Goners of Syne (Team Formation/Sakura, Gareth, and Noire)

Rika glanced at the clock impatiently waiting for these “others” to show up. She’d been called into the conference room within the admin building of Syne academy. She didn’t know why she was here, just that it was supposedly something important, and that she had to wait for some other people to arrive before she could know why she’d been called here.

Unfortunately, the pigtailed cat-girl wasn’t one for waiting around, and as such had shown up early having misread the time. The thought of double checking hadn’t even occurred to her until she’d gotten here, and now the energetic redhead was stuck waiting around, sitting cross legged on the table of the empty conference room staring at the wall.

Ugh this was soooooo boring…. She wondered if she was in trouble for something. The last time she’d been called into the admin building it had after all been to be notified she needed to take the additional classes that were now assigned to her in the mornings, but still she hadn’t really had a choice to not show up. Eventually her boredom overtook her, and the sound of snoring was soon audible as she fell asleep, still sitting cross legged on the table.

Maybe somebody would show up after a quick nap?

The Administration Building. The building where a student would finalize their enrollment at Syne Academy. Sakura had only been here once and that was to complete her enrollment process. However, there was another reason why she was here today. She had received a message on her scroll telling her that she should go to the Conference Room which was located in the Administration Building. Sakura was not sure what this was about, but she decided to go there anyways just in case it was a serious matter. With her, Sakura had her tea set and some of the fresh pastries she had baked earlier.

After entering the Administration Building, Sakura was led to the Conference Room which was located down the hall. As soon as she entered, Sakura saw her best friend Rika sleeping cross-legged on the table. Sakura couldn't help but smile at the sight before quietly taking out the fresh baked pastries that she had made earlier for herself and Nyx. Soon after, the smell of fresh baked pastries began to permeate the air.

Gareth took his time going to the Administration building. The summons said it was important but he had plenty of time before it started and he wasn’t in a hurry to find out what the meeting would be about. The pessimist in him insisted it was on his basic performance in just about everything or a tuition mishap or something. The optimist figured it was just routine or even maybe giving him a proper weapon and schedule.
He scratched his chin as he walked inside.
No sense driving himself nuts over something that was most likely minor.
Inside was two people he had already met: Rika and Sakura.
“Hey,” he said affably. “Were you guys called to room 105 too?”
The pessimist and the optimist would both have to reassess their guesses if there were going to be other students at the meeting.
“Did they tell you what this was supposed to be about? The message was pretty sparse for me.”

You would think that after being enrolled at Syne for a while now, Noire would be able to navigate the place at least somewhat well. But no. She got lost constantly, probably because she got distracted easily. Any little shiny thing, any animal that crossed her path - just about anything, really - was enough for her to forget what she was doing almost completely. She would remember a few minutes later, only to get distracted again. This time, she had chased a small bird that had somehow gotten trapped indoors. She spent about ten minutes running through the halls until she managed to lure the poor thing to an open window.

At that point, she was already late. The meeting she had been summoned to sounded important. The young girl didn't want to get in trouble for missing it. Standing where she was, however, she had no idea how to get to the administration building. That was another ten or twenty minutes of trying and failing to find her way once again. Someone had once told her that her scroll could serve as a map, but she didn't know how to use that feature yet.

Standing in front of room 105 - and having barged into the wrong room a couple of times before - she burst through the door. "I made it!" She said, not bothering to see if someone else was talking. Panting, the ram girl stood there for a while to catch her breath before going over to take a seat.

The arrival of other people in itself would have done little to awaken the Redheaded faunus normally. The introduction of sweets into the vicinity however had a very different effect, and a single blue eye opened, a hand simultaneously reaching for the pastries. Both eyes opened as soon as she recognized Sakura. “Sakura, yer the best!” She said as she took her prize, eagerly devouring the pastry.

She blinked when she saw Gareth come into the room, a bit confused by his presence… Speaking of why was Sakura here either? That didn’t make any sense at all to her. “Wait, why are you guys here anyways…ya didn’t flood the laundry room too didja?” To be fair it was that one girl’s fault for shoving her, and she hadn’t meant to flood the whole room, just to get her a bit wet. “Er I mean…”

The next arrival showed up a minute later bursting in with an announcement of her arrival. Rika didn’t know the faunus that had just shown up, but she was even more confused than ever now. She’d half assumed she was here for a prank she’d done, but Sakura wouldn’t get in trouble for something like that, the sound of someone clearing their throat would be heard from the other door on the other end of the room, two men and a woman standing there waiting for the attention of the group.
“If that is all, I would prefer we get things started!” The man in the middle said.

"It brings me great pleasure to see that you enjoy my baking, Miss Rika. I have always loved baking baking for other people." Sakura replied politely as she smiled at her best friend. Ever since she was a kid, Sakura had always loved baking for her family and friends. It brought her great joy to see the happy faces of the people who eat her pastries/confections.

