Merendinoemiliano – thanks for the encouragement.
It was the third day of actual training at Winchester Towers and today was devoted to fighting in pairs. Sky was enjoying himself more than he had expected and had already picked up some useful tips. Certainly, he was becoming more confident in using Feather's Edge.
Vermillion had decided that it was best to mix the training up and to teach the two teams separately which suited everyone. Three hunters had been assigned to Team CRDL and three to Team LILAC for the first three days. Vermillion and his second in command Lapis Stone alternated between the two teams supervising and commenting. It was understood that there would be some switching around of supervising hunters on day five. It was not entirely clear what would be happening on days 9 and 10.
The first day had partly been about evaluation, fitness training and basic technique. Towards the end of the first morning Vermilion had taken him aside into the library in Winchester Towers. The curtains were closed, and a screen had been erected which was linked to a scroll. "Good morning. Mr. Lark or do you prefer Sky."
"Sky will be fine, sir." The huntsman nodded.
"Sky, is there anything specific you wish to get out of the next ten days? I do not mean the general things like becoming a better fighter and working better in a team, but specific things which you think you need to improve on."
"Sir, my weapon is unusual, and I feel that I am not making full use of it. The trouble is that there are few people to train me in using it more effectively. I also would like to find a way to better co-ordinate attacks with my partner Dove."
"That is a good start. They are two of the things which I had thought would be of most help to you. The second will need to wait until I have seen you both in action together although I have a few ideas. I agree the halberd is an unusual weapon now, but once was an excellent weapon on the battlefield. It was an equaliser when the lower and middle classes were fighting against knights. The halberd has length advantages for dealing with Grimm and if you ever have the misfortune to encounter a Nuckelvee it is about a useful a weapon as you can find for bringing it to the ground. In fights its longer length can be good at dealing with swords. It fires bullets and obviously I and the other trainers will discuss with you the best bullets to use. The answer may vary depending on whom you are fighting. Let's have a look at a few clips of you in action."
He played extracts from Sky's televised fights in the Mistral combat school tournament and also clips from the matches at Beacon. These of course were not televised but were recorded to allow the participants to analyse and learn from them. "It is clear that most people fighting you do not properly understand your weapon. Good defence except against Nikos and that says more about her than you. At least she respects you enough to use her semblance."
"She does?"
"Sorry, Bad form to give it away, but if you look closely at her fights something is clearly going on and you should be able to work it out."
He then played an extract from the thrashing Coco and Yatsuhashi had given him and Dove after the incident of Velvet's ears, "Look at how your opponent disarmed you. Learn from that as that is something you should be able to do with your weapon to others. Perhaps ask your partner to attack you using some of the practice swords."
Next he played a clip which looked about twenty years old which showed someone using a quarterstaff to take himself out of the way of a charging opponent and then clouting the out of position opponent with it. "I think you should investigate whether you can use your weapon to increase your manoeuvrability in a similar way."
"Thank you sir. I will work on that."
"Another suggestion. Try firing your weapon while in mid-air. It may not be easy to be accurate, but if you are fighting Grimm most of them were big enough that you would be likely to hit the target and if dust enhanced bullets are used then they might be sufficient to end the fight. In combat with bandits or in the combat arena with huntsmen, there is still a decent chance that as the shot would be at close range it would hit and deplete aura. Even if it missed, an opponent would be wary of charging someone who could disappear above them or to the side and fire at them. Actually, perhaps consider adding a pistol to your weaponry. It is easier to draw and manoeuvre."
Sky thought about it. Team RWBY in particular were dangerous in the air and Yang's ability to attack from above your head took some getting used to. Of course, Ruby's ability to wield Crescent Rose at high speed and off the ground just defied belief and the fact that their mothers had both been Vytal Festival winners, each winning one of the two tournaments they were qualified to fight in. He decided that he would try out a pistol as a side-weapon. Firing left-handed may be an issue.
