[Zwei Not]

The training halls were near desolate this early in the morning. Granted, this was to be expected. Nobody wanted to get up at 5:00 AM on a saturday, especially not to fight people. Nevertheless, Juno found the time and date appropriate. The trio, soon to be quartet, could use all the space they could get for the induction of their new member, young faunus by the name of Cerise Carnelian. True, she had already been assigned to them, but they hadn't actually had the opportunity to meet the girl.

Having already dragged his teammates out of bed and into the training hall, all Juno was waiting for was Cerise. As time passed, Juno questioned if he had sent the proper time and date of her informal initiation, though the hall was definitely an iconic location. Maybe she was just moving slowly? Should he let it slide if she wound up late?

Numerous further questions burrowed their way into  Juno's train of thought as he sat on the sparring field, intently focusing on the hall's entrance. Training hall at 5:00 AM. It's 4:50. She won't be late. She shouldn't be late. We'll be fine. She better not be late. Caja wasn't late.

Juno cursed himself at the thought. Cerise wasn't Caja. She wasn't going to be Caja. Caja was gone, the injuries sustained from their fight with Cerdic having ended her career. She wasn't their teammate anymore, and he needed to accept that.

Still... Being able to see her around more often would be nice.

[Glow]

Today wasn't going so great.

It was all planned out, Samuel had got his schedule relatively set up for once, everything was gonna be good. A nice, relaxing day where he'd work on some of the projects he'd sidelined, he'd play a bit of guitar, maybe spend a few hours sleeping on the ceiling or somewhere that would make his teammates jump. But no, of cooourse not, because first thing as soon as a slither of light had appeared he was quite literally pushed off his bed and told that there was a 5am training session.

Five in the morning.

Despite having the importance of it explained, team bonding, initiation yadda yadda he didn't give much of a secondhand shit. He needed his sleep, damnit all. He hadn't even had time to fix up more than a meager sum of leftover coffee, which was disgusting. Vile. Filthy. He'd spent the whole time fixing Ashen Howl to himself, the clunky thing to attach it was. His semblence wasn't helping things with the gradually improving amount of information it constantly gave him; painkillers did many things, but dull aura was not one of them. Samuel hadn't even bothered to wrap his chains properly; they were drooping around him in a slight mess of rungs, slowly shuffling about as he refused to even lean against a wall and just sat on the floor where the group had stopped.

"Juno... can you explain to me again why we are at the training rooms at the asscrack of dawn? You couldn't wait for, you know, a half-decent hour when I've had sleep or coffee, preferably both? Actually, funny mentioning crack, because that's you. I'm calling you an ass." Samuel stated, bandage still over his covered eye. It was fairly obvious he'd been hiding something there for a while, but he still hadn't quite worked up the trust or energy to show the rest of his team it, yet. The implant was somewhat necessary to show; he occasionally needed some assistance with the clunky Ashen Howl or just reattachment, but that wasn't quite such a sight.

Grumbling quietly to himself, he took out his scroll, flicking through music tracks. He needed something playing now to help him get through this without falling asleep or attempting to murder someone.

[SirZinger]

Verdant was stretching out onto the training mat wondering about why his team would meet so early in the morning. He didn't have a problem with it because when he lived in the forests, he would wake up at the crack of dawn every day. However, the rest of the team probably didn't wake share in his habits. He wondered what his new teammate would be like, he couldn't help it but he expected Cerise to be like Caja in a way.

Verdant was friends with Caja sure but Juno was the one who was the most hurt after Caja's preemptive "retirement." Verdant hoped that Juno wouldn't expect Cerise to be the new Caja.

Verdant stopped and turned to look at Samual "Juno is just trying to make a good impression. Most teams don't need to change a roster like this; we just need to take the time to get situated."

[The Mythic Scribe]

Rubbing her eyes and trying not to look like she'd woken up at three in the morning, Cerise made her way to the training hall, slightly shaking from how nervous she was. And maybe the large amount of caffeine she'd ingested, that too. But mostly because she was about to meet her team, and not only did she want to make a good impression, she also didn't want to be late. Unfortunately there'd been a setback where she'd accidentally taken a right instead of a left a ways back. Now, she made sure to shake her writing hand to make sure.

During the walk, Cerise reviewed what she already knew about the team. Name, VCVS, consisted of Verdant Cowl, Samuel Quartz, and the leader, Juno... Juno something-that-started-with-a-V. Replacing Caja Aval. And that was it. She would check her scroll to be sure, but currently 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' was occupying the hand that wasn't lugging her suitcase behind. Seeing as she hadn't gotten a chance to meet her new teammates, much less visit the dorm room she'd be staying in, Cerise still had no place to put it. Lovely.

