This is Home? [Open]

Warren nodded in Scarlett's direction as he shut close his notebook with a quiet clapping noise. "Well, a Hunter's weapon tends to be their lifeline on the battlefield, and more often than not, it's also something of a trademark for them. Something unique to every single Hunter, so you'll find plenty of people around here like that, constantly playing around or working on new designs. Even the guys who don't care too much for that sort of thing know usually at least how to properly maintain their gear. If you're ever lacking for ideas or just looking for feedback, feel free to ask around. There'll always be someone around willing to help."

He glanced over at Jet and chuckled, walking over to the suit of armor sitting in the corner, rapping a knuckle against it. "Oh, this? Yea this one's mine, I'd like to say I'd made it with my own two hands, but I had to custom order a lot of the parts. Containers sturdy enough to carry Dust around and not explode when you take a solid hit can be fairly hard to come by, after all." Warren said with a nod. "I suppose I don't mind you looking, just... Just try not to take any of the smaller pieces apart, yea? It's not that I don't trust you, but... I'd rather not have anything break that I don't know about, you know?"

Warren glanced back at Scarlett as she mentioned that she was looking to go to the cafeteria soon. "Well, why don't you just wait a minute and I'll take you both there. It shouldn't take too long for Jet to look over Dust Carapace, it's really relatively simple, with the armor plating, the Dust Containers, and some smaller exo-skeletal components that increase my endurance enough to where it's like the entire thing weighs nothing at all, and then we can all eat together. Does that sound good to you?"

Jet smiled at Scarlett. “Ah, no worries, it will literally take me a few seconds. After that, I like your idea of going to the cafeteria and eat. I have an inexplicable craving for muffins right now… Banana and chocolate chips muffins…”

While talking, Jet walked over Warren’s armor. “Don’t worry; I won’t actually need to move it or anything to look it over.” Jet placed his hand of the chest-piece and activated his semblance. He extended his aura to cover the whole armor, which needed some concentration. The teal aura seemed to be pulsating when he was concentrating, though nothing moved. Jet was only using his semblance to feel the metal parts without moving them. After he had seen what he was interested into, he retracted this hand and smiled. He felt the need to explain though, can’t really shoot aura at someone’s belongings and then not say what you did or didn’t do.

“My semblance is ferrokinesis, control over metal. How it works is I extend my aura to physically touch the metal I want to control with it. It does mean I have a limited range but that’s just normal. Still, I can feel the metal my aura is touching, even if I’m not moving it, and it allows me to sort of “see” it. I’ve used that ability often and now I can use it to “see” the internal details of metal objects and other stuff like that. Basically, I now have a rough understanding of your armor. Not enough to actually know every screws and the function of every parts and definitely not enough to recreate it in anyway, but I could see every metal parts as if you disassembled it and showed them to me. Even though the metal parts aren’t everything, this is something pretty impressive in my opinion. Complex, yet robust and practical. Even if you didn’t forge the pieces yourself you did an excellent job designing this, I don’t think I could have come up with something like that.”

Jet turned himself around to face both of them and lifted the right sleeve of his jacket. Under it, they could see a bracer. The bracer’s exterior was composed of small blades, each fitting into the next one perfectly and coiling around his fore-arm, like a sort of scale bracer. “This is Drachenrüken, which roughly translate to Dragon Spine. It is in its coiled form but it’s basically a blade-whip. I have already planned a few upgrades for it, I just need to work on them when I get the time and the resources.”

Without touching it, the bracer opens partially on the bottom, the linked blades loosening up a bit at the same time to allow the bracer to slide off of his arm. “If you want to take a closer look, feel free. I can dismantle the thing and put it back together in about thirty seconds top, since I do it pretty much every day to make some adjustments or just tweak with it. It’s all made of metal so…” Jet places his weapon on the closest table in case they do want to look at it.

