The Third Arrival [Open]

Beacon Week Three:  Monday (Subject to change)

[[OOC:  New users who are coming in after the second initiation can post here.  This is to reduce the amount of arrival threads that have been popping up.  Students who are already in the Academy are free to join the thread as well to welcome newcomers.]]

Katy stood off to the side of the main avenue leading to the Academy proper, uncertainly hugging her huge rifle while she stared at the campus. This school was massive compared to her previous one, and Katy found herself scanning the higher towers for threats out of habit before mentally kicking herself.

Katy sighed inwardly. On top of her uncertainty about being at Beacon in the first place, living inside such a massive place for the next several years was probably going to take a while to get used to. Katy could pick her way through the wilderness with little issue, but navigating Not to mention that she didn't exactly know anyone here, and was arriving several weeks late.

"Of course," she thought to herself, "There's a nice big forest here. I haven't gone inside yet. I could just.. walk away."

That might work for a while, but she'd knew she'd run out of ammo eventually. Even if she made sure not to waste a single bullet she definitely didn't have enough to kill every beastie in the forest, and then she'd be in a world of trouble.

She sighed again and, taking a moment to pull her hood down lower over her head, started walking back down the path toward the school. Best to get it over with and figure things out as soon as possible. The sooner she started her time here officially, the sooner she could be done and gone.

Where to I position myself, I wonder. How far back to I have to be before I can start picking out people from the crowd. Pondering, Mao walked through the small crowd of late arrivals, later than even his own. Weaving through the people, he examined the trees he passed as well as some of the recruits. There's actually some interesting looking people in this wave. I could probably make use of some of them. He picked out a few who seemed to be more social than others and told him the rumor of the manor and told them to spread it. He observed their reactions as they continued on their way. Surely I'll catch a couple, those that stray to close the web of curiosity.

Looking around again, he spotted someone who seemed to be isolating themself from the rest of the recruits. She was hugging her weapon as she walked towards the school. Mao raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin. Now what do we have here? He sneakily started walking beside the person, his hands in his pockets. Peeking into the hood, he simply said "Yo.".

Half-lost in her own thoughts, Katy found herself abruptly startled out of them from the appearance of another person really close. She also found herself stumbling slightly away, fumbling uselessly to bring her rifle to bear for a split-second before stopping herself and giving herself another mental kick. Had she allowed a Beowulf to get that close it might as well have been the end.

"Um.. hi," she responded a bit lamely, as she attempted to resume walking nonchalantly. After a brief moment, she slung her rifle's strap over her shoulder to let the weapon hang diagonally across her back.

"If you're looking for directions, I don't think I'm the right person to ask. I just got here," she added hastily. Maybe that's all they wanted, and upon realizing she couldn't help they'd be on their way.

Noticing her stumbling a bit, Mao raised an eyebrow again. Clumsy, meek? What to do, what to do. He continued to walk alongside her. "Well, we all just got here!" His voice held a playful inflection. "Besides, not knowing where to go isn't too bad, both figuratively and literally of course." He smiled at that for whatever reason as he glanced over to where the recruits were supposed to go. He decided to pull his hood over his head as well. "Nice gun, by the way."

Katy absently reached up and patted the stock of her rifle. "Bragi's great. Best friend you could have living out in the wilderness with all the scary stuff," she said. "Well, I mean.. that was the first Bragi. That was like six overhauls ago. This model is only a few months old. Same idea, though," she trailed off, having realized she was starting to ramble.

"I haven't worked out how to make it collapsible without, um.. nevermind," she added, with a frown. The truth was she had attempted previously to build a rifle that could fold down to a more manageable size, with the end result being a nearly catastrophic explosion. Something had gone wrong with the process, resulting in the rifling not being set properly. A bullet had caught and exploded inside the barrel, blowing up most of the rifle and almost her hands as well.

"So.. this school seems sort of, um.. big," she said, desperately trying to come up with something to talk about. "I'm Katy, by the way. I don't think I said that yet." Conversation probably wouldn't make it into a list of her top twenty skills.

Bragi, huh? Mao listened intently to Katy while simultaneously trying to figure out what to do with his current plans. "Six models? That sounds like it must've taken a lot of work." Mao thought about his not-very-complex gauntlets. "I could totally help you with your folding problem as I am proficient at weapon design!" That was a lie, or at least the latter part of it was. He enjoyed tinkering now and then after all, though tinkering with someone else's weapon probably wouldn't bode well.