Soon after, Gareth arrived at the Conference Room too. As he entered, Gareth said "Hey" before asking if both Rika and Sakura had been called to the Conference Room as well. Sakura returned a polite greeting to Gareth before thinking about his question a bit. Why would Syne Academy call them to the Administration Building out the blue like this? Sakura was not sure exactly but she had a hunch. However, Sakura didn't say anything about the matter for now. She was going to wait and see what was going on. Soon after, Sakura heard the door burst open and a voice yell "I made it!!". Sakura quickly turned around and recognized the owner of the voice as Noire.

"Oh, Miss Noire. It is a pleasure to meet you again." Sakura greeted politely as Noire went over to take a seat in a chair. The panting told Sakura that Noire was tired. Sakura then asked Noire "How are you doing, Miss Noire?" before taking a seat when an administrator requested their attention.

Gareth waved to the new person as the total students called to the same room increased to four. It didn’t seem to be a fluke on anyone’s part, and when a trio of administrators also entered the conference room he was assured that the seven of them were the people expected for this mystery meeting.
He sat down with the others to hear what this would be about. He couldn’t think of anything he would have in common with the other three students in the room.
For one, they were all girls. Sakura wasn’t the same major as he was and looked like she had a much better education and knowledge under her belt than he did. Rika was at least the same major as he was, but from what he could tell they didn’t exactly seem to share interests. Then the last girl he hadn’t met yet, but he didn’t have much confidence she would have any more in common than the others he hardly knew.
The meeting would definitely be interesting, if nothing else.

Realizing how she had made her entrance, Noire suddenly froze. She was carried away by the moment, by her running and her fear of being late and getting scolded. Now, though, she reverted back to her usual self. Whenever fighting wasn't involved, Noire lost all self-confidence. It was especially bad around humans. She had a general fear or them, fueled by past mistreatment.

Knees shaking slightly and heat hammering in her chest, she scanned the room, right to left. There was a boy with dark hair and tanned skin, who seemed to recognize the other two. Next was Sakura - the girl with pink hair. She didn't know much about the girl, but they had fought before. That had to be a good sign, right? Lastly, to the poor ram girl's relief, was a cat faunus with dark red hair.

Head ducked and moving quickly to avoid getting yelled at, she sat next to the aforementioned faunus. It made her more comfortable, especially when surrounded with strangers. And although Sakura was more of an acquaintance, the administration staff and the other boy weren't.

No one had called her out just yet, which was a good start. The administrators simply began the meeting now that all those called were there. The white haired girl would have worried about what it was if she weren't trying to calm herself down and pass unnoticed.

Rika looked at the serious looking people in suits, she didn’t really get why someone would wear something like that, it didn’t seem like it was all that comfortable. The woman of the group of academy representatives gave her a disapproving look at her position sitting on the table, but the meaning of the look was lost on the redheaded faunus. And as such she remained, the girl didn’t know why the ram girl sat next to her but she wouldn’t really think much of it even if she had, as Rika was more curious about who this chick was. She’d seemed more fun a moment ago, but now she was actin’ all shy’n stuff.

The pigtailed girl had no clue why the four of them were here, and apparently it seemed unlikely they were all in trouble, so she would just wait and see what would happen, turning her attention to the three in the suits instead.

(Sakura will now be controlling the NPCs)

(OOC: Starting from this post, I'll be in charge of RPing the administrator.)

"Alright. Looks like all of you have arrived. You four must be wondering why you have been called to this Conference. I won't beat around the bush. After two particular incidents, Syne Academy had that it would be prudent to have the two people involved in the incidents in question be assigned to a team with two other people." The administrator explained as he slammed two large files onto the Conference Table. As he did so, he looked first at Rika and then at Noire.

"Due to the nature of the formation of this team, the Academy had decided to assign two people who we deemed "mature" enough spots within this team." The administrator added as he looked at Sakura for a bit before looking at Gareth.

"If you have any questions, you can ask them now." The administrator added finally as he looked around the room. To be honest, he had strong reservations about this team. For one, there were two troublemakers in the from of the red-head and the ram faunus. Secondly, the most mature person in the team was a guardian type who was equipped with two shields. Finally, the last member of the team was a total nobody and was average at best. The administrator had sever doubts that this team would last long out in the field.

To be exact, he and the rest of the administrators had started a betting pool to see how long this team would last. Another administrator has called this potential team a "lost cause" or "goners". The administrator had betted that this team wouldn't last through a hunt together. As he thought about this, he waited quietly for the questions to roll in.

While this was happening, Sakura was listening carefully. It didn't take her long to figure out who the two troublemakers were; Rika and Noire. However, she was a bit surprised that the Academy would put two troublemakers on the same time. Despite of this, Sakura understood the reason why she and Gareth were there.