Vermillion continued, "One thing which I would strongly recommend you think about is your semblance. I assume that you have not yet identified it. Being honest having a useful semblance can be a game changer. Problem is that unlike aura there is no proven way to unlock it. There are arguments about whether semblances are innate or can be willed into being. The number which are unlocked at times of great stress and threat has been argued in favour of the will being able to call a useful one into being. On the other hand, it can equally be argued that the stress merely brings the incentive to unlock an innate semblance. Depressingly some semblances are of little practical use, and some are even unhelpful. The one thing I should say is that the more practice you get at fighting the more likely you are to be able to identify your semblance. Two large caveats. First, it can be easy to mistake a skill for a semblance. Second, it is easy to misidentify a semblance and think it is weaker or stronger than it is. Miss Goodwitch tells me that one of your year had considered hers spectacular but useless because it relied on being struck by lightning. I gather the whole school now knows that it is an electricity semblance, and the power system has had to be upgraded to prevent the student regularly shorting out the system."
Sky smiled, "Nora was quite destructive enough without being able to use the mains to supercharge herself. I think it has been agreed that she should only use this power on special occasions and should be careful about it."
Vermillion finished by saying, "I will have another conversation with you in here on day four and hope I can suggest something which might make you and Dove an even more formidable threat than you are. Do think about whether there are any specific things you want to discuss with me."
Sky said, "The question Brede asked you last night about what you do when you are outclassed or think you are. It might be useful to address that in more detail."
Vermillion smiled, "I intend to do so later this week."
Since that meeting, Sky had worked at the use of his weapon and the improvement in manoeuvrability had been noticeable. Certainly, sparring against Cardin, the big man had first been annoyed and then applauded how Sky had been able to avoid a swing from the executioner. One advantage about Winchester towers was that the grounds were vast and there was plenty of room for practising outside. There was also a large gym and combat arena. It seemed clear that the last two months had been spent upgrading it to modern standards.
Anyway, it was the third day, and it was time for the afternoon break. They were currently outside taking advantage of the weather being dry and the sky clear. From the main house the golf cart made its way carrying refreshments and Planchet and Hugo were present to serve their respective teams. Planchet was the obvious choice to serve Team LLAC and Hugo had volunteered to serve Team CRDL. The young man evidently worshipped Dove and Cardin. He was respectful to Sky and scared of Russel. He and Russel had wondered what it would take for either Dove or Cardin to notice this and whether there was anything either of them should say. Still, he supposed that most of the other servants would be glad to have someone volunteer for this particular duty and it was not as though anything could happen here.
Vermillion walked up after the golf cart had left to return to the main house. For some reason, Planchet had stayed with team LLAC. Vermillion said, "Sky, I would like to try something. I gather your experiments in using Feather's Edge have gone well. There is something I wish to try with you. Could you load your weapon with these blanks please?" He held out some bullets and Sky did as he had been requested.
"Right, I have some drones here which Spruce here will be controlling. I want you to use your weapon to get out of the way of them and then fire at them while you are in the air."
Dove laughed when he saw the size of the drones. "Bet you 10 ten lien that you do not hit one of them."
Sky felt honour bound to take the bet although he shared Dove's opinion. These were definitely miniaturised and were clearly designed for target practice rather than surveillance.
Twenty minutes later, Dove handed over 10 lien and patted him on the back, "I can't wait until we tell Cardin. Don't worry I will leave it until dinner."
Vermillion came over to Sky and said, "I still do not know exactly what your semblance is, but you are a better shot upside down and with no time to aim than you are on the ground with twenty seconds to aim. You also land on your feet every time. A good day's work."
/-/
Planchet was feeling bemused. His work as a freelance protection specialist or bodyguard had required him in the past to act as a valet and he had stayed in some of the most exclusive Atlas homes. He had been happy to take on the role of Team LLACs batman and general factotum as it was less stressful than being a servant at Beacon. It also meant he could justify staying close to his charge Brede Campion.
