[Theloria Shadecloak]

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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE’LL RECLAIM OUR DESTINY

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[attr="class","nikki102"]WE’LL SET OUR FUTURE FREE

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[attr="class","nikki109"]This setup was basically a modified version of Headmaster Osgood’s famous initiation ritual from Beacon Academy with the stipulations changed to suit the purpose of evaluating whether trainees were ready to be given a longer leash when it came to mission assignments. This was the second time that this particular testing mechanism was used, and it would be done with less people this time. There was a motion to calibrate the landings closer to each other in compensation, but that motion was denied on the grounds that if someone got so hopelessly lost when dumped into a forest that they couldn’t find another human being for twenty-four hours… well, they had no business going on Huntsmen missions and needing to be rescued from their own stupidity.[break][break]

For the trainees involved, frankly, this was a stressful event and was supposed to be stressful. Passing this test was a requirement for taking on Hunter assignments outside of the capital without a faculty member around to babysit the trainees every step of the way. It was a level of autonomy that many students craved to some degree, the ability to ditch some classes on some of these missions being another fringe benefit of passing the exam that some of the lazier students were perhaps more happy about. The lion faunus was dressed in her usual dress slacks, white dress shirt, and black vest. For her part, the faunus looked as bored as ever with her green eyes having the appearance of being rather disinterested like this was going to be some meeting about what color the school was going to be painted or something. While pacing for other individuals could be seen as a sign of nervousness or anxiety, that was not the case with this Huntress. Green bangs were brushed out of the woman’s face as she continued to pace, body language as self-assured as ever. [break][break]

Some people felt the need to project their confidence by puffed up chests or showmanship, but Shade was never that type of person. She was simultaneously the most introverted and hands-off teacher on campus, and that fact wasn’t exactly a secret. This was doubly so ever since she had been given control of half of the cohort of trainees in Class Green, which provided her more opportunity to show her startlingly low tolerance for handholding students like many of the other faculty did to varying degrees to remove the chance for embarrassment or injury. As such, seeing her leading this exercise would be a mild surprise if not for the fact that she was by far the best of the faculty at wilderness missions specifically. In her left hand she held what looked like a remote control for something, and that something was pretty obvious when the students filed into the area. Large metal squares were attached to devices obviously meant to toss the trainees up and out into the Haven Forest. The unique method of entry would not be a surprise to anyone, and they would have all been encouraged to have their landing strategies thought out in advance. [break][break]

”Hello, trainees.” she would start, spreading her arms wide in front of the metal contraptions that separated her from the students. ”Each of the platforms has a small notebook the color of your group and your name specifically on it. The notebook will also have a number on it, which will contain your ranking for this exercise. Since most of you are new, the ranking comes from your file and what we have been able to observe about you since you came to Haven. Good performance in this test will likely raise your rank, while bad performance will lower it. The Headmaster pulls from these rankings when Haven is asked to send students for Council related missions, so if you do well you might get to do one of those in the next year. The ranking was determined by weighing perceived teamwork ability against perceived proficiency in combat.” [break][break]

Green eyes would survey the students as the faunus took a deep breath before continuing: ”Lowest ranking goes first, largely so they can’t see where everybody else is landing. Your goal if you are ranked low is to prove the preliminary assessment of you to be wrong. There will be a one minute delay between launches, and each one of these contraptions is assigned a different strength to make sure you are all good and spread out in the forest. You should have three doses of Dust on your person… and if you don’t then you’ll find that following directions and paying attention to guidelines will make your life easier in the future.” [break][break]

”Split into three groups, all of you share an objective to survive twenty-four hours in the Haven Forest. Aside from that, each of the three groups has additional objectives that they must complete in order to pass. Those objectives are written inside the front cover of your notebook so they can be referred to in case you forget or get knocked on the head. If your landing strategy is to fall head-first into the ground like someone decided last time, I advise you to reconsider before you get permanent brain damage. You’ll find that your scrolls don’t have signal here, which is completely intentional. The only number that will work is the emergency number also listed in the notebooks that will have a faculty member come to pull you out of the forest. Naturally, if you do this option you automatically fail. There’s a lot of Grimm in this forest, principally because we filled it with them on purpose for this exercise. Destroy them if you can and flee if you must. Running away from fights you can’t win is not only acceptable, but good practice. If we can get through this with no fatalities, that would make this go smoother than Beacon’s initiation usually went.” [break][break]

Participants were split off into three groups: Dandelions, Roses, and Orchids. Each of these groups had different objectives which were designed to help students deal with what were perceived to be their own personal issues. Because a lot of the students were new, there was some guesswork involved and some of the categories may have ended up being wrong. Ideally the test would have waited another week or two to get a better reading on the trainees, but what the Headmaster wants is what the Headmaster gets.[break][break]

Dandelions were the ones with confidence deficiencies. In other words, these were the students that one or more faculty deemed likely to cut and run when the situation went to shit. This is also where some of the newer students with less obvious issues went to be evaluated, as their conditions for passing this exercise were considered the hardest – partially because the skill level of this group was not assessed to be particularly high. Each member of this group wore a yellow band somewhere visible on their person, whether it was on their arm or head or leg didn’t really matter. [break][break]

Dandelions were known for falling apart at the slightest gust of wind, and students assigned to this group needed to prove that they were made of sterner stuff than that to continue. Their goal was to kill five Grimm at a minimum, and they could never travel in groups of more than 2, including themselves. Any monsters slain with the aid of more than one other person did not count towards their total, which meant that they were absolutely forced to pull their own weight. [break][break]

This also prevented them from resting in an area with a bunch of other students to leech protection and forced them to actually secure an area themselves and indeed camp in a location with active Grimm with not enough people to have a comfortable night watch schedule. It was a gut check, basically, to see if they could handle being out and away from the school and direct supervision of faculty at this point in their careers. If there were only beowolves and ursai in the forest, then Shade may have felt fine with forcing them to go solo… but the fact of the matter was that there were things far more dangerous than those in the forest and it was just safer for them to travel in groups of two at a minimum.[break][break]

It should have been stressed to them in their briefing that running from a threat above their league was perfectly acceptable and even encouraged – because just because it didn’t count toward their total if they received help or fled did not mean that it was a pointless endeavor. The ability to pick and choose fights you could win was a key trait in any huntsman, because there was nothing more dangerous than someone with that license overestimating their abilities and getting innocent people along with themselves killed as a result of their inability to gauge threat. Someone who just charged forward due to a complete inability to know how much danger they were in was just as, if not more dangerous than someone who did the opposite.[break][break]

Roses were the ones with personality deficiencies. In other words, these were the students that one or more faculty deemed likely to be as much or more of a detriment due to their shitty attitudes than they were a help due to their skills. This was the group where most of the students were above-average compared to their peers and had inflated egos as a result of that fact. Trainees assigned to this group wore a red band somewhere visible on their person – usually on the head, leg, or arm.[break][break]

