Arriving among strangers

Jaiden pushed her cat ears forwards and underneath her hair, holding them down to keep them well hidden from the discriminative eyes that might fall on her as she walked through the commons. She was new here, but she was not new to the concept of hiding what you were.

She tilted her head back looking upon the academy, mixed thoughts and feelings about it rushing right in. Humans and Faunus came here, even if some Faunus chose to hide what they were if they could. She let a slightest edge of a smirk reach her lips, "Presumptive of me to assume? Or am I just analyzing?" She said to herself before she looked down again and glancing among whoever may be present.

What to do, what to do. So many people, so little imagination. So much to see and so much to understand. But never enough time to do it all. We're all on a time limit, set to die one day. Some would call that a curse, others would say it's mercy. But I think it's just the way things are. She thought, But I guess I'm not here to think of just humans and Faunus, we're here to protect against Grimm correct? That's where my thought should lay. How to destroy them. The grin grew at the thought of fighting them.

Not too much work, but work nonetheless considering her arrival here was quite sudden. Though, she had been hoping to go to the beach today to see the ocean once again, and possible take a swim before the weather started to cool too much. For now, she was staring at the sky as she lied down for a bit, taking a bit of a break from her studies on dust and its applications. She did however tilt her head as she saw someone walking past her in the corner of her eye, Jaiden to be exact. She suddenly twisted her legs and sat straight up. "Oooh my, if that idn't something tasty." she said quietly to herself

She suddenly stood up and started chasing behind Jaiden "Oi! Mind if I walk witcha?" She started shouting quite a bit back, but was fast enough to catch up to her before even voicing her question fully, and was already stepping into cadence with Jaiden.

She just started thinking about what exactly to do next when Jaiden turned her head as she heard someone shouting seemingly in her direction, but even without slowing down, the other girl had already caught up with her and gotten in step. She opened her mouth and for a second nothing came out as she thought up her response,
"Umm, yeah sure. Not exactly sure which direction I'm going yet though." She responded smiling for a moment and figuring out what to say next, I'm Jaiden by the way, kind of just got here I suppose."

Well she certainly seems friendly. That's good...I hope. I mean I guess it might not be but let's see where the chips fall first right? She thought analyzing her instinctively. She ran a finger along her chin thinking about it as her eyes drifted off, Don't suppose you have any suggestions for starting out?

Remy put her arms behind her head as she walked. "Aye. 'at's fine. Ye look like yer pleasant company enough, and I needed a break from m'studies an' whatnot anyhow." She tilted her head toward Jaiden and grinned at her, moving her gloved hand forward toward Jaiden. "Ah, I'm Remy, er at least 'at's what everyone keeps calling me." Remy laughed a bit at her own joke, as she began to ponder the inquiry poised toward her.

"Ehm, I got 'ere a little before the year started. Y'know classes an' such. So, I was able to be at the orientation. They sorted everything fer me, so I guess 'at the staff'd be the best bet for what yer looking fer." Remy had her other hand against her head as she shook it a bit, trying to physically rack her brain to come up with some kind of idea for how to best help her compatriot. "Yep, I'd rely on the staff 'round 'ere fer any questions ye may 'ave. They mighta said something to us, but my memory ain't the best anyhow."

Jaiden reached forwards and shook Remy's hand listening as she responded, with some amusement evident on her face. "Pleasure to meet ya." She said with a nod of her head. Well she's easier to talk to then some anyway. That's certain, takes most of the stress off of me.

She ran her hands through her hair, carefully avoiding her ears to avoid making them slip out, "Heh, yeah I guess that really is a question for staff. I suppose I probably should have gotten here for that shouldn't I? Ah well, can't turn back time so I guess I'll just have to talk to a staff member later on." She visibly grimaced, although partly as a joke, trying to clarify that by smiling afterwards.

