RWBY: Daylight Dies

[Blue56]

Amelia had just finished her salad and was somewhat guiltily eyeing up some desert when the sudden slamming of the table startled her. She was already so on edge that this sent her practically leaping out of her seat, likely dislodging Hunter as well in the process. "Oh gosh... S-sorry! S-s-sorry!" She stammered out an apology to the other girl. Why was she like this?! Amelia's heart was racing as she watched Mark's dramatic posing and listened to him announce the tour would continue. It was her first day here and she already felt like the stress and nerves were going to give her a heart attack if this kept up. As the rest of the students move to follow Mark, Amelia takes several breaths, each deeper than the last, to calm herself down before hurrying to catch up. It certainly helped that they saw the student who had been eaten by a plant earlier, alive and well. Er, maybe "well" isn't the best word for it, but he was alive so that was all that mattered, right? Right...? ..... Maybe there was a way she could skip taking Botany.

Throughout the tour, Amelia stays silent and hangs out near Hunter, since she was the only person she knew so far and actually seemed pretty nice. Most of her thought processes are devoted to memorizing the layout of the school. She had done it just fine with the Goldwin estate, since it was pretty crucial to her work there, and it was just as important here. She didn't want to trouble anyone else having to show her around or give her directions so it was important to learn her way around now. Amelia's concentration is broken only somewhat by the awkward conversation between Mark and one of the other students who seemed obsessed with dancing. What was a dance battle? Amelia had never heard of such a thing, though some had referred to battle as a graceful dance, so maybe that was what he meant? Judging by Mark's reaction, that seemed unlikely though. When they reach the Ballroom, she idly wonders if this would be where dance battles take place, though she doesn't dare actually ask out loud. Why else would a school have a Ballroom though?

The library and the Smithy seemed like important places for Amelia, she had a lot of studying to do and her shield would need to be in top condition to make up for her inexperience. The dorms looked much nicer than the conditions she was used to living in, and a bathhouse seemed very nice and relaxing, but the thought rooming with strangers made her nervous. The Ampitheater made her even more nervous, fighting was scary enough, but to do it in front of an audience felt horrifying to Amelia. With the tour concluded, Amelia bows her head respectively to Mark. "Th-thank your for the tour, sir..." She mutters as he makes his dramatic exit, smiling nervously at Crystal's comment. He certainly did have a flair for the dramatic, but she was being a little hard on him. Now all Amelia had to do was wait. She wondered what sort of person the headmaster of Ixion would be. She imagined he must be strong, a grizzled veteran hunter, but she would need to wait and see.

[cliffracer]

Hunter snaps right to attention as soon as Mark ever-so dramatically made his call for attention. Might get a little annoying if he bangs on stuff like that often, but she understands with all the fresh minds in the cafeteria. Ah, but it looks like the tour is continuing... She has to wait for the people next to her and Amelia get up before she can get out of her lap, but she does at least serve as a nice rock for Amelia to orbit as they get taken through the rest of the grounds. Looks like that guy that got eaten is alright, at least physically. She's not sure what could ever put that kind of stare in someone's head. More important to her was that teacher though! She's digging the fashion, and now she's already making plans to pay more attention when she ends up in Botany.

Through the courtyard and in to the Gym, where Hunter immediately seems extremely comfortable. She could get used to working out in a place like this, and it's even got its own fight club? Going to this school just got WAY more worth it! She's trying to drink it all in when this Danny guy starts asking Mark probably the wrong question at the wrong time. Or, the wrong question to get the right answer. She can get behind lots of sparring, and the floor can even change... She makes special note of that, because while she's GREAT in urban environments, she'd LOVE to practice running out in nature. At least Danny seems to be about her intelligence level, that's always a good sign. Here's hoping he's just as honest!

Hunter's entire brain glazed over when the tour group went to the Library, which had a carpet she would absolutely be napping in in the near future. The Smithery ended up being more her speed, she LOVED seeing all this machinery and all those components in one place, her mind swam at all the potential weapons she could've built if she had this place to work with from the very start. Classrooms were about how she expected, aside from the... personalizations she was catching on to. Mark had room for theatrics, Crystal's was spooky, Azul's was fittingly green... the bestiary one was a little spooky, she'll have to get to the bottom of THAT. Aaand the politics professor's room, which made her brain glaze over again. Back to paying attention for the dormitory part! Very comfy building, and there was the crucial information that dormmates are gonna be totally random. Hunter's already thinking about who she'd like to be dormed with if it's not someone she's already met... hopefully she's big.

The Ballroom was just 'there' to Hunter, she carried little intrest in it, especially with the Aphitheater being right after. This was... THE fight club, damn! She's gotta know what she has to do to earn a fight on THAT stage. But it looks like everyone's waiting here, aside from Mark, who decided to leave anyways. She's pretty excited all in all, so she looks up to Amelia. She has to take a step forward to see her face past her chest. "What a tour... I really wanna get familiar with that gym, I've never seen workout tech so good. And... here's hoping our dorm assignments are merciful on us, eh?"

[MiscChaos]

The sudden noise causes Emma’s long ingrained reflexes to flare up. She ducks low to avoid any possible angle for an attack and looks around sharply to see where the threat is coming from. If she had one of her homemade spears, she would have thrown it at the source to neutralize them, attract their attention to her, or simply to test their reaction time. But she doesn’t. And the sound of Mark’s overly dramatic voice brings her back into the moment. With a pissed off growl, she stands up fully and pays some attention. While she doubts she could have actually taken his head off, even by surprise given the display earlier, the thought of doing so is very fucking tempting right now. Does that asshole not get that some of his “hopefuls” might not come from great situations? What if someone reacted worse than she did? That’d be a whole can of worms opened for no other goddamn reason other than the asshole wanted to make a racket. Seriously, what’s with the professors in this shithole!? She takes that back. She’s been in shitholes. Lived in one even. Retarded as this place might be, it ain’t a shithole. Sighing in her irritation, she follows the flamboyant idiot simply so she doesn’t have to skulk through the place later to get her bearings. “I know just what to say about that guy. It ain’t for polite company.” She says in response to Pinkie’s comment.

Given her negative impression of the rest of the students (considering them cowards who didn’t even attempt to stand up for what was right) and her even worse impression of the professors, she decides to stick by CiCi and Pinkie, just for some kind of grounding against her increasingly negative thoughts. Pinkie’s just cheerful enough that taking in the vibe they give off begins pulling her out of her funk. And she’s going with “they” for Pinkie until their gender starts making some fucking sense. She resigns herself to doing a more thorough walkthrough later since the idiot leading this progression doesn’t bother to moderate his pace so everyone can see more than pieces of the places he points out. How the fuck are they supposed to learn where everything is if they just blitz through everything? Isn’t that the fucking point of a tour!? She’s pulled from her thoughts in order to cringe when she sees the formerly lunch student. Fucker looks like he’s seen some shit… Probably knows more about the stomach of a plant than anyone ever wanted to know. A fuckton more than she ever wanted to know anyways. She eyes Azul warily given that, as the botany teacher, it was on her watch the dude got eaten. She hopes that was more of a one off thing than a common occurrence since that would say bad things about the Professor otherwise. But given what the other two she’s seen are like, she’s not holding her breath on that one. The gym doesn’t really capture her attention much. It’s a big area for people to do athletic shit in, big deal. Even her shithole town had something similar. It was called being fucking outside. Sure the things inside are objects she’s only ever heard of and never seen, but it ain’t the awe worthy thing quite a few of the students are treating it as. The only thing that catches her eye is the cache of practice weapons. She really wants to get her hands on that ASAP. The more weapons she knows how to use, the better off she’ll be in her opinion. She knows how to use a stone dagger, a stone spear, her own hands and feet, and long sticks. That should translate over into other weapons well enough, right?

Her entire thought process is derailed by Danny’s moronic question. To the point that she facepalms and feels a headache coming on. As much as it pains her, she finds herself in 100% agreement with Mark for once. And yet this is one of the 4 people out of the students who was willing to stand up to Pecs McStupid earlier… well, that excuses a bit of his stupidity to her. Just a bit though. Certainly not enough to strike up a conversation or something with him or stop the headache he’s bringing on. And no where near enough to make up for the fact he made her agree with Mark. That gets points taken away on principle. But she’ll at least tolerate it for now. “I worry for what goes on in that boy’s head. I really do.” she whispers right back to Pinkie, pinching the bridge of her nose. She gladly moves on at Mark’s prompting.

She merely focuses on completing her mental map of the place for the rest of the tour, making a note to go back to the Library at some point. She’s well aware that, by pretty much any standard, she’s woefully behind on her studies and she nearly didn’t get into this place because she bombed a good portion of the written exam. Fixing her weaknesses so she can’t be taken advantage of is only good tactics in her book. The most glaring one to her is, technically, she’s really fucking stupid. If someone asked her for the history of Remnant, all she’d have is a shrug for them. If they asked where a really important city was, she could point vaguely in some direction and hope she was right. There’s so many ways she can think to take advantage of her ignorance that it’s disgusting. So fixing that is important. So to the library she goes. Moving forward, she takes note of how weird the bestiary classroom is, but mostly just commits their locations to memory. When CiCi breaks off after the dorms, her first thought is whether CiCi would get in trouble for this or not. But it’s her life so Emma can’t really stop her from doing whatever the hell she wants. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” She says in farewell. Her farewell to the Professor is a lot more lukewarm. Especially when Crystal brings up the point she herself was going to say. “He literally JUST said he was going to be in the room when the Headmaster gave his speech. What the fuck was the point in leaving!?” she thinks, using all her self control to keep from tearing her hair out in frustration. Pinching the bridge of her nose again, she sighs. “I really hope the other professors are less… dramatic to the point of stupidity than this one is.” she says under her breath, kind of hoping Pinkie catches it.

[mrblah]

Lucilla Vavanova/Mark3000

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Regardless if she was seen during her disappearance act or not, Lucilla was able to slip away from the tour and head someplace else… specifically, back to the dormitories. It thankfully wasn’t too long a walk, so hopefully she could finish whatever business she’d come across during her absence quickly enough and return without anyone’s notice.

She arrived to the dorms and had meandered about in search of second years… but somehow, she found a much larger percentage of women than men. Was Ixion Academy’s student body predominantly women? It almost seemed like it was time to give up and cut her losses when a smooth masculine voice sounded from behind her.

“Just what’s a first year like you doing out here when the Headmaster’s address is soon to begin?” Lucilla turned around to greet the sneak and came face to face with a tall long-haired man wearing a simple outfit consisting of a pair of black pants, a white t-shirt, and a black jacket. He had a lazy smile on his face and a relaxed posture, with his hands in his pockets. “You really shouldn’t be skipping on your first day.” How’d he know that?

Lucilla was taking a moment to consider her options as she watched the predominantly female student body pass by. Folding her arms under her chest. She let out a small sigh. With a populus like this, it just meant less customers and more competition. Though Lucilla was confident in her looks and her skills, the numbers just didn’t pan out for her.

Just as she was about to cut her losses again, she heard the smooth voice of the long haired stranger. Giving him a quick look, Lucilla couldn’t help but be drawn in by his sharp gaze. He was rather perceptive as well, already pegging her as a first year. Though that didn’t mean he’d be immune to her charms.

Using her crossed arms to emphasize her bosom and got a little closer to her senior. “I just thought I’d get a head start on getting to know my peers. I’ll be sure to get back in time for the Headmaster’s address. In the meantime, why don’t we get to know each other a bit. I go by Lucilla Vavanova, First Year of course. And you might be?” She said with a seductive undertone.

The stranger smiled widely, reaching out a hand and laying it on Lucilla's shoulder in a gentle manner. He subtly pushed her back to return their space to normal. "Hyeon-u Bang, Lucilla, and as your senior I really should insist. Obviously it's up to you if you'll take my advice, but you should know that Ixion is pretty strict when it comes to their ceremonies and gatherings. You miss one and the Headmaster's out for your head allllllll semester." Hyeon-u pulled his hand back and folded his arms with the shake of his head and a sigh. "But you might be fine. You're a little too forward to come on at the start I think, but you've got the looks. Most of the professors like a pretty face."

Are the Men here training to be monks or what? Lucilla thought to herself as her feminine wiles missed the mark again. Relaxing her arms, Lucilla took a more casual stance with Hyeon-u. “I’m not so sure, after meeting some of the guys here. I could be in my birthday suit and they still wouldn’t have a clue what to do.” She said with a grin.

Though the thought of getting on the Headmaster’s shit list on her first day did give her pause. “I suppose you’re right. I seem to be having an off day anyway” She said with a shrug. “Though it was nice meeting you Hyeon~u. I wouldn’t mind meeting up some time after orientation, if you’re interested.” Lucilla said, forgoing her usual charm offensive and just speaking sincerely.

"Weeeellllllll..." Hyeon-u hesitated, shooting a look to the side in thought. "... Maybe. If you make it through the final test." That's what he ultimately settled on and he left it at that. "I'll ditto to that, Lucilla. Enjoy orientation."

With a polite bow, Lucilla bid farewell to Hyeon-u. “Thank you, I’ll be seeing you.” Lucilla replied as she left the upper-class man to return to her tour group. Hopefully she could sneak back into the group without being noticed.

The mumbling noise of a crowd conversing was the backdrop of the auditorium. It stretched on for minutes and minutes, growing as those from the outside joined into the space as if pulled by the noise... but more likely, they were mostly curious students wishing to eye up the newbies. Most of them looked to be second years… though one of them looked less like a second year and more like a certain dark-skinned blonde in her purple dress.

Then the lights would dim. The remaining traces of those illuminating rays were focused on the large stage before them, drawing the attention of the crowd and hushing the students. It was as quiet as the night... and a buxom, blue-haired woman in a somewhat showy suit walked out from behind the curtains to greet them. Hushed whispers started up at the sight of her, wondering who she was or if she was the headmaster they'd been waiting on. The woman watched them with a narrowed and focused gaze. When she spoke, it sounded severe like a whip, cutting through the crowd.

“Ixion Academy is among the few world-leading Huntsmen academies in Remnant. It is a special place, one that promotes spirit, tolerance, freedom, and growth. Here in Ixion Academy, we do not turn others away based on where they hail from or how they look, for Huntsmen come in many different shapes and sizes with many different views and beliefs. But the one thing all Huntsmen have in common… is their shared goal of protecting humanity.”

The woman paused to gauge their reactions. She continued shortly after: “I’ll now introduce our professors here at Ixion Academy, as well as our Headmaster.”

The first three teachers presented were people they'd seen before; an apathetic Crystal who merely muttered "Dust Professor" and walked off, an overly dramatic Mark who had to be interrupted by the woman in the suit, and the Botany Professor from before, Azul Briar, who gave the suited woman a wink that she completely ignored. Then came two others they had yet to meet.

The fourth Professor introduced was Kasai, the Bestiary Professor. He looked like he just came from outside the kingdom itself, and leered at the students like a predator... then just after him was Carmine of Yokatta, another woman dressed in sportswear and seemed much more professional than all the other teachers introduced so far. She gave an appreciative look over the crowd and nodded, before she'd move to join the others to the side.

"And I am Beryl Briar, the Politics Professor. I hope to see many bright minds in my classroom," finalized the newly introduced Beryl... Briar? Well that might make sense of some things. "Lastly; the Headmaster of Ixion." Beryl offered a brief nod to the crowd, then turned to join the others... and silence took her place as the lights faded out.

... When they returned, a young man sat on the stage. He was dressed in black clothing, mostly tight, with a dark blue coat and a strange... pyramid and chain necklace? His hair was multicolored and oddly styled with gold, black, and magenta streaks. He looked on with a focused expression. The young man was sitting on a stool, with one leg crossed over the other in a feminine fashion, and he had the fingertips of his right hand pressed to his forehead. When the lights first came on, his eyes were closed, then after only a moment, he opened his eyes with a soft “Hmph”, revealing that they were a dark purple color. With a better view of his face, the students could see that he was wearing eyeliner and a leather choker. “Heh.” he starts “I’m glad to see that you all made it, I take that to mean that you at least have a competitive spirit on some level. Don’t take that to mean that your struggle is over, in fact your trials will just be beginning soon enough!” he says, dramatically and overly seriously. “Now, I can see the uncertainty in your eyes, and if you expect to pass these trials, you must first overcome your self-doubt. I believe fate brought us together so that you can learn to trust in yourself, so that you may become the hunter that you truly are inside. By the end of your time here, we can hopefully all learn from each other, and think about everything we’ve taught each other about friendship and compassion, bravery and self-confidence, when you’ve reached the end of your journey at Ixion, when each of us has hopefully given each other a gift. When we separate, I hope that we can maintain the strengths that we have when we’re together.” he says, with a smile.

