The Pledge
Your world needs a great defender, your world is in the way of harm. You want a romantic life, a fairy tale that's full of charm.
Nemo
Sleeping in the Nautilus was fairly common, their… an interesting adventure into the Imaginary Numbers Sea had proven to be a time where, even he, as a Servant, felt the need to sleep. He didn't need sleep, but that didn't mean it wasn't enjoyable.
On the other hand, he'd forgotten that Clytie was not only a heavy sleeper… but she'd also, somehow, picked up the habit of snoring. Despite having spent an ungodly amount of time in a place where making any sound at all usually resulted in being met with lasers...
And given that he was paying relatively close attention to her through the Nemo Series, just in case she was unstable after so long… well he could at least say that she was stable and… relatively sane, but dear Poseidon she was loud. He'd had to ask Benienma to soundproof the room Cyltie had been given so that the Nemo Series could actually focus on other things than the… amazement that someone who had spent so long sleeping had decided to become an even heavier, and loud, sleeper.
"It's cute that you show such concern for her," he looked towards Benienma, the last Enma sitting in a swivel chair and slowly kicking her legs as Nemo just sighed. "Oh come now, she's just sleeping, is it that distracting?"
"I have spent the past thirty-nine thousand years on a silent throne, focusing my all onto the singular task of remaining on the hopes of seeing the Master again," Nemo recited, he was allowed to be a little bit annoyed at something that broke that sort of monotony… even if it wasn't entirely unwelcome.
"Just the Master? Really?" the innkeeper asked, raising an eyebrow… before chuckling. "This, coming from the boy who'd begged me to bring him to the Imaginary Numbers Sea in order to save her, rather than directly where the Master was?"
"You and I both know that we couldn't have appeared anywhere else, and only because of the combination of our unique abilities," Nemo pointed out, and Benienma chuckled.
"And you're the one who decided rather than surface immediately, we would spend three years searching for Van Gogh," she pointed out… ok she had him there, and he was going to not retort to that.
"In any case, we are finally nearing land. Once there I will desummon the Nemo series and the Nautilus, from there we're on foot," Nemo decided, and the sparrow nodded.
"We have very little information of how dangerous this new world is going to be. But given the constant assaults, and what you've learned from capturing some of these creatures?" she asked, and Nemo nodded.
"We assume the worse… the Nautilus has sustained some damage, not a lot, but enough to make me worry, and without a capable Caster, no offense to you, I would rather not keep her at sea for longer than necessary," Nemo explained, annoyed at the surprising amount of damage that those black leviathans could cause through simple ramming… and the giant sea dragon that fired a lighting laser underwater had left a nice dent in the bottom of the hull… nevermind the very nasty dent that she still had from ramming one of Hokusai's leftover ships to save Clytie.
He was less… surprised that there were leftovers at all, given how kooky the Hokusai duo had been, and more surprised at just how nasty the area was around Clytie, as well as how long it had taken to find her. He suspected that she'd unconsciously been drawing the remaining beasts to her as both protection and a failsafe, to attempt to destroy her if she went nuts. They certainly packed a lot of power. But thankfully the previous retrofit of the Nautilus during that adventure, as well as all the previous calculations that they'd come up with, were still functional enough, and thanks to Benienma allowing him to use Enma-tei as a makeshift dry dock, he'd been able to have the Nemo Series refit the Nautilus for Imaginary Sea Travel again, rather than being the Storm Border. He'd have to refit her later, likely during repairs, but the current situation meant that the Nautilus was an unsustainable mess in Real space.
"You're drifting again," Benienma snapped, and he turned towards her after the snapping of her fingers, and he snapped his head up, and looked around.
"Right, right, we're surfacing," he muttered, rubbing his face and ordering the Nautilus to surface. He'd have one of the Marines wake up Clytie… knowing themselves they'd probably draw straws to see who actually did it. The slow rise of the Nautilus brought back memories, but he couldn't allow himself to get lost in thought again.