Turning toward Scarlett, Jet tried to see if she had her weapon on her. “I know weapons can be quite personal objects to some so it’s up to you if you want to show us but I would love to take a look at yours. I don’t care what it is they’re all fascinating to me. Every one tends to have their own unique and interesting designs, which is also why some people are reluctant to show their work and I never insist. While I would never copy someone, it does sometimes give me ideas, and sometimes I can share some of those ideas with the person and help in the upgrades they might need.”

Turning toward the door, Jet put his hand on his hips, giving him an overly motivated appearance. “Well! Now that it's all said and done on my part, I'm ready to go whenever you guys are. I can hear the muffins calling!”

Scarlett seemed to snap out of her thoughts to watch Jet describe and explain his weapon. It was quite intricate, much more than hers. Which the red-haired girl found impressive in itself, "Wow..." she mumbled quietly, "Although it's so large that I don't think I'd be able to handle something like that..." she mused before shaking her head, "N-not that I was thinking of using it or anything I... Okay, hang on..." she let out a slow exhale to get her thoughts together.

Instead of continuing her rambling, she nodded towards Jet, "I, uh... really don't mind, but my weapon really isn't that interesting, I'll admit..." she stated as she unhooked her gun from its holster and drew it. The gun itself was completely silver other than the symbol that matched her hairpin, "Well, uninteresting, but I love it... This is Prism, something that my grandfather made for me when I was younger." she explained before flicking the gun, causing it to split, revealing where the ammunition is loaded into. It wouldn't be to hard to realize that the weapon itself works much like a revolver in a few ways.

"Well, my grandfather made it, but I've developed it myself quite a bit." Scarlett continued as she twirled the gun on her index finger before holstering the weapon with a bit of flair, "It's, uh... kind've the one thing I'm good at, really..." she stated as she rubbed the back of her head. Was that too much, she wondered.

The red-haired girl shook her head, "Anyways! Enough about that, huh? Shall we, uh... move on to the cafeteria?" Scarlett asked, glancing towards the two young men as she gave a slightly unsure smile. Not about leaving or spending time with them, but worrying that she sounded like a complete uncool loser when she was talking about Prism. Either way, the best thing to do would be to just move on.

"I see..." Warren said, nodding along as Jet explained his semblance, feeling a tinge of jealousy as he was reminded of his own. It may have been natural to continue the conversation by explaining his own, but that was something he preferred to keep quiet about, and private if at all possible. "Sounds useful..." That same jealousy was replaced by pride as Warren straightened his back and crossed his arms at Jet's praise, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Well of course, I wouldn't be wearing if I didn't trust my life with it." Pride and arrogance were follies to be avoided, and something Warren always endeavored to remove himself from, but it was nice to be given praise when praise was due.

He leaned down and glanced over Jet's weapon, running his finger along the edge of the blade. "Hmm... Interesting... I assume you control it with your semblance then? Whipping it around while it's attached to your wrist like that and in the middle of a fight seems like it could be pretty dangerous with how high the risk of catching yourself on it could be... Maybe if I... No, I'll save that for another time." He stood up and shook his head, shelving the ideas that Jet's weapon brought him aside for later.

Warren glanced over at Scarlett, brow quirked curiously at her comment, and he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and dismissed it. Bringing it up would probably only fluster her more. He looked over Prism in a similar manner like he did Jet's weapon, and nodded. "Your grandfather, huh? He must've been a good craftsman, it's simple, but I can see he put a lot of work into this." He noted the little bit of flair that Scarlett put into holstering Prism. If he had to guess, it wasn't only something Scarlett was good at like she said but something she was proud of as well. Warren studied Scarlett one more time, glancing over her one more time before nodding and turning towards the exit. "If you two would just follow me then..."

He led the two of them across the school, pointing out various landmarks as they went and passed them by. They soon reached the cafeteria, finding the place largely empty as the majority of students were home for the summer, and he found them an empty seat after grabbing their meals, with Warren grabbing actually quite a bit. He'd been sitting around his room fro most of the day after all, and had forgotten to eat earlier. "So, what do you two think of the school so far?" he asked by way of conversation.

