Finally Laying Eyes On Syne Academy [Now Closed; First Came, First Served]

Flying by the academy, as the ship's pilot went around once to prepare for a proper landing, the setting was beautiful: the sun was just finishing it's rise and was casting a wondrous glow about the top of the trees and giving the academy itself almost an otherworldly presence, leaves swirling about due to the kick-up from the ship, dancing to the tune of a lovely autumn morning...

Unfortunately, this is something Yogen could neither observe nor appreciate. What one may not notice behind his ever-present shades was that he is in fact blind. As a child, he had things dictated to him in great detail by his family, so as to enjoy things as fully as those with a working pair of eyes did. Now, he realized how folly such a thing was: relying on others to display the world to him was clearly a fool's errand.

However, while the scene itself was made unaware to him by his lack of sight, he could still appreciate the ever-fitting masterpiece playing through his ear buds and headphones at this very moment: Vivaldi's Four Seasons, specifically the 'Autumn' measure. From what was described to him as a child, he felt that this piece could describe the season to him better than any possible description: boisterous, loud, impressive enough that it was demanding your attention...yet being only a fleeting sign of what was yet to come soon enough.

He could sense that he would be getting off soon, as the sounds of the ship changed ever so slightly, and the vibrations increased around the bottom of the ship which was a clear sign of a landing approach. In roughly a minute there was contact with a flat surface, and shortly after the engines went from whirr to a purr, and then lastly a hum.


Academy Docking -- Complete.


After another robotic whirr that lasted a bit and was ended by a bit of a klunk, Yogen knew it was time for him to exit the aircraft and make his debut at the prestigious (and only) academy of Bellmuse. Yogen stood up and began making his way to the exit ramp when the pilot spoke up.

"Well, we made it. You sure there isn't anything else I can do for you? Perhaps escort you to the academy's main hall?"

Yogen was immediately irritated, but he didn't show it in the slightest. He never liked how people treated him due to his so-called 'disability.' Never in his life did he see it that way, never would he. His family was the only one who never acted like it was a burden for them or himself, never acting like he needed special treatment or...well, just in general be babied and coddled like some weak and helpless infant. However, he always rationalized this feeling with the fact that people genuinely wanted to help him, regardless of whether it was out of pity, a sense of self-duty, or just plain kindness of heart.

He also rationalized it with the ever-present fact that, amongst most persons, he never showed them how capable he was. In fact, most times, he had to play the part that everyone expected him to...frustrating to say the very least, but a necessary evil nonetheless.

With out looking at the man, Yogen responded in his usual manner: partially casual, yet still formal, and with a sense of power.

"I think I shall manage quite fine, thanks. The academy is to the north, correct?"

"Umm, yes, but..."

"Thank you. I believe I will be on my way now." he then picked up his walking stick, dubbed Vision, and finished making his way to the exit ramp.

"Until next time." was his last remark before he walked down the exit ramp.

Once he felt like he was the proper distance away, he placed Vision down in front of him, both hands resting atop it as he stood in wait for near-silence save for the humming behind him. The humming kicked up into a loud whirr, practically a roar as the aerial machine behind him sprung to life and took off towards it's next destination, the force of it's liftoff creating a gust that ruffled the lower portion of his hooded jacket and pressed that furry rim of it's hood against the back of his head. Then, nothing.

Yogen stood there for a might bit, just taking in the scene...which may not make sense to many, but it made perfect sense to him. Just from the scents around him alone, he could gain an amazing perspective: the comforting smell of the pines below, which was now a fleeting smell as most of it was wafted up from the aircraft.

But there was more to know from smells alone: The smell of books, that was one that was heavier than others. The smell of hardcover books that had been used long before they arrived in the hands of their current owner...soft covers that were clearly streamlined and sleek with a shine of being relatively new...pencils and pens, the lead and ink of which would be drained either much faster or much slower than intended, but never what they were imagined to be. He could also get hints of stone, clearly what the academy was built out of on the outside.

However, the strongest scent was that of other persons, particularly that of perspiration. Now granted, it wasn't really an offensive smell, it was just overwhelming and everywhere: the sweaty palms of nervous new students, the wet hair and foreheads of those rushing to be on time, the damp shirts of those coming back from physical exercise.

