[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
Adhoc vote count started by Nyarky on Apr 13, 2024 at 3:59 PM, finished with 21 posts and 11 votes.
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
[X] Write-in - "Oh, let's examine that thought for a moment. Critical thinking is such an important skill. Is that actually true? I want to hear everyone's thoughts. Can anyone think of reasons why, if it WAS me, I would not be revealing details about what exactly happened?"
[X]"Oh, let's examine that thought for a moment. Critical thinking is such an important skill. Is that actually true? I want to hear everyone's thoughts. Can anyone think of reasons why, if it WAS me, I would not be revealing details about what exactly happened?"
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
Thanks Nyarky for saving us from having 2 bad votes in a row.
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
Looking forward to accidentally turning into a god in public and having to deal with it.
Also, I just noticed you seem to have skipped chapter 18 (XVIII)
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
Adhoc vote count started by Nyarky on Apr 15, 2024 at 12:48 AM, finished with 28 posts and 13 votes.
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
[X]"Oh, let's examine that thought for a moment. Critical thinking is such an important skill. Is that actually true? I want to hear everyone's thoughts. Can anyone think of reasons why, if it WAS me, I would not be revealing details about what exactly happened?"
At least he can't complain that we're boring or unhelpful.
All that secret-keeping wasn't getting him anywhere anyway. We just need to demonstrate that the correct option is to explain as many horrible eldritch truths as possible, as often as possible. Then people get desensitized and just take it in stride when you explain about the immortal witch queen! And then you can make actual plans, before promptly throwing them away, turning into a giant berserker and punching the problem in the face.
At least Stella can say she lives true to her nature as a being of Change and possibly Chaos.
If the Tower enters a room, the ceiling had better be high enough for her to not bump her head if it knows what's good for it. It can either give her the headroom she wants, or it can get blown to chunks. Most rooms choose the first option if they can.
All that secret-keeping wasn't getting him anywhere anyway. We just need to demonstrate that the correct option is to explain as many horrible eldritch truths as possible, as often as possible. Then people get desensitized and just take it in stride when you explain about the immortal witch queen! And then you can make actual plans, before promptly throwing them away, turning into a giant berserker and punching the problem in the face.
Stella goes on an inspired rant about gods, fate, destiny and unfairness of the world before Cinder while using a dozen tentacles to help with presentation.
Whole Beacon cast of RWBY:
- You get used to it.
Stella goes on an inspired rant about gods, fate, destiny and unfairness of the world before Cinder while using a dozen tentacles to help with presentation.
Whole Beacon cast of RWBY:
- You get used to it.
I assumed Cinder got sacked pretty much immediately, since her ambition and ability to use Aura was reduced, for someone maybe more competent. Tbh I think Cinder put in a bit too much time to looking like a femme fatale over being practical.
[X] Fuck it, given how bad your track record on keeping secrets is, you wouldn't be surprised if they all spontaneously learned during the next week. Tell them to meet you tomorrow.
-[X] At Ozpin's office.
--[X] Just them, that is already more than enough.
Penny does ask a good question, why are you hiding this?
Sure, there is a part of you that could tell about *operational security* or *they could get afraid of you* or similar other things… but it is a very small part. You are a creature of spontaneity, for what is the biggest bringer of change than the unexpected?
"You are right, Penny, maybe there is more to say." You turn your attention back to Weiss and Cardin, both waiting for your explanation. "But not here and now, meet me tomorrow at nine in front of Ozpin's office."
"Professor? Why there?" A surprised Weiss asks.
"As the director of this establishment, he does have a lot of the information you seek, is that enough for you? I can understand why you didn't approach him originally, not only does the information you obtained shows me as closer to the incident, he's an important and in some way, intimidating man." You wait for her to acknowledge your explanation. "Very well, now, if you'll excuse me. My love and I are going to be late to our meeting. Goodbye Penny, all of you, see you tomorrow."
And with that, you begin quickly walking towards your previous destination, barely acknowledging the cheerful "Goodbye Mom" from Penny.
No, you didn't stumble when she said that, anyone saying this is a liar.
You reach the room you are using to have your game right on the dot, which for you means that you may as well be late compared to your norm.
"Sorry, sorry. Some students wanted to ask me a question on the way." You apologize when entering. Inside the room you find Glynda and some of your other colleagues, all seated around a table with the place of honor left ready for you.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can all understand. We all are teachers here, after all." Professor Randam says. "More importantly, Sable told us you wanted to do a custom campaign? Are you really sure? I know we all said you were made to be a GM, but that is not an easy start."
