Cebrail Theron, Roy Attenwood

Roy awoke with a start. Well, this was interesting. Apparently they had skipped breakfast and gone straight to the initiation. And hauled the sleeping students here. This was really, really weird.

In any case, Roy had been having one of his typical nightmares, the gynophobic kind, when he awoke with a start. He sat up, straight as a ramrod, and nearly screamed. In fact, instead of screaming, he let out a stifled croak. It still echoed in the cave they were in, though. Quite loudly. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of one hand as he stood, assessing the situation.

"Oh goddamnit...."


He was in his pajamas, which consisted of cloth trousers and a white cloth long sleeved shirt. No shoes, but he was wearing socks. In any case, that beeping was driving him nuts. He groggily looked at the Scroll, then immediately jolted fully awake as if he had drank sixteen cups of coffee.

This was it.

Initiation.

Why it had taken him this long to notice was something for another day. Combination of the nightmare, and slowly waking up most likely. In any case, he quickly read the scroll's message. The grimm with the glue blood sounded especially nasty, but nothing sounded overly unreasonable. They had to prove they belonged, after all. He walked over to the satchel his gear was in, based on reading that from the scroll, and put on his armor quickly, leaving the visor on his helmet up for visibility's sake, and strapped on the Journeyman's Boots. He unfurled his spear, and smirked, waiting for the other person he had noticed just a second ago to wake up.

"Hey, you awake yet?"

Goddamn, with this kind of alertness, he didn't quite deserve to be here. He had to step up his game already.

(OOC: Sorry! I didn't realize this was up!)

"Hey.... awake....?" Cebrail had gone to bed early the night before. He figured he would get as much sleep as he could before things got serious. He had come to Beacon to become a hunter and he assumed he would start to lose out on what he enjoyed more than fighting: napping. He rubbed his eyes and slowly forced them to stay up. This isn't where I went to bed.... He thought to himself. It was then that his nose caught the scent. It was quite... distinct. He could make out what smelled like fish gone bad. He recognized it from the restaurant his mother's restaurant though now it was almost rancid.

He was laying near the entrance with a lantern hanging nearby. Sitting up, his back was hurting terribly. The ground was dry and cracked where he had been laying. Near him was a thin, blond man gripping a spear in his hand. The purple-gold armor he wore almost glinted in the light. Holding out his hand to the stranger, Cebrail let out a weak smile.

"I'm Cebrail. If we're going to be working together, we might want to get to know one another. Especially since I'm waking up, I don't know you're name, we're in a cave somewhere and I'm in my underwear." He gave off a lazy smile. He was in his sleeping wear, just his underwear and a white tee. Luckily, he found as he looked through his own bag, he had his gear and actual combat attire. Putting it on, he felt good to be back in it. He hadn't gone training in awhile and if this was what he thought it was, that wasn't a good thing.

"This is it isn't it? The Initiation?" He asked as he strapped on his pauldrons and gauntlets. Kestrel Gauntlets... I've missed you. Testing the triggering system, the blades burst forth from his arms and after a couple swings to stretch himself awake, he retracted them.

Pulling up his hood and half mask, he smirked. It was then that he could hear a small sound echoing through the cave. He couldn't quite make out what it was but it wouldn't be good.

"Nice to meet you, Cebrail. I'm Roy. Roy Atenwood."

Roy smiled politely and shook his hand, but now wasn't the time for pleasantries, really. They could get to know each other later, for now they had a job to do if they wanted to survive.

"For now, I suggest we get moving. I imagine either we've been kidnapped from Beacon and placed in a cave given fake initiation instructions on our scrolls...or this is the initiation. The initiation itself seems much more likely."

The way Roy was speaking was friendly joking instead of malicious joking. It was plain in the tone of his voice. He was friendly, but insistent on moving on. They had to get through this, if they wanted to live, really. Roy moved forward, holding his spear in one hand, his boots clunking no the floor of the cavern. He was careful to avoid any of the pools of water, wondering idly what would have happened to them if they hadn't woken up. He picked up the lantern, holding it out in front of him to see the area better. The rancid smell grew stronger as he moved onward, but he didn't mind it so much. It was a familiar smell, in a few ways, though it was unpleasant. There was a lot that smelled bad in the Blitzchach village, what with having no trash disposal system beyond burning it. You got used to bad smells.