"Hm. Well then...I've run out of things to say already, goodness gracious. Sorry about that." She said frowning, "I'm not the greatest conversationalist if you didn't notice. Unless you want to talk theories on some subjects, then I can talk for awhile."

Remy moved her hands behind her head again, puffing her chest forward the slightest bit as she was stretching, maybe even pretending to stretch. She puffed her cheeks out as well as she closed her eyes, listening to her conversational partner. She suddenly blew all the air out of her cheeks and looking back to Jaiden, smiling.

Near the end of the dialogue, Remy began to pucker her lips in thought, soon smirking and chiming once more. "Ah, I knew ye looked smart. All the pretty ones are always smart." Remy looked sidelong for a moment as she looked Jaiden up and down briefly. "All o' my theories got to do with new ship designs. Sea ships, not the flying ones. Like the general implementation of water turbines to make a motion powered ship 'at only needs to keep movin' to keep movin' if ya catch how I mean." Remy places her hands on her hips as she thought. It was rare that she actually got like this, generally only thinking this hard about ships, the sea, or how to impress a cutie, which as far as she was concerned, were all categories that flowed into this situation as whole.

She smiled awkwardly at the compliment, scratching her head in utter confusion at how to respond to that. Fortunately the topic changed to theories, and not boring theories either. Science theories, which only took second on her list of favorite types because she understood combat more.

Now that's an interesting topic. Although, I'm pretty sure it's not possible to just have something simply keep moving. I mean, air resistance, and friction to the water are both factors in that. So you'd have to be getting the kinetic energy from the water, like...underwater currents or something? Is that the sort of thing you were intending on catching onto or something?" She asked in thought biting her lip, "That'd actually be pretty cool to have a ship that would just keep moving in the ocean. Just shove it off the docks and let it keep going only giving it the maintenance and direction it needs, and getting supplies for the crew. It'd make for a fantastic barge or war boat don't you think? Not so much a fishing boat probably though."
She nodded smiling, "You think of these things actually living around boats or are you just interested in those types of topics?"

Remy kept her hands on her hips but nodded with her eyes shut as she walked. "Ocean's always got a current, no matter how low in pressure it may be. I was thinkin' 'bout using ball bearings on the turbines to make em less fickle in'na way o' friction y'know?"

The ship would have to be more mechanical, not wooden or using sails or the like. That's make it more stable too, albeit she'd be a fussock in the way of moving. Yes indeed, she'd be fatter and slower than what she prefers to handle. She opened her eyes again and smiled at the question Jaiden had poised.

"Aye, she'd kill Grimm right and well she would." Then, there was yet another question to answer, more personal now. "Aye. Lived on a single ship my whole life up 'till abouts now. Can't say it's worse 'ere on land, but it's a square change fer sure. 'Specially since this is my first time actually living on land." Remy looked off wistfully to the sky, wondering how much different it had to be to use an airship than a sea ship, soon daydreaming about her time on the big blue lake of Remnant.

She shrugged, Ah well, can't say much in terms of knowing what a ball bearing is. I know things by sight and touch more then by their names. Sounds like it'd be less friction, if I'm right about what it is. Can't be sure though."


Jaiden was one of those people who were intermediate on their feelings about water, well, she was fine with water. Just not getting wet for no reason. The ocean was a different story, she tried to avoid going on a boat somewhere unless she absolutely had to. Or going over large masses of water, out of fear, however irrational, of getting stranded in the middle of it and drowning there with no one to help and no way to survive.


She listened as Remy explained that she'd essentially grown up on a boat. The thought of a rocking of a boat...for years, was a bit of something that put Jaiden ill at ease. Whether or not it visibly showed.

