Tuesday, April 8th, 79AGW.

Malachite Dorms, Beacon.

8:07 pm.

“Are you seriously going to keep ignoring me?” Lux demanded. “Come on! It’s only shampoo.”

Lima let the words wash over him without acknowledgment before calmly lifting his hands in prayer.

“The one known as Lux is an illusion; I’ve never heard the name in my life,” Lima hummed between each mantra, “Malachite is the only three-person team in Beacon; I am content.”

“Teak, make him recognize my existence,” Lux insisted, dragging the shorter boy over to where he was meditating.

“Um,” Teak squeaked, “If he doesn’t want to-I mean you did use it all after he asked you not to-sorry!”

Lux scrunched her face up in indecision before pushing Teak onto his bed.

“I want to talk about the Vytal festival,” Lux pouted, “Fix him.”

Claire was ignoring the three of them entirely, both headphones in as she scrolled through her socials. Teak looked around for a moment before realizing he would get no help from her.

“Why do I have to be the adult here?” Teak whined, “Lima, Lux is sorry she used all your shampoo; she will buy you a new bottle.”

Lux scrunched her face up again before letting out a huff of breath and conceding.

“Fine,” Lux agreed, “I’ll buy your stupid shampoo.”

Lima’s tranquility was unbroken, and he spread his arms out before humming again.

“Teak!” Lux demanded.

“I’m trying!” Teak cried out, “This is your fault anyway! Why’d you use it in the first place?”

“He said I was gross for washing my hair with soap!” Lux said, embarrassed, before glancing away. “So I washed it properly-serves him right.”

Lima felt his eye twitch at the comment, suddenly finding his meditation-induced-tranquility crumbling.

“He’s not going to answer until you apologize,” Claire said distractedly, not even glancing over. “Teak shouldn’t be apologizing for you either.”

Lux fought with the decision for almost a minute before she finally surrendered.

“I’m sorry I used all your shampoo,” Lux mumbled.

Lima spun to face her, and his feet slapped against the floor.

“Say it again!” Lima said gleefully.

“I’m sorry!” Lux said, annoyed.

“One more time, I wasn’t listening!” Lima cackled.

“Sorry.” Lux hissed at him, yellow eyes almost glowing.

“Now say uncle-” Lima yelped.

Lux surged towards him in an instant and tackling him straight off the bed and onto the floor between the beds.

“I’ll never say it!” Lux cried in outrage, “I said I was sorry already! Just-accept-the-apology!”

Lima couldn’t believe she sought to challenge him on his home turf. He was by far the better fighter when it came to groundwork, and he quickly slipped out of her grip by using his hand as a lever before dragging her into an arm lock.

Lux fought him the entire time, trying to land several punches to the body, and he absorbed them with his aura before levering her arm back into hyperextension. Lux hissed at him furiously as she struggled to retrieve her trapped limb.

“Say, uncle!” Lima insisted, pulling slightly tighter. “No? Super-mega-death-arm-BREA-”

“Uncle!” Lux yelped, and he let her go. “Cheater!”

“It’s not my fault you suck!” Lima huffed. “Try getting good.”

“I am good!” Lux insisted, “Those stupid locks are cheating!”

“Your cheating!” Lima said uselessly.

“Shut up!” Lux hissed.

Teak stepped in between them with a look of worry on his face, holding his hands out hesitantly.

“Can you both just stop?” Teak said nervously, glancing between the two of them.

“Captain!” Lima complained, “Make her walk the plank.”

“This isn’t a ship Lima,” Teak denied, “Can we just have a normal conversation now, without all the fighting?”

“Fine,” Lima huffed, retaking his spot on the bed.

Lux, for whatever reason, actually looked upset at the interference of the fight; the crazy snake-girl probably enjoyed getting her ass kicked, and Lima couldn’t help but think he had somehow been baited into another fight.

He also couldn’t help himself from mouthing uncle at her, and she bared her teeth at him in a challenge.

“Why did you run away from class to check on the Vytal Festival?” Teak said pointedly, taking a seat next to him on the bed.

“Oh, are we actually talking again?” Claire said bemused, before tugging one of her earphones out. “Yay.”

“I wanted to know where it was taking place this year,” Lima said easily, “I knew that our resident battle-obsessed snek would make us sign up, and I needed to ensure it wasn’t happening at Haven.”

Lux ‘hmphed’ at the jab but didn’t look very upset by it. Claire looked moderately confused as to his reasoning. Teak seemed to make the connection pretty easily.

“You thought that she would make us join, and you would end up having to go there,” Teak said, amused, “Where your guardian is currently teaching?”

“Damn. Teak-you knew about my fears-I didn’t realize you were a seer,” Lima rapped, “Now that I know that I’m in the clear-ain’t no way for Sage to find me here-I’m a downright mastermind, and I play it by ear, leaving scrub fighters in tears-”

Lux made it halfway across the room before Teak managed to throw himself between them again, bravely spreading his arms out and stopping her progress cold.

“No more fighting in the dorms!” Teak squeaked, forcing himself to meet the girl’s gaze. “If you want to fight-go outside!”

