Side Stories from Shade Academy

[Thokk_Smash]

This is a general thread for one of the two teams of the Tales from Shade Academy thread. It's for various miscellaneous team-doing stuff that would otherwise clutter up the main IC.

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Meeting Alpha: After The Storm

It's been several hours after leaving the razed town. Once they had returned to Shade, they had been busy escorting the villagers to the proper place and making sure 'Cedric' got to the proper authorities. And then there was the debriefings, and questions about the beacon they had found and what they had seen in the village. Muninn got a good chuckle out of the elder Huntsman's phrasing on that last one.

And after that, they had finally been allowed to go to their own devices. The shower was fought over; Estran threw the boys out so she could change in peace; clothes were inspected and put aside for cleaning or mending rips and tears. After some time, soon before Jack and Estran would start to get ready in earnest for their date, Leonard had his Menagerie gather the team back to their dorm.

Leonard is waiting for them, sitting cross-legged on his bed. He is clad in a simple t-shirt and shorts of tasteful fashion despite his lack of sight. It's any of their guess whether he had help picking them out or not. There's a book in his hands, and his fingers fly across the bumps as he speed-reads. "I'll try to keep this brief; I know Jack and Estran have other things on their minds," he starts with a ghost of teasing smile, as if he is unused to joking around.

"I'd just like to give my thoughts first, if that's alright." If no one objects, he continues, "I believe we did well, especially for a battle that was entirely unexpected. And seeing as we have not been a team for long, it is only natural that our level of teamwork is not exemplary. That is, however, the thing we need to work on the most, in my mind."

"I believe it would help to have an official team leader, which is something we have not properly tackled yet. I know we have been going by team NJEL, meaning Nigel is our implied leader. I suppose the first question to ask is, Nigel, do you want to be our team leader?"

His voice is almost painfully clinical, showing none of his own thoughts on the matter, nor showing any untoward judgement. He stares straight forward, but Huginn and Muninn peer at his teammates in turn with curious gazes.

((OOC note: He pronounced NJEL as "angel", not "Nigel".))

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

Nigel rocks back and forward on his feet thinking, smile off his face for a moment.
"Nah... I mean, I can, but I'm not sure how I didn't loose it last mission, probably thinking that if I didn't not attack him immediately I could be responsible for more deaths." There's a shrug.
"In truth, anything with Grim I'll likely be more aggressive than I should be, and you've got a great semblance for leading. You can see... Well maybe not as far, but in all directions and through things! And your focused on helping and, in a way, 'managing' people, I think you'd probably make the best leader... Perhaps even be a LEJeNd of one." Nigel smiles at his pun, moving back and forth on the back of his feet, adding maybe a centimeter to his tiny height. Suddenly his face brightens a little more.
"Or we could keep NJEL, have you lead from the back in name and combat."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Uh, are we sure team leaders are even a thing here? I took a peek at the list last night just 'cause and it didn't say a thing about that. I mean I'm fine if you insist on having one anyways, just, uh... One-two-three-NOT-IT."

---

Gray Fox Date Night

Spoiler: Alternate Ship Names

Show

Incense(*), Wind and Lightning

* Jack's "inspiration" involves candles + Estran Saffron = saffron-scented candles = incense.

[Day of the field trip, ~5:25 PM]

Having just finished his laps around the campus, Jack blows the sweat off of himself before entering Team NJEL's cabin five minutes early (not that he'd actually broken much of a sweat given his preferred method of locomotion).

"You ready yet Es...?"

[Thokk_Smash]

Leonard gives a smile that would have been embarrassed with just a bit more emotion behind it. "Thank you for that," he says, with genuine emotion. With a more impish smile, he says, "I think I'd like team LEJN better, if it's alright with everyone else."