Roses were known for cutting the hell out of anyone who tried to touch them, so students assigned to this group would have to prove that they were actually capable of being people as well as fighters. Their conditions for passing was to help a minimum of two other trainees accomplish their objectives, and to never refuse a group request for any reason. If anyone in their group ended up needing to get pulled from the exercise at any point, the Rose would have their number of trainees helped reset and would have to find two others to help in order to complete their objective. The failure of their group, then, was a failure for the Rose as well and would significantly hamper their ability to pass. This clause was put in specifically to avoid them sandbagging it once they had completed their main objective, because there was always a risk of having that progress ripped away from them in an instant. [break][break]

It should be noted explicitly that ‘help’ in this case meant actually helping other trainees accomplish their objectives as stated. Helping someone with their math homework, while ‘help’ is not the type of help that would allow a Rose to come closer to passing the exam because no group has ‘math homework’ listed as one of the tasks they need to accomplish. Giving an orchid information counts as ‘help’, as does helping a Dandelion get Grimm kills. It is also largely impossible for a Rose to help another Rose. Arguments over this did occur during the last trial, so this section was made even more explicit for the second one. [break][break]

The third and final group were the Orchids, who were noted to have social deficiencies. In other words, these were the students that one or more faculty deemed to have trouble forming connections with others usually due to social anxiety or a reclusive nature without the aggressive nature of a Rose or the concerns about combat capability of a Dandelion. Trainees assigned to this group wore a pink band somewhere visible on their person, in the same common positions as the other groups with the same requirement to make it easily visible. [break][break]

Orchids were notoriously rare in the colder climates of Anima, and as such were sought after but hard to find. Their conditions for passing this exercise were to submit five pieces of backstory or personal information about trainees other than themselves. If there were any duplicate entries, then both would be null and void, so they had to be unique pieces of information. Information gleaned from Roses were worth two points instead of one, largely to encourage interactions to help trainees understand each other at a personal level better and to force people to open up a bit more. Additionally, Orchids must end the event in a group with at least one other person in order to pass in order to prevent them from getting their pieces of information and then fucking off alone to wait out the clock. [break][break]

It should be noted that for the purposes of this exercise that surface level, nonsensical things do not count. Writing down that everyone’s favorite color is blue is not going to count. They had to be substantive answers, but substantive answers were never clearly demarcated. This was on purpose and done to provide at least some measure of ambiguity and ability to deny the inane bullshit that was given on the last examination by some Orchids. Asking someone random measurements did not constitute fulfilling the spirit of the Orchid’s objectives, so they were made harder to force people to actually talk to each other. [break][break]

Students were allowed three doses of the dust of their choice excluding Hard Light and were furthermore allowed to bring a backpack filled with equipment and supplies like a sleeping bag or food or parts for a tent that would make the coming trial easier. They were only allowed what they could physically hold on their back, though, which was a guideline that Shadecloak would enforce if she needed to. Students would be given one warning to toss any excess luggage aside, and if they refused the bottom of their backpack would simply be sliced open with the contents spilling to the ground. She wasn’t their babysitter, frankly, and wasn’t going to sit there and argue with someone who couldn’t follow simple directions. [break][break]

”Passing this practical exam means that you qualify for lower level huntsman mission all throughout Anima and will be allowed to take weekend trips and earn school credit for those excursions. Failing to pass naturally means that you’re barred from taking on any huntsman mission without the direct supervision of a faculty member. Questions have already been answered in the group meetings, so I’ll get right down to it and start launching people now. Good luck, and good hunting.” [break][break]

From then on, trainees would be launched into the forest in one minute intervals according to their given rank as that rank and their individual group was called out. This gave an advantage of information for the higher ranked students, as they could hear every person’s group that came before them. That, however, was not always the most useful. Roses, for example, were not told anything of the other groups including their names and certainly were not aware of their objectives unless they managed to converse with a friend on the way there. Orchids had the most information, being given an overview of each of the other two groups and their respective objectives. Dandelions were only made aware of the Rose team and their objectives, but were in the dark about the Orchids. As the trainees were launched, the voice of Professor Shade’s bored voice would announce each of them in turn. [break][break]

At this point, questions were somebody else’s problem and the professor would pointedly ignore anyone asking them in favor of continuing to launch trainees via remote control. They were given thirty minutes already in their respective meetings to ask questions, and if they were too stupid to take advantage of that opportunity… then it wasn’t her problem. There were also cases where information was deliberately withheld from one group or another, and it would defeat the entire purpose to circumvent that right before the drop. [break][break]

”First off, Rank Twelve, Ryan Vas from Class Green. Retest Orchid.” He slammed into a tree running in terror from Grimm last time and camped out with Solomon for an entire night without asking him a single question, apparently, causing both of them to fail. He had the same mission as last time, because he hadn’t shown that he could do it. [break][break]

”Rank Eleven, Solomon Moon from Class Red. Retest Orchid.” This one was another re-test, but with his objective changed. He had some pretty identifiable social issues both in connecting and being a right jerk to people, so might as well spice things up a bit especially because he would have expected to get the exact same mission as last time. If finding out his group the same day as everyone else, today, pissed him off because he felt like he deserved advanced notice or something… all the better.[break][break]

"Rank Ten, Aurelian Belebast from Class Red. Dandelion." This was a new guy from a Vacuo who had just barely scraped by Haven’s very minimal entrance examination. He needed to show that he could fight without being a burden to others, frankly, because the survival aspect of this should be exceptionally easy for any Vacuo native. [break][break]

"Rank Nine, Granado Clover from Class Red. Rose." New trainee from Vacuo, and not one with a very impressive file. A vagrant who turned to the profession out of desperation and a family connection, it looked like. Just Van Sange's type, for better or for worse. He was forced to be here, basically, unless he wanted to go back to being a hobo. This desperation could result in an enormously dedication trainee or one that felt like Haven wouldn't actually expel anyone that would do the bare minimum and nothing else. Only time would tell which type Granado would be.[break][break]

”Rank Eight, Jack Dawson from Class Green. Dandelion.” This trainee was hard-working and friendly, but also soft. He needed to also prove that he could be put into a dangerous situation and be an asset rather than needing to be babysat through everything due to a lack of self-sufficiency. [break][break]

"Rank Seven, Primrose Pashmina from Class Red. Dandelion." New trainee from Vacuo, where apparently they were importing all of their students this cycle from. Not enough information to really make a decision yet, so Dandelion was picked to force a situation where an interesting semblance would be put to use and the ability of the faunus to function without a lot of support would be tested. [break][break]

”Rank Six, Slate Seraphine from Class Red. Rose.” She had an interesting semblance that Van Sange really wanted in his class for some reason. Her file was basically cut and dry social issues with strong combat ability, so Rose was a natural fit for someone like her. [break][break]

"Rank Five, Lillian Finnian from Class Green. Dandelion." This trainee could have either fit in with a Dandelion group or an Orchid group, but frankly since Shade had final say she was more interested in seeing how the girl reacted under pressure than how she interacted with people – because she had already seen the latter and while not very impressive it wasn’t through lack of effort. [break][break]

