ICHOR.

Slim shoulders tense at the sudden arrival, dark gaze flickering over to the professor, surprised despite himself. He hadn’t been surprised like this in years - his skill was impressive. Despite that, his voice is even as he answers the man. “Yeah - It’s nice.” He answers, giving the man a startled look of a surprised student. “It’s a lot less… showy, than Haven.”

❛ DON’T GIVE ME that shit. ❜ hisses the raven behind nevermore mask, tonality VILE &. ROTTEN whilst rolling off the tip of silver forged tongue. blazing crimson hues are GLARING at the wizard, expressionism contorted to match. ( if looks could KILL. )  ❛ you &. i BOTH know i no longer have a choice with this CURSE, ozpin. enough sugar coating. ❜ 

    “Headmaster, have you no shame?             –Amber had to suffer TWICE because of you… because you had delusions of keeping the Fall Maiden’s powers away from someone FAR more deserving.” 

          ❝ well , hello there . ❞ always through the window she came , never using the front door . on the window sill she sat , a leg dangling outside . such a familiar mask stared at him . tail curls  as it spills into the room , tip lazily moving as ears of black velvet twitch behind those of white clay .

             ⌈ϟ⌉══.. To say that Nora wasn’t surprised at this sudden approach, she would be lying, she wasn’t ready by this kind glorification coming from the headmaster of Beacon academy, usually Pyrrha is the one who takes it…  She scratched the nape of her neck before letting out a shy laughter.  True, that they had been at their worst, they weren’t complete anymore but Nora wouldn’t be able to move on if weren’t for her team…

           ❝Uhm, Thank you, sir; We team JNPR really worked hard together… even if it’s just the three of us remaining and .. I think it would be better if you tell it when we are complete, words such as this would help me at least bring back some faith and pride to the team….  ❞

Nora murmured, she was quite unsure about this but she gave him a slight grin to at least show her appreciation from hearing that.

                  ❝ Especially Jaune, he deserved to hear that more than me.❞

             ❝   YOU’RE  RIGHT  ——   EACH  OF  YOU      deserve  to  hear  it  to  equal  extent . ❞   he  knows  what   mistral   has  offered ,  and  what  mistral  has   taken   in  their  time  here .  a  town  wrapped  within  the  hills  and  plagued  by  a  horror  far   greater   than  one  could  imagine .   qrow  had  filled  him  in  on  most  occasion ;  he  knows  of  tyrian .  knows  of  the  poison  that  he  had  brought . 

it  is  a  shame  young  children  must  fight  a   war   created  by  the  old .  none  of  them  would  have  expected  this  to  come  with  their  first  day  at  beacon ,  and  ozpin  would  wish  it  upon   none .   never  the  oldest  who  roamed  the  kingdoms .  never  the  newest  to  join  their  ranks .  never  two  teams  battered  by   misfortune   and  left  to  claw  their  way  through . 

           quite a hefty topic  .  one that ikki could have more than one answer to  ,  and not all be kind  .  he could boil it down to one word  ,  but that would leave so much to the mind  .  he could say that he believes eternity can be centred around a person  .  but that wouldn’t be true  .                                  ❛ i think eternity is  …  a concept  .  something one can latch onto  .  meld it into something  ,  specific to that one mindset  .  ❜

         the old gods lied to us  :   there is no salvation in the art of war .    there never was .    only death and despair and some twisted notion of glory ,   and everything that follows is a haunting silence .    a dull ,   aching interlude before the next discordant cacophony and she tires of the endless symphony         ❛   there will always be another war to fight   ❜         she tires of it all   (  see  :   the fighting and the wars and the  ‘ peace ’  too fragile to last  ) ,   but there is no walking away from this ,   not for her .    it is not in her nature         ❛   what would you have me do ?   ❜

    ❛ …well, it’s a bit hard to believe anything else right now. ❜ bitterness taste foul in his mouth as he averts his eyes from the headmaster’s gaze. he calms down only to try and process everything he has discovered recently with an open mind. though the anger is seizing at the borders of his heart and mind he breathes in, and breathes out. an unchanging expression that keeps on frowning as shoulders slump.

    the cane is set down on top of the coffee table, and the boy steps away from it quickly having made the mental decision to refrain from touching the darn thing for a week or so. everything about his training still felt wrong but it could just be that he was experiencing an understandable denial and a desire to runaway. but he doesn’t. he stays, knowing that the end is inevitable. but knowing so didn’t mean he would still accept his future fate so easily.

                                                                ❛ you wouldn’t like living inside my head. ❜

              THE  CANE  SITS  BETWEEN  THEM      as  if  a  barrier ,  and  a  physical  mark  of  the  rift  between  them .  in  reality ,  it  might  as  well  fit  that  ideal   ——   a   burden   to  who  would  hold  it  next .  ozpin  would  believe  oscar’s  delved  into  that  process  of  thought .  the  realization  that  this  is   serious ,   and  would  be  for  some  time  to  come .  no  amount  of    promises   or   half - truths   would  quell  the  wave ;  ozpin  has  been  here  before ,  though  not  to  this  extent . 

for  all  his  years  never  made  this  any  easier .  he  could  tell  oscar  a  tale ,  urge  that  this  would  be  fine ,  but  he  would   LIE .   at  one  point ,  there  would  be  no  helping  this .  at  one  point ,  things  would  vehemently  change .   

                                              (   oscar  would  cease ,  and  ozpin  would  have  another  to  add  to  his  tally .   )

                ❝   QUITE  FASCINATING ,  I  MUST  ADMIT   ——      is  this  a   discovery   you  made  on  your  own ?  ❞

“ I mean— It’s no grand story, Sir. Truth be told, it manifested because I was exhausted while trying to defend a few faunus kids when I was young and helping my brother with deliveries for Dad.“ 

              ❝   SIBLINGS  ARE  A  MIXED  BLESSING ,      from  what  i’ve  heard .   i  have  met  your  sister  through  general  ironwood ,   but  your  brother  ——    whitley   ——   how  is  he  doing ?  ❞

          “ and she’s given me  e v e r y t h i n g  i asked and more! ”  he spits.  “ you talk of her right, but where do you stand to apologize to me for the things i’ve asked to be given?! ”

          “    the past is the past and there is no use in wishing it were different. i made my choice long ago, ozpin. i will do whatever you ask of me.    ”