However, one could tell without scent the massive amount of people around: the clamor of voices was absolutely outstanding and horrid, even beginning to drown out Vivaldi despite his layers of amplification and distance from the crowd itself. This mildly irritated him: Seriously, did no one respect the finer arts?

Still, Yogen slid his headphone down around his neck, in preparation of his arrival. Even with his ear buds and the sweet dulcet tones of Autumn in his ear canals, he could still make out the topics at hand: girls talking about new clothing lines and fashion, as well as boys and grading them, and sometimes even about school and their classes. The guys didn't talk as much, mostly about what they did while off campus and making a ruckus going on about 'Sweet' and 'Nice one' and 'Bro' and 'Dude.' Yogen was suddenly having second thoughts about his choice in destination. However, there was a chime and a women's voice came over a PA system announcing that all new students head in a certain way to meet with certain staff, news of which despite applying to Yogen, he paid little care or attention to.

Then, in a flash of slapping footsteps, the crowd was gone. Yogen then stepped towards the academy doors, just as Autumn picked up it's pace and was reaching it's climax, and proceeded to stop at the stairs, using Vision to clang against them as a sign of halting. It was now time to play the part, to play the game. Slowly, he made his way up each step, taking it carefully as if each one could mean the end of him, having Vision touch each one before hand.

When he reached the doors, he took his time finding the handles and opening them to walk inside. It was as he walked in that he was aware of the presence of some other persons. He then pretended to be lost and bump into the railing of another set of stairs.

It was time for the performance to begin...

Marcus stomped onto the scene with his characteristic heavy tread as his tools jingled on his belt. The creak of leather and rustle of clothes served as a backdrop to the ruckus. He marched down the stairs with a purpose, bound for the aircraft hangars. He would use his one spare hour to work some more the hulk that would one day be his steed. Round about halfway, he spotted an odd sight. Casual clothes, sunglasses, a hefty walking stick and a face that he didn't recognise. Head cocked to the side, he halted momentarily, blinked, then crossed his arms.

Something here didn't add up. Was it the odd way the guy moved, with his careful measured gait and the inquisitive taps of his walking stick? The headphones with too many wires attached? The fact his walking stick sounded a lot more solid than such a tool should? The newcomer acted as if blind, but that begged the obvious question: how did one manage to successfully enroll in an academy for slaying marauding monsters without overcoming such a handicap?

He turned the puzzle around in his head to observe it properly from every angle. Then promptly smashed it with a mental sledgehammer.

“Hey, you blind?” he asked out loudly.

Gallahad watched the clouds roll by as he drank his tea. Azure could mix the finest drinks with little more than how his master asked. They had just finished and the butler was cleaning up when a shout broke the silence, "hey, you blind?" Gallahad ground his teeth. it wasn't enough for some random person to break the silence of this beautiful day, but to also call attention to another person who might be self conscious about themselves. He stood up and noticed that a two people were above him on the stairs. mentally berating himself for not noticing earlier, he walked up to them, "something wrong here?" another Mental diatribe about tact and he looked closely at the two before recognizing Marcus, "it's you. I should have known." He honestly didn't understand how people could act like their failures had no consequences. He had seen the others in passing while going on missions, but this was the first time he actually met one of them  he looked at he blind man and realized that in all fairness, he was pretty much announcing to the world his handicap....hough he had seen so called 'blind' people perform much better than not blind people, "I am Sir Gallahad son of Grimbold of House Argent of Clan Durin,  Paragon of the Temple of Bahamut. might I inquire your name?"

It seems his ploy worked, however it wouldn't be as simple as he originally planned. Had he grabbed the attention of a teacher or perhaps a female student, both of which are extremely gullible and would offer their assistance without much question, things would have slid over smoothly for him to get an idea of the easiest places to find the information he was looking for. However, he seemed have attracted the attention of two male students. Now this wasn't to say they couldn't be useful to his objective, but rather stereo-typically males that are on an equal level of other males are not typically supportive, but rather competitive. This could still work out in his favor, though, given the nature of the building's setting and the basic fact that a student being abusive to another should be discouraged by the school's parliament.