While Scarlett and Warren were looking at Drachenrüken, Jet was nodding to their comments. Turning to Warren, he smiled while thinking of his classmates at Sanctum saying he was crazy to design a weapon with which he’d have more chances of killing himself than his target. He showed them though, oh yes he showed them. “Yes, my semblance is very helpful to make every maneuvers easier, but I also learned to control it without my semblance, otherwise I would use my aura too much. It is a pretty dangerous weapon though I agree with you… God knows how many of my scars were self-inflicted during practice…”

Turning to the red headed girl, although he didn’t catch the obviously unintended double meaning to her comment, he agreed with her that she probably would have trouble handling it. Not only because of the particular training necessary for a weapon of that type, but also because it is made entirely of thick metal, making it pretty heavy for a girl like her that physically looks a bit on the weaker side. Looks can be deceiving though and she might actually be strong enough to arm wrestle him with her pinky, but he doubted it. In the end he smiled at her while answering her comment. “With proper training I’m sure you could, starting with a blunt version so you don’t risk cutting your hand off of course… which I didn’t and still regret to that day.” He had indeed a few scars on his hand and wrist, but they were very faint, the cuts being pretty superficial at the time.

When she showed her weapon, Jet looked at it carefully. Since she didn’t hand to him the gun, he didn’t use his semblance to inspect it more either. Still, he though he understood well enough how it works. As she said, the design is simple, but simple doesn’t mean ineffective. He nodded through Warren’s observation of Prism, confirming that he agreed with him. “A simple design doesn’t make a weapon cheap or outdated and definitely not boring. As much as we try to reinvent weapons, in the end, there is a reason everything is based on the classics: it’s because they’re effective. Doesn’t make them easy to make still, poor craftsmanship and poor maintenance will dull any blade and jam any gun. You have nothing to be ashamed off regarding your weapon, using Dust as ammunition for weapons might have become more frequent but it’s still quite a task to make sure they won’t just explode in the chamber, which means the weapon itself needs to be of the highest quality and it needs to be expertly maintained. The fact that it’s working at all is a testament of you and you’re grandfather’s skill.”

Once again, he had let himself go on the subject. Jet had that tendency to just forget he’s in a conversation, not a monologue. That happens mostly when talking about weapons, machines and other gadgets. In this case though it was hard not to try and raise the girl’s self-esteem. Jet had just met her and almost every time she talked she was depreciating herself. While very cute, it isn’t very healthy and Jet would probably find himself praising and encouraging her for whatever reason without even realising it. He’s just that sort of guy and not just with girls, he just tends to care more easily when it’s a girl.

During the trip to the cafeteria Jet tried to initiate small talk with both of them related to whatever Warren was pointing. The school was bigger than he thought actually. Whenever they were outside his vision would be impaired but thanks to the sky being somewhat cloudy, he was able to follow whatever comments Warren had on any structure and landmarks he pointed to even if he could only see the outlines of those far away. Should they say anything apologetic about him not seeing well, he would simply wave off the comment with a smile, telling them he could see well enough for the moment and would simply see it better later during his nighttime stroll.

Once they reached the cafeteria – with Jet mumbling about muffins again once it was in sight – they grabbed their food and got to an empty spot quickly enough. The food variety was pretty good and while they didn’t have the specific muffin Jet wanted – banana and chocolate – the chocolate chips ones looked good enough, so he grabbed two; one for desert and the second for later at night as he always got hungry around midnight during his walks. He was pretty hungry already though so he also took quite a lot of food for his main dish, though after sitting down and looking at it, he had to frown wondering if he didn’t take more than he could actually eat. Oh well, they probably did doggy-bags, right?

Between two mouthfuls – he did swallow before talking, he’s not a pig – he answered Warren’s question. “It’s bigger than I expected. To be honest, when I first heard of this Hunter school, I thought it was a small one, seeing as it’s not really elevated to the same standard as Haven or Beacon or the other school from the four big kingdoms. I do stand corrected now though, the school looks pretty much on the same level as the big four if not better in a certain way.”

