticed when it fly around the Academy, Lian had to feel for the engineers who were going to be stuck with the job.

His eyes shifted from the workers milling about the newly arrived ship to the attendees of Gram that watched from the sidelines much like himself. While he knew that some were just satisfying their curiosity, much like he was, there were also those who held out hope to see those they knew amongst the new arrivals. Lian had already accepted that, aside from some miracle, he wouldn’t be seeing anyone he had once known a long time ago. Perhaps “accepted” would have been too strong or certain of a word, but at the very least the prospect didn’t affect or impair him, even if he found himself thinking about it at times.

Sighing, Lian turned his thoughts elsewhere as he almost fell back into his memories. A brief shake of his head helped to clear it as he walked over to one of the familiar faces he noticed at the edge of the landing area. Walking up to the black-haired student, Lian raised a hand in greeting. “Hey, what's up.” He couldn’t really call Aden a friend, given he knew him mostly from being assigned to a watch duty or patrol with the other student, but they were acquaintances at the very least.

[DSquiggs]

Crumbs lay chaotically across the table, some being engulfed within the soda no doubt flying about from Grehn's aggressive eating and drinking habits. He was lost in a trance as he picked up a cup of chocolate vanilla swirl pudding. It was his favorite. He peeled back the foil and wafted the fresh scent towards his face. It was a sweet smell, and he couldn't wait to dig in. He lightly jabbed the surface and took in a scoop. Grehn took a deep, excited breath, and ate the small amount of pudding, closing his eyes in the process. There was a sigh of relief, in finally being able to enjoy that heavenly taste. His arm slowly lowered itself, the spoon lightly clanking against the table. Once his eyes opened and he stared into the depths of goodness, Grehn released the spoon and brought the plastic cup to his face. With both hands he crushed the bottom of the cup, forcing the rest of the pudding into his mouth. Suddenly he was interrupted by a girl he didn't notice when he was briefly outside. He paused in the middle of devouring his snack. After a second of an awkward moment of her staring at him while a cup of heaven was mashed to his face, Grehn was able to wipe his face within the folds of his sleeve. He looked her over and leaned back in his seat. He noticed the excessive amount of cloths around her person. He also noticed the dark pointy ears perched a top her small frame. He replied to her odd way of introduction.

"So you like scarves..." he said with a smile. "That's cool."

To Grehn's surprise yet again, another person had shot from around the corner. Now in a hasty move, he tried to grab for some more food, but was cut off by Amon. After the boy offered the wolf faunus some food, Grehn leaned back once more and crossed his arms. His face went stoic for a moment as he stared back towards the door, and another girl walked in. She completely avoided everything as she walked straight to the table and took food. His eyes followed her to another table within the kitchen. She sat alone, and silent, as he always seen her do. With a look of interest, Grehn motioned his head back to the wolf faunus. Because of her, he had lost a colossal amount of eating time; or it was to him at least. The boy was known to put food away quickly, and with a smile. He stood to his feet and slowly set the chair aside. He stepped away from the table and began walking towards the door.

"I ate all the good stuff anyway," Grehn said in a calm but victorious tone. Knowing that at a closer look at the table, all that remained was food that had been avoided on the long trip. He never looked back and felt cool doing it. Once he approached the girl who had cost him food, he looked her in the eye for a brief moment.

"Tisk Tisk," he joked. Grehn smiled and continued his walk past her and out the door. "Not off to a great start, are we?" He pulled out his PDA and headed for the exit.

[Storm of the Ages]

Before she knew it, she was surrounded by new students, a thought that didn't sit well with her. Her steady eyes watched them from the corners and observed them as they past with no regard for what she was doing. Two seemed more interested in eating that others, especially the man that sat next to him with the friends forever feel. As concerning as his confidence was, she was more focused on the faunus, who was unfortunate enough to be born into this word half cat; Ash hated cats. Just as it looked like she would have to engage a crowd the man rose, forfeiting his meal for a bit of privacy, or so she assumed. He stood up and walked past he with the grace of an ally dog and spew the attitude of one as he passed her.

She froze for a second, unknowing of the right way to go as he target escaped. One look was what she spared the new arrivals, tucking her her shirt over the scarves that wrapped her wrists like bandages and then flipping fall over her shoulder with attitude as she turn for the chase.

"Hey," she yelled, half waving her while pacing close to him. She got within arms length and lingered just outside his reach. "I wasn't done questioning you."

