Chapter 19: Secrets Kept are Wasted
Winter woke up early in the morning and looked around her and Viralious' suite. The bare room is still dark but small amounts of morning like leak through the one window. Glancing to her scroll she sees that it's a few minutes past her normal routine. Grumbling, she attributes it to her late night and climbs out of bed. Entering the bathroom, she quickly brushes her teeth and changes into her uniform. Seeing her hamper filling she makes the mental note to do laundry either today or tomorrow. She's about to exit the suite and sit in the common lounge when she turns and looks at her partner.
Viralious is never a morning person, that much had been established in their two and a half weeks of rooming together. She sees the deep scowl on his face and is saying something in his sleep. He then violently turns in his sleep and faces the wall.
Winter frowns and thinks to herself as she exits the suite taking a seat in the common lounge.
Viralious, He's lived such a different life from the rest of us… He's obviously understanding of his situation and was willing to tell me but… I see he's conflicted almost like he's hiding something or… he's regretting something.
Winter is pulled from her thoughts by a cup of ice water being placed on the table in front of her. Glancing around she sees Eckhart take a seat on the chair across from the couch. She raises an eyebrow at him.
Eckhart gives a shrug, "Figured you might want something to drink. Those gala's always take forever, and I normally have a headache the next morning. A little bit of ice water always helped." He says while giving a light cheers motion with his own cup before taking a drink.
Winter rolls her eyes before grabbing the cup and taking a drink, it surprisingly helps ground her, "Thank you."
"No problem… That being said, think we can convince Viralious to spend some of the stipend on a coffee machine? I'm getting tired of the cafeteria's, and that tea is way too weak." Eckhart responds hopefully.
"I have a feeling he would agree with that." Winter says smirking.
Suddenly they hear Viralious' alarm go off and hear his tired groan. Eckhart smirks, "Speak of the devil and he shall come."
Winter rolls her eyes, "I wouldn't call him the devil."
"Yeah, sure you would be the one to say that." Eckhart responds.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Winter says poignantly
"Oh nothing." Eckhart responds smugly.
Winter sighs into her cup, imagining that Eckhart would suddenly freeze and that today would just be normal.
Character Change: Winter Schnee-Kairi-Tsugumi Basil
Location: Atlas Academy: Professor Basil's office.
Basil sighed into her coffee mug; the milky liquid swirled in the glass. Silently she made a mental note to have Cinnamon handle the coffee orders, so she wasn't drinking Kaine's milky, sugary concoction. It still beat James' normal tar black brew. She once again sighs and looks at the clock. The holographic display shows that she still has at least two hours before her first class with the fourth years. One she's not looking forward to.
Not that she can blame them. Mr. Veronica was a MUCH more lenient professor, apparently her expecting them to actually do work in her class was too much to handle. Hence the multitude of verbal complaints they gave her. Luckily, she managed to shut those out with detentions most of the time.
I still don't know why the second and third years are nicer.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a ping on her scroll… not her normal scroll. Her face shifts to be stern. She silently gets up from her desk and shuts her door. Locking it, she sits back down at her desk and connects the alternative scroll to her monitor. On it she presses two buttons: one bringing up a camera of Ironwood's office, and the other a sound amplification menu. She silently connects the two together and connects a pair of earbuds to her scroll.
She silently smiles as she watches James' secret meeting with her listening device, she put in the potted plant she gave him as a gift. The camera was just much simpler, he didn't secure his webcam.
Smiling, she leans back and takes a sip of the way to sweet coffee… before having a coughing fit from it.
Character Change: Kairi-Tsugumi Basil- James Ironwood
Location: Atlas Academy: General Ironwood's office.
"Thank you all for coming to this meeting gentlemen." Ozpin says through the dimmed screen.
"It's work Oz, if we didn't come Goodwitch would bug us to high heaven." Qrow said, taking a swig from his flask.
Ironwood cringed slightly at the sight; sure it was currently 7 PM in Vacuo but he could already tell that Qrow was drinking heavily.
