RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => Everywhere Else => Topic started by: willow_lark on March 13, 2017, 03:34:09 PM
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Dr Richard Pelle (Richard to friends, Dr Pelle to strangers, and Dr Pelle with twice the respect to his students) sits quietly in a corner of Oasis, a bar a mere half mile from Shade Academy. The bar has been a frequent place for staff and upperclassmen of the academy to visit for most of Shade's own tenure. Indeed, Richard visited frequently in his time as as student close to 20 years ago and it's difficult to spot more than a handful of changes to the bar. The name is just as old as the bar. The general theory is the bar actually predates the combat school that shares it's name and depending on who you ask, the school took inspiration from the bar.
The building shows its supposed age as well. Brick walls are weathered by years of sandstorms and desert winds. Replacement bricks stand out from the the rest with their unfaded colors. The bar itself is a worn and weathered piece of wood, sand in every crack. There are only a few windows and the place was originally lit by a fireplace of all things. Modern lighting now supplements the old thing, but it continues to be lit in the evenings when the desert air is cool enough to send a shiver down one's spine. The tables are mostly high tops, sized for a pair of people. They're moved about by patrons, building tables large enough for groups and splitting off just as frequently. On the wall opposite the bar are larger, normal height tables with booths set into the wall.
Richard sits in one of these booths, his portfolio briefcase open by his side on the bench. In front of him is a stack of papers, tests from his freshman archaeology course. Its obvious to anyone how he feels about these exams, with his brow furrowed and a hand massaging his temples. His other lightly swirls a glass of whiskey. Taking a swig of his drink, he marks down yet another name on his growing list of students who will need extra assignments to keep up.
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When a man nearly twice the size any man ought to be blundered noisily through the beaten old door of Oasis, grinning ear to ear, not one patron so much as looked in his direction. After all, nobody stood out in a building that had seen it all. Knowing this, Dannum casually stomped over to where his buddy Richard was sitting without a moment's hesitation. He put a hand down on the table with a satisfying thud and stared directly at the exasperated professor. "Whatcha doin' there, Richie boy? Don't tell me you're working on a Friday night!" The word "working" left a sour taste in Dannum's mouth, which showed in his disgusted sneer.
Not comfortable sliding into the little booth like a normal person, Dannum slid a chair over from one of the nearby tables and sat down to the sound of a pained creak. This seating would accommodate his bushy tail much better anyway.
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"Yes, working Dannum. Unfortunately I can't pass a student for still being able to breath at the end of the lecture." Richard says dryly, a welcoming smile to his coworker. Pointing his glass to the accompanying bottle resting on the center of the table, he looks into his glass thoughtfully for a moment. "Maybe it would be better if I could." he says before taking another drink.
"But where are my manners? Have a seat." Richard says long after Dannum had already joined him. "How've you been?" He asks casually, flipping to the next paper.
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"Better than ever, thanks for asking!" Dannum's booming voice couldn't have been particularly beneficial for Richard's concentration. "Personally, I see a lot of promise in this new batch of students. I found a group to take care of our little poacher problem, you know. Thought I'd send them in, they'd take down one or two and come home with their tails between their legs, lesson learned like always, yeah?" His speech became broken by fits of robust laughter. "Turns out, they bagged most of the group and came back talking about cupcakes and shopping trips! These kids are great!"
Dannum laughed for a good few moments before getting himself under control. He then switched to a quieter and more serious tone of voice. "It's always a rocky start, eh? Pun intended, by the way. But they're all here at this academy for a reason, just like all the star huntsmen before them. Couple more sessions in, I bet that reason will show itself. It always does."
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"You're talking about the group we had to discuss at the post initiation staff meeting I believe." Richard says, somehow still managing to grade the test before him. He doesn't flip the next one over. "One of their members did kill a man after all. I do hope they aren't so great as to treat that lightly."
Richard pauses. "Not that I dislike them. I read their files before that meeting, quite the interesting set of students. I merely don't want to see them comfortable with killing like that. They are only kids."
He sighs into his glass. "But that's neither here nor there, nor pleasant conversation for a night at Oasis. The students I refer to are merely lazy with courses they don't get to swing a sword in and they'll soon realize that is a mistake. I know quite a few Huntsman who would rather fight a Goliath than take a test." He says in a light jab at his companion.