Gareth frowned as the administrator gave his brief explanation.
Did he have any questions?
One in particular came to mind.
“Why me?” Gareth asked, perhaps a notch too sharply. He took a breath and readjusted himself to start again more tactfully. “What I mean is: I’ve really just started here like, yesterday,” he explained. “I don’t think I’m exactly qualified to be on a hunter team.” Especially given the team was expressly to keep two apparent troublemakers occupied and out of the way. He also wasn’t sure if the fact that no one apparently knew each other (except Sakura and Rika) also was an unconventional team formation aspect.
“Maybe we could put this off a semester or so?” Gareth suggested politely. “Just to give everyone a chance to settle in.”
And give himself a chance to decide if it was worth dropping out if he couldn’t get out of hunter teams. (He really didn’t like fighting all that much. He had been hoping to do more logistical support and dust-focused things.)

So she had done something wrong...

While being assigned to a team wasn't really a punishment, the reason for it was underwhelming. Sitting in a chair next to the cat faunus, Noire looked down at her hands, resting over her thighs. What had she even gotten in trouble for? Was it her fight with Pluton? Sure, it had been in public, but no one had gotten hurt. She had a couple of run ins with thieves and the like, but she hadn't caused a big enough commotion to be branded as a troublemaker, had she? Part of the girl was saddened by this while a smaller one was angry.

She couldn't put why into words, but deep down she knew. Having been raised the way she was, Noire was making an enormous effort to fit into society. As a child, she hadn't even been taught to read. She grew up being told that her purpose was to fight and nothing more. By her own standards, Noire was doing an excellent job at fitting into Syne and Bellmuse as a whole. To be told the contrary was heartbreaking.

The young girl took a deep breath and exhaled to keep herself from crying. She didn't protest, but she harbored some resentment towards the administrators. Tentatively, she held her hand up. "Who's my partner?" She asked quietly, avoiding eye contact. Best case scenario, she would be paired up with the other faunus. If not, at least let it be Sakura.

It took a few minutes for Rika to realize that she was in fact one of the two mentioned troublemakers, and her reaction to it would be no surprise to anyone that knew her. The pigtailed girl didn’t know much about how teams normally formed, but it didn’t matter because she didn’t like what was being implied. “Hey! I’ll have ya know I’m the maturest girl ya will ever meet!” She proclaimed, offended at the idea she wasn’t mature, whatever the heck that meant.

The pigtailed faunus’ eyes widened learning who the other person was though. She supposed it made sense, Sakura hadn’t been involved in any weird incidents, and Gareth didn’t seem like the type ta go doing anything like that. The ram girl seemed just like a shy girl to Rika, and she glared at the administrators with renewed scorn, as even RIKA could tell it was distressing the girl. “These guys don’t know nothin’ bout nothin!”

The administrator just ignored Rika's outburst and focused on the two questions that he was asked. The question the administrator wanted to answer first was the one Gareth asked him. From this question, the administrator knew that Gareth was not cut out for this hunter academy. He had one reply for these kind of people.

"If that is your answer, then please leave the academy. The academy does not have time or the patience to deal with people who doesn't want to participate in the hunter's lifestyle. The door is right there." The administrator replied nonchalantly to Gaerth's question. The way that the administrator answered his question was starting to rub Sakura the wrong way. Sakura did not like it when people, even if they are in power, treated people she knew in an extremely disrespectful manner. After answering Gareth's question, the administrator then looked at Noire with piercing eyes. At this point, Sakura had already gone over to where Noire was sitting where she began stroking/petting her head in a reassuring manner.

"To answer your question. You will be assigned to be Sakura's partner. After that incident in the city, the academy has severely decided against putting you together with the other faunus. The academy does not want to deal with the liability of putting you two together. Also, I hope that having someone of the opposite temperament like Sakura watching you would help rein in your reckless and fight loving behavior. You are quite lucky to be receiving this consideration, Noire. To me, you are beyond a lost cause and big waste of time." The administrator replied in the same nonchalant tone. As Sakura listened to this, she couldn't help but feel anger slowly built up within her. The administrator was pushing it.

Gareth tightened his jaw at the administrator's words. It was mildly annoying to be dismissed out of hand (though admittedly not unexpected). It was another matter altogether for him to act so callously and contemptuously towards the two faunus in the room, supposed troublemakers or otherwise. “I can only hope to end up as articulate as you. Is that a class here?” Gareth asked overly lightly, leaning on the table. Without missing a beat, he dropped the smile and scowled, looking much sterner than he usually did. “It sounds like you’re just throwing a bunch of misfits together and expecting it to go away,” Gareth said sharply. He didn’t like how the admin had addressed the girl he hadn’t met— Noire?-- on top of his previous lack of appreciation at having a team expressly formed to keep ‘troublemakers’ occupied. “Why bother making this team at all if you’re convinced it’s doomed from the start? Did the paperwork not work out so nicely for you?”
Admittedly, he wasn’t entirely sure how teams were supposed to form and work, or when, but he was pretty sure throwing a bunch of strangers in a room and telling them how much you disapproved of them wasn’t it.