"Qrow, I've asked you before, even though the students may think it's cool you shouldn't drink while working." Theodore says uncharacteristically.
"I would happen to agree. What we are going to be discussing is a matter of importance. I would prefer you to be sober for this." Ozpin says sterner this time.
"Tch, fine." Qrow says closing the flask and depositing it back in his vest.
"Now then onto the first order of business. Mrs. Rose's killer has been identified. Again, thank you James for the records to cross reference." Ozpin says.
Ironwood and Qrow both look up with interest.
"Her killer was Henry Rouge, a middling sharpshooter who attended Haven before running into some drug smuggling in Mantle. He was arrested but escaped prison 2 years ago. Seemingly he had made contact with her and joined." Ozpin continues blankly.
"To think one of my own students would be the one…" Leonardo starts but trails off.
"You can't blame yourself, Leo. What your students do isn't on you." Theodore says through a shaky breath.
"Do we know who killed the bastard then?" Qrow says in a purely desperate tone.
"No, we do not." Ozpin replies
Ironwood sighs "Actually I have a theory." This gets everyone's attention, "Rouge was killed by having a straight edged blade piercing his heart, a bit of karmic justice if you ask me. Now I can only think of one person who was close to Summer, and able to get in and out quickly without being seen." Ironwood says slowly.
"James, you don't-" Theodore starts.
"Raven wouldn't do that! She has a rule, everyone gets one. Summer lost hers when She helped Summer against Telestro!" Qrow says in rage.
"She's the only candidate I can see, Qrow. She must have had her reasons." Ironwoods says calmly.
"Gentlemen. I think James is right." Ozpin says, taking a sip of his coffee.
"WHAT!?" everyone says in surprise.
"Come on now, it's obvious Raven… held a special place in her heart for Summer. It's not unlikely that she did it as an act of revenge towards her killer." Ozpin says calmly.
"Are you saying that…whatever." Qrow says reaching into his vest and pulls out his flask. He uncaps it and takes a long sip. He then seals in and puts it back. No one questions him on this. "If it's alright with you all I would like to get a little off topic for a second." Qrow says looking down.
"What is it, Qrow?" Leo asks.
"My nephew and Summer's son… he never came to Shade. According to his twin Zeliska, he applied at a different huntsmen academy and got in. So, which one is he at? Where's Viralious Rose attending?"
Each of the headmasters looks at each other in a puzzled glance. James however simply sighs.
"There is no student currently Enrolled under that name at Haven." Leo responds.
"Same goes for Beacon." Ozpin says calmly.
All eyes shift to Ironwood. Ironwood gives a rough sigh, "He's no longer going under the name Viralious Rose… It's just Viralious for now."
"James… why didn't you tell me?" Qrow calls.
"Because he came here to get away from you." Ironwood says dryly, "That day in my office he said you were the one who killed Summer with such conviction, I wavered." Ironwood looks down to his desk, "I'm not saying that I did the right thing for you, but I believe I did the right thing for Remnant." Ironwood sighs.
"Explain." Theodore says seriously.
"Viralious is in a very delicate state right now. He lost his main support structure and believes that one of his closest family members killed his mother. He's running away from his problems and came to the other side of the world to hide from it. I have to thank my nephew for convincing me to let him apply if not… well I think I would have handed Salem a new piece." Ironwood finishes gravely.
Everyone goes silent. You could hear a pin drop in all five offices where the meeting was streaming.
Eventually Ozpin breaks the silence, "Are you sure James?"
"Yes."
"Viralious would never join Salem he's-" Qrow yells.
"He's not thinking clearly. He blames you and doesn't see reason. Qrow, if I had sent him to Shade to study under you he would have made another attempt on your life or fled. Salem would have found him and had a perfect new weapon. He wants to avenge his mother so why not target her supposed killer and the organization that got her killed." Ironwood says confidently.
