Sapphire Rode - The Weekend
Sapphire spent a large portion of the rest of the weekend in the armoury workshop. Her foray into the woods with Geni had given her a better grasp on the kind of weapons that she enjoyed and the problems that she had with her current arsenal. She'd come into the workshop late Saturday evening with an idea for duel wielding scimitars that could transform into a quarter staff. She had the technology and the resources to make such things at her disposal and she worked very hard at the design for some hours before coming to a conclusion: It would work, with around another twenty four hours she could complete the calculations for the folding tech involved and have the whole thing finished by Monday morning.
She also came to another conclusion, though she could make the weapon it wasn't a feasible design. It was too complicated with too many exposed moving parts. That would make it very easy to damage in the field and very difficult to repair without a full service workshop. What she wanted simply wasn't a good idea.
So Sapphire went back to the drawing board and back to the basics. There she came to a realization. She was quite fond of the fighting style utilized by her polearm. The problem came with the weapon itself. It was too bulky, and not nearly versatile enough for her tastes. So rather than come up with something new she set about redesigning her old weapon. Late into the night she finally had a solid blueprint. The old polearm had been built around the shotguns and adapted into a staff. Her new weapon was the opposite. The ranged capabilities had been done away with in the traditional sense. What she had now was akin to a highly versatile naginata. A full length staff with a curved blade that extended from one end. In storage mode the blade was retracted into the staff which split in two, the two half staffs were stored in a harness on Sapphire's back.
That part of it was relatively simple, what Sapphire was really proud of was the mechanism on the interior of the staff. In simplest terms it was a grappling hook that could be fired from the none bladed side of the staff. Once embedded in something it locked itself in by extending four spikes from the end into the surrounding surface. It would be just as effective on Grimm as it was on solid surfaces if she'd designed it properly. Even better though was that the rope was made of a flexible tripolymer that responded to aura. She would be able to manipulated the rope. Sapphire's control over it wouldn't be extensive but it would be enough to generate or redirect momentum in a fashion depending on what she was using it for. Stopping would be more difficult.
With the schematic finished Sapphire was about ready to fall alseep but their was something else she had to do tonight, a promise she had to fulfill. Atlas was several hours ahead of Vale so the middle of the night would be the perfect time to call. She didn't think she'd ever use the number. Patricia McGrath was the fourth member of her mother's hunter's team at Beacon, alongside Janus, Melanie and Daniel. After graduation she'd decided to go into research and design instead of pursuing a career in combat. Several years later when Melanie had followed the same path so she'd have more time to look after Sapphire and her sisters Patricia helped her get a position at one of Atlas' research facilities. At Melanie's funeral Patricia told Sapphire to call if she needed anything but Sapphire had never once thought to use the number. She wasn't even sure that asking for Atlas tech qualified to what the woman had meant. Still there was no harm in calling.
The scroll rung once, twice, three times, four times, just when Sapphire doubted she was even going to pick up the line went active.
"Patricia McGrath's phone, how can I help you?" Sapphire paused for a moment.
"I'd like to speak to Patricia." "Can I tell her who's calling?""Tell her... Tell her it's Melanie Rode's daughter."Sapphire could hear the phone being set down and she waited for Patricia to answer. It had been a very long time since they'd seen one another and even then it had been brief. Sapphire remembered a few occasions Patricia had visited the house but she'd mostly interacted with Sapphire's parents. Still she could always hope.
"Sapphire? Is something wrong?"She'd answered, now was the hard part.
"No no, nothing like that. This probably isn't what you meant when you gave me this number but I need a favor.""What is it?""I have a..." Sapphire was uncomfortable with the word
friend but anything else sounded to distant for the favor she was asking.
"...a friend at school. She lost her arm some years ago and the prosthetic she'd been using is... rudimentary at best. One of my teammates and I have been designing a more functional replacement but in order to make it work we need...""Neural interface cards I'm assuming unless your friend wants to undergo rather extreme surgery.""If that's too much I understand." There was a pause on the other end of the line, such a long pause Sapphire thought she'd hung up.
"I can help you but you must understand that this can't become a regular occurrence.""I know, I told my teammate as much, I can't imagine your boss would look kindly on your funneling tech to a student four years from graduation.""As long as you know that I can help you. Your a lot like your mother, she was just as selfless to those that really needed help. If there's anything else, any other kind of favor you need I'm just a phone call away. Your mother... I'm like to be more involved if you'll let me.""Th-thanks, I'll bear that in mind."Sapphire hung up the scroll. It was late and Sapphire needed a decent amount of sleep. She had a fair amount of work to do tomorrow, she wanted her new weapons ready before the Family Visitation Day.
Sapphire woke at twelve, quite late for her normal hours. She went to the bathroom and showered in hot water. When she went to the mirror she found she didn't like what was starring back at her. Her face was hidden behind the curtains of her hair, she looked stern and uninviting. Somehow it didn't surprise her that her team kept their distance. In a moment of frustration Sapphire fetched Melinoe from her clothes and sliced off a wide swath of her hair at around shoulder level. A moment later she regretted her action, or at least she regretted doing it herself. A stylist would have done a much better job and Sapphire didn't have the skills to make it more presentable. With no other options she pulled her much shortened hair into a rough ponytail so she could begin the days work.