In response to the speech, Mauve seemed to be sleeping on her feet, leaning against Sicilia and drooling on her sleeve. Though, Mauve wasn’t specifically put to sleep by the headmaster’s speech, she had actually been sleeping since they arrived in this room. Meanwhile, Danny seemed like he wanted to dance, but he always seemed to want to dance. At least, in addition to wanting to dance, he seemed to be excited about the speech, and shouted a loud “Woohoo!” when the headmaster had finished speaking, which the headmaster seemed to ignore. Roux, meanwhile, leaned closer to Emma, and whispered “Seems like we’ve got quite the colorful cast of characters, our stay here will be pretty interesting I’d say. Do you think the headmaster is good friends with our new friend, Mark?” they said quietly, with a grin.

The headmaster smiled at the responses to his speech and rested his hands on his legs “Now that introductions are out of the way, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that it’s time for you to return to the cafeteria for dinner and freetime.” he said, before raising both hands in a shrug “I also want to inform you that you’ll be sleeping in the auditorium after. This time, you may eat at your own pace, and use your free-time as you see fit. 10:00PM is lights-out, so please be sure to return to the auditorium at that time.” he said.

After that announcement, the professors and headmaster say their goodbyes, and head out of the room, leaving the hunters to-be by themselves to make their way to the cafeteria on their own. When the group arrives in the cafeteria, they find that the food service workers had already set out many trays of food just before they arrived, wide varieties of food, just as before, and many tables had already been filled with other students who had arrived before this group. Looking over the food, Roux comments to Lucilla and Emma “Ohhh, this is nice, I guess we do eat like this every time.” they say, smiling at the two of them.

Since this time would also be considered free-time, the students were free to explore, eat and then explore, or just do whatever it was they felt like doing.

[MiscChaos]

Emma makes small talk with Pinkie while they have a dull moment since that seems like a better idea than zoning out and thinking of purple elephants or something. At least she thinks that’s how that saying goes. She doesn’t know what an elephant is, so she could be completely off on that. So small talk it is. She semi hopes Pinkie will say something that drops a hint to their gender, but she isn’t holding her breath on this one. Either this is so normal to Pinkie that they don’t think about it or they get their kicks out of confusing the fuck out of everyone and won’t give up the game that easy. Either way, nothing’s gettin’ figured out anytime soon and pushing the point is likely to just annoy one of the only people in this place that she respects. While she has no problem pushing the envelope to see where the limit is, she usually has a better idea of the person she’s pushing first. Recklessly going at that just ends in tears, rage, or (in one funny case) a thong in her face. None of those are good at the moment so it’s whatever.

Her increasingly scattered small talk comes to an end when the busy woman in the suit a size or two too small for her walks into the room and she has to take a moment to swallow her drool. If there was someone like this woman in her village, she’d either be a have, have no problem getting a have to knock her up so she can live in the lap of luxury, or Emma would have actually had a second-in-command given the vibe coming off this woman. She can only hope that this new professor gives off a better impression than the three that came before her because she’s starting to lose hope in the staff here. From the first word she speaks, that hope is solidified even if she thinks that the words themselves are kinda bullshit. Or maybe a bit too idealistic? She wouldn’t have pegged the no nonsense woman as idealistic, but that’s the vibe she takes from what the Professor says. She pretends to fall into a small coma as Crystal and Mark are introduced, though she feels her appreciation for the Professor skyrocketing when she makes Mr. Melodramatic shut the fuck up before he got too far into his shtick. She does have a wonder about Azul, though. Is the woman into other women or is she just flirtatious and trying to get a raise out of the Professor? It would be something to keep an eye out for if she wasn’t wary of Azul. She’ll just reserve judgment until she can get a handle on if students being eaten in class is a thing she does (making her malicious at best) or a thing that just happens around her (making her incompetent). Her feels her heckles rise when Kasai looks over the students, feeling uncomfortable at the feeling of being hunted and fighting back the urge to either launch a preemptive strike to get his measure or fade into the background to gather information. Neither one of those seem like they’d go over well during an orientation. Or maybe it would? She doesn’t know the first fucking thing about formal events like this after all. She gives Professor Carmine an appreciative look since that seems like another woman who has her shit together around here, but she doesn’t know what Carmine teaches so she can’t really get a feeling for the woman. Maybe she does physical education? It’d make sense given her clothes, but she isn’t sure. The Professor introduces herself as Professor Briar and now the wink Azul gave earlier makes sense. Sort of. Either she was just ribbing her sister or she’s incestuous. Neither one is really her business so she just moves along with her thoughts (and tries really really hard not to think what the incest route would be like).

Her thoughts are interrupted when the Headmaster flashes in. Thankfully with not as much flair as Mark would have, but she begins to fear that he shares the professor’s love of the dramatic. She very much hopes not. She feels that hope dying a quiet death the more he speaks, however. At the very least, he isn’t as dramatic as Mark. It’ll have to do. She wouldn’t survive if there was two of them anyway. She determinedly ignores Danny’s cheering, still trying desperately to think well of the boy since he stood with her against the bully. That’s becoming harder and harder the longer she knows him, however. Their personalities just aren’t compatible would be the nice way of saying it. That she thinks he’s a fucking idiot and his stupidity grates on her is the more accurate way of putting it. When Pinkie whispers to her, she feels a small grin spread across her face. “If they’re not friends, they sure as hell went to the same school for the dramatic.” She decides not to give her opinion about the quality of their stay just yet. Given it’s not a good opinion, that’s probably for the best.

And suddenly they find themselves dismissed and free to do what the hell they want for a few hours. She follows Pinkie back to the cafeteria, but it feels like they just ate. She’s very much used to only getting one or two meals a day and having them much more spaced out so she’s not very hungry at the moment. It’d probably also be best not to test her stomach’s continued willingness to keep this shit down too much. She should have a nibble or something if everyone else does just to not stand out, but she definitely won’t be eating another full meal. Afterwards… well, she was interested in filling out her mental map of the school since Mark did a shitty job of that earlier. A slower tour might eat up a bit of her time. And then she also wanted to visit the library, see if there was someone in there who could help her fill in the gaps (more like wide, gaping chasms) in her knowledge. But then Pinkie and Cici were saying they wanted to see how each other’s weapons worked earlier so they might wanna do that? Well, if neither of them bring it up by the time they finish eating then she’ll go her own way and do the tour and library thing.

[Mark3000]

Lucilla slipped back in with the other new entrants just before the headmaster's speech. She stands close to Emma and Roux as the blue haired woman appears to make her speech. The dark-skinned beauty did her best to stay attentive which wasn't hard with the aforementioned Beryl Briar. Lucilla had already planned to take Politics, now she had extra motivation. The newly introduced teachers looked exactly like she imagined. Kasai had an a feral air to him. While Carmine looked like an actual professional. Though Lilith didn't catch what classes she taught. Finally the Headmaster came to the stage and made said his piece. He was a little more eccentric then Lucilla thought he'd be. But she could work with this. By the end of the year the two of them would be on very good terms.

With the speeches over, Lucilla turned her attention to Emma and Roux. "At the very least, the headmaster didn't disappear on the spot when his speech was over" Lucilla said in a soft whisper. She then followed her two new friends back to the dinning hall for dinner. Lucilla had actually built quite an appetite after taking the tour and was glad to partake in Ixion Academy's fine cuisine. Though the question was what would she do with her free time. After striking out twice in one day, Lucilla wasn't keen on trying her luck with any of the other men on campus for tonight. Then she remembered their conversation from earlier. "Hey Roux wanna slip to the arena latter on? I wanna get a good look at your weapon"

[cliffracer]

Amelia Picton/Blue56 and Hunter Sleiper/cliffracer

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Hunter had to make sure she was paying good attention once she realised that this presentation meant she’d be able to see the last of the teachers she hadn’t gotten to meet yet. A lot of them gave her odd vibes- that Bestiary guy in particular, with that wild look that made him look kinda like a stalker. Maybe he was one, if he stalked Grimm. Carmine though, SHE got Hunter’s attention. If that’s the gym instructor, she has absolutely no regrets coming here. Not that she had any already after that lunch. This headmaster though… Sheesh, the thought Mark was a dramatic character, but this somehow younger goth-looking leather man managed to surpass him without all the damn theatrics! What’s WITH this place’s staff?! Well… at least it’s finally time for dinner, along with some free time! She behaves herself on her way there, but as soon as she actually shows up, she glances up at Amelia. “I’m hittin’ that nice-ass gym. There’s no way I’m gonna end the day without knowin’ how it inside-out. You should come with, c’mon!”

Hunter runs for one of the banquet tables, snatches up a few stuffed rolls and fruits as she’s stepping up on to it, does a spectacular leap over the people on the other side, and is hauling ass straight out the door. Absolutely no wasted time with her, it looks like.


As they waited for the presentation to begin, the constant murmuring of the crowd around her actually served to somehow make Amelia more nervous than she already was. It didn’t help that she noticed that the people who had gathered were definitely more than just the new arrivals, and that made her think that they were being watched more than the headmaster. Before she can dwell on it too much though, a new face takes the stage. She would almost assume that this woman was the headmaster, if Mark hadn’t already said the headmaster was a man. Whoever she was, she really had a commanding presence though. Her every word made Amelia flinch, as though she was afraid of being slapped at any moment, although to be fair, she was afraid of that, and she flinched like that whenever most people spoke. The Bestiary teacher looked downright feral and Amelia found herself wondering if she could skip Bestiary as well as Botany. Carmine seemed nice enough on the other hand. And last but certainly not least was the headmaster himself. Yugi certainly didn’t fit the image she had in her mind, but for some reason he looked to Amelia like he would make for a formidable duelist. His flair for the dramatic rivaled Marks, something she wondered if one of them had learned from the other or if it was coincidence that the pair had ended up at the same school. Regardless of that, she found his speech to be somewhat moving. She had never considered herself to be even remotely competitive, but she couldn’t deny that overcoming self-doubt was something she needed to do. By the time the headmaster finishes speaking, Amelia finds herself clapping, genuinely and not just because she figures he’ll appreciate the applause in the same way Mark did.

Feeling a bit uplifted for once, Amelia follows along back to the dining room. It felt like they had just ate not that long ago, and yet there’s already a similarly impressive spread awaiting them. Was that feast really a twice daily occurrence?! Amelia had helped prepare similar meals, but only for dinner parties, not twice a day. The cooking and the cleaning and oh god the dish washing…. She felt comradery with the servants, and so she felt a little guilty that they would have to work so hard for her. Silently, she made a vow to clean as much as she could in her spare time to ease their burden. Not that she expected to have much free time with all the studying and training she had to do. Speaking of, with her free time, maybe she should head to the library? Although studying before she really knows the curriculum might be a wasted effort. The gym for some exercise then? She looks down to Hunter, just as the other girl suggests that very same thing. Before Amelia can respond beyond just a nod, Hunter has already stuffed her pockets with food and jumped the table to get moving. “W-woah! C-careful!” She cries in shock, looking to the students who must have been quite shocked to have someone leap over them like that and bowing profusely in apology. “Hunter, w-wait up!” Amelia called out, following her lead in grabbing whatever was fine to carry with her and speed walking as carefully as she could around the tables, before breaking into a run once she was clear of any bystanders. Endurance running was something she was fine with, but her actual speed was lacking, especially compared to Hunter. Amelia knew following Hunter was out of the question at this point, so she simply ran towards the gym from her memory of the tour they had just taken instead. How the heck could someone so short move so much faster than her?

Needless to say, Hunter is in the gymnasium in record time. She’s already claimed one of the machines in the weight-lifting room as her own- unsuprisingly, one for working the leg muscles. Since the tour and her short run were basically already warm-ups, she apparently feels no need to take a quick jog around the main room for it. She did at least change her clothes… kinda. Her tanktop and skirt are lying next to her, showing she’s been in a sports bra and athletic spats the whole time. Her chest admittedly may not need a bra, but her toned butt is kinda on display now. She’s barely paying attention though, seemingly just taking the time to get acquainted with the machine and see what the weight intervals are like, heedless of outside attention. She does at least smile at Amelia once she’s caught up. “Yo, there you are! You get lost or something?”

Amelia arrives only slightly out of breath, she hadn’t pushed herself too hard after all. “N-no… I’m j-just not as fast as you…” She replies, returning Hunter’s smile with a nervous one of her own. This time, she’s nervous because she’s just noticed that Hunter has less clothing than when Amelia had last seen her. It made her aware that she wasn’t exactly dressed for a workout herself, but taking off her dress here was…. Well, she’s certainly not as bold as Hunter, that’s for sure. A slight blush creeps across her face as she takes in the sight, only for her to divert her attention to a set of dumbells nearby to avoid staring too long. She hadn’t had access to such sophisticated equipment while training with the guards,using the Goldwin’s facilities was out of the question of course, so she preferred to keep it simple. Her focus was often on arm strength since it was vital to both attacking and defending with her unorthodox weapon choice, but she had been warned not to neglect her legs either since maintaining a proper stance and holding her ground was just as important. “Wo-wow, some of these get p-pretty heavy…. There must be some really strong students here…” She comments, picking up some of the dumbells to test their weight. Most of them, she was pretty sure she could lift, but there were some that she clearly wasn’t strong enough for yet. “Th-this seems like a nice place to train… I-I’m not used to having such good equipment to use.” Amelia says, turning back towards Hunter, though her gaze remains on the weight in her hand that she’s currently lifting.

Hunter offers a curious head tilt as Amelia starts blushing, but doesn’t pursue the subject while Amelia checks out some of the stuff herself. She’s basically cycling through certain weight ranges at this point, trying to figure out what she’s gonna be able to lift without feeling like her legs got mauled tomorrow morning. Her legs are, quite evidently, where the majority of her physical strength is based on what she finally settles in to. “You know, you’re right! I’m not even lifting half of what this machine’s built to do and it’s already pretty tough. Heh heh, I’m not gonna be satisfied until I can drop a monster the size of a building with one kick! Ooh, or maybe until I can punt someone through a skylight… I wanted to try out the cool, uh… enviro-stuff the gym can do so I can run in rough terrain, but I figured I’d like more time than what we got now. Shit though, I’m with ya there, I think the best I got to lift besides shop crates was… fuckin’, cinderblocks hangin’ from fence poles?”

Whoops, now it’s Hunter staring at Amelia, now that she’s distracted herself. The subtle sway of her chest as she’s working her arm was just enough to catch her, and she’s quickly put two and two together about where she was sitting during lunch. She’s not blushing, but she’s clearly gotten focused on something she likes.

Amelia can’t help but smile and relax a bit as she listens to Hunter’s aspirations. Normally, the idea of a Grimm the size of a building would terrify her, but surely something like that can’t actually exist… right? “Well, if we’re dreaming big, then I’d like to be able to block a hit from a monster like that and not budge an inch. Hehe… That would be pretty crazy though.” She says, managing not to stutter for a sentence, though her gaze is still locked firmly on the weight in her hands. “I hope we can use that in class then… I only ever got to train indoors really. It sounds really interesting.” Amelia says, referring to the gym’s unique ability to change terrain. She had never ventured too far off of the estate to train, only into town to help carry supplies they had bought or things like that.

By now, Amelia was starting to feel the burn in her biceps and that meant it was time to switch exercises. She didn’t want to get too worn out since she had no idea what they still had to do for orientation, and she wanted to focus on other muscles. With that in mind, Amelia took a weight in each hand, holding them slightly up over her shoulders and started doing some squats. Meanwhile, she was blissfully unaware that Hunter’s gaze was on her, and that this change only served to give the other woman a better view of her chest as her breasts swayed and bounced with each squat.

