[fieldbox="Hazel Grimhilde, #FFCC00"]
The magenta-haired healer reverted her weapon to its initial form and mumbled, "I'll explain when the time comes about more complex healing."
A shiver crawled up the shorter thicker girl's spine. Hazel was pretty sure she didn't want to hear about Connie's 'more complex healing' either. She was glad to hear they had an offensive form, too, though; Hazel had always been great at protecting her sister's - whether they appreciated it or not - but there had never been a worry that they couldn't take care of themselves, at least for a little while, if she wasn't around. In fact, some part of Hazel had been hoping she'd have seen her little sister first. Not that there was anything wrong with Connie, or Ki, or-
Okay, now she was starting to correct herself in her head, and that was just weird. The girl breathed out slowly. This was not the place to be second-guessing herself, not over such small stuff, especially, and when being paired with her sister probably would have been a disaster in the making. She and Rill might've made a good team if she had joined the year she was supposed to instead of taking time to train. Her mother made it well-known that this was not a favorable option and her sisters had decided she must've had cooties or something, especially Izzy, who made it her goal to join the academy a year early - and she did. Well, more power to her. Still, there was no reason to rush - any job worth doing is worth doing right. That was what Hazel thought of the whole thing, and it's why she was putting so much effort into getting to know her classmates and her team. Who... apparently were trying to get to know her right back.
"Hm? I'm sorry, zoned-out for a second." Honesty was probably the best course. Still, she had to resist the urge to explain herself further, but if the other girls reaction had been any indication, it wasn't something needing her new-found expertise in the art of fumbling all over oneself.
The wolf-boy's ears stood up toward her, which she suspected was a sign he had recovered from the mass of falling tree earlier. "Shall I call you Dust Witch from now on, Hazel? It does seem more fitting."
Hazel barked a laugh - no pun intended. She wiggled her brows at the boy, fingers tapping against the cover of the book on her hip suggestively. "Careful, I'll cast a spell on you." It was a favorite saying of hers.
Her laughed seemed to have sparked something else in the boy as he noted, "One more thing," then started busying himself with his weaponry, a pair of guns. "That whooping you made getting launched? It made me not hate being sent flying as much as I normally do."
Oh. She hadn't been expecting him to say that, at least, it sounded like a compliment, so she decided to take it that way. A blush creeping up her face, the bi-haired girl smiled genuinely. "I'm glad it helped. Helps me, too, so maybe you should try it next time. We can do a practice run now, if you like?" She twisted, making a show of going for her spellbook.
At that moment, the boy had clamped his guns together and elongated them both, turning them into a broadsword of sorts, which he threw on his back. Ki looked confident. His ears twitched in a couple directions before catching his attention in one particular, and with his hand still on the gunsword, Hazel took notice of the fact that his finger moved to the trigger. Turning with him, her hand hovered over her book, the other pulling the pencil out from behind her ear. Twirling it behind her fingers, she whistled casually, eyes scanning the forest surrounding them, and she was glad she did; whatever it was came on them fast.
A huge gale proceeded it, spitting dirt and debris up at the group. Hazel still had the wind dust on her fingers and whipped up the winddisc easily, but it only kept the immediate view before them clear; she couldn't throw the gale back at its creator. She bent her knees, prepared to jump at the last second, a ribbon wrapped around one finger trailing from between the pages. The ground was screaming at its feet. What was this thing? It didn't take long for them to figure it out. The Dust Witch felt the same tension in her teammates and tightened her grip on the items in her hands, toes pressed into the earth so that she could attack. Her mouth opened in the onset of a battlecry, a golden glow steadily emanating from her skin when the familiar sounds of smooth electrics coupled with fine machinery settled behind the dust, like steam being released. That wasn't a grimm.
Out of the forest fog came a creature that didn't belong there, silver and blue and lit like the city district. It was covered in ancient-styled armor, whatever it was. Hazel had a good idea it was more a question of who it was, and the answer came with a haughty stance for introduction. She raised an amused brow.