At that moment, Cerise found herself in the training hall. Late by fifteen minutes. Cursing her inability to even follow a map and even more Beacon's size, she looked around, taking a guess that the three male students that were intently looking at the entrance were her teammates. If not, well, it would be very awkward. Doing her best to still her shaking hands, Cerise walked over to the three, awkwardly closing her book with one hand in the meanwhile. "Would you three happen to be Samuel, Verdant, and Juno? If so, I'm Cerise Carnelian, your new teammate." She set her suitcase to stand, extending her now free hand in the direction of the three, hoping that the leader would shake her hand first, cluing her in to who Juno was. Even more, she was hoping that the three would not leave her hanging or mention the fact that she was a little late.

[Zwei Not]

She was late. Fifteen minutes. A quarter of an hour. The team leader was uncharacteristically quiet as he had waited, ignoring his bickering teammates behind him as he focused on the entrance to the hall. When Caja's replacement finally found her way before them, Juno stood up, a somewhat relaxed look on his face as he shook the girl's hand. "Juno Vert. It's nice to meet you in person, Cerise." he replied, the slightest bit of irritation in his voice. You would think that a new member would try to maintain punctuality in their first meeting with their team.

Taking a moment to pull his hand back and cross his arms, Juno continued to speak, his violet eyes scanning the girl in front of him. "I'm not going to lie, you have some shoes to fill. I don't expect you to be like our previous member, but I do expect you to be able to adapt to and work with us. If you can do that, we'll get along smooth as silk. Compris?"

[Glow]

"Bah, I get the point Ver. He's still an ass." Samuel replied, giving a sigh. Despite Caja and him not getting on particularly well most of the time, what with him being a faunus, they had eventually made some semblance of a friendship - even if it was just formed on who could come up with the most creative insult - and he would miss the- actually, he probably shouldn't think or say that in Juno's presence, he'd probably get the shit beaten out of him.

As the group waited, the hunter-in-training put his head down and shut his eyes, not quite dozing off but not quite paying attention either. Hearing the slight shuffling of Juno, he gave a small but hidden grin as their team leader seemed to get a bit impatient - served him right for asking for the session so early. Maybe he'd have a teammate-in-arms for long naps. Long naps were awesome. So was coffee, and he hadn't had either. He shouldn't keep going on about it, but there was one damn thing he needed in the mornings and it was his daily dosage of caffeine, they could've just gone without him and he'd catch up.

Maybe.

So, hearing the footsteps echo down the corridor, separate from the sluggish steps of zombie-like people making their way down to the dining hall, Samuel stretched out his arms, a few clicks heard as he got to his feet. He watched Cerise enter, his eye lazily looking over her as he took her appearance in. Dark skin, not-quite-straight hair, relatively lithe figure and oddly dark blue eyes. To be honest, in comparison to half the people around here, she seemed relatively normal; Beacon seemed to be a magnet for people with odd hair and eye colours, or- well, people who didn't quite look right. A slightly pained look crossed his face for a moment, before he went back to taking her in. Slight fidgeting, not quite meeting anyone's eyes, leaning to the side a bit...

He winced at Juno's tone and followup. Damn, man, she was just nervous. Hell, he could hear the shaking. One of the chains moving to poke said ass in the back of the head, he gave a small wave before holding the same hand out. "Yo. Samuel here. Ignore by-the-book there, it's nice to meet you." He stated simply, giving his best attempt at a smile. Despite wanting to make their new member a little more relaxed, he still wasn't the best at social interaction. Or, well, second best. Or third. Or...

Well, either way, he'd tried.

[SirZinger]

Verdant looked over at Cerise who from what he could tell was probably just as nervous as he was to meet each other. He looked her over quickly as Juno and Samual greeted her first, she was pretty, but that didn't mean anything about what a person is realy like, he thought. When Juno and Samual were done welcoming and in Juno's case "welcome" was sarcastic, Verdant saw it was his turn.

"Hi, I'm Verdant Cowl a Huntsman, but you could probably guess that." He laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm bad with first impressions, but everyone kind of is, you know?", Verdant said with a smile. Hellos are always hard but she will probably just think that I'm nervous like surely is.