However, once the invitation to Winchester Towers had been accepted, Brede and Lydia had come to him looking apologetic. Brede started off by saying, "Sorry, Planchet old bean, but according to Lydia I have rather landed you in the mulligatawny."
Lydia sat down in her normal huntress costume and said, "You will need to watch old episodes of Featherhill Abbey, at least the bits dealing with the servants. I also have a couple of books for you. An ex-employee of the GA was a consultant on the programme, and I think it only fair to warn you that the servant's hall bits were seen as the most accurate."
Brede said, "We have decided that it is best for you t' attend as my valet or rather as my gentleman's gentleman. That should automatically protect you from too much cheek from the juniors as the seniors will protect one of their own."
"It will not protect you from the contempt of the seniors, but I have plans to mitigate this. Beach is an old sweetie really and I can drop hints that you are ex-military and besides which everyone knows that standards in Atlas are not up to Vale's."
"If you think that the butler is either my father or General Ironwood, but a little more susceptible t' flattery, you won't go far wrong."
"Your gentleman is of course the epitome of perfection, albeit dependent on your advice to avoid wearing the wrong clothes. I think you should say that Leslie is a character but admit to being puzzled by him. We will need to think about how you refer to Anne nearer the time. No point in pretending that she is a lady in their sense of the word. Perhaps you should say that she reminds you of a superior governess, but stress that she is a good fighter."
He had done as requested and read the books and watched the series. It still had not fully prepared for the reality, but that was in part because of the incident at Junior's Café Mistralian and the Salutations hullabaloo.
Lydia had said to him, "I have no doubt that you will be required by everyone to tell the story of the night. Make certain that you save some details for the Butler's table which you do not give more generally. You can say that neither me nor Brede would ever behave in a way designed to bring shame on our families."
Corkran who was listening said, "They have known you for most of your life, there are limits to their credulity."
"They will accept it in the manner it is meant on the issue which concerns them. Also be mildly enthusiastic about Cardin and non-committal on the rest of the team. You can say things to the effect that Mr. Cardin and Miss Lydia seem to be polite and respectful to each other and that it is not your place to comment on his team. I think you can now be more enthusiastic about Anne and praise her bravery, there is quote about kind hearts and coronets which may be apt."
He supposed that if it had not been for the fight, he would have been left alone by the junior staff. However, the fact that he had been present and indeed some of them recognised him from the footage where he appeared to be ensuring that he was between the attackers and Brede Campion meant he had an additional celebrity. Mr Beach had actually said to him that it would be unkind to the junior staff not to describe events to them, although he was warned not to take any cheek.
The other factor which he had not been warned about was that this was the largest and longest house party held at Winchester Towers in years. To ensure that there was a maid or valet for each of the trainers and each team member, Beach and the head housemaid had had to call in favours from other butlers and housemaids. Apparently as Winchester Towers was an unofficial training school for domestics, this had not been hard to arrange, but Mr. Beach did say that it had helped that Planchet had come with his team and had agreed to valet for Mr. Corkran as well as his master.
What had also taken him aback was the widespread desire on behalf of a proportion of the domestic staff for Cardin and Lydia to settle down together. This meant that his bromide about them being polite and respectful to each other was greeted as an important development. The feeling was that keeping the house and the money in the family was important, but the staff had despaired of this. He was regaled with stories of how the two had quarrelled and played tricks on each other, although a surprisingly large number were inclined to blame Cardin's father and opined that it was not a surprise that the two got on better now that Cardin did not go home each night.
He also had to deal with some anti-Atlas sentiment due to the press coverage in Atlas of Lydia. However, Beach had made it clear early on that Mr Campion had by all accounts behaved like a gentleman throughout and Mr. Planchet should be treated as a representative of his gentleman. His offering that as far as he was aware hi gentleman and Miss Lydia had always behaved with the utmost propriety was received with total acceptance and nodding of heads by the permanent staff. Apparently Lydia was seen as a high-spirited lady, but fundamentally a good egg. Luckily, he did not have anything in his mouth when this phrase was uttered.
