Hector struggled to carry the large plastic tray which carried his breakfast, comprised of eggs and bacon with a glass water. The dining hall was packed to the brim with students. His dark brown eyes scanned the room, and found a place in the back corner of the hall. Two people were already sitting there, a small boy dressed in a blue singlet and some denim jeans, and a larger boy with a full Atlas officer's uniform. Beside the boy in uniform sat a giant in a dirty hoodie who was eagerly digging into a bowl of cereal.
Hector approached and looked at the two "Mind if I sit here?" he asked, feeling slightly intimidated with wearing nothing but a brown Hawaiian shirt and some shorts.
Sevag shrugged "Of course." He said, pulling out a seat, "My name is Captain Sevag Schwarz, and this is Peri."
"Hello." Peri said meekly as Rory planted his tray on the wooden table.
"Who's the big guy?" Hector asked.
"None of your fucking business." Rory replied with a low growl as he swallowed another mouthful of cereal. Peri visibly quivered as he spoke.
"Well my name is Hector, Hector Braun." He said, beginning to dig into the eggs and bacon. "How are you both?" he asked, ignoring the large boy in the corner.
"Could be worse." Sevag said, it was at that moment Hector noticed what he was doing. Hector had taken a loaf of bread and had begun to roll said bread up into rolls with eggs and meat in the middle, a sort of burrito.
"A little nervous." Peri said in a quiet voice, "I'm wondering what they're going to throw at us for initiation."
Sevag looked up and cocked his head at Peri "You mean you don't know?"
"We're meant to know already?" Peri asked, finishing a piece of marmalade toast.
Hector decided to enter the fray, after having finished a strip of crisply cooked bacon "We're going to the Emerald Forest." He said.
Peri became visibly pale at this revelation "We're doing what?!" he asked in a loud, almost shrill voice.
"Yeah," Sevag said, carefully taking apart some bread and beginning to roll them again "It's to see what we can do out in the field. We're Grimm hunters right?"
"B-but Sevag, that's crazy! It's our first day!" Peri shrilly yelled to the soldier.
The soldier looked up from his ministrations and gazed directly at the boy, "Peri, you trained at an academy, correct?"
"Y-yes, but-" Peri was cut off by the soldier.
"Exactly, your training should be all that is necessary. Remember what they taught you then. That will get you through." The soldier looked back at the bread, and began to eat one of the burritos he'd made.
"Don't worry Peri," Hector began "It's going to be easy as. We'll be in there, maybe shoot a few Grimm and be done with it."
Peri silently regarded the information and looked into his lap, he was visibly shaken by the news. Everyone else returned to eating quietly, with Sevag rolling up another dozen of his burritos.
Rory finally broke the silence, not bothering to look up from his cereal "Why are you doing that?"
"Me?" Sevag asked, looking at the red head.
"Yes you," the giant said, his deep brown eyes looking over the soldier "Why do you waste good bread like that? You've been at it for at for like, half a loaf now?"
"Well," Sevag began "It's a rationing technique they taught back in the academies in Atlas."
"How does cutting up your toast into little parts meant to help people ration food?" Rory asked, acknowledging Sevag and looking at him with a strange look.
"When a soldier is stuck in the field with little to no supplies in sight, they're meant to divide food into smaller amounts to save them. Then they eat each little part, over the course of a few days, maybe even weeks in some cases." He said in a quite matter of fact way.
"But we're coming back." Rory said, seemingly agitated by this "We're not going to play soldier out there, this isn't the Great fucking War, it's initiation." Rory paused.
"You never know." Sevag said, eating a strip, and putting the rest in his pocket, "The airship could crash land and we might be trapped there for a while. A good soldier is always prepared. "
"Oh come off of it." Rory growled, "We're not soldiers, we're huntsmen."
Sevag put down the burrito he'd been working on "We are soldiers." Sevag retorted "The Huntsmen are a regimented unit whose objective is to defend the interests of humanity."
"Oh fuck off." Rory said, turning to face them all "We're not bloody foot soldiers, we're better than that, whether you like it or not." He said "Soldiers are robots who don't question anything"
Sevag was offended, how dare this brute insult an institution he and his forebears had given so much for? "Don't you dare try and insult the army, my family has sacrificed infinitely more than yours ever has to keep you safe!" he shot back.
Rory glared and bared those razor sharp teeth at him "Fuck you soldier boy! You don't know anything about sacrifice! All you've done is come and play soldier." Rory spat, he then pointed accusingly at Sevag's chest "Those medals you're wearing, they're not for fighting Grimm, or helping people. No, they're for taking orders like a good little boy!"
Sevag glared at Rory, he was tempted to hit the insolent thug in the face, but didn't. There was no argument for that, there was no real counter for what he said. Rory, despite his aggressive nature and delivery, had trumped Sevag. He instead stared at the giant, who in return let a small smug grin wash over his face. Rory knew who'd come out the better from the two of them. The group stayed quiet for the next few minutes as the situation began to slowly calm down.
