<br/><strong>Name: Armina Horowitz </strong><br/><strong>Location: Combat class</strong><br/><strong>Tagging: Team Wild Marmet (WMTT) </strong><br/><br/>Armina’s combat class was to be held on the closed training grounds of the Academy. It was a modern building, wide and spacious as a gym on the ground floor and adequately split into large rooms on the first floor. It was well equipped and since she joined the Academy’s staff, Armina sought that one or two changes be made to better prepare the students for the ‘harsh Grimm reality out there’ as she often liked to put it. She then patiently divided the training equipment based on difficulty level: from ‘hard’ to ‘darn right suicide’ because the word ‘easy’ lacked from her basic vocabulary.<br/><br/>Things were really much less grim than she really wanted them to be. Headmaster Vainamoinen would certainly not allow that the student’s lives be placed in danger at the Academy even if it was often necessary that they learn to become Hunters the hard way. However, Armina was somewhat pleased with the results, that her word was taken into account and some changes were made before the start of the new year.  And what better way to test the new equipment than with the first years? It was there that the janitor had taken Team WMTT for their first class of the day.<br/><br/>“Well, aren’t you a sorry lot?” she greeted the Wild Marmet team which was unfortunate enough to have the first class with her. “I don’t remember ever having such skinny students at Avalanche before, we must be really desperate for Hunters this year.” She wasn’t joking and as the students would come to know, the straight line between her lips never curled into a smile, unless it was a devious one.<br/>She welcomed them dressed in a black suit which covered her body from neck to ankle and had a large metal zip in front. The fabric itself looked waterproof and slick while underneath it was patched with wool to keep a constant body temperature. Her long black hair was tugged back into a pony tail and the suit’s hood remained on her back for now.<br/><br/>“Welkin Graham. Mori Koji. Tahira Atemu. Tamika Ming. Team Wild Marmet led by Welkin Graham.” she read on the prompt next to her as their profiles were shown one by one.<br/><br/>“Today I’ll get to see what kind of dumb luck you guys had in the first place to get admitted. It’s a miracle that some of you passed my combat exams, but you have to understand there wasn’t much to choose from. Don’t get cocky just because you were a bit better than the worst. I won’t introduce myself. If you haven’t paid attention to the Headmaster when he told you my name, than that will get you a big minus on your score sheets so you better find out fast how to address me.”<br/><br/>As she said her encouraging first year speech, Armina looked at each one in return, straight into their eyes. As expected, most of them looked away. Her gaze returned to Mori Koji where it lingered for a few seconds, in a very unflattering way.<br/><br/>“Poet Kid,” she addressed him already making up a nickname for the one which she assumed would be her least favorite student that year “ step over there, to my right.” She pointed to one of the test dummies which represented an Ursa Major standing on its hind legs with several dots painted over the vulnerable spots of its body: neck, heart and forehead.  It was fairly double in zise compared to Mori’s frame.<br/><br/>“Now we all know that direct combat is the most essential skill a Hunter or  Huntress can hope to master. Fancy weapons and impressive Semblances won’t do you much good if you’re out of Dust or possess a weak Aura. However, it is not your martial skills that I’d like to check out today, but your weapons. After being checked out during the exams, they have been brought here and placed on the racks behind me. Take what belongs to you, line up and each of you in return will aim to take down the Ursa Major to my right. Your hit must be perfect and you have to make sure your teammate Poet Kid over here doesn’t get a scratch. Welkin, you’re first.”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><strong>Name: Enya Horowitz </strong><br/><strong>Location: Academy’s Kitchen</strong><br/><strong>Tagging: Vasili Ilari </strong><br/><br/>Perhaps the young Mercenary would have had better luck of not getting caught if he chose a better day than the Opening Ceremony to steal from the Avalanche Academy’s kitchen. Or it may have been the fact that Enya herself wasn’t paying much attention to the assignment of teams that day and so she heard sounds coming from the one place which was supposed to remain quiet during that particular event. Her general idea of order and discipline was simply insulted by that mere fact, especially because the Headmaster was the one doing the talking then.  Whatever the reason, it was definitely Vasili’s bad day at the Academy and Enya was there to wrap it up in her usual way.<br/><br/>She slid away from the Headmaster’s side and entered the kitchen’s swing doors without making a sound. The crouched figure before her had its back turned on her and some of the kitchen’s food supplies in each hand. Judging from its attire and size, it couldn’t be one of the students. As Vasili turned around, he got to see Enya’s curvaceous frame towering him with a slight frown on her features. She was wearing her signature white blouse, all buttoned up to the neck as were the school rules for students and teachers alike, which was barely holding her generous bosom underneath. From the waist down, Enya wore a tight pencil skirt with its hem falling just a bit below the knee and high heels. She looked spotless and stern.<br/><br/>“Breaking on Academy’s grounds again, mister Ilari?”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><strong>Name: Luna Mauve</strong><br/><strong>Team: Clay Dewclaw </strong><br/><strong>Location: Cafeteria </strong><br/><strong>Tagging: Clay Dewclaw teammates</strong><br/><br/>When Headmaster Vainamoinen called her name, Luna couldn’t help but give him a hopeful smile.  For her, the written exam was piece of cake, while the practical one was hell. Probably out of all her fellow students, she was the most inclined to consider herself a failure at it. Luna avoided violence for the sake of it and rarely embraced it for noble causes. If anything, she always believed there would be a better way in dealing with threats and deep down she even regarded the Grimm as nothing but overly large pets which only needed some love and caring to change their natural behavior.<br/><br/>Combat school was the harshest and most terrifying experience of her life, but it also made her realize that she can be stronger and more resilient following the Hunter’s path than any other choice she’d make in her life.  Luna didn’t want to become  a Huntress because it was in her nature, but because she was pursuing her departed sister’s dream. Each time she felt like giving up and going back home, the young girl would look at her necklace and think of her sister Sonia. It was she who gave the golden wings talisman to Luna and she had kept it at her neck ever since, regarding it as her most precious possession.<br/><br/>Combat school and later on, the Academy life weren’t altogether bad. She was grateful for both having the chance to fulfill her sister’s dream and her own. Because little by little, Luna realized that she loved being part of a group, healing her friends and teammates, supporting those who felt just out of place as she was and making true friends which otherwise she wouldn’t come to know just by remaining one of the Mauve’s heirs. So here she was, ready to take on yet another harsh life style, trying to find her own path in this unlikely situation. She couldn’t decide what terrified her the most: not getting into the Academy as a student or having to graduate it. She never thought of what she’ll do beyond that point. Surviving Avalanche and becoming an official Huntress were enough goals for now.<br/><br/>She looked at her teammates and tried to remember their names:  Caden Walker. Willum Wildfang. Charlotte Faylinn.  Her heart skipped a beat when Caden was announced the leader and later on when Headmaster Vainamoinen announced that their first class would be with professor Tajeddigt, the Healing Arts.  ‘Two nice things at once’ she thought and followed the rest of the group quietly.  Luna only gave a nod to Willum’s comment. If anything, she was relieved that combat class would come – hopefully – much, much later.<br/>