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Dannum furrowed his brow while squinting at Richard's tests, unable to understand a word on their pages. He was vaguely aware of what Richard was saying, but snapped back to reality around the time he started talking about swords and Goliaths. He sat back and cleared his throat, trying to act natural as he spoke. "Well, uh... Tell them they can expect a disciplinary conference with Professor Sohrab if they continue to neglect their studies. Can't have lazy students tarnishing their careers and our reputation, can we?" Though he had only the best of intentions in saying this, any student at Shade would testify that a conference with Professor Sohrab was a fate worse than death.
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Richard raises an eyebrow and chuckles. "I know how you like to do your conferences. I don't wish that on any of our students my friend." Richard flips over the next paper on the stack. "Speaking of, some of my third year class is in yours this semester. Don't run them quite so ragged, they're going to be heading out on the dig in the southwest. They'll have plenty to wear them out when they get there."
"I prefer to assign extra research on those who don't take the class seriously. All they need is to find a part of the field that interests them after all." A wry grin rises on his face.
"If it takes them a weekend in the library to search for that interest, so be it." Richard was aware that this on occasion promoted said uninterested students to drop his course, but so be it. Archaeology is an elective after all. Keeps the class size down for his three and four hundred level courses too. Marking the paper in front of him with a B-, he noted the student down for continued interest.
"He might just have a knack for this kind of study." He says quietly, unconsciously speaking his thoughts aloud.
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"Ha! Can't promise I won't run them down, but I'll try to keep that in mind!" Dannum thought back to his days at the academy. Back then, they didn't offer any fancy electives like Archaeology; they just had the basic needs of huntsmen covered. But the standards were high. Students had to be tough, they had to care to make it through. Dannum always felt like the shift away from core combat education hurt the program as a whole. "Tell me again how you ended up telling kids how to dig up rocks for a living?"
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"Little more than digging up rocks Dannum." Richard says with an aside look. "Vacuo's deserts have so much hidden in them. I can't remember a time I wasn't fascinated with the idea of finding out what was hidden under the sands."
"And don't get me wrong, it's not academic interest that drives me. I know that would bore the tail off you." Richard says with a smirk. "It's the rush. Discovering and exploring things that no living man has seen? It's a tantalizing feeling." Richard finishes his glass off in a swig.
"As for the teaching, Dr Auburn was looking to retire from Shade and I was looking to retire from the Huntsman gig. It worked out nicely." He says leaning back into the booth, papers forgotten.
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Dannum scratched his head. "So... it's the thrill of the hunt that drives you. Just like me in a sense. 'Course my personal 'hunt' doesn't have so many hours of paperwork to go along with it!" He laughed in a manner rather disproportionate to what was actually said.
"Well, I gotta say, it's good to have people like you who are so interested in discovering what wonders this great kingdom holds. Archaeologists ready to do the dirty work- pun intended again. Wouldn't be much here for people like me to defend without 'em!" He held a fist over his heart in a half-patriotic, half-bloodthirsty display.
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Richard grins. "I don't mind the paperwork terribly. Occasionally I even unload it on the students." he says, making his enjoyment of doing so clear in his voice.
"And you certainly are Huntsman enough for the both of us. I appreciate it, I don't have the patience for all the Grimm hunting." he continues. Richard knows his friend is as noble a Huntsman as they come, following the tradition to the letter. He also knows just how much the man loves the fighting and violence, and dare Richard say it, the explosions. A wry grin crosses the archaeologist's face, deciding Dannum probably cares equally for the tradition as he does the explosions.
As the two professors talk in the corner, a group of rough looking men shamble their way into the bar. Obviously Scavvers by trade, their clothes are sandy and worn. Oasis is certainly not a bar to raise an eyebrow at a customer, no matter their state. Any sort is welcome at Oasis, especially the strange ones. The strange ones tell the greatest of stories after all.
What Oasis doesn't welcome, is rough housing drunks. The seven of them rolled in and crowded the bar, waving and harassing the bartender for drinks. The bartender, a young blonde boy has the patience of a saint, deal ing with them as professionally as one can. When he steps to the other side of the bar for a bottle, the bunch begin to jeer and flout the boy. In their exuberance they knock over the drinks of the three students sitting at the bar by the group.
