Transcript 1: Bruises

Professor Port strutted up and down the podium at the front of the room, his chest puffed out and hands folded behind his back. Any other time he would have looked proud and self-centred, but today there was a slight air of solemnity somewhere in those massive eyebrows and moustache.

"In light of recent events, our head officials – by which I mean our good professors Goodwitch and Ozpin..." the corners of Port's moustache twitched upwards at his own wordplay. So there was the old Port under there as usual. He hadn't done a very good job at trying to hide it.

"…have instructed us to reschedule today's lessons, and instead teach you more about the griffons you encountered yesterday. Those creatures have not been seen in Vale for a good many years, but it seems they have moved closer, and we must ready to act like men… err, I mean true huntsmen and huntresses… and see them off should the circumstances require."

For once he had the class's attention. Many of them still wore bruises and bandages from the encounter just three days earlier, and were still recovering mentally as well as physically.

"Griffons attack with their sharp beaks and talons, and though they look unarmoured, you will find their hide often harder to penetrate than even a death stalker's. Of course they are of impressive size as well, and have been known to swallow people up in one gulp…"

Some of the shorter first-years shivered a little at this statement, and Lina particularly squirmed in her seat as she realised things could have easily gone a lot more horribly wrong than even she had realised.

"So under no circumstances should you students engage one of these monsters alone. If you became disarmed, you would be completely at the mercy of this perilous beast. Why, in my younger days I had a close shave…"

And there it was again. All sense of engagement was gone from the lesson, almost immediately after starting out as an object of serious focus, which was probably specifically urged by Ozpin and Goodwitch. Classic Port.

"…But through my own cunning and a little luck, I was able to defeat those two monsters." The bell was already ringing by the time Port finished his sentence, and a wild-eyed expression came over his face as he rushed to summarise. "And so, students, learn from this cautionary tale, and know how you must fight – and how you must never fight – one of these monsters in case you ever find one again."

The first year students rose and left the extended lesson and the "cautionary tale" behind them as they headed off towards the lunch room. Jasper quickly found Lina and Nero and quickly motioned Gale over to their side.

"Sorry guys, I'll have to miss out on this one. I have some special training with Professor Goodwitch today. It's to help make sure I don't have any more… accidents. Like with Jewel. Or myself." Jasper chewed his lip uncomfortably, and with a tinge of embarrassment. A few years ago, he had angrily swatted a mosquito on his temple and woken up in the emergency room. It was things like that which had made him think he was clumsy for so long, and being unlucky enough to knock himself out with an overzealous slap wasn't exactly the sort of thing you volunteered to bring up at combat school. It had taken a long time to brave the peer pressure and talk about these past incidents with his teachers and finally figure out more about what was going on.

Which was exactly what he was doing now. Hopefully, the upper level facilities would give further insight to what was, until now, a mostly unexplored aspect of his fighting.

Jasper fist-bumped Nero and bid farewell to his team as he walked towards the elevator. The professor had given him a temporary pass to the eighth floor, where the training was to take place. This level, as well as level nine, was off-limits to anyone below fourth-year, and levels ten through fourteen were only accessible to students by direct invitation. He hadn't been up this high since his application interview a month or two beforehand.

Professor Goodwitch was waiting for him when the doors opened. Jasper stepped out and a shiny array of flashing electronic devices reflected brightly in his vision. He felt like a scientist in Atlas. Professor Goodwitch's next words confirmed his thoughts.

"Most of this equipment has been donated by General Ironwood directly from Atlas Academy. Over the last ten years, we have found it very useful in assisting our higher-level students with developing their semblances, or understanding how to improve their fighting styles." She motioned to a large printer-like machine and walked Jasper over to it. "First up, we will be looking at the physical nature of your semblance. This machine scans you aura at ten thousand frames per second when you activate your semblance to determine what is going on at a microscopic level." He watched as Glynda opened a drawer, selected a square ceramic plate and placed it on a stand inside the machine. "Smash it."

Jasper slammed his fist down on top of the plate, and it cracked into three large fragments. The platform tipped back and the ceramic shards fell into a waste container under the machine.