What he had not expected was the extent to which the staff identified with the two teams. Cardin and Lydia were of course members of the family and so the fact that the two of them had shown themselves to be brave during the White Fang attack was a source of pride. The fact that she had walked into a nightclub carrying a lethal weapon was seen as being just like her and Cardin charging into battle unarmed and relying on aura was regarded as showing how brave he was.
There was a group of Faunus laundry maids and gardeners who shyly asked him about Anne and Leslie. The laundry maids in particular identified with Anne, especially after the fight at Junior's. He had checked back with Brede and Anne, and they had given him permission to say that she originally came from Animal Town in the lower east side. Everyone wanted to know if Leslie's accent was for real and were mostly glad when informed them that it was. There was also a proportion of the female staff who made jokes which only just got away with being double entendres. They referred to a few old film stars and Planchet decided that he should see a few films starring the actors in question.
There was a certain ambiguity about the attitude to Brede. In part this was to be expected as they wanted him to be attracted to Lydia but did not want her to be attracted to him. It brought home to him how often Atlas was its own worst enemy in dealing with the rest of the world. They thawed a little when he said that Brede was prevented from joining the fight by five members of the Atlas diplomatic protection squad and that his first reaction was to check that the other members of his team were unhurt. He omitted any mention of the Malachite twins.
He had listened carefully on the second day to the reactions towards team CRDL. He gathered that all were glad that no maid had been assigned to Dove this time. While he had not actually assaulted anyone, he made them feel uncomfortable. One maid expressed the view that he would not know what to do if someone appeared willing. There had been some laughter there. A group of young males rather liked him and Hugo in particular was delighted to have been "assigned to look after a real man." This latter phrase was said with an assumed and rather odd accent which Planchet had repeated to his team later. Lydia and Anne had exchanged looks. Lydia said, "Hello, my name is Julian, and this is my friend, Sandy." Anne had hidden her face and tried hard not to laugh. They explained that it was derived from a radio show which had been a little risqué in its time, but was still quite funny.
Planchet had noted that Hugo had not said this in front of Beach or the senior servants and most of those who were around had laughed in a knowing manner. Later on, Brede had asked him what he made of Hugo. Planchet had replied that he felt that he knew his place and would not proposition Dove directly. Brede had nodded and muttered something to the effect that Dove would probably not notice anyway.
Sky was seen as a pleasant example of the Mistralian elite. He was polite and had clearly tried to learn what was expected in Vale rather than assuming that everyone did things in the Mistralian way. Russel puzzled them. However, he was Cardin's partner, and they were all prepared to assume the best of him. Planchet had no problem in saying that as far as he was aware Russel was liked by everyone at Beacon and when Beach mentioned that the old master had commanded a battalion of Seekers, the consensus was that he should be seen as a loyal and brave friend. His valet said that he clearly was uncomfortable about someone looking after him and it was agreed that he and Anne were about equally apologetic about people doing things for them. Anne's maid complained that she automatically folded things up and put them away. The new underwear had been remarked on, but because of her undoubted bravery this was seen as a compliment to the house rather than sniggered at.
He noted but did not repeat to his team the attitude of the servants to Faunus. The human felt themselves superior to Faunus and it was noticeable that Faunus only tended to be employed in certain roles. However, in the kitchen there were some sous chefs who were Faunus and treated as being good at their jobs. The junior servants who were Faunus did not seem to be treated worse than the other junior servants while at least in front of him, Anne and Leslie were treated as deserving of respect. He detected an element of rationalisation in that Anne was not obviously Faunus and Leslie clearly had a human father, but it seemed to be that as they were trainee hunters they were honorary humans. Also, some of the staff took the view that if Anne could make it to Beacon then other Faunus should be able to do so as well.