"Rank Four, Arrats Calanthe from Class Red. Orchid." Another trainee from Vacuo with a pretty standard traumatic background. Orchid was more of a guess than anything, based largely off of how fucking awful the guy came across in entrance interviews in terms of ability to interact with other human beings. He was so new this was a guess, but the rank was based off of his low tier combat school experience and promising semblance. [break][break]

"Rank Three, Brigit Akane from Class Green. Rose." Easy background for the Rose category. Basically an exceptionally stubborn and prickly self-destructive type who didn’t seem to give a fuck about what anyone around her thought – who wasn’t slowed down in the slightest when she lost every single one of her limbs due to her daredevil ways. It was respectable on one hand, but irrationally stupid on the other… so perfect material for a Rose. [break][break]

"Rank Two, Seiya Sune from Class Green. Rose." This trainee could have either been an Orchid or a Rose, but Shade chose Rose for her largely because she was interested to see how she interacted when forced to hang around other people for long periods of time. Clamming up and being as silent as possible was the expectation, but being a Rose forced more proximity to people than Orchid did and that was why Seiya the bitter recluse was a Rose.[break][break]

"Rank One, Améli Celeste from Class Green. Voluntary Re-test Orchid." This trainee was here because they volunteered to take the test again. Frankly, they required someone in the field who would be able to cover up for some mistakes and hold the fort if someone decided to run around being suicidal until faculty arrived and Ameli fit the bill pretty well. It also served the dual purpose of forcing the exceptionally stiff and formal girl to interact with others, which was always a good thing.[break][break]

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[attr="class","nikki103"]3499 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]EVENT

[attr="class","nikki103"]3499 TOTAL WORDS

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NOTES

Notes here

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Aurelian Belebast]

This is how it begins. Not with a Whimper. But with a Bang

Aurelian's eyes wound and knitted shut, he was nothing short of a meditative breath. He didn't need to be told, he moved with abject interest to the landing pads, curled up like a ball of yarn, arms clenched around his leg's and his notebook placed on his lap. He was a strange dissonance from his usual offbeat exuberance. Now was the time. Now he was here. Being at Haven, being Accepted. It was all trivial now he was realizing, his hand dragged along his pant's leg, feeling for his Duo Quartet. They were strapped, his trio of Lighting Dust hanging loosely beneath. He clenched a finger around it as the announcements started.

His eyes puckered open, emboldened orange stared with a fevered intensity, his lips dragged along in a narrow line, a tad of a droop to his lips as he listened. Lower Level? There's a scale to all this? The back of his mind rattled on, his face awash with dark fanaticism, every word he hung off as he gathered every scrape of information.

Lot of Grimm. Flee if needed. Don't die.

He was off to the races with that information, immediately scraping and scratching it into his notebook before hearing the crack, the bend and wain of Springsteel flexing in motion as the first one was flung off. 120... 119... 118... He counted in the back of his mind, slowly unfurling from his ball he pulled his right arm along his chest, his left hand grabbing and pulling it back as he stretched and prepared himself, another deep breath as he cracked his bones, a satisfying rhythm given as he simply mentally prepared himself.

Than came the second, the springsteel bent wained and motioned the next person in question. So far Aurelian hadn't even taken the time to look at his classmates, more focused on himself, 59... 58... 57... He counted down, pulling at the straps of his backpack. It was his own, hardly standard issue with around a thousand laced pockets and a single landing tool in the back of it. He made it to the final seconds, exhaling heavily as he turned on a heel, leg's bent as he heard his rank numbered out. He burnt a stare into the distance as time seemed to slow.

First the springsteel bent, the pad slowly rose, he felt every fiber of his body move with lackadaisical speed as an unnatural furling of speed and wind blasted and conclaves his body, propelled forward at speeds he'd never again think to experience, caught up high he raised a hand as if to try and touch the clouds. Within a few seconds, he had bounded out of sight.

He ascended higher and higher, the cloud coated sky a wash of white beauty as Aurelian scoured and scanned the horizon, mountains and tree's and a tiny drawn line that separated trees. River. He thought to himself as it came first, the screech and squawk, that horrible rasping sound of a Grimm. He turned in the air, to catch a glimpse. It wasn't massive, not much more than a Chick. But it had wings, it was bigger than him and enough for him to swallow a gasp. He tried to grab at his Duo Quartet, slippery fingers as sweat overcame him, the thing dived headlong and his fingers slipepd at the handle of his gun, leaving them stranded on his hip. Talons, Beak's and Claw's rose high and descended quickly on Aurelian as he started to dive down, he turned around, his hips a swivel as a Marbling light flared around him.

His Semblance activated, two Clones of himself formed behind him, their incorporeal bodies drawing the Duo Quartet's with distracting ease, Aurelian however, slipped his body weight, he became like a drill headlong sent to cleave through the earth. He heard the screams of the Nevermore cackle and sweep, he felt his Semblance fade rather Quickly, the bang and boom of ethereal gunfire fading in the distance. Now was the time. He saw the landmass approaching him, widening, the horizon dimming behind mountains and massive tree's.

   His wetlocked fingers gripped at the charred and warped leather strap, and with every fiber of force ripped it open.

It unraveled like a beautiful choir of discourse, different fabrics peeled and warped with strange noise, leather against latex, cotton against silk. His Parachute was a testament to poor craftsmanship, desperation and a knack for getting the best out of a terrible situation. His drillheaded body was quickly dragged back as he became a tool to the upturning winds, the feeling of his parachute being forced downwards was worrying, but he could see it now, he could almost feel the cool air rippling above the stringy river.

But is fight was not done, the discourse of fabrics went silent before the sound of a thousand different materials became ripped at massive talons, a harsh dissonance of noise as all the sped the launch had gifted him was taken by the parachute. The treeline was only a few feet from him at this point, he looked up, he shouldn't, but his pierced glare stared into the red beady eyes of the Nevermore. He gave a long smile, he gripped the cord with a hand and stripped and ripped the strap, quickly descending down into the treeline, as the parachute was released as a netted trap, quickly flying up with gusto motion and catching the Nevermore in it's bounds and coils with uncomfortable fabrics caught itself on it's million feathers. Aurelian himself landed into the treeline, his open palms pressed against the scrape bark, his fingers interlocked on the splintering woods as he let momentum fling him around like a Machiavellian daredevil. Wicked smile and all as he watched the nevermore quickly descend into the treeline, it's body and form snapping and breaking the ranks of un-uniform branches. He watched where it fell and made a mental note. It was a later issue, instead he looked down, he had a descent and a half, but every journey is started with a step. And so, he began his, he got his boot against a large nodal growth of the tree, and from there clawed and clamored his way down.