They breached the surface, and now, looking out into the distance, he saw it… land, forested land, and a beach. He wasn't going to beach his beloved submarine, but he'd get them close enough that a quick swim wouldn't be too bad… then again, he could walk on water, Benienma was very fast, and Clytie could probably walk on water as well, so swimming was pretty much optional.
There was a yawn, and he turned around as the bridge door opened, revealing Cyltie, currently in her more human guise. "Mornin… she mumbled, rubbing her eye with a cuffed hand.
"We're getting ready to land, kinda," Nemo stated, and Cyltie blinked for a moment, before stretching again.
"Oh, ok, Van Gogh is ready," she said, and Benienma stood up and walked off the bridge, lonely heading towards the control tower to exit. He'd join her soon.
"Just don't fall in the water, alright," he said, and Clytie just chuckled and mumbled something, before turning.
"Can't we have coffee first?" she said aloud, and he just rolled his eyes. Coffee first, then they'd head for land… maybe actual breakfast… Hopefully Benienma would be able to provide for-
Nemo just shook his head, rather than get drawn into his thoughts again. "Right, let's go to the mess," offered, and Clytie smiled tiredly, and he mentally signalled for someone to fetch Benienma from the control tower as the pair began walking for the mess.
When they actually got there, what he found was an already made breakfast, and Benienma just sitting at the table herself, smirking. Clytie clapped happily, and Nemo just stared. He hadn't gotten any notifications from the series about even finding the enma, so had she actually?
"Come on, dig in," she said, and Clytie took her seat, and Nemo joined the girls for the meal. The hostess hadn't lost her touch, even over so long a time… an exquisite meal to be had. Clearly, Clytie agreed.
But when the food had been consumed, he knew it was time for them to leave the Nautilus behind, just for now. And from here on out, his own usefulness would be heavily diminished unless they were near water… relying on others was something he was both used to, and still annoyed at.
Heading for the control town, he turned the valve to open the hatch, the morning sun beating down on the trio as Clytie quickly swapped outfits, from her more casual overalls to her black dress, likely more so that she could climb the ladder without the issue her… unique casual footwear brought about. As soon as he was out, he jumped down, first landing on the Nautilus' hull, and then jumping onto the water, taking a few steps out on the open sea as he turned and waited.
Clytie followed him out, but she forwent landing on the Nautilus in favor of just landing on the ocean surface. Benienma followed, and she stood on the Nautilus before taking what was effectively a runner's stance. Nemo raised his hand, ready to give the signal.
"Ready!" Cyltie called, giggling as she summoned her sunflower and waved it around like a flag… because of course, what was the matter with a little bit of fun. Benienma just smirked as Nemo threw his hand down. "Go!" and Cyltie did the same with her flower.
Benienma shot off like a rocket, running off the hull of the submarine with breakneck speed, and leaping into the air as the Nautilus rapidly began to deconstruct as it was unsummoned, alongside the Nemo series. Clytie was cheering as Benienma hit the water and broke into a run, kicking up spray behind her as she ran for the shoreline.
Nemo raised his arm as the spray flew towards them, closing one eye as Clytie just laughed before running after Benienma at nowhere near the same speed. He just started walking… before he noticed something beneath them. Oh of all the-
He leapt out of the way as one of those large black monsters burst out from below, trying to capture him in it's maw filled with rows of shark fangs. The nerve of these demonic beasts. He swung his arm out, and the creature, still mid leap, was battered with a large wave of water, sending it away… a few seconds later, just as it was about to go under, he snapped his fingers, causing the water beneath it to gush upwards, launching the creature into the air.
That would have been the end of it, but the annoy thing just righted itself to try and dive for him. He just sighed… and crossed his arms, smirking as Clytie leaped out from behind him, sunflower in hand before she jumped off the water. "Go away!" she screamed, slashing/painting across the creature as it was falling towards him, and it dissolved into black dust before it ever got within a meter.
