[Open] The First Steps

[Richard Volt]

"We have ever been the swords that kept Vale's enemies at bay. This is our legacy, and now, my son, it is your turn to uphold it."

As Richard stepped off the airship, sword and bag slung over his shoulder, his father's words echoed in his head. This place—Beacon Academy, the next step toward his burden of destiny—was what he'd been prepared for his whole life. From the age of seven, when his training began, the goal had always been to enroll in Beacon. To become a Huntsman like his father before him, and his father before him—and so on for generations.

And now he was here, his time at hand. Richard had no words for the occasion, and there was no one to hear them anyhow, so he simply... walked toward the campus. Unfortunately, Beacon Academy was huge, and he found himself lost within a manner of minutes. Still, too stubborn to ask for directions, Richard opted to meander until he found something resembling a map.

But who knew how long that would take?

[Forrest Waldstein]

Forrest enjoyed a good walk through the gardens, which reminded him of home. He had heard of Beacon receiving some new students today. Sensing an opportunity to meet some new people, Forrest decided to walk over towards the aerial bays. Taking the scenic route, he noticed something peculiar along the way: a patch of flowers that seemed to be noticeably wilting. Feeling a bit bad about the little ones, Forrest used his Semblance to reinvigorate the flowers. Within the span of several seconds, the once wilting flowers began to rise, regaining their lost color and vitality.

There, that should keep them going for a while... he mused. With that business taken care of, Forrest continued walking. It didn't take him long to notice one of the new students wandering around, clearly lost. He was a young man who looked about the same age with dark hair and blue eyes, but slightly taller and notably more muscular than Forrest. The stoic young man carried a bastard sword strapped to his back. Knowing it would be better for the man to get some help, Forrest made his way over towards him.

"I take it you're one of the new students that arrived today, right?" Forrest inquired.

[Lauren Voltaire]

Today had been a good day, Lauren mused as she tore down the hallway, turning roundoffs and kicking off walls as she raced away from the girls' dormitory. Reaching the end of the hall, she jumped and used a twisting kick to push the door open, turning her landing into a tumble that conserved her momentum as she sprinted away from the impending wrath of her latest prank-ee. She had to hide, but where?

The gardens, she thought as she turned the corner and leapt over a hedge. No one ever looks in the gardens.

As she turned to look at her landing zone, she realized that she should have been paying more attention: just because nobody looked in the gardens didn't mean nobody went to the gardens. Case in point: the two boys standing in the middle of the gardens, one with a bag slung over his shoulder and the other dressed in green, both of them looking straight at her.

Needing to slow down, she turned her uncontrolled speed into a long tumbling run that ended in a spectacular (if she did say so herself) twisting triple somersault over the heads of the two boys. She stuck the landing perfectly, like always, before turning around to offer what little explanation she could for her insane entrance.

"Hi, I'm Lauren, I'm single, and I will buy you both dinner if you tell whoever comes running in here after me I've been with you the whole time and definitely couldn't have done whatever it is she thinks I did."

[Richard Volt]

A voice shook Richard from his focus, lost as he had been both in his head and physically here on campus. He turned to the man who spoke, who was very green, yet seemed kind enough. Few he had passed by had bothered to do more than look in his direction.

"I am new, yes," his voice came in the rumble of a rich, deep baritone, "Richard Volt—”

But his introduction was interrupted by another: a woman with a resounding amount of energy, who not only sprinted at them at the speed of a bullet train, but then proceeded to do a gnarly example of gymnastics. She quite literally leaped over them, her body always in motion, before landing behind them as if doing so was the most natural thing in the world to her.

And apparently she was single and ready to mingle.

She was followed a few seconds later by a handful of other ladies, though they all lacked her energy and gymnastic ability.

"Did you see anyone run out of the dorms just now? We're looking for someone who just—gah, it doesn't matter! Did you see someone?"

Richard didn't much care for lying. Nor did he know the woman behind him enough to want to lie on her behalf. But... the idea of dinner was quite promising, and there'd only been snack machines on the airship, so...

"You just missed her. She ran for the CCT tower."

[Al Ciendra]

Wow.
What a day, well it had been very normal so far, but someone just had to play another dumb prank in the dorm again, the smell still stuck to her cloak, her cloak!
She was gonna murder who ever did this...well, maybe not, putting broth cubes in the sink head was pretty funny, it's just that her hands now smelled like soup.

Regardless, she really needed to get some fresh air, also maybe wash her hands in the fountain or some place, considering she couldn't really use the dorm's bathroom right now.

A group of girls came from the garden, looking a little pissy, they stared at her for a bit, Al staring back, as it finally clicked.
"My hands smell like broth too.
With that they kept walking and Al left for the garden, where she saw another group of people, one of which she recognized, it was Forest, her now former rival and new friend.
A big serious looking dude with a bag over his shoulder and a sword and a girl that just radiated some fun vibes, huh...she didn't know Forest had friends outside her and Vlithra, but a friend of Forest's was a friend of hers.

