SLVR; Mistral Saga

Sapphire just makes small talk with the sisters, maybe talking about their weapons if the conversation come up, and briefly takes an opportunity to get some food at some point.

---

Noire continues to nap.

~Viridian~
The green samurai nods sagely. Of course, her Semblance. It all makes sense now.
“A grenade that can store your Semblance. Interesting. And a curious Semblance itself, very bracing.” He sort of reflexively reaches up to his eyes to wipe again.
“Oh, forgive me, I haven’t introduced myself. I am Viridian Cei, candidate hunter.”

~Rufous~
The punk gives a grin. “I’d think snowboarding’d be pretty close, at least closer than regular boarding with the sliding around. Wanna try?” He hops off the Thwhacker, which I’d been imaging hovering around hip-height while he sat on it but now sinks down to ankle-ish, a height you could step on to it at.
“It’s not entirely my creation, designing a hover engine from scratch takes a bit more money than I can front, or at least access to better machines, but for now most of it works like I want it to. Give’r a go.” He attempts to cajole them into trying out the Thwhacker. He’s like...pretty sure they won’t just ride off with it, never to be seen again.

~Viridian~

"I find it helps put things in perspective, that and baiting Grimm!" She says with a slightly sardonic smile before returning to what seems to be her default slightly lazy smile as she shakes your hand. “Nancy Nightshade, likewise. And just Nancy is fine.” Mana watches you both for a moment before she offers her own handshake with a quiet “...Mana” which is returned.

---

~Rufous~

The Silver siblings both take a try at the Thwacker, skating around near you. Lucia doesn’t try anything more daring than a few sharp turns that very much remind you of snowboarding as she otherwise just traces a loose figure eight around you. Nick attempts what you suspect was an ollie after similarly getting a feel for it but the way the board dips in the air at the attempt throws off his balance and brings his ride to an end

---

~everyone~

Time passes as such and the rest of the prospective first years make their way to the cliffs. Noire's alarm wakes her about an hour before the stated time and Miss Arc arrives and moves over beside the headmistress with her own scroll out.

Headmistress Lionheart seems to finish whatever it is she’s been doing on her scroll with a final tap before putting it away in her coat and standing up. You notice your own scrolls chirp simultaneously when she does so. “Right, that’s everyone then… time to get started!” She mutters to herself as she cracks her neck and pops her knuckles before flicking her wrist and producing a loud metallic CLACK from her bracelets that echoes off the cliff into the forest beyond.

“Alright everyone, settle down and line up! As I’m sure all of you are aware, there’s an initiation you have to pass before you’re officially accepted as a student of this academy. A way to gauge if your base competence meets our minimum requirements to become a Hunter-in-Training.”

As she speaks she moves to stand in front of the line of students at the cliff edge. She pulls a small round device from one of her coat pockets and taps at it lightly as she does.

“Now every school’s initiation is similar but different in key ways. Me, I prefer something of a mock exercise. A 'simulation' of what you might encounter as actual Hunter. I figure what better way to see how well you’d do as a hunter than to have you act the part! So listen up! Here’s your mission details.”

With a last tap the little device produces a blue holographic display, at which point the headmistress lets drop to the ground and roll a few feet away, the window flickers slightly but settles without issue. A magnified image of the forest behind them.

“You and 'your partner' were assigned to escort a VIP when your airship crashed over Grimm infested territory. Your task here is simple. You’re to reunite with 'your partner' in the forest. 'Your partner' being the first person you make eye contact with in the forest. This will be your ACTUAL partner for the duration of you education here so good luck!" She says with a shit-eating grin before continuing. "Once you have your partner, you proceed to rescue the VIP and get them back here.” The screen magnifies further to show a trail of wrecked ships in the distance making a loose bridge to an island.Before magnifying again to show the island itself contains the overgrown ruins of a small but modern-looking town. “To do that, you’ll be crossing the strait to reach the ruins on the other side where your VIP has hunkered down. For the record, your VIPs look something like this.” She produces a small vividly colored glass orb with some faintly visible mechanical parts inside from her coat and shakes it a little before tucking it away.

