Siobhan scrambled out of the treeline just behind what she hoped weren't the final arrivals for the initiation. And after checking her scroll, she realized they would have to be, she was actually a few minutes late. Sighing, she collected herself, removed a few stray leaves and twigs from her blouse, and made her way to the cliffside. It took a little bit, since so many of the students lacked the good graces to let a lady through, and she was having trouble making her presence known over the general din of people talking nervously about the trial ahead. She could hardly blame them, the idea of fighting like this on your first day at school terrified her.
When she finally made it out of the cluster of students, she looked a little more disheveled than she had hoped to, but straightened herself and made her way to Mr. Rosenrot. She'd met him once or twice before, and he was polite and exceptionally well mannered. Didn't he have a nephew that was joining up this year? They greeted one another, and then she got down to business. Turning to face the crowd, she coughed to get their attention. No response. She called out, "Attention, please!" No one seemed to hear. Mr. Rosenrot looked slightly concerned, but maintained his silence.
A teensy bit annoyed, Siobhan reached into her bag. She'd hoped not to use this, but was now glad that she'd had the foresight to grab it on the way here.
"Attention, lads and lasses!" her tiny voice boomed out, bolstered by the megaphone. "I hope you're all doin' well this mornin'! My name is Miss Siobhan Clannad, an' I'm your Personal Finance an' Home Economics Professor here at Beacon! Now, we all know why we're here, so if ye'd be so kind as ta call off your names so Mr. Rosenrot here can count ye, that'd be grand!" There, that gave her a little more time to compose herself and actually read the instructions she'd been handed as everyone else had dashed out the door.
As the crowd began to respond, there was some initial confusion as people didn't bother taking turns and tried yelling louder than everyone else. A quick, curt, "One at a time, if ye don't mind!" from Siobhan fixed that.
Siegfried checked off each name on his scroll as it came up, quickly familiarizing himself with the software that was going to be his primary link to each student as they tromped about the Emerald Forest. It was a simple tool, and should prove easy to use once he enabled the projector feature on his scroll so that he had sufficient space to view more than one camera simultaneously. Some the names were familiar to him, he knew their older relatives who were already in the profession, and some he recognized from keeping tabs on rising talent across Remnant. It was good to keep abreast of whom you might be working with.
Once roll call was done, he gave a nod to Miss Clannad, and putting the megaphone to good use again, she cleared her throat. "Alright, it looks like that's everyone. Today is your Initiation. Behind me is the Emerald Forest, and it's chock full o' Grimm. If ye aren't careful, Mr. Rosenrot here is goin' ta be carryin' ye out like a sack o' potatoes, an' nobody here wants that, least of all me. Please do be careful! I don't want none o' ye gettin' hurt down there!"
"Now, the point o' the thing is this: on the other end o' the valley is an old ruin from days gone by. Ye all are ta get yourselves there, find yourselves an ancient knick-knack, and get yourselves safely back here with it. We'll be watchin' ye the whole time, takin' notes on what ye can do and how ye work with one another. Keep in mind, the first person ye run into is goin' ta be your partner for the next four years o' your life. After all's said and done, the Headmaster and the Staff will be decidin' who forms teams with who based on what ye do today." She paused for a moment, letting that sink in. The whole thing seemed awfully intimidating to her, but she kept any trembling out of her voice. Mr. Rosenrot could take care of it if there was a problem, right?
"Now go on an' everyone of ye set yourselves on the metal plates. Ye will need ta find out how ta land on your own! An' please, do be careful!" Siobhan wondered at that last bit, Alban's notes, which she had been reading from, were very specific as to the students needing to understand that was the case. What they weren't explaining at all was why. Land from what? She hadn't seen any aircraft hovering around, and those metal plates looked far too small to be landing pads...
Siegfried, entirely unaware of just how little Miss Clannad knew about Beacon Initiations, started the launch sequence as soon as everyone had found their places. He was caught completely off guard when she grabbed hold of his arm in a panic and whispered fiercely, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "Mr. Rosenrot, somethin' gone terribly wrong! Ye have ta save them, they'll be dashed ta bits against the trees!"
It took a few minutes of patient explanation that this was standard operating procedure and all part of the plan. She still wasn't happy about it by any means.