Unlike the bartender, the Shade students don't have patience for the men. They kick their stools behind them with a clatter as they stand, shouting at the group of scavvers. What was said was lost in the din of the uproar as a scavver threw a punch at the lead student. The rest join in quickly as the rest of the patrons give them space to brawl.
"Well now. Were we not just talking about unruly students?" Richard says with an eyebrow cocked the erupting fight.
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Dannum's eyes brightened as he turned in his seat to witness what was going on. "Oh no! What an unwelcome disruption to our quiet evening! I'd better, um, break it up! And hand out detentions!" He stood up and pivoted, but kept his hand on the chair in a very worrying manner as he approached the fight, dragging it behind him as he went.
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"We both know you want to get rowdy, I'll get the students. Try not to break the scavvers will you?" Richard says, sweeping his papers into his bag with practiced ease. It's not the first time he's been interrupted grading for some... disciplinary actions. He spares a glance to his wayward companion and mumbles under his breath "I swear. I can't even say this is the fastest it's taken for you to get into a brawl."
Throwing his tried and true leather jacket on as he slides out of the booth, he marches towards the students with his back straight and all the fury of a legendary headmistress known for her serious attitude.
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In mere seconds, the fight had escalated to a confusing cloud of people and punches. Dannum abandoned his chair in favor of doing things the even more old fashioned way. Expertly locating the center of all the chaos, Dannum made a beeline for that location. He forced himself in between the two men who were fighting here, pushing them apart and chuckling as the huntsman-in-training struggled to stay on his feet. He then turned to the rugged scavver, big enough to almost see Dannum eye-to-eye, and grinned menacingly at him.
One of the other scavvers, a scrawny but rowdy fellow, foolishly threw a punch at Dannum which earned him a faceful of bar. That got the men's attention. "Sorry about my students! Guess they don't know how to pick their battles yet! Don't worry-" he glanced mischievously over his shoulder at the students- "they'll get theirs soon."
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Richard steps forward with all the confidence of his position. One of the three students, a freckled redhead Richard recognized from his second year class, turns to him. His friend, a ponytailed foreign boy Richard didn't immediately recognize reaches for his weapon. His eyes flick back and forth between the scavvers, the professors, and the door. Richard makes a note of those instincts, someone should make sure this kid develops them. Then again.
The redhead, Ross Richard recalls, is wide eyed with his eyes locked on Richard and ponytail doesn't seem to notice in the slightest. Maybe that situation awareness isn't as good as it seems.
Richard marches right into ponytail's face, grabbing the boy's arm as he tries to shift his weapon into it's attack state. Richard focuses his aura on his arm and yanks ponytail's arm behind his back. He grabs Ross on with his other and less than lightly rotates the boy around to face the bar like his friend.
Richard pushes down on ponytail's arm and Ross's back, again particularly lightly, prompting them to bow.
"Students, I do believe you owe the bartender an apology do you not? Despite your urge to protect the good patrons of the bar from potential ruffians, students of Shade do not bar fight." Richard says from above the two. He twists Ponytail's arm almost immediately, the boy wincing loudly before both he and Ross cough out frantic apologies. Richard glances to his right, merely looking at the third student. The student wisely bows his head as well and almost shouts an apology.
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"See, that's what being gentle looks like..." Dannum smirked and jerked his neck in the direction of the thoroughly humiliated students. "Now, any of you wanna see what we look like when we're really fighting?" One by one, the scavvers started making their way out. Well, they tried to go all at once, but the door wasn't really made for that kind of use. The last one out could be seen holding his face and lightly probing his probably shattered nose. "Ha! Didn't think so!" And don't think Dannum didn't notice the attention they were drawing... that ship had sailed a while ago. At this point all he could do was smile and wave to his admiring fans.
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"Now Ross, I'm certainly glad I saw you." Richard says without letting up on the student's arms. "I've decided to accept your request to work on the new dig site." Richard continues. He doesn't have to look at his students faces, knowing thier reactions before they did.
Ross's face goes pale, and both of his friends look at him with expressions that can only read 'how could you?!'. He shakes his head, trying to wordlessly convince them he did no so such thing. Which is true of course, but Richard would let them think otherwise.
"Real life saver, I didn't think anyone would volunteer for rubble clearing. With needing to it by hand and all, it's a hard job. Long hours too. You kids are already sacrificing for the good of mankind, such good Huntsman in training." He says, enjoying the way they paled.
