February 1st
After ensuring Steven's assistance in times to come, Obaz left his new team leader inside the dorms with his thoughts, leaving out the back entrance to evade Sophia and Laera on the front steps. He took a moment outside to take a deeper breath, glancing back at the building from where he could encompass the whole thing in his view. The walls were almost pearlescent, with ample space for each individual dormitory to fit four people, and other facilities were close at hand. The food served to students was great, the company most of his peers provided was great, and the teachers were great at what they did even with his unreasonable standards.
He had it great here, didn't he?
To take something for granted, and to forsake it, were two different things. Obaz was aware that the luxuries he had here were plentiful, but he wasn't under the impression that he was entitled to them. Some people lost privileges because they wanted more, or thought they were rights. Obaz was giving them up for a purpose, and in a way, that was worse. Foresight into what you were about to turn your back on made the act more difficult.
Then again, when it came to things like life itself, there were times when it was neither taken for granted or forsaken willingly. That sudden disappearance from the world, without even a chance to do anything about it... that was the most terrifying.
It was this unwarranted sense of loss he began to dwell on, that led Obaz to taking one last tour of the school, in order to appreciate what he may not be able to come back to. For some reason, he couldn't shake the thought that something was missing. Not necessarily from him or his possession per se, but from the school. From the world, maybe... it was as if everything he could see had grown a shade duller, every sound a bit quieter.
The many spires, crosswalks, even the arching outer walls, all of it were impressive from an observer's perspective. It was much like living in a palace, really. Each room contained a vivid memory; here, he learned his first real lesson on Grimm. The arena he and Yang had first fought, where he had battled Blake for the sake of proving a point. The firing range, where he had let Ruby and Sophia share a secret with him. He nodded to many of the students and teachers he passed, though he was mainly ignored as he often ignored them instead.
The courtyard by the fountain was packed to the seams with times that held meaning. Meetings with Yang over matters he once would have never discussed with anyone, or trying to advise a distraught Weiss after the disappearance of her friend... He would have lingered around here were it not for team RWBY'S presence here already, all four of them meeting with a fellow Obaz hadn't seen before. His attire wasn't a Beacon uniform, and he was a ways older than they, but there was an eerie familiarity he exuded. It was like seeing something so rare the very fact that it had been seen should be documented, somehow.
His first thought was to approach, or at least listen in, but the body language of the girls from here showed an atmosphere of sorrow and detachment. This must have been some very bad news, or a parting of some kind, that was entirely not his business. Obaz kept his distance, the girls' backs to him but the individual before them facing his way. The individual was actually hard to make out, both in appearance and demeanor towards the people he was speaking to, but without any deliberation Obaz was urged to wave. A simple gesture, one that wasn't even acknowledged, but it felt like enough. Even if it hadn't, it was time to turn away, and leave them to the closure they were trying to reach. Even from here, the sobs sounded clear as day.
All things came and went, and even the little things had to be appreciated. Every inch of this establishment was once only concept, every blade of grass once only a seed, every day once only an uncertain future. And with no way to thank the one responsible for this life, for the ideas that shaped what he was now a part of, he could only admire.