Rye Dipodomy Birthplace: Outer Mistral Weapon: Unnamed. Two sickles, handles 10cm, blades 40cm long. Magnetised blades. Semblance: Emulsion. Unstudied, manoeuvrability semblance. Psyche Evaluation: WNL
"Whatcha doooin'?" Asked the orange haired girl from over Ethan's shoulder.
"Research" Ethan responded tonelessly, eyes not leaving the screen. The two were sitting on a bed in the middle of the dorm room, the sheets were red and pristine, and the walls were untouched.
She took a second to read her leader's screen before she continued, "You know we're all here right? You can just ask us this stuff"
"I am aware" he scrolled down to the next page and continued to read.
"Well, I'm Gemma. Last name Rillo, I was born and raised over in Vale, and..." her attention drifted back to Ethan's scroll, "Are you shitting me!?"
Grabbing her team mate by the collar of his black surcoat, she pulled him to face her, "I am literally here, talking to you and you would rather just read my profile!?"
"Yes, is there a problem with that? I would like to take stock of who I'm working with and as a team leader I have been given limited access to your files" he responded, his voice unwaveringly cold, clinical almost.
"Yes, which you could do by talking to us! Are you just going to read about us until graduation?" her tone an absolute antonym of his.
"Heeeeyyy, lets just split up a little here" came Rye's voice, still calm but lacking the coldness of Ethan's. He gently touched Gemma's shoulder and gestured her to the right side of the room where his single empty bag sat.
"Look it's only been an hour, he wasn't too talkative back in the forest either so maybe he's just someone who needs a bit of time before talking." His voice quieter, but not so quiet that Ethan couldn't hear if he tried (given the size of the room he would need to whisper for that), "He could be reading up on us because he doesn't know how to act around people he doesn't know."
After taking a deep inhale Gemma said, "yeah, he didn't come from a combat school or anything so maybe this just isn't an environment he feels comfortable in yet. Speaking of which, where did you go before enrolling, I don't remember seeing you at Signal?"
Rye leaned back on his bed, legs hanging off at the knees and his hands behind his head, "Oh I went to Breezeholm academy of war, it's a place just outside of Mistral…"
"Oh yeah I've know all about it" Excitement seeping from Gemma's voice and mannerisms, "I did my history assignment on the fortress a few years ago, the oldest combat school in Remnant. My sister was helping me with that one"
The brief spark of panic never showed on Rye's face but he still moved the change the subject, "Oh you have a sister? She also in Vale?"
"Naaah, she moved out at the end of last year, went to a coastal town down south. What about you, I saw on Ethan's joy thief that you're from Mistral; do you have family back there?"
"I've got folks in Mistral sure, don't talk to them too often though, I haven't really made contact since I landed in Vale a few months back. Oh, and I'm also a younger sibling." Rye spewed out his ass, he knew damn well that none of that was true, well maybe every other thing was true, he certainly didn't talk to anyone from back in Mistral.
"Oh, did something go wrong or are you just not that close?"
"Why would something be wrong?"
"Well…you said you haven't spoken to them in months, I don't think I've not spoken to my family for longer than one month."
"Oh its all fine" he responded with a cheerful nonchalance, "crap, one missed detail, thank the depths I only said it had been a few months".
The first day's start was chaotic; Ethan hadn't had to share a bathroom before. He certainly wasn't use to how long Gemma took to get ready. He could get a full suit of armour on him by the time she got her uniform on, then again he'd never worn a skirt, petticoat and thigh high socks before so maybe they were just difficult.
He'd looked over every detail of what little of his team mate's files he was given access to, he'd have to find the rest out in class. Unfortunately he also found himself in a predicament regarding a particular blonde haired partner who was perpetually dressed for either a day at the farm or the beach.
"Dipodomy, we need to sort something out"
"Yes sir" the faunus responded jokingly but couldn't tell if Ethan picked up on it.
"Since I need to share a team with you and therefore trust you I need to make sure you're…up to scratch." The venom that came from trust was the only time Rye had heard his voice be anything outside of annoyed or cold, "Firstly, we are going to be graded as a team so once I find the specialties of your team mates I will be having them tutor you in those areas. Secondly, I will not tolerate and sneakiness or deception and you will be notifying me of your actions before you take them"
"Right on sir" Rye said with allot more seriousness this time, "but surely you can understand I need some leeway during combat, it would be unreasonable to telegraph my every move to you before I make it."
"Yes, I will decide how much strategical assistance you need once we I can gauge your competence." Ethan had been prepared for cooperation, he knew that they were creatures of extremes, either predisposed to object to anything and everything around them or the perfect worker.
"Am I dismissed sir?"
"Not yet, just know that I will not tolerate any disobedience, and…"
Ethan's demands were cut off by Gemma banging on the bathroom door, "come on Teph, you don't want to miss your first class. Just get out here already!"
"I really don't think I should" the muffled voice responded
With that Ethan wrapped up his introduction, "As team leader I will make sure you work to cover your deficiencies and follow orders to the T, dismissed"
Rye really couldn't focus, mainly because Ethan could. Despite being in his beacon uniform blazer, Ethan seemed more monochrome than usual, like his own personal guard had sprung from a silent movie just to look at what he was doing every ten seconds.
His back was straight, not a line in the margins of his book let alone a doodle and he had been face forward to professor Port the entire class, what more did he want? He envied Gemma sitting on the other side of him, she even got to talk to little miss darkness every now and again, not that he could hear what they were whispering.
His full body mask could only last so long though. The girl who stood up was so pale you wouldn't be able to tell where her dress started if it wasn't for the blue tint. He'd done his research on what was happening around the school and it wasn't much of a secret that the S.D.C heiress would be attending.
The fight began with a dodge and a strike to the left side of the beast, minimal damage. Followed by a frontal charge, "try again princess" her rapier was caught between the tusks in a clinch and flung across the room.
Continuing unarmed the heiress dodged the charging beast, letting it go straight into the row in front of his team. Somehow the hardwood held strong but Rye felt the vibrations from here and his classmates below him certainly felt worse.
When his focus returned to the fight, Ms Schnee was armed again with a pair of symbols appearing in the air, one bringing the boarbatusk to a complete stop and the other spring boarding its attacker straight into its underbelly, "who'd've thought I'd share a semblance with a Schnee".
"Stop daydreaming" like an icicle Ethan's voice pierced him and bought him back to the class.
The two boys sat in the meal hall/mess hall/eatery, a couple of names were thrown around and the lack of signage meant no one knew if they were right. Teph took her food and ran while Gemma left a minute or so ago, "are you going to keep tabs on me even when I'm eating?" asked Rye, despite being at the end of his tether only the slightest hint of bitterness could be found in his tone.
Ethan sighed and poked his food a little before responding, "Yes, just because I know you're going to behave when I've got my eye on you doesn't mean I know you're going to keep it up when I've turned around"
Rye realising the only way to disarm him would be to confront him kept eating while he planned. Ethan would be difficult, on one hand he would be quick to crack down on any step out of line but on the other hand he needed to set some kind of level of independence.
"Look sir, I'm one of the good ones, I get we've got problems but I'm here to be a huntsman. I'm here to protect humanity from the Grimm and even if we don't have the processing power, and our thoughts are based on pheromones, and even if we go feral in spring, I'm here to do good."
Ethan's eyes widened for a split second before returning to his normal stony demeanor with a sigh, "very well... It's good to know we're on the same page. Just remember you aren't completely off the leash."
"There it is, now we're making some progress" Rye thought, not letting the feeling of the weights being lifted show. He knew you couldn't change someone like that at this point, although he broadcasted his shape so strongly he may as well be invited to fit it.