“Now, I’m sure you noticed your scrolls beeping a moment ago? That’d be me linking it’s tracker to our system. The reason being, even though I’ve been calling this 'a simulation', the danger is VERY real.” Her expression turns serious at this. "That forest, those ships, and that city are ALL infested with very real Grimm. They won’t hold back. They won’t stop when your aura breaks like in spars. They WILL try to kill you. So you’ll do the same. Just to be clear, the sheer distance and numbers involved means that even if we CAN keep an eye on you. The chance we’ll be able to save you is slim. That being said, if you make one of us go out there and save you, you fail. If you make one of us go out there and drag you out before you get yourself killed, you fail. If you make me go recover some overconfident fool's body to send back to their family, you fail. Think long and hard about if you’re up for this. There’s no shame in backing out if you don’t think you can handle this.”

She makes a point to meet the eyes of all of you and let that sink in before continuing. Some of the other students shuffle in place awkwardly but no one leaves. She nods quietly a stomps at the projector, flipping it up into the air where she shuts it off and puts it away.

“Right. ...Well then, get ready. We’ll start this off by testing your ability with a skill that all Hunters find themselves using surprisingly often; Emergency Landing Strategy.”

Another shit-eating grin slowly forms on her face as the sound of rushing wind suddenly forms behind you. Those of you who look have just enough time to see Miss Arc holding a great-sword wreathed in a miniature tornado of green dust-fueled wind and an apologetic look on her face. She then swings her sword and you’re all swept high into the sky by gale force winds.

Roll to Dye.

At Lionheart's words Sapphire just nods along as if this level of danger was exactly what she had expected (because it was as it's not like her father wouldn't have informed her of how serious the school's admission standards are) and Noire.... well Noire seems a bit excited by the idea of facing actual Grimm.

The wind blast surprises them both for only a moment. Noire is simply pulled up high into the air on her glider before she realizes what's happening and Sapphire was expecting something to happen to start them off, though not actually being pushed, so it doesn't take her more than a second to adjust herself and begin flying before she even would fall bellow the tree-line. To all outwards appearances it probably looks like she fluidly rolled with the gust and then just took off completely unfazed.

Sapphire, knowing that flight is a rather uncommon ability for..... well anyone let alone first day students, assumes at first that she's alone in the air and thinks to herself that her plan should be to team up with whoever else winds up coming out of the forest first without a partner to ensure she's paired up with someone capable who won't hold her back for the rest of the schoolyear.

And then about 30 seconds later Noire who noticed there was actually another person still up in the air with her silently swoops down and spirals around Sapphire and catches her eye, making Sapphire almost jump right off her broom in a start. Noire gives a laugh at this as Sapphire regains her composure.

They both look around to see if anyone else saw this, Noire because she wanted someone to laugh with and Sapphire because she wanted nobody else to have seen it. They find that Sapphire won out as they're alone for the moment. Sapphire pulls in close to conversational distance and says, "Well, suppose we'll be partners then. Being the flying duo of the school will have some advantages I suppose." she shrugs, thinking to herself that while this wasn't the plan it certainly could have been a worse match-up. "I am Sapphire Sky, nice to meet you...."

Noire nods in agreement to what Sapphire is saying, clearly doesn't immediately recognize the name, but at least picks up that she's being asked for her name. "Noire LeBlanc! Think we can be first to get our VIP back!?"

Sapphire grins at this suggestion, as it suits her competitive, gotta-be-the-best spirit, and gives a hearty nod.

As Noire pulls ahead momentarily with a small bang from the muzzle at the back of her glider, Sapphire notices the very clearly Pyrrha inspired sash hanging from Noire's waist and frowns to herself. She then wonders what kind of faunus Noire is. She'd thought a cat, but the glider doesn't really fit the style. Not that that necessarily means anything.

Spoiler:

Rufous grins as the Silver siblings take turns on the Thwhacker, hopping between sides of the figure 8 as he figures out what Lucia's doing. "Yoo, you two pick this up quick! Lotta people can't even stand on Thwhacker their first go-round!"

---

Viridian: 8 = {1, 6, 1}
Viridian keeps the 1 from Strong and is dyed Red.
Rufous: 13 = {6, 6, 1}
Rufous keeps the 6 from Punk and is dyed Red.

The samurai quickly regains control of himself in the air, but without many aerial options simply tucks and rolls, hitting some bamboo stalks on the fall to take some of the speed away.

Rufous is caught a bit more off-guard by the launch and fumbles briefly, but manages to midair the Thwhacker and regain control of flight trajectory with a "Yahoo!"
He glides down, doing a sick tricky as the board re-enters a height where it can support itself, before cutting back to look for a partner, the glide having shot him past where he expected most people to have fallen. He halts, muttering, "C'mon, c'mon, who's it gonna be..." as there's a rustling in the forest before him.