Apparently the huntsmen and huntresses were naturally tidy and organised. Below stairs there was an encyclopaedic recall of previous Vytal Festivals. Their mistress had always taken a keen interest in Pharos and Beacon and this someone had transferred itself to the staff. He passed on the more interesting of the observations to Brede and the team.
/-/
Cardin was readying himself for dinner. He saw that Dove and Sky had been looking excited at the end of the day but were clearly waiting until dinner to tell all. Tonight, each team was having dinner with the three huntsman they had been working with and Vermillion would be joining them. Team LLAC would have a separate dinner in the summer house with the other four huntsman and the huntress. The GA was having a few old friends round for dinner tonight. She had said she understood that part of the team building process was to talk over the events of the day with the trainers and team members. There would be another dinner in the main hall on the fourth, eighth and final night and she did try and see Cardin or Lydia for 30 minutes each day. This morning had been odd in that she had invited both him and Lydia to breakfast with her.
He was uncertain which of them found it most disconcerting. The GA was meant to be intimidating not expressing pride in them or reminiscing about when her husband used to entertain his young subalterns and their wives and girlfriends. He was initially pleased when she referred to how good it was to see them finally getting on together and that Beacon was clearly teaching them to be upstanding citizens. After breakfast there was still 15 minutes before the first training session, and they had compared notes by the pigsty. Lydia absently minded scratched the back of the Empress Joan, who was the pre-eminent pig in Beacon (at least according to the GA and the judges at the Vale agricultural show).
"Perhaps she thinks that we are adults now and deserve to be treated as such" said Cardin.
Lydia said, "That may be part of it. I was a little worried when I saw that she had both the family tree and the pig breeding books open. "
"Well Joan is getting a little old now. Perhaps she is looking to breed a new champion pig?"
"I hope that is what it is. She is looking more tired than I remember her being. She does need the stick more than she did?"
"You do mean the GA, not the empress?"
"Don't be silly. I wonder whether she is getting the wrong message from us."
"Well, we did agree that you would not mention Julie and that I would hint that I did not believe you were sleeping with Brede."
"Still think that you could have mentioned that you had a good friend. The GA believes young men should have their recreations."
"Julie is both not quite eligible enough to marry but just a little too eligible for her to feel comfortable about me trifling with her affections. I for one and not going to explain to the GA that both Julie and I are for the moment happy with the arrangement."
"I suppose you are right. Even I am not up to the task of explaining the concept of friends with benefits to the GA. However, with us being polite to each other, I do worry that we might have overdone it."
Cardin began to laugh and then said, "Has your maid commented on how good it is to see us getting on with each other?"
"Something to that effect. Has your valet said something similar?"
Cardin nodded. "We are cousins. While I am prepared to admit you are less objectionable than you used to be, the whole concept of us procreating turns my stomach."
"Likewise, dog breath. Still, if it makes her happy to think that it is a possibility, I am happy to do no more than repeat that I have no plans for matrimony until at the earliest after I have qualified as a huntress and worked a few years."
"I am happy to say something similar for myself. I will perhaps say that you are a fine figure of a woman."
"I said let's not disappoint her, not encourage her. Look I know you are making efforts to be less objectionable, but how far you are doing it only to conform with what is expected of you at Beacon or because in part you believe it is right is not something which I wish to give an opinion on. I am trying to keep an open mind."
"I understand why you would say that. However, I believe that I am learning to be a better Cardin."
They had wandered off to their respective training sessions. Cardin had found it more disturbing than he had expected. Having been forced by his father to pay more attention than he felt comfortable about working out how to encourage the GA to leave Winchester Towers and the money to him, he realised how attractive the thought of him and Lydia pairing up would be to the GA. She had always gone on about hereditary and possibly thought that breeding champion huntsmen was like breeding champion pigs. The other thing which might make it attractive to her was the possibility that Great-Aunt Dahlia would leave a large proportion of her money to Lydia. Combining the two estates would make the recipient one of the wealthiest people in Vale.