"Speaking of which, Summer was a bit of a fool to take Viralious on that mission with you." Theodore says quietly.
"Shut up…. Everyone just shut up." Qrow says nearly in tears.
"James, what are you doing to help the boy?" Ozpin asks.
"I'm currently trying to find a new therapist, he's one of a few First years I believe need help. Sadly, I haven't been able to find a suitable candidate." Ironwood says leaning back in his chair.
"See to it that you do. Even though he's holding up now… or I'm assuming he is. Without a proper support network, he could do something rash." Leo responds compassionately.
"I believe it would be a good idea to discuss our next topic… Meteion." Ozpin responds
"Right. Meteion has shown minimal presence in Vacuo." Theodore says.
"I have found no conclusive evidence of them even being in Mistral. Not even the spiders could get any information on them." Leo responds.
"There is a small presence in Mantle, currently we are working on infiltration and getting council permissions to perform a raid on a meeting. Until then I ask that you stay calm. Meteion is much less of a threat than Bozja ever was." Ironwood responds militantly.
"I trust you to handle this then James." Ozpin states calmly before taking a sip of his coffee, "Now then, onto something less dire… The Vytal festival." Ozpin says.
This gets Theodore to give a long sigh, "Yes, this time it's Vacuo's turn to host the event. We are currently working to finish renovations for the incoming students. However, we will have to take them closer to the actual tournament due to a lack of space sadly." Theodore says surprisingly dour.
"That's fine, however I feel like there's something else at play here." Leo says curiously.
"We will require support staff from the other academies to come and assist. We have a lot of faculty retiring this year and frankly that amount of students projected to be coming is going to push Shade to its limit after the remodeling. Qrow can I count on you to keep them in line?" Theodore says in a defeated tone.
"Sure." Qrow responds quickly, not really paying attention.
"Atlas will be willing to share staff when the time comes. After all, the Vytal festival is a showing of unity between the kingdoms." Ironwood says with a smirk.
"We can discuss this more as the time approaches, I simply wanted to make sure it's on everyone's radar." Ozpin says quietly. "Now then is there anything else?"
No one says a word.
"Alright then, thank you gentlemen, we'll meet again soon. Hopefully in person next time." Ozpin says while taking a sip of coffee.
"Can't wrap your head around telecommunication Oz?" Qrow jokes.
"No… it's harder for someone to listen in on an in-person discussion." Ozpin retorts.
With that Ozpin disconnects and the others follow suit.
Ironwood gives a sigh before turning off his scroll and looking out the window to the city. He then makes his way toward the elevator as he really should have gotten coffee before the meeting.
Character Change: James Ironwood - Kairi-Tsugumi Basil
Location: Atlas Academy: Professor Basil's office
"FUUUUUUUUUUUCK" says Basil after Ozpin hangs up. She figured this meeting was secretive, but she wasn't expecting that.
I figured it was him shadily meeting with some corporation for a bribe or something fucking normal not…. Whatever the fuck that was!
Basil quickly takes a few deep breaths before inhaling the rest of her coffee, somehow the milk and sugar don't bother her this time. She quickly went over what just happened by reviewing the notes she took.
Ironwood is in some secret society with the other headmasters. ('O_O')
Viralious' mother Summer was a part of it. (ಠಿ_ಠ)
Viralious' mother's killer identity was known but is already dead. Suspect that a third person killed him. Someone with close ties - Investigate Raven ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Viralious thought his uncle killed his mother. - Explains why he came to Atlas
Viralious was in a fragile mental state and needed counseling or he would become a pawn to Salem - TF is a Salem? (•ิ_•ิ)?
They are hunting Meteion - THANK YOU someone says they're a threat! \(^O^)/
She was probably getting shipped to Vacuo next year for the Vytal festival (ToT)
Ozpin knew she was listening in (0_0)
Basil tried not to hyperventilate from the information she just gathered, thinking back to the other things that were mentioned.
I'm currently trying to find a new therapist, he's one of a few first years I believe need help. Sadly, I haven't been able to find a suitable candidate.
