This Will Be the Day 3.3
Yellowbrick
As Taylor walked into the warehouse, she glanced around for a place to put down her new sword, settling on a nearby crate. She had expected the Undersiders to get more odd looks while they were walking around town, carrying all sorts of weapons, but hardly anyone seemed to notice. Maybe they just assumed we're Huntsmen or something. Or maybe openly carrying weapons isn't that weird, even though not many people do?
"We're back," Alec said, twirling his new mace. "Who's up for some training?"
Everyone stared at him, surprised.
"That's what I thought." Alec fell directly onto a chair. "My legs are sore. I'm taking a nap."
"Hold on—" Lily said.
"Snore," Alec said. "Snore."
Brian sighed. "Ignore him."
"Please," Alec said. "Also, snore."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "If we can get away from Alec's snores—"
"Snore."
"Shut up or I'm shutting you up. Anyways, I think we've got some stuff to discuss."
"Oh?" Brian asked. "Like what?"
"Headmaster Ozpin. Depending on how things turn out, he could be our greatest ally or our greatest enemy."
Sabah shook her head. "You're n—we're not capes anymore. We're just students."
Lisa extended a finger. "First off, we don't know what plans Cauldron has for us beyond letting us rot in some other universe. With how different everything is, I'd be shocked if they didn't have some. Whatever plans they have aren't going to leave Vale stable." She extended another. "Second, we might hav—"
"Second," Alec said, "we might happen to be sons of bitches who couldn't even find the straight and narrow, let alone follow it. Well, mostly daughters of bitches. And, of course, Bi—"
Lisa grabbed a nearby plastic bottle and chucked it at Alec. "Speak for yourself. Second, we've made enemies here on Remnant. At the very least, there's the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, and probably the blonde at the club or whoever she works for. I don't know if any of them will care enough to look for us, or if they could find us if they did, but I'd bet anything that at least two of them have some way of keeping an eye on Beacon. It's too important, too central to how Vale's going to run in the next couple of decades."
"A school for training people to defend from monsters matters that much?" Lily asked.
"Huntsmen are more than just monster hunters," Lisa said. "Sometimes less, too. I've done a bit of research. Apparently, most Grimm are found while they're small and alone, before they can grow or get into big packs, and dealt with by people in farming communities. Amateur Huntsmen, like Arthur Madson and his team, help when things are a bit too tough for the farmers."
"They seemed pretty professional when they dealt with us," Aisha said.
"More than some full-time superheroes I've had to work with," Lily added, crossing her arms. "Not that that's a high bar."
"Amateurs are just Huntsmen who didn't get trained from puberty and the best weapons available," Lisa said. "The least skilled certified Huntsmen and the most skilled amateurs deal with more serious incursions, like when a pack of Grimm manages to form out in the wilderness or when one of the bigger Grimm decides to attack. That leaves the greatest Huntsmen to take on missions from the Vale Council and other patrons. Some are just 'Investigate the missing nomads' or 'This elder Grimm is too close for comfort' or something, but plenty are for other stuff. Catching criminals, calming protests, and so on. Any missions against major threats to the Kingdoms or other large groups of people get picked up pretty quickly—they aren't that petty—but anything else...well, if the local Huntsmen are too racist, they might ignore problems that only seriously affect faunus and maybe shut down their protests instead. I hear something like that happened a dozen years or so ago. Big scandal. And that's not getting into how some of the biggest Huntsmen around are basically celebrities. Team CSHL's probably one of the biggest, at least in Vale."
Lily nodded. "So Huntsmen are like a mix of celebrities, superheroes, and mercenaries?"
"That's more right than it is wrong. Probably."
"Probably?"
Lisa nodded. "I'm extrapolating a lot here. That means there could be some pretty big errors if what I know or assume is off. And I'm still missing a lot of Remnan cultural context, so I'm pretty sure there are some errors. But I think I've got the gist of it."
"So, Huntsmen are important," Aisha said, right next to Lisa.
Lisa almost didn't flinch. "...That's the short version of what I just said, yes."
"Why'd you say all that other stuff?"
Lisa sighed. "Go bother someone else. Maybe Alec."
"Snore."
Lily sighed. "That stopped being funny two or three snores ago."
"Just ignore him," Lisa said. She took her own advice, walking over to the improvised dining table with Brian and Taylor. After a moment, Lily hurried over with them, Sabah trailing behind.
Lily sat down. "So...What's up with Headmaster Ozpin, anyways?"