He shrugged. A nice daydream, but there was no way he and Lydia could get together in the foreseeable future. It would be counterproductive to pretend to the GA that he and Lydia were likely to get together.
Just before changing for dinner, he had gone for a meeting with Lapis Stone. She was a huntress in her late thirties who had been a quarter finalist in her day. He had read up about her and her team and it was clear that she had been an inspirational team leader who had pushed a mediocre team to an unexpected success. He smiled ruefully. Compared with Team RWBY and Team JNPR, Team CRDL were mediocre. He was also uncomfortably aware that unlike Team LLAC, his team currently lacked the capability to be a real threat to better teams.
"Good afternoon, Mr Winchester."
"Good afternoon, Huntress Stone."
"We have decided that it would be good for both of teams if you continued to have access to both me and Vermillion in days four to eight. We both believe that we both have useful insights to offer."
"I am happy to hear that."
"I have little doubt that Vermillion invited me to join him here because I am famed for bringing the best out of my team. I can tell you that you are doing some of the things I did. Your team wants to please you and they believe in you. You lead from the front which is in mostly commendable. However, you try to do too much."
She played a few clips of him fighting and at various points put the tapes into slow motion. Cardin winced, it was clear watching the tapes that he was getting in the way of team members and even causing damage to them. She watched him and nodded her head.
He said, "I see what I am doing. Do you have suggestions on how I can deal with this problem?"
"First. Be aware that you are trying to do too much. Second, look again at your team and see what they are really good at and give them their head if they can do it as well or better than you. Bear in mind that your weapon is capable of causing great damage and it may be worth thinking about taking out the weakest opponent on the other team rather than taking on the strongest fighter yourself." She grinned at him, "I know cousins who are in their final year at Pharos who would be horrified to hear me to tell you that it will be best for your team if you are a bully who picks on the weakest link."
He grinned back, "I understand what you are saying. Being honest Dove is almost as strong as I am, and he and I should be able to mix it around."
"I gather that after each fight you have an inquest and analyse what worked and what did not. Check that everyone speaks and try to ensure that you force one of them to give his opinion first before you say anything. Also try and alternate who writes up the conclusions. Reduces the risk of them automatically deferring to you. Still a risk that they will guess at what you want to hear but give it a go. Also, it may help the balance of the team if one of you has a sniper option. The halberd is not bad at close range but is a pig to aim at distance. Does one of your team have scope to carry a rifle as well as their normal weapons? If there is a problem look at the options for fold up rifle. If nothing else it helps when fighting Grimm to pick them off at a distance. One of the reasons we are practising outdoors so much is that the amity arena is vast. It is probably twice the length than any of the indoor arenas at Beacon, but that means that there is a lot of space to play with."
Cardin said, "I suppose I knew that, but had not thought it all the way through. Problem is that I have been concentrating on qualifying for the Vytal Festival rather than fighting at it."
"I suggest you think about it and speak to one of us in a few days. As a general point, I expect that the professors will decide by halfway through the term which teams are in the running for the festival. I know you have built up dossiers on the teams you think are challenging you for the third and fourth spots and I suggest you up-date those. Also work out ways to give the top two teams a fight. First, it improves you as a team and second it does weaken the morale of the potential challengers if they see you fighting toe to toe with the best in your year."
Cardin made notes, he could see the sense of these suggestions. He certainly knew that the effect of Team LLAC ambushing Team JNPR with an unexpected attack had been to significantly increase the respect the rest of the year held for them. No matter how much it could be argued that the strategy could not be repeated in the Vytal festival arena, nevertheless they had shown themselves to be sneaky and dangerous. It had also meant that for anyone with ambitions for the Vytal Festival, Team CRDL was the only realistic target. That could be for the good as no one would take it easy against them and they could address their weaknesses, but that only applied if they qualified for the Festival.