Hector decided to address Peri, who had somehow become paler from the exchange. "Peri," Hector said, addressing the smallest member of the party "Back to initiation, I promise you that it's not dangerous at all." Hector said with a reassuring smile "My great grandfather was one of the first Huntsmen and facilitated hundreds of these kinds of trips under his supervision."
Sevag arched an eyebrow "So you're that kind of Braun then?" he asked, looking at Hector.
"Yes I am!" Hector said, pride swelling, it was the same feeling he caught yesterday on the airship. A new audience beckoned. "Artemis Braun's descendent."
"See Peri, we have someone with experience in our midst." Sevag said "Someone whose family at the very least has at least some form of family training in this field." He said almost mockingly.
Peri perked up, "Who is Artemis Braun?" he asked in small, quiet voice.
Hector grinned from ear to ear, a new listener to the fable of Artemis Braun. "Well don't I have a story for you my size challenged associate." Hector began. Rory rolled his eyes at the cringe worthy nature of Hector's delivery and did his best to finish breakfast before Hector could get too far into his story.
Sevag leaned in and looked at Hector, "What are you then?" he asked "You must be his, great great nephew."
"Great, great, grandson you'll find." Hector corrected with egotistical zeal.
"So a direct descendent then, that is quite impressive indeed." Sevag said, before returning to his rationing.
"Now," Hector said, "Peri, let's recount the tale of Artemis Braun." He began with a smirk on his face, "My great, great, grandfather was a war hero, an industrialist and one of the founding huntsmen." Hector announced with great pride and zeal.
Rory couldn't take it anymore "I suppose I'll be seeing you all later." He grunted, getting out of his seat and walking passed the group.
Peri eyed Rory with suspicion but when the giant left, his gaze returned to Hector "So your grandfather was a founding huntsmen, if so, why isn't his name more prominent."
Hector grinned "Well dear Peri, my grandfather's interest in the huntsmen was the supply of them. After the war, he took it upon himself to help arm this new force and became Beacon, and by extension Mistral's primary supplier of weapons."
"So your great grandad made weapons, is that his claim to fame? Is that all he had to do with the huntsmen?" Peri asked quizzically.
Hector's façade of joy briefly cracked, but he nonetheless persevered, he wouldn't have a repeat of yesterday's misadventure with people questioning the validity of his ancestor's contributions. "While yes, he was an arms manufacturer, it was his work during the war that makes him one of the founding huntsmen. Without him, Atlas and Vacuo's academies wouldn't exist."
"But you said that he was only a weapons maker, why would he have anything to do with Vacuo and Atlas?" Peri asked again.
"Peri," Hector began with a sigh "Let me tell the story, alright. All questions and enquiries will have to wait till the end of the presentation."
Hector's tale was a long winded one. Even after half an hour of monolging, he wasn't finished. His speech was ended, or more accurately, euthanized by an announcement over the speaker system.
"All first year students are to bring their weapons and themselves in half an hour." The speaker buzzed, before clicking off.
Hector sighed, "Real damn shame," He said, looking at both Peri and Sevag, "I guess we should get ready, am I right?"
Sevag nodded and looked at Peri, "Let's go then." He said, standing and waiting for Peri to follow him. The duo crossed the near empty mess hall to the locker room across the academy. From there it was a struggle to the find the weapons lockers the two had managed to grab themselves the previous night.
Peri pulled his large backpack from the cold metal locker and pulled out his set of armour and his weapon. Peri's choice of weapon was called 'Midnight Shade', a family heirloom from a distant uncle who never finished his training. Midnight Shade itself was a set of numbchucks which could be modified in terms of width by adding chain links in the middle. At the moment, in order to optimize weapon strength in terms of his size, Peri had twenty links, meaning at full length, Midnight Shade was about a meter long. At both ends, and acting as handles were two large, high powered pistols, which could be detached for gun slinging. The pistols and the chain were coloured midnight blue, and the chain was a bright cyan. The weapons main strength was the fact, that when a Grimm, or up till this point training dummies, were hit, a bullet was buried into their body.
"Rather nice looking weapon you have there." Sevag said with a chuckle, he pulled his grey, Atlas branded duffle bag out from his locker and began to unzip it. Inside was a large scabbard which was filled by a sword, and a grey set of grey and black metal armour.
"What's your sword like?" Peri asked, eying it carefully. The swords hilt was encrusted with a military emblem.
"Ad?" he asked, "She's a good blade." Sevag said. His weapon was named Ad Victorium, it was a large sword with a meter long blade which was tinted dark grey, nearly black. It was very light in consideration of the blades length. This allowed Sevag to swing faster than most other swords of this size, giving him a definite advantage in the realm of combat against fellow humans or faunas. For the ranged weapon component of the sword, Ad Victorium with the flick of a switch became a flechette shotgun, a weapon that was devastating at mid to long range.
"Made by the finest weapon smiths of Atlas." Sevag said, it was time to bask in the sun, "Got it last year, Dad commissioned it from the foundry." He said, beginning to polish it. Peri turned and began to put on his armour. Unlike Sevags which was a dark grey colour and professionally made, Peri's was antiquated. There were six components, a chest plate made out of light metal, two shin guards made from a similar material and two gauntlets. The armour itself was a dark blue colour, but due to its age, another family relic, it had chips of paint falling off.