[The Mythic Scribe]

Such warm welcomes. Especially from Juno Vert, her new leader. The others were fine, and responded to them politely, shaking hands where she needed to and all. But Juno... she could just tell how much he was looking forwards to her being on the team. Cerise started to revert back to her usual self once more, straightening her posture and narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. She hid her shaking hands behind her back, clasping them tightly together. Her defense mechanisms started up, already thinking of fancy words and condescending phrases she could use. No way in hell was Cerise actually going to explain why she was late.

"I completely understand." Cerise responded, really hoping that compris meant 'understand' or something of the like and context clues didn't fail her. "I couldn't possibly dream of compensating fully for Caja Aval, but I will do my best to counterpoise her absence." Keeping expressionless, she continued on, still hopefully subtly showing exactly how she felt about Juno's welcoming words. "Apologies for my late arrival. I hope the moratorium of your usual activities wasn't too lengthy. I don't live nearby, so the train ride seemed interminable to me as well. In hindsight, maybe it would've been better to arrive in Vale a few days prior, to be sagacious. Sorry."

Done with her bitchy routine, Cerise brightened up slightly, standing on the tips of her toes for a second before lowering back down to show she was excited, though still not smiling. In the back of her head, she noted that she seemed to be the shortest of the four. "Anyway, nice to meet you all. I'm sure our time together will be sublime, if of course I adapt and work well." Clearing her throat, Cerise suddenly realized that she had no idea what else to say. Nothing good at least. And as they, whoever they were, said, if you didn't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. Problem was, 'they' didn't mention that if you didn't have anything to say, you were probably already a social wreck and being silent would only heighten the awkwardness of the situation.

So, Cerise waited for the rest of the team to hopefully come up with something better to talk about. Like... cheese. Or something. In the meanwhile, Cerise peeked out from under the hair that was slowly creeping to cover her face, trying to glean as much information as she could without it seeming like she was staring creepily. They all looked pretty normal, except for Juno's very... bright... hair and eye color. Otherwise, she only noticed that Verdant had especially muscled arms, which in truth didn't give her that much information. Most weapons you held with your arms. Samuel had a bandage over his eye, nothing there except that maybe he was a pirate. Or something. And he had a bunch of chains drooping around. Weapon or questionable fashion choice? Cerise was then reminded of her own weapons, wrapped loosely in cloth, strapped to the side of her suitcase. She turned a little to check if they were still strapped on, which they were.

[Zwei Not]

Well then. If it was a duel of egos she wanted, a duel of egos it would be.

As the girl before her spoke, Juno narrowed his eyes, analyzing and scrutinizing everything he could collect about her. The lofty speech style, her appearance, the fact that she was carrying a suitcase of all things... Most Beacon students live on the grounds. Why would she need one of those?

Oh.

Oh, gods, she was new. The way she carried herself should have been enough of a tell on its own, with the mention of her living far outside of Vale nearly cementing that theory. Seeing as how he had just taken a massive, steaming dump all over any overtly friendly interaction for the next several hours, if not days, Juno breathed deeply through his nose, then exhaled from his mouth. Impatience did weird things to him, and he could stand to calm down. Of course, who knew what damage was done after such a lovely first impression. He'd have to talk with her later.

"I trust you will, Cerise. You're good enough to have gotten into this school, after all." he stated, relaxing his posture and following her gaze back to her suitcase. "Grab your weapon, choose a sparring partner. If you need to stretch, feel free to do so." he commanded, not just to the girl before him, but to the entire team. By now, the irritation prevalent in his voice was gone, though his impatience remained as he strode toward one of the mats and gestured toward Cerise, hoping she would follow.

[Glow]

Samuel gave out a barking laugh at Cerise's comment and Juno's widened eyes in response to it. Well, damn, it wasn't too far from Caja after all in terms of first impressions; still just as argumentative. Putting an arm over Juno's shoulder, he looked at his team leader with a... sad look? "Rest in piece, bro." He said in a voice that could almost be described as sombre, if not for the grin that threatened to break through the mock look on his face and the amusement tinging the statement. Giving another small laugh, he moved back to where he was, looking the newbie over.

Thinking about it, newbie was probably accurate; if she didn't live in Beacon already then she must be totally new. Maybe he'll get compared to her instead of Verdant and Juno, so he can take even more naps in lessons. Then again, she does seem kind of a know-it-all; he'll probably get a few weeks of extra shuteye at most before she catches up. Drat. With a slight blue tinge to the bandage, he took a slightly closer look.

Huh. Shade of red, nice on the eyes, and the vague notes he could hear from being around her so far sounded nice. Bit of guitar and drums in there. He could live with that - possibly a bit more than the near-endless crashing drums from Caja's aura. You would've thought such a quiet person would have a quiet theme, but nooooo.