"Don't worry, I chose something that will be easy for me to run, here, let me just." You take out the character sheets you prepared for the occasion, a very simple one with mostly some place for a name and some skills to develop during the game.
That done, you explain the basic premise: everyone is going to play a voice inside the head of an amnesiac hero, all they know will be what you will say as a narrator that also talks to the hero. Their goal… well, they should of course follow every direction the narrator says, obviously, you absolutely aren't smiling when saying this.
After a small time to answer question about the system and the little character creation there is, you begin:
"You are on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path, is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin, is a Princess. You're here to slay here. If you don't, it will be the end of the world…."
The next day sees you bright and ready to face the talk with team RWPY and PRNS, you walk to the elevator that gives access… and are stopped by Glynda, seemingly annoyed for some reason. You can see the two teams waiting for you a little ahead, looking at the scene with interest.
"Stella, Sable? Can I ask why you want to see Ozpin? And also…" She looks directly at you while adding. "Why you didn't tell me you wanted to see him when you saw me yesterday? Especially since I assume this is related to the students that you met, given they are right there."
Turning a little sheepish at the reminder, you simply answer:
"Cardin Winchester and Weiss Schnee asked me what happened to Adam Taurus, I decided it would be better to explain the details in front of Ozpin…."
"And completely forgot to warn him beforehand." She sternly cuts. She rolls her eyes. "I swear, you two need to learn a little about courtesy. Ozpin is waiting for you, you can go, next time, please tell us in advance."
Feeling a little chastised, you enter the elevator with the students and your love, there is barely enough room, but you make do, one of the teams waiting for the elevator to come back before going up.
As soon as you enter, Ozpin looks at you, then the students, particularly the fearful Pyrrha, and proceeds to look at your other half. For some reason, your little bird nods, and Ozpin proceeds to open one of his drawers, take a small pile of Lien cards from it, and push them in the direction of a very smug looking Sable.
"Why does it look like Professor Ozpin just lost a bet?" A baffled Yang asks.
"Because he just did." You love answer while counting his ill-gotten gains. You take a quick look to see how much, just by curiosity, of course.
"Did you just bet on whether or not I would do this?" You ask, looking completely betrayed, though Sable knows you too much to fall for it, contrary to Ruby Rose, who seems to want to intervene but don't know how.
"No, Miss Panoply, we didn't bet on whether or not this situation would occur." Ozpin looks at Penny, then at you. "We bet on when it would. In retrospect, I'll admit that my estimation of having until the Vytal festival first participants would arrive was optimistic, and I probably should have known when the other side was someone that close to you."
"I get the feeling this isn't just about Adam Taurus anymore." Cardin says, looking at the whole scene with what appears to be apprehension.
"Do not worry, mister Winchester, you aren't in trouble." Ozpin tells him. "Now, Stella? I am sure you have an idea of how to do this, otherwise you wouldn't have come all the way here, yes?" His tone is almost teasing. As if you would act without thinking ahead… ok, he may have some good reasons now that you say it like this.
"Of course, I recently found a new way to present things that should be easier than the ones I had before." Before anyone has a chance to asks what you are talking about, you let your myriads hands out, their very nature radiating what you are. "As I said yesterday when you asked, I showed Adam Taurus some truth about the universe using my nature as an eldritch being." Your voices work on eliminating any remaining doubts there could be from the students.
The only answer is silence… until Penny jumps into your arms with a giant smile in some approximation of a hug. It seems they invoke mostly familiarity from her, as she is soon pretty relaxed.
The other students look at her and seems to come to some kind of realization, promptly confirmed by Nora:
"Does that mean our team leader is also eldritch? Oooooohhhhh, that could be so cool, we could all be like *we can't explain more about her* and others would…." Ren proceeds to put a hand on her mouth with a smoothness that speaks of long practice.
"For all that I disagree on how she asked." Weiss begins, tearing her gaze from the giggling Penny in your arms. "I would also like to know what this means for Penny."
"Do not worry, friend Weiss, I am a perfectly normal human! *Hic*" Your daughter says pretty unconvincingly. She looks at the skeptic gazes turned her way and proceed to add. "Really, I am not an eldritch being." The lack of her lying tick on this particular declaration seems to take at least some by surprise.
