"Time to get up, its time to get up, its time to get up in the morning-" A sing-songy voice awoke Chris, making him grumble as he was dragged to the surface of consciousness. He should have been rousing the troops, right? He was the leader after all, yet, after a full semester's work of being leader, he hadn't quite got the hang of it.
"Thanks… Scyllia, you can stop now." He said, sitting up straight and looking over at her. She'd woken up much earlier, as she usually did, and had her bed made, weapon cleaned and assembled, and seemed to have the team's uniforms laid out and ready for them. Apparently she'd also already done her morning workout, indicated by jogging clothes and a fine sheen of sweat on her, a towel over her shoulder, as she evidently figured it best to wake her team mates on time and then shower, something that Chris both appreciated and resented, wishing for the extra few minutes of sleep it would have provided. Ophelia was awakening as well, gathering up her uniform with a nod to Scyllia, and heading off to change, followed by the aforementioned berserker, leaving the room entirely to Chris, Azelinus long since gone off somewhere, likely testing out his newest robotic creations. Chris got dressed quickly, finishing up just as Azelinus returned and leaving the room for the machinist to change, his other two team mates arriving a few moments later and waiting with him. Their final team mate was out after only a few moments, thankfully, Scyllia making a few stabs at conversation, only to be met yet again with the stagnant gazes she normally got from Ophelia and Chris before their morning coffee. Breakfast was quick, and they were off to class, Chris fell asleep after a few moments of the mustachioed professor's rambling, while Scyllia took notes diligently. Ophelia seemed to zone out as well, while Azelinus constructed a tiny clockwork automaton that mimicked the professor's movements as he went. A few weeks went by as such, Oobleck and the other professors acruing a multitude of Azelinus' automatons, confiscating them whenever they caught him making them, with not many other changes of note.
"Those guys did what?"
"Fought an Elysian paladin, yea, took it down with minimal injuries too, apparently." Scyllia summarized.
"Makes sense… The bimbo with the yellow hair could probably take down anything with that truck of overpowered semblance." Ophelia muttered, ignoring Scyllia to go back to her lunch.
"Anywaay… They seem pretty cool why don't we-?"
"Hang out with them? Hilarious. Every time I've tried to talk to any of them, they're 'too busy' or 'have a lot on their plates' I've learned to take a hint." Azelinus said darkly, going back to worrying about some strange black box he was working on. "Besides, taking down an Elysian paladin? The pilot must've been an amateur, the things I could do with such a beauty-" He stopped to fantasize for a second, shaking his head afterward and looking back to the box. "It's probably all going to their heads. They're too cool and important to want to hang out with some backwash team on the edge of disbandment."
"Well it can't be that bad- Wait, what?" Chris put in, looking up suddenly when Azelinus' words clicked.
"Yea. Last Izpin said, we're too chaotic. Don't do enough good to make up for the crazy we bring to the table here at the school. I imagine they'll either expel us or just pick apart the group to put us in others." He said with a shrug.
"How do you know this stuff?"
"Enough teachers confiscate my clockwork drones, and I start bugging them, baddabing-baddaboom, spy network." He said, just as nonchalant.
"You can't do that, you'll-" Chris started.
"What? Get us expelled? You already got that covered, great and awesome leader." Azelinus cut him off, getting fed up.
"Listen, punk, I don't know what's up with you today, but I hope you quit it. I definitely don't want the group disbanded, so let's put our heads together and do some good."
"Hah. Hilarious, calling me a punk, all confident behind your crazy girlfriend there. What are you without her? Huh? You're just a kid with glyphs, no weapon, no skills, nothin'."
"Yea? And what about you without you tinker toys? Just some nerd with a giant wrench?" Chris retorted, not noticing Scyllia tapping on his shoulder, but falling silent when Ozpin cleared his throat to Chris' right.
"I trust we're getting along well?" He asked, hands folded together in his cane.
"Uh, yea." Chris said hurriedly, making Azelinus roll his eyes.
"Way to back pedal, Mr. Doormat. Hey Ozpin, you here to expel us or what?" The machinist questioned, making Chris' eye twitch.
"Actually. I'm here to send the four of you on a group assignment. Some very strange, very augmented Grimm have been spotted near Vale's boundaries. I'd like to put it up to you four to eradicate them." He put simply, taking Chris' nod as acquiescence from all four and turning to go. Azelinus pressed a button on the black box in his hand and gave one of its faces a quarter turn like a rubix cube. It flashed blue and locked, the machinist nodding slightly and dropping it into a pocket as he stood.
"That's that, then, lapdog. Let's go take care of some albino Grimm." He grumbled as he left, leaving Chris ready to tear out his own hair, Scyllia patting Chris on the shoulder sympathetically, while Ophelia didn't seem to care either way.
As soon as they got to the room, they found their bags packed with all the necessities, and space left for anything they felt like they wanted to bring along, a brown suitcase sitting on each of their beds, one of Azelinus' mechanized sentries stood in the corner, while Azelinus had apparently already left, a note on his bed saying he would meet them where the carrier ships took off. The whole way, Ophelia felt neither desire nor inclination to saying a word or formulating an opinion, while Scyllia seemed hellbent on drawing exactly that from the spartan.
"You think he actually had that thing pack for us? Does that mean it went through all our clothes and stuff? Don't you think that's sort of strange? I wonder what kind of Grimm we're fighting against… You think they'll be harder than normal? What if one of us gets hurt? Does Chris even have glyphs that would help with that? What about Azzie? You think he has a robot nurse or something? If he doesn't, maybe he should…"
"Scyll? Give it a rest, Ophie doesn't seem up to it today." Chris finally said as they arrived at the carriers, noticing Ophelia's hand inching steadily toward her sword.
"Humph. What about you? Azelinus called me your girlfriend and you didn't deny it or anything." She said, turning on him.
"Hey, I assumed you were cool with it, we have been dating for a couple weeks now." He said, going on the defensive, watching Ophelia's hand, which twitched and morphed into a thumbs up once she got her respite from Scyllia's bothering.
"Hah, more like hanging out exclusively. You never even hold my hand or anything." Scyllia was going on, Azelinus leaning on a nearby carrier, holding up a sign that said 'Team CAOS'
"I never got the idea you'd like me to, is that something you'd appreciate?" Chris humored her.
"Well yea, actually, it'd make it feel more like we're actually going out and not just-" She started, halting as Chris caught her hand in his. She fumed for a second at him, speechless, and looked back ahead, though she didn't shake his hand off hers. Azelinus was already rolling his eyes, crumpling up the sign and dropping it into a pocket on his cargo pants, beckoning to the three clockwork androids he had nearby. They followed him as he stepped into the carrier, settling together as a group in one of the corners while the others boarded. Chris shared a quick word with the pilot and they were off, zooming toward the outskirts of Vale to check on the issue.
"You don't have to be so… Volatile." Ophelia eventually put in, looking over at Azelinus.
"You wouldn't speak such thoughts. If you knew my reasons." He responded archaically, fiddling with the mechanisms in the arm joint of his newest robot. "I'll try to be less so, though, if you think it'd help." He eventually conceded, Ophelia shrugging glumly. "Blurgh… Fine, I'll try and be friendly." He grumbled and she brightened up slightly, offering him a thumbs up and sitting back in her seat, leaving Azelinus to grumble in a made up language about women. Another of his robots whirred sympathetically and gestured to the window as they started to land.
(Alrighty then. I'll be fleshing out their characters more as we go, but yea. That's them for now. Azzie the jerk, Ophie the clerk, Scyll with her quirks, and Chris who has no idea what's going on. Looking to be better, as always. So give me reviews and tell me how I could.)