Much More Trouble Than First Thought (Open to one student at a time, please PM)

Zrea tugged at the cuff of his suit, something he had just bought for the interview for the position and for the work itself. He had a nervous feeling about today, for it was the first of the many he would have as the newest counselor for the students here at Syne. Actually with a curt stop that clicked upon the stone floors of one of the central wings quite early in the morning, the magician forgot to mention what had happened to the last counselor. Or if there had ever been one. Without a welcome ear, the newest professor (although that title meant little as he did not teach anything) could not even begin to imagine what issues the students were brooding with all this time.

Well here he was now. Standing in front of his office door with the newly printed placard screwed to the side of the door. The plain white sign with his name written on it in bold letters would not do to the Mistral man's tastes. He made a mental note to find a replacement for the standard using his own pocket money. The current one just did not have the flair that he wanted everyone to see when they were about to enter his space. With that aside he opened the door, and was greeted by a single frosted window on the far side letting in the early morning light. The few pieces of furniture that he had asked to be brought in were already in place, but not in the arrangement that he would have liked. Alongside them was a stack of brown moving boxes, and a single sturdy tote. These contained the items that he would decorate with.

It took a few hours until Zrea was satisfied with how everything looked enough to unlock the entrance. A love seat was pushed up against the wall, flanked on one side by an antique lamp and the other had a single high backed cushioned chair. A small coffee table was positioned in front of the love-seat, and beyond that was another chair matching other. Besides a small desk shoved away into the corner it was all that the counselor had in here for now as far as furniture was concerned. The walls were decorated with a couple paintings, some of them acquired from means not so honest. Not that Zrea was the one to steal them, not at all. He was just the one who purchased them from some fairly shady people, and honestly, who would expect to look for contraband in the office of the support staff of the Hunters in training?

While the magician was not quite content with how everything was set up, it was the best that he could do for now, so with a quick turn of the handle he opened the door wide so that people would know he was in. Then he took a seat in one of the high backed chairs, playing with a deck of cards until someone arrived.

He couldn't believe he was finally doing this. It'd been how long, months at the very least? But he hadn't been able to corner the headmistress about this and going through another teacher... well, that would never go in his favor. Dodging all their classes meant they didn't have a particularly high opinion on him, and honestly he didn't have a very high opinion of any of them. He was awful with authority figures and none of them could match up to his original mentor, so he had decided this was probably the best person to go to for his rather specific... grievance.

Finding himself at the door however... well, he was flushed with both embarrassment and rage. Angry that he couldn't have gone straight to the headmaster to get this dealt with, and embarrassed that he was having to go to someone else for help to even get to her. Begrudgingly he tapped the door with his worn knuckle, taking a moment before finally willing himself to enter. Casting his eyes into all four corners of the room before focusing on the green haired man, if the room and where he was sitting was anything to go by; this scruffy, short, lazy and angry hunter likely wouldn't get along with this green haired man in a position of power who seemingly surrounded himself with expensive things.

Richard was not native to this way of living, having been part of a smaller faunus community in the forest with it's own values and lifestyle far different from that of the city he had adapted to in order to pursue his goal of an easy life as a hunter. He had adapted well... for the most part. He had learned the language, he had picked up on most of the common practices, but manners were still... a little beyond him and he had been made rather blunt as a result.

"I was wrongly put under house arrest by the head, I want compensation. No matter how I try I can't seem to reach her, she has not contacted me." He not so delicately put to the green haired man on, what Richard didn't know was, his very first day of work. Standing just out of the doorway, dressed in his bizarre baggy jumper, hat, jogging trousers and scarf; armed to the teeth with his weapon and dust hidden from view bellow the latter. "No one else seems to want to talk to me about this, I'm on the verge of storming her office."

Zrea had moved a couple small articles of newspaper from his desk to set on the coffee table, and one of these he was reading now. Nothing important, some new political idea and people complaining about it. It was all just fluff to the counselor, something to bide his time with. It was a relief when someone knocked on the door and the greenhaired man had to fold up the paper. He was running out of articles to read. With a rubbing of his suitthe counselor looked up and waited for the person to enter.