Regardless, the show had to go on, and thus he put on the act that he was oh-so practiced at: the innocent, ever-so-lovable blind guy, who clearly meant no harm. Now of course he knew that this academy was all about making hunters and huntresses to go out and slay Grimm and protect the public, as much was obvious, but as to why such a friendly and disabled persona would be here...well, they would have to see for themselves on that one. He reached in his pocket and turned off his MP4 player...it was no longer time for leisure, and besides, the Autumn measure had already ended so there was little reason to keep it on further. He then took his ear buds out and pushed them into his pocket before he responded.

Yogen turned to face the clearly straight-to-the-point-so-much-it-hurts man, then gave an awkward smile as he scratched the back of his head. "Heh, guess running into stationary objects gives stuff like that away pretty hard, huh? Yes, I am, and normally I wouldn't have done something so careless...but this building is new to me, and I thought that after that first staircase being such a dozy that I had reached the end of them for now. Guess that's what you get for assuming!" His tone of voice was very clearly different from his normal tone, but of course neither of them would know that. He sounded much more whimsical and aloof, perhaps maybe even ditsy, and it was such a more accepting and endearing persona than his true nature.

It was then that the second male student approached them, and Yogen turned to face him, picking up and resting Vision down again in the process. This gave off some minor vibrations, just enough for him to get an idea of who he was dealing with. Now of course he already knew the loud one was wearing at least one article made of leather and had some sort of metal item or items on him, and while he was starting his performance he noticed something odd about this new fellow...something heavy trailing behind him, but with all the ruckus made by the prior students and his focus on attracting attention, he didn't get much detail on anyone in particular as much as he did the room.

He was fully aware of his surroundings now: the room itself, of which he already knew, was a rather large main hallway with two doors at either end and a big stairway that lead to a hallway both on the right and the left. As for the two people in front of him, one was clearly human, but the other...some sort of faunus. From the vibrations he detected that the heavy trailing object was in fact a tail, and while not extremely detailed, he could tell that he had some sort of weird skin pigment. He also noted that the two apparently knew each other, and it perhaps wasn't for the best reasons. Hopefully this wouldn't interfere with his plans...

Yogen extended his hand and smiled to this new proper faunus. "Hey there Gallahad, I'm Yogen Yohei. Hopefully I got that right, you have quite a title! No, nothing appears to be wrong here, other than the fact that I need a tour of the building. I would have gone with the rest of the first years, but you can probably guess how messy or tedious it can get having a blind student mixed in a group. I was going to try and find maybe a free professor or student who didn't mind giving me a tour at a slower pace, but all I've ended up with so far is a jab in the gut by a metal railing." he slightly chuckled at the last part, holding his hand to his stomach briefly.

He then turned back to the previous male student, making sure to stop his head just short of where his head was located, appearing to face just to the side of him. He then offered his hand as well, which was also just off-center, smiling before asking the one in leather for his name. "And who might you be?"


So far, so...well, not really good, but not bad either. Mediocre fit the best. So far, so mediocre.

Something wrong? Here?

"No? Just welcoming a new guy, wanted to see what level he's on." Marcus replied to Gallahad. He idly wondered what was up with the frosty look and the dismissive 'It's you' phrase. Maybe he didn't like it when his sunbathing was interrupted? Made sense what with his reptilian appearance.

Or maybe it was tact. Now, Marcus could very well be polite, but only when he needed to be. In this school? Well, if students could not deal with a few poorly chosen words he sincerely doubted they could handle a Grimm tearing someone limb from limb. He might be willing to humour Gallahad now that the knight made his presence known, but only because he had proven himself to Marcus. New guy Yogen, not so much. Not yet.

"Name's Marcus." he introduced himself, and his head cocked to the side. "Now I am willing to give you a tour, but I would like something in return. See, I cannot help but wonder how you would deal with an unfamilliar woodland while there's a Beowulf on your ___ with unhealthy designs for your spine and assorted internal organs. I do not mind teammates that are not interested in front line brawls, it's not really where I want to be either, but well. You sort of struggled with a stairway dude. That colours my perceptions of how much training you need before you’re a utility in the field." he explained. He seated himself on the railings of the staircase he was on and slid down to Yogen's floor.

