Honestly working at Junior's club wasn't the most interesting of experiences. Most nights Gales just had to watch the club, bring out bottles and more or less enjoyed himself. Most fun though would have to be when he had to throw people out, which unfortunately wasn't all that often. Still fun though. That said though; tonight, tonight Gales didn't have to worry about needing to suit up. No work tonight, Junior's orders. Though whether it was because he had actually earned himself a break already or if Junior just wanted him gone for the day. 'If it's the latter, I'm not too surprised.' The teen thought as he frowned slightly.

"Gales are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she stopped eating and snapped Gales out of his little stupor.

"Huh? Sorry what?" Gales looked to Pyrrha as he gave her one of his curious expressions. Another day sharing Lunch, nothing too surprising there. It was just a shame that he couldn't quite remember what the redhead was saying a few moments ago.

"You seem lost in thought, is everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, everything's alright it's just, I'm thinking about work."

"Is something wrong at the club?"

"No it's fine, same with the Bookstore, just… Junior letting me off tonight it bothers me a bit. Been getting some weird vibes from him these past couple days; like he's hiding something…" The teen admitted as he rested a hand on his cheek. Pyrrha just frowned slightly as she rested her hands on her lap.

"Do you think he's doing anything illegal?"

"I don't know, maybe… probably. My gut tells me something's up, and I trust it."

"Are you considering quitting then? If you think something illegal is going on I don't want you a part of it." Gales just smiled lightly before sitting upright.

"I think that's why Junior doesn't want me involved tonight. You know plausible deniability."

"Still…"

"Besides; if I quit I won't get my discount at the club." Gales joked, but Pyrrha didn't laugh. "Anyway let's talk about something else."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Well; Beacon, are you ready for it; classes start in, what, a month from now? You ready?"

"Yes I believe so." Pyrrha admitted as she brought a smile back to her face. "I've been training a lot in my spare time, so I should be ready for whatever may happen." She paused. "Although I wish you'd come with me."

"Me?"

"Yes, with your athleticism I'm certain you'd make an excellent Huntsman in the future, besides it would be nice to have a friend with me when school starts."

"I guess you got a point." The Hunter stated as he returned to his tea. Not as concentrated as he would have liked, but it wasn't too bad. 'Maybe I can ask Glynda and Oz if it'll be alright.' That said though… "I wouldn't mind, I'm already a good Hunter myself, but I…" The teen paused as he fell silent. "I wonder if I should use Gandora or request something else while I'm here."

"You already have a weapon ready." Gales nodded.

"Yeah Gandora, I finished making it last winter, and have been using it sense, but I'm curious about trying something new." He admitted.

"Well, it's good to experiment with different weapons types." Pyrrha admitted. "It took me a while to figure out how I wanted Miló in the end." "Still, if you already have a working weapon why do you want to change it?"

"Well, it's kinda like a habit." Gales admitted. "When I go to a new region I try out their gear to see how it feels. When that happens I get a better idea of why it was built and why people choose to use it."

"I see…" Pyrrha mutters as she seems to think for a moment.

"Besides, I want to better understand this land and it's spirit."

"It's spirit?" Pyrrha asked as she drifted off in thought. "I'm afraid I don't understand. What do you mean by the spirit of the land?"

"Where I'm from, we believe that the world is pervaded by spirits which affect the lives of the living, the elements and nature itself. As such everything - no matter how small it may seem - everything has the potential to gain a sense of awareness and consciousness. Every rock, and tree and grain of sand and lump of ore. They all have a soul."

Pyrrha didn't say anything for a moment as she seemed to think on that for a moment. "That's an… interesting belief, but what about the Grimm? They have no soul." That made the Hunter pause for a moment as he closed his eyes.

"You're right they don't… but the Grimm… the Grimm are strange… they have no soul and yet they live. They walk the lands of Remnant and can freely interact with it and it's people." He frowned a moment later. "Least that what the books I've been reading tell me."

"Then what do you believe that they are?" Gales paused in thought

"I don't know, I haven't been out to hunt since I got to Vale so I've never seen a Grimm. That said though; perhaps they are creatures borne from the hatred and despair in our own hearts, perhaps they are things that had creeped out from wounds in the veil of reality." Gales shrugged for a moment. "Or perhaps they simply are things that have inhabited the dark corners of our world since before man learned to crawl upon it. Things that waited in the shadows for the right time to tread across it and make themselves known again. They could be anything really, but what they really are, that's a question I can't answer Pyrrha."

"Yes, perhaps it was a loaded question." Pyrrha admitted as she and Gales reached for his lunch. "But you gave an interesting answer. It's rare to speak with people that have in-depth thoughts on the Grimms."

