Giles woke the next day quite early, before the sun had risen even. He quietly swung his legs out from under the covers and sat up, blinking his eyes awake as he did so. The room was unfamiliar, nothing new, the life of a nomadic snow pirate doesn't allow for familiar sleeping conditions all the time. Although this room is far different then the ruined hovels and military bases that was the usual. Far too comfortable looking and warm to boot...
"That wasn't a dream was it?" Giles says as the previous day catches up to him again. He flops back down into the bed in thought. E.D.N. lll was far away now. The world he once knew. No more snowfields, no more snow pirates, no more NEVEC, no more Akrid. Giles suddenly broke out into a smile. No more fighting for survival on a daily basis. No more people trying to steal his stuff while he slept. And no more Cat-G Akrid tearing the whole area apart on him.
"Oooh this seems so much nicer." Giles said with a soft exhale. With a smile on his face he jumped up and grabbed his rations. Some freeze dried meal or the other, not the tastiest but nearly all that Giles had eaten for most of his life. He used the sink in the kitchen to fill a small pot that he had in his survival equipment and put it on top of a small heat pad made by running T-ENG through some pipes in a metal disk.
With his water heating up Giles decided to examine the Scroll device that Glynda had given him. It seemed to be a small pair of plastic bars that when pulled apart displayed a small touch screen interface. The device seemed not too different from any touch screen interface that was in most V.S. suits. It seemed to connect wirelessly to a communication network that was called the CCTS. It could take pictures and videos and numerous other little bits and bobs. The only thing installed on it that didn't make sense was a thing called an Aura Gauge. He figured it must be a local thing they used for whatever reason and left it alone for now.
His water now boiling, Giles took it and poured it into the pouch his freeze dried meal was in and waited for it to cook. The only real problems with the rations were that they were usually so old that you couldn't tell what it was until you cooked it. After a couple of minutes he opened the pouch and took in its smell. And immediately groaned in disappointment, Lasagna, he hated the lasagna. Giles gritted his teeth and got over it and started to eat his meal.
After he had finished his breakfast and cleaned it up, Giles heard a knock on the door. That must be Glynda he figured. Giles opened the door to see Glynda standing there with a man he was not familiar with. If he had to describe the man he would start with the word grey. He was wearing a set of grey overalls and matching tool belt. His hair was a short but messy bunch of grey, the only thing about him that was not grey was his eyes, which were a green color. The man was on the older side and fairly lanky and had a quite pale complexion himself.
"Morning Giles this is our head mechanic Ferrus. Ferrus this is the boy i told you about. I will leave you two to get to work yourselves. I will be back tonight to see how things went." Glynda said quickly before taking her leave.
The two stood there awkwardly for a moment before Giles stood back and with a sweep of his arms invited Ferrus into the dorm. Ferrus walked in and Giles closed the door behind him.
Ferrus looked him up and down for a second before speaking. "You don't seem like an alien from some far off planet to me boy."
"Well you lot don't look like aliens to me either so i guess were even there. So your supposed to show me how the tech works around here." Giles replied.
"Straight to business eh? I can appreciate the mind set. Well what do you know?" Ferrus asked.
"About my gear, almost everything, here not so much. All of my tech runs on a fuel that is unique to my planet E.D.N. lll. All of our machines run on it, all of our vehicles and all of our homes are powered by it, it is the life blood of our planet, literally. What you guys use to run your gear is unknown to me."
"Well that is easy to fix. We got the same setup really. Our stuff is called Dust, Crystals that we mine all over the world, comes in four varieties and has been used since time immemorial. From the very beginning of humanity dust has been our weapons against the Grimm, our fuel for civilization and the cause of wars."
"Sounds pretty much the same."
"Seems that way, lets make our way over to my workshop, we can start the lessons from the basics there. I have a couple basic repair jobs to do, you can sit and watch, learn from a master."
"Lead the way Ferrus."
Giles grabs his all his gear and throws it back on before following, even his gas mask. Best way to avoid people actually talking to you was to look intimidating in his opinion. Ferrus lifts an eyebrow at the gas mask but doesn't say anything. The two talk as they walk and stroll through the school at a more sedate pace then Giles's first escorts through the campus. The school grounds are simple but ornate, soaring stone arcs and walkways wind around the schools out buildings and all lead in to the towering school. Giles and Ferrus talk about the tech Giles is familiar with and compare any equivalents that Remnant may have. The bullheads and the ospreys are similar but built with different design ideas in mind, for example.