"My name is Prussian. It's nice to see you all again," he said, hands held behind his back so his metallic barrel chest was pushed out even further with what was probably supposed to be dignity. "Now. I hope you don't mind, but I have feel like we are far from alone in this wood. I can tell you that the scanning equipment i have in this suit indicated a viable presence for our enemy."
Hazel looked out to the trees around them. Great. They knew the grimm were out there, but now they had confirmation. Oh well, better than a sneak attack from behind a bunch of debris - again. She sighed and rolled her eyes back to the bunch of bravado pacing away from them now in the direction they had been heading before he showed up. "The temple is this way," the lucky citizens were told by their hero, "I am tracking the movement of the others and they appear to be mostly moving this way."
"Huh. So your suit allows you to move quickly, with extra force, track all the living species in the general vicinity, differentiate between friend and foe, and you decided to stop for little ole us?" she asked, lashes fluttering, hands clasped over her heart, knees together like she was about to swoon. Putting an end to her act as the Southern Bell, her eyelids fell with her voice inflection. "How generous."
"Don't mind me," Prussian continued, taking a casual step back toward the group, really as if she hadn't spoken. "I take it one of you are my partner then. If you don't mind, I have an efficiency quota to meet and standing here is slowing that down..." She couldn't help her mouth dropping open, either. His act as the arrogant jerk was too well executed for her liking. Didn't stop him from persevering. Turning his back on the group again, the pseudo-droid started walking toward the temple once more. "Not to sound rude," he said. Hazel choked. "But can introductions wait? I personally do not like being late."
If either Connie or Ki started with him, Hazel would hold out her arm, suggesting that they didn't silently. She watched the boy continue on his own, her head tilted forward with a knowing look, and a serious one at that, patient and no longer as entertained as it once had been. When he looked back to see if they were following, she spoke up. "Not to sound rude, but it won't matter that you're on time if you show up without your partner."
The witch sauntered up to him with fire. Her legs jiggled with the walk, just a shade light of stomping in her short-heeled boots. She was eyeing him rather hard with a smile plastered on her face, and she had to keep her semblance back, it naturally amplifying with her emotions. The girl knew a fight wasn't necessary, but her blood may or may not have been boiling with the way this kid was treating her and her friends - whether or not she considered him one, too. He was tall. Just like everyone else; wtf kind of group had she found herself in? It didn't change anything as she - more or less - got in his face, poking his dumb dome breastplate with her black, manicured finger, the other hand a fist on her cocked hip. Hazel allowed her body language to do the real talking for her, her sarcastic expression and tone were just a beautiful bonus for her poor victims.
"I don't know what you think being a hunter is about, but it certainly isn't about rejecting orders and ditching your team - which this particular exercise is intended to designate, by the way - so maybe you should take the time to find out who you're leaving to the grimm before you win some more scorn from someone you actually care about?" She looked back at the other two, pointing out the tallest member with her chin first. "Ki already figured out where the temple was, and Connie's a healer. I've had to protect us all from debris twice already, and one of those times," her finger was back in his chest as she growled out the words, "was because of you. So tell me, Hot Shot, what do you bring to the table?" The noise elicited from the back of her throat was something between a groan and a sigh as she shook her head. Disappointment or disgust didn't even begin to cover it. "C'mon, guys. We've got a temple to be late to." As she started walking off without the electronic boy, Hazel remembered something. "By the way, Connie? Meet Mr. Roboto here, Prussian Gerhardt, heir to the Helios empire, prodigal hunter, and giant ass. He's alright when he likes to take his head out of it."
With that, she stormed off. Calmly.
If the other two came within earshort, she'd apologize for being an ass herself. "Sorry, that just really got under my skin. Should the headmaster throw a fit about the three of us being partners, I'll say I was paired up with him so you two can move forward to the team match-ups. Didn't mean to lose control of my tongue like that, but it's been known to happen." She'd laugh it off, hoping that she hadn't lost more than control of her tongue in the process of putting Gerhardt in his place - which, admittedly, wasn't really her job. But someone had to do it!
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