"Just to be clear I’m not being harder on you because of what you may or may not have. Want to make sure you got my back out there, so I can have yours. The beasties and other sorts out there, they ain’t gonna hold back." he continued.

Desperate bue eyes looked at him from a dark memory, and Marcus stared off into the distance.

“Not one bit.”

He shook his head, beat the memory back and locked it away.

"So. Tour first? Never really took the time to explore the grounds to be honest, I've been working my ___ off."

Gallahad suppressed a chuckle, "haven't we all." He glanced off in the distance for a second and then returned his attention, "I must confess, I too am curious about your intentions. Not for lack of ability, there are many epics about blind heroes. unless of course this was an act to attract some of the ladies here" at this he gave a knowing grin, recalling his first few days, "rest assured, once you've proven yourself in the field, most of them will overlook any superficial 'flaw'". he rolled his shoulders and heard a soft "ahem". Gallahad looked behind him and saw his manservant, "ah yes, allow me to introduce my butler, Mr. Griffin." the man bowed slightly, his wings out a bit for balance, "a pleasure to meet one of Sir Gallahad's friends." Gallahad be noticed a brief look of revulsion that was tactfully concealed by the man adjusting his glasses, "Sir Gallahad,  shall I prepare something for later?"
" why don't you take the rest of the day off. I'm sure the ladies in the kitchen enjoy seeing you." He smiled honestly, it was a poorly kept secret that one of the younger cooks had caught Azure's eye, "very well then sir, I bid you all a fond adieu." Gallahad watched for a moment, a look of worry crossed his face before replacing it with a broad genuine smile, "now, what shall we show you first?"

And here came the problem. In the ideal situation, he would have been picked up by a female student or any teacher, and they would have given him a tour without a second thought, but this male students wished to know his intentions of being here...which of course he could not reveal, as he was on a very secret mission. However, no matter how far separated this become from the ideal situation, Yogen could of course play the hand he dealt himself.

Now this predictament wasn't even a blimp on the scale compared to things he had dealt with in the past, it was really just irritating if anything. When you are trying to get the information you are looking for, you usually have to make some sort of sacrifice, but honestly you would want to make that sacrifice as minute as humanly possible. Yogen was holding onto this last bit in the hopes that he would have to use it much later, but as it was he would have to lead them on now into a deeper web...and we all know what happens when webs begin to fall apart...

Apparently the faunus male had a butler to go with his ridiculous title, who introduced himself, and Yogen noticed that he had pair of what seemed like wings that sprouted from his back, however he didn't care to engage in further study of the butler: he was inconsequential. He simply greeted him with a "Nice to meet you, Mr. Griffin!" in that sickeningly stupid voice followed by a wave with his right hand in the butler's general direction. He then patiently waited for the pointless personal banter between the faunus male and his servant to come to a close before addressing them both on their prior statements.

"Well, don't take it personally, but I won't have either of your backs out there in the field. Well...not just you guys, but anyone's, really!" he then scratched the back of his head again and put on a nervous smile, one that would give off the sense of being put on the spot and not being prepared.

"Well, you see, I'm not some super cool blind warrior guy like you see in movies: the truth is I really can't fight at all! That would be cool though, beating people with a staff or sword without even looking at them? Unfortunately my skills lie in my hands...well, I mean, it's what I hold in my hands...err, what I do with them I mean..." Yogen then stopped and somewhat sucked in a breathe and let it out. "Wow, I'm SO not explaining this well..." he then placed the hand he was scratching his head with back on his walking stick and cleared his throat very briefly before he continued.

"See, I'm not here to fight alongside you guys. Now I know that sounds weird, as that's what Syne Academy is all about, but hear me out: I'm not staying here...well, permanently I mean...as a student or anything. I'm only going to be here roughly a month, although I may leave sooner if I can finish my project before then." he then relaxed his body, which had been previously a bit tense on purpose, to give the allure that he was not only adjusting to them, but being honest and forthright.

"I'm actually transferring from a small local school way out in Vacuo, and I'll be heading to this big fancy one in Atlas. Turns out I must have some sort of gift, I guess. The majority of my stuff has already been sent there, but...there is a bit of an...well, 'entry fee' I guess you could say. That fee is that, since I'm going there for journalism, they want me to bring in a REALLY good report on my first day...you know, to prove I'm worth their time." Yogen then scratched the back of his head again, but instead of it being out of appeared nervousness, it was to give off the allure of mild irritation along with the timed emergence of a slight grimace.