The lime samurai leaps through a curtain of bamboo, covered in leaves and stalk fragments. He matches eyes with the crimson delinquent for a moment, before the punk starts restraining a laugh. "Bu~ What's with your outfit? You forget to change or somethin'?"

Viridian leers. This is the worst possible match-up. "Viridian Cei. My semblance is most effective at close combat. Don't make me carry you too far."

>insert classic delinquent face
"Huhhh? If anyone's gonna be carrying anything, it's me taking you out of the past!" He jabs a thumb at his chest. "Listen up! I'm Rufous Ferth, and I'm the guy who's gonna move civilization up to the next level!"
He cuts the hoverboard monstrosity he's riding back in the direction of the bridge of ships and starts at a good clip. "Try not to fall too far behind!"

Viridian runs after him silently, following the path through the forest the delinquent  cuts.

~Noire and Sapphire~

The tops of the bamboo zip by below the two of you as you fly towards the ships you can see growing rapidly in the distance. The sounds of combat or distant chatter occasionally drift up to you before being swept away by the rushing wind. You notice bamboo shake and occasionally fall in the distance as well. All in all it seems like a relatively peaceful flight as you keep an eye out and head to your goal.

And it’s this attentiveness that allows you to notice the rustling before you and flash of black high in the trees in time to react. Noire and Sapphire both juke to the side, narrowly avoiding a trio of black rope-like appendages that lance out from the canopy in the blink of an eye.

You follow the spike-tipped lines down to their source as you circle in the air and find your attackers. Three squat figures with wide mouths and bulbing eyes that burn like hateful embers. With a white carapace along their backs marked by swirling patterns and long black legs with red webbing clinging high to the bamboo as they pull back their toungues in an instant track your path. Three frog-like Grimm, Hyla Ropers, large enough to swallow a man whole if only barely. Their throat bulge red as deep bass croaks rumble hungrily from their maws.  

---

~Rufous and Viridian~

The two of you make steady progress through the forest, intermittently cutting through the trees or following game trails. The thickly packed bamboo blocks nearly all sound and wind except for the ever present rustling of the gently swaying giant stalks. Occasionally you hear the sharp rapid cracks of gunfire and falling trees in the distance. The sun through the canopy dyes everything in an ethereal golden green glow broken by occasional white rays flashing bright on the scenery.

It’s one of these rays that brings you to a stop, flashing across something you can just barely see through the stalks ahead of you, only noticing it a little over 10 feet away. As you stop and squint trying to make out the object, you meet the gaze of a suddenly opened giant tear-drop shaped burning eye. Both of you jump back as a pair of white scythes open above you and flash through the trees, quickly making a small clearing in the forces. The creature is almost entirely white, large overlapping white plates making it look almost like a ten foot flower. The way it moves is almost eye-watering in the surroundings but brief flashes of black flesh and glowing red lines reveal its’ Grimm nature.

A massive mantis-like creature, an Orchid Slasher, looms over you as it brings its claws back to bear with a rapid jittery motion and a tilted head and a sibilant hiss.

Conflict Time:

Sapphire went up in her dodge, while Noire wound up going down. "I'll cover you!" Sapphire shouts down, as much to distract the grimm from Noire as to make sure she heard. Noire gives a thumbs up as she dips down below the tree line.

Sapphire then twirls off her broom, which transforms into a bow, and fires off several bright blue dust arrows mainly aimed at the furthest Hyla Roper. The other shots at the other two just there for further distraction.

Noire swoops down and then sharply back up under one of the grimm and as she comes close changes Axis from glider form to axe form, trying to go in for a swift and unexpected kill.

Spoiler:

Leaves crunch as the samurai rushes forward, climatically parrying one of the scythe-like arms with a quickly drawn sword and immediately putting himself in a position where he will either create an opening and eviscerate the beast or be caught on the defensive and forced back.

Viridian forces an uncolored clash with the Orchid Slasher, loser of the clash skips their first turn. This is a start of combat ability and not Viridian's first turn.
{10}

---

With a low pop, Rufous launches himself over the massive insect, arcing over it as a barrage of shiny bubbles descend, detonating on impact with the insect and creating a small cacophony of metallic sounding KLANGs as they burst.

Rufous uses his Semblance to make an attack!
11 = {5} + [6]

Viridian is Blue.
Rufous is Yellow.