"Because there isn't much study on what they are, right? Because there usually isn't anything left to study after they've fallen."

"Yes."

"Hm~" Gales tilted his head for a moment before breaking into a small chuckle. "You know… I never expected to have a discussion on souls and Grimm with anyone." Pyrrha simply released a short laugh.

"Yes well, you say the right things and you can learn quite a bit about what others think. There's more to us than meets the eye you know."

"Ain't that the truth." Gales muttered as drank a bit. "Still, if I decided to go out and hunt, I wonder what I'd wield in the End. Remnant has a lot of interesting weapons here. What should I chose."

"Well; what would you want to make?" Pyrrha asked as Gales blinked in confusion before realization came to him.

"Build one, well I've thought of that, but I can't find a Smithy around here to do the job."

"No Gales, I mean build it with your own hands. All Huntsmen and Huntresses build their own custom weapons."

"… come again?" Gales blinked in confusion as he looked at Pyrrha for a moment in silence. "You mean you guys build your own weapons?"

"Yes, that way our weapons are all personalized to suit our specific needs and combat styles. You weren't aware?"

"No, I thought you did weapons the same way as in the Old World; gather the materials, take em to a Smithy and pay em."

"Well there are some weaponsmiths located outside the kingdom walls that do that for a living, but Huntsmen mainly visit them in order to maintain and upgrade their weapons." Pyrrha explained as she watched Gales groan and rest on the table.

"Wish I knew that earlier, I would have gone out grabbing materials I could use…"

"Well, I happen to know where the local metal shop in Vale is. I can show you and see if there's any metal you'd like to use."

"I don't nearly have enough Lien to buy metal for weapon-building right now."

"I can spot you some Lien as well."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, as I said I think you would make an excellent Huntsman in the future - and if I could help you on that path, I'd be honored to. If you want that is."

"You're too kind sometimes, you know that?" Pyrrha just smiled at him.

Beacon

Ozpin stayed silent as he sat at his desk, his attention shifting from one file to the next as he took a look at the list of applicants on his desk. It looked like there would be a few high profile students applying this year.

Cardin Winchester of the Winchester family, members of the upper class of Atlas society.

Pyrrha Nikos, four year champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, and top graduate of Sanctum Academy.

Weiss Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust Company.

That's just three out of the bunch. There were more, much more but these three they were the freshmen of the bunch - the ones that would be going through initiation. One's like Ms. Coco Adel however would simply be returning for their second year at the academy. Turning to another student he took a sip of his hot coco before pausing, taking a better look at the file.

"…Looks like we have another one." The Headmaster muttered as he released an amused smile. These papers were forged. It wasn't the first time he had seen papers like this, and he doubted it would be the last. Attending Beacon was a privilege in and of itself so naturally some students had tried sneaking their way in, somehow getting their hands on some transcripts and trying to build themselves up to be accomplished graduates of the other schools. He shook his head slightly. Honestly, it rarely worked - the applicant's actual skill didn't always match up to had been put down. Not only that all he really needed was a quick call to the other schools to get a personal opinion from the teachers. He couldn't begin to tell how many times the other teachers or headmasters had told him they either didn't know who he was asking about or admitted the student wasn't as impressive as they made themselves out to be. "That said, penmanship is remarkable." Ozpin muttered as he stared at the paper a while longer before making a decision.

He'd let this one slide, but that didn't mean he'd be doing them any favors. If he showed the necessary skills to pass initiation then he'd be officially allowed into Beacon, if not. Well he'd be sent home like all the rest that failed. It was that simple.

…

Or he'd die during initiation.

It was unfortunate but there was always that chance.

Vale

"Welcome, what can I do for you…" A man questioned as he looked to see the two teens walking into his small store. One was looking around his show while the other waved slightly and gave a cheerful hello. "Hm? Ms. Nikos, it's good to see you again. How's Miló and Akoúo̱ doing?"

"Quite well, and thank you for hammering out the dents and scratches from not long ago."

"Hey, those are a work of art." The man stated as he looked at the young huntress. "So what is it today, they got some more scrapes you want taken care of?"

"No thank you, I'm actually here for a friend." Gales took that as his que to stop being distracted by the various metal weapons hanging from the walls and behind glass cases.

"Pyrrha I have a question."

"Yes?"

"How are people to use these weapons if they're locked behind glass?"

"It's for protection."

Gales just rolled his one working eye. "I know what the weapons are for. But why are they in glass cases?"

"No, the glass cases are for protection."

"Wouldn't the weapons be better protection than a glass case?'

