Cyra knelt on her platform, eyes closed, her breaths deep and even through her nose. Her shields rested on the ground at her sides, hiding her tightly clenched fists. She didn't hear the headmaster's words, instead shutting out the world around her and focusing on the ground beneath her feet. Behind her bandanna, her mouth was a tight line. [i]Don't look at them. Don't listen to them. You are calm, you are relaxed. It'll be fine. Someone here will have to be your partner, and two others will be your teammates. It doesn't mean they have to know.[/i] Ideally, all of her teammates would be Faunus like herself, and there were several among the students arrayed beside her. Then she wouldn't have to worry so much about hiding. There would be at least one place in which she would be safe. 

[i]But if that isn't the case...[/i] She took a deep breath against, concentrating on the warmth of her clothing against her skin and carapace, of the earth radiating out beneath her feet. She loved that, feeling the hugeness of the world and being a part of it. Worries about what she was and what others thought of it faded to insignificance compared to that vastness.  

A loud [b]ka-thunk[/b] startled her out of her meditation, causing her to look around. The student at the end to her right was missing. [i]What! Where did-[/i] A second [b]ka-thunk[/b] broke the silence, and the second student was thrown into the air by the platform beneath him. [i]They're launchpads?[/i] She looked down at her platform, panic closing off her throat. [i]No, no, nonononono. This isn't good, this isn't good![/i] Her Semblance only worked if she was touching the ground, if she was launched then she would lose that connection. She would be small again. 

A third launch. Two more and it would be her turn. If she tried, she might be able to anchor herself to the plate, holding herself secure. Of course, even if it worked, which it probably wouldn't, she would just end up having her face driven into the dirt, which would break her concentration (not to mention her neck) and then send her rolling over the cliff. Failing spectacularly on the first day; everyone would be talking about her for weeks. 

Fourth launch. One more. [i]Hadn't Ozpin said something about finding a relic? Obviously that is where we're being launched towards. It is part of the exercise. So preventing the launch [u]would[/u] be a failure.[/i] Fifth launch. She was next. There was no other choice but to accept that, for at least a brief time, she would be airborne. Taking another breath through her nose, she relaxed her hold on the earth and rose, keeping her knees bent in preparation. [i]If nothing else, at least the ground will always be there to catch me.[/i]

She was airborne. The wind howled in her ears, screaming for dominance. She would not give it. She was Cyra Verdant, she would endure. So long as she had her shields and the earth beneath her feet, she would endure. She opened her eyes and smiled behind her bandanna. 

A smile that quickly vanished. Trees. There was nothing but trees stretching out beneath her. How could she have forgotten about the fucking [b]trees![/b] They would not be as welcoming to her arrival as the earth would be. She might have avoided faceplanting on the first day, but instead had traded it in for the possibility of being impaled. Because apparently that was much more preferable. [i]Never mind, I will endure.[/i] Curling her legs into her chest, she locked her shields in front of her and prayed for the ground to meet her quickly. 

One by one, the trees snapped and splintered before her, sending her into a tumble. One caught the edge of her shield, spinning her sideways, and she was flung about by two more until at last her momentum was spent and gravity fully asserted itself. Unlocking her shields as she fell, Cyra desperately scrabbled to grab hold of a branch, but nothing firm would hold her. When she finally came to a stop, she hung upside down, arms hanging past her head as she glared at the ground five feet below her. "You didn't catch me."

She looked up her body and groaned. It wasn't breaking her neck from faceplanting off a launchpad, or being impaled on a tree. No, instead it would be her shoelaces tangled around a branch that would do her in today.