[Xarias Fury]

The briefing was simple enough for Wisteria to get the gist of what was going on. Unfortunately with a civilian building nearby she wouldn't be able to just pepper the battleground with her dust attacks and finish things off swiftly, not to mention the  chance she might start a forest fire, clog a river, or even hit some poor innocent animals. Sighing at the wasted opportunity and took a seat, counting her dust reserves. As she sat her mind wandered off after the briefing only to be interrupted by Lilla's high pitched screaming,
 realizing a little too late that her only teammate here had leapt out of the airship. "Lilla? Oh, grimm damn it, she jumped ahead? she complained, having just brought out a couple of dust vials to load her gloves. "Screw it, I'm jumping next!

Sprinting towards the airship doors she jumped and fell after the fast falling Lilla and while in midair she loaded her gloves with the dust in her vials, turning on her back to reduce wind from blowing it away. The ground didn't seem like it was going to be too far a drop so preparing a spell in advance she gathered some wind under herself and began slowing her descent, the gusts buffeting against her body as she plummeted towards the ground.

[Metroidhunter]

Isabelle gave a nod as Imber finished up briefing them on the mission. It sounded simple enough, and even included a backup escape plan in case of emergency. Knowing the course of action they would be taking made her just a little less anxious about their chances of success. Unfortunately, she was also about to jump out of an airship, which was most likely one of the least relaxing activities out there.  Hesitating would only make things worse, and so she only waited a couple seconds after the others before running and leaping out the door.

'Keep it together.'

For the first few moments of falling, Isabelle kept her eyes shut, only squinting down at the ground after a few moments. Everything was a blur, though it was still easy enough to tell how far from the surface they were. Hoping to take advantage of being at such a high spot, she tried to look around for Grimm, though couldn't manage to make anything out while falling so fast. Trying to quickly think of a proper way to land, she prepared to use her semblance, deciding to launch herself at an angle near the ground and make an attempt to tuck and roll. It would most definitely be a rough landing, but it was about the best option she had that wouldn't end in a serious loss of aura.

[ArosFarron]

Blair watched as everyone began to jump out of the ship. She took a deep breath and jumped. With her axe ready, she aimed for a tree and braced for impact. Her axe cut deep into the tree, the dust crystal shattering inside. As she slid down the tree, a trail of fire followed her. Upon hitting the ground, her feet sunk into the mud. She was ready.

[Riven]

(OOC: Sorry to hold up the works -- it's been a bit of a crazy time on my end.)


Rory quite nearly did a double-take when Imber assigned him to lead the team. Truth be, he didn't much see himself as a leader, just someone who could get in and take the hits for his teammates when needed. The idea that the other four would be looking to him sat more than a little heavy on his shoulders, though he did his best not to let it show. The four girls seemed plenty competent and skilled... with any luck he wouldn't need to do more than --

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehahahahaaaaaaaaaaa."

-- and suddenly people were jumping out of the Bullhead. Great. So much for 'taking the lead'. It wasn't Rory's first aerial insertion jump but it also wasn't his favorite thing about mission deployments. Others had weapons or a Semblance that could manage the drop without much trouble, but he... always had to drop and hope.

"Here goes nothing." He muttered to himself, hoping Mr. Mordred didn't hear.

That initial moment of being airborne, right between leaping out and gravity taking hold, was always when the strongest burst of adrenaline hit. In the space of split-seconds Rory saw the trees below him, felt the wind against his skin, and intuited roughly how he was going to fall. Swiftly deploying his shields, he held his arms in front of him, angled his body head-down, and braced for the inevitable crack as the first branches snapped against his defense. Birch. Birch. Birch. Pine. The kickback from the impacts increased as he went down, something he could feel in his tensed-up arms. It was just a matter of time until...