Clytie landed on the water several meters away, and waved, and he just gestured with a finger, a gentle wave helping the Foreigner along as they went for the beach, Benienma… slowly sheathing her sword as a strange wolf beast was dissolving on the beach.
"These things are certainty both persistent and annoying," she proclaimed, her sword chirping as she finished sheathing it. "I wonder what this world is like, that it would produce such creatures?"
"Not a safe one, by any rate," Nemo admitted as Clytie jumped onto shore, swapping back into her more casual clothes as she landed. Part of him wished she could just decide on an outfit, but with the power of Imaginary Numbers, and that of the great beyond as well as the unknown… honestly just using that sort of cosmic magical power just to swap outfits on the fly was rather tame.
"So! Let's get walking!" Benienma proclaimed, Clytie walking after her with a smile on her face as Nemo sighed, and just shook his head… well, no one ever said the journey to find Gudao would be a short one… what was a little adventure along the way?
Kali Belladona
Kali Belladona was a strange woman, people knew this. When she was out of the house, she was a rather easy going, and worried mother, always questioning if her daughter was safe or not… honestly she knew well and good that her daughter was always in danger, but at least she could worry for if she was in a safe spot at the moment.
But when the wife of Menagiere's chief was in her element, she was a completely different person. Fitting, given that she, like her daughter, was one of a rare few Faunus gifted in… a very different way.
Unlike her daughter, who's own features were an obvious tail and her cat ears, Kali's own second feature was a bit harder to actually hide. Shoes were obviously quite difficult for someone who was legitimately digitigrade, but she made due with it. But besides that, Kali was a woman who loved to hone her craft of choice. Alchemy!
Of course, less than a week ago, a very peculiar individual had come to Kuo Kuana, one who'd caused quite a bit of distress just by showing up… and rightly so, a human covered in so many weapons and battle wounds had no right to be walking around the way he did, and she'd tried to force a potion into his hands at some point during his… very long story session.
No, Cu Chulainn was an individual who was likely to be quite the staple around town, if for not only his appearance, being a human and all, but for his preferred course of action during the day. Styling himself a mercenary, the crazy hunter who was, apparently, from some organization called Chaldea which had been engulfed in an epic battle, did very odd jobs around Kuo Kuana, and when he wasn't killing Grimm, clearing out land, getting into fights, drinking or fishing, he kept coming back and pestering her about her potions.
Honestly, she didn't think she was that good, certainly far from the ludicrous heights that the dog wanted, seriously, potions to regrow limbs, if she'd come up with such a thing, she'd have been rich, but no, best she could manage was potions for minor wounds and some party tricks.
Still, she kept being drawn back to that day, and his fantastical story. It was quite literally, too ludicrous to be a lie… one doesn't concoct a story so epic that it probably deserved to be in several volumes of books… just because he was bleeding out on the pier and Ghira wanted to talk to him. He hadn't even known who her husband was! He didn't know anything. No White Fang, nothing about the Grimm other than 'They are monsters, so I'll kill them', and not even where he was!
"I'm back!" the dog called, and Kali turned away from the meal she had been making in the kitchen. Her husband was upstairs at the moment, so she'd have to deal with him right now. He'd been out all night this time…
"What did you bring back this time!?" Kali called, looking away from her dish at the moment.
"Well, couple lien, a lot of fish, more alcohol and those ingredients you wanted. Had to kill a Hydra Grimm for those, because it was sleeping on them," he proclaimed, walking into the kitchen, still just draped in weaponry and carrying a pair of large sacks and a bottle of alcohol. "Wo!"
"Please don't drink this early in the morning," Kali chided the man… honestly, despite everything, he was a blessing in disguise. He was perfectly content just being an errand man around Kuo Kuana, and the overpopulated city had always had a serious lack of heavy duty fighters. Cu Chulainn going out and claiming he'd killed something big, massive, and probably very dangerous, was just par for the course. He even kept complaining about not being able to bring back trophies! As if it was a game rather than missions that Hunters right out of Beacon would have struggled with, if not had been outright killed by… at this rate, the unthinkable was probably going to happen.