[Pathfinder]

In one of the darkest corners of the ship lay Ophelia. Stretched out over a bedroll she activated a vent on Crash, releasing a small jet of flame and lighting the cigarette. Taking a long drag, Ophelia finally allowed herself to relax after the protracted battle in the skies. It had been a very eventful couple of days, with having to fight for her live almost constantly. Doesn't leave much for relaxation so she'll take what she could get. From where she was sitting she could tell she was close to the engines, the hum they made reminded her of home and set a cold lump in the pit of her stomach. Letting out a deep sigh, Ophelia went back to her cigarette and tried to forgot about it.

Time slipped by as Ophelia sat in the dark, waiting for the ship to either land or get attacked again. Thankfully the wait wasn't dreadfully long and by the end of it she was at the end of her cig. Rolling up her bed roll, checking her satchel, and holstering Crash and Burn behind her back, Ophelia was ready to face what lay beyond the walls of the airship. Her boots clacked smartly against the metal walkway that led to the ground and when her boots met dirt she surveyed the area.

Due to taking her time she was one of the last people who left the airship which didn't bother her that much, having missed the exit traffic. It also allowed her to view the people around her. Some were getting friendly while some others went to another area, probably were the food was. The pang in her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten a lot these past couple days. Now with an objective, Ophelia took a final drag before dropping the stump and grinding it underneath her boot before making her way to the dining area.

To be expected it wasn't a grand feast, just a collection of canned goods and whatever else could be scrounged up. Grabbing one of the larger apples in the fruit pile, Ophelia settled on a can of baked beans before sitting down and digging in. As she did so Ophelia kept her eyes wandering the room, searching for nothing in particular but she never did like it when people snuck up on her.

[Zombehs]

Frowning when Aden didn’t seem to notice him, Lian figured the other student was busy searching the new arrivals. It wasn’t any of his business who he’d lost in the events just a few weeks ago, so he turned and walked away, having seen enough. Curious as to why some of the new arrivals seemed to be heading right back onto the worn down airship, Lian figured he’d go inside and check it out. If people were grabbing their belongings or transferring the remaining supplies, an extra pair of hands probably wouldn’t hurt.

He ended up following someone to a dome shaped room where some of the occupants were currently eating. Scratching his head in confusion, he stepped aside to let a brown-haired girl, who smelt of cigarettes, pass as he thought. He supposed it made sense they’d stay on the ship for food given they knew exactly where to find it, Lian figured they could have easily just asked one of the many members of Gram where the dining hall was. Then again, he hardly knew how many people the ship had held, so it was likely the majority of people had in fact and he was just looking at a minority.

Stepping inside the room, he eyed the pile of food before dismissing it. There was a smattering of fresh fruits, but it was mostly packaged rations and the like, of which he had more than enough in the past weeks. Now that Gram’s kitchen had finally been properly set up, the food was better than just edible and actually had some flavor to it. Tapping the steel wall next to the door, he waved a hand and said, “Hey. Name’s Lian, been here at Gram since it was set up. If any of you’d like some “real” food, I’m heading down to the dining hall right now if you want to follow.” He’d wait for a few moments to see if anyone took his offer before leaving the room and finding his way back off the ship.

[DSquiggs]

Right before Grehn could exit the airship, he heard the girl from before yell. He looked back and suddenly she was behind him. He smirked a little before turning and continuing with his pace. It was much brighter outside, and it took a good moment for Grehn's eyes to really adjust. Apparently the girl had questions for him, which he found interesting enough to see what happens.

"Alright," he said with a light smile, and before she could say anything, "But first you have to show me where I can find a computer to plug my PDA."

He came to a halt and stepped to the side. He dropped a foot back, raised his arm, and barely bowed his head.

"Deal?

[Storm of the Ages]

Ash quietly protested from before she gave in to and marched passed him on her way to the library; the only place with computers that didn't require any questions. "Are you coming?" she asked behind him, knowing that would be.

The library was where she spent most of her first week at Gram, combining through new books in rush to check out those she had never seen before. Hours would pass each day before she ever realized, and the girl found herself more of a hermit than she wanted to be in the new place. Life was going to harder in gram, and she vowed to herself that she would try harder too.

Her fidgety nose took a deep whiff when she had arrived, taking in the smell of knowledge and scholastic alike. Her eyes scanned the room the new comers, but only the usual suspects inhabited such place, giving her a familiar comfort. She avoided her usual path forward and hooked it right where several computer stations where set up in compact squares in a section of the library that talking was actually encourage. "This is the research area," she noted, "I do believe you will find the technology her, sufficient."