He turns to face Jack, although his eyes still don't focus on the other teen's face. "I suppose an official leader isn't strictly necessary, but having someone to coordinate tactics is important. If I may, Jack: you running off on your own worked out quite well today, but it won't work every time. I know you did it to keep the Grimm from civilians, and I'm not saying you were wrong to do it. But in the future, we should see if we can't come up with a way to incorporate your mobility into a more cohesive team strategy."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack reacts to Leonard's criticism with confusion.

"And which part of 'Fast people fan out, everyone else hold the line' wasn't a coherent strategy?"

[Thokk_Smash]

Meeting Alpha

Jack reacts to Leonard's criticism with confusion.

"Wait, which part of 'Fast people fan out, everyone else hold the line' wasn't a coherent strategy?"

"I never said it wasn't a coherent strategy. I said you weren't wrong. What you did worked out--this time. But you also ran into the thick of a horde of Grimm on your own, cutting yourself off from your team. My communication ability isn't enough that I can keep in contact with all of you at once, especially not if I want to contribute in other ways. If you had gotten exceptionally unlucky and been knocked unconscious, who knows if we would have gotten to you in time."

"I know that that did not happen this time. That doesn't mean it can't happen in the future. Which is why I think coming up with general strategies that take into account our respective abilities is worthwhile. Like, you can still dive into the thick of it like you did today--it just might be good for us all to have an idea of how to still have your back when you do. And yes, some plans will be painfully obvious, as today's was to you. And yes, some strategies may turn out to never be used. But I'd rather be prepared for something that never comes than unprepared for when life slaps you in the face."

[5ColouredWalker]

"Mmm... Not to make your Semblance sound useless for communication, but we might be able to get some combat-headsets... I should have the cash for them Friday but I don't see me getting them until Monday. It'll allow you to use your Semblance to coordinate better with other teams instead of using it in the team as well... As for getting to him, I can jump pretty well, but I'm not that fast, and as we saw with Estran we never know when we could get unlucky."

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Yeah...

Es looked like she was still a little shaken from that encounter with the Grimm.

We could probably come up with more supporting uses for my semblance.

The Date!

Before she'd started getting ready, Es had spent some time tinkering with her weapon. It wasn't the first time she'd done it. In fact she'd spent some time with her weapons nearly every day, ending in her making varying noises of frustration, or throwing whatever tool she'd been using into the nearest wall. Once her daily efforts with her weapon had ended, she'd spent most of the time deciding whether or not to go with a skirt or shorts. Eventually she'd settled on the shorts, deciding it was safer than the skirt. After all, Jack's introductions had blown her tail into an almighty frizz, it wouldn't be too hard for an accidental burst to send everyone around her a view of the fox girl's underwear. After that it had been onto her hair, and then onto her tail until she heard Jack approaching. He wouldn't notice her sneaking past him under her illusion semblance until she dropped it behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Ready when you are. She smiled.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

We could probably come up with more supporting uses for my semblance.

"Oh, you have one of those too? Wait, of course you do, everyone does. What it is exactly? Normally I'd try to guess but after 'talking Aura birds' who the heck knows any more."

---

Gray Fox Date Night

As soon as Jack turns around his eyes widen and scan up and down Estran and he lets out a long whistle.

"Well hey there foxy, looks like someone prettied up for tonight. Hope you don't mind if that makes one of us."

To Jack's credit, at the very least he neither looks nor smells like he'd spent a good part of the day running around the desert, though his hair seems a little more wind-blown even than usual. Whether he's wearing the same clothes as before or if he just has more than one of the same outfit is harder to tell.

"Anyways no sense in wasting any time, let's be off, I think I know where the place is but you can check your scroll if you want. It's called 'A Wok in the Shade...' I think. I was in a hurry so it was kind of a blur."

----------

Among the first things Estran will notice is that Jack's idea of "walking with someone" leaves a bit to be desired. Sure, he never gets too far away to talk to her, and he certainly averages out to right next to her, but that's kind of like saying that on average the tide is in the middle.

"...The way my parents tell it I was born running, which I guess would explain a lot..."

"...Needless to say that made me a lot of friends but their parents were not happy when they found out..."