Kuo Kuana would be able to expand, just from the sheer number of Grimm this one man was killing on the daily… he was like some sort of hero of old tales, and people kept coming in to try and request his service after the first three days… really, he was just that good.
"Just leave the fish in the fridge, breakfast is about to be ready," she ordered, and Cu shrugged, going over to the large fridge and just lazily shoving his back in. Kali took a quick look in the other bag at his spoils… her request of him, herbs from deep within the wilds of Menagerie… it wasn't just strength this man had, it was speed. Crossing across Kuo Kuana in less than a minute, and going far away and coming back in less than a day…
Yet another point in his favor for his fantastical tale.
She went back to the stove as Cu took a seat at the dining table, popping the cork out of his acquired alcohol and just drinking straight from the bottle, chugging what seemed to be very high proof alcohol like it was water. "Ya know…" Cu muttered, his face blushed slightly red… "I miss 'em, even that bastard…" he complained, and Kali looked towards the man as he was starting to reminisce.
"That red bastard… hehe, suicidal fighting style, amazing damn cook… he didn't deserve to die that way," he'd put down the bottle, and was looking at the black blade, the paired blade with that white sword on his other hip. "I've lost so many people… why is it that the bastards I hated the most, are the one that hurt the most when they're gone?" he complained softly…
This wasn't the first time… everyday, when he came back, despite his bolsterious attitude, he'd always come back with some very expensive and high proof alcohol and drink it almost instantly. Going into a wild ramble about old friends… and how they died. Old stories of adventures alongside people he claimed to hate. The man was a legend, a hunter among hunters… and he'd lost so much that when he wasn't on duty, he was either drinking or sleeping.
Part of her worried if the man was suicidal, what with the way he just continued to throw himself back into the fray in some vain hope of seeing all these old friends of his after death. He was still rambling, something about how he'd originally met 'the red bastard'... as a teenager.
Kali just frowned as she put a plate of food in front of him. To the rest of Kuo Kuana, they saw a flippant human who didn't care they were Faunus, just happy to put himself to work to do whatever he could to help out, so long as he got paid and ordered around to do something and fight. Yet within the walls of her and Ghira's home… what they saw was a shadow of a man who'd seen far too much death, destruction and just seemed to flip between wanting it to end, and holding out hope for a better tomorrow.
...perhaps she should look into trying to make those potions he wanted. New experiments of the medical kind weren't going to happen without someone working on them after all.
Weiss Schnee
Weiss was going through her locker as, nearby, Mandricardo was visible for once… he was literally just leaning against a wall, but no one was paying him any mind… mostly because he'd chosen to appear in a direction where no one in the nearly empty locker room had been facing, so good on him.
"Weiss, we're gonna need to chat," he said in her head, and while whatever he had to say was probably important, what was more important was the person right next to her.
Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who was likely the best in the school among the first years, and probably even among the second years as well. The Invincible Girl. Weiss had already been trying to figure out who her partner was going to be here at Beacon, aware of its usual set up due to her studies into the academy. Teams of four, made up of two pairs of students, and your partner for your entire school career at Beacon. And she'd wanted to make sure she got a good partner.
So far, she had two concrete choices. The spastic Ruby Rose, who was the less certain choice of the two, who'd achieved her entrance to Beacon a year early, and therefore was certainly quite capable, even if she was quirky… and Pyrrha Nikos, the more certain good choice. After all, who wouldn't want to be partnered up with her?
So just had to make it official, or at least see if she showed interest. "So Pyrha, have you given any thought as to who's team you'd like to be on?"
"I'm not sure… I was thinking about just letting the chips fall where they may," she responded, the armored huntress in training at least not against the idea. Good, good.