Lux stared down at him for a long moment before she smirked at the show of bravery and patted him on the head. Lima poked his tongue out at her from behind Teak and grinned at the glare he got in return before she turned and sat back down.

Teak let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

“So, the Vytal Festival is coming here then?” Claire said curiously, “How long till that happens?”

It was one of the first things Lima had looked up as he attempted to discover Sage’s next move in the five-dimensional game of chest the two were playing, so he knew the answer off-hand.

“The festival is like a week-long, really, as far as the city is concerned, but the tournament itself happens on the second of November,” Lima said easily.

He flopped back on his bed to look up at the ceiling in thought.

“Autumn, huh?” Claire mumbled, “Are we going to join?”

Lima let his head drop off the other side of his bed and stared at the girl from his upside-down position. Something he had started to notice with Claire was that she never seemed to reveal her own opinion until after everyone else had, and even then, she sometimes slipped away without speaking up.

It wasn’t that she was shy, she could give as good as any of them when it came to teasing and verbal spars, but she seemed to refrain from showcasing what she wanted until she was sure that it wouldn’t be taken poorly by the rest of them.

Lima spoke up in the wake of Lux’s enthusiastic reply.

“Do you want to, Claire?” Lima asked curiously if she would answer.

Claire hesitated for a long moment, looking at each of them, and Lima could almost see her trying to work out each of their answers in advance.

“Yes,” Claire said carefully, “I want to.”

“I don’t want to,” Lima said the second she had finished speaking.

It was his attempt to test whether he was on the right track or not, and the way she flinched as if struck was a good a confirmation as he could have asked for.

“Just kidding,” Lima added, smiling at her in apology.

Claire glared at him, cheeks dusted red.

Lima closed his eyes to avoid her gaze and thought; Claire didn’t like to express her opinion, not when there was a chance that one of the others might disagree or counter her. That wasn’t that unusual; honestly, he’d known a few people back at Sanctum like that.

On the other hand, the others had all been the shy types, trying to fit into the group and willing to compromise on their own stances in order to do it. Claire was probably more outgoing and social than anyone else on the team-He found it strange that she had such an apparent worry of them rejecting her opinions or othering her in response to something she might say.

Fear of rejection, huh? Then again, he wasn’t exactly a bastion for mental health himself, so he couldn’t really talk.

“I think it could be fun?” Teak said nervously, noticing the byplay. “Maybe?”

Lima had to give him points for trying.

“Then it’s settled,” Lux said firmly, “We are signing up as soon as we are allowed, and we are going to win the entire thing-”

Lima was already planning on how to accidentally lose his weapons in the first round; that way, he could catch up on hunting Grimm. Beacon was busy; he’d barely had any free time to do anything, let alone sneak out into the forest.

“Why are you smirking?” Lux demanded.

Lima blanked his face and glanced over at her calmly.

“Just wondering if they even let scrubs that have so many losses into such a prestigious tournament,” Lima grinned, baiting the hook.

“No fighting in the dorms!” Teak squeaked as Lux knocked both boys off the bed with a savage tackle. “Lux!”

“I’m-not-fighting,” Lux managed, through his hand smushing her face. “I’m-killing-him.”

“I don’t think that’s allowed in the dorms either,” Claire said, annoyed. “We could always do it in the forest, less chance of them finding a body.”

“Teak!” Lima cried, clinging to the boy’s arm as he tried to scramble out of the wrestle. “Our team is filled with killers, save me!”

Wednesday, April 9th, 79AGW.

Workshop D, Beacon.

10:30 AM.

The first thing Lima did was sketch a concept design of what he wanted.

The second and third things were to completely revamp the design entirely because he realized several key problems right at the start. Luckily for him, nobody had seen those first few horror-shows.

The two most important components were the Cable itself and the Retraction-Mechanism that would wind it back in as a way to save on Aura usage. He needed to use an Aura-accepting material for the cable-and it needed to be as durable as he could find.

After those two things, he needed a universal connector to make hooking the cable into his arrows as fast as possible, which would then allow him to retrieve his arrows from a much longer range, for when they were outside of his gravity dust pull.

The last thing he needed was some kind of body to store the components in, and he was leaning towards a wrist-mounted gauntlet or bracer of some sort. It needed to start past his wrist and end before his elbow to allow for a full range of arm movement.

He sketched out a very basic design for each of the components, more like a rough shape without detail than anything else, before making a list of the things he needed to order. There was plenty of resources here to make the casing and even the retractor, but he was going to dip into his dwindling money to stretch for a higher-end material for the cable.

He would have to wait for those to be delivered, but there was something he could start on right now: was the universal connector for the base of the arrows.

Wednesday, April 9th, 79AGW.

History, Beacon.

2:51 PM.

“Grande Rise was a household name by this point, but it wouldn’t be until three years after the end of the war that his wife, Alloy Rise eclipsed him in popularity.” Professor Oobleck said excitedly, “If the name doesn’t sound familiar to any of you-well, perhaps you should spend some more time in the library, hmm?”