Taken out of his inspection by Juno's short commands, he blinked a few times, the bandage returning to normal, and raised an eyebrow. Well, someone was grumpy. Not that Samuel wasn't himself, it's just his mood had improved a bit from seeing the reason behind said grumpiness become more grumpy in what can only be described as grump-karma.

...sounds like some kind of messed-up urban dictionary term. Best not to search that up later.

"Welp, you heard boss." Samuel murmured, looking over at the last member of the team. "Up for a spar, Ver?"

[SirZinger]

Verdant looked at Samual to respond to his previous inquiry, "Sure I'll spare you, but I want to see how Cerise fights first."

He was curious how this new member of his team was in combat then he would like to fight her later. Verdant was sure that everyone on the team wanted to fight her eventually but Juno should fight her first. Verdant turned to Juno, "Juno I think that you and Cerise should fight because Samuel and I are both specialty fighters, so to get a real show off how Cerise fights she should fight you an all round fighter."

Verdant turned and looked to Juno in an inquisitive matter. "Or do you want Samual and I can spare first if you want to talk to our new team mate?"

[The Mythic Scribe]

Cerise blinked at Juno, hesitating momentarily. Well, she was here in the training hall. She'd have to demonstrate her combat skills to her team sooner or later. Lovely, another moment where she had to prove herself to her teammates. Well, at least combat wasn't as hard as social interaction. What if she did terribly though? Unlikely, as Juno said, even though he didn't seem to be complimenting her, she did get into Beacon. Time to not screw up.

As confidently as she could, Cerise turned to unstrap her weapons from her suitcase, carefully removing the cloth they were wrapped in. The left she slipped in its sheath, the right she held to start off with. Cerise turned it around in her hands for a few moment before making her way over to Juno and the mat he was standing beside. "Alright. I'm up for a quick demonstration of my skills in combat. Sounds like Verdant and Samuel agree with you too." She turned her falchion around in her hand a few more times, a habit she had. A nervous tick, to be specific. "So?"

[Zwei Not]

Juno offered a simple nod as the girl drew her weapons and joined him on the rather large sparring mat. The falchion in her hand was a good clue into her fighting style, though he couldn't make too many assumptions. Some weapons did transform, after all. Nevertheless, he continued to study the girl as he paced on his end of the mat. "This match will end when one fighter concedes, or stays down for more than three seconds. Fight begins whenever you're ready." He said as he stopped pacing and turned to face her.

Once he had put the terms to begin their sparring match in her hands, the leader of VCVS dropped into a primarily defensive stance. His weight shifted to his back leg as he brought both hands up at about shoulder level, allowing him to decently cover his upper body. His hands were open, but his fingers were curled, as though he was considering forming a fist. All the while, he stared the girl down, searching for any slight flinch, a shuffle, a twitch of some body part that could help him predict her first move.

[Glow]

Right. Wait and watch the other two, see how the new member fights. Perfectly logical reasoning, in Samuel's mind, but simultaneously perfectly boring. Juno didn't even reply to Verdant's inquiry, so it was fairly certain which of the two options he supported. "Ah, right, yea. So when I offer a practice match nothing happens, but every time Juno tries to drag me out here always have to work..." The disgruntled teen murmured, before letting out a prolonged sigh.

"Fine. Whatever. Have fun. I'm going to do some coding." He stated, taking out his grey scroll and opening it up, flicking through icons and files to get to QuiL. The coding language was obnoxiously named, in his opinion, but the pun was appreciated among the annoyance of the deceptively simple language. If it wasn't so flexible in application, he probably wouldn't even bother, but now he had access to said device it was obviously advantageous to learn how they worked. Maybe it'd come in useful sometime.

Still mumbling annoyed comments under his breath, Samuel moved over out of the way of the battle-to-be and sat down again, starting to type on his device as he paid half-attention to what was going on otherwise.

[The Mythic Scribe]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Posting order out the window 'cus it might be a while before we're done sparring if Rush and I stick to it. Rush is fine w/ it as well.

Cerise nodded at Juno's guidelines, noting that he shifted into a defensive stance. Good. She usually went offensive anyway. At first, she slipped into a defensive stance at well, to try to throw him off, though Cerise knew that the time it would take to charge would give him plenty of time to ready himself. Even so, she did it anyway, before breaking into a run and charging at Juno. As soon as she got into range, Cerise made a number of slashes with her falchion, first high, then low, then diagonal, in a clockwise-ish motion. Immediately following, she nimbly stepped back out of range, sword raised defensively.