As expected, not much studying was accomplished beyond that night's essay. Even then, the only reason they'd managed that was due to Weiss' supporting her in enforcing that much.
The next day went roughly the same, with the only real difference being a shortened distance between Pyrrha and the others during meals as well History replacing Combat class. Professor Oobleck turned out to be like a hyperactive version of Professor Colbert, in that he allowed no nonsense in his classroom and was quick to be distracted by subject that touched on his interests. A major difference between the two, other than the full head of sickly green hair and his obvious speed, was that Professor Oobleck felt much more inviting toward curiosity and theories that go against the general consensus... as evidence by his twenty minute conjecture over Vicky's origin.
Not that any of his guesses were anywhere close to correct.
After that, the rest of the week was roughly the same. Classes would alternate between Combat, History, and Wilderness Survival. Grimm studies remained a daily constant. Free periods and evenings were when Louise made sure to invest time into things that the school wasn't responsible for.
Learning from Ruby on how to maintain Remnant's transforming weapons for the second night in a row was the most enjoyable. The red hooded child was both insightful and enthusiastic upon learning that Louise actually wanted to continue their previous discussion. Apparently none of her friends or schoolmates had ever done so and the girl was almost in tears at the prospect. Once they'd dealt with the emotional outburst, which the pinkette had reluctantly allowed to escalate into an uncomfortable hug, they'd stayed up all night together to do a complete run-through of Crescent Rose's motorized blade assembly.
The night after that was spent on a trip to the library... once she managed to find the place. Students were given free reign to do as they wished, so long as it didn't cause any damage to the materials and Louise took full advantage. Thanks to the majority of the years she could remember being largely devoted to futilely searching for any scrap of knowledge that would prove her worth, the youngest Vallière was no stranger to monotonous hours of nonstop reading. Eight texts later, it was nearing dawn and she felt at least a little closer to understanding what Aura was.
Rather than the simple explanation of it being 'the manifestation of the soul', Aura was instead more of a permanent and contagious spell effect that leeches off of the magicka in the target's soul. To unlock Aura, one had to first have Aura. So how exactly the first person came upon the ability remained a mystery.
Following her night of research, it came as no surprise that she was tired. Still, that had never been an excuse to sleep during lessons that might end her time as 'the Zero' and it was no excuse to do so at Beacon. Determination kept her from dozing off and the occasional burst of healing reduced any physical signs of exhaustion, so the others had no idea as far as she could tell. Thankfully wilderness survival didn't entail much more than an introduction to basic plants to avoid.
A second night in the library helped her come to understand how to manipulate Aura, but she didn't want to risk soiling her budding reputation by being less than perfect in Combat Class, so she went to bed after finishing a book on movement enhancing techniques and another essay on the weak points of a beowulf... which was harder than it should be, considering how little substance there was to write on since the creatures' only real 'weak point' was their heads and even the rest of the body was fairly easy to score a kill on.
After thoroughly trouncing the boarbatusk victim and his team, Louise graciously accepted Professor Goodwitch's advice to try dodging more often rather than relying on her 'above average' Aura to take the hits. She neglected to argue about how weak her opponents had been and how little magicka they'd taken from her in the fight. It wasn't as if she would simply stand there while a legitimate threat was attacking, the gormless idiots just weren't worth spending more time to defeat by dodging.
As each member of her's and Vicky's teams won their fights, Louise pulled them aside and told them her plan to train for the evening. When class let out and they made their way to the running course beside the academy's exercise pool, she wanted to immediately begin to run, but the others apparently didn't want to dirty their combat clothing. The solution was not something she felt comfortable in.
Tight, short pants that didn't even reach the middle of her thigh and a sleeveless shirt that barely covered her ribs. Flat shoes with odd patterns on the bottom and nowhere to put the excess length of laces finished the ensemble... such as it was.
"W-why do I have to wear something l-l-like... like this?!" The pinkette demanded, fidgeting to pull the material down further.
