Justinian stood in the elevator to the Headmaster's office. He found himself stopping on every single floor on the way. No, he didn't push every button. He only pushed the button for Ozpin's office. Next thing he knew, all the buttons had lit up. Must be something in the wiring… He swears Ozpin does it on purpose to raise the blood pressure of anyone making their way up to his office. Eventually, he made it to the office in question and the doors opened to reveal Ozpin sitting at his desk sipping from his coffee mug.
"Hey, boss." Justinian walked into the room.
"Justinian, you certainly took your time."
"I push one button and somehow, all the floors light up. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Ozpin smiled. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."
Justinian sighed. "So…"
"Right to the point, aren't you?"
"Always."
"Of course. I need your help with something."
Justinian took a second to read Ozpin's face. Once he had, a devilish smile spread across his face. "What do you need, boss man?"
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Justinian was walking down the hallways, thinking of how to complete Ozpin's request. He needed someone else to help him, but who? Port? No. He can't keep a secret when pressed. Oobleck? No. He works to quickly and might it might not work. Alexander? No. He and Celia are always at each other's side. As he created a list of teachers that he couldn't get to help him, he failed to notice one of his students walking down the hall toward him.
Yang Xiao Long noticed the teacher deep in thought and smiled. Time to figure out the mystery. "Hey Prof."
Justinian's gaze snapped toward Yang. "Oh! Hello. How can I help you?"
"You know, I think I have a few questions you might be able to answer."
Now fully focusing on the situation, the gears in Justinian's head formulated a wicked plan. "Well, Miss Xiao Long, I actually have an idea about that. What do you say to a game?"
Yang raised an eyebrow. "What game?"
Justinian pulled out a deck of cards. "One quick hand of Poker."
Yang smiled. "You're on."
They made their way to the dust lab and they sat down on opposite sides of Justinian's desk. Justinian started to shuffle the desk with one hand while leaning his chin on the other. He dealt the cards in the same form and they both had a five card hand. "Before we look at our cards, we should get the prize out of the way. What do you want if you win?"
Yang looked him square in the eye. "I want to ask you a few questions and you will answer honestly."
"Alright. And what do I get from you if I win?" He had his devilish grin across his face.
Yang misread the grin. Her mind was filled with ideas of what he could get. However, since she had recently read one of Blake's books. So, the premise of the book popped into her mind. No! Bad Yang! Well… he is pretty good looking. But he's a teacher! But he's not that much older…
"Oh my. How naughty."
Yang's mind nearly shut down hearing that. "W-wait! I didn't say anything!
"No, but you're face told me enough." Justinian thought a moment. "Actually, there is something you can do for me if I win."
Yang gathered herself again. "And that is?"
"I recently received a mission form the top. And I need some help to pull it off."
Yang nodded. "I guess that works."
"Aw… are you disappointed?"
"What? Of course not!" Now Yang was mad. She was the one who teased, not the other way around! But this guy… Somehow, he could read her and beat her to the punch. "Whatever. Let's just go."
Yang picked up her cards and nearly chocked on her own breath. The cards in her hand were a 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King. All of Hearts! A straight flush! Holy crap! She glanced up to Justinian.
He seemed blank, not really there. He noticed her glance, "I take it you got a good hand."
Yang kept her composer. Despite her… 'outgoing' personality, she was more than capable of keeping herself in check when needed. "It's okay. I'll stick with it, I guess."
"Alright. Then I'll do the same."
Yang placed her cards on the desk. "Straight Flush."
Justinian seemed dejected.
"Looks like you have some questions to answer."
Justinian placed his cards on the table and slid them to reveal each card completely, one at a time. 10 of Spades. Jack of Spades.
No.
Queen of Spades.
No!
King of Spades.
NO!
Ace of Spades.
overloaded. Attempting restart.
"Looks like I win Miss Xiao Long. And I hope you remember that you are now part of my little mission."
Yang sighed. "Fine."
"Good." The teacher reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "All you need to do is place this at the target location without being seen."
"Is that all?"
"Considering I'll be running distraction for you, that's all."
"Distraction? Who needs to be distracted?"
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When Glynda woke up that day, she was on top of the world. A day off was exactly what she needed. She had the whole day to herself. As she looked in the mirror she actually noticed herself smiling. It's going to be good day.
(King: You should know better than that, Glynda.)
The sound of an explosion across campus took her happy feeling and turned it into irritation. What now?!
Glynda moved with the force of death itself. She was pissed for three very important reasons. 1) It was her day off and now she had to clean up someone's mess. 2) She could tell the explosion was from the dust lab, which means that there was only one teacher that could have been responsible for this. And 3) it's her Dust Damned Birthday! Why does she have to deal with this today of all days?!
She finally made it to the dust lab and opened the bolted door. As the door opened, another shockwave shot through the hall and disheveled her appearance. With a flick of her wrist, she fixed her appearance and stormed into the room. She looked around and found no sign of Justinian.
Suddenly, Justinian popped up from behind his desk wearing a pair of laboratory goggles. "Hello Glynda. What brings you here?"
Glynda was too angry for this. "Justinian... care to explain exactly what you are doing?"
"Sure."
After a second of silence. "Well?!"
"You asked if I would, not if I was going to."
"JUSTINIAN!"
"Fine. I'm testing new dust combinations."
"By setting off explosions?!"
"The room is fire and blast proof. Remember?"
"I'm well aware." Oh… she remembered, all right. The original room was destroyed four years ago when Justinian first took a dust class. It was later remodeled to become 'Justinian Proof,' but he soon destroyed that as well. Eventually, they were able to make a room that he couldn't destroy. Glynda swears he's trying to, though.
"Speaking of which." He placed a vial of dust down in the center of the room and quickly grabbed Glynda's arm, dragging her behind his desk. "Fire in the hole!" He ducked behind the desk and the dust in the vial exploded in a destructive wave of fire.
Glynda was absolutely livid, but she knew she couldn't stop him. Dust application was his job, after all. She just stood up and silently left the room.
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Glynda returned to her office and closed the door quietly behind her before leaning against the back of her door and sliding down to the floor. So much for a nice, peaceful birthday… Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling that something was out of place. Glynda was always organized and could feel when something in her office was off before she could see it. Looking around, she found a small box on her desk. It was a gift box covered in green wrapping paper and tied with a purple ribbon. A card was attached to the side.
Glynda,
Sorry I couldn't be there to give this to you in person. Sadly, the council is breathing down my neck and I can't leave my office without them threatening me. So, I had to use… less preferred methods. Happy Birthday.
-Ozpin
Glynda looked at the card and opened the box carefully. Inside was a set of earrings similar to the one's she wore normally. These, however, were a brilliant purple and had a small imprint of her symbol in gold. These had to be custom orders. But I don't remember a package arriving for him. Wait! The day he left me in charge! Did he…? Glynda wasn't looking into the mirror. If she had she would have noticed her smile had returned, accompanied by a small blush.
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King: Hello there everybody! Spurred on by one Florence-LolaRose, this idea popped into my head. Have fun with it and hoped you enjoyed it.