Basil quickly looks over her schedule before sighing, "Am I really going to become the temporary student counselor to try and get one candidate… *sigh* who am I kidding, of course I am…"
She quickly saves the notes to her private server before destroying the scroll. She unlocks her door and makes her way to the Dust lab acting like the last hour didn't happen.
Character Change: Kairi-Tsugumi Basil - Ifiral Phenrix
Location: Atlas Academy: Cafeteria
"Celica can you not go ten minutes without making a crude joke or gesture?" Eckhart says, rolling his eyes.
"Well excuse me if the sexual tension between Opal and May is obvious!" Celica says reaching for a napkin.
Ifiral shakes his head looking down at his food, it's the normal barely edible food that Murt loves to cook for them. He's not hungry, however. Glancing around the cafeteria he sees the rest of his team and Team CARD currently engaged in simple conversations over Celica's questionable sense of humor (Or lack thereof). Trailing around the rest of the cafeteria there's team KNGT currently bullying another first-year team, everything is just normal, how lunch normally goes at Atlas academy.
So why does it feel so inconsequential?
Ifiral shifts uncomfortably in his seat and looks down to his scroll and sees the time… still an hour until class.
Why is time moving so slowly today! I FUCKING SWEAR it used to fly by.
"Hey Ifiral, are you feeling, ok? You haven't really touched your food." Winter suddenly asks in concern.
"I'm fine just a little tired, that's all." Ifiral says quickly, shaking his head.
Winter gives a small nod before turning back to the conversation going on, "I'm telling you Delphi! Opal and May are boinking, you cannot tell me otherwise." Ariel responds to Delphi.
"Who calls fucking 'boinking?'" Ifiral says confused.
"My parents 'cause they don't want their kids to get Ideas like them." Ariel responds dryly.
"Well, it's fairly hypocritical if you ask me. You've got, what 7 other siblings? Your parents, again I must stress, have to AT LEAST be part rabbit faunus!" Celica says proudly.
"Celica… Stop with that joke, it's the fifth time you've used it. No one thinks it funny." Russet says, rolling his eyes.
"You guys are no fun." Celica says, crossing her arms.
"No, we're plenty of fun, we just aren't horny all the time." Eckhart says stoically.
This gets a small laugh from everyone at the table. Ifiral glances again at his scroll and sighs. Time really was running slow.
I just need to wait until midnight… There's no reason it should take that long.
Character Change: Ifiral Phenrix-Kairi-Tsugumi Basil
Location: Atlas Academy: Ironwood's office.
Basil sighed as she exited the elevator into the hall. This is a stupid idea, I can't believe I'm actually going to suggest this… He's probably not going to accept anyway. I'm not qualified… I'm
"Ah Ms. Basil what brings you to my office this afternoon?" The general asks from behind his desk.
Guess I'm doing this.
"H-hello, ge-general… I-I was ha-have a pro-propo-proposal for y-y-you." Basil squeaks out.
Ironwood gets a hard scowl. "Basil, I've told you multiple times I am not reinstating th-"
"It's no-not that… Gen-General, as you… you kn-know we cur-currently do n-not have a student counselor… I was ho-hoping to fill… that pos-position until a su-suit-suitable cani-candidate is found." Basil interrupts quickly.
Ironwood blinks twice before narrowing his eyes, "This is a little sudden, Basil… Mind if I ask why?"
Basil takes a deep breath centering herself… Slipping on her mask of confidence,
"There are multiple students who are currently battling major mental health issues. I'm worried about my students. Delphi is hiding self-inflicted pain and is sinking into herself more and more. Russet is too afraid to take a risk and put himself out there. Ifiral is battling his inner demons alone, Eckhart is hiding his true feelings behind a military shell. Winter is facing anxiety as she questions who she really is… and Viralious is hiding his pain by pretending everything is fine… I'm worried what will happen when he reaches his breaking point." Basil finishes closing her eyes.