"Smells like rotting fish and sulfur...with a little bit of dung mixed in. I suggest we move forward, huh?"

Cebrail followed Roy, stepping behind him and avoiding the water. "Forward? To where the fish and sulfur gets stronger? Sure." IT wasn't the cave that was bothering him or what may lay in the dark, but the smell. He wasn't used to it being so strong. It was distracting. The two of them were pressing forward in agreement. The dim light was just enough to see a few feet in front. With the disgusting smell and their foot steps echoing, he barely caught a right turn nearby.

"Hey, wait up." He called out, stopping in front of the turn. "There's a turn. Should we check it out?" He gestured his head to the turn. With the two of them no longer walking, it was obvious the sound wasn't coming from there but it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Extending his right blade, he took a step forward. It couldn't be that bad. They were only teenage students after all. If anything, he was sure he could handle himself.

With Roy there, he was completely positive they'd be fine.

Maybe not. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was at a bigger disadvantage in here. He favoured larger spaces and fast movement. His weapon dictated maneuverability. Stopping in his steps. Cebrail turned his head and looked at Roy. He wasn't smiling anymore but no one would be able to tell either way. He could ask if Roy wanted to go first. Maybe he was scared...

Nah. He pushed the thoughts from his head. With his left hand in front of him and his right arm ready to strike, Cebrail stepped forward again.

"Hmmm."


To check out the turn, or not to check out the turn? Roy was an indecisive man, and therefore did not like leading all that much. Leading required snap judgements, and he was poor at making decisions quickly. He sniffed the air, and didn't gag or anything, but he couldn't tell if the stench was stronger down one tunnel or another. Though he had an idea.

"Let's take about ten feet down each path, see what we can see, then pick one, eh?"

It probably wasn't the best idea to go both at a time down each tunnel, but Roy had the lantern, and it wasn't like a Scroll gave off enough light to see by, so they couldn't really split up. He would tap his spear on the ground to try and hear an echo if that scratching, digging noise wasn't getting louder. It just seemed like a bad idea.


"Seems like a decent idea, and maybe if we keep quiet, we can sneak up on whatever's ahead of us."

A small chuckle. This was going to be fun. In the same way learning to fight was fun. A little pain, and a lot of satisfaction in the end.

Cebrail was sure he had taken more than ten steps but since the path still kept going and it didn't seem like there was anything there, he kept going. He kept his steps light but steady. He didn't want to alert anything by making any noise but he also didn't want to slip on water. He had kept a decent enough distance from Roy earlier and now he was moving forward without a light. His eyes hadn't quite adjusted to the darkness because of the lantern. It was a good idea to get used to the dark though. The scroll wasn't exactly a bright light and they had no clue how long the lantern would last.

They didn't know how long they'd be down there, the more he thought about it. He didn't check if there was any food in his bag earlier. A lapse in judgment. Thanks to his half mask, the smell was no longer as pungent. Either he was going farther away from it or he was getting used to it. Neither of the options seemed very appealing. He had kept walking while his thoughts wandered. Another lapse in judgment. Now he didn't know just how far he had gone. He wasn't exactly showing off his capabilities here. He could still go down a bit more, he believed. But Roy said ten steps and he was well beyond. Turning around, Cebrail made his way back. He hadn't found anything, better yet, nothing had found him.

He began to wonder if Roy found anything.

Roy went down his own path, cursing under his breath. He had said not to split up, but really this just reinforced why he shouldn't lead. He had the damn lantern, Cebrail really shouldn't have gone off on his own. But Roy hadn't done anything about it. That was just as bad.


He sighed as he continued about ten feet, give or take, up the tunnel. Finding nothing, as far as he could see from the lantern's scant light, he returned to the fork in the path to find Cebrail. Goddamn, he hoped he didn't end up as the leader of whatever team the two got put in. It wasn't like anyone was depending on him or anything, right? Oh, right, initiation.