And instantly Zrea did not have a good opinion of the Hunter. First off was his sudden complaining upon his very entering of the room, something that would have been far more annoying if the student had not knocked first. The rudeness of how he asked also put him on a notch lower on the new hire's level of respect. His other main complaint was the disheveled look about the young man, at least in his professional opinion. Silently the idea crossed his mind that he may have to clean the cushions on the chairs afterwards, but this notion did not make any mark on his face.

"Please sit." The counselor said calmly as he straitened his back and waved with a kind smile towards the loveseat. "And please close the door behind you." Zrea refused to speak about these matters when someone could easily just wander in, at least, someone still could, but they'd have the door protecting them from that without a warning. He waited for the boy to sit or at least enter the room more of he did not feel comfortable like that. It was then that he noticed that the young man was armed. But then again so was he, with his polearm propped up in a corner. It was just the world they lived in, so he thought nothing of it.

"Well I have only know the headmistress for maybe a week now." Zrea started. "But she does not seem the kind to put one of her trainee Huntsman on house arrest for no reason." He nodded and his green braided hair knocked against the back of his neck, with his hands entwining themselves into each other to rest in Zrea's lap. "Actually, are you not breaking that rule right now?"

"I'm not going to say anything, you were never here if it comes to that." Zrea offered to the young man with a quick action as if he zipped his lips. "You do know that house arrest is a punishment correct? In doing so, compensation would make the act pointless. But still. Please tell me why the Headmistress decided this was best. Maybe we can work something out."

(No color sorry. On mobile.)

Richard's opinion of the man hadn't much changed after his introducing dialogue, instead opting to assume Richard was breaking the rule by being here now. He looked to the seat, analyzing it's distance from the ground. Not totally convinced his legs would not dangle, being of such a short stature, he didn't want to put himself in such a position. And so, rather than sit normally, he placed himself in the center of the love-seat and crossed both his legs. The boots he was wearing weren't muddy per say but they were well worn and not quite what you would call clean. Not that Richard cared at all about these things.

He looked to the man, Richard's usual lazy frown on his face, "The house arrest ended almost a year ago, I think, I endured the entire thing until the very last day on which Grimm burst through my dorm wall and attacked both myself and the school. It was then made clear that the woman who had filed the report to get me arrested was behind it, enticing and allowing the Grimm onto the campus as part of her strange agenda... made clear as in she was in the courtyard with a King Tai attacking the school to."

Richard drew a claw, sighing. He really didn't like all this talking, the language of his origin involved none of this free flowing noise. "I was put under house arrest for disrespecting a member of staff... even though I did no such thing. She asked me to take an injured girl to the doctors, I complied. I perhaps insulted her behind her back, calling her a brat... but she then proceeded to call me a sloth, being derogatory toward my faunus heritage. I don't think the two are particularly even, but she got off free with just a mild talking to. I did enter an ex bombsite, that's true, but the area was not fenced off nor well labeled as an area I could not enter. There was maybe one small sign? This prompted the verbal assault from her."

Richard yawned, "After dropping the girl off at the nurse, she got injured by some derbies on the site. I returned to my room, slept and the next morning I'm under house arrest. No fair trial, no questioning outside what I did myself through my scroll to her... before she blocked me and refused to continue communication. If I was to guess... she wouldn't have told you about it cause that woman, who got me arrested and attacked the school, turned out to be the head of security."

Richard smirked slightly, eyes still lazy, "So you can see why she might not want to talk about it. It's pretty embarrassing."

Zrea kept his hands in his lap, even as his eyes widened at the sight of the young man putting his feet upon the love-seat. The very thought of having to wipe dirt or anything off of the dark blue cushions sent a wave of disgust through the counselor. Yet he said nothing. It would not do to become visibly upset over such a little matter. At least, not with one of the students that had come to him for help. Had this been his own home? Well that would have been a different matter.