Hey, there’s some confidence out of Amelia! “Ha! That’s the spirit! That’s why this head start’s so important!” Hunter was very glad she chose a machine that was easy for her, because the show just got a lot better. Her reps slow a little, her body making that a bit of an ‘idle process’ while she makes sure to get this sight written to memory. The rest of her brain is pleading to fate that she’ll get to dorm with her. She just wishes she had a good excuse to reach out and…

She catches herself actually reaching out and pretends she wasn’t, grunting slightly in the realization. “Big…” She’s still talking about the hypothetical grimm, right…? If Amelia looks, she’ll catch Hunter with a decent blush!

Now that Amelia thought of it, Hunter was right. It was good for them to take advantage of time that others were spending relaxing or looking around and get a good start on achieving their dreams! Feeling a little more motivated, Amelia begins to squat more enthusiastically than before. As she’s coming to a stop from her current rep, she hears Hunter say something but doesn’t quite catch what. “Hmm? Sorry, what was that?” She says, looking over to see a somewhat red faced Hunter. “Oh wow, are you alright? You didn’t push yourself too hard did you? Do you have a fever?” Amelia asks, completely oblivious to the fact that she had been just as red in the face when she saw Hunter working out.

Working her whole life as a servant had made Amelia a bit doting in the sense that taking care of others came natural to her now. Now that her mind was in that mode, she set her weights down without a second thought and made her way over to Hunter. Her earlier embarrassment completely forgotten, Amelia leans forward and puts a hand to Hunter’s head to feel if she has a fever, completely innocent to how doing so would give the other woman an eyeful of cleavage.

Those quicker reps got Hunter’s face plenty red, alright. She’s grinning though, and she’s totally baffled when Amelia comes in to see what the matter was. Her forehead’s pretty hot, and getting just a little bit hotter. With cleavage straight in her face, Hunter is basically totally scrambled. She can only respond with a dazed grunt until a couple moments later, when she blurts out “Gonnahaftacarryme.” Beat. “Think I, uh… over...worked myself. Fff… I ain’t heavy, at least. Just need a ‘sec so, er… y’know. Tired legs.” The poor thing, she’s having trouble talking! Well, at least room assignment is soon?

Amelia gasps as she feels just how hot Hunter’s forehead is. She’s no doctor but this doesn’t seem good. And the poor girl can hardly speak… Well, Amelia is no stranger to that, but it’s definitely uncharacteristic of what she’s seen from Hunter so far. “Ohhh… Of course, I’ll do whatever I can to help, so just relax and rest up, ok?” Amelia coos, agreeing to carry Hunter without a second thought. She retracts her hand to gather up the clothes Hunter had left on the floor to work out before turning back , gently wrapping Hunter’s arms around her neck before picking her up in a bridal carry. Amelia holds Hunter close to her chest for a moment as she thinks about what she should do next. “Well… We’re supposed to head back to the auditorium at the end of the night, so if you’re just tired, we can head back there… But are you sure you don’t want to rest in a medical office or something?” She asks, giving a concerned look to Hunter. She had just made what felt like a new friend at school, it would be terrible if something happened to her.

Hunter is suddenly feeling very fulfilled. With her size making her very easy to keep against one’s chest, she’s getting quite a bit of what she was after indeed! She’s quickly in a state of calm bliss… which is easily mistaken for exhaustion. “Yeah, don’t worry… Happens from time to time, just a bit too much adrenaline. Just, uh… yeah, carry me back. I think my legs’d give out if I tried walkin’ around now. Thanks, Amelia.”
She tilts her head to the side for some justified chest pillow action. She’s gonna have to find more excuses while Amelia’s fine with it…

[mrblah]

Lucilla Vavanova/Mark3000 and Emma Nightingale/MiscChaos

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Hm?" Roux turned to Lucilla upon being spoken to. The pinkette's mouth was full of a muffin, and just another of those baked goods was in the other hand. "Gulp... sorry, yeah! Sure. This is a good time to get to it, right?" Roux smiled at Lucilla... but that hand wasn't letting go of the muffin. They probably intended to eat it on the way. "Emma?" Roux called out to the brunette as they turned to face her. "You wanna come with? I'm super curious about your weapon!"

Lucilla finished her meal just as Roux was asking Emma to join them. In truth, Lucilla was just as curious to see Emma in action as she was to see Roux. It would be nice to have a few other people she could rely on here. “Come on Emma, it’s not like you have other plans right.” Lucilla said in a joking manner.

Emma’s almost thankful for the distraction from having to pick out more food to try to choke down when Pinkie speaks up. She already wasn’t hungry when they sat down and the few little snack things (a brownie or something? She’s heard about them, but never actually tasted them) were so rich and chocolaty that she really can’t stomach more. It means that her time in the library is pushed til later and she won’t scout out the school just yet, but in the end those are minor things she can do whenever she has a private moment. “Yeah, I’m game. Everyone does remember where to go, right? Mark’s tour wasn’t the best at making sure you know where things are.” She says, slightly to cover up the fact that she herself barely knows the way.

Roux would grin at the comment and flash a thumbs up. "Picture perfectly! I've got a pretty good memory so I can lead the way if you guys don't remember exactly. It's not that far from here." They took a bite out of their muffin and took a few steps toward the door. Out the group went.

It'd take a short journey to the gymnasium from the cafeteria. Roux made a point of trying to help the other two remember the way, pointing out some notable parts of the halls that they noticed on the way. A statue here and the view there... well, their method wasn't super effective but their heart was in the right place. Soon enough they were inside the gymnasium anyway. It already looked to be occupied with some other student hopefuls around, some people who were likely second-years, and two other girls that were a little more recognizable—one for her tallness, and the other for. Being short with a half-shaven head.

"Okay!" Roux clapped their hands together lightly. "So, who's going first?" They eye both Lucilla and Emma with their typical kind smile.

Lucilla was thankful for Roux’s direction. She would have gotten lost for sure if she had to navigate the halls herself. It wasn’t long until they reached the gymnasium, already occupied by a few other students. She even recognized two of them from the orientation, even if Lucilla hadn’t gotten their names.

When prompted by Roux, Lucilla gave a coy smile. “I guess I’ll be going first” She said as she lifted the two ring blades from her hips. While the inner section was thick with a small handle for easy use, the blade on the outer edge was razor sharp. There was also a dust container in the handle that could release Dust into the inner circle. “These are my Revolving Rose.” She said as she twirled them on her fingers before taking a firm grip to show them off to the two hunteresses.

Emma makes sure to look around during Pinkie’s much more relaxed tour to the gym, locking the information in her head. While she was mostly sure of the way, she might have made a wrong turn or two and the trip would have taken a lot longer than it needed to. Well, it’d really depend on how long it took for her to figure out she’s taken the wrong way, she guesses. But it’s whatever, she doesn’t have to worry about it.

Cici volunteering to go first, Emma takes her time examining Revolving Rose. Her first question was how on earth does she hold that thing without cutting her fingers off. Then she sees the bit of the inner section with the hand hold and then goes to worrying if she’ll accidentally miss the handle in the heat of battle. Besides that handle, it seems there’s really nowhere safe to try to grab the weapon if they were trying to take it from Cici. Attempting it might just remove your hand for your efforts since Cici takes up the only safe spot. Well, maybe if you timed it so you pulled at the inside portion of it, but that doesn’t seem worth it to Emma. All in all, it’s a weird weapon, but it seems horrible to have to try to defend against. “How much practice do you have with that? Seems like a pretty… different kind of weapon to try using. I think I’d cut my hand open trying to hold that thing.” She says with a chuckle.

But with Cici’s portion done, she supposes it’s her turn. She stomps her right foot and Innocent Monster converts from normal boots into combat mode, metal plating expanding down from the cross on the top of her boots and out from the plating that was already on it. By the time it’s done, the leather portion of the weapon isn’t really visible any more, hidden under the brown metal. Bending her knees slightly, a compartment pops up from where the cross is, revealing a chute to place dust in. From there, a few thin lines of a reddish metal run down the sides of Innocent Monster to deliver the dust throughout the rest of the weapon. Making sure there’s enough room between her and everyone else, she takes a test kick so everyone can hear the weight behind even the gentle blow. “And that’s Innocent Monster. As far as I know anyway. I just obtained this recently so I haven’t played with it much.”

"Eesh. Yeah... I agree with Em, Cici. I would not want to go against that." Roux was pointedly looking at the sharp blades of Revolving Rose. "You've gotta have a lot of skill to handle those things safely. But that really works for you, too! If someone tried to disarm you they'll probably end up cutting themselves, and with their size you could keep them concealed and throw them. And they look pretty, too. I give 10 points for style and function!" Roux grinned and mimed holding up a sign as if giving an actual review. Then, with Lucilla's turn done, it was Emma next.

The pinkette slightly jumped a bit at the stomp, then looked on with amazement as Emma's unassuming (but still cool) boots transformed into way cooler, more weaponized boots! "Woah... that's gonna be 10 points again, just for presentation." They continued to examine it briefly, holding a hand up to their chin as they studied Emma's Innocent Monster with the occasional nod. Then Emma showed off her kick, and their expression looked a little more stunned. "Emma, you've gotta have some killer strong legs to throw that around. I probably couldn't even carry those with my arms... but, super cool weapons!" Were they focused more on her legs or Innocent Monster?

"Alright, I guess it's my turn now," said the pinkette as they shook their shoulders and pretended to hype themself up. "Okay. Here we go." Roux reached into their jacket's side pocket and pulled out a metal baton. They threw it up in the air with a twirl, then as it reached the peak of its ascension, the baton exploded outward into a large staff roughly the same height as its wielder! The ends spreaded out to separate into four different cylinders that rotated around with a shock of dust-formed electricity between them. Roux caught the staff and gave it a simple spin, showing off a simple maneuver with it, before they'd knock the end down to the ground with a toothy smile. "This is Gambanteinn! Like I said, it's not that cool of a weapon and I dunno too much about it since I only recently ordered it, but it's pretty hard and it can give a good shock."

Lucilla smiled as Roux and Emma examined her weapon. “I’ll admit it does take some practice to get use to.” As she said this, Lucilla showed them the palm of her hand. It was covered in small scars likely a few years old. “They were a gift from … a friend and I wanted to make them proud. So I worked hard so I could use them with the utmost grace and style.”

Speaking of style, Lucilla was taken by surprise when Emma’s boots started to transform. “When you mentioned your weapon, I thought you’d have to change boots. This is a lot more convenient, that’s for sure.” She said as she watched the boots finish their transformation. When Emma performed a test kick, Lucilla let out an audible “Wow”. Inspecting the boots again, she looked up to Emma. “Gotta agree with Roux, you have to have some incredible leg strength to use these. They gotta weigh a ton even when in their normal mode.

Last but not least was Roux. Their staff was as impressive as the last time they pulled it out as the tip gave off a jolt of electricity. Though she was surprised when Roux said they had just ordered it. Which prompted a question in Lucilla’s head. “Wait, you two just got your weapons not too long ago. Are you sure you’re going to be fine in the upcoming trail or whatever?” Lucilla said with a concerned look.

It doesn’t surprise Emma overly much when she sees the scars and nicks all over Cici’s hands. Learning how to use a weapon like Cici’s… well, that could only be trial and error. She supposes it says good things about Cici that she still has all her fingers and none of them are even mangled or deformed. Well, either good things about her skill or good things about the people around her since someone would have had to heal that up. Either way is good, she guesses. And she really should have warned the two of them that she was going to do what she did given the jump Pinkie did when she stomped. Still, the reactions are fun so it’s all good. “I’ve been fighting with my legs all my life, so I guess that converted over to some pretty strong legs.” She says, looking down at the limbs. She hadn’t really thought of her legs as particularly strong since it was just what she was used to. She knows under her shorts and her boots, she’ll have a few scars and off spots in color from kicking trees to kick harder, but given that was an exercise she gave to all her combat capable soldiers, she thought it was normal. Well for fighters. She never would have scarred her seductresses like that, but that’s a different story. She shrugs the thought off since she can’t really do anything about it.

Instead she looks to Pinkie’s weapon… which she’s not entirely sure she can pronounce. She didn’t get a good look at it back in the middle of the brawl, but that thing is huge! Pinkie ain’t a short person, but the staff is easily their size! The small electric storm between the cylinders is a nice touch too. She wonders how much it’d hurt to get hit with that part of the staff. Which she has internally named Gamma so she doesn’t mangle the pronounciation all the damn time. “So how many times have you shocked yourself with that thing so far? Accidentally grabbing the wrong place seems like it’d hurt like a bitch.” She says, wondering out loud. Her thoughts change when Cici asks her question. “I should be fine. Like I said, I’ve been fighting all my life and it’s all been centered on my ability to literally kick someone’s ass. Unless something weird happens, I don’t think I’ll need Innocent Monster’s other abilities yet. All it’ll do is make my kicks hurt a fuck ton more.”

Roux smiled sheepishly. "None, actually. But that's just because it's designed to not shock it's wielder. Something something about aura identification technology or something like that." Apparently, the exact details of how their staff works doesn't concern them. But to Lucilla's question... Roux chuckled with an overly proud look. "I might not look it, but I'm actually extremely skilled in the art of figuring-it-out. And I've had Gambanteinn long enough to get good enough with it to whack a guy or two. I'll play it smart." Isn't a plan that works solely on improvisation not smart at its core?

Emma feels her stomach drop as Pinkie outlines their plan. That’s… not good. That’s not good on so many not good levels it’s scary. While improv has its place in combat, making it the main component of your plan is such a poor idea it boggles the mind. “While I’m thinking about it, have either of you seen actual combat?” She says. While Cici could go either way, she’s concerned that Pinkie might not even have that. An idea pops up in her mind. “Ya know, a light sparring match might not be a bad idea. Not everyone has practice with their weapon and getting that in a controlled setting is like 100 times better than trying something in the heat of battle.” She says, trying not to let the sheer levels of worry for Pinkie color her voice. The commander in her screams that this soldier is not ready for combat and sending them out will just get them killed. That part of her has very rarely been wrong.

Lucilla practically mirrored Emma’s concerned look when Roux talked about their improvisational skills. Lucilla always worked to be as prepared as possible in battle or in bed. She’d wondered if Roux had any formal training before this. That’s when Emma asked about their combat experience. “Mainly sparring and practice at a combat school, as well as helping huntresses with weaker Grimm.” Lucilla said with a straight face. When Emma explains her reasoning, Lucilla can’t help but agree. “I’d be up for that”

Roux wouldn't figure either of the two's concerns, it seemed. They wouldn't so much as make mention of it and simply move on with the conversation. "Same as Lucilla, really. It's not like I'm totally green too, you know. I was a pretty decent fighter back when." Roux lazily twirled their staff in circles. "But yeah, I'm fine with sparring too if you guys want to. I dunno how long we'll have? But we could like, set a time limit just to make sure we get back in time. Don't wanna have our teachers screaming at us about being late before the first day of school!"

“A time limit would be good. Do we have something to set an alarm by?” While it’s reassuring to hear Pinkie has some combat experience, they are incredibly vague about said experience so she doesn’t feel too good about it. When is “back when”? What definition are they using for “decent fighter”? There are idiots who would swear they could take on the world and then get beaten down by a glorified prostitute with a bit of self defense lessons behind her. While that’s good for a laugh (until she literally throws up in that case), it’s not so good for a friend that she would rather not have fail out of this.

As they were planning out their sparring match, Lucilla remembered the second year students that were using the gymnasium as well. “One of them might be able to help” Lucilla said as she motioned to the Second Year students. Picking one at random, Lucillia approached the older student and gave them a quick rundown of what they were planning. “It would really help if you could help us keep track of our sparring match?” Lucilla said slipping in and out of her more seductive tone.

"Huh?" Said the nameless second year. Like the extra this guy is, Lucilla doesn't even need a charisma check to make him do this very basic and simple task. She uprooted him from his very life itself and he doesn't care because he's a background character and this is what he's made for. "Uh... sure." Mr. Extra nodded and followed Lucilla back to Roux and Emma.

"Okay, so... threeway fight. I'm just about ready for this. Let's say whoever's the least hurt in... like, 20 minutes? Wins. We probably don't have any more time after that anyway." That was Roux's idea, offered as they spun their staff into a double-handed grip and stepped a few spaces back to get some distance between the two girls. Subtly. "You guys ready? Hey, referee! You count us down!"