"Well, what about on a team with me?" Weiss asked, with luck… a team including herself and Pyrha would he a strong one, but if she could arrange it right so that her team was stacked with the highest excellers, meaning of course herself, Pyrha, Ruby and one other individual, it would be perfect.
"Your dad is showing," Weiss paused, and very quickly realized that she had been… acting out her inner thoughts. Thankfully no one seemed to question it, and just as thankfully, Mandricardio had caught her before anyone could question it… that didn't mean she liked how he'd pointed it out, but it was effective nonetheless.
She'd actually missed Pyrrha's response in her inner musings… when Jaune decided to bump in, "You know what else is great? Me! Jaune Arc, nice to meet you" he proclaimed, pointing towards himself as he said so, even though he was looking towards Pyrrha. She frowned, Jaune had been… less than impressive so far, not the worst she'd seen, but far from the best. And she only had room for the best on her team. Still, the name carried some weight, the Arcs were a family of hunters and huntresses afterall.
"Nice to meet you Jaune," she responded to him, and Mandricardo snickered for some reason.
"Yeah, yeah, so uh, Weiss you were talking about team… stuff? Room for another?" he asked, holding his hands together and smiling as Mandricardo nearly burst out laughing for some reason, she could hear him snickering in her head and she was trying really, really hard not to respond to him at this critical juncture.
"Teams are comprised of four afterall," Pyrha did point out, and Jaune looked between her and Weiss for a second.
"You don't say, so hot stuff-" Whatever Jaune had been saying was completely cut out by Mandricardio busting out laughing in her head, and out of the corner of her eye she could see his semi-transparent form leaning against a wall between two lockers, head down as he was, indeed, laughing his ass off at the proceedings before her.
She decided to break it up to get her servant to shut up. Getting between Jaune and Pyrha she pushed them apart. "Jaune, was it, do you have any idea who you are talking to?"
"Not in the slightest snow angel," he smoozed, and her servant just bust out laughing again but calmed down quickly as Weiss threw up her hand.
"This is Pyrrha," Weiss answered the dimwit.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha waved excitedly to him.
"She graduated top of her class at Sanctum," she continued, and Mandricardo snorted.
"What, you part of her fan club?" her servant retorted… and Jaune spoke up up.
"Never heard of it," he said with that dumb look on his face, and Mandricardo just started snickering again.
Weiss just huffed, ignorant… "She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, a new record!"
"The what," Jaune responded, still giving that dumb look of… oh dear Oum did he seriously not know, Mandricaardo was not helping
"Dear god he's worse! Ahahaha!" honestly, if he could make sound, she was fairly certain that the wall he was banging against could be heard from the other side of Beacon. Ok last shot!
"She's on the front of ever Marshmellow Pete's Flakes Box!" Weiss shouted at him, waving her arms, and finally she got a reaction. Seriously! Was he this ignorant.
"Wait she's on what?" Mandricardo asked, at least in his case it made sense! He'd been dead for centuries! At minimum! Jaune had to have been living under a damn rock! In Vacuo!
"That's you!" he pointed at Pyrrha, and Weiss just sighed, "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!" ...wait what? That was all he knew?
"Yeah it was pretty cool… too bad the cereal isn't very good for you," for the love of… that was what got her attention?
"So after hearing all this, do you really think you are in any position to ask her to be on your team?" She questioned, it was just insane how clueless he was… ugh. Clearly the apple could actually fall far from the tree.
"I guess not…" Jaune muttered dejectedly, and Weiss huffed…
"Don't count him out just yet Weiss, looks can be deceiving," her Servant brought up, waiting for her further in the locker room and away from prying eyes. She was really glad no one had apparently seen him, since he'd been out of the corner of her eye for most of this charade making a fool of himself.
"Actually, I think you'd make a great leader Jaune," Pyrrha offered, lifting the boy's spirits as he looked up again.
"Oh stop it," he responded, flattered, clearly excited.
