Team JSMN
First Steps
"Well start praying, bro." Sahn chuckled as she looked at the sheet of paper that had their team's members:
Team #1 - JSMN - Jasmine
- Jairo Xill
- Sahn Xill
- Mira Cullous
- Nel Phelia
Jairo sighed in relief as he saw Sahn's name in the same team. At least he didn't have to worry about that.
Now who else is there... Mira... Cullous? Oh wow, that name's as much of a bad joke as the ones the- wait, what? Nel... Bird girl's in our team? he sighed.
Just our luck... Well, at least she doesn't seem like a complete mess. Maybe she could prove useful in combat.
"Oh, cool! We're on the same team!" Nel exclaimed. Her face was beaming with delight as she turned to the siblings. "This is totally cool! It's like it was determined by fate or something that we were all going to be together! Isn't that awesome? It's like something out of an epic story of friendship and adventure!"
"Well, good thing we've met already. We're gonna have to look to look for whoever Mira Cullous is, though." Jairo told her. He looked around through the crowd, hoping he could spot someone coming in their direction. The groups were now banding together and forming, and to his disappointment the strong-looking crocodile dude had been chosen for another team.
"Let's get out of the crowd." Sahn suggested. The trio moved away from the packed area. "If only they'd at least tell us what she looked like..." Jairo complained, squinting while looking throught the crowd.
"We could try shouting her name," Nel suggested. Her eyes lit up just as another idea flooded into her head. "Oooh! Or maybe you could screech your violin or something to get everyone's attention long enough to call her out!"
Suddenly, through the deafening noise of the crowd, a teacher spoke. "Students!" he roared. Literally - the man appeared to be a lion faunus, and was fully dressed in light battle armor; with his hair and beard merged to give the impression he had a lion's mane. "Time will be given for you to meet and discuss with your teams later. For now, you must go to your first assigned class, which have been assigned for each team. Listen up - won't be repeating myself."
He pulled out a long sheet of paper. "There should be a number next to your team name on the sheet on the wall. Odd number teams - Introduction to Grimm Biology with professor Azure to the left. Even number teams, follow me.
The trio looked at the sheet on the wall again. It read
#10. "Guess we got lion dude for first class." Jairo said. They all looked at where the teacher was headed. It was the first class on the right, and from the outside, seemed to be one of the largest in the academy.
"Looks big." Sahn noted.
"Figures. Newcomer patch is always the biggest. That is, until we all die off, one by one, tangled in the web of battle..." Jairo snickered. "Anyway, we'll probably meet the fourth member in there." he continued as he jumped off her shoulders and the trio made their way towards the classroom.
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"Seating plan can be seen on the wall next to the door. Ain't up for discussion." the lion teacher said sternly, and strode.to his desk at the front of the ampitheatre. Behind it was a large classic blackboard, with "GMBIO101 - INTRODUCTION TO GRIMM BIOLOGY - PROF. LEO CORRYN" clearly written in white chalk.
The three looked at the seating arrangement. "Front of class, as expected. Spinnin' web." Jairo sighed as Sahn chuckled and patted her diminutive brother on the head. She had been placed at the back due to her height - despite the fact the classroom was an ampitheatre. Nel had been put just a row behind Jairo, which meant that the fourth member wouldn't be too far.
"Maybe I could find her on the list? I've always been told I have keen eye, you know." Nel said, giving Jairo a quick grin.
Just as they began looking, the teacher slammed his fist on the table, meaning the class was about to start. Leaving their search for later, Jairo and Nel went to their seats.
"Now..." the teacher began. "I'm professor Corryn, as you can see on the board behind me. As you may have guessed from the name of the class, I will be teaching you rookies three things. What grimm look like on the outside, what they look like on the inside, and how to stop yourself from becoming one of the insides." he paused for a second to assess the class in front of him, and seemed unimpressed. "In addition to this, I will sometimes randomly test you on your knowledge of grimm - both theoretically and practically, so pay attention at all times. Don't expect any warnings. You mess up in my class once, you're out. Any questions?"
The class was quiet for a few moments, until a student spoke out, breaking the silence. It was the girl next to Jairo. She seemed average enough, with a pair of orange-rimmed glasses and a fluffy collar of feathers around her neck. "Yes, sir. Quite a few actually." she began, pulling out a small notepad filled with questions. She seemed to have written them as the teacher spoke, and has a somewhat foreign accent.
Sounds like southern Atlas... Jairo thought, glancing at the girl as she began listing what she had written.
"Uhm...How many hours does each class take? How many times will we have it per week? Do we require any equipment? Will we get any assignments? Where should we get our books? What timings are the classes? Will-"
"Ahem." Professor Corryn cleared his throat to stop her. "Two; three; no; yes; inside your desks; check the boards later." he answered sternly. "I'll answer your
other questions after class, miss...?"
"Cullous. Mira Cullous." the girl replied, smiling respectfully and nodding a little as she wrote down the answers to each query.
Oh, so she's the fourth one? Bloody web, another bird? Jairo thought, raising an eyebrow.
She looks smart enough. Typical wise bug, I'm guessing. Could prove useful...
The professor cleared his throat again. "Well, miss Cullous, glad you're taking interest already. I expect no less from the rest of you cubs." he said, looking around at the rest of the students. Turning around, he picked up a long baton-like tool from his desk and tapped it against the board. "Let us begin."
As he tapped the blackboard, the section he had hit flipped, revealing a chart displaying a diagram of a wolf-like grimm.
"First off, the basics. This puppy right here is a grimm known as a Beowulf. Common as dirt, can be found anywhere from deserts to cities to mountains. If you're going on a mission anywhere, prepare to meet at least a pack of these. Therefore, I'll be using them as the primary example. Now, has any of you ever actually fought a grimm before?"
A few students raised their arms. "When fighting a creature of grimm, where must you aim?" Professor Corryn asked, looking at of them, a boy with deer horns protruding from his forehead.
"Ah... Everywhere, I guess...?" he answered hesitantly.
"Incorrect!" the lion faunus yelled, startling the entire class. "This-" he said, facing the diagram and poinitng at the Beowulf's face with his stick, "-is what we call a Grimm's mask. Made of pure bone, no feeling in there, extremely difficult to break. Hitting or firing at a grimm's mask is basically be like using a brick wall as a punching bag. And when you do that, something's gonna give. And it ain't gonna be the wall."
He continued, and pointed at the grimm's chest. "One of the most important things you have to know when fighting grimm is that these guys don't have a fragment of a soul - and I don't mean in the same way as my ex-wife. That means they have no emotion, no aura or semblance - basically making them pure bloodlust machines. Any aura-damaging semblances or strategies will have zero effect on them, as you would guess. However, their hearing and eyesight is about half as good as ours, which is why they have little to no ear organs and highly inefficient eyes."
As he finished, Mira raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Professor, if grimm have such terrible senses, how can they track and be attracted to cities from so far away? Surely their sense of smell isn't
that good." she asked.
"Good question, miss Cullous." The professor said, and pulled down another diagram - this time of a map. Several areas were colored in black, with four red X marks in specific locations. The four kingdoms were clearly labeled: Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas, and the remote island of Menagerie. "Here are the four kingdoms that currently rule the human world. The large X markings are the capitals. Tell me, what do you notice?" he asked.
"The areas get more and more black near the X marks..." one student answered.
"Correct. The black areas around the capitals symbolize grimm activity. Grimm are able to track cities using negative emotions occuring in that city. And in these times of turmoil... activity is greater than ever." he said solemnly, sighing. "Anyway! Back to the topic..."
A joint post of Foxrally and Himika