[Arrats Calanthe]

Arrats didn’t realise how quick he’d end up here. It’d only been about a week and he was already being thrown into the midterms. It was scary. Being up here on this launchpad with his weapon in his hand a backpack strapped to his back and the instructions of something called an Orchid. It was good to be accepted. To be put into Haven. But he almost expected more book learning than anything else and it was almost scary to be up here. To be ranked. Number four he was. A strangely low number but he liked it. He had numbers he enjoyed and four wasn’t usually one but seventeen and thirty three weren’t options and frankly he was panic thinking and- 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵? As he held his Dandelion in his hands he began to breathe in and out to calm himself, stop him thinking so fast about everything being said.

He rubbed his eyes, the misty blue searching for anything he could land on. He couldn’t find much but given the fact that this would be a forest of some sort, landing in the trees would be his best bet. Easy enough and that wouldn’t cause him any grievous injury, he’d use his sword-rifle to cut himself down and get on to find people. His goal. Right. He had it marked down on his notepad which he’d brought with him in his backpack. Now what was it?

𝘖𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘥. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

Right. That. He had to talk to people. Five personal things. He quite disliked talking to people, especially ones he didn’t know. They were uncontrollable and unpredictable. But he had a job to do and he’d have to do it. At least, to some degree information collection was a good job. His father had once told him what a spy was. He quite liked the idea of information collection behind lines but he knew that wasn’t exactly what this meant. He was quite sure it mean more that he’d have to go and find someone to talk to. Or considering how he needed to find five bits of information it was more than likely he’d have to dance between multiple people. That’d be more annoying but he was sure he could manage.
What scared him more was the launchpad getting ready. The slow countdown was nearly ready and he’d soon be flung into the air. He took a breath again and grasped his Dandelion close. The metal was a comforting feeling and it was just as he did this that the pad began to fire him forward.

The feeling of metal leaving his feet and the rush of cold air made him gasp in fear. His eyes slowly opened to the open sky everything was below him, it was as if he was flying. And to a degree he was. But he knew he’d be falling before long. There’d be Grimm around surely. But for now, the trees below him would make a good enough landing spot. Considering the angle of his descent as he fell Arrats looked to the pines below him. They’d break his fall easily enough. As his descent began he realised how peaceful it was in the sky, though that thought was interrupted by the buffeting of the trees against his body. It hurt and it stung. But he was okay. He wasn’t dead and his breathing hadn’t stopped yet. As he opened his eyes he found himself in between the branches. Just like he hoped he’d be. His hands were aching and slightly bleeding but again that was okay. He had Black Dandelion. With enough grasping, he finally reached the sword. Pulling the weapon from the branch it had landed in, Arrats began cutting himself down. Disentangling himself from the tree. Another fall ensued. It hurt more than the last now the adrenaline had worn off. But he was at least on the ground and he’d take that. Now, for this test. He’d make a good orchid.

(679 word count)

[Solomon Moon]

Solomon

Sol approached the launch pad without any apparent sign of hesitance. Not that anyone would have noticed. He highly doubted that anyone was paying any attention to him. He certainly wasn't paying attention to them. One look at the expression on his face would have been enough to reveal why this was. Sol was, in a word, FUCKING FURIOUS, and his face was a blackened thunderhead of poorly restrained acrimony, and he seemed to be withholding his gaze from those around him as much due to sullen indifference as the deliberate trigger discipline of not pointing a loaded firearm at anything one did not mean to kill. This wasn't the usual fury that was the background radiation of his conscious existence, that had become so constant that it had taken root in his bones, that had become as much a reality of his existence as drawing breath. This anger was greater by an order of magnitude, and not the non-specific matter of fact ire with which he typically regarded the entire world, but a deeply personal, laser precise hatred of the school, its students, and most importantly its faculty, and it was growing by the moment.

He'd been ready to humor the asinine bullshit that passed for assessment the first time through. Beaten, bloody, cold, and hurting in a hundred different ways by the time the first exam had concluded, Sol had still been proud of his own performance, and had considered the entire unpleasant experience to be a total success. He'd come through against the odds, after landing loud in the forest with enough spectacle to attract every man-eating demon that called the savage domain their home, and spending hours back to back simply running for his life, leaving behind a hill of dead Grimm to show for it, he'd been rescued by an anonymous savior, long enough to thin his pursuers and make an escape. A few hours, and more close calls later he'd struck a camp, and hosted two other students, a mute bespectacled youth that Sol found himself rather liking in spite of himself, and a blonde "bandit queen". This latter individual had gone out of her way to spite Sol and his camp, and Sol had undergone a moment of genuine personal growth when he deigned not to kick the insolent quim out on her ear. He'd been proud of himself. Maybe he could actually change. He'd done a good thing for the simple virtue of having done it, and had given over his hospitality in spite of his own pride. Maybe he could actually be a better person. It had given him hope.

Then the results had come in.

"SOLOMON MOON: FAILED, OBJECTIVE INCOMPLETE"

Just like that. His suffering, his struggle, his triumph against his own nature, summed up, dismissed, discounted in three words. He'd been hurt in the past, hurt a lot in fact, but that, those words had been a new kind of pain for him. But it had also made something clear to him. They said that the assessment, the objectives, and the divisions into separate groups, served to address a fundamental deficiency in the students, that the goal of the exercise was to teach them something about themselves, but that was, to put it bluntly, "a vile, shallow, vicious little lie". The reason for the objectives, was not to make them better people, but to contrive the circumstances most likely to see them fail. The academy didn't fucking care. Sol and his fellow students weren't individuals, they were numbers, arithmetic, impersonal data. The academy was no better than the armed forces had been, treating those in their ward not as people, but as raw materials, from which they could be made warriors, and casting aside those that did not make the cut as callously as slag from a furnace. He'd been wrong to expect anything different, and it served him right to be betrayed for the bad faith he'd placed in the school, but that hardly made it hurt any less. In fact, having every reason to have known better, and being duped all the same actually made the betrayal hurt even more.

At least it wasn't a mistake he would make again. That was the last time he would trust anything or anyone to reward him for trying to be a better person.

And that was what was on Sol's mind as he stood on the platform and waited his turn. Those around him were making last minute checks of their belongings, but Sol already knew what he'd brought. It was exactly what he'd brought last time, and still not that much. He wore a long sleeved combat jacket, the olive drab no longer a match for the forest camouflage as the canopy was already changing with fall, over a long sleeved cotton undershirt and forest camo tactical pants and combat boots. In lieu of a backpack, his numerous pockets and pouches bulged with the various items to which he would trust his survival over the next twenty four hours. Three MREs, three canisters of fire dust, a small clock, fold out multi-tool, a compass, two liters of water in flexible canteens, a compact first aid kit, a foil blanket and tarpaulin all folded up tightly, and finally a notebook and pencils, centerfold marked by the red ribbon he'd been given at the start of the last test. His scroll was conspicuous in it's absence. He'd discarded it at the beginning of the last exam, preferring to die in agony over calling for help on the damn thing, if it came to it, and hadn't even bothered to bring it this time.