She looked at Remy's face and up into the sky as if she was wondering if she could see whatever Remy could, before simply bringing her eyes back down to to the ground and what was ahead of them, "What made you stop? It certainly doesn't sound like you were annoyed with it or anything, though to be honest, I think I probably would be pretty fast. The ocean isn't exactly my 'cup of tea' so to speak. I like my feet on something solid, or at least something that is attached to something solid."[/i]

Remy looked back from the sky looking a bit confused for a moment. "Huh? I didn't grow tired in the slightest." She looked back at the sky for a moment, then back to Jaiden with a half-hearted smile on her face. "Oh, was just a bit o' the ladies misfortune. Storm kicks up an' it's scary an' all that, then come the gutless Grimm to clean up what's left." Her smile was gone for the slightest of seconds, before returning again stronger than before. "Then I'm 'ere learning t'kill Grimm, then I see a nice looking girl an' come to start to chat with her."

Remy felt like that summed up the situation fairly well without being too detailed or turning it into one, long sob-story reaching out for attention. She shrugs and tilts her head a bit. "I'm sure it'll all be fine in time. Life has a way o' working itself out. Fer better er worse."

Jaiden furrowed her brow, Did her ship get destroyed, then Grimm came and killed whoever else might be on the remains? Or they tried at least. Sounds like the sort of thing that would have involved casualties.

She cocked her head to look at Remy, Mentioned my looks again. Was that intentional? I do not understand. What is...never mind. To early to make assumptions, shut up and listen, this persons actually talking to you don't screw that up by overthinking it.

Jaiden nodded in thought as Remy finished, "Yes I suppose it does. Seems you've certainly had an...interesting life, of sorts, so far. Mine was much more mundane I suppose, so it's not something particularly interesting to talk about." She scratched the back of her neck, "Fighting though, that I've always enjoyed. Perhaps a bit more then I should. Either way though, I think once I actually get to battle Grimm my own life will get more interesting. You know, if I'm not torn to shreds." She chuckled at the end. "Well, hopefully not torn to shreds. But best to think of how bad things could turn out, at least that's my opinion."

Remy gently punched Jaiden in the shoulder before placing his hands on her hips. "Oi, it dudn't do anyone any kinda good to be thinking that way. If ye made it 'ere, then yer at least good enough to fight a few o' the beasties." Remy puffed her cheeks out and furrowed her brow, looking slightly annoyed at the prospect that Jaiden would believe that. "Sure it happens to some people."

Remy opened a single eye and grinned at Jaiden, thrusting her hand forward and pointing at herself with a thumb. "But it don't happen to people like us, least of all if I'm still witcha when the time comes." Remy crossed her arms and looked forward, giving a small nod as if to affirm herself of some kind of promise. She looks over her shoulder, her books still barely in sight, but swats a hand at the air in a sort of dismissal of the idea that they were going to be going anywhere at all..

Jaiden placed a foot further to the side to stabilize herself from expectation of the gentle punch having more force behind it but merely blinked for a moment realizing that might have been a bit odd to expect that.

She smiled and shrugged, "Ah well, maybe I do tend a bit too far to the pessimistic side." She took in a breath and let it out as her eyes drifting back to where Remy was looking for a moment, wondering if she should redirect the course to circle around back to them. And deciding to redirect the next time they neared an obstacle, to be sure nobody could take the chance to steal her books. However unlikely that might be. "Still though, I've only just gotten here. And I'm sort of the type to end up putting myself in that position unless there's a strategic way to save more lives by not doing it."

She shook her head to clear it up and change topic slightly, "Do you enjoy fighting them? Or is this more along the lines of a duty or something?"

Remy considered the inquiry with some measure of thought well above what she usually afforded to her other considerations, tapping her finger on her chin a few times. "Do I enjoy fighting em?" She parroted the question in both parts. "Is it a duty?" Remy poked her tongue into her cheek briefly before clapping her gloved hands together in a sort of eureka style realization.

"Bit o' both, being honest with myself. The buggers caused a lot o' pain to some o' the people I cherish the most. O' course, I made a promise to take the fight to em and pay em back right." She made a fist and held it up in a sort of symbolic gesture. "But I'd not 'ave made that promise if I didn't want to. I hate the beasties, so thrashing em 'bout makes m'feel a bit at ease, like... there idn't nothing wrong with what I'm doing at all."