Ironwood sighs, "That's very observant of you Basil. Though I notice you only mentioned first year teams."
"I feel closest to them, with all due respect. The other years see me as a replacement for a favorite professor." Basil responds meekly.
"I understand, I have a soft spot for the first class I was headmaster for." Ironwood says with a smirk "I have to admit that this is a bit more noble of a proposal then your others." This gets Basil to frown. "I'll allow it, but Basil I need you to understand something."
"What is that General?"
"The mind is fragile; Huntsmen and Huntresses show higher levels of mental fortitude but they still have a tipping point. Make sure you don't push them to it." Ironwood says in a serious tone.
"I won't, General." Basil says confidently.
"Good. Now I'll make an announcement tomorrow, I'll have them schedule times with you. Just as a heads up, it means you are going to have a lot more work." Ironwood says with a smug smile.
"I'm well aware, General. But it's a sacrifice for our students I'm willing to make." Basil responds sarcastically.
"Good. Now then you should prepare for your next class you only have about an hour left." Ironwood says waving her out of the office.
Basil gives a curt goodbye before entering the elevator. Once it starts going down, she breathes a sigh of relief, "I've had assassinations less stressful then that." She says quickly before catching herself. Once the elevator doors open Basil takes a deep breath and makes her way towards the Dust lab. Smiling, she makes the mental note to try and convince Viralious and other students to visit.
One step forward… ten steps back due to paperwork. *sigh* Hopefully this helps me figure out promising candidates other than Viralious.
Character Change: Kairi-Tsugumi Basil - Ifiral Phenrix
Location Atlas Academy: Combat Training Classroom
Ifiral let out a sigh watching Viralious and Eckhart test the limits of Viralious' semblance… or copying Eckhart's semblance… It's hard to explain, okay? What they could figure out is that firstly, Viralious and Eckhart's gates were completely separate and couldn't connect to each other so that plan fell through quickly. Other than that, it seemed like Viralious' could only go around 20 meters compared to Eckhart's 40. Oh, and they were purple instead of blue.
The two of them were currently "Thinking with portals" for new team attacks. Sighing Ifiral glanced at his scroll and was once again annoyed with how slowly the day was going. Suddenly he's pulled from his thoughts with Winter sitting next to him.
"Are you feeling ok Ifiral? You seem distant and antisocial… I mean more than normal." she says quickly.
"I'm fine, like I said, just tired." Ifiral responds deadpan.
"Are you sure Ifiral, you can tell us wha-"
"I'm fine. Winter thanks for the concern but really, I'm good." Ifiral says harsher than he expected
Winter sighs and nods, "Alright if you say so." Before getting up and walking over to Viralious and Eckhart.
Ifiral gives a sigh before getting up and following her. Once he's standing with the rest of his team Viralious turns to him and says, "So Ifiral, you have any suggestions for new team attacks?"
"No, not really, new ones… We could possibly use you as an extra for techniques between Winter and me or Eckhart and Me though." Ifiral responds with a shrug.
"Yeah, I figured. Anyone have any ideas on what we can do for the last… 3 minutes before the demonstration?" Viralious responds.
No one gives a suggestion. Viralious sighs and takes a seat, "Might as well not be standing I guess."
Eckhart sighs and joins Viralious on the floor. Winter dusts the ground off before sitting with her legs to the side. Ifiral just drops and lays on his back.
They just end up sitting them for a few minutes chatting about nothing before Kaine tells them that it's time for the spar. Sadly, none of them are chosen but it's Delphi vs a member of team KNGT. The fight ended in a draw since the bell ended up ringing before either combatant had less than 70% aura.
Dust studies was simply a review over the application for combustion and coolant dust. One of which he is fairly familiar with, and Eckhart seemed to have a thing or two to say about coolant.
Team VIEW ends up making it back to their dorm at 5:20pm where Ifiral promptly says he's taking a nap and falls face first onto his bed and falls asleep.