She tried not to let the irritation show on her face when she noticed that including Hinata and Ruby, only her shirt had even the slightest amount of loose material. Considering Hinata, Pyrrha, Yang, and Vicky all seemed to have trouble even containing their obscene busts into the things, Louise had little success at the attempt. At least the Schnee barely filled it any better than she did.
Her fellow heiresses at least appeared to be more uncomfortable with the outfits, though Weiss had apparently found an alternative that covered her entire torso and legs. Ignoring the accusatory glare sent her way, the white haired girl replied, "Because formfitting clothes help prevent accidents and improve the aerodynamics of your profile. Aside from that, they should help with remaining cool while the material is one that dries quickly. It's common knowledge that more injuries occur in training than on your average field mission, so it only makes sense to minimize risk factors."
"Then why aren't you wearing this ridiculous thing?"
Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Weiss called over her shoulder as she walked out, "
I had the foresight to bring my own workout clothes."
Putting the ridiculous clothing out of her mind, Louise stormed out after her and began to run around the track at full sprint. Her only solace was in the fact that they were all females, as the Arc boy had needed to go to the healer when his arm pulled free of his shoulder for some reason... though he at least won his match, having embedded his opponent into a wall with a shield bash.
The others joined her soon after, but at a more sedate pace and she quickly passed them... except for Hinata and Vicky, but that was to be expected. When she didn't stop until she collapsed in the dirt several minutes later and spilled her lunch upon the grass, most of the others paused as well. Ruby immediately sped over in a flash of rose petals, but Louise healed herself and got back up to run on unsteady legs.
"Whoa, hold on!" The girl cried, chasing after her. "What are you doing?!"
"Running." Louise huffed, not wanting to waste the air to talk when she needed it just to lift her leaden feet. Restoration magic spread from her hands to alleviate the burning in her legs, but it didn't help the burning in her lungs.
"Yeah... But..."
Not listening beyond that, the pinkette pushed herself to go just a little bit faster. Her heart was pounding and her head felt strange, but she kept going, healing herself every other minute. Three more falls and Hinata forced her to take a break with the rest of them, dragging her to sit down next to the sweaty mob. Disgruntled and worn out, she lay down face first and just focused on breathing for a while.
"Holy smokes, girl." Yang said to her after giving her a minute to catch her breath. "Is this how you train all the time, 'cause you were pretty intense out there... even for me."
"Yeah, that was crazy! I don't think I could keep running that hard for so long... I mean, I'm way faster, but that's kinda my Semblance." Ruby agreed, pulling a bar of something out of somewhere and biting down.
Vicky, having not actually grown any more fatigued from the run, curled her legs inward to make space and leaned down to brush hair out of the pinkette's face. "Don't hurt yourself, Louise. I know you can heal any damage, but it's better not to get hurt in the first place."
"Well... I think it's quite admirable of you to work so hard."
At the redhead's words, Yang snorted, "Nobody asked you."
"I'm only trying to be supportive." Pyrrha defended, frowning back at the blonde.
"C-can we not fight, please?" Hinata begged as the pinkette sat back up.
If they were going to take a break, she wasn't going to spend the entire time lying down. Having seen Espinoza and plenty of other X-com soldiers doing their exercises, not that she'd stood and watched them or anything, she thought to emulate them. Sticking her feet underneath her pale eyed friend's rear, earning a squeak of surprise, the Louise used the girl's weight to hold them down as she began to do sit-ups.
After staring slack-jawed at her with the others that they'd met since attending Beacon, Yang smirked and asked, "Wow, was the death run Hinata-nuff for you?"
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (12000/12000)
Weekend plan:
[] Take a team to eat at Kwama Korp!
-[] Team RHPL
-[] Team DASY
-[] Both
[] Wander Vale with RHPL.
[] Stay at Beacon.
-[] Study.
-[] Spend time with Blackie.
[] Write in.
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A/N: Endurance and Spending time with Vicky's team tied, but fused since they aren't mutually exclusive. Endurance +1, Aura enhancement unlocked: study and practice to improve efficiency and effect, Aura Unlocking 2/100, Basic Principles of Compression Technology 2/5.