A sneer split his face as the same professor that had presided over the last exam, the inbred faunus mutt, stepped forward to give her asinine little speech that was supposed to prepare the students for the irresponsible shit show that was about to take place. The one eyed lordling was only half listening. Suddenly, Sol barked out a harsh laugh as he realized that the speech was actually identical to what it had been for the first exam. It couldn't be, it shouldn't, but Sol was all but certain that it was. How typical, how perfect, how perfectly typical. The bitch didn't even care enough to say something even slightly different. It even had the little bit right at the end about how Vale lost students every few years or so, and it was enough to make Sol wonder if even that much was true or if it was just something the cynical cunt said to scare the freshmen. His fury gave way to disgust, and he could only stare at the polished black leather of his own boots as he shook his head in disbelief, a mad chuckle bubbling out of him as the reality of the situation slipped into place. He'd expected too much, Sol realized.

He'd set his expectations far too high and placed far too much faith in the school. He'd thought that Haven would at least show a modicum more consideration for their students than a particularly callous army, and in doing so had far over estimated the agreement between them. Haven was just another cog in the same machine that chewed up and spat out lives like a greedy swine chewing it's way through a hill of garbage. He'd hoped so hard that Haven would be different that he'd been blind to it, but with that little flourish, of a halfbreed bitch who couldn't have looked more bored if she had fucking tried, Sol now saw it all for what it was. They were all the same. No one cared. Why the fuck should he?

This wasn't some sort of moment for self growth, there was no lesson to be learned. This was a job, a mission. Nothing more. He wasn't the person who got better, the one who learned to be better. He was a sword. He'd been wrong to think it was anything different.

All he had to do was what was required of him. Nothing more. Nothing less. Help two other students pass their exam, and then he could pretend he was getting better all he liked. But until then, only the mission existed.

Sol smiled, his rancor doused somewhat as he crouched down and plucked the notebook off his launch platform, and flipped it open. Something was wrong though, and Sol briefly cast a glance around. He thought briefly that he was on the wrong platform, but as he looked there were no empty platforms nearby, and no confused looking students watching the angry one eyed man who was mistakenly perched upon theirs. Sol snapped the book closed, and read his name very carefully off the front cover, and then flipped it open again. The ribbon inside had not changed colors. It had not turned to the red that every expectation told Sol it should be. He grunted, confused, as he pulled the orange ribbon out and ran it through the senseless fingers of his right hand.

A platform fired beside him, but Sol barely noticed as the bespectacled youth he'd camped with during the last exam was launched out over the forest. Sol's golden eye sought out the faunus professor, a realization slowly dawning, his fury rekindling inside him.

”Rank Nine, Solomon Moon from Class Red. Retest Orchid.”

Orchid... No... It was impossible. It was a mistake..


"YOU BI~" Sol barked as reality settled in fully, only saved from his own insubordination by the platform firing beneath him and flinging him out over the trees before he could finish the fatal syllable.

@tag

1607 words

notes

Velvet of WW

[Slate Seraphine]

War upon stone and it grows weaker.
War upon man and he grows stronger.

Which shall your wall be built of?

❝

Okay, this was some bullshit.

What kind of school threw a test at you on the second day with no warning? She hadn't even had time to settle into her new room yet, and here they were already throwing her into the deep end. It was deeply unfair, and Slate Seraphine was very much made aware of how unfair it was. Celebrating finally getting to Haven and getting all the pesky paperwork done with a beer or five? Well too bad, have a fucking missive on your return to Haven after a trip to the convenience store that there's an upcoming combat test at the ass crack of dawn. Something, apparently, that needed to be prepared for.

Slate was not prepared for it.

Slate was not, in fact, prepared for anything beyond the comfort of her bed.

Slate was also of the firm opinion that no man, beast, or robot had any business being up before the god damn fucking sun, especially if that business was being planted ass first into a forest full of Grimm and expected to not just survive, but to complete objectives that she didn't even know the first thing about.

Slate was also nursing a pounding headache that felt like a tiny sand eating gremlin was drumming away at the insides of her skull with an idiotic grin and a really, really big hammer.

As one can imagine, Slate was not in the best of moods.

She tried, of course, but really, by the time that message had come in she couldn't do much. The convenience stores on campus were long closed, and getting out of Haven while buzzed beyond belief like she was simply wasn't an option. All she could do was pack what she could into her rucksack and take out what she didn't need and collapse into her bed, dreading the dawn. A single bag of potato chips was all the food at hand, because she didn't think she needed to buy any non perishables on her first day. The waterskin she'd lugged over all of Anima had been topped up from the tap, and what remained of the second six-pack of beer she'd gotten to celebrate went in too.

And, other than her bedroll, that was pretty much everything weighing down her rucksack. The next twenty four hours were not going to be pleasant.

"Merde," the wolf Faunus muttered, rubbing at her temples as she tried to listen past the pounding headache. Well, at least she was just slightly below average, right? That wasn't all that bad for someone who'd come in literally just the day before. And hell, at least that teacher was a hottie. Why did the other class get the cute lioness and she was stuck with the creepy human with too many teeth in a grin? It wasn't fair at all. Was it too late to change classes now?

Whompf went the platform below her, and Slate's last coherent thoughts were about how she should ask that Shadecloak lady for her Scroll number before the air was forced from her lungs in a long, drawn out yell, and she ascended to far greater heights than she'd ever been before.

It was all downhill from there.

REPULSE (SEMBLANCE): [RANK E]

BURN IN: RAGE AGGRESSOR [RANK F]
BURN IN: EXPLODE ENGAGE (AGILITY) [RANK F]
BURN IN: INFERNO CRUSADER (DURABILITY) [RANK F]
BURN IN: AFTERBURNER (SPEED) [RANK F]

DETONATOR: IGNIS (WEAPON): [RANK F]

@ ● 540 words ● 540 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Lily Finnian]

Lily had been hard at work, training day in and day out since the day she'd come to this school. Her mind and body had both been sharpened, and she'd already begun to see the fruits of her labor. She'd come more prepared for an excursion into the woods than she'd ever been in her life, having done a bit of personal study to augment the skills she'd learned over the course of her unconventional childhood.

Among the other amenities in her pack, and the three vials of ice dust that she had brought with her, she had a hunting knife, a substantial length of all purpose survival cordage, a small portable water filtration device, and firestarter kit to help her speed the process along. The final component to her kit was a medkit. Most of the items inside were things she wasn't explicitly trained in the use of, but some items were easier to figure out than others in the preassembled kit she'd purchased.

With these simple additions, and her experience in situations exactly like the one she was meant to be thrust into, she should have had every confidence in her ability to pull through, but yet, she had a sick feeling in her stomach. She listened to her homeroom teacher speak, her words alone cutting through the cloud that hung over the young faunus, and after hearing about the notebook opened it with shaky hands.

Sure enough, she was being tasked simply with killing grimm. This was a trial wood, and that realization quickened her pulse and polluted her mind with terror. She read the notebook, taking in what little information it offered. She took a small measure of bittersweet comfort in being average in her rank, if in nothing else in life. She knew she could handle this, knew she was fit for the task at hand, but was white as a sheet as one by one her classmates were launched ahead of her.