The green haired man sat attentively as the the huntsman spun his yarn. There were pieces here and there that Zrea had heard before just from talking to other people about the island. But all that he knew was that there had been some kind of attack that had taken place on the campus, not the cause, reason, nor person that had instigated the entire thing. In fact he had just thought that it was just another Grimm attack, and had put no further thought into the matter. Was this the Academy trying to hush up its mess? Or more likely to the magician, it was just that it had happened so long before he had arrived on Bellmuse that even if he had heard it, he just did not register it into his memory.

That all aside, the boy's concerns were founded in reason, if at least to the counselor a little flawed. "That does sound very ill mannered." Zrea spoke. "Cutting you off without a true conversation I mean. How many attempts did you make to speak with her over your scroll in that time before you were blocked?" The counselor asked, an idea forming in his mind of the young man frantically calling over and over again, until it just got to the point of being harassment.

There were other matters of concern that must be addressed as well. "As you said, the woman who had you put under house arrest was the head of security. An appointed position, and one that has a degree of trust with those in charge correct? Yet from your words you did not give her that respect. Calling her a brat you said? I'd be hard pressed to find any fault with her rebuttal, even if it was derogatory towards your kind." Zrea had to keep himself from letting out a long sigh of annoyance. He absolutely hated it when people brought up the faunus point, at least as long as it was only minor barbs traded. Any further and maybe he would have had some kind of credit to his complaint. "And then you said you went to a bombsite? Why for Remnant would you have done so? As poorly as it was secured, you must have known that it would have been off limits."

Zrea had one last point to bring up. "So what are you seeking compensation for in particular?" The counselor knew that it was none of his business since he could not really handle these affairs after all. The student probably just wanted him to act as a liaison between him and the headmistress, which the new hire was not really willing to do. "And of what kind? Academic, monetary, maybe just an apology?" It was hard to judge how he needed to move things forward without understanding what the young man's goal was.

Richard frowned nearing on bearing his teeth, "The woman, the ex-head of security, attacked the academy alongside a series of beowulves and a king taijitu, was likely responsible for the very detonation that created the bombsite she wanted to protect from the likes of me... and you're talking about her trustworthiness?"

He broke from his rage with another deep yawn, "Why I was there doesn't particularly matter as I was not put under house arrest for being there. In fact, the other three students who were there got off without even a talking to... despite them vouching for my position and admitting they were present. I got one month being locked up in my room for a single word aimed toward an individual who later turned out to have ill intentions for the school and thus it's pupils. Is it not unthinkable that some of that venom would have slipped out during our conversations in the site?"

Richard scratched his chin, "Regardless I'll tell you, I wanted to better understand the nature of the explosions. I am a dust major after all. Reprimanded for the rare occasion that I take initiative..."

He as taking some cheap shots, perhaps stretching the trust slightly with that last sentence, but all of it was approximately true. If explainable seeing as how much time had passed since the events.

"The messages are gone, with the fall of the tower at beacon they were wiped, but I believe it would have been four or five messages sent each. All the while she informed that woman of my messages, at least such was implied, while I did not get to hear her responses in full. Only snapshots insulting me which the headmistress let me see." He yawned again, "As for what I want... probably all of the above? Granted, less than taking one."

Zrea wished to scowl, or some other form of expression to show that he did not appreciate the tone from which the younger man was reacting to him. Yet he did not, the counselor dared not show any emotion which could be construed as negative. That would not do well to get frustrated so quickly with one of the students, nor did the green haired man think that it would make this progress very well. "I am." Zrea said when he was asked about her trustworthiness. "At the time, nobody could have known what this woman was going to do. So given the circumstances, her word would still have held more trust than yours. I hope you understand."

The counselor leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "You say that only you were targeted. I wish to try and understand better. Was this the first time the two of you crossed paths? Did you and her ever have any kind of altercation before? It seems odd that she singled you out in particular. Barring that maybe you had some knowledge or sorts that drew her ire." Zrea could only speculate, as an outsider in these parts this was actually well beyond his knowledge. However he had his doubts that this huntsman was speaking the truth about taking initiative. At least in full. The counselor was far to used to people lying to avoid having any blame pushed on them than he would quickly admit. He certainly had no trouble doing that.