"I want to hear what you think is up with him, first." Lisa smiled.
"What? Why?"
Lisa leaned back in her chair. "Believe it or not, I value the input of other people. I'm not entirely sure what to think of the Headmaster, so I want to hear others' impressions...without those impressions being tainted by my thoughts. I don't want an echo chamber. So let's hear it. Lily, you first."
Lily bit her lip. "Um. Okay. That makes sense. Headmaster Ozpin. Um. What did I think?" She chewed a fingernail for a minute. "He seemed nice, and definitely knows what he's talking about. I think he really wants us to succeed. Probably means what he said about Huntsman spirit or whatever, 'cause God knows what else we've got. He cares, that's for sure. About teaching and stuff, I mean. And protecting people. But aside from that...I dunno. I'm not the one that can figure out someone's favorite color by looking at their underwear drawer."
"Don't mock me," Lisa said. "I wouldn't need to look at their underwear drawer. But seriously, thanks for sharing. Brian?"
He shrugged. "Like Lily said, the Headmaster knows what he's doing. We're probably not the first students he's had to get weapons for, and we're probably not going to be the last. He's...I'm not sure. He doesn't get along with his staff, but he's distant from the students—or us, at least—so...I'm not sure what to think about him."
"I'm not sure he doesn't get along with his staff," Taylor said. "It seemed more like—"
"Let's not forget Sabah," Lisa said.
"Me? Oh. Um." Sabah stared at the rafters. "I...the Headmaster seemed nice? And calm? But he seems to think we already know enough to...not make idiots of ourselves with these...things, and I dunno about you guys, but I'm not. I..."
Lily stood and gave Sabah a pat on the back. "Hey, you'll do great. You took charge of your neighborhood when Leviathan attacked, all by yourself."
"But they—"
"And now you've got me, and the others. We'll make this work."
"Go Undersiders!" Aisha shouted, right next to the couple. Sabah shrieked, and everyone else flinched.
"Aisha!" Taylor scolded. "Cool it."
"Shoo," Lisa added. "Or add your two cents, either way."
Aisha shrugged. "We'll figure something out. Well, you guys will. Also, I don't think I like that Goodwatch person. Ozpin seems chill, though."
Lisa sighed. "Sabah, got anything else?"
"Um…" Sabah shook her head and sat down with Lily.
"Alright, then. Taylor, what were you saying about the Headmaster's staff?"
Taylor leaned on the table. "I get the impression that he gets along with them, but that doesn't mean he always agrees with them. Something about recruiting us makes Goodwitch worry. She apparently doesn't think we'd be good Huntsmen, and from what she was talking about this morning, she's not alone. Or she knows a lot of people won't trust our worth and she's afraid about someone thinking Ozpin's gone senile."
"Wait, how old is the Headmaster?" Lily asked. "He looked pretty young to me. Thirties or early forties, maybe. Aside from the gray hair, I mean, but I've seen people with weirder hair."
Taylor shook her head. "He doesn't look old, but he seems too experienced to be young. Like Brian said, he's seen all this before. I trust that more than the Headmaster's face." Taylor frowned. "I wonder if we remind him of some good Huntsmen or students he knew once? Or maybe he doesn't like the current crop, and sees that we're different, so he took an excuse to recruit us?" She shrugged. "Anyways. Headmaster Ozpin strikes me as...patient, but willing to gamble. He took a chance with us—Goodwitch made that clear this morning. But he doesn't care. He's not giving us simple, safe weapons we can pick up and use in a couple of days if we have to, he's giving us these complicated things. Probably aren't many people with weapons this...unique." Taylor shrugged. "There's something he's keeping to himself. But I think I'm fine with that. He seems nice enough, like he cares about the well-being of his students. He didn't have some lackey hand us generic weapons and kick us out, he personally gave us weapons from his own collection and tried to make sure we understood them well enough. He cares about his students—about us, now—and I think he wants the best for us." Taylor smiled slightly. "I bet he probably wouldn't...put up with bullies, you know?"
Lisa nodded. "Seems counterproductive to let students get so fucked-up. No offense, Taylor."
Taylor shook her head. "No, you're—let's just focus on now, okay?"
Lisa nodded. "Alright, here's my thoughts. He's definitely keeping secrets—from us and his staff—and it's been obvious from the moment we set foot in Beacon today."
What?