Scarlett would have just blinked at the praise, a slight blush filling her cheeks as she wasn't entirely sure how to respond. It's not that she was never praised before, but that she's not used to anyone doing it other than her grandfather. She shut her mouth, seeming to just shift awkwardly at whatever amount of attention was given to her. Granted, she completely agreed with everything they were saying about her Prism and grandfather, that the gun being quite an impressive weapon and her grandfather being more than a skilled craftsman, but accepting the compliments on herself was a bit more difficult to accept.

Shaking her head, Scarlett followed the young men out the door. While she didn't say much during the trip, she would smile and nod as Warren showed them things and would even answer and respond to Jet's smalltalk throughout the journey. For the most part, she did about what anyone would expect a meek girl to do.

When the trio grabbed their brunch and took their seat, grabbing quite a bit of fruit and whatever sweets she could find. She let out a sigh, glancing around and worrying that she was drawing too much attention from the people that almost certainly didn't care. She wasn't even quite sure what attention she would be drawing, but it certainly worried her. To calm her nerves, she tried to focus on the food in front of her and her roommates' conversations, "E-eh?" she asked, having blanked out for a few moments, "Oh! Erm... yeah, it's really, really big... I've already gotten lost in it already, but now that you've shown me around a bit, I should be fine... thanks..."

Warren gave a small nod in Scarlett's direction. "Well I'm glad I was of some help. I got lost on my first few days here too, even with a map of the place." He picked a little at his food as the conversation turned towards Syne itself, in comparison to other Hunter academies across Remnant. "I kinda thought it'd be smaller too, but I suppose Bellmuse was rather desperate when they founded this place..."

He thought back to the various incidents that happened over the last year. "Hell, I'd say they still are. From what I understand, Syne was founded because of the growing number of Grimm attacks throughout Bellmuse, and without all too many Hunters here, well..." Warren gave a shrug, as he sure his implication didn't need to be stated out loud. "I mean, Syne's working out well enough, I think, it's only been active for a short while now, but it really isn't everyday you just hand off a castle to be turned into a school. They even handed the title of headmistress over to a faunus of all things. Nothing wrong with a faunus being a Hunter of course, but it's probably hurting attendance rate with the whole White Fang thing going on." He gave a sigh. "Politics aside, Bellmuse really does seem like it's hurting though. Grimm have managed to sneak on campus a few times over the last year. No one was too seriously hurt, but that really isn't the kind of thing you'd find normally on any other Hunter Academy."

Jet smiled while picking at his food a bit – there was unexpected olives in his meal, olives are the devil. He had to agree with Warren on Syne’s foundation. Desperation can bring desperate maneuvers and desperate decisions, but it is a common saying that it’s when we hit our lowest that we can climb the highest. Out of desperation, Syne was born and Jet believed it had the potential to be bigger than all other Hunter academies.

Jet pointed his fork toward Warren, a piece of food on it. “I agree and this is the reason I chose to sign up here. All of my friends signed up for Haven when we graduated from Sanctum, but I had no intention of just being another face in the hundreds. Oh sure the school is good, pay is probably better and the place is safer, but I’m not becoming a Hunter for any of those reasons. I came here, because I felt this was the place I could make the bigger difference. You said it yourself; this place is swarming with Grimm attacks combined with a shortage of Hunters to defend its borders. I’m not saying I will be the best and become a Hero or whatever, hell I can be beaten by a flash light. Nha it’s just people are needed here and I wanted to go where people are needed.”

Jet took a small pause to eat his noodle. “Also, the fact that we aren’t perfectly safe will build a certain level of prudence in us, force us to stay alert and hone our senses. That, will make us better Hunters than we would have ever been going through an academy that makes sure no bad man or bad grimm can ever reach us when we don’t want to. Bad stuff never happens when you want it to, it’s the definition of ‘shit happens’, and if you’re not always ready for anything, what makes you think you can handle the unexpected on the battlefield?”

At that point, Jet’s serious demeanor dropped and he started chuckling. “Though… Since I can count the number of Grimm I ever saw on one hand and since I lived all my life in one of the safest cities, well…” Nervously, he scratched the back of his head. “… Is there a class on developing awareness for the ‘shit happens’ stuff or...?”