"Stop it, this kind of behavior shouldn't be encouraged," she complained to them both, referring to Jaune's… schmoozing, and her own Servant's inappropriate response to this mess… even if it was mostly directed at Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Score one for team Jaune, spot's still open if you want it," Jaune turned to her, getting rather close to her face.
"Ok! Too close, Pyrrha, little help!"
"What?" Jaune muttered, turning around just in time to scream in surprise as Pyrrha's javelin was lodged into the shoulder of his shirt and carried him into a pillar, pinning him there was Weiss turned away and started to leave quickly. "Later," she muttered, hoping Mandricardo heard her, and evidently by the sigh in her head and then the quick noise she'd realized was the sound of him vanishing into invisibility once more, she turned to leave the room just as the intercom came on, Goodwitch ordering all students to come to Beacon Cliff.
"Well that was more of a riot than it should have been," Mandricardo said in her head as he came up behind her, invisible of course and pretty much hanging out over her shoulder.
"Please, it was rude and creepy," she complained about Jaune's behavior, and Mandricardo just hummed.
"Yeah, kinda reminds me of a few people I've known… but hey, teenagers." he muttered.
"What did you want to talk about?" she questioned.
"Don't worry about it now, just take your exam. I'll be right there with you," he answered, and she narrowed her eyes as she walked forward, but didn't question it… yet. At least he understood there were things more important than him, like her success.
"Do not, compare me to my father," she cautioned under her breath however, due to his original comment, and he sighed at that.
"Then don't act like him, be better," he warned, and she huffed. She would be better. Absolutely.
Nightingale
Nightingale was quiet as the group of examinees was lined up on Beacon Cliff, beside her was Ozpin & Gylnda, the former carrying his mug, and Gylnda carrying her own data tablet. She had one herself to observe the cameras as Ozpin looked at the woman with some concern. She wasn't sure what he was so concerned about, so long as everything was relatively safe, it would be fine.
Gudao had explained to her that this was a practical exam, for some reason he'd had Robin and Hans there to help explain to her a lot of things. This was a practical exam where applicants were expected to fight the creatures of Grimm, in order to reach a shrine, gather the artifacts there, there was enough there for twelve pairs of students to actually pass. Looking from the currently lined up group, there were well over seventy students, even if there were only sixteen launchpads. Not everyone was going to pass obviously, so only the fastest, and the best, of these examinees were going to make it.
She knew that if someone got seriously hurt that she would not hold herself back, and Ozpin had already told her that such an occurrence happened she was free to go save and recover the student or students in question, and they would be failed, as they would have required her aid.
So why was Ozpin so concerned, she understood the risks, and understood that these students also had added protections in the form of Aura, and of course their own arms, armor and training for doing exactly what was going to happen here. If someone's aura broke, so long as they weren't critically injured, she would not intervene, if they retreated on their own power she would treat them when they got back.
Something told her the only reason this hadn't been enforced with a Command Seal was that Gudao wasn't sure he could get those back. Her eyes glossed over the 'lucky' students who were going to be first to launch.
The eight 'Hopefuls' of Ozpin were among them… she frowned, Ozpin was clearly rigging the game so that they had the best chance to succeed, or at the very least pass. Probably why there were at the very end of the first launch group, right in the direct middle pretty much.
But Ozpin's speech began. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," he recited, and Nightingale looked over the students herself. All fine young men and women in great physical condition… except for one.
She narrowed her eyes at the blonde, Jaune Arc, as Glynda began to speak. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well allow us to put an end to your confusion." Glynda stated as Nightingale really gave the young man a look over… he was nervous, wasn't holding himself well, and clearly did not possess nearly as much muscle as any other student… she was fairly certain most of the women here outclassed him in muscle mass.
"Each of you will be given teammates… Today," Glynda added as Nightingale took a deep breath, and started looking over everyone again. Fit, healthy and otherwise calm, except for one… Wait.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," she heard a few groans and complaints down the line, but that didn't matter, she was focusing on that one thing she couldn't place… something everyone else had that Jaune Arc didn't… "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years," Ozpin finished… and she was fairly sure she heard several gasps, an 'I told you so', that Weiss girl was muttering to someone, she was fairly sure the girl in the red hood was about to collapse in shock, and…no, focus, what was wrong with Arc.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest, you will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path. Or you will die," Ozpin said… before suddenly chugging his coffee as everything went red for Nightingale.