"Ozpin came at just the right time to calm down Rachel, just before things got ugly. I doubt it was an accident. He wanted us to get into a conflict he could resolve, or at least he took an opportunity he saw before Goodwitch saw the dogs. So he wants us to think of him as this great mediator, this great mentor, this person we can come to with our problems."
"If that was intentional," Taylor said, "and if he's sincere, I see no problem with that."
"If that's all there was, I doubt Glynda would be so surprised to see him. Why leave things up to chance? He could ask Glynda to find something wrong with us, say he wants us to trust him or some crap, that's all." Lisa stood and started pacing around the table. "I did some research on Ozpin last night. He appeared, out of nowhere as far as I could find, after some kind of faunus war and started working at Beacon. Headmaster Lief Wynne decides he'd make a good assistant. Ozpin starts tweaking things, things start getting better. Within a few years, Wynne has health problems and suggests Ozpin to be his replacement, and he is. Ozpin makes more changes—more of his gambles, from what I've read—and things keep getting better. Somehow, he keeps coming up smelling like roses. Twenty-some years later and here he is—beloved by just about everyone in Vale without an agenda."
"You sound suspicious," Lily said.
"I am. It's all too perfect. There's no explanation for how he's done all of this, so either he's got some big secret he's not sharing or he has some outside help, somehow."
Lily sighed. "You're thinking like a supervillain, Lisa. Not everyone has a dark secret, you know? The Headmaster's not Hookwolf or Faultline or Coil. Maybe he's just talented."
Lisa shook her head and started pacing in the other direction. "Talent only takes you so far. Look at Justinian—he and his advisors were just about the perfect people to restore Rome, but even they couldn't. And talent in what, mind? He's good at getting people to like him. Wynne, Vale, us. But is he as good as his reputation, or has he just charmed everyone? If he's that good, how? If not, why does everyone think he is?"
Taylor shook her head. "I know where you're coming from, but...I don't think the Headmaster has anything sinister planned. I could be wrong, but...it's definitely not something that's certain. Maybe he has a knack for getting the right person for the right job. Maybe he's good at getting funds and using resources efficiently, and the students are just getting a better experience, a better education."
"Or maybe it wasn't anything like fixing Rome," Brian said. "Maybe Beacon and Vale just had a bunch of big flaws before Ozpin came along. We've seen a few little ones since coming here—and the weapons—and we've been on this world for just a month or so." He sighed. "Maybe you're doing that thing where you extrapolate too much without context."
Lisa stopped pacing. "You might be right. It's worth keeping an eye on him, but...you're right, it's probably nothing. Or not much, at least. Anyways. Either Ozpin does mean what he said about thinking that we're well-suited to being Huntsmen, or he's one of the best liars I've ever met—and if he was that good, I probably wouldn't have gotten the impression that there's something more."
"What?" Sabah asked, leaning forward in her chair.
Lisa started pacing again. "I don't know. Probably nothing bad, or he would have us stuck in jail for vandalism or obstructing justice or something instead of bringing us to Beacon. He probably wants to make the world a better place as one of his goals, though I don't have the foggiest clue about how he intends to do that. He's confident in whatever his plans are. Ozpin thinks he knows best, and maybe he sometimes does. Maybe a lot of the time. He doesn't mind acting on that, without telling anyone.
"And a lot of what you said. He cares about at least some specific people, instead of just the masses. He's focused on business, though I have a hunch that he might be different if we came to him. Ozpin likes the personal touch. He gets along with his staff, even if he doesn't tell them everything. But not everyone likes him—too many important people found reasons to dislike his policies or think he's in their way. Maybe they're just as suspicious l as I am.
"If Goodwitch is right, making one move that looks like a mistake could make a lot of new people suspicious, too. Maybe they'd start to wonder if he'd gone too far. Maybe they'd think his luck ran out. Maybe they'd just see an opportunity—human nature can't be that different here."
Lisa plopped back down into a chair. "And that's about all I've got for now. About the Headmaster, anyways. I have a lot of new questions to research when I get the time, that's for sure, but that'll need to wait."
Lily slumped. "I'm afraid to ask...but why?"
"We'll need to train some, like we were told. Most of us were taught how to fight, but a lot of us don't use it much. I think we could all stand to dust off or sharpen our basics. And we have these crazy weapons to figure out how to use right." Lisa pushed herself out of her chair.
"No need to jump right to it," Taylor said. "We're all still a bit tired from that walk, I think, and we've got plenty to think about. Besides, we'd be one short. Alec's actually napping now, and I for one don't feel like putting up with him being grouchy all evening."