"Her circumstances are her own." You redirect the attention towards you. "All I can say without revealing more is that she was touched by my presence, it didn't change her Nature, but it did leave marks in some ways." You turn your attention to a frowning Cardin. "You have a question, don't you? Feel free to ask, I wouldn't have shown myself without being willing to answer."
He takes some more time to think on it, apparently searching for how to put it, before simply throwing the towel:
"If you're a god like that, what are you doing as a normal teacher in Beacon? I'm sure you could have us all worshipping you if you wanted."
"I am not a god." You say, even as some light from a perspective begins to want to make itself known. "I am a concept given form, one half of what was once something bigger, torn in two in a desperate plan by a desperate mortal."
"Torn in two?" Ruby Rose mutters. "Wait!" She suddenly turns towards Sable… or at least, the place Sable would have been earlier. Instead of him, she finds a void floating in the air.
"Looking for someone?" Your lover's voice asks from behind her. She turns as fast as possible, but there is nothing to see. "Do no worry, little one, I was just teasing you." Sable reappears as if from thin air. "But yes, you are right, I am the other half of the cycle my dearest talked about."
"To return to Cardin's question." You say, turning back to a more normal form. "Why would we want to be worshipped? For power? We have plenty. For fame? What would it matter, when a few million years would erase it all. No, what we want is something more precious than anything Worship could give us."
"Freedom." Pyrrha says from where she had stood, silent until now. "You want freedom, right? You said…" She looks at all the others watching her intensely. For an instant, she hesitates, before a gesture from Ozpin allows her to gather her courage. "When you accidentally revealed yourself to me, you were saying you knew what having a destiny was like. You are here to escape what your nature guides you towards." She seems certain by the end of it, you wonder if she didn't have a personal revelation here.
"Close, not exact, but very close." You congratulate her. "My dear and I came to Remnant after deciding to renounce the path that was open to us when we first woke up completely. I wanted to wander the universe, changing everything as was my Nature, with my love at my side. He…." You offer him a loving gaze and he circles an arm around your shoulders. "He convinced me to look at mortals more closely, to learn to appreciate the small things, instead of being stuck looking only on a scale too big to see anyone. This is what we want now: understanding. Both the ability to understand people, and having people understand us."
"Am I the only one that doesn't like simply accept the situation right now?" An irate Yang interrupts. "Like, what does *showing the truth of the universe* even means? I don't see what could possibly break him as you imply. For all I know, this is just an elaborate prank, why should I believe in gods or whatever you are?"
You don't have time to search how to answer before Ozpin, who had stayed pretty silent until now, reminds her of his presence.
"Miss Xiao Long, I can understand that learning that the world is not what you thought it was can be difficult to accept, but I assure you, this is true. If you do not trust me, you should ask your Uncle about this, he knows and in fact reacted in a relatively similar way at first when it comes to trusting Stella and Sable. As for your question about what could break a man… how old do you think this planet is?" The man really shows his experience right now, his entire being radiating calm and understanding.
"Wait, Uncle Qrow knows?" Ruby reacts before Yang can speak.
"Yes, you can ask him about the details in person." Ozpin says simply, still looking at Yang.
The girl seems to lose momentum under his gaze, until she finally relents:
"I don't know, I didn't really listen when this kind of things came up." She puts a hand behind her head embarrassedly. "It doesn't really help with fighting, you know?"
Ozpin nods, then begins speaking: "According to the research we did, and take into account that this is a lower estimate, Remnant is around 6 billion years old. Now, miss Xiao Long, how long do you think the current civilizations are?"
Every single student is watching the exchange intensely, you can see that at least some are beginning to see where Ozpin is going, interestingly enough, Nora seems to be among them, with only a hand from Ren stopping her from blurting an answer.
"I… still don't know. Around 100 000 years for the kingdoms? And humans have to be at least in the billion range." Yang answers. She looks around, and seems to realize she is probably very wrong. "Hey! As I said, that doesn't help in fighting!"
"The kingdoms are less than 3000 years old, and we estimate that humans and Faunus appeared around 50 000 years ago. Do you see what I meant? We are nothing on the scale of just our world, and I am pretty sure Stella didn't canton herself to it. Compared to stars, we may as well not exist. If a man was forced to understand it, I can easily see how his mind would break, we are not made to live that long." By the end of his little speech, Ozpin seems to have lost a lot of his energy, now sounding like a very, very, very old man that has seen far too much in his long life.