2 hours later, Eckhart wakes him up and informs him that he should actually eat, then he can go back to sleep. Ifiral shrugs before getting up, getting a quick meal of an undercooked chicken sandwich and pizza without cheese before promptly returning to the dorm and working on the history assignment with the rest of his team.
"The hell does seashells have to do with Haven's financial strategy?" Ifiral says in confusion.
"His example in class was saying using seashells. Long story short, start by making a scarcity of a product then using it you make a nation out of it." Viralious drones out, "Kinda like Atlas and Dust."
"There is a difference as there isn't a manufactured scarcity of Dust…" Eckhart responds.
"Yeah unless you believe what crazy theories Russet's putting out." Winter jokes.
"Well then now that that's done, does anyone actually understand the difference between a bipolar junction transistor and junction-gate field-effect transistor?" Ifiral asks.
"Ah well The key difference is that bipolar junction transistors are devices in which output current is controlled by the base current. On the contrary, junction-gate field-effect transistors are devices whose output current is controlled by the input voltage applied to it. But in practical terms, just memorize the formulas since she straight up said that the quiz was mostly going to be mathematical rather than conceptual." Viralious answers.
"How did you remember that?" Winter asks.
"For some reason physics clicks… most of the time." Viralious responds while rubbing the back of his head.
The team just sits there finishing their currently assigned homework before wishing everyone a good night and preparing for bed.
The clock struck 12 and Ifiral got out of bed. Moving slowly, he crept out of the dorm room doing his best to not wake his partner before quietly making his way down to the locker room. Slowly slipping into his combat outfit, Ifiral looks in the mirror at his scar. Closing his eyes, he grabs his blade and attaches it to his back. Exiting the locker room, Ifiral walks through the academy avoiding the cameras and surveillance drones as he moves. Soon he makes his way to the airship docks and sees a lone Bullhead. Knocking twice on the door it suddenly slides open.
"Get in quickly before the next sweep." The pilot says in a hushed tone.
Following the pilot's orders, Ifiral quickly loads into the bullhead, shutting the door behind him. He turns to the pilot and says, "What time do you need me back by?"
"Preferably before 4 AM, but Kaine made sure that this isn't needed until at least 6pm tonight. Now call this number for pick up when you're done for the night. As a heads up I'm only booked for every other night so plan accordingly." The pilot says handing him a piece of paper with a scroll number scribbled on it.
"That wasn't the deal." Ifiral responds.
"Well, the deal was changed. Take it up with the CEO and professor Kaine if you've got a problem with it. I'm only following my schedule." The pilot deadpans.
"Ugh fine. Just take me down to Mantle… Near the Glass Unicorn." Ifiral sighs.
"Understood… This is Sherfira 115 reporting take off, engines are a go." The pilot nods.
The Bullhead begins to take off as Ifiral takes a seat in the back. Reaching into his inner pocket, Ifiral pulls out a plain looking scroll. The same one Regis gave him. Punching in the password he pulls up the list before selecting the first name. A picture of the target and their relevant information flash on screen.
William Scarlatina
Age 35
Employment: Engineer for Atlassian Command Center
Reason for being at Glass Unicorn: Company meeting, never checked into a room.
Likelihood of starting the fire: Minimal
Schedule: If not at home during Midnight-early morning check Lunacy Dance Club
Address: Mantle: MT513 Apartment 16.
Family status: Unknown
Shutting the scroll, Ifiral closes his eyes knowing that tonight was going to be a long one.
A/N:
This chapter took a slightly different direction than I initially planned but I felt it was important to show the day after the gala before jumping straight into the events that are going to be the main focus of this half of the arc. So then let's break down what happened.
The Winter portion of the opening is just a juxtaposition from Viralious normally waking up and poking fun at Viralious' sleeping habits. It also shows a little bit of Eckhart being a bit better of a person but still throwing some shade. Now it's really minor as it was meant to be just a small bridge into the real first part of the chapter.