Further along, Rory dressed and began to arm himself. His appearance changed little with armour, with the same hoodie being worn, albeit with leather padding underneath and soccer shin pads acting as protective measures there. All in all, Rory's armour was made up of scavenged sports equipment.
While his armour choice may have been laughable, Rory's weapons were impressive. Handmade, Rory wore two rusty red gauntlets, both with customized additions. On Rory's right, and more powerful hook, he'd attached a motorized buzz saw blade to the top, allowing him to slice through the soft underbelly of Grimm. On his left hand was a makeshift machine gun. While it wasn't at all effective at a distance longer than twenty meters, it sure made the Grimm do a double take. The gauntlets were called, quite imaginatively 'Slasher' and 'Shooter'.
Once suited up, Sevag and Peri made their way to the airships which waited to take the first year initiates to the Emerald Forest. Sevag was excited, adrenaline pumping through his veins as they entered the aircraft. Already, the airship was half filled with figures Peri remembered from yesterday's address in the amphitheatre. Peri however had something on his mind.
"Sevag, will you find me once we're down there?" Peri asked, he'd heard rumours that the teams were made once down in the forest by the first person people met.
Sevag smiled a little "Of course Peri." He said with a small smile on his face, "However, it's not wise to put all your eggs in one basket." The career soldier added, motioning to the white haired woman who'd lambasted Peri yesterday.
"Why are we looking at her?" Peri asked curiously, his voice was full of concern. He didn't want to end up angering her.
"She's been sucking up to Pyrrha Nikos for the last hour, buttering her up and trying to prearrange an alliance with her." Sevag said in a cold voice, "Sickening."
Peri's expression changed to confusion, was his friend now attacking him. "A-are you trying to-?"
"No, no, of course not." Sevag said, patting his gloved hand on Peri's back, "It's simply the fact that she's trying to suck up that I find wrong. Nikos has a history as one of Remnants best fighters, and she's trying to ride on that."
Peri looked up at Sevag and cautiously smiled. Sevag returned the look, before moving out of the way to accommodate more of the initiates. Rory waltzed in and sat in the corner behind the duo, looking over the group, with Hector following quickly. Hector wore a polished set of tan armour similar in design to Sevag's. On his belt he had two large revolvers with sixty centimetre long bayonets underneath the barrels.
This was in stark contrast to Rory who wore the same clothing, only with some used sports gear as shoulder and shin pads. On his hands were two red metal gloves, one with a circular blade on it, the other with a single barrel pistol.
"Ah, my audience!" Hector bellowed with a jovial grin, walking towards them, "Looking quite spiffing indeed, don't you?" he asked with a chuckle. Sevag turned and briefly rolled his eyes.
"Hey, Hector." Peri said meekly, "You look, uh nice."
"Hey Peri, feeling better now?" Hector said, running a hand through his hair. Peri nodded a little, "Good, good," Hector said "You look like Artemis' squire back in the day."
"Yes, as if you needed to reiterate your heritage." Rory muttered darkly, rolling his eyes.
"So Hector," Sevag said, trying hard to ignore Rory's comment. "Have any maneuverers' you're going to try out against the Grimm?"
"Well, I'm going to try the old Braun hack and shoot!" Hector said chirpily.
"What does that require?" Sevag asked, as the airships doors sealed and the ship began to take off.
Hector smirked like it was an easy question, "Well, I charge at the Grimm, and slash at them before shooting." He said.
Sevag bit his lip and looked down at his grey boots, before then looking at Peri, who was smiling ear to ear. This was amaeteur hour, it was evident from anyone who knew anything about combat, this was someone who knew nothing about warfare. "Well Hector, I hope that works out for you." Sevag said, before looking at Peri "Now, if you excuse me, my associate and I have some things to discuss."
The rest of the airship ride was tense for Peri as nerves began to hit him again like a bus did a stray cat. Although Sevag reassured him that deaths were in fact very rare when it came to these things, Peri was nonetheless frightened. When the ship finally landed in the meadow before the Emerald Forest, Peri took a moment to admire the gorgeous landscape. As someone who'd never actually seen a proper forest before, and had been raised in an inner city district. The Huntsmen all grouped together as Ozpin and Glynda, who'd already arrived began to run through the drill.
"Do not hesitate to kill everything in your path." Ozpin sternly advised. Peri swallowed and broke into a cold sweat at Ozpin's words, this was it, no or never. He looked at Sevag who was fixed on the teacher. "Now," Ozpin concluded, "Mount your pads."
Peri stood next to a taller blonde boy who was almost as fidgety as he was. Peri closed his eyes and tried to focus on nothing but the sound of the blood running through his ears. He felt nothing but the rushing of air as his fellow initiates flew through the air. In the distance, he heard his blonde neighbour, pleading to Ozpin. When he felt his other neighbour launch, he crouched and got ready for the inevitable. When Peri opened his eyes again he was flying, "Oh fuck!"