"Good, good" said the professor as she loaded a second plate. "Now using your semblance."

Jasper obliged. As he had discussed with her earlier last week, and demonstrated during his entrance interview, he had found his semblance easier to activate when directly hitting things instead of holding them. A red glow flashed over his fist like fire as he swung his arm and brought it smashing down onto the plate.

A sound like glass shattering rang through the air, and the ceramic exploded into hundreds of tiny fragments, flying out of the machine and around the room. Both Glynda and Jasper shielded their eyes as the tinkling sound subsided. Then the professor pointed her crop and the splinters disappeared into the bin like a diving flock of birds. The machine whined and two slow motion videos appeared side by side on a screen. Professor Goodwitch extended a finger and tapped on the left video, expanding it.

"Time to have a look. In the first instance, the plate simply broke as expected. You can see the first crack forming here." She pointed to a spot on the left edge of the plate, then tapped the second video. "Now in this one, cracks radiate outwards from the point of impact like a shockwave, and there is a red glow underneath that looks to be your aura." She slowed video down even more, and enhanced it. "Yes. As I suspected, you are projecting your aura into the object to destabilise it. It looks to be forming small tendrils or roots which invade any faults or pores in the material, and break them open by expanding, like tree roots inside a rock."

Jasper was impressed. All the mystery and uncertainty was evaporating away, and he was already thinking of how he could use this new information to his advantage. But the next words from Professor Goodwitch quickly blew all such thoughts out the window.

"So now I want you to use your semblance on me."

Abject horror flooded Jasper's veins as he considered the implications of what could follow. Hitting a teacher? And outside of combat? This was worse than his initiation interview. It felt like he was about to mug someone. What would it look like to everyone else if he injured a teacher, let alone Professor Goodwitch?

"Mr Glass, I'm at full aura, there's no chance anything will happen here."

Still he hesitated as she stood there, arm in machine. After a deafeningly long silence, he raised a reluctant arm and thumped it on top of Professor Goodwitch's wrist.

She grunted and withdrew her arm, squeezing it with her left hand. Her aura sparked across a newly formed bruise, healing it almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"From the video, it appears that the impact is absorbed by my aura, but in a few places microscopic gaps caused by destruction of the aura in the vicinity are breached by your aura. Any direct damage caused by the aura roots is then healed using my own aura, which decreases it further."

She swiped the video closed and opened a folder in the top right corner, bringing up another video. An all too familiar one. Jasper looked away.

"This explains the footage available from your fight with Jewel. Her aura was low near the end of the fight, and the red flash over her leg shows her weaker aura must not have been able to hold together well under the impact. Your aura was able to directly attack her leg in many places, and cause more damage. Her remaining aura wasn't able to heal the large amount of damage, and subsequently broke completely."

Jasper sat quietly. So his semblance was more effective the more damaged the opponent was. The perfect killing blow, he mused. Exactly what he hadn't wanted. The tall huntress walked over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mr Glass. This is an opportunity, not a curse. If you are careful to try and use your semblance at the beginning of a fight, it will give you a chance to test your limits without hurting your opponent. With practise, it should help you learn to control your semblance much more effectively."

She walked over to the elevator with Jasper standing by her side. He was too overwhelmed to utter much more than a simple "thank you". A problem which had plagued him most of his recent life suddenly had an out. There was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Professor Goodwitch turned to him one last time as they exited at the bottom floor.

"Not to mention your semblance is a perfect fallback if overwhelmed by the creatures of Grimm."

And so it was, thought Jasper. With no protective aura, he could imagine the tiny tendrils of aura working their way into the black creatures' hides like fingers, before shattering them like glass. A sort of Midas touch.

He shook his head slowly, the ghost of a smile touching his face. Glassfinger. A coincidental name, considering his own, but perfect nonetheless.

While many students still lay awake that night, remembering the horrors of the week before, Jasper slept soundly. More soundly than he had in a long, long time.

Although if he had known how prophetic Professor Goodwitch's last words would come to be, sleeping would have been the last thing on Jasper's mind.