Orion Armstrong
Orion took a good few minutes to dry the worst of the wetness out of his clothing. He was thankful for a little trick his adoptive mother showed him which allowed his aura shield to do a bulk of the drying by expelling the water from the protective soul power. Suitably dry, Orion consulted his W.A.T.C.H and was blessed to see a nearby hunter-in-training. From what he could tell, there were no other notable readings and as such, Orion felt like there was a high chance he was in for a meeting with his partner pretty soon.
Orion had dropped his Polearm in the time he’d taken to concentrate and control his aura sufficiently to pull of his little drying trick. He was not known for his stunning control of aura, and it was one of the only things he didn’t excel at in the academy a few years back: Even after his year outside of the academy had not given him a chance to hone that inefficiency in his capabilities. Thankfully, he was attending the most prestigious academy for hunters in the known continent; and as such, he had the best chance of tempering this failing here.
Orion picked up the Polearm, swinging it around lightly in order to get a comfortable grip on the weapon. Epsilon Delta was one of the strangest weapon choices Orion could have gone for: he’d gotten so many recommendations of ‘Hammer’ or ‘Gauntlets’ by his teacher; all of which seemed to miss the point of why Orion chose to craft himself such a bizarre compliment to his natural strengths. A hammer would have given his strength an outlet, and gauntlets would have abused his semblance: to be sure. However, Epsilon Delta gave him something more difficult to get. The Polearm provided versatility, and the Polearm provided something he could use when his Semblance was acting up. Controlling his strength had been a big enough issue in the past: imagine trying to control raw power with a hammer?
Orion reached into his back pocket and fished something out of his pocket. Withdrawing the soggy lollypop left Orion a bit disheartened, as the flavour would be all but gone. It was likely that his entire supply of sweets was ruined, and that tragedy left the Faunus frowning. He scratched his head through the orange beanie on his head as he began to walk alongside the edge of the Island’s edge, looking for the shallowest point to cross the island.
Eventually, Orion spotted something in the distance; along the opposite side of the Lake was a distant figure: appearance impossible to from this side of the lake. Orion had yet to find a shallow point to cross from, which meant that his crossing strategy would have to be a bit flashier. Taking a couple dozen steps back, Orion cupped his hands over his mouth; about to shout something when he stopped himself. ”Grimm are going to be nearby. Shouting would be suicide.”
Instead of shouting, Orion would just have to ‘wing’ the entrance, it seemed. He flared his aura as he started to pump his muscles full of energy with his semblance. He inhaled sharply, and then exhaled slower: gripping the Polearm tightly as he burst into an instant sprint. Small chunks of rock were sent spraying behind the tall Faunus as he began to sprint towards the edge of the beach when he leaped.
Concentrating aura into his legs was much harder than it was to concentrate it into his arms, mostly because of the volatile nature of the stunt. Despite that, Orion had seemingly gotten lucky with his semblance twice today, as the leap was strong and true. He was high above the air when he spotted something in the lake: a glint of some sort that looked almost colourful. ”Could that be the cache?”
He didn’t have time to ponder the cache as the approaching ground presented his next issue. He didn’t have a good enough jump to make this landing clean: which meant he’d have to make a dramatic entrance one way or another. He cleared the lake, sure: but breaking a bone wouldn’t be the best way to make acquaintance with the person he’d likely be spending the next few years with. Orion was spreading his aura shield over his entire body now: getting ready for what would hopefully be nothing less than a little graceless.
About twenty feet from Arara, Orion hit the ground. He rolled to cushion the blow and let his aura shield absorb the worst of the blow before rolling onto his feet. He looked over at the figure of the woman he’d met the day before: smiling as he wiped at his arms and legs. “Yo.”
<<Location: Shores of Lake Listless, Twenty feet from Arara Sakanade>>
Isaac Markeel
Isaac waited until the ship hit the ground before he moved on from his perch atop the mountain. He was comfortable enough where he was, and as such he didn’t feel a need to move in a hurry. He’d taken the chance to grab his small pocket computer from his pocket and zoomed in on something interesting that escaped from the ship at a later point than anyone else. From his perch atop the mountain, he saw Arara’s antics with the aura glyphs, letting a smile spread across his lips as he enjoyed the graceful display. “Shame. She’s far too far away.”
Discarding Arara as a candidate for partnership, Isaac decided he’d just have to settle with the closest individual as his partner. He’d likely be partnered with some weakling who would then be blessed with getting carried through every combat exam by Isaac’s skills. Examining the W.A.T.C.H revealed that there was exactly one blip that was close enough to be of interest to Isaac. Close enough was a pair of blips: likely already partnered.
Isaac paused to observe the blip’s movements, and was left smiling lightly as the figure walked away from his location. No idiot would ignore the W.A.T.C.H’s use after the headmaster had gone to such length to explain it: meaning that whatever person this blip was attached to was actively ignoring Isaac. “Interesting.”
Isaac pugged at the metal wires of his semblance on his left hand, which began to reel them in. He’d done the same with his right hand in the time he’d been watching Arara’s descent, but had left his left hand ready as a sort of grappling hook, should he need to move quickly in the left direction. Instead, it seemed, he was going to be moving after a new blip.
“Time to go pick my poison, it seems.” Isaac sighed, before launching the wires of his left hand and right hand towards nearby rocks. Each finger represented a different bayonet, and each bayonet embedded itself in the rock. Reeling in the wires was Isaac’s next step, and doing so catapulted him into the air, jettisoning him towards the direction of the blip. He yanked the bayonets free from the rocks before planting them into another rock mere moments later, catapulting him in a new direction each time He’d keep jettisoning himself towards his future partner, and he couldn’t help but feel an anticipation grow in his gut. What gutsy individual was trying to actively avoid partnering up, and why? Were they itching for glory or a fight or something else, perhaps?
They’d likely see the rapidly moving blip soon enough: no doubt they’d probably know of his coming before he landed.
<<Location: Zipping through the Boulin Mountain Range, towards A6>>