Zrea had no real input on how little it seemed that they had communicated before the student was blocked from that. The magician really wished he could have seen the contents of those messages, they would hint more at the troubles that the person sitting in front of him was having. The most troubling was the desire for compensation. The man from Mistral was not a lawer or civil servant who could actually adhere to any promises he made for any of those. But there was one thing that he could try, if the headmistress was willing to heed the words of her newest hire. "I trust you can understand that I have no power in granting you any kind of material object. Maybe though, I can get the headmistress to open up communications with you again. Or maybe have a meeting in place of that would be something you would like."

"Yeah, sure." Richard frowned straight back, he put not limits on his actions unlike the man before him was forced to, "At that time maybe. But in the aftermath to remain blocked and ignored? After attacking the school with grimm, her prior actions were not questioned and were instead left in place as they where. If you're going to tell me that seems like the right course of action to you, I'm about to walk out.

"This was the first time we'd crossed paths, and seeing as I've already said she insulted my faunus traits... are you struggling to put two and two together? The others with me weren't faunus, to my knowledge, they were both humans. She had something against a school headed by a faunus. I don't know for sure that's her reasoning, but look at her actions and inaction when it came to reprimanding the other students." Richard sighed, scratching around his hairline and swapping the crossing of his legs.

"Having her reopen communication would be a good starting point maybe... it has made it harder for me to get along with teachers, I didn't have the best view of authority before coming to the academy so this experience hasn't super helped." He groaned, scratching himself more. He really didn't like talking about himself, let alone this stuff.

"Right. Of course." Zrea said simply as the younger man explained why he seemed so upset. With good reason if everything he said was true, that of which the counselor had a few doubts. "Now I can not say what was right or wrong, at the time with such an emergency going on, such a small infraction may have gone. Forgotten. I can imagine that there were quite a few people injured or killed from the incident. There are probably still ramifications that the headmistress is still dealing with today."

While the green haired man finally began to understand why he was in such a particular fuss whenever there was mention that the woman may not have been entirely wrong. If she was against the faunus rights, well that would make many of the students here upset at the least. Some of the others, would probably have retaliated with violence at even the mere mention. At least that is was Zrea thought, this was actually the first student he had spoken to more than in passing greeting. "I shall recant what I said, at least that this head of security could have been in the right. While I still can not blame those in charge for heeding her advice at the time, at least now with some reason I can understand why."

Zrea was not going to miss the distrust of authority that the young man had mentioned. Yet he did not feel like this was the best time to touch up on that. "Of course I can make no promises." He said to the faunus. "But I will do what I can. Though, I must say quickly. Is there a name I can mention to the headmistress, or are you just going to have to be that one student she stopped talking to?"

"Maybe there are still a few ripples, but for me to have gone around a year without any communication? That's quite strange isn't it? Especially with the potential underlying racial bias to the situation, whether it's true or not there's signs suggesting it which she hasn't cleared up. Again, two non-faunus students getting off free while I got a month locked in my dorm room having my life dictated to me. It doesn't seem quite right does it?"" Richard informed, finishing his scratching and withdrawing his claws. The once split skin at the tip of his finger resealing and the claw rejoining with the bone.

Richard Lionheart is probably what she has me registered under, I think that'd be what I put on the application forms." he nodded, "Hopefully she'll respond to you, if you're new here you can't have done anything to tick her off yet right? I hope not at least, well she'd probably fire you if you had."

Richard yawned, "This is really all I was here for, don't think I need any kind of actual counseling with anything else. I'm dodging responsibilities but that's my nature and I'm happy doing it. If you'll send off a message then I guess we're done?"