After fixing her hair Sapphire dressed and headed for the armoury. She spent most of the day forging the weapon she'd designed yesterday. Though the application was relatively simple the execution was more complicated. In addition to the materials she'd had to get she had to plane and cut small pieces of metal that were assembled into the naginata blade to allow it to dissemble into the shaft. The rope was more complicated, specially made wire rounded infinitely inward to create a dense but pliable cord for her purposes. She also had to cover it in a polymer resin to avoid cutting her hands on it when it was extended.
Sometime in the day she was approached by Gren, Sangue's arm was entering the final stages of completion. He wanted to know if she'd gotten the Neural impulse cards. Patricia had sent them on by overnight carrier. Sapphire as she'd said the previous day had gotten them but she would install them herself. While Gren was creating the final components Sapphire installed the cards. She wired them into the arm in such a way that removing them would severly damage their operation. It would not interfere with the function of the arm or cause problems with maintenance but Gren would not be able to remove the cards for recreation. Went she was finished she informed Gren that the neural impulse cards were fragile and not to try removing them lest they be damaged.
With that complete Sapphire spent much of the rest of the day finishing her weapons. Once they were complete she decided some time to herself was in order. She took the airship into Central Vale and after a good meal she found a hair stylist. They evened out the cuts Sapphire had inexpertly made leaving her hair shoulder length, at Sapphire's request they cut her bangs so they weren't obscuring her face anymore and on a whim Sapphire decided to do something a little different. She got three green streaks, two down the right side of hair and one down the left. Happy with her new look Sapphire spent an hour or so at a bookshop picking out a present for her little sister Demetra who she hoped would be arriving tomorrow.
Sapphire woke up early. It was family day and the previous night her maternal grandparents had send her a message saying they would be coming to Beacon and bringing Sapphire's little sister Demetra with them. This worried Sapphire a little. Demetra's semblance allowed her to experience the emotions of others, for someone her age it was very powerful and she often had difficulty controlling it. Sapphire herself had learned to suppress her emotions for her sister's sake but in a place this big with so many people she was worried that it wold be too overwhelming for Demetra.
It wouldn't have done much good to suggest that to her little sister though. Demetra tried as much as possible to avoid letting her abilities influence her path in life. If she wanted to visit Sapphire she wouldn't let Sapphire make any special preparations for her sake, she would simply arrive come what may.
Sapphire was awake, presentable and at the airdocks half an hour before the first transport of the day would be arriving. She spent that time preparing, calming her mind and her heart so that Demetra wouldn't have to listen to it on top of the all the others in area.
When the airship finally docked Sapphire had to try very hard to suppress her feelings of excitement and anxiety. Of her whole family Demetra was the one that Sapphire really cared approved of her. Sapphire and Cecily were not as close as sisters aught to be and the bridge between her and Janus had been burned to cinders long ago.
When the ramp from the airship descended a large crowd of people disembarked. Not large enough to be the entire families of Beacon but that was unsurprising. Most likely some would come a little later in the day, airships did have a maximum occupancy after all and there would be other ships.
Scanning the crowd Sapphire saw people that could be the families of students she knew but she didn't really concentrate on this as she looked for her own family members. Finally in the midst she saw them. Her grandparents who despite their age were still in active and in good health and between them Demetra. Sapphire waved frantically in their direction till they spotted her. A smile brightened Sapphire's face and she ran to them. She embraced Demetra who made a fake choking noise,
"Can't breathe." Sapphire released her hug and ruffled her sister's dark brown hair
"Always acting." She knelt with her back facing Demetra.
"Hop on, I can show you round the school."Demetra smiled and climbed onto Sapphire's back.
"I'm on top of the world!" She shouted.
Sapphire stood up and faced her grandparents, these were her mother's parents, they had no knowledge of what had gone on during the Rode sister's childhood and Sapphire was more than content to keep it that way.
"Grandma, Grandpa, thanks for coming."She hugged her grandfather Robert then her grandmother Sharon.
"Let me look at you." Her grandma said. She spent a moment studying Sapphire's face before saying.
"You cut your hair," Sapphire shrugged, she hadn't really thought about how her grandparents would react to it.
"It suits you."Sapphire spent the next hour or so showing them around the school, the grove where she liked to play her violin, the dorm rooms, her various classrooms. When she was finished she escorted them down to the track where the gym teacher had assembled an elaborate obstacle course for those interested in participating. Sapphire herself had signed up the day before.
She spotted Gren in the crowd. For a moment she thought about avoiding him but decided that there was no point. He would meet her family eventually and he was going to cause any problems they might as well get them out of the way now.
She approached him with Demetra still clinging to her back.
"Hey Gren, meet my family." she guestured to her grandparents.
"This is Robert and Sharon, my grandparents and this little runt she said ruffling Demetra's hair again
"Is my little sister Demetra." She turned to her family.
"This is my teammate Gren."@Lucius Cypher
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