The huntress looked at him and asked, "What else do you think you should be thinking about?"
"Amending the team attacks in the light of any improvements we all make as individuals. Working out what my semblance is. How to get into close combat against teams with greater mobility and better long-range capability."
"Those seem to be the right things to be thinking about. Have a good dinner tonight with Vermillion, Spruce, Garnet and Marine. We will be having a trainers' team meeting first thing tomorrow, so you have an extra two hours to rest or exercise. In the rest of the morning, we will be having one on one sessions with you."
Cardin went to get changed for dinner. He was a little frustrated that he had made no headway on his semblance. The suggestion that the very fact he could use The Executioner suggested that he was using his semblance already was of little consolation. Most of the other teams had identified the semblances of at least two team members. He supposed that Team RWBY was an outlier, but so far no semblances had been identified in Team CRDL.
/-/
Dove was looking forward to dinner. Not only could they say that they had located some things which Lark's semblance was useful for, even if they were not exactly certain what it was. They had also worked out how they could use it to implement a team attack which could be effective.
Yesterday Marine had taken him aside and asked about why he had improved so much over the term. Dove had explained about the new teaching assistant and then Marine had sparred with Dove. Afterwards he had asked to look at Hallshott.
He said to Dove, "Great sword and you have plenty of skill. You should talk to Lapis about upgrading the bullets. As soon as I knew that I did not have to worry about them causing me damage I could ignore them. It may be that upgrading the firing capacity would impact adversely on its use as a sword so that is why you need to speak to an expert. Can I take a guess that in your first two years at Pharos your strength meant that you were clearly second best after Cardin, but some others caught up and even surpassed you in the last two years?"
"Correct. In retrospect, I was in denial about it for six months and could not work out what to do about it when I realised what had happened."
"The skill training has clearly helped and do let me know the name of the teaching assistant. He could earn some lien if he wanted to do individual sessions at my Father's training gym. Have a think about adding back some brute force now your technique is better. You seemed to be holding back a little. Perhaps we can spar again later this week and see if it makes a good difference. Why no shield?"
"It spoils my balance, and my aura is strong."
"OK. Perhaps try it out next year. Probably too late to get it right for this year's festival. How about a separate gun?"
"I will think about it."
Today's developments had offered a solution to Dove's concern that his bullets would not break through a strong opponent's aura quickly enough. While he was happy his technique had improved so he could fight most people at close quarters and out point them in a fencing match, it would take too long to wear down their aura. Seeing Sky's semblance and knowing that Feather's Edge could take dust enhanced bullets and that a large pistol could fire stronger bullets than Hallshott he thought that it may be worth trying double teaming one of the huntsmen in training. If Sky vaulted and fired at point blank range from above and then Dove charged through and used his sword there was a good chance of causing serious damage to an opponent's aura, particularly if they were focusing their Aura against an attack by a Sky from above. Someone having to do with accurate shooting plus some unexpected blows from Hallshott would be in a bad way. He had discussed this with Sky, and he had been enthusiastic. Sky had suggested that he might be able to use the halberd to disarm an opponent or to simply hit him on top of his head. He felt for once that he was really contributing to his team.
He entered his room and found Hugo preparing his dinner jacket. "Have you had a good day, Sir."
"It has been an excellent day, Hugo."
Admittedly Pyrrha Nikos made mincemeat of team CRDL in the series. However, in a 4x1 situation I expect that she was using her semblance a little more than she normally would and so I feel entitled to make them more competent. FAOD Team LLAC, Sky and Russel are more bemused by the fact that Dove and Cardin are oblivious to the undercurrents rather than making fun of Dove. As far as I am concerned the persona Hugo adopts is one which amuses him and is accepted by his fellow servants. YMMV on whether this works.