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Central Tower
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Merkur paced in his office. It was a standard office, practically identical to those used by the other teachers at the academy, until it was assigned to him. The walls were plainly white, the desk was a bunch of chrome rods welded together and topped with a glass sheet. While other teachers had their offices rather spacious, with some standard ornaments and their weapons neatly mounted somewhere, Merkur had steel cabinets and tables cluttered with assorted parts, wires, piping, circuitry, and things some would refer to as "junk". On one of the tables was a machine similar to Merkur's weapon, Bite the Dust, albeit smaller, comparably incomplete, and bearing a "02" painted on it. Merkur sat in his office chair, one of the only two things left from the original office (the other being the door), and looked at his computer.
"Well well well..." he told himself, "What do we have here?" Merkur gazed upon a set of blueprints sent to him by a colleague of his in a joint program of the kingdoms of Remnant. The plans were for a proposed mechanical suit that would be used to aid Huntsmen in dealing with Grimm. It was...less to say "different" than most mechsuits, mainly due to its shape. Before Merkur could finish looking at the designs for the weapons, he heard someone knock on the door.
"Hold on a sec!" Merkur shouted, closing all windows displaying the blueprints and the computer itself. He then opened the door, only to find Krimm standing in front of him, with his usual blank expression. "Come in." Merkur said, moving aside to give way for the boy. Krimm entered the room and stood still near Merkur's desk.
Merkur sighed as he closed the door and sat behind his desk, motioning Krimm to face him. "You have summoned me." Krimm said with some irritation.
"Yes, I did." Merkur replied, dropping a few folders onto his desk. "The higher-ups are not-so happy about today."
"Why? I did pass the initiation, and I did not compromise the project in any way." Krimm said, returning to his usual monotonous voice.
"No, no, that's not it. They were not pleased with your performance with your team. Can't believe that they'd really expect real people to be similar to the simulations, especially the ones who're working with you..."
Krimm sighed. "Perhaps they are disappointed in the manner I led the team. I knew it. It is difficult. I was not programmed for this."
"You did splendidly, Krimm. They're not pulling the plug on this, okay? Relax."
Silence fell upon the two. The only sounds heard were those of the air conditioning unit and the echoing of the sounds of the Grimm outside.
"She would be proud of you, kid." Merkur said in a melancholic tone, looking at a photograph. The photo was of a couple, a man and a woman, at a seaside park. Upon close inspection, one would notice that the two are wearing identical rings.
"She would." Krimm said, looking at the picture as well, focusing more on the woman. The two were quiet, once again. The veil of silence was broken by a beep from Merkur's communicator.
"Ebony..." Merkur mumbled, standing up and grabbing a few files. Krimm stood up as well, opening the door for Merkur. "See ya around, kiddo." Merkur said, patting Krimm's head before walking to Ebony's office.
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Dorms
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Honey, Oxford and Laurel looked around their dorm room. Before they placed in their things, the room had a pair of bunk beds, one of which has its posts wrapped in duct tape, a couple of desks, some pens, pencils, papers, and books that were not theirs, and the ripped, indistinguishable remains of a poster. Now it had a three beds, one placed at the end of the room. There were also two desks, each with labelled containers, and had whatever collectibles or items the team's members wanted to decorate them with. A few new posters were placed, and the old one was the first resident of the new disposal bin. The room is comparably cleaner, more organized, and less of an eyesore. There was, however, one problem left...
"I am not getting on that bed." Laurel said, pointing at the one at the end of the room and shaking his head. Honey and Oxford sighed. The bed had one of its legs glued together and wrapped in a thick layer of duct tape, like the other legs, but this one leg in particular looked as if it would give in at any moment.
"Well neither am I nor Honey here." Oxford mockingly said. Honey nodded to this, and her face bore a concerned expression.
"Maybe Krimm wouldn't mind..." Laurel said, smiling weakly.
"He wanted to get rid of it! You're the one who told him to keep it, bozo!" Oxford shouted, slapping Laurel's hat off the faunus' head.
Laurel pushed Oxford onto one of the desks before picking up his hat. "Don't touch the hat, boy..." Laurel growled, poking Oxford with the hat before putting it back on his head. Oxford shook his head and reorganized the scattered objects, just in time for Krimm's return.
"I'm back." Krimm said, closing the door behind him. When he tried to lock it, the door fell down (for no apparent reason) on the hallway's floor with a loud "thud!". The four of them looked at it for a while, nervously hoping that nobody else has noticed.
But of course, somebody noticed. After the door hit the floor, Krimm was alerted by a shift in attention from a few beings in the rooms next to theirs. The room left of Team KOHL's had what appear to be three girls and a boy, the boy and one of the girls being Faunus. They appeared to be alerted by the noise, logically, as Krimm notes. Krimm ignored the inhabitants of the room to the right of his, but he was certain they were alerted, too. What would happen next would depend on how they would act.
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Central Tower
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As Merkur was going to grab the doorknob of Ebony's office, he stepped back as someone opened the door from the inside. Much to his chagrin, it was Sienna. The mad professor shot the woman a displeased look. This look, combined with his messy hair and unkept labcoat, made Sienna make a similar face, but she quickly cracked a small smile after a second or so. Sienna closed the door behind her, leaned against it, and folded her arms.
"Sienna." Merkur said, putting his free hand to his hip, slightly turning his head away from her, then shifting his eyes to look at her.
"Merkur." Sienna smirked.
Merkur dropped the pose and sighed. "Did you offer her another neckrub session? Come on, why don't you offer me any?"
"Because, Mister Quinton, you are..." Sienna circled Merkur, thinking as his gaze followed her. "...well, less to say, you are annoying, loud, and you smell." she said, ending with a smirk.
"So, kinda like you then, eh?" Merkur smiled back.
The two smiled at each other for a while, then Merkur remembered his business with Ebony. "Well, nice talk." Merkur said before implying (through some rather quirky motions) that he wished to enter the room. Sienna seemed to understand this and slowly walked away, looking at him all the way. Merkur looked back at her as he entered the room and shut the door. Afterwards, the two sighed and continued with their business.
Turning around, Merkur saw that Ebony was busy with something. He opted to leave until he saw the document she had in her hand. It was a profile of Oxford Legend, one of Krimm's teammates. In her other hand was Krimm's profile, which was held with a couple of other profiles. Merkur coughed, hoping he got her attention. Ebony lifted her head.
"So," Merkur started, "you wanted to see me?"