If she was ready, where was this terror coming from? As her mind began to drift away to the last time she'd been left for dead in a forest she realized that the last person before her had just been launched.

She was ready for this, but she did not feel ready. She started breathing, in, then out. Four slow breaths and then she was airborn. The moment she was in the air, she deployed both of her claws. She didn't have time anymore to be scared. She couldn't think about thoughts like school and it's shockingly similar trial wood. She couldn't think about how her own trial wood had ended, nor about the urge to scream welling up within her.
She had a very short amount of time to decide how to use the information she'd been given on those students wearing red arm bands. She knew it would be advantageous to employ one of them early on so she could focus on campsite setup.

First and foremost, she had to focus on her landing. As she shot forward like an arrow loosed, she found herself hurtling towards the forest much faster than she had expected. As she approached the space where skyline met treeline, she shrouded herself in her aura. The protection saved her from a troublesome encounter with the thin branches in the upper canopy as she crashed through it. This was important, as her concentration had to be focused on what came next, and not on the pain that accompanied being battered, beaten and potentially skewered by the upper branches.

The moment she broke through the upper branches and found herself closing in on the ground, she aimed her left claw at a fat lower bough a few feet to her north from her falling position. All three of her claws sunk in near the center mass of the limb. Once set, she began reeling in her line, not collapsing the tip until she was sure she'd be airborn with a trajectory that didn't send her careening into another tree. She swung like this twice more after releasing her hold on the first branch, each successive swing easier than the last. She bled speed with each swing, and was able to vault herself up onto the last branch without issue. From there, she quickly began climbing toward the tree's top, using her weapon as needed to create handholds. Before she reached the top, she heard another report indicating another student had been released. It was fine, she had hoped she'd be able to intercept the next student, but she knew both of the next two would be roses, so either would be as good as the other.

After a short while longer of climbing, she poked her head out of the trees, listening, ears twitching in the wind until she picked up on the far distant thunder of the launcher going off once again. From there she traced the student as they flew through the sky. It was impossible to make out individual features from this far off, but her eyes were trying to study the line they were cutting through the sky, and not the lines of their face. Their trajectory was mercifully close to where she was currently watching, and if she was quick she could be there not long after they landed, before they had a chance to stray too far.

With a rough guess as to where they were landing, she set off, trying not to think of the fact that she was in trial wood once again for the first time in years, and the pain associated with her last.

[Brigit Akane]

[attr="class","Im"]

[attr="class","really"] [attr="class","exhausted"]Hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out [attr="class","rhythm"] ❝ I'm going to change you like a remix and then raise you like a phoenix. Midterms. Fancy word for exam that made it seem different when in reality all it was was just that - a fancy exam with enough bells and whistles to entertain a child for a few hours and some adults for just as long. But it was a necessary evil in this case due to the purpose of them. Trying to figure out which students could be trusted not to fuck up when they were on the job, a difficult task at the best of times to say the least, and likely quite the headache for the staff that were supposed to be responsible for what the students did. Brigit knew she was good enough for missions, that was the whole reason she'd come here after all. It was a lot more dangerous fighting Grimm than climbing hills, so this was the next level in the thrill seeking that she craved. So she had to pass the test, and she had to do so without being dragged down by any of the other idiots running around the forest. But first she had to get her legs looked at. Brigit had woken up extremely early that morning just so she had time to visit a local mechanic that claimed to know how to fix and maintain prosthetics like Brigits, and that claim was the best she could get this far from Atlas and the engineers there so it would have to do. Besides, she only needed a small set of things done. Some oil to keep her from squeaking too loud wherever she walked, and a set of tools for her to try and make any repairs out on the field if she had to. She had literally no idea how to do those repairs of course, but having the option to try would be helpful she assumed. A couple hours later Brigit had returned to the campus on her slightly less noisy legs and gathered her bag of supplies for what was apparently an overnight camping trip. She'd packed the basics - food, water, a flashlight, a lighter, and some cans of beer for the end of the day. Brigit had done a lot of stuff out in the wilderness , most of it climbing or the like, but she had done very little actual survival or camping in that environment. She would usually arrive in the morning and be gone before night fell and the concerns of survival became something she had to consider. This time would be different though and without knowing what else to pack Brigit just went light and figured she would wing it. She nabbed her sleeping bag and some gravity dust before heading out to the launching platforms where all the students would likely be gathered. And so they were. The professor, the faunus one, was giving a speech on how things worked and what would happen. There were different groups, apparently and Brigit was a Rose. With a shrug she gathered her things and the notebook that had been left for her on the platform. Helping others wouldn't be too hard, the difficulty would be finding people that deserved her help. The inability to refuse a group request was troublesome, but there were ways around that. Tucking the book into her bag, Brigit stepped up to her launchpad as the faunus began to list names. They were ranked as well for some reason. Perhaps to make the bad students come to terms with just how bad they were? That made sense,and since Brigit wasn't in the bottom six she decided that was exactly what the ranks were for. She wasn't first, unfortunately, but that could be fixed with time. Skydiving was one of the few thrilling activities that Brigit hadn't had the chance to try yet. It was something unique in the world of extreme danger, something that put your life entirely in the hands of whatever your landing strategy was rather than exclusively on your skill or safety equipment. And as she was flung into the sky Brigit couldn't help but laugh with joy as the familiar feeling of adrenaline flooded what was left of her human body. A similar feeling ran through her arms and legs but she knew this was artificial, something created in sync with her real adrenaline but unable to truly replicate the feeling. Brigit did a full arc in the air, laughing like someone quite mad as she slowly began to plummet towards the ground. There were a lot of trees, too many to do a proper landing on the ground itself, but there were also patches of exposed rock from the side of the mountain and it was those that she aimed for with a quick launch of her grappling hooks. They found purchase and all of her momentum was suddenly pushing against her as she was pulled sideways instead of downward. It could have been planned better, but Brigit couldn't be happier with how it felt and how /Dangerous/ it all was as she slammed legs first into the rockface and began to slide down into the trees. (Word Count)⏤ 850/850(Aura)⏤ 100% Semblance E, Weapon F, Speed F, Martial arts F, Durability F, Ranged Accuracy F

MADE BY MIZO

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[Améli Hortensia Celeste]

WORD COUNT:  614

TAGGED: 

TAGGED: Fluffy

The whole spiel, the whole appraisal of students, the whole schabang, she had heard it before. Not too long ago, Améli had been launched into the forest under pretty much the same circumstances. The main difference between then and now, was that this time she had had a little time to prepare, both mentally and physically. Adjusting to being launched directly into strenous combat over a long period of time, right after having come to Haven from an already strenous trip in heli... Quite frankly she felt she had underperformed. Underperformed badly enough that she had chosen to not let her first impression be tarnished by such mediocrity. The teachers had seemingly been quite pleased with the notion of wishing to do better. In fact, they had pretty much aluded to the fact that they were waiting for someone as talented and disciplined as Améli in the exams, so they could feel a little more assured that nothing would go absolutely haywire. Precisely why they expected a student to have this under control was beyond the blonde female, but she merely nodded, accepting the responsiblity. With said responsibility however, she also expected to be treated with a modicum of respect. Therefore, after the teacher had spoken but before anyone was launched into the forest, Améli took a moment to address her fellow students.