"...And then Aunt Star says..."

"...Pro tip: don't insist on trying the biggest gun at the range when you're 80 pounds and shorter than the gun is..."

"...As you can imagine, my parents turned on the child lock pretty fast after that..."

"...Sadly she kind of never spoke to me again after that, but it was worth a shot, right?...

"...That was definitely the last time I challenged Aunt Star to a fight... Okay, maybe more like the sixth-to-last time... Seventh? I've never actually thought to count..."

"...Not sure why the principal was so surprised, really, my grades were certainly good enough..."

Eventually, just as it seems like Estran has surely heard her date's entire biography, the restaurant comes into sight.

"Hey, there it is! Just where I thought it'd be give or take a block or two. Anyways, that's enough about me, what's your story?"

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

My semblance is...

Es holds up her hand and a small flame appears in her palm before quickly changing to a crystal of ice, a crackling spark, then shifting into a snake that slithers up her arm and settles into an armoured shoulderpiece.

Illusions. And they're pretty realistic too.

She demonstrates this by knocking on the shoulderpiece, producing a metallic ringing as she does.

I'm pretty sure I could have someone convinced they're injured by something I bring up, though it wouldn't last if they saw through the illusion.

Date Night

Es smiles and listens to Jack's story. Then he asked the question she was dreading. Her story? The prank that got her mother killed? Her overwhelming guilt? Her rash, impulse decision to become a huntress in some desperate measure to forgive herself? She almost froze on the spot when he asked, but she kept moving.

Me? N...Nothing interesting really. The whole following in my parents footsteps thing.

She tried to force a convincing smile, but it probably wasn't very convincing at all.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack stares enthusiastically as Estran demonstrates and explains her Semblance.

"That... Is... SWEET. How big of an illusion can you make? How fast can they move? Can you make a whole person? Do they fool animals and Grimm or just people?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

The 15 ft³ you get at Illusion 4 is a bit more than enough to make one average-sized human.

---

Gray Fox Date Night

Jack raises an eyebrow.

"That sounds plenty interesting to me considering you're a Huntress and all, following in my parent's footsteps would have meant being something boring like an accountant. Actually hold that thought for a sec, I'm gonna go make sure there's room for us."

The young Huntsman zooms ahead close enough to see that A Wok in the Shade is a fair-sized bar-type setup, with four seats currently free. He picks one out for himself and then waves to Estran to catch up and sit next to him before he starts talking again.

"Okay so where were we? Oh yeah, parents' footsteps and all that good stuff. C'mon, tell me, it sounds cool."

Jack smiles in anticipation, clearly expecting Estran to oblige (and even more clearly oblivious to the signs of pain she exhibited when he brought the subject up).

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

I've never really pushed it to it's limits, so I don't know if I could make a person... It definitely fools Grimm though. I kinda attracted a bunch of creeps to me in the desert.

Date Night

As Jack starts talking again there's a moment when Es thinks she's gotten away with it. It wasn't until after she sat down and Jack asked her to keep going that she realised she probably wasn't getting out of this one.

It's... Not all that cool. My parents met at shade while they were in training. Settled down in a small village near the other side of Vacuo. I was always getting into trouble with my semblance while I was growing up. Being able to make illusions was great for playing pranks.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"Oh man, you too? I remember Aunt Star unlocked my Aura and helped me figure out my Semblance for my tenth birthday and after that I knocked over so much stuff messing around with it."

Jack chuckles to himself at the memory.

"Of course ten lien says your folks took it a lot better than mine."

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha
Nigel nods, thinking, before quickly interjecting.
"Before we forget the other one of us, my semblance is... Short version is that I can put people and machines I can see to sleep as long as I concentrate on them, with a slight chance of putting myself to sleep... It's not very potent but I'm fiddling with dust augmentation. Let's just say Shock dust was interesting, though Gravity is promising." Nigel shrugs.
"That said, I'm still experimenting with Fecug, Dust Ratios and which ones I'm willing to subject myself to... Oh, and yes, it affects Grimm, and sleeping Beowolves are surprisingly cute. But don't expect me to send a Deathstalker to snooze... I could try it on you lot so you can get a feel for how strong it is."