"Well, my thought process was 'who likes monitoring their neighbors more than Atlas?' So, I told them I would do a report on Bellmuse: mostly the academy, but also the town itself. Interview some townsfolk, interview some students, interview some professors and staff, plug in some statistics, get some information on current events...heh, I'm probably boring you guys, but I honestly love this kinda stuff! Then once I have all I need, I crunch it down into a report, and I head off to Atlas...and if it's good enough for them, not only do I get in, but I also get setup immediately with a job with a local news network!" Yogen then flashed a smile and a thumbs-up. This was clearly the most ludicrous persona he had ever run, and it made him sick, but it was also the one that had yet to get blown.

And there it was, his persona's reason for being. Perfectly acceptable in every regard, and to be true it wasn't a complete falsehood either.

The best lies have a sliver of truth entwined in them...

A reporter? Attached to trainee huntsmen? Marcus tilted his head to the side. This was going to end in tears. If these were going to be tears of laughter or something else he could not tell yet.

"Too bad, I kind of wanted to see what a blind hunstman could do. They usually have these crazy good other senses that are awesome for hunts and other fieldwork." he mused out loud.

"Well Atlas is known for being picky. They really don't do low quality anything. Well, outside of that old PZ-FL rifle anyway, but we don't talk about that. Good to hear you enjoy your own chosen career. How'd you come by it? Start out as a childhood hobby or something you recently ran into and just felt like the right thing? I mean, if you don't mind me asking you questions rather than the other way round. As for the tour, since we're almost here, what about the courtyards first. Then either the training area or the dorms, whatever catches your fancy."

Marcus looked in the direction of the hangars as he finished. On the one hand if this Yogen proved to be an okay guy, and so far the engineer leaned towards a 'yes he was', then maybe he could look at getting some PR done for Ratio's construction, maybe attract some sponsors even. On the other hand, that did imply publically telling how he built the tank. Marcus was well aware how engineers showed they were impressed by someone's idea, namely they would make like a magpy and steal it at downright impressive speeds.

Something else nagged at him as well. Yogen claimed to be from Vacuo.

Where was his tan?

Gallahad let a look of concern flash across his face. He picked up a slight tone in Yogen that he was all too familiar with. It reminded him of every time Azure spoke to a human. on top of that, there was a noticeable lack of skin coloration that came with being in a desert kingdom. A jolt of paranoia raced through his mind as he thought of the assassin, didn't he mention Atlas? Why would they be interested in Bellmuse? he shifted his stance to a less formal posture and picked a thread to tackle, "you said you were going to Atlas and try to join the news network. I imagine getting permission to go there in the first place was a real bitch with everything that's happened recently." His own personal experience had been met with outright hostility when he originally decided to go to the rigid school for cross training. It wasn't until he had actually checked the news that he knew why, but the damage had been done and the Grand Meister told him to go to a smaller kingdom that hadn't been mixed up in the mess that had started brewing.

Everything was just about to fall into place, all he had to do was persist a bit longer and spin just a couple more tales, and things would play of just as intended. The boisterous one was more or less along for the ride you was offering, he only needed to tie up a few ends with some pointless responses to the conversation at hand.

"Well, honestly, it was a bit of both!" he said with with a bit of that obnoxious chuckle. "See, every since I was young I enjoyed learning about what was going on around me and gathering information, and I at times would right the stuff I learned in my own personal journal. About four years ago I stopped doing that, because it seemed...well, 'stupid' and 'lame.' You know how it's all about looks in your early teens. Well, right before I started up at the school in Vacuo, I started doing it again...but more like how I had done reports in school before. That was when some of the staff at the school noticed how good I was at gathering information and putting it all together, so they spoke with some Atlas staff, and...well, I've pretty much said the rest." Partial monologuing was a key factor of this persona: only excited people who really don't have much of a clue on how they are boring others ramble on for so long. Add the fact that he was blind, and therefore couldn't see facial features or body posture, and it all added up to literally his perfect persona...much better than that war veteran with PTSD.