When both Emma and Lucilla were prepared, the fight would begin.

Fight

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The referee briefly went over the rules before the start of the spar—the battle ends in 20 minutes, opponents are defeated if their aura gets depleted, and no Semblance usage... though some there hadn't even unlocked their Semblance from the get go. The three fighters spread out some to give ample room, and then... the referee called it. Begin!

Emma eyes both of her combatants up, trying to decide where she’s gonna go with this. Well, the whole reason they’re doing this is because they’re worried about Pinkie not being up to snuff, right? So it’d make sense to test their reflexes and shit to see what they’re working with. She doesn’t know if Cici’s on the same page, but that’s the risk you take when you sign up for a free-for-all match. So without any further thought, she dashes up to Pinkie and launches a solid roundhouse at their ribs. She makes sure to hold back enough that if she hits, they won’t be reduced to powder or something like that. She wonders if she held back too much though considering Pinkie dodges around the kick like they’re dancing. Well, they know how to avoid a blow, so that’s good at least.

"Whoop!" Said dodge wasn't all too skillful though, done with a hasty step back as they raised their staff in preparation to retaliate. But at the very least, they really were ready for the start of the fight. Their eyes trained on Emma and focused, and Roux swung their staff out wide in counterattack... but it whiffed narrowly, falling just short of their target. The ends of her Gambanteinn really were pretty shocking though!

Lucilla watched as Emma and Roux go at it. She was planning on waiting for the two of them to wear each other out and then strike. But the thought occurred that if she did, the two of them might realize and gang up on her. No, it would be better to act and gain the advantage early. But who to attack first? Watching the two of them attack, Lucilla noticed Emma was just a step slower then Roux. Whether it was because of the heavy boots or she was holding back Lucilla didn’t know. But her first target was clear. Using her Aura to enhance the dexterity in her hand, she moved to Emma’s side and tried to slash at her torso. Whether by luck or some feat of last minute agility, Lucilla’s ringed blades missed their mark. “Tch” Lucilla clicked her teeth.

Well, great. Emma’s in the worst place you can be in a free-for-all: between 2 opponents. Two opponents who might well be faster than her given she hasn’t quite adjusted to the weight of Innocent Monster yet. So this could be a touch tricky. Seeing as she suspects Cici has more experience and an actual plan behind her actions, it’d probably be for the best to get rid of the weakest link first so she can focus on not finding out how sharp those rings are. So she closes the distance between her and Pinkie again and takes another swing. A simple kick to the body to wind Pinkie and get them out of her hair for a bit. And of course it misses. She doesn’t know if Pinkie’s getting lucky or if they got her timing from the last blow, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s just not hitting!

The pink-haired staff wielder was pretty notably watching Emma's legs, so that might've been the case. Roux stayed light on their heels as they juked to the side, swinging out their staff to launch and immediate strike back against Emma. They, unfortunately, hadn't been as steady as they hoped. Emma had no trouble ducking away from the business end of the staff, and Roux was forced to pull back quickly to maintain their defense.

For the moment, the three of them were just dancing around each other. But Lucilla was intent on changing that. While Emma was still focused on Roux, Lucilla continued to focus her Aura into her hands. Giving her Revolving Rose a twirl she attacked Emma with a bit more force. This time she managed to connect with a wide arcing slash to her side. But the attack felt blunted. “Nice use of your Aura Emma” Lucilla said in a friendly manner as she waited to see how they responded.

When she sees that she won’t be able to avoid Cici’s Rose, she winces and does something she rarely has to do: she taps into that weird power that’s become second nature when the chips are down and uses that to cut the ferocity of the blow a bit. It still stings, but it doesn’t carve open her sides, which is good enough for her. “Nice use of my what now?” She says, not knowing what an Aura is. Is that what the “Shits Gone Fucked!” power is called? Well, it’s nice to know even if it really does solidify her need to go visit a library at some point. Still, first blood’s against her and it’s only gonna get worse if she doesn’t do something. So she changes target. Pinkie’s proven they can dodge and Cici’s proven she can hit Emma. Of those two, Cici is much more dangerous. So she spins around and launches a more less restrained side kick at her attacker’s stomach… only for Cici to avoid it. Which is a shame because she tried to recharge her… Aura, she guesses off that blow. She’s gonna need it if she keeps getting hit!

Ooh, that was a solid blow. Roux witnessed it firsthand and knew just what that would do to them if they had to face off against it... so, much like Emma, they changed their target. Roux deftly moved to the side, ducking past Emma as they rushed to swing their staff around to whip against Lucilla! "Haah!" ... Roux, showcasing their amazing aim, missed a stationary target that wasn't anticipating their charge. The pinkette looked ready to cry as they pulled their staff back. "Gammaaa... why aren't you hitting anyone??"

As Lucilla avoided Roux’s attack, she landed on the tips of her feet. It looked like she ended up becoming the prime target anyway. This would call for a change in tactics. The Aura she had been focusing in her hands transferred to select muscles in her legs and feet. Bouncing on her toes, she sprinted towards Emma and suddenly disappeared from her field of vision. It would be a few more seconds until she realized Lucilla was behind her. In that time, the dark-skinned hunteress brought her weapon down onto Emma’s shoulder and across her back. It was clear Lucilla wasn’t holding back, as if trying to assert some kind of dominance in their little peer group.

Feeling the pain across her back, even blunted as it is by her Aura, is more than enough to start pissing her off. This was a friendly spar she thought. They won’t use their full might, she thought. Well, if Cici doesn’t care for that unspoken rule, then she won’t either. In the instant after the Rose makes contact with her back and before the weapon is drawn back, she wheels around and slams a jumping ax-kick into Cici’s shoulder like she was trying to dislocate the joint. No point in getting clawed up because she was trying to play nice against an opponent with a different rule set. After the attack, she hops back a little to hopefully discourage any follow ups like her own.

Lucilla gasped as Emma’s ax-kick hits the mark. Even using Aura to blunt the blow, she just managed to keep it from dislocating her shoulder. Those boots were no joke, and Emma could easily down her in one or two blows if she wasn’t careful. Slowly Lucilla could feel a bitter taste form in her mouth. Hold it back, Hold it back... she told herself.

...

Huh. Did they forget about them? Roux stands off, holding their staff and watching the sparks fly between Emma and Lucilla with a blank look. They briefly took a moment to consider their options. By the looks of it, they could just coast through the rest of the spar just by standing to the side and letting the others go to work... but isn't the point of it to get a feel for the others' fighting styles? Roux hummed. Hm...

"Oh well." Charge! The pinkette raced towards Emma right as she recovered from her attack on Lucilla, and they tried to grab the girl from behind... but they were far too obvious. Emma had no issue evading them.

Based on what she’s felt on her near misses with Pinkie’s weapon thus far, she doesn’t think she’d appreciate being put in a position where she can’t avoid it. Electrocution isn’t a fetish she ever picked up and she’s not about to start now. So she’s very glad that she pays just enough attention to Pinkie so see them go for a grab and get the hell outta dodge. She’ll have to watch for that in the future.

Seeing Roux try to grab Emma reminds her that this isn’t just a one on one bout but a free for all. And it looked like Roux was the only one untouched. Using her Aura enhanced agility, Lucilla moved past Emma and went to slice Roux with her weapon. Only for the staff-wielder to move away with ease. Lucilla looked to Emma as if to signal who they should be going after.

Emma doesn’t need Cici’s signal to know who the target is. She doesn’t know how much time has passed, but she does know the terms were whoever is the least beat up wins. And Pinkie hasn’t taken a single blow. Time to change that. While Pinkie is locked in a dodge against Cici, Emma slides around her and aims a side kick for Pinkie’s ribs. Of course, Aura being what it is, it feels like her kick only taps Pinkie in the side. Well, at least she knows the brat can be hit now.

"Woah!" Roux jumped back just as the dangerous Revolving Rose whiffed just a moment away from slashing at their chest. Ah... they noticed them. Roux knew this was a bad plan! "Oh hey, you guy— hup!" Damn. They didn't get the chance to say something witty before Emma snapped a kick in their side. The reflexive use of aura saved them a lot of pain and likely damaged ribs, but the blow was still something they felt. It sent them skidding just a bit...

But they took that one moment to dash forward at Emma in retaliation. With deft hands, Roux's staff swung around their back and sprung out from the other side, surprising her target with a hard, metallic slap to the shoulder! Ah hah, their first hit! They grinned.

This was it! Lucilla thought as she focused her Aura into her legs again. She could see a large opening in Roux’s back. One good strike could win her the match. Using Emma as cover, Lucilla ran around her to flank Roux and attack from behind. But by the time she was in position, they had already moved. “Wait where are …”

It was all according to plan.

They almost seemed to disappear from sight, their staff left in place to stand still like a pillar. Lucilla truly thought she had them. Lucilla reeeeally thought they didn't anticipate this... they chuckled, the short laugh ringing out from behind the dark-skinned beauty with a deep undertone. "Nothing personal, CiCi." Roux struck!

Their arms wrapped around the lady as they invaded her personal space, with their body leaning into her back in a hug... and Roux's hand just so happened, coincidentally, to rest on her breast. Totally accidental. Accidentally remained there for a few seconds too, in perfect cupping form. "That's 20 minutes!"

Roux pulled back with a grin, stepping around Lucilla to grab their staff and look to the aloof referee. "Right ref?" ... Huh? Oh. He nodded. Apparently, he lost interest in the fight. The second year took one look at the three, pointed at Roux, and labelled them the victor.

“What?” Lucilla said as Roux wrapped their arms around her. She had been outflanked and caught like a baby sheep. Before Lucilla could even try and struggle out, she felt Roux’s hand sneak its way to her chest and cup a feel. Lucilla could feel the Miasma building in her mouth as Roux groped her until the call of the referee calmed her down. When Roux let go, the Miasma faded though a pungent smell sailed through the air for only a second.

“Looks like you came out on top, Roux” Lucilla said in a friendly manner as she patted the spear wielder on the back.

Emma really gets concerned that the friendly bout is about to be on anything but when she sees something spewing out Cici's mouth. She's never been more thankful for a fight ending. And, well, the results were expected. Roux dodged nearly everything and only barely got hit once so of course they won. "Well, we know you're annoyingly good at dodging at the very least. We've gotta work on hitting the opponent though or else all the dodging in the world don't help." She says, referring to both Pinkie and her own inability to really hit anything. "And you need to bulk your hits up and/or get a thicker skin cause I almost knocked your block off the one time I hit ya" she says to Cici. With combat over, she taps Innocent Monster's toe against the ground a few times and it reverts back to it's normal form.

Lucilla hung her weapons off her waist as she calmed down and took in Emma’s advice. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. I always aim to be nimble on the battlefield but it won’t mean much if I get knocked out in one blow.” She said as she rubbed the shoulder Emma had kicked. “I guess I got carried away a bit back there. Any longer and I might have used my semblance.” Lucilla said with a mixture or embarrassment and shame.

“Semblance? Was that what that mist coming out of your mouth is called?” Emma asks, prepared for this to be something else she knew of but didn’t have a name for like Aura. With the adrenaline of combat dying down, her injuries aren’t as content to be ignored as they once were. The most annoying of which… “Did you have to get me in the back?” She grumbles, unable to reach that wound because of its placement. She barely feels Pinkie’s attack thanks to her Aura, but she took hits from Cici in the side, shoulder, and back. She can check on the other two, but the back is a real pain in the ass…

First Aura and now Semblances? Lucilla pondered for a moment. Emma was familiar with concepts but not actual names. She wondered how Emma got so proficient when it came to combat. Going behind Emma, she took a look at the hit to Emma’s back to see just what kind of damage she had done. “Well the Huntress that helped with my training always said to strike at my enemy’s weaknesses. Your back just happened to be particularly exposed.” Lucilla said trying to frame it as something for the brunette to improve on. “Do you think you’ll need to see a medic?“

"A Semblance is like your super cool hidden power, Emma," Roux started to explain with a smile. "It's an ability unique to you and only you that could be something as cool as throwing things around with your mind, to teleportation! Uh... Professor Mark's thing from earlier might be teleportation. The dude's super fast. And... yeah, I definitely need to work on accuracy. I'm usually pretty consistent though..."

“Oh. Well I have no idea what my Semblance would be then. Probably something I’ve been doing so much I just don’t notice anymore since that was what Aura turned out to be.” Emma says with a shrug, wincing as the motion pulls at the injuries on her back and shoulder. “We all should probably have a visit to the medic. I don’t think any of us did anything permanent, but if we’ve got shit to do tomorrow, I don’t think we should risk being less than 100%. Except maybe Pinkie. Pinkie didn’t really get hit so you can probably just sleep that off unless you wanna be extra safe.” Of course she doesn’t think the nurse’s station featured on that tour they went on earlier so… she’s not exactly sure where to go.

"And what sort of damage, caused in what way, would be cause to see a healer?"

Before Roux could've offered any word on the topic, one certain dramatic voice was heard within the gymnasium. Mark Atwater had arrived, his tall and dark countenance somehow not being noticed until just this very moment... as he probably intended. "Sparring, are we? Before tomorrow's truly taxing test of tests. An interesting choice... but one you may pay for when the time arrives." Mark huffed, but he didn't seem mad... so they weren't in trouble.

"My presence at this moment is to recall those missing. It is now time for you to return to the auditorium, so please return with haste. Those of you whom are injured will be visited by our healer there," he spoke, turning around to depart again. Leaving so soon without even escorting them? "Farewell." ... Yep. He's off.

... But, regardless of however they could've felt about it, the simple fact remained that they had someplace to be at this point, as foretold by their professor. With the promise of being healed there anyway, the group made their way to leave the gymnasium and head to the auditorium.

---

The auditorium had been slightly modified to accommodate the vast group of student hopefuls who’d be resting there. Various persons had changed into their comfortable sleepwear, be it pajamas or just simple lounge clothes… and the night passed by quickly—the day was much more important. In the morning, everyone was given a large feast for breakfast. They were taken to yet another exam room afterward, where the student hopefuls were given another speech from the ever serious Beryl Briar.

”Today marks the first day of Initiation. Today marks the day you must prove your worth above the others and stand tall… but before you experience the harshest trials of your life, you must prove yourself capable of battling with your knowledge.”

It was a written exam. A bane and a true game changer to some… but to others, this would be where they could excel. They were given a small amount of time to write. Pencils moved quickly to and fro, scribbling answers gained through studying or through cheating, and soon enough… the written exams were finished.

Hunter:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

By the time the test was finished, Hunter likely thought it wasn’t so bad. The words on the paper were a bit complicated, and Hunter didn’t know how to answer very many of them, but in the end, that’s not what matters in a fight. The paper and the pencil got a few good hits in, but Hunter probably felt like she won the fight. She ended up getting some cuts and scratches, a paper cut here and there, but the Pencil was snapped and half and the paper was ripped to pieces, so they certainly won’t be thinking of crossing her again anytime soon.

Lucilla:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Lucilla may not have all, maybe most… possibly any of the answers, but that’s fine. The examiner is very obviously eyeing Lucilla up, undressing her in their mind. When she turns in her test, the examiner looks them over, but the test that Lucilla gets back from that examiner may not have had the same answers Lucilla wrote down. In fact, when Lucilla looks at the passing test in her hands, then the examiner… did he wink?

Emma:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Emma may not have known the answers to most of the questions, or possibly any of the questions. Questions about Aura… questions about Semblance… questions about Dust. The discussion that she had with Lucilla and Roux on this subject didn’t go very in-depth, and all of these questions were VERY in-depth. Each one branched off further into more in-depth questions about the same subject, and really, where would Emma have gotten these answers before the test, given her background?

That was fine, though, because she was sitting right next to Roux, who seemed to know all or most of the answers, as they didn’t take any time at all to fill out their own test. When Roux notices Emma peeking, they give her a slight smile and move their hand slightly so that she can get a better view.

Amelia:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Amelia knew a lot of the answers, and may have been able to complete the entire test just fine. Unfortunately, when she was nearing the end of the test, she realizes she’s sitting too close to Hunter. This is a problem, because she seems to be in the midst of a brutal battle with her test, and her pencil. It wasn’t until near the end of the time limit that Hunter strikes the finishing blow against her test, reducing it to nothing but shredded paper. It may have been sad to see the paper go, it got a few good hits in, those were some nasty paper cuts. Rest in peace, test.