Giles stresses that most of the technology of his home was built with a utilitarian idea in mind. Built to last, built to survive the cold, built to work with only rare repairs available. The weapons and equipment of E.D.N. lll were built for power and durability, slow but powerful behemoths built to go toe to toe with the huge Akrid that inhabited the planet. Hunting Catagory G Akrid was necessary for any major attempt at civilization to have a chance.
Ferrus countered with Remnants choice to blend utility with style and the importance of the individual. The weapons of the Hunters were custom built to each of there unique tastes and styles. Speed and flash were valued more then cold efficiency. The joy of freedom and the fun of watching a flashy battle helped to combat the Grimm, who were attracted to the negative emotions that were usually attached to battle, anger, hate, wrath and depression. Battle was taught to be both a serious matter and a thing to enjoy.
Giles realized that was probably why they attacked him so quickly and in such numbers. The initial confusion of being lost like he was and then the anger at being attacked. He must have broadcast to the whole countryside like that.
After a while they reached the workshop. Ferrus opens the doors and lets Giles in. Giles immediately knows that he is back in his comfort zone. Workbenches, tools both gentle and powerful, racks of raw materials, screws and nails and more were laid out orderly and in abundance.
"Not the best equipped workshop i had seen on my planet came even close to this room." Giles said in awe.
Ferrus finally cracked a grin and swept his arms up theatrically. "Welcome to my kingdom. Here i rule with an Iron fist. Even the most veteran Huntsman shows respect in this room. Heed that practice well."
Giles nodded dumbly as he started to walk around the room. He inspected the tools that seemed familiar and asked what the ones that didn't seem familiar did. This went on for an hour or so. Giles was introduced first hand to the Dust that had been spoken of earlier and some of its uses.
After that the two of them sat down to some work that Ferrus had waiting for him to finish. Minor repairs to a couple of small devices and appliances. Toasters and alarm clocks and such. Giles was happy to be working in a workshop again though. Fixing small simple devices was a calming experience for him, not hard work but just enough effort to keep his attention. The general idea of many of the devices was the same. A small lightning dust canister was used in place of the normal alkaline battery's Giles was familiar with, fire dust was used in heater units in the same way.
Giles took to the new technology well. There was less tubing then he was used to, what with the lack of T-ENG to run around. In the place of all the pipes were small repository's for Dust crystals and grinded down sand like versions. Metal was still metal, wiring to carry the electricity was still the same. It seemed that the biggest difference was just the fuel source. Also the custom nature of all the weapons explains Ooblecks thermos flamethrower staff.
After a few hours of work and instruction in even amounts Ferrus puts his tools down and steps back from the workbench.
"Well Boy, you seem to live up to your claims, you know your way around a set of tools. However i believe its time for lunch."
"Whats for lunch? Please tell me its not freeze dried lasagna?" Giles replied.
"Freeze dried? We get food fresh here Boy. We are going to the cafeteria and sitting down for a hearty meal. Come on."
That should be a little bit of progress, introduced another OC and all.
Now then a guest review brought up Aura and i kinda mentioned it here too. I have a pretty good idea of how i want to handle its introduction to Giles and all. But i do want to say why it will not be brought up so quickly. First off i like Jaune don't get me wrong and i know we need the clueless guy to help world build in a slightly less forced way but he is realistically a god damn idiot at the beginning. I like to think of it this way. Why ask the guy that showed combat ability and told a story of humanity battling for survival on another planet if he has an aura? I think if you seem huntsman like in Remnant that everyone assumes you have an aura and I see no reason for them to think differently for Giles. Aura is just a part of their lives as huntsman, its a natural assumption to make. The only reason that Pyrra did not call Jaune an idiot for not having and not knowing what an aura is, is that she is really nice.
Also i don't plan on adding any OCs from Lost planet except Giles. An the bit about the freeze dried lasagna is my personal experience, i did not like it when i had it, Freeze dried ice cream was actually pretty good though.