She puffed her chest out again, placing her fists on her hips. "Sometimes I get some o' those hero moments, but they don't never last too long. Still fun to think 'bout it like 'at fer a bit."

Jaiden nodded in thought, "Ah makes sense." She said simply dropping into thought of fighting them. Which turned into wondering how others fought them. She preferred in and out attacks and her semblance or dust, and finding a way for her allies to work best together if she had them. But some people preferred to act as tanks, or playing the part of a team supporter and not get especially involved directly aside from a few attacks that wouldn't get them into to much danger.


She started redirecting to where they'd end up turning at certain corners to end up back at Remy's books after awhile, or close enough anyway. "Since we're on the topic, how do you take them on? I mean, I have basically a dagger, my Gust semblance, and dust. I prefer to fight with varying attacks and whatnot, locate weaknesses, do things tactically. How about you? You're particular fighting style or weapon? Don't know if that's a boring question for you or not but I like those things."

Remy realized how this girl had taken them back to her books by diverting their path to bring them back here. "Thanks love, appreciated." Remy pulled out her scroll and signaled for her locker to drop in. She'd really rather not carry these books without any sort of bag to hold them in, so this seemed better. As a matter of fact, Jaiden had brought up weapons and fighting, making this all the more advantageous as Remy pulled her shotgun and it's holster from the locker. She strapped the holster to the side of her leg and cocked the lever with one hand, causing the shell to spring out. Remy caught the shell with her free hand and handed it off to Jaiden before flipping the lever back and sliding the the shotgun against her leg dexterously.

"Shotgun herself ain't too special. 'S whats in those shells 'at make her so good fer killing. I handload every shell with a specific dust an' pellet ratio fer each situation. My semblance just makes weapons an' armor more effective at doing what they're supposed to."

Remy slammed her locker shut and sent it shooting off into the sky once more, before grinning. "Far as I go, I'm real fast." She tapped her arm a few times. "Also quite the looker and personality, if I'm saying so myself." She giggled and got back into step with Jaiden.

Jaiden nodded as she mentioned approaching the books and she called the locker in. She stepped back just a little bit instinctively as it rushed in, not really out of fear of getting hit, just to avoid it in case. She looked with interest as she removed a shotgun from the locker and handed her the shell.

Sweet. That's very nifty. She thought examining it and looking back up as she explained, "That's rather useful I bet." Jaiden said simply nodding as she finished explaining and shut the locker.

She shook her head and chuckled at the last two comments about her speed, and her personality. "Certainly more so then some I've known. Can't say much for your speed though, haven't actually seen much of it to say so. I'm pretty moderate though, I'm sure with a little extra training I could get better but at present I'm more along the lines of 'Just good enough'."

Remy grinned and waved her hand in the air in front of Jaiden. "Aye, 'at's the spirit. None o' that 'what bad'll come', more o' that 'how d'ya learn from it'. See, 'at's the way t'be." She snatched the shell and pulled her shotgun back out, deftly loading the shell and doing away with her weapon for the final time, patting it on her leg for good measure. Remy then thought for a moment, before coming to a question raised simply by the way Jaiden acted and the question she asked.

"Hey. How many o' them beasties 'ave you fought then? If yer one fer recollecting that easily, 'at is." Remy pulled the bandanna from her hair for a moment before she righted it's position in her hair. The thing had a tendency to loosen with time and she reset it sometimes to make sure it never flew out when she was running or fighting.

She chuckled as Remy tossed the shotgun back into its holster, amused both by her accent and thinking of her fighting. It was an interesting thought, rather cinema like. Making her wonder just how close her theories were to reality. A shotgun with fire, water, or some other element, would make for an extremely useful weapon, especially if the person using it knew what they were doing.