Unfortunately, that was when the timer rang, indicating that Amelia would have to turn her test in, incomplete.

Ater everyone had finished their tests, Beryl returned to collect them and bring them to the next part of the exams. She'd offered a few words to the group of test takers and hadn't even bothered to check the results, simply turning on her heel to lead them out and bidding them to follow. The walk to their destination was short, and the reveal of it was underwhelming—a singular, normal door like all the others they'd seen. Beryl simply reached for the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door.

Through the doorway was nothing but darkness. It was so dark you would've seen it as a black wall, or maybe even a very, very small room... but as the students loaded into the room one by one, they'd discovered it was actually pretty roomy. Still completely dark. The only light they could've seen came from the open doorway.

"I wish you luck." Beryl said something ominous, and the light vanished... oh God it was dark now.

Beryl leaves the room, the door shutting behind her. After only a few moments, the wall in front of the group lights up with a long series of doors. Each door was a sliding metal door, with bright green lights flashing around them. Each of the doors was painted completely black, with a large white number on it, numbering from 1, counting up to the number of hopeful Huntsman and Huntresses in the group. When an individual walked up to a door, the door would slide open, revealing another pitch black room, with narrow walls on either side, but very long, like a hallway.

When each person had stepped through the doorways, a set of metal clamps closed around each person’s feet, connecting them to a long black metal railway. Slowly, a hatch at the very end of the hallway opened, with a loud whirring sound. Once fully raised, it clicked into place, then the narrow hallway slowly raised up, the end pointing gradually further and further upwards, eventually allowing the sun to pour in. A mechanical voice then could be heard inside the tube, counting down.

“Five seconds until launch. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Launch!” after which, the metal contraptions locked around each person’s feet began sliding forward along the rails, with a loud metallic scraping sound, launching sparks all over the tunnel. At the very end of the tunnel, until reaching the end, at which point each person is catapulted out into the air at extremely high velocity. As they sail through the air, they could see that they were rapidly leaving the castle, and down below, they were passing over the forest, many miles over it.

Some of the victims of this method of starting the next part of the test could probably hear some of their classmates screaming, crying out in shock. Somewhere to the left, Danny gets hit by two or three birds as he sails through the air, yelling about how he’s not used to sky-dancing, and he wouldn’t voluntarily choose to do it because of the sheer amount of birds in the way.

Hunter:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Hunter’s trip took her in a further arc than some of those around her, most notably from her new friend Amelia. The only one she could’ve seen somewhat close to her was some red-haired student coming down from behind… hm. The wind whipped her in the face and nearly blinded her, but she could see… a big tree fast approaching as her journey reached its end. Woah! She had to take whatever landing method she could’ve employed to survive, but at the end of it, Hunter reached the bottom to the ground! Basically okay!

But where was she? In a forest, clearly—there were big pine trees all around her, and a strange sort of wispy mist in the air… was that noise of gnashing parts and squishy sounds in her head? Who knows. But clearly, this area was supposed to be where they were taking the initiation test. Test… what was the test again?

Her Scroll started beeping in her pocket. She reached down to pull it out, thankful in part that it survived the wild ride through the air. Turning the device on, she’d notice that little icon that showed a new message received! Click.

“I apologize for any roughness you may have experienced during your trip to this location, but this test is meant to gauge your reactions to the unexpected.” … It’s Beryl. “I’d like to welcome everyone to the second part of Initiation; the Grimm Hunt. Currently, you are in a forest known as Roguewoods, where a variety of Grimm, both powerful and weak reside. Your tasks here are simply to hunt as many Grimm as you can, as strong as you wish, and we will reward points for your kills. This test will last overnight so you should also prepare a means of acquiring food and sleeping…” Beryl paused. “At the end of the hunt, we will ping you a location to get to. Be there by the time scheduled… and you will return to Ixion Academy. Fail to meet the deadline... and a second carrier will fly you home.”

“That is all. I wish you luck.” The message ended.

… Well, she knows what she knows now. Out in the wild… very, very far from home… and she’s supposed to kill a bunch of Grimm. How hard could this be?

First Day, 1st Phase
Hunter can travel 3 spaces. She can travel North, South, East, or West. She’s hearing some weird noises South of her position… but she recalls someone landing around North of where she was. She’s in okay shape! From her position, she could probably spend some time searching around for Grimm... or maybe she'd rather forage for food.

Currently, she has 0 points.

Lucilla:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

This was unappealing. Flying through the air at speeds fast enough to mean a deadly impact with the ground? Could’ve been romantic if done on a cruise ship, but this is just absurd. Lucilla could see many around her screaming their heads off as they careened past her… oh, and now she’s dropping. That’s really not good. Lucilla was losing altitude quickly… but thankfully, she had just the chance she needed to employ her landing strategy in order to land safely. Relatively speaking.

… But, where was she? Her immediate vicinity was covered with flowers, and she looked to be in a clearing in a forest… where was Ixion? Did they really launch her who knows how far into the middle of the woods somewhere? … And what was that smell? Lucilla was starting to feel… a little lightheaded. Sensitive?

Her Scroll started beeping in her pocket. She reached down to pull it out, thankful in part that it survived the wild ride through the air. Turning the device on, she’d notice that little icon that showed a new message received! Click.

“I apologize for any roughness you may have experienced during your trip to this location, but this test is meant to gauge your reactions to the unexpected.” … It’s Beryl. “I’d like to welcome everyone to the second part of Initiation; the Grimm Hunt. Currently, you are in a forest known as Roguewoods, where a variety of Grimm, both powerful and weak reside. Your tasks here are simply to hunt as many Grimm as you can, as strong as you wish, and we will reward points for your kills. This test will last overnight so you should also prepare a means of acquiring food and sleeping…” Beryl paused. “At the end of the hunt, we will ping you a location to get to. Be there by the time scheduled… and you will return to Ixion Academy. Fail to meet the deadline... and a second carrier will fly you home.”

“That is all. I wish you luck.” The message ended.

… Well, she knows what she knows now. Out in the wild… very, very far from home… and she’s supposed to kill a bunch of Grimm. Hm… thinking about that too much seems a little difficult. She’s distracted by a sudden flush of heat...

First Day, 1st Phase
Lucilla can travel 3 spaces. She can travel South, East, and West… but not North, since that was covered with a literal wall of trees— she hears rustling in the bushes nearby… someone was very close to her. Was someone behind her when she landed? Anyway, she’s in fine shape. From her position, she could probably spend some time searching around for Grimm... or maybe she'd rather forage for food.

Currently, she has 0 points.

Emma:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

They shot her out of a cannon to careen through the air like a bird. They really sent her flying with absolutely not even a single moment’s thought otherwise. If she lands horribly? She’s probably gonna be spending time in an ICU, if not outright dead. They didn’t even give them parachutes! However Emma was going to land… was entirely up to her. Thankfully she won’t fuck it up.

But not so thankfully, she’s stuck down in some Godforsaken forest with no knowledge of where allies could be… well, actually, she saw a few people whose trajectory could’ve placed them around her spot. Some bunny faunus was flying… maybe ahead of her? If that’s a lead she’d want to chase. Anyway, it also looked like she was around the lower base of a forest located on a mountain. Behind her, she could see… an edge. A literal cliff. Apparently, she was pretty close to not cutting it. Wild. Was there some explanation she was supposed to be waiting on..?

Speak of the devil; her Scroll started beeping in her pocket. She reached down to pull it out, thankful in part that it survived the wild ride through the air. Turning the device on, she’d notice that little icon that showed a new message received! Click.

“I apologize for any roughness you may have experienced during your trip to this location, but this test is meant to gauge your reactions to the unexpected.” … It’s Beryl. “I’d like to welcome everyone to the second part of Initiation; the Grimm Hunt. Currently, you are in a forest known as Roguewoods, where a variety of Grimm, both powerful and weak reside. Your tasks here are simply to hunt as many Grimm as you can, as strong as you wish, and we will reward points for your kills. This test will last overnight so you should also prepare a means of acquiring food and sleeping…” Beryl paused. “At the end of the hunt, we will ping you a location to get to. Be there by the time scheduled… and you will return to Ixion Academy. Fail to meet the deadline... and a second carrier will fly you home.”

“That is all. I wish you luck.” The message ended.

… Well, she knows what she knows now. Out in the wild… very, very far from home… and she’s supposed to kill a bunch of Grimm. How hard could this be?

First Day, 1st Phase
Emma can travel 2 spaces. She can travel South, East, and West, but North was unfortunately a goddamn cliff. Her only lead on where could be a good place to go would be… the one person she might’ve seen somewhere ahead of her. Oh, and she’s doing alright health-wise. From her position, she could probably spend some time searching around for Grimm... or maybe she'd rather forage for food.

Currently, she has 0 points.

Amelia:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Oh my God she’s flying. Oh my God oh my God she’s really actually flying. Is she gonna be okay? There’s a lot of people screaming around her! If she didn’t think of something quick then she’ll hit something really hard and probably get really hurt. Her Aura could do a lot of great things? But saving her from a really high up fall down to a painful, rocky ground? Well… let’s not think about that. Instead, Amelia somehow manages to save herself from—

Wait. No. Oh no no no. This is a… Nope, situation. Whatever Amelia was trying to do to land safely, she instead… ends up caught in a giant black web that she hadn’t seen until it was too late. The webbing was constricting her movement, forcing her to fight tooth and nail to so much as turn her head to see where she was… a darker part of a forest, with large pine trees overhead. Nearby, she could see the makings of a cave… and she felt an ominous feeling emanating from it. Wow, this is a very not good situation.

Her Scroll was beeping, but… she couldn’t reach it. If anything, the noise will probably attract a bad sort of attention if she doesn’t find some way out of this trap quickly. Why was she even here? What kind of test was this supposed to be?!

First Day, 1st Phase
Amelia is caught in a web! She cannot move until she passes a Strength check to escape or until she’s saved by someone… and she was too distracted to have noted if anyone landed nearby. She might be on her own, but she needed to escape quickly… lest something come her way. For one idea… the most of what the web’s sticking to is her clothing. If she sacrificed her clothes, she might be able to get out easily.

[MiscChaos]

Of course it was Captain Dramatic who catches them out after their spar is done. She’d have taken literally any other teacher except the Bestiary one (can’t trust that the smell of blood wouldn’t set him off) and the Principal (Dramatic AND in charge? Bad combo), but no, of course it’s Mark. At the very least they don’t seem to be getting in trouble over this so it’s something. Still, she’s glad when he delivers his message then gets gone. She still doesn’t like his personality as a whole after all. At the very least, she knows her way to the auditorium so it’s not a big deal when Mark doesn’t lead them to it. Besides, even if she gets lost, Pinkie and Cici seem to have a much better sense of direction than her before she learns layouts, so she’ll trust them. It doesn’t change the fact that she’s very glad when the auditorium comes into sight and she’s hustled into a healer’s attentions. While her hurts weren’t much, she really wasn’t looking forward to trying to sleep on a cut up back and shoulder. Without much else in the way of closes, she just takes her jacket off and uses that as a blanket to sleep in. She’s not sure if it’d be considered weird to try to stick next to Cici and Pinkie as they slept, but she’d give it a try regardless. She’s not sure what this test will have in it, but getting rid of the competition ahead of time might be a valid strategy.

Her fears are unfounded though when they’re woken the next day. She still has trouble eating the rich foods that make up their breakfast, but since something important is coming up soon, she really has to do her best to eat as much as she can and keep it down. Energy needs and all that shit. She regrets it when her stomach starts turning afterward. Another written test!? Fucking really!? She barely passed the one that got her into this place to begin with and this one ain’t any damn easier! Literally what she knows about Aura is what she’s experienced firsthand and what she learned yesterday, and the less said about her knowledge of Semblances and Dust, the better. She begins to wonder if she really should have blown off Cici and Pinkie and hit the library like she originally planned. Well, not really, making bonds with people who could have her back is way more important in her worldview, but still doesn’t help the current situation. Or does it? While she doesn’t have any idea what the fuck is going on, Pinkie might. Or at least that’s the vibe she gets when Pinkie lets her pick answers off their test. At the very least, it’s better than the fuck all she would have put on the paper otherwise. Still, when the test is over and Beryl doesn’t bother to check the answers, she has to wonder if it was even worth it. Does the test matter or was their methods of getting through it more important? Cause she literally heard one person fighting their test and they seem to be passing through just fine.

The room she is led into is… weird. Roomy, dark with only the doors in front of them to guide them. The hallway afterward is just as weird. She really can’t figure out what all this is about, but the rail under her feet makes her wary. Her misgiving only intensifies as the room keeps morphing right under her feet. As a precaution, she taps Innocent Monster against the ground. Just in case. This is a school that doesn’t really care about a student being eaten by a plant after all even if they did get him back eventually. Her eyes bulge nearly out of her skull when she hears the countdown and she figures she’d better brace herself for anything. Still, being launched out of the room and through the air isn’t very high on her list of concerns. And yet here she is, trying her hardest not to scream her lungs out as she flies. It’s really Danny’s less than graceful display that seals that for her, wanting to be more dignified than that at the very least. Still, she’s only got her boots and her body to stick this landing with. She’d better not fuck it up… She idly tracks the Bunny Faunus, thinking it might be the one she helped save from a trampling earlier. If so, she’s immediately worried. The girl seemed pretty timid back there. How well is she gonna do at something like this without backup? Besides that, they’re gonna have to sleep sometime. It’d be much better if she could find someone and do it in shifts rather than either not sleeping or sleeping badly to keep from getting jumped. She’d much rather have Cici or Pinkie, but someone she can be at least somewhat sure won’t stab her in the back will do in a pinch.

Still, that’s a distant concern. More pressing… well, she’s still flying through the air. She’s got a lot of momentum to bleed still if she doesn’t wanna pancake. Thankfully she’s in a forest so she’s got a plan for that. The instant she can, she kicks off the top of a tree, taking control of her own momentum. From there, she spirals down to the ground by pushing off the trees, using less and less kick power each time she does. By the time she reaches floor, she’s killed enough momentum that she just has to do a small roll before jumping back to her feet. Thankfully she doesn’t ruin the Scroll she was given during her trip down so she gets the objective for this run. OK, so secure food, water, and shelter and use that as a base to scout for Grimm. They only have one night to do it, so she should plan for sleep being minimal to increase her chances. Nothing new. Having to scavenge for food and a place to sleep is her whole life after all. She wonders how Grimm respond to guerilla warfare. Well, ain’t not time like the present to get shit done. The Faunus was to the South, so she’ll scout in that direction for food and shelter and see if she can’t track down her fellow student at the same time. Either she’ll find the bunny or she’ll find someplace to hunker down. Or she’ll run into a Grimm. All of it’s possible, though she doesn’t think she’s ready for the Grimm yet.

[cliffracer]

Hunter slept very well that night. Dead asleep in a matter of seconds, without even changing in to the pajamas she'd brought. No amount of crowded auditorium or quiet chatter from those resting would interrupt her rest. Good thing too, because tomorrow proved to be very eventful indeed...

First, it looks like some... nerd crap in the actual classrooms. Written exams or something. Hunter fought the test with the utmost confidence, barely aware that she really should know some-slash-most-slash-any of the stuff that got asked. She just answered the questions she knew (mostly about weapons or hitting things) and got very impatient when she started seeing words with more than three syllables. She pretty quickly had her state devolve in a mix of boredom and frustration, first she took to doodling, and then she was just... wrecking the pages. It was pretty cathartic towards the end when she had the whole thing impaled several times on a snapped pencil. She feels like she did pretty good with that test at that point.

Until she has to turn it in and she realises that everyone else's tests are not, in fact, ripped up. Whatever, who cares, she's going to this academy to get good at killing Grimm. Luckily, Beryl doesn't seem to care much either. Time to get on with the show! The show that's... dark? Really dark, once the door's closed. "Uhh, yooo, is this a test of willpower or somethin? Or..." The wall opens up, and she's gotta go in to another damn dark room, but this time solo? When clamps lock down around her feet, she's immediately alert. She's got no clue what's about to happen, especially when she starts getting raised up. Her immediate thoughts are if this whole thing was a huge prank, or if something super important is going on...

