Upon hearing the beginning of Noctis' explanation, Oliver was intrigued. He set down the trigger he'd just extracted and moved towards the group. When Noctis had finished, Oliver asked, "So the blade can take on properties of any kind of dust?" Quickly realizing he had just interrupted the other students' conversation, he added, "My name's Oliver, by the way."

I've got a 1st year in need of a team and I'd be glad to join if you'd have me!

CHARACTER

Name: Oliver Drab

Age: 18, born Arashi 22

Species and Gender: Human Male

Symbol:  A crossed trident and spear over a dust crystal.

Occupation: 1st Year student at Beacon Academy

Appearance: Oliver has short dull brown hair that is seemingly impossible to shift from it's natural style: conforming more to his head on top, but flaring out wildly near the bottom. He has a long face,  exaggerated by his hooked nose and tired eyes. His eyes, while slightly sunken, are rather large. His eyes are green, but it's hard to pin down the color behind his thick glasses, which he switches out for prescription goggles in combat situations, as goggles are less likely to break or fall off. Standing at 5”6' (167cm) and weighing in at 131lbs (56kg), Oliver is on the skinny side, but has enough muscle to easily move in his armor and wield his weapon, which is taller than he is. He carries Vel in a holster slung over his shoulder, while Tusk is kept in a sheath tucked into his waist behind him. When he is expecting a fight, he keeps his goggles on his forehead, but when he is not, they hang loosely around his neck. When not in uniform, he typically wears an unbuttoned flannel over a plain t-shirt and jeans. Over this he wears a breastplate, shin guards, and arm guards.

History: Oliver's parents met in an Atlesian dust mine where his father was a miner and his mother was a huntress hired on a 3-year contract to protect the miners from Grimm. They started dating after the first year, and near the beginning of the third year, they had decided that they wanted to stay together. That year, they saved up all their money to move to Vale. They had concluded that even if their relationship didn't work out, they would both benefit from leaving Atlas; he would be better off out of the mines, and she was tired of being pushed towards joining the military. So after her contract was up, Oliver's mother gathered her things, met up with Oliver's father, and together they boarded a plane towards the city of Vale, eventually opening a dust shop within the city.
   A few years later, Oliver was born. As a little boy, Oliver wanted to work at his father's dust shop but after seeing the respect people gave his mother while they walked through the city, he wanted to learn more about huntsmen. He was fascinated with her stories of the places she had gone and the people she had met. He wanted to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, help out wherever help was needed.
   She started training him at the age of nine, but it wasn't combat training. Her first priority was instilling responsibility and discipline into him. One thing she wanted to be sure to communicate was that being a huntsman wasn't just about fighting Grimm. It is a part of the job, obviously, but it's only one method towards a huntsman's true goal: ensuring the safety and peace of mind of others. With this ideology driving him, Oliver grew more and more, eventually receiving (and being trained with) a spear similar to his mother's personal weapon of choice. At 13, he was enrolled at Signal Academy, where he preformed relatively well, taking quickly to the more hands-on sections such as combat and weapon building, however more academic subjects gave him trouble.
   In the end, this shortcoming kept him from transferring to Beacon after his four years at Signal. That failure hit Oliver hard. Feeling like his huntsman career was over before it even began, he went back home and started working in his father's dust shop full time. However, there was one last spark left in him. He would give it one more shot, and if he failed again he would at least know it wasn't for lack of effort.
   He studied hard every day after work, on slow days he would even study during work. On his days off, he would train to keep his combat skills from deteriorating. Finally, after a year of preparation, registration time for Beacon's entrance exams rolled around. After hours of exams (and despite a few anxiety-born mistakes), Oliver was officially accepted into Beacon Academy.

Personality: Oliver always tries to stay positive and boost the morale of whoever he meets, despite not being much for small talk. Even when he feels upset, he tries his best to keep himself calm and civil. He has a slight disdain for military-issued weapons, as they're all the same with no customization to them. He's not the smartest, still having to study hard constantly to keep his grades up. Every once in a while, he'll pull a string of all-nighters fueled primarily by the fear of failure bred by his initial rejection from Beacon. This fear, however, is what motivates him to keep working hard towards his ultimate goal of becoming the type of huntsman that inspires and protects others above all.

Aura and Semblance: Oliver's aura is dark olive (#556B2F). He is not especially proficient in aura, having only discovered his semblance the year before his acceptance into Beacon. Thus, he's got an average-sized supply, and his semblance drains him more than it probably should.
   Speaking of semblances, Oliver's allows him to attach a piece of his aura to a surface or object on contact, appearing as a small glowing green orb. He can only have two of these existing at once. Once attached, an orb will stay until he cancels it, activates it, or runs out of aura. By activating an orb, it will be dragged to the other orb along with whatever it was attached to. If there is no other orb, it will be dragged back to wherever the orb was created. If an orb gets 80 meters away from him, it will harmlessly dissipate. Having an orb out costs 4% per minute, double if there's a second one. Activating an orb destroys both and costs 5%.

Combat Behavior:  Generally uses his weapon's reach to his advantage in close quarters. Very dodgy. Has a hard time at very long ranges, as his shotgun isn't very effective past 30 meters. Has a very tight, calculated fighting style with Vel's spear and trident modes, but is much more aggressive and crude while using Tusk or Vel's shotgun mode due to the difference between his mother's teachings and his own style. Will sometimes throw Vel for a long ranged attack, using a blast to propel it further than he could throw it on his own. Obviously, this leaves him without his primary weapon and any long range capabilities until he retrieves it. Focuses heavily on the movement of his enemies' weapons, leaving himself more susceptible to unarmed strikes.

WEAPON

Name: Vel

Primary Form: Spear: A 6-foot long spear. Has a hole at the bottom end. Oliver can squeeze a trigger on the shaft and release a blast from the hole to increase throwing distance.

Secondary Form: Trident: Very similar to the spear form. Two additional prongs extend from the shaft and come level with the first, forming a trident.

Tertiary Form: Shotgun: The spear shaft shortens and thickens, forming the barrel. The blade withdraws and folds over, forming the stock. The shotgun fires buckshot by default, but can fire two kinds of dust slugs (described below).

Dust Functions: Fire Dust slugs:break into flaming shrapnel upon hitting a solid surface.
Ice Dust slugs: do no substantial damage , but will encase the area they hit in ice.

History: Vel was created by Oliver during his time at Signal. The spear dorm was based directly on his mother's weapon, while the trident form was created specially for its wider head and disarming capability. The shotgun was mostly made to try and keep up with the other students' longer-range weapons. The name is an offshoot of the word Valkyrie.

WEAPON

Name: Tusk

Primary Form: A simple 9-inch steel kukri. The grip is contoured to fit Oliver's hand as comfortably as possible, and the blade has a notch on the blunt end to catch any blade that runs against it.

History: During his time at Signal, Oliver sparred with other students many times. During one of these sessions, his partner took advantage of him extending Vel a bit too far and disarmed him, leaving him virtually defenseless. That inspired Oliver to find a side weapon that he could fall back on if he ever lost Vel in a fight. Wanting something he could hide and draw quickly for a surprise attack, he eventually settled on a simple combat knife that he named after the massive curved tusks of a Boarbatusk.