"The school's not that big from what I've heard." Though I am fairly sure it is getting smaller with every passing day. He flashed back to the various acts of destruction that have occurred so far. "Oh, and I'm Mao. Sorry I didn't introduce myself sooner. Nice to meet you, Katy!" Mao stuck a friendly smile onto his face.

Loud music as usual being the herald for Aoife's presence, she would nearly take out more than one person as her bike drives up to the pair talking at a rather fast speed, stopping feet away from running them down with a loud screeching. Melissa, meanwhile would be on the back with a trophy of their hunting, "Hey. What's with the group of people suddenly arriving? Yet another batch of students for the grinder?"

Melissa, meanwhile, having joined Aoife on this mission to terrorize the newcomers as the Melisstalker, was excitedly waving around the large Deathstalker stinger in her hands, swinging it dangerously above her head, shouting, "RAWR! I'm a Deathstalker come to destroy you new hunters!" after Aoife spoke, but in her hands it looked more adorable than scary or menacing.

Katy shook her head and shrugged slightly. "I spend the year redesigning it in my head while I get comfortable with the quirks, and then I spent my birthday rebuilding it. I've gotten pretty good at it," she said, oblivious to the fact that it might sound like sort of a weird way to spend a birthday.

"I--," she began, before being drowned out by the pair of people on the motorcycle. Arriving dangerously close to them. Biting back a sigh, Katy turned to size up the new pair, but stopped short, blinking dumbly.

"Is that a Deathstalker stinger? Why do you even have one of those?"

After all he has been through, and after everything he has heard through the grapevine, Mao was almost unphased by what had just occurred before him. Almost. "Of course it's another set of student! Why else would people be coming to this place?" He raised his arms in the air. It was at that moment that something hit him. "Hey, weren't you that one girl that works at the Hippogriff Pub back in the city?" He kind of squinted at her before turning his head to Melissa. He tilted his head as he looked at the stinger in awe. "Yeah...have we met before? You seem familiar to." At this point, he was rubbing his head. He had seen her before the day his head almost got flattened, but his memory was rather fuzzy on that particular day for some particular reason so he didn't remember.

"Indeed I do work there. Also one would be an underestimate for the amount of stingers. I have three now, two of those were solo though, so it is my first time with someone else." Turning off the ignition and the music, she would look over the girl as she continues to speak, "Well relatives could be coming to this place, or staff who were in town. I wouldn't become presumptuous about it."

Melissa frowned in disappointment - Why weren't these people afraid of her?! She was a mighty Deathstalker with the speed of a motorcycle! They should fear the Melisstalker! FEAR IT! She mimed stabbing people with the stinger vigorously, as if she was actually doing the stabbing. Luckily she wasn't in range of anyone except Aoife, who was too close to be stabbed.

"Hey! I'm a deathstalker! Be scared!" She said, pouting as she realised she wasn't getting much of a reaction out of the two.

Katy eyed the stinger warily. It wasn't that she was afraid of the wielder, really, but she had no idea how those stingers worked. Was there venom in there? Could it still poison someone after it had been severed?

"I'm just.. gonna.. go this way," she mumbled, waving her hand towards the school. "Away from the potentially lethal stinger. I, er.. need to figure out where orientation is! Or if there's orientation! Or somewhere to find some food.." She wasn't scared, really. It took a lot to properly scare someone who spent a year living out in the woods, but it always paid to be cautious.

Besides, it seemed like the three of them sort of knew each other. Though before she began to try and make her escape, she had to ask. "Why so many stingers? Are they valuable? Or edible?"

On her way out of the records building, Fiona finds herself in a crowd full of newcomers to Beacon. Some tall, some small, some with really exotic-looking weapons.

'I wonder how many will drop out' chuckling to herself.

As she makes her way into the main archway she notices a strange commotion. Girl waving around what appeared to be a Deathstalker tail.

'I guess this is why they sign that waiver; if the Grimm don't get you, the students will.'

She then spots a red-haired girl in a hoodie, slowly inching her way away from the scene.

'Smart girl...'

'And that's quite a piece of hardware she's lugging around'

As she closes in on the small scene, Fiona bumps into the red-haired girl, who seemed to be a little spaced out.

"Friend of yours?" she asks with a slight smirk, motioning at the girl with the Deathstalker tail.

What was this? A popcorn gallery? Drake scowled as he simply stood, leaning against a wall and watching the new batch of arrivals. Of course, he had his reasons. He was assessing those present both as threats and potential triggers for the Memory. Those probably weren't good reasons to be here.

