Golden thorns chapter 41
"It's going to be a miserable slog down dark, cramped tunnels, mapping out which of them are clear, collapsed or still infested. How're you all with claustrophobia?" she continued.
"Fine" said Coran
"Likewise" agreed Jo.
"I'm a lizard" Devlyn's joke earned him a small chuckle from the woman.
"And you Marie?" Azura turned to her, "up for a bit of spelunking?"
"I… will be fine." She looked away sheepishly. Seeing her discomfort, Coran changed the subject.
"If I may," he started slowly, "why us? Professor Ozpin said that he had specifically chosen us for this mission. Did he say why or is that need to know?" she looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"You are a curious one aren't you, Mr Silverthorne? No, the Professor did not tell me why. When he put out the call to all the Hunters and Huntresses, asking for mission experience and he saw mine, he simply said that he had a very specific team in mind for it. He may be secretive but he's not stupid. I trust him to have given me a capable group of people to work with. Was he right?"
"Capable enough."
"Modesty is to be valued, Coran, but you should not go so far as to belittle yourself. If you and your team have any particular strengths or weaknesses I am going to need to know about them. What kit do you use? Close combat or ranged? Also, if you know your semblances then it would be good for me to know what those are. This may seem like you've been given a soft choice but I can tell you that once you get beyond the walls of the city, you need to be prepared for anything. I need to know what you can do so that I know what tasks I can trust you to complete." She paused for breath. "Okay, who's first?" she looked around the cabin. "Coran, you seem quite talkative. Tell me about yourself."
"I use a Glaive with a dust-compatible, small calibre handgun built into the blade. As you'd expect this makes me a mid-to-long ranged fighter, though, in the past I have wrestled off a Beowolf that jumped me. My semblance grants me a heightened sensitivity to sound, though still takes some degree of concentration and focus to precisely locate the source of the noise."
"Interesting. And you Devlyn?"
"Cinquedea, long dagger with a wide blade, good for getting up close and personal. I've been trying to modify it to have a dust compatible pistol function like that of Coran's but it's been proving difficult as I'm making it from scratch. My semblance won't be that helpful for this mission. Basically, I can regenerate limbs and heal injuries that would normally cripple or kill a normal person. However it takes time, like weeks."
"I wouldn't say that's unhelpful at all. I know guy who would give his left hand for that power." She sniggered at her own pun, then stopped abruptly. "But in all seriousness, an Ursa tore off his leg. On a brighter note, how about the girls? What do you bring to the table?" Jo, shocked into silence by the casual joke, gestured to Marie, who spoke up.
"I wield a long-bladed spear. I have no long ranged weaponry, but so far it has not really been needed, nor do I think it will be if we are going to be exploring cramped caves." She hesitated. "My semblance is a form of clairvoyance. I cannot see the future as such, I would say that it feels more like a strong intuition that assists me in completing what I wish to achieve. It is not always accurate, though it has proved to be effective before." This gave Azura pause for thought.
"You have an exceptional gift, Miss d'Or. Be careful with it." she turned to Jo. "And you, Miss Umbra?" Jo didn't look directly at her
"Baton with an energy field that I can adjust the strength of. I can do anything from tickle to comatose. As for my semblance… well, let's just say that yours is a camouflage trait that allows you to chameleon into whatever you're standing in front of, presumably why you got this job, but although it is effective it gets more difficult to sustain the more you move. Am I right?" she finished, a grin of self-congratulation curling her lip.