"Yes... well No! It's there to protect from someone who might want to steal it." Gales just stared at Pyrrha for a moment before looking at the cases again, then Pyrrha and then the cases.

"Why would someone want to steal a glass case?"

The shop owner just watched the exchange before looking at Pyrrha. "You friends interesting."

"I'm sorry he's… not from around here." Pyrrha stated as Gales looked to the shop owner. "Gales this is Ebon, he's the metal worker I told you about." Ebon just nodded his head as he looked the teen over, and Gales naturally did the same. Ebon reminded him of the guys back home; built strong, built sturdy, and built tall. Got his name from his dark skin and hair; though what confused him were his golden eyes - like some of those Fauna he'd run into; but he lacked any other beastal traits. Then again Gales himself had the eyes of a wyvern and wasn't even remotely related to Wyvernians.

"Nice pelt." Gales grinned.

"Thank you, nice shop."

"Gales needs metal to build a weapon. He still has his former but…"

"I wannas try something new." Gales admitted and Ebon hummed slightly.

"Alright." The man began as he looked behind his counter for a moment before pulling out a magazine for the kid to browse through. "This is all the metal we got to work with. Just tell me what you like and I'll grab it from the back." Gales just stayed as he looked at the various metals before sighing to himself.

"Sorry, I don't know any of the names you have for metals here… maybe if I could feel em… would it be alright if I stepped into the back and took a look myself?" Ebon just raised an eyebrow before nodding his head.

"Alright, come on."

"Thanks."

"You coming Pyrrha?"

"I'm right behind you."

Stepping into the back the trio were greeted by various shelves holding pipes and boxes of metal. Ebon just leaned back and crossed his arms as Gales stepped forward and smelled the air. "So many different ores… but most of the smells are definitely similar to those back home."

"Their smell?" Ebon and Pyrrha looked at each other before following after Gales.

"You can smell them?"

"Can't you?" The duo just looked at the teen as he scratched his head. "Right, Glynda said something about you guys not having as acute senses as mine…" Gales muttered before he went back to looking at metal. "… this will do to start." He sniffed the air again as he started walking. He picked up another type of metal and then a third. "No Machalite though."

"Machalite?"

"It's a type of metal from back home." The teen muttered as he pulled out a fourth and fifth metal and started walking back to Ebon and Pyrrha. "These will do, but Pyrrha are you sure you got this? I can always work off what I owe."

"Let's see what you got kid…" Ebon muttered as he took the boxes from the teen and brought them back up front to get a better look. Stainless steel he understood, a lot of huntsman and huntresses used it for its corrosion resistance. Same with Titanium; good for lightweight but strong weapons. The rest? "Iridium… Magnetite… Osmium?" Prryha gave the teen a look as she heard the words.

"You picked Osmium?"

"Osmium, you call it that?" The teen asked as Pyrrha stayed silent. "We just call it Os."

"Gales… why would you pick Osmium?"

"It's a good metal, cheap too."

"Yes but it's also brittle; it flakes easily."

"Not when you combine it with the right metals." Gales stated as he took a moment to stretch. "Inox steel has a good corrosion resistance and it's pretty common metal back home… after you stop using iron anyway. Ir and Os have a high density which provide durability and hardness. Not only that but fuse them the right way you can bolster the Inox ability to fight corrosion. Also Os has a high melting point which is good when you're in really hot areas - same with Ir. Os also provide good weight, making it heavy. It is also not that bad either due to its low density but high strength. As for Magnetite; I always wanted to see what happens when you mix that in." The teen stated as Pyrrha blinked. "What?"

"Gales… how do you know all that?"

"Well being a Hunter is more than just slaying monsters ya know. Gotta know your environment, ores, local plants and other stuff."

"That's quite true but… you even knew about Osmium and Iridium's ability to handle heat; how did you?" Gales just released a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah well, I had to upgrade my old blade a couple times to handle being used in hot conditions. Ever gone into a volcanic hunting area and tried wielding a weapon that's gotten hot enough to burn your fingers? It's really hard. Possible, but hard." The teen was met with silence as he looked over the materials. "Anyway, Pyrrha, if it's alright with you I'd like to get these, afterwards all I'll need to do is synthesize them together and forge my new blade."

"You know how to synthesize metals?" Ebon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Synthesis and Alchemy pretty much go hand in hand where I'm from."

"Interesting~" Ebon muttered as he looked to Pyrrha. "Given his early comments on the glass case I thought he was an idiot, but no, he actually has a brain."

"Hey!"

"Anyway, how much of this are you going to need?" Gales went silent as he looked to Pyrrha and received a reassuring smile. It slipped when he told Ebon how much he needed.