"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I would like to start by saying that I, for one, am glad to be back in our proper club room." A quick series of nods from Izuku, Coco and Ruby were all exchanged before Tenya swung his hands about again. "Thus I hereby call this eighth meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"
"I'm present Tenya."
"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"
"I'm here and ready to go Tenya!"
"Excellent! Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?"
"Yo!"
"Magnificent. Finally, our newest member, Mirio Togata of Team MHA?"
"I am here!" Mirio chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Wow, been a while since I've been a part of any club. This has me feeling pretty merry!"
"Wonderful to hear Mr. Togata! Finally, and obviously, I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!"
They all nodded in agreement as the small group of leaders really began to pick over the various snacks and food brought in for the meeting. It was actually a little surreal sitting there at the moment; when the whole Leadership Council thing had started, the round table that had served as the place where they all sat their snacks, foods, drinks and little papers here and there had been quite spacious and large, with more than enough room for everyone and whatever they brought with them. Now, two members later, the round table was getting a little bit more cramped. Everyone still had a good deal of space, but things were a bit bunched up and open space in the middle of the table was less prevalent.
'It's a little surreal,' Izuku thought, 'but in its own way it is pretty darn cool.'
"So it's been a while since you've been in a club, Mirio?" Izuku asked between bites of the snack food he'd brought to the table, Mirio nodding as he popped the top on a can of soda to drink.
"Yeah, it has been. Don't get me wrong, my team and I tried a couple times but things never seemed to work out. Part of it's personality; I guess my friends and I are little... hmmm..." Mirio thought for a moment before chuckling. "Well, I guess we're a bit of a weird bunch. Either that or the clubs just end up collapsing on their own because people really don't end up sticking to the schedule for one reason or another. Either people lost interest or people started going on missions." Mirio took a drink of his soda before smiling. "But wow, you guys have been keeping this up for eight meetings straight huh? It's been that many weeks since school started to, so that means you guys have been doing this every week huh? That's pretty cool!" The rest of them nodded, though Coco did so with a grin.
"Well don't count me in on that; I haven't been here every week since joining and I didn't start that club, so I've kinda been a rough spot on this club's record." Tenya frowned at that, readjusting his glasses as he did so.
"Miss Adel, I do believe we'd all agree that you being away on a mission is hardly something to count against you. We all do what we must." Tenya just shrugged as he looked around the table. "I'm just wondering as to how we'll handle the club meetings once the Solstice Break begins. I know I'll definitely be back in Atlas for the entirety of the holiday, so I won't really be able to be part of any team meetings... although perhaps I could attend over a Scroll... hmmm." Tenya tapped his chin slightly at that, as if considering the idea, while Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, more than likely Yang and I would be spending some time here and there around Patch but with how quickly they've been finishing up the Rail's extension to Patch we might just be able to speed to and fro on the train." Ruby shrugged while she took a bite of a cookie, Izuku's own gaze moving toward Mirio and Coco.
"What about you two?" Mirio frowned slightly as he folded his arms.
"Well I live over in Mistral so I'd be in a similar boat to Tenya. I do like the idea of doing a Scroll call over the break though." Coco nodded in agreement while she leaned back.
"Yeah, I live here in Vale so that wouldn't be much of a problem for me... though, I mean, isn't it a little early to be talking all this? Break is still... hmmm... four, five, six... seven? Six or seven weeks away. Seven or eight if you're picky and you include finals week." Coco lowered her shades slightly as she looked at everyone else. "I mean, it'll probably go by in a blur once we actually get to it, but it just seems a little early to worry about."
"Better to at least have it in our thoughts early, especially given how this past break caught us off our footing." At that Coco conceded to Tenya's point before raising her shades. Afterward, Tenya's hands started to flail about as the young man got to speaking. "Now then, while this idle chatter is good, I do believe we have club business to decide upon! So let's have at it, fellow Team Leaders!"
And so they did; while Izuku would no doubt say that the more mundane exercises they pulled off in this time were important, he couldn't deny that there was something more fundamentally important to him and his other, fellow junior Team leaders. Namely, the more expert experience that Coco and Mirio had under their belts… namely, coming from the eldest of the Team Leaders. Izuku, Ruby and Tenya were more interested in hearing out what Mirio had to say about working in the Kingdoms: while Coco had experience, even she admitted that it wasn't the sort of vast knowledge that Mirio would be able to bring to the table when it came to this kind of stuff, so they were pretty eager to learn just what it was like working as a Hunter.