"Remember, this is not a competition. The only way we can ensure everyone passing, is by cooperating. Trickery, selfishness and arrogance stands to fall when encountered by cooperation, comraderie and compassion. At the northern border, towards the exit from the area, I shall be establishing somewhat of a base-camp. Should any of you be wounded - or simply need partners to pass your exam - seek it out. Together, we shall make the first exam look like a joke, by having everyone here pass in flying colors. So if you wish to pass, rally to me."

Offering them a confident smile, students were already beginning to be launched into the scenery. Stretching herself, hopping a bit in place, the girl was preparing herself, loosening up and letting all of the tension go. Then, the blonde warrioress crouched down, as the final student before her was launched. Breathing out softly, the moment the launch pad sent her flying, she kicked off of it as well, wishing to gain as much distance as possible. The north was the furthest away from the launch pad as far as she could tell, so she needed the most airtime she could possibly get. Down below, the others had mostly landed. A few were still in the air. To Améli, it mattered little. They were not her immediate objective. Securing the camp that she had promised took priority to everything else. Heck, the girl had even written down the names of participating students, so that she could toss it up on a makeshift check-board once she had established the camp. That way, it should be fairly easy to relatively quickly figure out who still needed to pass the exam, who had already passed the exam and needed to group up with others to leave, who was injured and even who was in relative proximity to the camp. That is, if the other participants remained as disciplined about cooperation as she did.

The girl's combat armor rattled metallic as she landed. A couple of branches broke, breaking her fall, as she eventually set foot down in the forest ground. Over her shoulders hung her shield, In it's sheate was her sword. A small set of pouches in her belt. Everything was as it needed to be, as she began traversing the terrain, heading directly for her objective...

[Jack Dawson Jr.]

●●●

Scorpion sting, I don't wanna

bleed

tell me that I'm not

lost

Today was the day.

It was exciting.

It was also mind-numbingly terrifying.

When Jack had first had the opportunity to take his midterm exam, with the majority of students that were at Haven when he joined, he had chickened out, largely because of the first step. Landing strategy. At that time, his aura hadn't quite been as easy for him to wield as it was for most. He could activate it, but it took some concentration, and he wasn't sure he could handle that while soaring through the sky, into a forest. Sure, he could fly, but that didn't necessarily make landing that much easier on him. And if he'd have landed poorly, there was no telling how badly it could have ended for him.

But he'd been training with Doctor Haragitanai for a long time now. His aura was no longer an issue, unless he was caught completely unaware- such as being thrown across a ballroom by a dance partner, for instance. He still hadn't had a good opportunity to properly apologize to Rose for that. While some may have argued that it was her who owed him the apology, he was sure she wouldn't have shoved him if he'd done something better, or different, or maybe avoided doing something he'd done altogether. No clue what triggered it, but he was sure he could have prevented her from getting so upset, if he'd only done something more right. Eh. No use getting worked up about that.

He'd been practicing his landing strategy as best as he could.

And he was sure he could pull it off now without a hitch. At least, with minimal hitches, anyways.

He left his room, wearing his altered combat uniform, simple durable pants and a sleeveless variation of the usual shirt. In his backpack, he had a few pristinely wrapped sandwiches, mostly simple fare that wouldn't get soggy over the course of the day. He figured he could supplement it with things found in the forest, if needed. Two canteens of water, a spare compass, a small bedroll, and a folded tarp, to throw together a shelter if needed.

In his two hip pouches, he carried his usual stock of medical supplies, enough to field dress damn near any wound anyone was likely to suffer in these woods, if he had to. Jack was also carrying his allotted three dust crystals- one ice, one gravity, and one air. Ice, as it made for a versatile environmental hazard, and gravity and air for improved mobility. Useful for maneuvering around the forest, if need be.

And of course, strapped at his hip was his scabbard and falchion, and worn on his arm was his old buckler, worn and battered, more fit for a Great War museum than active combat, but it was what he had, and it was what he knew best. He made sure the sword was firmly sheathed, before turning to check again whether he had everything he needed.

Satisfied, he reached for a small box by his door, gingerly opening the lid to reveal a small patch, with the cross-shaped emblem designating a combat medic amongst fellow soldiers. It had been worn by his mother, serving in the Great War, and then by his sister in the Faunus War, but before that, she had worn it for this very same initiation rite, as a Haven Academy student.

He pinned it to his chest, and checked it in the mirror briefly. He smiled to himself, a thin smile, but broad and rippling with pride. He knew Merla would have been proud too.

The walk to the edge of the forest was hardly remarkable, but what it lacked in excitement, it more than made up for in tranquility, something Jack knew he would sorely miss for the next twenty-four hours or so. It gave him some time to think. To reflect. This was a big first step, after all.

Today, he became a true Huntsman trainee. Training wheels coming off, passing this midterm meant having the freedom to go on missions unsupervised, though how much he was ready for that, he had no idea. He had hardly faced any combat before, honestly. This was a little more than a little scary...

But he still made his way to the meeting spot, and found his launcher, equipped with a notebook and a little yellow ribbon. He was a Dandelion. Fragile, soft, and easily blown away. But deep down, a resilient little weed that just wouldn't stay away for long. It was apt, if a little on-the-nose for trainee psychoanalysis. Still, that was his group, which made his objectives pretty clear. Kill five Grimm. No groups bigger than two people, total. And most importantly...

Survive.

Professor Shadecloak began her speech, as Jack turned to gaze around at his classmates. At the left end, he found a familiar face, towering over the other students. He offered Ryan a wave and a smile- he was a good guy, and for all the awkwardness of their first interaction, Jack was glad they could be good friends now. Square between him and Ryan was a guy he didn't know- shaggy hair hung down one side of his face, and he looked royally pissed at something, muttering to himself. Didn't seem like the friendly sort, but hopefully he wouldn't try taking his bad day out on Jack. That would be less than ideal, to put it mildly.

Directly to his left was the 8th ranked student of this much smaller midterms exam. He was shorter than Jack, but looked much more solidly built, although still rather lean. Fiery orange eyes glared forward as the man seemed distant, far off in some other world, where all that existed were his own thoughts.

This guy looked pretty gruff too. Man, he felt a little uncomfortable, crammed in the back end of the line with these guys, they looked ready to rip someone's head off at any minute, especially the guy next to Ryan...

Glancing to his right, he saw a girl with lupine ears, looking about as fired up and raring to go as anyone might be at this hour of the morning. Which is to say, 'barely alive, and not too pleased.' She did seem to be the only student really paying Shadecloak much mind, though, for what that was worth. Glancing past her, he met eyes with Lily, a girl he knew better than he did most of the other students gathered here. He offered her a fond smile and a wave as well, before continuing his gaze further back. He didn't recognize the next two humans, ahead of Lily in the lineup, but the third one caught his eye. She seemed... Different, somehow. And not just because she looked incredibly tired, even before they had launched.