He sighed as he nearly bumped into Cebrail, coming back.

"I didn't see anything, but that tells me that path might be a BIT safer than we thought it was. Did you see anything?"

Not bloody likely, since he left me with the lantern...

"Nothing down that way it seemed. We should could press forward I suppose." He shrugged his shoulders."But since you didn't find anything and both the tunnels seem to go on for awhile, the path to the right at least seemed drier." He pointed to where had just came from.

It was difficult to make a decision at this point. They had no map and couldn't very well determine what lay before them either way. Cebrail wasn't terribly fond of making decisions. He didn't enjoy the responsibility too much. But it didn't seem like Roy did either. "Yeah. I think we should go to the right." He nodded in affirmation. He stared at his comrade, waiting for a reply. He was hoping for some acknowledgment that the decision was a good one. Luckily for his own mask, hood, and hair, it was difficult to read him. At least he hoped.

But if Roy thought the other path was better, he wouldn't argue.

Roy smiled, lowering the visor on his helmet since it didn't really restrict his vision all that much. It probably needed to be down in case anything went for the eyes, anyway.

"Then let's head to the right."


Roy started down the path, hoping he was being followed, and held his spear at the ready in one hand with the lantern in the other. This probably wasn't going to end in gruesome death. He was a good fighter, after all. His mastery of the spear was brought by countless hours of just trying to be good enough in his stepmother's eyes. He wouldn't call it mastery himself, mind you, but he was certainly competent. In any case, he began walking down the bath to the right, hoping Cebrail was following him.

Cebrail was following a few steps behind Roy, his right blade extended and ready in case something were to pop out at them. For an initiation, they really hadn't encountered anything yet. With the Grimm listed in his Scroll, it seemed like they would have a tough time. But then of course, they had been taking things rather slowly and carefully. Taking advantage of the quiet time together, he figured they might as well continue getting to know each other.

"So a spear huh? Anything particularly special about it?" He was genuinely curious. He didn't want anything to surprise him if they encountered something dangerous. It would be a terrible thing to be injured by your own teammate. If they both passed this and ended up staying as teammates, it would most likely be best if they developed some sort of... strategy or synchronicity with one another.

"I'm more of a duelist myself. Lots of moving, evading and you know. Stabbing." He shrugged. He was never very good at describing things. Besides, Roy would see his gauntlets in action soon enough.

Roy smirked, raising the spear and using it as a sort of walking stick. It was about an inch taller than him. The partisan style blade shone in the dull light from the lantern in his other hand.

"The spearhead shoots off of it and retracts, it's attached to twelve feet of chain. Shoots out and retracts...blade's not serrated, so I can't use it for transport, the blade won't stick in anything long enough. But it gives me extra range if I need it."

They continued walking. There was nothing much else to say, really, unless they got to talking about the past. And Roy would rather have the past behind him.

Well, Roy managed to dodge what he would now and forever refer to as "Creepy leech thingies". As he sidestepped the last one, he brought his spear up in an upward slash, trying to cut one of them in half as he felt something wet impact his helmet.

"Shit!"

Must have been an Echolacer swooping down and spitting acid when he was occupied with the dodging of Sangueteeth. Goddamnit, that helmet was a family heirloom! He grabbed it by the bottom, near the base of his neck, after literally taking less than half a second to shove the lantern into Cebrail's hands, and chucked the helmet at the nearest Grimm, which just happened to be the Echolacer who had nailed it. Hopefully their own acid had an effect on them, while he turned, looking through the dim light for the next Grimm to set his sights on. And wouldn't you know it? There was a second Echolacer. He held his spear level with it, and fired the spearhead at it, as it was less than twelve feet away from him., and let out a laugh.

It was a cold sounding laugh. Oh boy, was he angry.

If he managed to spear the echolacer, he would start swinging it at the Sangueteeth. Creepy leach thingies were about to get a face full of bat.

"Cebrail, be on your guard!"