"Launch?"

Hunter is immediately impacted with wind force as she's shot in to the air, straight out of the damn castle itself, and in to the forest?! Was this some rude way of saying she didn't make it?! No time to think about that though, she's sailing to a deep part of this forest, and can barely see a huge tree she's on a face-first collision course with. Thankfully though, this is exactly the kind of situation that Hunter's most comfortable in! Getting a confident grin, Hunter flips herself feet-first and starts spinning legs-first for the tree. Her Semblance already had all the momentum it needed, but Hunter's gotta make sure she's doing it stylish. The wind force ripples around her, visible to the naked eye as her Gale Force translates it all in to stored power. She impacts with the tree, and is actively stuck to it for a few seconds as the topspin she put on causes all that built up speed to strip away its bark, leaving a VERY dramatic crater... and some sore legs. And a lot of dizziness. It causes a nice breeze to blow through the forest following her trajectory, at least!

The drop to the forest floor is a lot easier. She lands before the sawdust she created does, and is just getting her bearings when her Scroll pings. It looks like this WASN'T some asshole way to say 'get out', and it's just a test. And she gets to kill the shit out of Grimm! And... survive on her own. She's well used to that. She undoes the straps keeping Jet Cyclone strapped to her thigh and pops the compacted staff up in to her hand. A couple swings extends it. Combat ready in just a couple seconds. She could either go North and see who the hell it was that landed near her and maybe get a partner in all of this... orrrrr she could go south and hopefully run facefirst in to a Grimm to beat the shit out of. Unfortunately, this is not a difficult decision for her.

...She heads South until she's on top of those noises. There's points to be had she hopes, and there's a competitive fire sparking within her that doesn't want to share points with just anyone. Why not get a head start? "HAAA HA HA HA! LET'S DO THIS!"

[Mark3000]

Lucilla’s body tightened as the flamboyant professor appeared before them. She had been trying to craft the image of a ladylike student in order to get close to him. But that seemed to have gone up in smoke … Or maybe not. Just as quickly as he had arrived to say his piece, Professor Mark was gone. Taking his words to heart, Lucilla traveled with her two friends.

Once the healer had taken a look at her shoulder, she rotated it to make sure it was working properly. Lucilla prided herself on her movement and grace, but Emma was right. It wouldn’t matter much if it just took one hit to knock her out. Once in the Auditorium, Lucilla stayed close to Emma and Roux as they found a place to sleep. Her sleep wear was a simple set of frilly night gown that she had received from one of her clients. Resting soundly, she mentally prepared herself for the next day.

After another extravagant meal, Lucilla confronted her first trial for the day. Lucilla was rather confident in her academic abilities. But for some reason this test was giving her more trouble than usual. It was clear the written test would be a write off and she’d have to prove herself in the next examination. Or at least that was what she thought until she got her test back with all the right answers. Looking at the examiner, he winked back at her. The one person I didn’t try to charm huh? She thinks to herself as she gives the examiner a wink back. She’d have to pay him back for his kindness.

With the written test done, Lucilla follows the headmaster to their next location. It was a singular dark room that seemed to lead to another even darker room. It was ominous, there was no mistaking that. But Lucilla wasn’t going to let something like this get into her head. Her fears become founded when the metal clamps wrap around her legs. She struggles in her binds not noticing the room move until sun begins to poor in.

‘Five seconds until launch.’

Wait What?

Lucilla thought just as she was launched into the air along with the other students. She could hear them screaming from miles away, which was impressive given her own screams. But soon the arc of her trajectory quickly curved downward as she started to fall. Thinking fast, she slowed her fall by spreading out her arms and legs. Then as she neared the ground, Lucilla prepared to land on her feet. She focused her Aura into the bottom half of her body to absorb the blunt of the impact. Keeping her arms in as well, Lucilla touched down and rolled forward to displace the force of her fall. When she got up, she dusted herself off and took a look at her surroundings. The dark skinned huntress had spent most of her life in the city. So to say she was inexperienced when it came to wilderness survival was an understatement.

As she got her bearings, Lucilla noticed a peculiar smell. She could feel herself getting light headed as her body became more sensitive. Given the nature of Lucilla’s Semblance, she immediately put her guard up. She knew better than anyone how dangerous these types of attacks could be. As her scroll beeps, Lucilla answered it and received Beryl’s message. “A Grimm Hunt huh.” Lucilla mused as she put away her scroll. So she would just have to survive overnight and rack up Grimm kills. That would be easy enough. She would have to find food and a place to sleep. But spend too much time on that and she’ll be left to hunt Grimm at night. By Beryl’s wording, this was a test of their survival skills more than their hunting ability as not kill total was given to pass. What Lucilla did know was that she had to get away from this smell and fast. She could already feel her body heat up every second she stayed here. Facing south, she carefully moved as far as she could from the smell. With luck, it was most likely something from that thick wall of trees to the north. If not, she would have to take care of the source personally. (Move south three spaces)

When she arrived at her destination she would start by searching for food and possible a place to use as shelter overnight.

[Blue56]

Amelia can only sigh and shake her head, smiling slightly as Hunter is already asleep practically as soon as she sets the smaller girl down. She had been worried for nothing it seemed, but that was still a good thing, right? Amelia changes into the plain nightgown she wore to sleep and settled in nearby, just in case. With how nervous she is about the day of testing to come, it takes a bit for her to fall asleep, but once she does, she sleeps soundly until morning.

Amelia wakes up bright and early, a habit from her life as servant up until now, though with no work to do, she busies herself changing and preparing for the day ahead instead. Breakfast was just as extravagant as the other meals, but Amelia kept it as simple as ever, having only some pancakes. It was best not to overeat anyway, she felt nervous enough to throw up as it is already. Once breakfast is over, they're led to a classroom for what Amelia had been dreading. Well, she had been dreading a lot of things really, but the written test was something she wasn't confident in at all. She had never had much of anything in the way of a formal education and had been studying intensely lately to make up for that, but she still felt woefully uneducated after taking her initial entrance exam.

Despite her worries though, Amelia found that she actually knew a lot of the answers! She wasn't super confident in all of them, but she was making her way through the test at a decent pace. With a lead on time, Amelia steals a glance over to see how Hunter is faring, and is utterly shocked by what she sees. An exam was a mental struggle, or so she had always thought, but Hunter had somehow managed to make it into a physical one as she worked to tear her test to shreds. "Uhh.... Errrr...." Amelia mutters as she watches, transfixed by the bizarre sight that was unfolding before her very eyes. She desperately wants to say something, to let Hunter know that that isn't how written exams work at all, but that would be considered cheating, wouldn't it? The damage to Hunter's test was done, a fatal wound inflicted by a sharp, uncaring pencil, there was no point in throwing her own score away in futility.... Wait... HER TEST!!! Amelia had been so engrossed in Hunter's struggle, that she hadn't finished her own exam. She begins to scribble furiously, but doesn't get far before the end of their time is announced.

Amelia is visibly defeated and on the verge of tears as she turns her incomplete test in to the examiner and is led off to the next room. Well, if they weren't kicking her out right away, the next tests must have been a chance to redeem herself. The dark room they are led to and the professors ominous words instill a feeling of dread in Amelia, and the series of doors that only lead to more darkness don't help her feel any better. The voice she hears upon entering her door only serves to make matters more confusing. Lunch? It felt like they had just had breakfast not that long ago, and why was there a countdown to it? Oh, that's launch, not lunch. Amelia realizes this a little too late and is powerless to stop from being shot out into the air like a cannonball. The shrill screams of other students suffering a similar fate ring out oddly close to her, until Amelia realizes that was her screaming. Though she wondered what she had done to deserve this, how she was going to land safely ended up being the more pressing matter. Her hand flew to grab Liberation's Bulwark, the compact piece of metal unfolding and expanding into a black shield, about as wide and half as tall as her body to cover offer as much protection as possible without compromising weight or durability. With this and her aura, she could probably break her fall, but more importantly, holding her trusty shield filled her with the courage and confidence she needed to make decisions in a swift and decisive manner. Despite the situation, Amelia smirked as she hurtled through the air and began to descend towards the ground at break neck speeds. Was something like this supposed to be a challenge? Now that she had some confidence, Amelia's Semblance was active and she dive headlong into the tree branches, her shield and her aura making it so she felt little more than a sting as she broke through them, aiming to purposefully hit as many as she could to slow her momentum until crashing into the ground was about as threatening as tripping over her own two feet.

Or that was the plan anyway, but the next thing Amelia knew, she had hit something soft, and that unexpected turn of events terrified her. Wait, terrified? Amelia couldn't feel her shield in her grip anymore and that meant she was back to her usual nervous wreck. Panic set in and Amelia struggled to get to her feet and look for her shield, but found she had landed on some sort of web that she couldn't easily escape from. Terror overtook her, but she still had the presence of mind not to scream at least. After all, something had set up this web to capture prey, and she definitely did not want it to find her while she was trapped like this. What the hell was this though?! Had the professors decided to feed her to Grimm for failing to complete her test? She couldn't let it end like this. The beeping of her Scroll went completely unnoticed as she struggled harder to pull herself free from the webbing. If that didn't work then... Well, it felt like she could slip out of her clothes and get out that way, but running around these woods in her underwear was far from the ideal situation. It was still better than being stuck here until she becomes Grimm food though.

[RandomRoninKitten]

Hunter:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

With her options weighed very carefully, Hunter was quick to pick the best choice and get a move on. As she made her way through the woods, she started to pass by the man-made wooden statues that had been set up in this area. The wooden statues were vaguely human-shaped, unpainted, and skeletal, making them look extremely creepy in the darkness of the woods, where the treetops tended to block the sunlight. The ground throughout the woodlands was covered in a deep layer of leaves, causing Hunter’s footsteps to crunch loudly with every step, and constant heavy gusts of wind often caused even more leaves to fall and scatter along the ground, as the trees rattled noisily. Otherwise, besides the sound that Hunter was following, the woods were deathly and eerily silent.

It took a decent amount of time, and a lot of listening and looking, however Hunter eventually finds herself standing on top of the source of the sound. The odd thing, however, was that she still couldn’t see the Grimm, despite being as close to the sound as she could reasonably get. Suddenly, the leaves beneath Hunter’s feet start to rustle, then several gray-ish black-colored vines erupt from beneath the dead leaves, several vines wrapping around her wrists, binding them against each other above her head, while two sets of vines each wrap around her ankles, and several more wrap around her hips, after which Hunter is suddenly lifted into the air. As she’s lifted by the vines, a white bud-like creature with ornate red markings across its petals, with gray-black roots erupts from beneath the deep leaf layer, then turns to face hunter, opening up into what resembled a Venus Flytrap, with yellow mist pouring from a second mouth within the flower-like first. As it roared at her, even more gray-black vines run up Hunter’s body, slipping beneath the hem of her shirt and lifting it up, after which two vines wrap around her breasts(Through her bra if she’s wearing one) and begin stroking and squeezing them roughly, while two more vines slip under her skirt and begin vigorously stroking her crotch through her shorts. The yellow mist pouring from the creature’s mouth forms a cloud around Hunter, smelling like a field full of exotic flowers as she’s forced to inhale it.

Lucilla:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

That horrifically pleasing smell would turn out to be a constant in her area, Lucilla found. She kept on her way south, passing through shrubs and greenery as she kept a vigilant eye out in case of an attack or a nearby ally... though she mostly encountered trees. More sounds. Some wind here... lots of forest ambience—and... creepy human-shaped wooden statues. There was no need to question what those were about at all, so Lucilla simply kept on her way. She eventually reached what looked like a bush of berries and figured there would be a good place to start some quick foraging. Hopefully she could finish this quickly and get out of the area...

The berries she picked were small and delicate, Lucilla found. Apply even a decent amount of pressure and they'd end up crushed, so storing them? Probably would be difficult in a fight. Still, she was able to get a good bunch of the small red beads. As far as she knew, they weren't poisonous either... looked more like raspberries than anything. Hm.

Rustle rustle... she heard it before she'd hear the snap of something stepping on a branch. Lucilla quickly whirled around with Revolving Rose at the ready... and stared as a blue-haired girl wearing a big poofy blue coat stepped out of the shrubbery with her hands up. She had steel gray, half-lidded eyes that shone with allure, the rest of her outfit was pretty revealing and form-fitting, showing off her shapely figure and a lot of her pale skin... Lucilla could specifically see the gentle, but quick, raising of her chest as she took in labored breaths... part of her had to appreciate the openness of the outfit, but wouldn't something like that look better on the ground—

Wait... the aphrodisiac in the air is getting to her. She had to reign herself in to keep focused. "... Hey." The blue-haired woman spoke up with a casual wave, her tone of voice sounding slightly wispy. "Uh... nice weather? Kinda cool. C-crisp... and, nice hair— sorry, no. Not nice hair. I mean, nice hair but like, not the time about that..? Urgh." The nameless girl briefly turned to mess with her hair and mumble something to herself... "Okay. Look. Uh... this place sucks, right?"

Well. This could be a friend.

Amelia:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As Amelia tried valiantly, or desperately, to free herself from the Grimm's webbing... she finds it wasn’t budging enough, quickly enough, which forces her to ditch her clothing rather than chance waiting for whatever created the giant web to come out and find her there.

Once Amelia has ditched her skirt, top, and cloak, she manages to struggle free from the web and drops several feet, through tree branches, to the leaf-covered ground below with loud crunches and a thud, as the dead leaves are crushed beneath her. Once she hits the ground, she's showered with all of the tree branches that she had broken during her fall from the web.

When she looks around from her new vantage point, she can see that she’s in a part of the forest that gets little sun, due to the tall trees forming a really thick treetop, alongside the cliff face blocking off most of the sunlight. The air was foggy, and all around, between trees, were strange wooden statues of featureless people. On one side was a large stone cliff face, with a deep cave, the one that she had seen earlier where she got the ominous feeling from.

Suddenly, Amelia heard a loud “Moo!” nearby. Turning in the direction of the sound would reveal that the source was a cow. Its fur was black and white splotches, its ears twitched when it saw Amelia, but after a moment, it bent down and ate some grass, chewing loudly. Suddenly, a black web shot out from inside the cave, hitting the cow in the side, which it didn’t seem to notice as it continued eating. The black web went slack for a brief moment, then it suddenly pulled back inside the cave, tugging the cow along with it into the darkness and out of sight. Blood then sprayed out of the cave, accompanied by loud crunching sounds for several moments, then a massive black spider with white carapace segments on top, the ones on its abdomen forming a skull surrounded by white squares, exited the cave at incredible speed, appearing as a black and white blurr, crawling on the cliffside for a moment, before suddenly stopping and wiggling its blood-stained mandibles for a moment. Suddenly, the creature snaps its head in Amelia’s direction at breakneck speed, its numerous bright red eyes, all packed together just above its mandibles, staring directly into her own. This massive spider Grimm was more than five times taller than Amelia, and even longer than that.

Emma:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Despite this place being a forest, it's really looking like it's just devoid of any good food... Emma's been searching along her way south. She's seen a few shrubs and such, lots of useless or dead bushes and thorny places, but nothing more edible than the twig of a tree. She'd just been about fed up with her luck when she heard something a little promising.

... Water. Rushing water! Rivers were always useful in a time of the wild. They had fish and, if prepared well, something safe to drink from, providing a decent source of food if someone tried hard enough. Emma only had to keep on her way south until she came across it. A decently sized river drifting downstream. "... zzz..." If she could make a net or a fishing rod? That's food. Though at the same time, making either material is work, and fishing takes time. "zzzzz..." It's still an option to consider—what the hell was that noise? Her attention stolen, Emma turned her gaze up the river to spot what looked to be... something, drifting in the water?

It comes closer.

... It's a body.

Specifically, it's one certain bunny Faunus who was clutching onto a log as she drifted downstream. Her head was downcast, and her back was to Emma... but it almost looked like her face was in the water.

She's gonna fucking drown.

[cliffracer]

Hunter's pass through the darker woods ended up being pretty uneventful by her metric. There were some weird sculptures that kinda unnerved her... until she gave a couple of them some whacks from her staff to knock them over, which entertained her just enough to keep her from getting too tense. Entertained by some nice bonking, afterwards she just enjoys the wind and the ambiance as she proceeds further in. She's never had too many chances to be on her own in the wilderness, and there was something maybe similar to peace wriggling its way in to her mind. For a bit, at least, until the forest's own tension put her guard back up.