And of course, the final member of their exam- Ameli Celeste. He flashed her a warm smile and a polite nod, and listened intently as a moment later, she began her short speech.

Wise words from a wise woman, he nodded to himself, as the launch began in earnest. The first to go was Ryan, as Jack breathed in, trying to calm his-

"YOU BI-"

He blinked, snapped out of his thoughts by the visceral cry of the 9th ranked trainee, before the wind was stolen from his voice by the metallic launcher. Not a good start to things.

Before he knew it, the man standing beside him was gone as well. He took a deep breath and fanned out his wings, as fully as he could manage without knocking the girl to his right from her launch pad. Number 7. He was proud of that- he'd made it that far, already, somehow.

He flexed his wings, and...

Jack had flown many times before, but he could never lift himself nearly this high into the air. His eyes widened and sparkled as he took in the world around him. Heavy wings beat down, once, twice, as he felt his body jerk upwards. He was searching for the best possible landing spot... Somewhere good... Ameli had mentioned the Northern border, and he intended to make it there, if he could, but with the size of this forest, he had some doubts about how he'd get there.

He soared through the skies with relative ease, descending slowly, as he inhaled the sweet woodsy air, soaking in the incredible view.

Breathtaking.

@midterms2 ● WC: 1405 ● TWC: 1405 ● electric boogaloo 2: more electricity

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0

[Primrose Pashmina]

WHEN A COOL DROP OF WATER'S ALL I NEED
GOTTA CLEAR MY HEAD OF ANGER & GREED,

A PLACE TO REFRESH HEART & MIND
CAN I FIND SOME TIME IN
RIVERS IN A DRY LAND

❀

Despite her short time at Haven prior, and even shorter amount of time given for actually preparing for the midterms, Primrose had nothing but enthusiasm and excitement for the upcoming trial. Of course, it was possible she could die, or fail, but no one came to a Hunter's school if they were afraid of that. At worst, it would be a set back- But if it was, that'd just prove she was lacking, and needed to work harder, and the faunus was never going to back down from honest labor.

While she had little experience with forest environments, and had been lucky enough to spend more of her time in a village than in the wilderness, Primrose knew enough about keeping herself alive to not feel overly concerned on that front. Besides, it was twenty-four hours, and while a lot could certainly happen in that amount of time, the young woman felt confident it was going to take longer than that to kill her. Vacuo had been a tougher place than Mistral, that was for sure.
Now, completing her objective...That was going to be the somewhat difficult part. Five Grimm with help from no more than one person. One, two, even three certainly seemed manageable, but attempting to completely solo five Grimm in unfamiliar territory would be pretty reckless, and Primrose wasn't one to take unnecessary risks. It'd be easier if she could receive help from more than one person, but things weren't worth doing because they were easy! Besides, she had access to a resource at Haven that she hadn't had available in Vacuo- Dust.

Well, that wasn't entirely true- Dust had always been there in Vacuo, but she'd never been able to afford it. Having it available for this test it's own kind of exciting, though also a bit nerve-wracking. She knew of the varying types' effects, certainly, but hadn't had a chance to use it before, so getting to know how it'd work for herself would be interesting. Figuring out the best point to make use of it, too, would be crucial- There was no reason to conserve it, given the short time-frame their mission took place over, but that didn't mean wasting it would be appropriate either. Everything in moderation, just as things had been in Citrine. Well, Primrose liked to think she was good at being moderate.

Alongside the two vials of earth dust, and one of gravity dust, Primrose had packed only totally necessary items in her bag. Two durable bottles filled with water; Given her experiences, it was the resource that most concerned her. While Mistral never seemed as sweltering as Vacuo, fighting Grimm could be strenuous enough that she considered heat exhaustion and dehydration to be among the most dangerous factors of this environment outside the monster themselves. Beyond that, a compass, warm blanket, a reasonable length of cordage for whatever situation it may be needed, and a handful of protein and energy bars. Hunger was among the least of her concerns- As long as she survived, she could get more later, and while it might not be perfectly filling, it'd last her through to the next day without feeling fatigued.

Yellow band adorning one of her horns, the faunus stepped with enthusiasm and anticipation onto her platform. Once the teacher had gone over the rules of this test, one of the other students spoke up, speaking of establishing a base camp. While she wouldn't be able to stay there - No traveling in a group of more than two, after all - Primrose took note of the resource, wanting to remember it for later. If the other students headed that direction, the chances were good someone would be able and willing to help her in accomplishing the five total kills needed to pass the exam.
After the first launch, the young woman crouched on the platform. Distance wasn't what she was aiming for- Height was. The higher she was launched, the better view she'd be able to manage, and the more geography she could (briefly) get a look at. It wouldn't be enough to make a fully formed mental map, but it'd be better than nothing. A few students down the line, she heard someone shout something of an expletive...Must've been mad about the retest. Well, he'd just have to work harder, wouldn't he?

Hearing her name called, Prim nodded to herself before propelling through the air, kicking with the push from the platform to get as much height from it all as possible. The rush of wind past her was exhilarating, and made her heart race as the scenery flew by underneath. Unable to calculate the exact trajectory of her arc, the girl considered briefly using her semblance to break her fall- But the height that'd require would likely drain her, or do enough to leave her severely weakened, which would be the worst foot to start off on. Granted, even with her aura, she didn't want to land one the ground first- If something went wrong, there was a high probability of hurting herself. So, best bet? Aiming for the trees.
It didn't work perfectly. Spying a large branch, the girl projected her aura around herself, and pulled inwards to make a rolling-landing on it. Unfortunately her arc sent her just beneath the limb itself, and careened her into one a few feet past, with her torso making first collision. She definitely felt the impact- But her reflexes were fast enough to let her get a grip on the limb, and pull herself up onto it. First task, done. Making some careful jumps and using the blades of Shear Fractal to slide down when there were no more branches to leap of, Primrose successfully made it to the ground.

Second task, complete. Now, to locate some Grimm.

Quartzose {SEMBLANCE}: [RANK E]

MARTIAL ARTS [RANK F]
AGILITY [RANK F]
STAMINA [RANK F]
SPEED [RANK F]

SHEAR FRACTAL {WEAPON}: [RANK F]

@ 966 — words 966 — total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Primrose: 9 x 200% = 18

26 + 18 = 44

Jack: 14 x 200% = 28

17 + 28 = 45

Ameli: 6 x 200% = 12

151 + 12 = 163

Brigit: 8 x 200% = 16

203 + 16 = 219

Lily: 9 x 200% = 18

66 + 18 = 84

Slate: 5 x 200% = 10

101 + 10 = 111

Sol: 16 x 200% = 32

232 + 32 = 264

Arrats: 6 x 200% = 12

196 + 12 = 208

Aurelian: 10 x 200% = 20

75 + 20 = 95

Shade: 35 x 200% = 70

163 + 70 = 233