Nightingale wanted to move, but Glynda, desperately, grabbing her riding crop with her free hand and forced her to sit still with her telekinetic grip. "After! Launch!" she seethed under her breath as Ozpin continued despite her best efforts… ok, slightly half hearted efforts, to break free.
He sighed after that chug, "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene…" he stressed,and looked towards Nightingale, who was well aware she was not an instructor. It was a test, and she could still intervene if they were in any actual danger and death, she just kept repeating the things her friends had told her in her head as Ozpin continued very quickly. "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics, each pair must choice one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Any questions?"
"Um yeah sir?" Jaune started, and Ozpin cut him off.
"Good! Now take your positions!" Ozpin ordered, students pulling out their items as Nightingale got ready to tear Ozpin a new one.
"Uh sir, I have a question?" Jaune tried to ask as the launching began, "So this… Landing strategy thing, uh. W-what is it?" she could feel his heart rate spiking, he was internally at least, panicking. "You're like, dropping us off or something?"
"No," Ozpin responded, and looked in his mug again before speaking. "You will be falling." he looked at Glynda as Nightingale was looking over at the people being launched… their auras at least flickering as they were being launched off the cliff… wait.
"Will you be giving us parachutes or… something?" Jaune asked in concern as he gulped.
"No, you will be using your own landing strategy," Ozpin answered before taking a nice, long drink as Jaune continued.
She didn't hear the end of his response as he was flung into the air, Gylnda let her go, and she launched herself at Ozpin, who had already braced himself, hard, but still lost his coffee mug over the side of the cliff as she grabbed him by the shoulders, out of the corner of her eye she could see the student in question flying into the distance… in a completely uncontrolled flight compared to everyone else.
"He doesn't have his Aura unlocked!" she shouted in Ozpin's face, which Glynda winced at, and Ozpin closed his eyes.
"I was afraid of this…" he muttered under his breath as she started shaking the Headmaster. "Please don't-"
"I am going-" Nightingale started, already turning as Gylnda spoke up.
"Please, you agreed that you would only intervene if someone was in danger of actually dying. Even without Aura, mister Arc should be fine if he can right himself and land in a tree," Glynda provided and Nightingale turned to her.
"He is the least physically fit of every applicant here," she revealed… and Glynda was silent as she looked at Ozpin, who barely had the decency to shrink in Nightingale's hands.
"At least wait for after the landing, before either retrieving him or letting the test continue?" Ozpin asked, beggingly as Nightingale, slowly, let him go, and stared, eyes completely focused on mister Arc as Gylnda held both her own, and Nightingale's dropped datapad, Ozpin looking over the side of his cliff for his coffee cup.
"Ozpin, we are going to have a nice long talk tonight," Glynda said sternly as Ozpin closed his eyes, both the Headmaster and the teacher looking at Nightingale as she stood at the edge of the cliff, ready to act in a moment's notice.
She would not let anyone come to real harm.
AN: And thus! Beacon's initiation begins, Nightingale is not in a happy mood, and other things are occurring. Cu is still on Menagerie, the Nautilus crew have reached the shore… somewhere :).
Before anyone screams OOC in Nightingale for not going after Jaune instantly, one, she's not completely and utterly ruled by her Madness Enhancement, just heavily influenced by it, and she'd had a lot of people talking to her, convincing her, and preparing her for this, and it was her choice to be here. And Ozpin was very clearly well aware his ass was going to be grass at the hands of the angry nurse. Mourn for his lost coffee mug… but it seems he underestimated just how out of his depth Jaune actually was.
Either way, I await to see what all of you have to say, and what you see from this. Until next time!