Her careless pace wouldn't go unpunished, it seems. The minute she lets her guard down to look around for her quarry, her quarry makes itself known to her. Hunter is introduced to bondage for the very first time as a Grimm's vines suddenly seize her wrists, forcing her to retract Jet Cyclone just so she can avoid dropping it as she's roughly taken control of by her ambusher. The vines around her hips are already making her grit her teeth in embarassment, but she can't help herself from a growl in frustration when she gets to see the main body of this plant Grimm. Spitting some kind of gas no less, even she knows she shouldn't be breathing in that stuff. She tilts her head up to keep her nose out of it, but controlling her breathing proves a difficult task when her unprotected tits are sought out by a couple of the vines. No sports bra because she wasn't expecting the activity... She would've been fine if that was all that was happening to her, but the vines attacking her crotch force a lewd gasp out of her.

...Which only serves to infuriate her. "Gaaagghhh!! Let-- GO of me, you-- horny piece a'-" Completely indignated by the sudden molestation, especially aware that she's enjoying it, Hunter's doing what she can to fight her way free of these vines. But even she's not sure how long she can commit to the idea of freedom.

The plant-like Grimm struggled to keep her contained. Its vines whipped at her as she fought against it, bashing against her natural defenses as it repetitively rubbed against her crotch. Give in, it practically said. There was no doubt that the creature was hoping to crush her will against it. Force her to submit so that it could mercilessly have its way with her...

But Hunter fought back. She struggled, tearing her arms out of its grip and giving herself the chance to pull away as it recoiled from her strength. The Snaptrapper hissed at her in contention... the fight was on now.

--Combat Gardening COMMENCE!--

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

There's no way Hunter's gonna let the first Grimm she comes across take advantage of her! No amount of weird mist or frisky vines is gonna get the better of her! Getting a confident smirk, she focuses her Aura in to her reflexes and extends her staff again. She spins and swings for the core of this overgrown shrubbery, but her mist-addled swing comes up short as her limbs behave a bit more loosely than she was expecting.

The staff swung just short of its target, and perhaps the likely reason behind it was a theory shared by her opponent, as the Snaptrapped would immediately close in to blow a full gust of pink mist from its mouth directly into Hunter's space. The exotic scents fueled her with an uncomfortable heat, the smell trying to seduce her into lowering her guard more for the Grimm to take advantage of...

And it would show that was its plan as its vines would sprout around it and reach out to grab her. Hunter would barely evade the attempt, causing the vines to swipe nothing but air.

"Fat chance!" She taunts, then practically gags on her words when she realises it lets more of that mist in to her lungs. Gotta deal with that. With her need for enhanced reflexes passed, she finds an opportune time for more Semblance use. She helicopters her staff and uses her aura to draw on the wind, then brings it low and spins her whole body with it to release an air-clearing gust- and then she follows through with a diagonal swipe that'd have been hard to follow even if you had eyes!

The Snaptrapper was literally rooted into the ground and had no chance to evade, so it simply took the hit with as many vines as it could put in the way. "—!" Another wordless cry sounded. Hunter's continued resistance was not according to its usual plan... but the monster wouldn't let up. Its intense determination was born from its mindless desire to torment humanity. Right at the exact moment after Hunter struck it, the Grimm quickly lashed out from a vine to the side, striking the Huntress-In-Training in her blindspot!

"Gyaaack!" Hunter is struck straight in the side, which gets her skidding across the ground a bit as she absorbs what of that blow she can with her Aura. It stings enough that her retaliation can't quite beat the protective tentacles this time, so she backs off a step and hisses through her teeth to try and dispel the pain some. She's definately alert now, this thing's got what it takes to down her… suprisingly. She's just gotta make sure it doesn't.

It notably had other plans that it couldn't make good on. Hunter saw it coming, this time, right from the same place she'd been smacked last! The Snaptrapper's vine was quick and flew through the air, but she was quicker and had no trouble evading it. Its wild swipe would leave it open for a strike in response as well as it had used its same protective vines to attack her. It must not have been very bright…

Hunter takes a deep breath as she sidesteps around that vine assault. That was just too easy, and that haze she was starting to feel is starting to let up. Grinning and chuckling dangerously, she focuses her aura on sheer speed and takes a full-on baseball swing at the thing this time, eager to make the most of her cleared-up senses. She's feeling confident about this one, it's niiice and easy!

Its hastily raised defenses weren't quick enough. "—!!" The much louder hiss was a result of a solid hit to its head, knocking it off... but also causing it to cough out more of its enchanting mist. The fumes leaked from its mouth into the air, forcing its way back into Hunter as the Snaptrapper followed that with a vengeful lunge! It was just a little too slow and too dazed. Hunter evaded its grapple yet again. She could see it was starting to look pretty hurt about now…

"Haha, what a swiiing-- gghk!" She shuts herself up again, for exactly the same reason as last time. Even though she swung those gnashy flower-teeth straight off, the mist is still very much a problem, and she was getting showered in the stuff now. But… If she can kill the source, she can deal with the consequences afterwards! Grinning confidently, she plants her staff in the ground and uses it for a polevaulting flying kick, hoping this'll be the finisher she deserves!

This time, it'd been ready. The vines reach up to block the kick with minimal damage, the force just enough to push it back a bit and pull some of its blackened roots out... but not kill it, close as it seemed to have gotten. The Snaptrapper would seek to capitalize on that. It turned itself ever so slightly, pulling its vines together to form a larger one much like a bat, and nearly mirroring Hunter's swing from before, it lifted off with a quick, merciless slash to bash her to the ground!

As soon as she realises the thing's not dying, Hunter realises she's made a huge mistake. She gets slapped right out of the air on her recoil and bounces off the ground, with only a heaping helping of her aura keeping her from a cracked rib or two. She'll definately be feeling that for a minute, and the worst part is, it's forced her to stay in this haze longer. She growls in annoyance and focuses again. If she wasn't gonna have a cool finisher, she was gonna have a decisive one, dammit. She jumps from her kneeled recovery posture, flips, and brings her staff down for a big overhead smash. There's no way it's blocking all of THIS one, she thinks!

It wasn't. It wouldn't even try. The Grimm had completely abandoned any intention of self defense and it was purely attempting to beat her down as quickly as it could. Instead of raising its vines in defense, it used its newly crafted vine bat to try to get one last, good shot at her. No defenses. No dodging. It only cared to bash her as hard as it could at just the same time Hunter was pulling in to knock its flower head out. The vine bat closed in from the side. Hunter's staff was swinging down... PLSH!

... The tip of Hunter's staff lodged into the head of the Grimm, cracking through its hardened skull-like top and piercing into it to kill it instantly. Its vine bat would freeze, shake a little, then drop as it slumped down to dissipate.

... The fight was over. The Snaptrapper was defeated.

Hunter's panting and kinda aching from that fight, but she's feeling way better now than she did before. Hornier, maybe, but that's besides the point. She just beat down her first Grimm, and not only was it pretty big, the damn thing obviously could've kept a hold of anyone that wasn't her! "Heh! That's a pretty good rush!" She collapses her staff again and sticks it back in its holster… "Wait, what's this?" She bends down and picks up a… crop top. She doesn't give its source a thought. Looks better than what she wore in, so she has no qualms putting that on underneath her tanktop. She learned just now that having a bra might help a bit, after all.

Exhaling and trying to keep her head clear, she considers her options again. She might go back to find that person she heard, but that might not be too safe anymore… Might as well consider her options.

So Hunter considers her options. That fight with that Grimm left her pretty banged up. She wasn't too hurt and new she'd recover in time, but out here... time wasn't exactly a common resource. Some good food could always help no matter the problem, right? Or she could find a safe spot to rest in for a bit. Might be more dangerous while alone, but... that's better than charging another enemy while two minutes from dropping. Hm. So those are some options.

"Damn, that stings..." She stretches to work some of the pain out of her hip and starts wandering in to the forest. She's after some food now, since she deserves a good snack after a battle well-fought. Who knows, maybe if she's not being so reckless she might be the one who gets to spring an ambush next time.

[MiscChaos]

A slight sound of annoyance escapes Emma as she searches. Really, it’s a fuckin’ forest! How the hell does anything survive around here if they can’t find food!? Maybe she’s just in a bad part? Now that she thinks about it, she hasn’t really seen any life in this place besides plants. She might just have to get a different zone. If this area is lifeless, then there wouldn’t be any Grimm to hunt either, so it’s completely useless to her. Her thoughts are completely cut off by the sound of rushing water. Which is just perfect. Running water will likely lead to a watering hole where she can hunt or scavenge for edible plants, provide a good water supply, and, if she can swing it, she can set up base along this river. And she bets people will come along this river too! This is perfect! This is…

This is a future corpse floating down the stream. Emma would really like it if that wasn’t a future corpse and was instead an ally. That future corpse is the same damn bunny they had to help from getting trampled earlier. “Well, fuck. I really shouldn’t leave her to her fate then.” She says with a sigh. It’d sit wrong with her if she let someone so obviously in need of protection die in a place like this. Shrugging off her jacket, she tracks the path of the log and dives in ahead of it to cut it off and guide it back to land. Hopefully the faunus will get it together when she can actually breathe.

[Mark3000]

No matter how far Lucilla travelled, she couldn’t get a reprieve from this intoxicating scent. As she walked, she could feel her skin rub against her clothing. Her search for food and fear on an enemy attack were the only things keeping Lucilla from giving in to the aphrodisiac and pleasuring herself in the bush where no one would see her if only to take the edge off.

At least her walking hadn’t been fruitless. The bush of berries provided the dark-skinned huntress with some sustenance. Examining them closely, she took one or two to see how they tasted. After which she took a handful. They would make a suitable snack as she tried to find her way out of this area.

Before she could leave, Lucilla heard a rustling from the brush. Drawing her weapon, Lucilla turns to face whoever was hiding. As it turned out, it was another entrant like herself. Lucilla relaxed her stance as her eyes wondered over the blue-haired woman’s body. If that woman wanted to draw in Lucilla’s attention, she succeeded. Lucilla could feel her heart beat as she watched the woman approach with her alluring figure and revealing outfit. Lucilla just wanted to grab her and …

Lucilla shook her head as she tried to get her thoughts in order. It was just the strange scent in the air, nothing more. As the blue-haired woman tried to talk, Lucilla listened to her ramble until she got to the point. “Agreed” she replied. ”Name’s Lucilla, I’m guessing you’ve smelt that scent whiffing through the air?” she said before pausing for a moment “We need to get out of here before we end up in each other’s pants.” Lucilla said as she prepared to move south with or without the blue haired woman.

[Blue56]

Amelia gives the webbing a cautious tug, testing it's durability before she would make a serious attempt. It felt like if she gave it her all, she could break free but... Rather than tempt fate, Amelia quickly wriggled out of her top to free her arms, which she then used to slide out of her skirt and tumble out of the webbing and onto the ground below. Fortunately, this meant she was no longer bound and helpless at the mercy of who knows what sort of horrible monster awaited. Unfortunately, it meant she had to now find her way out of this forest in only her boots and her white and blue striped bra and panties, now dirtied by the shower of branches and leaves that had fallen on her. Well, as long as she didn't run into anyone, or anything, it wouldn't be so bad, just rather unpleasant.

Now that she can, Amelia takes the time to examine her surroundings. This forest was eerie... Not only was it so dark here, but those human like statues really gave her the creeps. She couldn't see the school from here, so there were no landmarks she could move towards. She would just have to get moving and hope for the- A loud "moo" from seemingly nowhere almost made Amelia jump out of what little clothes she had left. Looking around, the source was quickly located and predictably, a cow. What was a cow doing in the middle of this forest anyway? Before she could ponder it further, a web attached itself to the cow and the poor creature was swiftly devoured. The crunching of bones and spray of blood before her very eyes caused Amelia's legs to tremble and eventually give out on her, sending her to her knees. The creature that emerged from the cave was every bit as terrifying as she was expecting. Why was this happening to her?! Did the school feed bad students to this monster? How could a test score earn her a death sentence? She couldn't defeat such a large creature by herself and with only a shield... Right, her shield. She was never going to get out of this as her normal cowardly self. Amelia quickly scurried over to where her shield had fallen, along with the satchel that held her Scroll among other things, picking them up and hoping the boost of courage she received would help her get through this.

Nope. That thing was still horrifying no matter how she looked at it. Even with the burst of confidence holding her shield gave her, she managed to get to her feet at least, but she wasn't stupid enough to try to fight that alone. How did that saying go? Discretion is the better part of valor? At least something like that helped her feel a little better as she turned tail and ran in the opposite direction from the spider Grimm as fast as she could.

[mrblah]

Hunter:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

And so she walked the path... or more accurately, maybe limped would be a better word. The Snaptrapper may have been defeated, but the effects of its actions still lingered behind to bite at her... figuratively speaking. Hunter was still able to head deeper into the forest, pulling away from the dangerous, darker part she was in, and out of it into more open spacing. The sunlight's rays reached this newer part of the forest. The trees here were much more open and thinner, with less dead leaves fallen to the ground and more dirt and grass. She could see much more clearly... but no sign of food yet.

Hunter continued to walk near aimlessly, her stride nearly hesitant in the way it paused and slowed. She continued on as far as she could while keeping her eyes out for any signs of food— maybe berries or fruits? Hell, even an animal would do! She passed through a wall of brush and trees and pushed out... to see the near idyllic sight of a beautiful body of freshwater. A pond? In this Grimm-infested forest? Most people would probably be skeptical of the place. It could've easily been a trap, and with how hurt she was? Could prove bad for her.

Buuuut at the same time, resting here for a moment would no doubt do wonders for her aching body. It'd probably be even better than eating food!

Lucilla:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"... Yeah," was the blue-haired woman's reply. "Iris. Er... Long. Iris Long." If it wasn't too apparent that she was feeling the aphrodisiac's effects before, her stammering and clear staring at Lucilla's chest made it more obvious. The newly named Iris Long adjusted herself with a light slapping to her flushed cheeks. "Fuck. Right. Let's go." She wasted no time in chasing after Lucilla, desperate to get away from this dangerous, intoxicating area, and the two of them made their way through this odd part of the forest. The air would become clearer the further they got, but... the damage wasn't so easily undone. Lucilla's experience with sexual matters was helping her push on so far, but that burning flame of lust was still hot within her. She could feel her mind haze just a bit, and her thighs would soak with her juices underneath her dress. Considering how she was getting...

Well, her new friend wasn't doing nearly as well. Iris was a tough one, but she couldn't help but audibly pant with need as her body was fueled by the aphrodisiac. Lucilla couldn't tell much more about her condition. Looking back meant acknowledging just how aroused the other girl was, and taking that plunge could potentially threaten what willpower she was using to resist in the first place.

They finally caught a change in scenery, and could no longer smell the scent of whatever was making them crazy behind them. This new area was more lush with greenery and open trees, with less flowers and more fallen leaves. "Thank God..." Lucilla heard the blue-haired woman sigh in relief and drop to her knees. "The hell kind of forest does shit like that..? If that's a sign of what kinda Grimm are here, then..." Iris trailed off. Not because she ran out of complaints to make, but because there's a strangely subtle sound in the air that was steadily becoming louder and louder... and coming their way. "Fuck." Her new companion quickly stood up and reached into her jacket to pull out two knives in preparation. The noise came closer. Closer...

"¡AY, CARAMBA!" What?

Suddenly, a familiar blond-haired student burst through the bushes nearby. He sprinted while shouting unfamiliar words, waving his shield and sword around and screaming his head off as... 10 bunnies chased after him. Bunnies. Some of them were the size of his boot. "¡DIOS MÍO! Help! Ayúdame! ¡AYÚDAME!!" The blonde student ran in circles in front of them. He didn't have a good lead on the bunnies and was probably gonna get caught at some point... but those Grimm were Lepus, Lucilla knew. They weren't strong on their own, so he should be able to at least scare them off...