Basil made a major mistake trusting Kaine to get coffee. As a person who drinks 2-7 cups of coffee a day (Insomnia: it's great especially as a student) I must say black coffee is the best. Now I will admit I am cutting back on my caffeine intake, so my heart doesn't explode. Anyhow enough joking around the real thing that we see with Basil is that she's spying on Ironwood's meeting with the other members of the yellow brick bunch.
Now this is a huge look into somethings that are going on behind the scenes and will play a part in coming chapters. So, first off we learn who actually killed Summer Rose, originally their name was a Ace Attorney reference and was DiedMann but I changed it to Henry Rouge as it fit more with the color naming rule (something I do ignore from time to time but hey the show stretches a few as well.) He will not play a large part in this story since he is dead. Now the point of him being possibly killed by Raven; keep that in mind.
Next, Qrow officially learns where Viralious is studying, and we learn Ironwood's reasoning for not telling him sooner. Viralious to them is in a fragile mental state (Remains to be seen if so) and sending him to Qrow might have triggered him to either a suicidal gambit or joining Salem. The second option is actually interesting as it follows along with Viralious' beta idea. Back when he was Ozpin's son like I mentioned in the A/N for chapter 6 he wasn't going to attend Atlas or Beacon. He was going to be working alongside Salem out of hatred for his father. Winter wasn't going to be his teammate, she was going to be assigned a mission to take him down. I really didn't like how the story originally played out so it was eventually reworked to Viralious attending one of the huntsmen academies before it morphed into what it is today. Technically I wrote the ending first and filled in the blanks to get to that point. It's always fun when you can rework your original ideas into references into the story. Now that leads the Cult of Ozpin to talk about the other cult in the story, Meteion. We don't learn much about them other than Ironwood is aware of them. Lastly the Vytal festival is just set up for later.
This brings us back to Basil in her office. Her reaction is genuine, and I tried to give her the little 'funny/cute' habit of writing small emojis next to her notes, IDK if they are showing up properly on FFnet but I think they add a bit of character. So, Basil knows that Ironwood is hiding something now and that's huge. The yellow brick bunch thrive on secrecy so now someone else knows a little about them. We'll skip a head a bit to Ironwood granting Basil the temporary counselor position. The reason for this is twofold: First reason is I really enjoyed Professor Arc by Coeur Al'Aran. The second reason is Basil is obviously interested in Viralious for some reason we haven't seen yet. I will not spoil it but this chapter does make Basil more suspicious especially after her last spoken line
The cafeteria scene is meant to be minor, showing a little bit of Ifiral's thoughts and how he's counting the clock. The rest of the conversations are just jokes to the characters. Now onto Ifiral in class, it's a continuation of before but supposed to show how he's not completely withdrawing from his team; he's not Eckhart after all. Now the point about Viralious copying Eckhart's semblance is to set some small restrictions as it could get confusing and best to lay out strengths and weaknesses immediately, so I don't break physics… more than the show already does. Next the room scene is meant just to continue this trend and allow for me to drop some Physics Phacts on you. That stuff about BJTs and JFETs is taken straight from my notes which I actually have an exam over next week (a good 3 weeks before this chapter is posted, got a C+ pretty good since I straight up said I got a zero on the last problem.)
AmoebaHewdraw's Note: I don't know what he's talking about, either. Unless you know what he's talking about, in which case, good for you.
Last scene of this chapter is the set up for the main focus. Ifiral sneaks out of his room and boards an unknown Bullhead going down to Mantle. It's obvious the Glass Unicorn has something to do with his backstory and he's looking for people and we will see that search happen in the next chapter.
Overall, this is a nice set up chapter and will bleed into the next one very nicely. Compared to the first half of this arc we are going at a much better pace already since we actually are going more than one sentence in the first two chapters of that half.
This is where I would like to thank my editor, AmoebaHewdraw for making this actually readable. Without him these chapters would be illegible.
Until Next Time Xcom Out.