"So, Vale huh?" Izuku nodded as Mirio tilted his head to the side Izuku nodded to confirm Mirio's question; he figured he'd start with his home Kingdom, just so he'd know what to expect going forward.
"Yeah... it is our backyard after all and probably where most of us will be taking most of our missions in the future, so I figure it'd probably be good to have a good idea of what the environment is around Vale." Izuku explained, Ruby and Tenya nodding along with the logic while Mirio smiled.
"Well I suppose that makes sense to me!" With that, Mirio started to rubbed his chin. "Well first off, let's start with the obvious: if you're working in Vale expect most of your missions available to be rural or wilderness type missions." They all nodded as Mirio wagged his finger. "The Governing Council might put out that map that shows Vale's borders going so far around the continent but, truth be told, the actual amount of that territory controlled, or even lived in by humans, is pretty small and urban centers are pretty much down to Mountain Glenn and Vale... and honestly, with how walled up both cities are and considering that Mountain Glenn keeps Hunters working there around the clock, you're pretty much guaranteed to not get work in either city unless dire circumstances align or the authorities specifically want your help with something... or unless you come across something yourself." Mirio shrugged as he laid things out, rubbing his neck a bit.
"Other than that though, expect mostly to be called out to outlying villages and being sent out to complete wilderness if you take up work in Vale. With how Mountain Glenn's turned out, Vale's looking at other potential areas of expansion here and there and, now a days, search and exterminate missions to help cull Grimm populations before they become a problem are becoming more popular. The suburbs of Vale outside the walls these days usually cycle through those kinds of missions once a month to help make sure that the Grimm living in places like Forever Fall or the Emerald Forest don't ever feel bold enough to start heading toward the city. Rural villages usually just end up having some Grimm problem or another, either a Grimm that's gotten too big and become a major problem or a Grimm horde that's been moving around on their periphery and looks about ready to hit them."
"Now, because of all of this... you definitely want jobs in the rural parts of Vale. Mostly just because urban folks... well, it's not that they dislike us, but they usually associate Hunters with trouble. We usually show up if we think some crime is going to be in progress or if there's some trouble lurking. It's kind of like those people who never go to the Doctor's Office because otherwise they'll be told they're dying; people associate us with trouble than the solution in more urban areas because their lives are generally peaceful. Rural areas though? They'll be happy to see you. Most of these places really seem to be interested in seeing what city folks are getting up to because, thanks to the Grimm a lot of areas are downright medieval compared to what we've got here in Vale, though I think that's been getting better recently as more and more Hunters having been clearing out more and more land. Plus, well, they associate Hunters with people who come to solve a problem; after all, for them, they're regularly exposed to Grimm, they know what kind of danger they are, and so when a Hunter comes along they see it as someone who's coming to help them rather than someone who's coming to stir up issues."
"All of this, of course, doesn't apply to Mountain Glenn. If Rural areas are happy to see you, Mountain Glenn folks will practically throw their doors open for you if they know you're a Hunter coming to work in their area... which I'm guessing you're well aware of, Izuku." Izuku chuckled somewhat sheepishly as he nodded, having pretty much gotten the same treatment at the Ni Hao Nyan for what he did down in The Tunnels. "Now... if there's one thing I would suggest you do; do your best to try to not rub the Governing Council the wrong way." The three of them blinked at that, Mirio frowning slightly as he leaned forward conspiratorially. "This is just some personal experience my teacher passed along... but the Vale Governing Council, for all the pomp and circumstance it surrounds Toshinori with now a days, is still pretty sore about being shown up by him over the Mountain Glenn incident. In the days after it, they were pretty much ready to strip him of his 'approved' Hunter Status in the Kingdom and kick him out of the City of Vale entirely... but then the groundswell of popularity behind him made it pretty much impossible for them to do anything about it. Because they can't touch him, though, that usually means they end up just being harder on Hunters who end up crossing them. I know for a fact that Ozpin's been chewed out more than once just because they feel like they have 'some' authority over him."
"Well that's dumb; I understand that they screwed up big time and that Toshinori made that apparent, but shouldn't they be happy that he saved people and that more people want to be Hunters because of it?" Mirio shrugged as he scratched the side of his head.
"I really don't understand it myself... the way my teacher explained it to me was that the Governing Council of Vale really doesn't feel like it can afford to lose face at any cost. That it's the ultimate authority keeping Vale together and from descending into panic... that out of them and Toshinori, that they're the real 'Symbol of Peace'. I guess having it rubbed in their face that no one actually looks to them like that and that they instead look to Toshinori and Hunters... well, it doesn't sit well with them. So yeah, just try your best not to get on their bad side." They all nodded at that as Coco sighed.