... yep, like clockwork -- Rory's shields hit a branch thick enough that it didn't immediately snap off and fall away. He curled his legs up towards his chest and rolled off to avoid absorbing the entirety of the impact. Now he was slowed enough; shields collapsing, he grabbed for a passing branch, swung, grabbed another, and finally managed to land halfway down a decent size maple tree. That... had not been as bad as he'd feared. He'd be cleaning sap and pine needles out of his vambraces, sure, but at least he'd landed instead of crashed. The shieldmeister sighed in relief before carefully hopping the rest of the way down.

"Well, that was fun. Everyone good?"

[Vitalis597]

"No questions?" He asked the empty Bullhead after the last student had jumped, shortly before chuckling to himself, and stepping out of the open door. He levelled his body, taking a deep breath as he plummeted towards the ground, then held out his hands, forming two handles of Aura which then rose up above him. Just a few seconds after he jumped, he was holding onto his own Hand Glider, circling around the area and taking in a proper, birds-eye view of the scenery. After a few seconds, he gave a sharp whistle to the ground, then waved with one hand before quickly grabbing the bar once more, turning to head towards the bar. Naturally he'd move a lot faster, so instead of taking a straight line, he instead moved in zig-zags to keep an eye on the kids as well as keep a track of the few small Grimm clusters he could see in the area. One of them, a small pack of Beowolves, already moving in on the group.

[GingerAvalanche]

Lilla felt the wind buffet her, flapping her jacket this way and that. She spread her arms, slowing her descent slightly, and felt the rush of adrenaline that came with skydiving.

She allowed herself to enjoy it for a few seconds before she surveyed the land beneath her, selecting a flat patch of terrain away from both trees and Grimm and angling her body to sail toward it.

Waiting until the last second, her Semblance materialized from within her, taking Quinary Pulse with it and sailing down toward the ground. It loaded the magazine labeled “Landing Strategy” and pointed the rifle at Lilla. About 500 ft from the ground, it fired the 4 wind rounds at her with slight delays between them. The force of the bullets slowed her descent enough that she was able to collide with the ground at an angle, rolling to reduce the impact further, and get back to her feet, none the worse for wear.

Her trajectory had taken her a short distance away from where the others had landed, and her orientation while falling had delayed her landing enough that, though she had jumped first, the rest were landing around the same time.

She nodded to her Semblance. “Let’s hang back a bit,” she suggested. “Maybe pick off any that try to overwhelm them.”

The Semblance, not being sentient, didn’t reply.

[Xarias Fury]

As Wisteria fell she saw the approaching packs of beowolves and quickly came up with a plan. Flipping in mid-air to get a better casting position, feet below her and body angled ever so slightly forwards, she started channeling the dust from her gloves to her hands, invoking an attack powerful enough to give her the effect she needed. Not too far from the ground now but still high enough to get some decent air, Wisteria launched a small cluster of fireballs at the grimm from up high and a massive gust of wind to slow her descent. Landing rather roughly, she ended up in a roll before blasting herself to her feet with a gust of wind. Immediately after, she drew her blade and started preparing some more dust if the approaching grimm continued their approach.

Spotting Lilla not too far ahead she started walking towards her with her weapon drawn, keeping her eyes and ears piqued for signs of increased activity.

[Metroidhunter]

The predicted outcome of her plan had turned out to be spot on. After her aura flared and her semblance altered her trajectory into a more tilted angle towards the ground, she landed hard. After the first thud, she bounced off the ground slightly, landing again before rolling to a stop. It didn't feel like she had lost a ton of aura in the process, but that technique was really going to need more practice to be effective. Standing up with a pained groan, she quickly brushed herself off and surveyed her surroundings. Everyone seemed to be alive. That was great and all, but Grimm were incoming. Without much time to recharge, she'd be forced to climb to get where she needed to be.

Jogging over to the nearest tree at a brisk pace, Isabelle noticed Rory had just hopped down from one close by, giving him a quick nod. She started to work her way up, grabbing branch after branch and swiftly pulling herself up until she found a solid branch to stand on where the view of the enemy wasn't totally blocked. Finally, she drew her bow and readied an arrow, taking her time to select the best target before doing anything else.