"Perhaps we... got off on the wrong foot," Schnee says somewhat laboriously. "There was a great deal of tension from the examination, some things were said in the heat of the moment..."
"You had some fairly strong opinions about local Dust..." Winchester continues for her, distinctly unimpressed.
"The Dust was inferior! It was sabotaged!" Schnee protests. "And most importantly we can't allow ourselves to be divided over -aha- such petty squabbles. We're two of a kind, you and I! Descended from extremely respectable families, moments from receiving our leadership responsibilities. It only makes sense to maintain a cordial working relationship, doesn't it?"
And I thought
Rostam had a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease.
"What about the King's Brand?" Winchester asks. "You do know that's part of it, right? Finish your training, swear fealty to Vale forever? You're just cool with that? Or are you gonna try to weasel out of it and run off back to daddy?"
"I did not come here to be interrogated!" Schnee retorts. "And- well, fine! If that's going to be your attitude then I see even my most hopeful estimates of Vale hospitality were grossly optimistic! Enjoy being stuck with a thief, a university student and a- a hedge-knight for a glorious Huntsman team!"
Oh, wow. That is a political hot button issue, isn't it? On both sides. Atlas/her family will never be able to properly trust her, because she has the Brand and probably came to Beacon against their wishes, and Vale will never trust her because she's Schnee. Maybe Weiss really is the loneliest of all.
You start forward. You know about Loneliness now. You may not understand it but you know enough. Jaune wished people would just look at him, acknowledge that he even existed. That's all Schnee needs, right? Once you do that she'll be friends with you, and you'll have one more ally for your assignment. Now all you have to do is figure out what to say. Something comforting. Friendly. Respectful. And confident, don't forget confident.
You know, I like this. It's not the monster encroaching on the human, it's the human encroaching on the monster.
"Professor Gotthard is being quite alarmist. The whole airship won't explode - just the fuel tank and engine really. Now!" Ozpin double-taps his cane against the flagstones beneath him. "We really must be putting you in your teams and sending you to bed! Rest assured you will be getting very well-acquainted with your professors soon enough. Step forward as I call out your names."
So, interesting thought I had. How much of the goofy professor thing is an act? Because leaning into it is a real good way of getting people to underestimate you/not realise that you are actually a secret Grimm that has turned good, or whatever's going on with Ozpin. It's a pretty traditional archetype as well, fits in with the Grimm preoccupation with that kind of thing.
"Chin up, Miss Schnee," Ozpin goes on more softly. "Our aim is to broaden all of your horizons here at Beacon. The more richly-lived the life, the more potent the story! I promise you that by the time you leave this place each and every one of you will be shining beacons, both craved and desperately feared by all Grimm."
So, apparently people know that Grimm hunger for stories? Interesting.
"It's Jaune isn't it," Pyrrha says.
Ozpin blinks. "Beg pardon?"
"You're gonna make Jaune team captain," Pyrrha repeats. Jabbing her thumb at Ren and Nora. "You're not gonna make it either of them because they'll just play favourites and play fuckaround-"
Pyrrha's smart. And also has no patience for shit.
Pyrrha makes an exasperated gesture with the same hand as if to say 'see!?'. "And you won't make it me because I'm on your shitlist to teach lessons about humility and whatever. So you're gonna saddle Jaune with the job and see if he loses his goddamn mind trying to get the three of us to listen to a word he says."
"I'm also trying to teach young Mr Dark empathy and attachment with humanity. At least part of that involves coexisting with massive pains in the arse."
The sun's rays are practically horizontal now. Casting shadows so long that they seem to stretch from Vale all the way across the valley. Ozpin's shadow, too, stretches out east like a long black stain on the stone. Stretches out across you, over you, as if swallowing you whole. Painting the courtyard the colour of oil, triangular ears twitching-
Well. That's suggestive. Traditionally, the shadow/reflection of a thing is meant to show the truth of it.
Edit: Also, going by the wolf metaphor - maybe it's like Little Red Riding Hood or, more likely The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids. Ozpin put on the costume, or the flour, and when people let him in, he didn't go for the throat. He went native, so to speak.
"Good!" He turns away, releasing you from his gaze as a wolf would a fox from its jaws. You slump slightly, breathe a little easier. Ozpin looks out at the valley his school protects. "Do try to catch up to Professor Gotthard. And get a nice early night. It's not safe to be out all alone after dark."
The sun finally, laboriously drops below Vale and its high mountains. Plunging the clifftop into even, twilight shadow.
"Not even in Beacon."
"Yes, professor."
"Run along now."
"Why do I feel like I should say, 'I need an adult'?"
"Well, you only very recently became truly sentient. Likely, you're even younger, in terms of mental chronology, than the corpse of the young man you're possessing. This could be an expression of your subconscious acknowledgement of emotional and social immaturity. Though truth be told, it's probably because your host is what is colloquially referred to by the modern youth as 'a meme-loving fuck'."
Ozpin totally knows.
[X] The faculty accommodations. If you follow Gotthard's scent you should find these just fine. The other two teachers she and Ozpin mentioned must be back by now too. Forewarned is forearmed - and they could be discussing things they never would in front of students.
It's actually just going to be a bunch of bitching about the new crop of students. Or the old batch. Really, I don't think teachers, even ones at a school teaching monster hunting, are going to be that different.