Scarlett idly listened to the conversation as she ate her meal slowly. Occasionally she would glance towards one of her roommates, but didn't say much other than that. Seemed that the topic itself was thought-provoking. The young girl had certainly never seen a grim up close before, which is a strange thing for a hunter at her age. The interesting thing was that, although plenty of things scared the girl, the thought of a grim certainly didn't. They made her nervous, but only a rather insignificant amount when compared to how nervous she gets around people. And the only reason she feels nervous when she thinks of it is the chance that she may cause someone else to get hurt. But Scarlett still believes in herself and has enough confidence in her skill with Prism to be able to face down a grim. That is, she believes it; it's entirely possible that she would be wrong about her assumptions and actually be terrified when she finally sees one. Only doing such a thing will finally reveal it.

It probably showed on her face just how much she was lost in her thoughts instead of the current conversation. The way she gazed off past the boys as she slowly brought her food to her mouth and chewed was fairly obvious. Even if she was completely paying attention to the conversation, it's doubtful Scarlett would have anything to add other than a slight smile and a nod. That is kind've the problem sometimes when you're not a great conversationalist. And as shown previously, Scarlett is not exactly skilled in talking to people.

Warren nodded along at Jet's explanation, leaning back in his seat as he scratched at his chin. "Well, that's certainly a noble reason to be running off here, certainly more noble than mine. Still, it is a Hunter's job to protect and serve." He gave a shrug and a lighthearted smile at Jet's comment about not having met too many Grimm before. "No, there isn't a specific class here that I know about for developing that sort of awareness, but that's the sort of thing you should be developing just through your regular classes here, I think. If you're really worried about it though, you could always tag along with some of the more experienced students here, I doubt too many of them would say no to a little help. You could follow me around too if you really wanted to."

Warren glanced over at Scarlett, noting that she hadn't said a word, and was seemingly deep in thought. "You okay there, Scarlett? You haven't said anything in a while."

Jet had mostly finished his food and was tearing his first muffin with somewhat less enthusiasm than planned. He did eat quite a bit and wouldn’t have a doggy bag in the end, so he was feeling quite full yet still craving for the muffin somehow… It did taste awesome.

“Well, not that noble. I mean, when I told my family of my decision, I had the usual worried parents trying to talk me into going to the closest school and be at home every weekend. My sis though, she laughed at me, I don’t think I even heard her laugh that much since the incident at the Dust lab. She just looked at me and told me that deep down, I was just looking for the best place to show-off and play hero. I was mad at her when she said that but… I’ve always been a bit of a show-off I guess. I might have a small hero complex too.” Jet was laughing a bit to himself, he was remembering her at that time and she looked so happy for him. Still, he was sure that, had she been able to stand-up, she would have been on him, rubbing her knuckle on his head or some other cliché sister-brother teasing, her mocking smile saying more than enough about it. “She encouraged me though, said it would just motivate me more. She’s right too; you need to be a bit selfish at least. As noble a reason as you might have, if you’re not getting anything out of it you’ll just grow tired of it and it’ll chip away your resolve. At least I guess it would.”

Giving a mean look at his second muffin, he shrugged and put it aside. “Anyway, as for following someone, I was told I can take Shadow Missions already even if I don’t take any class this summer so I’ll probably take a few. You guys tell me if you feel like joining in on one, could be fun!”

Jet looked at Warren when she verbally prodded the red-headed girl sitting with her before looking at her, waiting for her answer. He had also realized Scarlett had been quite silent for the whole conversation but he wasn’t exactly surprised either, shy people often tend to participate less in more serious conversation. At least, she didn’t look like she was sad, frightened or in self-doubt or anything like that so Jet was fine with her silence if that’s what she preferred. She had a right to be lost in her thoughts if she wanted. On a side note, he might understand the need for silence, but having him shut up for even a small amount of time was a miracle in and of itself.