Zrea nodded, he did think it a bit odd that it all played out that way. Though he could understand the issues of racial tension for the faunus, he had not ever had to deal with that personally and as empathetic as he could be was not able to put himself in the younger fella's shoes. What made the whole ordeal even more outlandish in his own opinion was that the headmistress was a faunus herself. There must have been some other motive that this student in front of him had not been told, and now that the counselor had assumed this his own curiosity began to peak. He would wait until later, after the standard lecture periods passed before reaching out to the headmistress in some way or another. Scroll would probably be easiest, that way she could answer whenever she had a chance rather than him barging in and demanding answers for something that probably was none of his business.

"I hope not as well." Zrea said with laugh. "Though that would be a feat to do so on my first day working here." He kept the fact that it was his first time working somewhere like this at all to himself. "But yes I will speak to Headmistress Lilac on your behalf Richard. I can't make any promises, but I'll let you know what happens." Of course if the news was not something that the young faunus may have wanted to know, the counselor felt that it would be in his own best interest to stall a couple days maybe. Yet that would all depend on what exactly he was told.

The counselor stood, moving to the door and opening it slowly and non-threateningly. "If you say that is all that you wish to speak about I will not keep you here." Zrea spoke soundly and calmly. This was not a prison where he would try and reform people, it was a place where they could let off some steam, ask for advice, and if they must, work on some plan of action to better themselves. At least that was how the magician saw his position. "Though I would like it if you came back another day and we could talk over your dodging responsibilities as you just said. I can't rightly say that as one of the staff here that I can agree with you on that part. But that was not why you were here and I will not press further."

Zrea moved to sit back down with his paper in his lap unless the student wished to say anything else. The door was open for anyone else to enter as well as that actually did not take all that long. Though if the next person to walk through that door demanded something in the entryway, he rolled the idea of smacking them with the paper through his head with a chuckle.

Richard rose, slightly muddy boots very nearly marking the chair he was sitting on. "That's all I really wanted, hopefully you should be able to get to me through my scroll like she got to me. I think there's a list of students somewhere for you to pull up or something. She was able to contact me without even my name if I recall... which is quite strange in itself."

As for the following halve he shrugged, making his way toward the door; "I can't really be bothered with dealing with Lecturers or classes, that's all there really is to it. Do my work in the library alone or in the forest, much simpler and less tedious that way. I doubt I'll see you for a while, hopefully you get back to me soon."

And without even a simple goodbye Richard was gone, letting the door slam shut behind him he began to make his way back up the stairs and toward his dorm room; promptly collapsing onto the bed on his arrival.

Zrea was satisfied with the conclusion of his first student visitor. Certainly thing may not have gone quite as he would have imagined, being made into a proxy for contact with the headmistress. But at least the counselor had not been made a fool of or been screamed at. Some time had passed between now and when Richard left, and after making a quick note of the inferences he could make about the young man, Zrea had immediately set about cleaning off the cushions of the loveseat. He had not the tools to do a deep cleaning like he would like. That faunus had a certain grime to his look that had caused the counselor to panic, and now that he could he patted down the fabric covered furniture with a damp towel.

After that was said and done Zrea folded and tossed the rag onto the corner of his desk, taking a look at the agenda for the day. Nothing was written, particularly because Zrea did not know of any long-standing appointments or whom from before needed monitoring. There were a couple students that he had been told were asked to visit today, but honestly forgot when they were supposed to be. Still, there had been such a large gap between Richard leaving and now that he felt he could sneak away from the office for a little while.

With the intent of looking in on one of the lectures to ease his growing boredom, Zrea tossed his coat jacket onto the back of his high backed chair. With the solid wooden doir between him and his momentary adventure, he could not help but smirk slightly. Would anyone even know who he was? An idea formed of acting like an upperclassmen, if only for the story. He pulled on a brass handle, and stopped. There was a student, a young woman just waiting there. Had she thought he was busy? The newest staff member thought that maybe he should find a door stop somewhere next time he was out. He did not recognize her face, but he did assume she was one of his actual planned meetings. "How are you? Please come in." He said with one of his calmest attitudes possible and without any hiccup that he was surprised she was there. Hopefully this one was not troubled, but why else would she be here if that was not the case?