His arms are crossed, the face-scarf slightly pulled down and he is slowly nibbling on a stick of pocky as he watches each individual and the way they move. The way they carry themselves. Pick out the confident ones...those were the ones that were going to do stupid things. Keep an eye on the shy ones...those were the ones who had secrets and potential.

"What's the point in killing a Grimm if you don't have a trophy to prove you did it?" Would reply Aoife, her tone as if not doing so was the dumbest thing someone could pull off, though she would continue in a more serious manner, "Though I am not sure about edible but I am pretty sure someone would pay rather highly for a Deathstalker stinger, mainly as it could be classed as a collectors item or something like that."

Mao watched the scene unfold, several upperclassman now joining the fray and disrupting his business. Looking over to Katy, she seemed to be growing uncomfortable with the whole situation. She doesn't seem like the best person for my particular mission. And now what to do about this particular situation... He thought for a moment, trying to figure out what he should do. I have a feeling this will get too chaotic after too long. It would probably be best to leave and return to my business before they scare off the rest of them... He leaned over to Katy and whispered to her. "If you want to bounce you can follow me. Otherwise, have fun!" He separated himself from the party and began walking back towards the school. Which tree to pick, I wonder...

Katy, having botched her stealthy escape by bumping into yet another person, deftly took a step to the side and turned to keep just about everyone in the immediate area within her range of vision.

"Friends? Nooo. They just showed up. They seem..um, nice," she responded, though it came out more like a question at the end rather than a statement of fact.

Having only made it a few feet away, it seemed like she could respond without it seeming like she was trying to sneak away. "I mean, sure, a trophy makes sense, I guess. But what happens when you've killed like fifty of those things," she said, waving a hand at the stinger. "You're gonna run out of room eventually, right?"

Truth be told, there was a chance Katy viewed things a bit differently. Because her weapon's ideal use was at very long distances, and because she was very good at using elevation and wind to her advantage, killing beasties was less about glory for her, and was more about simple execution.

"I'll come find you after I figure out this school stuff," she said to Mao as he made his exit. "We can talk more about weapon building.. or something.."

"Then I shall just sell some off, make a fortune in selling off their stingers and live off it for the rest of my days." Smiling slightly, she would look her over, "Name is Aoife by the way, Aoife Knight. Though sometimes called 'Crazy Fire lady', or just the Phoenix of Beacon. I kinda prefer Fire Queen though. Person on the bike with me would be Melissa, she is nice and friendly as well."

Matt wakes up from his nap in the tree he found. That's the best sleep I've ever gotten in a tree. I have to remember this one. Matt stretches and looks at his watch. Man, I've been asleep for hours. Guess I'm not sleeping tonight. Matt looks around and sees Mao walking away from a group of people, some he didn't recognize. Ahhh, the new students must be arriving. It feels like only yesterday I arrived... He snaps back to reality and calls out to Mao. Hey, Mao, how are the new recruits?

Mao glanced over at Matt. "Hey Matt. They're fine. May want to help that girl, though. The one in the hoodie and the big gun and the red hair. He pointed over at her. "Her name is Katy, by the way. Alright, kind of busy with something. See you back at the dorm. Have fun!" He waved at Matt before continuing on his way.

Katy picked at one of the zippers on her sleeve, bobbing her head in greeting. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Katy. Katy Moraine."

After a moment of deliberation, she decided to see if she could finally figure out what she should be doing. "So.. if you've been here long enough to have a bunch of nicknames, you must know what the deal is, right? Is there like, somewhere I should be going or doing or something? There's a surprising lack of direction for new arrivals."

Melissa even cheerfully to the girl as well, but said nothing until the girl inquired about what to do next after arriving at the school.

"Oooooooh I know! I know!" She said excitedly, raising her hand as if answering a question, "You can come with us and we can show you around! I think a third can fit on here maybe!" She said, although it was unclear whether her smile was a welcoming one or plotting one at this point.

Oh hells. Why was someone waving a stinger about talking to one of them? That was bad. He pushes himself away from the wall with one foot and starts walking toward the redhead, glancing toward Mao as he notices him break away from the conversation. Far too relaxed a person.

He frowns a little, something not even the stick of pocky can stop and carefully starts to circle around. Time to test responses. There is a slight clink of metal from the scaled plates on his cloak and what little armour he wears as he moves to flank the redhead. She seemed the type to not draw attention. Let's test that.