Scarlett blinked, her eyes refocusing on Warren before glancing towards Jet. She gave a slight tilt of her head which showed her mild confusion at being brought from her thoughts so suddenly. "... Huh?" she asked to either of the young men before shaking her head, "O-oh... Yeah, I'm fine." she said, giving a slight, warm smile, "Just nothing to add really. But feel free to continue; you don't need to stop on my account. I was actually enjoying hearing you two chat." she said, her face slowly glowing red as she gained a slight blush. Which she immediately tried to hide by picking up whatever was left on her place and delicately eating that as she glanced around.

Warren furrowed his brows at Scarlett in concern as he watched her go red and quickly turn her attention elsewhere, but shrugged it off with a sigh and turning to observe the rest of the largely empty cafeteria. "If you say so. Wouldn't want you feeling left out or anything."

He lets out another sigh. "I suppose those Shadow Mission things aren't too bad, it's kind of a mixed bag of what you'll get though. Can't always judge a person just by how they seem of an application, you know?" He scratches at his head. "Though, I'd probably be willing to go do a few of those, if only to find something to do. Honestly, that's my only complaint about everything right now. Even with Summer Classes, there's almost nothing to do here. I mean, sure there's the town, but you can only visit the same stores or cafes so many times before they get boring. I'm honestly about to just walk out into the middle of the forest and pick a fight if things keep going as they are right now."

It wasn’t much long after Jet finished eating before he was trying and failing yet again to make origami with his napkin. A hyperactivity diagnostic might not be far from the truth here, because Jet always had to do “something” at all time. It wasn’t that he wasn’t listening while in a conversation, quite the contrary; he actually listened better while occupying himself with manual stuff since when he doesn’t, his mind tends to drift mid-conversation. Well depend on the subject, but this is true on most every day mundane talks. This specific conversation wasn’t boring at all or anything, but… this napkin was begging to become a beautiful swan! Too bad Jet’s skills with gadgets only allows him to turn the napkin in a roughly bird shaped bundle of napkin. Though from a different angle, it could also be a frog… Jet really wants to believe he can be good at origamis.

Back to the conversation though, because he was still following it. “Well, I’m probably going to sign up for a few of those missions during de summer. I may come here from Mistral but I’m no rich man coming here with an access to mommy and daddy’s lien, so I’ll need some income for stuff. I know we’re housed and fed here but still, nice to have some cash for other stuff, like materials, parts for my bike or just a night out.”

Finally abandoning the wish-it-was-a-swan napkin to its deplorable state with a frown, he looked back up to his new roommates. “Well, I don’t know about summer classes with the lecture halls all blown up now so I guess you have even less stuff to do now. Which I can sympathise with to be honest. You might have realized already that I’m pretty bad a staying idle” Jet pointed at the napkin in a case in point fashion. “What the hell is that all about anyway? I mean I got here today and wanted to get into a few classes early but the receptionist would just tell me that the classes are canceled until repairs are done but that I was welcome to help in the effort.”

Scarlett rubbed the nape of her neck bashfully yet again, which would most likely not be the last time today. She gave an awkward smile towards Warren, "N-no... thank you, but... yeah, I'm fine..." she said, getting progressively quieter as she continued on with that sentence, eventually trailing off into nothing more than a slight murmur that in all likelihood wasn't noticed. This was followed by s soft sigh as she considered the jobs that she would most likely end up needing to complete as well. Afterall, the best way to learn something is to practice it. And if Warren was to be believed, there wasn't much to do around here. Which means she would need to find something to fill up her free time. So it would be either that or something else that university girls typically do. Parties or boyfriends or... is that all she really knows of universities? None of those things really suited Scarlett after giving it some thought; at the very least, going into them would be rather shaky.

But those were things to worry about later on. And if at all possible, avoid until Scarlett no longer could. Not that she didn't want things such as friends or a lover, but just the thought of that got her a bit nervous. Hopefully, not noticeably nervous; no more than usual, at least. With an exhale, her gaze continued to scan about the cafeteria as she slowly ate her food, eventually landing onto the napkin that Jet was forming into a bird, "... A cat?" she asked, her head tilted ever-so-slightly to the side.