"Sure, that sounds fine to me. What better place to start than the beginning? Knowing where I'm sleeping sounds more useful than an area I won't really be using, though. I'd probably just get in the way and get hit by someone, haha!" Ugh...so sickeningly sweet...sometimes it made him want to vomit.

This was no time for regurgitation though: he now had to deal with the rich faunus man, or was not only becoming quite less formal considering his earlier approach, but more hostile and slightly antagonistic as well.

Interesting...he was already getting a bit of information: apparently during his extreme absence, something of a decently sized margin of issue transpired, enough to get Atlas in a tizzy...and since it was this student of Syne who had this information, and he hadn't heard it else where as of yet, one could only assume maybe it was Atlas's response to something Bellmuse-related...

"Well, to be honest, it really wasn't that much of a pain. Of course, it was almost a month ago now that I was even over there, so things could have easily changed. I must have missed out on something over the past couple weeks visiting my parents. See, I actually don't live in Vacuo...or, well, I didn't used to. My parents are both important people for the family business, but my family lives in a rather remote area of Mistral. It's almost like it's own island, and news travels kinda slow there, unlike in Vacuo with my aunt. I was residing with her and attending school there for a few weeks while my parents were on a business trip, but they came back earlier than expected, so I went back home after my meeting in Atlas. I just spent time with my parents while waiting for word from Atlas's staff, and now I'm here working on the report." Yogen then took in a bit of a deep breath, as if he had rambled so long he was winded.

"To be fair though, Atlas likes to overreact. They have their lifestyle to protect, and they have a history of being ahead of the times...and a history of taking any cost to stay ahead. Whatever it is, I'm sure in roughly a month or so, they will settle down a bit." He then scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Wow, I bet knowing all that about me was really boring, sorry about that. I'm not really one to have an ego or anything, but once I get talking it's hard to stop me sometimes." he then chuckled nervously, then put his hand back on his walking stick.

"So, now that you've heard too much about me, we can go to something a lot more interesting. I'm sure that Syne Academy is way cooler than I am, I've heard a bit about it's sudden rise."

Enough had been said, it was now time for action.

Marcus tried to recall how much had been declassified, failed, and shrugged.

“Well you'll hear the full details of what went down soon enough, let's just say that someone royally ___sed off some very high Bellmuse officials and leave it at that. A guy like you will put together what actually went down real quick I'll wager. As for the wider world, well, ever since the com towers went down because of whatever the ____ happened in Vale, Atlas stopped exporting Dust. Don't need to tell you how that annoys other kingdoms now do I?” Marcus summed up. Last he personally hear from Vale was 'Oh ____ a dragon, oh ____ androids killing everyone, oh ____ is that the CCTS to-' followed by a whole load of static. Allegedly while Vale itself had survived in the end the kingdom was, to use the proper technical term, ____ed up good and proper.​

“That little dust up in Vale, incidentally, is also an example of why going to the training hall is a good idea while you're here. Having a civil evac training is mandatory in Syne anyway and who knows? You might pick up a technique or two and gain some options other than 'run away from the great big snarly things'. But hey, it's your funeral.”

Provided they found enough pieces of him that was.

“So, about the sleeping halls then. Oy Gallahad, I think your quarters are closest to here don't you? Let's start with your wing. Not much to mine other than 'here's where people get kip' really.” Marcus offered.

Gallahad mentally berated himself. The first rule of information gathering was to take more than you gave. The Knights had drilled that into him and his comrades for years. He adopted a friendlier tone while keeping his sword hand near his weapon, "Im sure the situation I'm Vale isn't nearly as bad as people say. After all, The Grand Meister sent several companies of knights to aid the kingdom and is marshaling knights to send here" a minor lie, since the Knights wouldn't be able to enter Bellmuse without permission and he highly doubted King Mulberry would allow an army to come in
 At Marcus's suggestion, Gallahad nodded, "we are pretty close to the best part of the academy." He motioned up the stairs, "To the left leads to the workshops and armory. The right leads to the dorms and training arena, take you pick and we can work from there." Don't prove my suspicions right little human . The thought wasn't quite surprising, he had had enough with back stabbers for the time being.