Jaiden leaned her head back and furrowed her brow at the question of how many Grimm she'd fought, that was a tough question considering she knew that number was actually pretty low, but could not manage to actually be sure she was counting right anyway. She usually didn't bother to remember that sort of thing, "Hard to say, and not because I've fought a ton of them." She shrugged, "Has more to do with proving I understand how a battle should go I think in order to win, and that I put so much effort into things such as dust and my semblance."

Remy furrowed her brow for a moment before relaxing herself and laughing lightly. "Well, can't fault ya fer that. 'Specially considering how much I've been on 'bout positivity inna face o' danger."

She glanced at Jaiden and smirked coyly. "Besides, ya certainly seem to talk like ya have a plan fer fighting. And you definitely look capable enough."

Remy laughed again. "Sorry, 'ere I am talking like I'm some sorta authority on fighting when yer at the same school fer it as I am." She rubbed the back of her neck as she thought about how ridiculously she had been talking. "Either way, ya seem to be a lass with a plan, so I guess that gives ya my stamp of approval fer whatever 'ats worth."

Remy did have to admire this girl and her willingness to think on combat so heavily. Sure, Remy was no idiot and was actually one to think on her toes quite a bit, but as far as she could remember, that was the extent of it. She couldn't really remember a time when she started to formulate an an actual, fully fledged plan in the midst of danger.

Jaiden smiled and shrugged, "Well thank you, I appreciate it anyway." She looked at the sky and then the people around, "Bit odd to think that most people don't plan out their fights honestly. But I guess some people are just better at their instincts then I am."

Hm, what should I do now? I've run out of topics personally, except for maybe what the major is she's chosen. Maybe I'll ask her about that, and if she has some way to keep the conversation going I'll go with it. And if not, well I guess I'll have to let her go about her business I suppose. She thought quickly trying not to leave this hanging awkwardly, "Well how about your major? I chose dust, I think it's just too useful to not use. Course it does cost money which is just a little bit of an issue sometimes. But how about you?"

Remy smiled, as it seemed that her word meant at least something to this girl. "As I said, the pretty ones'r always smart." She swung her arms around in a few circles, just trying to coax a bit of the energy from them for now. She was actually stretching one of her arms out a bit when Jaiden began asking about her major, and explaining her reason for being a dust major.

"Huh, major? Oh. Dust, just the same as you. Aye, it's certainly useful, arguably the most useful item on Remnant. I had some experience with using it from living on the sea. Utilized dust fairly often jus' making sure that we made it 'cross to the next port. Water, Plant, an' Earth, pretty good fer making food and water supplie's last jus' a bit longer. Wind dust fer if there weren't a breeze t'keep us moving on ahead." Remy made a point of pantomiming the movements and the ship sails just to keep some interest. "Aye, dust made sure we 'ad an option to plod along or die, rather than no option. But don't think on 'at too much, I don't wanna be seeing ya frown fer hypotheticals er anything like it."

She was starting to feel the need to head to the beach like she had thought about earlier, and wondered if she could possibly get this girl to join her.

You really like that saying don't you? Jaiden thought cocking her head once again at the mention of her being pretty and smart. She stepped back just a bit making sure to avoid getting in the way of the swinging arms, just in case.

Jaiden listened as Remy explained why she'd chosen Dust like Jaiden had. She nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah I imagine you'd actually need that more then most people on land do." She admitted intentionally trying to avoid visually thinking about it so she didn't end up in that deep thought face which didn't appear the most friendly.

Unlike Remy, the beach wasn't even on Jaidens mind when thinking of the ocean. She correlated them, but usually unless someone specifically said 'Beach' she would think of being stuck in the middle of an ocean with no land in sight rather then a sandy connection between water and land. She wasn't exactly afraid of water itself, or even swimming, just getting stuck with no way back to land.


"The ocean can be a terrifying place can't it?" She asked rhetorically and nonchalantly, "Also not something I have particular expertise on."