As if summoned by his bout of depression, you hear the *ding* of the elevator go off before an agitated Dorothy steps out. She barely takes time to note the people here and jumps into Ozpin arms right away. Meanwhile, Glynda is following more calmly.
"I am sorry for interrupting, but Dorothy was realty insistent. She said that *Dad is feeling bad and I should go help him feel better*." She explains.
Is Dorothy's Semblance showing itself? The girl would have reasons to value knowing the state of minds of those closest to her, and did show strong empathy the few times you talked with her. Or it could be her magic, though the way you left it means it and her Semblance are probably one and the same now. Glynda is probably thinking the same thing, as she wouldn't have let the girl go otherwise.
Ozpin takes a little time to squeeze his daughter in his arms, then takes a big breath and turns to Glynda.
"Thank you for letting her come. I think I needed that." He then turns back to the two teams that are awkwardly trying to pretend they didn't see a profoundly intimate moment. "I think this conversation was nearing its end anyway. Stella, Sable, I am sure you will be willing to answer some of their questions later?" At your nod, he claps his hands. "Then it's settled, you have a lot to think on. Discuss among yourselves, digest this new information, you have time."
As everyone says their goodbyes, you ponder on Ozpin's reaction when talking about how long the current human civilizations are. The man is almost as old as them from what you gathered, and he did say that this was too long a time for a man to live. What is keeping him moving then? Certainly, his curse means he cannot just kill himself, but that doesn't stop him from going the way Adam did, becoming an unresponsive shell in response to trauma. What is so important to him that he is still there? The Grimm? No, it seems too simple….
Ozpin sees your pensive gaze and chuckles.
"I showed too much, didn't I?" He looks at Dorothy before giving you an assured look. "I have had a lot of time to accumulate secrets on my too long life, but I think the time to come into the light is growing closer. Are you willing to wait until then?"
"Of course. You would have already broke or would show clear signs of it being on the way if there were risks of it. Whatever is allowing you to stay strong, I do not need to know what it is to know it will keep you intact until you can explain it." You answer. "Goodbye then, Ozpin, Glynda, Dorothy."
"Goodbye auntie Stella!" Dorothy says from her newly acquired perch on Ozpin's side.
With a parting nod from the two adults in the room, you finally go back to your normal schedule.
A few weeks passes, everything progressing at pace. You estimate that both Velvet and Yatsuhashi will soon be able to have lessons about integrating their Semblances to help them, and intend to discuss the subject in the near future. Both team RWPY and team PRNS' members have come several times to asks about you and Sable. Yang had followed Ozpin's advice and talked with her uncle, leading to some begrudging acceptance, Ruby had been particularly curious on everything, and had been accompanied by Nora several times, the excited girls chatting happily about your explanations.
It seems like Pyrrha did indeed have some revelation, she is dedicating herself more to the protective side of her studies than the fighting currently. She is still an incredible fighter, but she confessed that it wasn't the fights that interested her, but begin able to help in one of your visits.
Penny had been happy to be able to show her relation to you clearly, making sure people do know you are her mother whenever she can.
With all this, the time for the first missions of the year approaches, you have to make a selection on what you want to do.
[] A mission to guard a construction site for a new village during the last of its work. This will last for two weeks. No problems are anticipated.
[] A mission to escort a trader that is coming back to his nomad tribe's camp before they leave on their journey. A short mission. There is a possibility of being attacked by bandits.
[] A mission to exterminate a gathering of Grimm related to a strike by a local miner team (working for the Schnee dust company, of course). A short mission. Combat is certain.
Each mission corresponds to a team amongst RWPY, PRNS and CFVY.
I will tell which is which before the end of vote, but am interested in seeing if people can guess it beforehand.
A/N:
By the way, the title isn't sarcasm. Shocking, I know.
Stella is a counselor, that does count for something.
Yang was being difficult… then Ozpin came to the rescue and reminded everyone why he is the head of a global secret conspiracy one of the most important school of the world.
Time passes… the first students from abroad should arrive soon….
Also, here is a note from past me to current me, dating from the initiation's end:
"Please, for the love of Change, do not put yourself in a situation where there are eight participants in a conversation ever again."
As you can see, I followed it to the letter, there are 11 participants in this one!
(Why did I think that the mere possibility of including both team CFVY and Pietro at the same time in addition to the ones that already were there was a good idea again?)