The blonde turned on a dim, tearing the dirt with his boot as his wide, terrified eyes locked on Lucilla and Iris. Time could've frozen for a moment. Anyone could've seen his intentions clear as day in his gaze, his body turning to face them... "HELP!" He sprinted towards them at full speed, leading the 10 bunnies over to their spot... and now they're involved.

"Holy shit how." Iris questioned the situation with a look of absolute bewilderment.

Amelia:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Amelia decides that it may be a good idea to run like Hell, which she does to the South. The Nope leaps off the side of the mountain, into a corkscrew dive towards her, its carapace destroying any trees in its path as it pursues her. Despite the incredible speed that the Nope was moving at, becoming a blurr with every dash, leaping over and diving through trees, breaking them to nothing but splinters, Amelia manages to duck and weave through the trees in such a way that The Nope is forced to stop and look for her every few leaps.

Branches smack Amelia’s face and scratch at her skin as she madly dashes through the woods. The Nope shoots out a black web at a tree that was in Amelia’s path and yanks it down, however even as the tree falls, Amelia manages to avoid it, keeping it from slowing her down. The Nope follows this up by beginning to rapidly fire black web strands at Amelia, however every attempt misses her, instead hitting the strange wooden statues and defenseless trees, which The Nope yanks out of the ground and flings in a random direction, sending it crashing to the ground. Soon, The Nope makes a mad leap to try to get in front of her, its body slamming down into a large grouping of trees, smashing them to bits and launching a shower of splinters into the air, however this proves a fruitless endeavor, as Amelia had managed to avoid its gaze until she passed through that area, leaving The Nope behind her, continuing to search, its glowing red eyes looking all in separate directions, but none of them managing to find its target.

After a grueling chase, Amelia finally has a chance to rest… until she sees that she’s not alone in the forest. All around her, she can see Beowulves that are wandering from place to place, tree to tree, sniffing at the air, flicking their glowing yellow eyes back and forth, searching for something. Beowulves are were-wolf-like creatures with white bone-like plating on their heads with red lines across it and glowing yellow eyes, as well as pitch black fur covering their bodies, and bonelike protrusions all over their arms, shoulders, back, and thighs. Given how much damage The Nope did to the forest, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out what they were looking for. Despite the number of Beowulves in the area, none of them seemed to have notice Amelia yet, aside from one, which was crouched on the ground, beneath a bush, staring at Amelia’s ass quietly and lazily, seemingly making no attempt to alert the other members of its pack, just enjoying the view.

Emma:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Her clothes were gonna be soaked after this... but for the sake of this bunny faunus, Emma dived in anyway. She discovers that while the water is freezing cold, chilling her to the bone, there is apparently no trap. She finds it very easy to grab the bunny faunus, swim over to the bank, drag her ashore. The bunny faunus is a white-haired girl with bunny ears, pink eyes and fair skin, wearing a pink zip-up crop top, matching pink shorts, a white jacket with red lines down the sleeves, white socks with pink tops, and black shoes with red trim.

When Emma pulls her out of the water, she first coughs up a moderate amount of water on her own, getting it on her already-wet jacket and top, but then starts breathing normally almost immediately, eliminating the need for any CPR, however she does remain unconscious, meaning that if Emma did intend to take her along, she would need to carry her. Because the girl is rather small and slim, she turns out to be very light, making it incredibly easy to drag or carry her, despite her clothes being completely soaked all the way through.

Emma then decides to go find cover until the bunny wakes up, seaking said shelter to the east. It didn’t take much searching until Emma managed to find a decent amount of tree cover, off the beaten path. Between the numerous trees, were man-made wooden statues that had been set up in this area. The wooden statues were vaguely human-shaped, unpainted, and skeletal, making them look extremely creepy in the darkness of the woods, where the treetops tended to block the sunlight. The ground throughout the woodlands was covered in a deep layer of leaves, causing Emma’s footsteps to crunch loudly, which disturbed the otherwise deathly silence of the woods. Despite only having stepped away from the river by a very short distance, Emma couldn’t hear it anymore. Stepping away to check on it would reveal that the river was indeed still there, she just couldn’t hear it anymore from the woodline.

Soon, Emma can hear a strange clucking sound from nearby, and suddenly a black-feathered creature with red tail feathers and a red mohawk, as well as red markings on its white bone-plated face. On each of its three fingers, at the end of its black-feathered wings, was an excessively long white claw, sharp and pointy, glinting in the sunlight. The creature had four glowing yellow eyes that glared in Emma’s direction. The creature had its sharp claws folded back under its arms, and it was roughly twice Emma’s height. As it stepped through the trees, the bushes and branches were pushed aside, revealing that there was a stone cave a short distance behind the creature. The evil-looking cock unfolded its nails from one arm, sticking them straight out, then tapped one against the bone-like plating of its face, clucking menacingly at Emma.

[cliffracer]

Hunter was taking the wise decision to head further in to the forest, which ironically took her away from where it was easiest to get ambushed from, in search for... Something. Something to eat, something to drink, just something she can put in her that isn't a staff to take her mind off the two kinds of aches she's been given by that plant. The walking around would be helping, but she's disgruntled enough that she's mentally lingering on that residual arousal, which is just helping it stick around. Now she's just getting more tense as she continues on, she had no idea that a Grimm would prey on someone in that way, and it made her wary of further ambush in her state. She's not finding any damn food either, without doing something stupid like digging for truffles or something...

Man, where's ANYTHING besides brush and trees and shitty grass? She could even do with a rabbit right now! She forces her way through an annoying wall of vegetation and in to a... fantastic-looking pond. Man, a nice dip would be great right now... She approaches the pond, but stops at its edge. When there's Grimm involved, she can't trust anything. She's learned that much so far. She makes sure to check the trees as she stands here, then the water itself. If she's sure there's nothing lying in wait, she'll be glad to take a few drinks, then just... strip and take a quick dip to refresh.

[Mark3000]

Lucilla walked fast, just short of breaking out of an out and out run to escape the aphrodisiac whiffing through the air. She had been in her share of sexual situations. But even with her stoic face, she could feel her pussy dampen with arousal. Only when they had reached an area clear of the scent did Lucilla pause to take in her surroundings. Turning to the blue -haired woman who followed her, Lucilla's eyes continues to wander her body. She was still thinking about Iris's eyes on her chest.

Though they didn't have much time to breath as noise grow louder as it got closer to them. Drawing her Revolving Rose into her hands preparing for a fight. What she wasn't prepared for was some blonde fool to come bumbling out of the bush. "Wha?" Lucilla muttered as she watched him flee in terror from a small gang of bunny Grimm, Lepus to be correct. As he ran towards Lucilla and Iris, she tried her best to not let her distaste for the the idiot show. Instead she'd try and capitalize on the situation.

"I don't know, but taking these bunnies out with definitely help our score." Luna said as she prepared to take out this horde of Lepus

Lepus Battle

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The warren of Lepus were upon them in seconds. Juan had just stopped short of Iris, crying and babbling as he fell to his knees and pleaded for her help… in a language she obviously couldn’t understand. “What? What’s he even saying??” She looked to Lucilla for help, momentarily dumbfounded by the situation and not super aware of one of the Lepus making a frontal charge for the downed Juan!

Lucilla was just as dumbfounded as Iris as she watched Juan lay helpless as the Lepus attacked. Who the hell whimpers at the sight of such small Grimm? “I’m not sure but it looks like he needs our help” She said as she drew her ring blades and rushed to attack the Lepus that was preparing to attack the blonde haired hunter. But as she lifted her blade, a shiver went down her spine. She blushed and let out a soft moan as her blade whiffed over the bunny like Grimm. ‘Damn it” She thought to herself. The aphrodisiac from before was still messing with her.

Her movement would serve to alert Iris, reminding the girl of the fight before them and breaking her off from the... still groveling Juan. "Shit, sorry—" She'd lifted her daggers and made to shift to the side, prepared to jump into combat and get down to the battle... just as Lucilla let out her sudden moan. The sound itself would attract Iris' attention as she looked her way with curiosity... she promptly recalled their situation the moment her gaze landed on Lucilla's face and shifted down. Fuck, Iris likely very eloquently thought. Because fucking was indeed on her mind.

"F-focus, focus, focus damn it..." She'd just torn her eyes away from Lucilla, her dagger spinning in her palm as she aimed toward one of the incoming Lepus and launched the weapon! "Nnh~" An errant thought passed through her mind, causing the Huntress-in-Training to miss her target—no, wait. Even worse than that, even though her aim was off, the... the damn thing just hopped up into a backflip and caught it in its little paws! What the fuck! The small Lepus waved it around with a menacing, cute giggle. "Y... you little bastard!" Both girls attention was now on the fight, though they were terribly distracted. They were facing off against a horde of enemies so they had to be alert for any sudden moves from the warren...

Never did they think to watch Juan, who immediately lifted himself up off the ground and started booking it with wild abandon. His loud footsteps and hurried breathing alerted Iris first. "Wh— hey! What the hell, dude?!" She turned, ignoring the knife-wielding Lepus as it struggled greatly to lift her dagger and throw it at Juan. "Come back here and h-help, you... jackass!" The Lepus dropped the dagger into its foot and squealed in pain. It hopped around, incidentally heading toward Iris, then whiffed an also incidental attempt to bash her with its pokey head. The Lepus squealed again, rolling around like a wimp. Or a baby. Which it was.

Iris would snap back to attention at the two other Lepus as they charged her. "Shit..!" One missed, but she had to brace herself for the teen as it barged against her Aura. Three others near Lucilla would take that moment to attack as if they'd all agreed on the same call! They charged her quickly, hopping with great speed and readying their heads to hit her from three different fronts with a headbutt!

“Ahhh!” Lucilla yelled as their hardened heads collided with her body. Even using Aura, she could feel the impact. For such small creatures they packed quite a lot of power. Letting out a pained grunt, the dark-skinned huntress turned her attention to Juan. “You little coward” She hissed under her breath. She should have let that muscle head have his way with Juan back in the cafeteria. She could feel the venom swelling in her body. Counting the number of enemies, she figured now was as good a time as any to use it. “Cover your mouth” she said, turning to Iris. Breathing in deeply, Lucilla began to fill the clearing with a strange purple mist. As quickly as the Miasma dispersed through the forest, it was gone. But the effects were as clear as day. Three of the Lepus felt their bodies ache as if something was burning them from the inside out. One in particular looked like it was in excruciating pain as blood seeped from it’s eyes and mouth.

She wouldn't bother to ask questions. The moment Lucilla spoke, Iris' raised her hand to her mouth to cover it and her nose. She was just in time. Lucilla flooded the battlefield with her purple miasma. The colored smog was thick and impossible for the Lepus to have protected against, leaving them to suffer under its effects... but some were able to simply hunker down and wait it out. "Squeee! Squee!!" Those that couldn't were doomed to a slow and painful demise, much to the delight of Iris. "... Damn. That's a useful Semblance." She spoke carefully just a few seconds after the mist faded, a grin on her face as their chances of surviving went up. Now... quick!

While their enemies were still recovering, Iris rushed over to Lucilla, spinning around to cover her back with both daggers raised for the enemies behind them. "It's better we stick in one place and get hit by three and three instead of split up and take four with four, right?" Iris glanced back to Lucilla with a smirk. She tossed her second dagger into her other hand, then reached back to lay her freed hand on Lucilla's... hip? Her hand glowed with a faded blue and the glow died down steadily as Lucilla felt more energized! "You took a lot of hits. Watch your Aura so... y-you're not caught. With your pants down." ... Her hand lingered just a moment longer than it needed to. "sorry." She immediately pulled back with flushed cheeks.

Her little stunt would immediately affect her in her next attack. Iris tried to strike at one of the Lepus closest to her... but it had fully recovered and simply hopped back away from her much slower than normal strike, as she'd put so little focus in trying to hit it. Meanwhile, Juan was still sprinting with full speed. He didn't stop. He didn't think about giving them a glance back. He just kept running and running...

"Squee!!" And one of the Lepus, the one that tried to attack him last, started chasing him. It hopped as quickly as it could. It was gaining on him... but they'd disappear into some bushes out of sight. "¡AY!" Who knows where their tale would lead them.

Back to the action, six Lepus had surrounded Iris and Lucilla on all fronts! They menacingly stared them down, their evil Grimm gazes full of malice and hatred... and at the same time, they all rushed in to attack! "Fuck." The Lepus bashed away at Iris' defenses, hopping in to ram their horny heads against her legs and raised arms, biting at her shoes and generally trying all they could to break through her Aura. The damage she took was pulling her down... but she wasn't out. Just at the same time, Lucilla had her own problems to deal with in the form of another trio attack. One Lepus had fully used its surprisingly powerful legs to kick off her stomach like a gut punch! And another rushed right to the side of her arm, slashing through her sleeve... but leaving no notice of a cut thanks to her Aura. Meanwhile, the last one tried to attack her legs but got caught in her dress, started to panic, then ran backward...

Perhaps part of the reason behind its panicking was the poison. Various flinches were had from the ones that took the brunt of the miasma. They were feeling it pretty keenly... but their eyes were no less full of aggression.

Standing back to back with Iris, Lucilla did her best to withstand the assault from the rabbit Grimm. Her semblance while useful, consumed a lot of her Aura. It was fortunate that Iris had the ability to transfer some of her own aura to Lucilla. It also felt like the haze was starting to clear from her mind. With a new sense of focus, Lucilla focused her aura into her legs. Spinning on her heel, she swung her blades to cut down one of the Adult Lepus that were attacking. Perhaps if they defeated them, the others would disperse. With a singular strike, Lucilla strikes the creature’s stomach leaving a large gaping wound that proves fatal. But before she can celebrate, the creature begins to swell. With her legs still embuned with Aura, Lucilla swiftly ducked as the Lepus exploded into a showering of black goop.

"It— it exploded??" By the Brothers, what sort of bullshit was this? Iris focused forward on her part of the fight, but she'd keep the whole 'goopy explosion' thing in mind... sigh. She spun on her foot to send a surprise attack at a Lepus that got a little too close and tried to be sneaky, stabbing her dagger deep into its cranium... and it started to disintegrate. "Hup!" She readies herself, dodging back a few steps and nearly stepping on another Lepus that squealed and moved out of the way as the one she'd just killed... disappeared into nothing.

"... Wait, what?" So is it just some of them? They don't all explode? Did it have to do with their age, because there are some variations— SPLAT! "GAH!" The one she nearly stepped on had coughed and hacked its last few breaths of air as the poison finished its dirty work. Iris didn't even see it coming, but she was just barely able to dodge the black Grimm goop that nearly splashed over her, forcing her to step back into their ring of Grimm with Lucilla. "Exploding after dying is so unfair..."

The Lepus don't let up! One some away started burying underneath the ground, unnoticed by both Iris and Lucilla as they were lifting up their haphazard attempts to defend against the onslaught of headbutts and slashes. "Tch..!" By this point, things weren't looking the best for them. Iris was panting with some hits, and Lucilla was clearly on her last legs. "At this point, I think we might be better of makin' like that bastard and splitting, Lucilla. Guy might be a coward, but this... isn't looking good..!" One of the Lepus launched to bite at her jacket's sleeve, pulling Iris' attention to it as she started bashing it to try and get him off. She didn't have eyes on Lucilla as the Lepus shifted about and readied for a harsher attack.

They rushed her in tandem, striking and biting at her like the monstrous bunnies they were. A hit to her arm! Another to her gut! Her Aura was dwindling, and the attacks were getting through...

Lucilla hated to admit it but Iris was right. They had taken on more than they could handle with this horde of Grimm. Her poison was doing its job, but how long would that last? Retreating might be their best option. But before they could do that, they'd have to break through this line of Lepus.

However, Lucilla wouldn’t get a chance to enact their escape plan. As the one Lepus slammed her gut, she felt the wind get knocked out of her. Even using as much Aura as she could to reduce the impact, the huntress staggered before falling to her knees. “Damn, not like this” Lucilla said faintly as she collapsed onto the ground. The last thing she saw before blacking out was Iris surrounded by Lepus.

"... Lucilla? Hey! Lucilla..." Her faded voice sounded panicked. The blue-haired woman was glancing back at her, but she wouldn't have the chance to come to her aid as the remaining Lepus rounded on her.

...

Clang! Stab! Other battle noises! "... FUCKER..." The battle continued.