Unknowingly following Lauren's idea she shot herself forward, with a burst of flame, landing some distance behind the group as she slid along the stone floor on her heels, before coming to a stop right next to Forest, offering him a fist bump.
"Yo, who are your friends Forest?"
Al asked, as she looked up at him, the green bean could probably tell she was curious and a little excited even with her mask still covering her face.

[Forrest Waldstein]

It all seemed like a very normal interaction, until a third party flipped quite skillfully over the two young men. Introducing herself as Lauren, she stated she was single and that she would buy them both dinner if they vouched for her. Certainly discombobulated by the events that had preceded him, Forrest couldn't help but blush at Lauren's offer. Getting a hold of himself, he cleared his throat as a handful of other women came, his blush fading by now.

"Did you see anyone run out of the dorms just now? We're looking for someone who just—gah, it doesn't matter! Did you see someone?"

"Check by the CCT Tower, she went that way." Forrest replied, the group of women running off in that direction. While Forrest couldn't say no to a dinner he didn't have to pay for, the timing of this was certainly bad since he had his eye on another woman at the moment.

Just when things seemed to be getting back to normal, another surprise person zoomed forward in a burst of orange flame. If Forrest recalled correctly, only one person came to mind when fire Semblances were involved.

Al?... he thought, standing still as she skidded to a halt arms length away from him.

"Yo, who are your friends Forrest?" Al asked, holding her fist out for a fist bump. The curiosity and excitement in the tone of her voice was obvious to him, though her mask prevented him from reading facial expressions. With a friendly smile, Forrest returned the fist bump, nearly forgetting that Al is just naturally warmer as a result of her Semblance.

"I actually just met Richard and Lauren just now." Forrest replied.

[Lauren Voltaire]

She almost got away clean.

"Did you see anyone run out of the dorms just now? We're looking for someone who just—gah, it doesn't matter! Did you see someone?"

Lauren silently pointed toward the CCT tower, and the girls took off in that direction. Just as she was about to relax, the one person Lauren had really hoped wouldn't be mad about it came rocketing toward them.

Before she could start to panic, though, Al skidded to a stop next to Green Guy and offered him a fist bump. Wait, did I actually get away clean?

She also conveniently got the names of the other people involved when they started talking.

"Hey, Al," Lauren waved awkwardly. "What happened to your cloak?" she asked nonchalantly.

Yeah, like that was going to work. Wasn't Al some kind of canid Faunus? She could definitely smell the lack of soup on Lauren, and since they lived on the same floor... It didn't take a genius to put two and two together and get Lauren was definitely in trouble if anyone found out.

The silence stretched on for all of two seconds before her composure broke. "Yeah okay it was me, please don't be mad," she said in a low voice, hanging her head.

Then a thought popped into her head. A mischievous thought. A deliciously devious (pun intended) thought. "Buy you dinner if you agree to not tell anyone?" she bargained.

[Al Ciendra]

Al looked a little confused as one of the people she had just met excused himself suddenly, maybe he was a little overwhelmed by all the people joining the conversation, she just waved goodbye to him considering she did not even get his name before he left.

Her attention was quickly focused back on Lauren who...did NOT smell like soup, Al was about to warn her about the prank someone had pulled in the girl's bathroom when Lauren asked her about her cloak, then something clicked a little as she listened to Lauren's voice, she wasn't a detective, but the blonde sounded a little on edge.
Then Al's rage and the air around her flared for just a second, poor Forest who got hit by a heatwave as she did this, but Lauren made her get soup on her hands and way worse, her CLOAK!
She was about to tell her off, but...FOOD?!
She seized up for a second, before taking a deep breath, was she really going to take this deal?
...yeah, yeah she was, it's free food with two really cool people and Lauren's prank did make her chuckle a little, she'd just have to wash her hands and cloak somewhere else and then she'd be fine.
"Sure, sounds good to me."
She showed Lauren a thumbs up, her stance going from angry to neutral in a few seconds.
"You'll join us right Forest?"
She turned to her friend excitedly tugging at his coat, she had not spent much free time with Forest, so this was a great opportunity for them to catch up on that.

[Forrest Waldstein]

Forrest felt a bit disappointed as Richard excused himself and walked away, he would've liked to continue learning about the new guy. He likely had his reasons for leaving the conversation, after all. Now that Lauren mentioned it, Forrest noticed the smell of soup emanating from Al's cloak. He started to piece together what exactly happened prior to all of them meeting in the gardens, feeling the heatwave of Al's anger before it shortly subsided.

That explains a lot... thought Forrest as he had pieced together what happened prior to all of them meeting in the gardens. Even though he wasn't caught in the crossfire, he would've gotten mad as well had Al not calmed down just as quickly as her rage ignited. Even then, he thought it was a little funny. Forrest recalled a few stories he heard about his late father, who was a notorious prankster during his time. His attention returned as he felt Al tugging at his coat, asking him to join the both of them for dinner. He couldn't help but smile a bit as Al tugged at his coat, it was adorable in a way.