Cebrail had ducked and rolled to the side when the leeches and Echolacers came at them. Rolling into the wall with a thud, he grunted loudly as Roy practically ripped his helmet off and tossed at up. "Cebrail, be on your guard." Smirking, the raven haired teenager was already launching a blade up at an Echolancer with his other blade pointing towards the Sangueteeth.

"Like you need to tell me that." His shoulder was hurting still from the collision with the wall. Like he had said before, he was better in open spaces. It didn't help he wasn't expecting the assault, though it really shouldn't have surprised him. Even though the scroll said they were about three feet in length, they certainly seemed larger. Maybe he was just smaller than he realized.

With his blades out, the pair found themselves surrounded by the leeches. They were outnumbered. Cebrail kept close to his partner. If he tried going on the offensive, with his limited range, he'd risk injury. Now was the time for them to work together and show the academy what they're made of. The Sangueteeth leaped at Cebrail. Sidestepping, and bringing down his right blade, he attempted to slice the leaping leech.

It was a good thing that he trained hard with his father. He had complete control of his arm. If he didn't, he might've accidentally cut Roy on the downward swing. "Definitely better in larger spaces..." He muttered to himself.

Roy pulled his spear back for a split second, literally kicking what bits of Echolacer were left off the spearhead as the chain retracted. The Sangueteeth seemed to be a bit tougher, he noted, as he dodged another one and finished off the stunned Echolacer that had ruined his helmet, or at least tried to, by stabbing it prone form as eh danced through jumping Sangueteeth.


Truth be told, this was a pain in the ass. Roy was really good at dodging, as he couldn't take a hit for crap, but it was still something he'd rather not be doing.

As one of the sangueteeth jumped toward him, he decided to try going for the mouth. He fired off his spearhead at the damn thing's mouth, hoping that would do more than hitting it with an echolacer would.

His blade failed to cut the leaping leech. Cursing to himself, Cebrail could feel the sweat dripping down the side of his face. He was hoping that the leeches would've been easier to take care of, especially since Roy was able to bring down the Echolacers. Ducking and weaving, Cebrail continued to use his blades despite their inability to cut through the Sangueteeth.

He was using them to push and direct them away from him, frantically waving the gauntlets at the leeches in a desperate attempt to keep them at bay. This isn't what he expected to be doing.

When he heard about the initiation, he was more than certain he'd pass. But then of course, he thought he'd be dueling other students. He didn't really think he'd be attempting to stay alive from a parasite. Yet that was what he was doing. Super.

Another leapt at Roy, it's mouth agape. Firing his spearhead into it's mouth, Cebrail hoped that it would kill it. At least then, it would solve one problem.

"Go for the mouth!"

It seemed to work, even if his spear was indisposed at the moment. He kicked at it quickly, trying to dislodge the creepy leech thing. He planted his foot on one end of the dead thing and then pushed, hopefully dislodging it so he could help Cebrail.

"Go for the mouth!" Roy confirmed.

With three Sangeteeth leaping at Cebrail, he almost didn't hear it. Reacting as quickly as he could, he attempted to stab into one with his left blade and pulled himself forward with the secondary function of his right blade. The tip launched downward to the ground ahead of him and rapidly pulled him towards the spot. He was hoping he went low enough to evade the other leaping leeches.

Reattaching the blade tip, Cebrail jumped up with his blades ready and hoping they wouldn't come at him at once again.

Roy spent the next few second sputtering. He had gotten blood all over himself. Well, not all over, but a significant amount. He got some on his face, and that's why he was momentarily blinded and not helping Cebrail more. The stuff got in his eyes.

Letting out a pained yelp and sputtering some more, Roy tried to clear his eyes.

With Roy's face covered in blood, Cebrail was hoping that the leeches wouldn't jump on him while he was incapacitated. Firing both the blade tips at the remaining Sangueteeth, he prayed that he could keep their attention long enough for Roy to wipe his face.

"Over here you overgrown parasites! Come and get me!" He yelled as he kept firing and retracting his blades at them. At least now things were looking in their favor.