"Bunch of old farts who can't get behind the fact that the world changed while they weren't looking." Mirio laughed a bit at that, causing Coco to sheepishly cough into her fist while she looked at the rest. "Well you guys, thanks for the report, glad to hear Vel's still doing well in her classes. Really do appreciate all this Deku." Coco gave Izuku a smile, one that he returned, before Coco yawned slightly. "But I'm bushed... we just got done organizing our mission and I think we'll be leaving in the next couple days. I think that was everything on the dossier for today, right?"
"I do believe so Miss Adel." Tenya added, adjusting his glasses as he looked around. "If no one else objects, I think Miss Adel is quite right. It's getting late and now seems as good a time as any to call this meeting to an end." Looking around and seeing no objections, he nodded. "Very well then. I hereby adjourn this meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council. Everyone have a good evening, see you all next week." With that they all exchanged their goodbyes as they broke off, heading back to their dorms.
"Now then Izuku, repeat after me and do it 'exactly' as I say it. Pronunciation is often key when dealing with members of high society. You don't want to sound like someone from the boonies when you're talking to these people as often it isn't just about what you say to them but 'how' you say it to them. Learning to speak like one of them as direly important as speaking 'as' one of them. So, here is your phrase; 'It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I hail from the Kingdom of Vale. It is my deepest honor to meet you.'"
"Alright, sounds pretty easy. It is a please to meet you. My name's-"
THWIP!
"Ack!" Izuku flinched as Weiss' flicked him across his ear, the sensation having surprised and stung him a bit as the young woman shook her head.
"I said 'exactly' like me Izuku. Don't abbreviate a thing even if that's what you'd normally do. Also, stop mumbling so much and enunciate more. You're speaking to these men like you're an equal, even if you aren't, so that they know to respect you! It isn't just about status it's also about faking it, but you have to fake it well! Murmuring while you're speaking isn't going to sell that you're confident that your place is standing in front of these men. Now then, start from the top!"
"Uh, uh, uh, uh, okay! It's-"
THWIP!
"Ack!"
"Again!"
'Why was it that this is the most stressful training that I go through at any given time?'
"So, Nora told you that about Aura, did she?" Despite both of their eyes being closed, he could practically feel the slightly sheepish smile on Pyrrha's face while they both sat meditating, their Auras coursing through their bodies as they went through their exercises.
"Yeah, it really made a lot of sense when I had a chance to really think about it. I guess I really do still have a long way to go before I know as much as I need to about my Aura." Izuku admitted somewhat nervously as he reeled his Aura in, doing his best to not allow his mood to affect their current training.
"Be fair Izuku, I'm the one who's supposed to be telling you these sorts of things as your tutor. That's why you asked me to help you train, after all; you admitted you didn't know much and I should've expected that even such basic concepts... well, you wouldn't know them like we do. It was my responsibility to share this sort of information with you and I didn't, so I do apologize." At that Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit, cracking open one eye to look over at his partner.
"Pyrrha, after everything you've done to help me with my Aura, I honestly think you're the last person who owes me an apology for anything. It's just something that happened to slip by; heck, even in all the books I've been reading it really doesn't talk about that aspect of Aura so given the fact that you're not even officially writing or teaching... well, I'd say you're doing a pretty good job so far for all that." With that he watched as Pyrrha's smile spread a bit as she slowly nodded her head.
"I appreciate it Izuku and I suppose you're right... but if I'm going to tutor you half as well as you're going to tutor me, then I need to step up my game in that regard. I can't just let things slide... I have to learn from my own mistakes as well." Izuku supposed he saw her point as he closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath as he regulated his Aura.
'I suppose, in a way,' he thought to himself, 'that this is why training with Weiss was so stressful. It isn't that Weiss isn't trying to help, goodness knows she is and she is making progress with a student like me, but that she doesn't know how to teach quite like Pyrrha who does have some experience in tutoring and the like. Weiss is like me, trying to just improvise with something she doesn't fully understand while doing her best, but Pyrrha,' he felt his smile widen, 'Pyrrha has experience as a teacher.'
'Still, she is right; it didn't mean that she can't learn something too. Like I said, it also wasn't like I'm not learning from Weiss despite her own inexperience teaching... heck, even Nora who hasn't meant to teach me anything helped me piece together One For All: Full Cowl'
'... I... I really am becoming better, and learning so much, from my team.'
'My friends…'
As Izuku felt a slight surge in his Aura from this slight swell in emotions, he realized that he was pretty lucky to have them.