"Sure, sounds good to me." Forrest replied.

[Lauren Voltaire]

Note to self: food defuses the pyro. Knowing that was bound to come in handy later, especially since there was no way that was the last time Al would get caught in the crossfire of what was shaping up to be a year-long prank war that Lauren had absolutely no intention of losing.

"Sweet," she said as Richard excused himself and headed in the direction of the boys' dormitory. "I dunno about y'all, but I've been craving noodles all day for some reason..." A sly grin grew on her face as she talked.

Hmm. Three people for food was fine and all, but four people for food was better. Whipping out her scroll, she sent a quick message to a certain mousy brunette.

yo
wanna grab some noodles?
i'm buying

[Al Ciendra]

Al excitement faltered just a little as Lauren mentioned noodles, but...she supposed she had to eat something other than meat for once and at least noodles weren't vegetables, which Al still preferred in soup or juice form as they'd get stuck in her fanged teeth when she tried to chew them.
"Noodles are fine."
Al said, with a shrug.

Al then titled her head to see if she could sneak a peak at Lauren's scroll and see who she was texting.
"You gonna invite someone else?"
Al asked, a bit curious, maybe it was someone else she knew, she knew enough people around the school, so it wasn't too unlikely.

[Forrest Waldstein]

"Noodles sound good to me." Forrest replied, slightly concerned when he noticed the sly grin on Lauren's face. Though his attention had turned towards Al, who seemed keen on sneaking a peak at Lauren's scroll. It was a bit too nosy, he thought, especially for someone that they just met. Figuring it would be best to keep this interaction low key, all Forrest did was tap Al's shoulder and clear his throat in hopes that she would pick up the message he was trying to get across.

"Any idea where we'd go to get some noodles?" he curiously inquired. Forrest hadn't been to any noodle place in particular as he generally gravitated towards more protein forward places. He wanted to bulk up a bit more with all the protein he was eating, but Forrest was pretty sure there'd be some kind of meaty noodle dish of some kind he could indulge in.

[Azoireda Ikteris]

Noodles? Now?

Looking down at what she was wearing, Az was for once glad that her Semblance led her to procrastinate on everything - she hadn't changed into her bathrobe yet. She wanted a long bath after a day of hitting the gym, but she'd at least showered in the locker room, so she didn't look gross. One of the most consistent perks of being her was that she didn't sweat as much as other people did, which was a big help in that department.

ok
CU n a bit

She poked her head out the window and spotted Lauren talking to two of the other students who'd been in the tournament. A wry grin appeared on her face as she got a truly terrible idea.

[Lauren Voltaire]

"Gonna invite someone else?" Al asked.

Lauren nodded. "There's this chick I've been... gently encouraging to socialize more. I may have accidentally gotten her addicted to pizza, so I'm hoping that some good noodles will fix that." She flashed her scroll at the two of them as the ellipsis in a thought bubble that indicated that her friend was typing popped up. "Y'all've seen her: she's that short brunette who got her shit rocked by that upperclassman dude in the tournament after she beat that gal with the spear?"

"Any idea where we'd go to get some noodles?" Forrest asked, and Lauren grinned.

"Y'all know that redhead chick who floats around everywhere? I ran into her in the cafeteria line this morning and she was gushing about this hole-in-the-wall ramen shop over by the docks. It sounded awesome, so I figured we'd try that?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud TWHUMP as a short girl with messy brown hair landed heavily on the grass behind Lauren and immediately collapsed onto bent knees, groaning.

"Oh, I am so going to pay for that later..." she lamented before standing up and flashing a grin at Lauren. "Toldja."

Lauren blinked, but was only stunned for a fraction of a second before she picked up her composure, dusted it off, and set it back onto her head, this time backwards.

"Forrest, Al," she said, gesturing to her insane friend, "this is Az."

"Hi," Az said with a shy wave.

[Al Ciendra]

This was a bunch of info to take in, she did watch the tournament...sometimes, she really only watched Vlithra's fights till now as she was taking any and all advantages she could when their inevitable rematch came around, but had not paid much attention to who else actually participated as that would kinda feel like cheating.
What ever, damn, poor girl having to go up against an upperclassman, that felt a little unfair...and pathetic for the upperclassman to participate in a tournament dominated by 1st year students.

Al mostly ignored Forest, especially as Lauren showed them her scroll screen, Al just looked at him with a shrug, which did make her miss who Lauren actually did contact... Al wasn't good with the whole looking thing.

But she could hear well, and she heard something sail through the air she could follow it well and oh, she recognized that voice.
"Hey Az, how's the knee?"
She greeted her back with a casual salute, to the superhero landing brunette.
Al had run into Az before, during their fun little time in Copperfield's class making bombs, sure she was focused on Aster, but Az was memorable enough.

"So, time for Noodles?"
Al asked, more so asking if they could get going rather than her actually being excited about the food, it was free, sure, but if there was any option with meat in it, she'd take that one, to make herself a little happier.