[metakirb]

Date Night

You'd lose that bet... It was a few months ago...

She sighed. No getting out of it now.

I don't remember what I was trying to do. Honestly I don't want to. Anyway, my Mum's weapons were broken... They used to fire each individual claw out on a chain, and they'd link into a bow.

She'd started shaking a little. Fighting back her tears, but it was obvious from her voice that she's struggling.

The next morning there was a Grimm attack... And my Mum... She... She...

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack grins mischievously.

"Is that a challenge? Go ahead then, hit me with your best shot."

---

Gray Fox Date Night

The smile falls from Jack's face as he realizes what Estran is getting at.

"Oh. Um... Wow. I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what to say to that. If you wanna change the subject or something, then... Hey, look, the menus! We're here to eat after all, shouldn't just sit here and keep the staff waiting..."

By the time he finishes speaking he looks both pained and embarrassed and keeps giving Estran sidelong glances as he tries to read, as if his childish curiosity and desire to prod further are battling it out with what little sense he has.

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Sure, I bet you'll barely notice."
With that, Nigel's eyes settle on Jack, there's a change about Nigel as he does, something Leonard would remember from his focus on 'Cedric'.
And then, Jack suddenly feels really cold, like he's walked outside on a snowy day or as if he's walked into a room with the AC cranked down to 'Freeze my balls off'. Others will note the sudden appearance of a single snowflake on both Jack and Nigel's shoulder.

Spoiler

Show

DC 15 Fortitude save. +5 to the save if you have great endurance or otherwise bonuses to resisting temperature extremes/cold. On a failure, you become fatigued, then exhausted, then fall unconscious. The effect is cumulative, but you also get a save every round until unconscious to try and shake it. Nigel will maintain the effect until Jack calls him off, so roll as many saves as you want.
Also, the condition reverses as soon as Nigel drops his focus.

I'm going to make 5 saves /30 seconds worth now. More if you make more.
Nigel's Save: (1d20+12)[16]
Nigel's Save: (1d20+12)[15]
Nigel's Save: (1d20+12)[18]
Nigel's Save: (1d20+12)[20]
Nigel's Save: (1d20+12)[26]

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Bear-ly notice?"

Jack grins at his own joke just as a wave of exhaustion hits him like a truck and a layer of frost forms over his clothes. He yawns loudly and starts shivering before speaking again, though his speech itself doesn't seem to slow any.

"Gotta say that definitely packs a punch, I already feel like I could use some hot chocolate and a thick blanket right about now. Hm, I wonder if movement helps any..."

Jack starts running, skating, and leaping around at random in a vain attempt to warm himself, eventually returning close to his original spot once it seems futile.

"So how long can you keep this up and is this as bad as it gets, because all things considered so far it's far from fun but still seems pretty bear-abl—"

At that moment he promptly falls to the ground, fast asleep and covered in snow.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Resistance checks were rolled here.

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel raises an eyebrow as he cut's off his semblance, himself having gained only a few handfuls to dust his shoulders and around his feet.
"Musta gotten lucky."

With that, Jack immediately wakes, and the snow coating him immediately begins melting in the desert heat, with Nigel immediately brushing off that covering him before he gets soaked.

"Hey Jack, welcome to the land of the living, and indefinitely unless it sends me to sleep... I normally keep it running at a very low level to keep me comfortable.

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Anyway. Anything else to go over besides showing off semblances?

Date Night

Sorry...

Es takes a deep breath and closed her eyes. Wait for the feeling to pass... think about something else...

Her eyes opened and her smile had returned. The mask she wore so often.

Anything look good on there?