Lima hadn’t heard of either of them, but his own interest in historical figures lay firmly in the ancient heroes of which there wasn’t much information, and it didn’t extend much further than that- so it didn’t surprise him really.

A significant number of the other students seemed to recognize the names, however, notably, Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha had perked up. Teak had nodded along with the names as well, but he seemed to know everybody the teacher mentioned.

So this was the power of the galaxy-brain.

“Now, the tensions were still high in the aftermath of the war, despite the treatise and the open hostilities coming to an end,” Professor Oobleck said quickly, “Most were happy to simply escape from the shadow of the war, and perhaps keep there heads down, incase another reignited.”

Lima listened curiously.

“Alloy Rise, however, was not one of those people who were content to fade into obscurity-not when there were so many other problems that still pervaded remnant.” Oobleck took a sip of his drink before clearing his throat and continuing. “Alloy could have picked any number of issues to deal with, she certainly had the drive, or perhaps the determination to see any one of them through-instead she chose the one that had personally affected her for most of her life-who knows what she chose?”

Pyrrha’s hand was the first up, followed quickly by Weiss, Teak, and Blake.

“Ms. Nikos?” Oobleck said pleasantly.

“Discrimination,” Pyrrha said firmly, “Sexism in society specifically.”

“Correct,” Oobleck said, pleased, “Alloy Rise made solving the discrimination of women in society her sole goal and spent her life working towards that end-it would be a dishonor to say she accomplished it alone, many people joined her cause, and she became the driving force behind the change she wanted to see in Remnant.”

The man’s eyes gleamed as he dashed around the room.

“That’s not to say there no longer exists elements of discrimination against women in society today-there still are, but the giant strides that we have made over the last eighty years could not have been possible without Alloy.” Professor Oobleck said firmly, “Now, before the war ended, she was practically a complete unknown-she was married to a well-known war leader certainly, but her name wouldn’t be found in any books from that time.”

Oobleck looked around at them all, making sure to meet their gazes.

“Can you tell me when Alloy Rise found-that allowed her to become the legendary figure she is recognized as today?” Professor Oobleck said seriously.

Even Pyrrha seemed unsure of the answer to his abstract question, but surprisingly enough, it was Claire who raised her hand.

“Ms. Diamond?” Oobleck said, pleased.

“She found a purpose to put all her energy towards,” Claire said quietly, “Something she could believe in, and fight for, something that meant something to her personally.”

“Fantastic, Ms. Diamond! Absolutely fantastic!” Professor Oobleck cried before he was off like a shot around the room, once more burning with excitement. “That’s exactly what Alloy found-a purpose, a meaning that was greater than herself, and something she could pour every ounce of herself into- some of you might have heard this term before-but on that day Alloy set out to solve discrimination, she found self-actualization and with it, she changed the world.”

Lima watched the man intently.

“Each and every one of you has that same potential inside you,” Professor Oobleck said firmly, “I should hope that you seek out your own purpose and see what changes you can bring about.”

The bell signaling the end of class rang out, and Lima blinked before glancing around as everybody began packing up. Claire was slumping in her seat, Lima noted; she also had an upset twist to her features.

“You alright?” Lima asked curiously.

Claire flinched and glanced at him for a long moment before nodding.

“I’m fine, just not feeling it today,” Claire mumbled and slipped one of her headphones in.

Lima studied her for a moment longer before nodding in acceptance-there was something upsetting her, but nobody liked someone who pushed after they told you to back off, politely or otherwise. His mind kept coming back to it, though, the conversation about why he had come to beacon and her being the only person in the class to know the answer to Ooblecks abstract.

The parallel between her curiosity on what his reason for pursuing this career and her sudden mood plummet alongside the current topic was not lost on him. Claire was struggling with purpose, or perhaps a feeling of aimlessness-he didn’t know the exact specifics of it, and for all he knew, he might have been wrong-but it did seem to be the case.

Lima had his own purpose already; mind you, it was chosen for him when he was a child, at least that’s how he saw it-so he’d never had to deal with the search for one.

Alloy Rise had practically been the embodiment of her own purpose-a crystallization of determination and competence; she had known exactly what she wanted out of life and hadn’t stopped until she found what she sought.

He didn’t have the contextual experience to tell precisely how it felt to be without one; he could barely remember a time when he hadn’t, but he imagined it would leave you adrift, with a dissonance between how you saw yourself and the people around you. A feeling of not belonging and a loss of connection with your peers once the disparity was discovered.

Teak touched him on the shoulder, and he blinked.

“Sorry, sorta zoned out for a second there,” Lima said distractedly, “What did you say?”

Teak looked concerned for a moment.

“I said, how did you like the class?” Teak said curiously.

Well, there was only one thing he could say to such a question, wasn’t there?

“It really got a rise out of me,” Lima smirked. “If you know what I mean.”

Claire groaned in disappointment, and Lux couldn’t hold back her scoff at the terrible pun.

“Well, I liked it.” Teak pouted.

Lima smiled; for now, everything was right in the world.