"Ah, Dr. Pelle" One tries to start, but a sudden beeping cuts him off. He releases Ross's arm check his watch.
"... Huh." He releases the other student and looks to the bartender. "They'll be real good. Feel free to put them to work for the night, work off all some of that steam of theirs." He says. The bartender, almost the same age as the Huntsman in Training merely nods with a professionalism beyond his time.
"If you want that drink, you'll have to tag along Dannum. I've been paged over to VAC. Important." Richard says as walks back to the booth for his briefcase. He tosses the case to the bartender, who catches it deftly and places it behind the bar. Richard nods in thanks to the boy and heads right out the door.
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"See you kids at school!" Dannum grinned at the miserable and humiliated students and walked out the door after Richard.
"So, what's this about an important call? Is tonight gonna be a little more fun than we wagered on?" Dannum quickly caught up to Richard before he could actually get anywhere. Frankly, he had been waiting for something like this to come up. Honestly, what was Richard thinking doing paper work on a night like this?
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Grinning wryly at Dannum's voice behind him, Richard keeps his pace around the corner onto a main road.
"VAC's the other place I work. The Archaeology Collective?" Richard says with a wave of a wrist. "A security alert went out to the department heads and myself as the Shade liaison. What it could mean is an international terrorist group could have occupied the tower in an attempt to steal restricted information and priceless artifacts. What it probably means is one of the interns brought a bottle of something to work for an unofficial office party and tripped one of the security doors leading to an artifact storage room."
"Either way, someone has to look into why the door alarm went off."
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Dannum rolled his eyes. "Cynical as always, Richard. Well, I, for one, am gonna bet on something big going down." He put his closed fist in his palm. "Either way, you're not goin' without me." As if Richard ever thought he would get to leave Dannum behind. Dannum knew that they had an understanding at this point: If there's any chance of a fight, you are not to even try leaving him out of it.
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...
It's a short walk to the VAC tower and on first glance, nothing seems wrong with the massive building. No blown out upper floors, no circling attack squads. Good news for Richard, but he can't say his companion would agree to call it good.
Richard marches into the breezeway, swiping his id card to unlock the doors into the lobby proper. He looks over to the doorman who nods nervously to the professor.
"No one in or out since the alarm tripped, correct?" Richard says, trying to keep the business edge out of his voice. He nods again. The poor man seemed quite confused, but he at least followed protocol. The door guards watch their posts so whoever got in won't get out a proper entrance.
"Stay vigilant." Richard says maybe a little too tersely. He hasn't stopped walking.
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Dannum crept as silently as he could next to Richard, though truly muffling his walk was a futile effort. "Vigilant... Yeah... It's too quiet..." Was that just something they said in movies, or was it a legitimate thing to be concerned about? Dannum thought for a moment but shrugged it off; it was cool anyway.
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The elevator door opens to the 33rd floor of VAC tower. The room is lined with glass cabinets containing artifacts that have already been processed. The artifacts vary in size and type, mostly minor things that have about zero importance to anyone with an archaeology degree. The center of the room's dirty wood floor is a circular workbench, covered with tools and dust. No artifacts lay out on the workbench, all carefully stored in temporary containers. The floor's windows are the only source of light, washing the building with an ethereal quality. two door lead out of the room, one in the north east and western corners. The floor was quiet, not even the elevator making a sound.
"Damnit Dannum, the elevator can and will fall if you keep bouncing. You realize you're twice the size of the average occupant?" Richard grumbles stepping out of the elevator. His head swivels sharply from right to left, looking in every corner he can see as he enters. His hand rests on Raster in it's holster.
"Alright, good job cleaning up the party interns. Get out of hiding now, or I start shooting. You know I'm not kidding." Richard says with a sarcastic edge to his voice. The professor was positive there were no interns in the room. Call it a sneaking suspicion or Huntsman instinct. He could only hope that whatever might be here is easily intimidated.
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"Hey, so what if I'm heavy? Any self respecting elevator ought to be able to handle two- or three, I guess- occupants..." Dannum grumbled back. Didn't this Dick know it's rude to make fun of someone's weight?
Seeing Richard going for his gun was all the signal Dannum needed. He whipped out The Big Guns and started yelling demands. "Yeah, listen to Richard! Come on out or this whole place comes down on top of ya!" He could only hope that whatever might be here wasn't impossible to intimidate.