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Well, we said tactics to... You can do illusions, can you hide things or just cover them up? Because if nothing else there's a tactic... You can provide us cover as we close to things, or cover while I try to send something to sleep before attacking... Or just provide us cover if we get in a fight with people using guns... Jack's fast, so he could get ino flanking positions while Leonard keeps us in contact, or possibly send his friends to help him at the expense of not having them here to help us."

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Yeah, I should be able to do that easily.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Sounds fine to me, any plans I come up myself are going to be more heat-of-the-moment things anyways."

---

Gray Fox Date Night

"Oh, uh, yeah, definitely. I was thinking this miso with pork and scallops here personally, or maybe the miso with pork and chicken, or the pork broth with chicken, or... Actually I think this is called not being able to decide. Maybe I'll just have whatever you're having?"

Jack smiles back, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

"So what brings you to Shade anyways? Wait never mind you already answered that. Following in your parents' footsteps, don't want to talk about it 'cause your mom's dead, yada-yada. Ooh, any siblings by the way? I've got none, probably 'cause if you ask my parents their favorite joke is that I had the energy of three kids by myself."

Suddenly he looks up and scratches his chin.

"Wait, did I just change the subject back a little? Hm... What do you think?"

[metakirb]

Date Night

Umm... Miso with Pork and Chicken sounds good.

As Jack continues to talk and once again brings up her parents she seems to just... blank it out this time.

Nah. Just me. No siblings.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"Go Only Child Club."

Jack raises a fist to bump with her.

"...Not that having a brother or sister or two doesn't sound like it would have been fun. You win some you lose some I guess."

He proceeds to tell the staff his and Estran's orders, with Jack following through on his idea of getting the same as her.

"So, um... See a lot of movies? I'm mostly into action stuff myself, especially anything about Huntsmen and Huntresses. Man, I can not get enough of those, call it study material I guess?"

Jack gives a joking smile.

[metakirb]

Date Night

Action movies are great, Yeah.

She smiles and starts listing off a bunch of her favourites.

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Hmmm... Ok, that works... Well since Jack's more of a heat of the moment guy and the two of you are going for a date, how about the two of us-" Nigel's left hand moves between Leonard and himself "-Skedadle to the Library or something were we can come up with some ideas. We've also got combat classes and such where we'll be able to get a better idea of each other's abilities, so we can spend a little coming up with tactics and names to shout when we need to set one off."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Sounds good to me. That mean we're done here?"

---

Gray Fox Date Night

"Ooh, good choices."

The rest of the date goes well enough, at least as far as Jack can tell. He spends the time in rapid alternation between eating his food; prattling on about movies, video games, and other such inane topics; prodding Estran to contribute to the conversation about as much as she feels comfortable doing plus a pinch more; and of course carefully dancing around the topic of her family (if by "carefully dancing around" one means "desperately backpedalling whenever he accidentally gets too close to the subject"). During the walk back to Shade he drifts back and forth and side to side and in circles the same way as before, attempting to keep the conversation going and filling in the gaps with a seemingly endless stream of anecdotes and episodes from his own life...

Until the last few minutes of the walk, at which point he peters out and becomes uncharacteristically quiet, as if he's finally run out of things to say. Except there's obviously some other reason given how antsy and nervous he starts to look, and the way his oscillations about Estran's position begin to subtly speed up. Finally, at the campus gates, he drifts directly in front of her, turns to face her, and stops; to all appearances he seems to be taking a lot of effort to not bolt and leave her in the dust.

"Okay, super-duper really sorry and don't be mad but I just gotta ask or it's going to drive me crazy forever. What... happened exactly?"

[metakirb]

Date Night

Es had been about to ask if he was alright just before he stopped in front of her.

No... It's alright... I owe you that much after how much I've said.

She took a deep breath.

I... Think I've told you most of it. I did.... something... to my Mother's weapon, and then the next time Grimm attacked... The only thing that came back was her weapons. I don't think I missed any big details.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

Jack's eyes narrow as he takes on a pained expression and it takes a few seconds for him to begin speaking.

"Okay, um... Yeah, I don't even know where to start..."