Suddenly, she realized the didn't actually ask him anything yet. She spied back to see how he was doing and slipped to a more casual tone and asked, "Sooo, who are you and what are you about?" Quickly, she averted her eyes in hope the strange man wouldn't get the wrong idea; it was all business from here on out.

[c3p-0h]

Nahbi was tired. She was tired, sore, and hungry, but most of all, she was proud. Not many could say they were strong enough (or stupid enough) to run away from home, cross through miles of grimm-infested terrain, and make it to their destination in one piece. She'd been on the move for almost a week, getting lifts from sketchy-looking strangers and trekking for hours on end when the territory got too dangerous for even the most foolhardy driver to chauffeur her. Nahbi wiped a gloved hand across her forehead.

It should be noted that Nahbi had never actually seen a real grimm before deciding to venture out on her own to the new hunter academy. She'd seen them on TV before, sure, and they were constant characters in her dreams (which usually ended with Nahbi slaying them oh-so heroically) but Nahbi had never actually been exposed to the monsters that haunted so many lives. Four days into her journey, though, it finally happened. A great flying grimm gave a screech and swooped after her. Nahbi almost died. Actually, first she almost wet herself, then she almost died. But by some miracle (or sheer dumb luck) she'd actually managed to kill it. Never mind that it was just a little butterfly-like monster, she was damn proud. And hey, grimm of all kinds were dangerous, right? Nahbi still hadn't come down from the high. The rest of her journey had been more or less uneventful: she'd used whatever energy she'd had left to borrow (steal) a lightly used (absolute wreck) small airship to travel across the ocean to get to her destination. She hadn't thought to borrow the instruction manual for it, though. But hey, she was smart, right? She could figure out how to fly an old rust bucket. If nothing else, her semblance made falling to her death a non-issue. Of course, it didn't protect her from dying in a fiery crash, however.

A giggle bubbled out of her as she saw the high walls of her destination shudder into view. The journey had been… bumpy to say the least, and there'd been a few near-misses when she couldn't figure out the difference in controls between pulling up and a nose-dive, but she was finally here: Gram. She would've jumped up and down if she weren't so exhausted, and struggling to not crash and burn just meters in front of her goal. Instead, she just pushed forward, the meager cluster of buildings looking as grand to her as the looming towers of Beacon Academy had once been to so many others. Various grimm were milling about outside the walls, but Nahbi wasn't (very) scared. They probably shuddered in fear at the sight of her great airship! Plus, there were supposed to be lots of powerful hunters at Gram. They could take care of these pesky little monsters no problem, right? Heck, Nahbi herself was practically a certified huntress at this rate!

Caught up in her delusions of grandeur, Nahbi didn't notice when the walls of Gram suddenly got… too close than they should've been. She was yanked out of her daydreaming by the urgent beeping of the console in front of her (though that itself wasn't all that noteworthy. It'd been beeping at her for the past hour) and her eyes widened when she saw grey stone walls looming in front of her.

"Uh oh."

She barely remembered to use her semblance to teleport herself on top of the airship's roof before it collided with the walls. Nahbi launched herself off of the ship, barely grabbing onto the wall's ledge. The airship, now without a pilot to steer it (not that Nahbi really counted as a pilot in the first place) rammed into the thick wall, crashing through in a thunderous screech of tearing metal and crumbling stone. The collision ripped through the wall, making it shake at the impact, and Nahbi's fingers were unable to cling to the wall. She teleported again to stand on top of the wall, and kicked off (making sure she landed on the Gram side, rather than the grimm side). Putting as much power into her jump as she could, Nahbi launched herself to the side of the crash, putting as much distance between it and herself as she could. She fell along with the rest of the rubble, landing in a clumsy roll. Disoriented, (that fall was long, and Nahbi's rolls were still far from perfect) Nahbi forced herself to sit up and hold her aching head. She opened her eyes and saw a smattering of people gathered, staring at her, no doubt stunned by her entrance.

She looked to see a gaping hole in the stone wall, the airship's mangled corpse smoking and looking worse than it had when she'd first acquired it… which was actually saying something. A few stray pieces of rubble fell off of what remained of the wall and pinged on the metal as they made their way down. This was… not the best first impression.

Nahbi looked back at the people gathered with a sheepish smile on her face.

"That uh… probably wasn't important, right?"