Team CGRY

Team CGRY (pronounced “Sea Grey”) is a team of third year students attending Beacon Academy. It is led by Cole Westbrook, and comprised of Guinevere Crawley, Rohan Norbury, and Yarrow Gainsford.

Cole Westbrook
A rough-and-tumble brawler from the Schnee Dust Company’s quarries in Vacuo, Cole hopes to pull his family out of poverty by becoming a fully-fledged huntsman. He’s an honest young man, and a very hard worker, though he will take shortcuts if it means reaching his goal faster–something that’s come back to bite him in the ass time and time again. But it’s never seemed to stop him; although generally pretty quiet, Cole is remarkably stubborn, and once he has his mind set on something, getting him to budge is nigh impossible. He’s butted heads with Yarrow a fair bit because of this, and the two have never seemed to get along. She seems to be the exception to the rule, however, as Cole is incredibly friendly toward everyone else (unless they give him cause not to be, of course). He doesn’t speak much unless prompted, though once he’s on a roll, it’s hard to get him to stop.

Guinevere Crawley
Composed but incredibly friendly, Guin is the easiest member of CGRY to approach. She’s very sociable, often striking up conversations with strangers should the situation lend itself to that, and is fairly well-known among her year for being a bit of a mother-hen. She does, however, have a bit of a shorter fuse, especially when it comes to dealing with her own team. She’s incredibly frustrated by how poorly they all get along, regardless of how many “friendship-building” exercises that she tries to force upon them. Truth be told, Guinevere despises conflict, and will go out of her way to try and resolve it even if it doesn’t necessarily concern her. This is primarily due to her higher level of empathy–even just seeing people on the TV in distress is enough to upset her. Becoming a Huntress probably wasn’t her wisest decision, but her drive to help others wins out over the emotional strain her career choice imposes on her.

Rohan Norbury
A quiet and well-mannered young young man, and part of the prestigious Norbury family, which owns the Remnant International Railway Company (RIRC). Being the second-born, Rohan was never going to inherit the business, though he was still expected to work in it and maintain a fairly high position regardless. However, not wanting to have everything just handed to him, Rohan decided to become a Hunter instead, despite having little to no natural talent for combat. Sheer determination and extreme amounts of hard work have kept him on the same level as his peers; he is tenacious and very much a go-getter, though mostly because he has to be in order to maintain his grades. His skill lies mostly in strategic thinking–he is easily the best planner of the team, beating even Yarrow when it comes to formulating quick and effective plans.

Yarrow Gainsford
Fierce and proud, Yarrow’s beliefs are radical even by the White Fang’s standards. She absolutely despises the human race, and is only becoming a Huntress so she can support herself in Remnant’s wilds and create a colony of like-minded faunus. She fully embraces the “animal” in her, and views faunus who hide their heritage as weak and pathetic. As aggressive and violent as Yarrow can be, she’s also quite cunning; she has an eye for strategy, and every move she makes is generally carefully calculated (if not a touch cruel–she does like to play with her enemies, which happen to be the majority of faunus and humans alike). In spite of her hatred toward humans, she works surprisingly well with her team–behaviour born out of necessity, for if her team fails, so will she. It is because of this that she has begrudgingly accepted Rohan’s orders in battle, and has somewhat backed off of Cole when it comes to the issue of leadership.

During Combat
In spite of strained inter-relationships, the team performs extremely well in the field. All four of them have very specific roles that play well to their individual strengths, as well as cover their teammates’ weakness(es). Their movements are almost always coordinated by Rohan, who communicates with them via a system of interconnected earpieces. Only he has the ability to input sound into the earpieces using a small device attached to his compound bow–that has five buttons that transmit a specific note–F, A, C, and E, respectively–with the fifth button letting out a low beeping tone that signals the end of one command. By inputting these notes in various orders, Rohan can communicate what he wants each member of the team to do (which of course, was practiced extensively outside of combat).

Some examples of their commands are as follows. Note that the individual members have their own notes as well–Rohan will sound their note first, sound the “end command” signal, and then proceed to order them to move. This prevents confusion and/or mixups over what exactly he’s trying to communicate.

Cole: F

Guinevere: A

Rohan: C

Yarrow: E

All: F-A-C-E

Attack (physical): A-A-C

Attack (dust): A-C-C

Forward: F-F

Fall Back/Come (here): F-F-F

Stop/Stay: C-C

Switch*: F-E

Activate Semblance: A-A

In order to alert his teammates to what he is doing, Rohan does indeed have a command for himself. It isn’t used much, however, as his role is generally to stick to the shadows and direct the flow of the battle while picking off enemies from a distance.

Rohan is not the only one with a very specific role. Cole acts as the team’s close-combat tank, capable of taking heavy damage and then dishing it back out by a tenfold. The range of his weapon is poor, and his fighting style isn’t particularly conducive to battling multiple opponents; oftentimes, he’s used to take down the strongest while Yarrow and Guinevere pick off the rest.

Between her weapon and her skill with Dust, Guinevere can be likened to a black mage. She fares well in ranged and close combat (albeit her skill in hand-to-hand fighting is far below Cole and Yarrow’s), and overall, is a very versatile fighter. She can employ a wide variety of attack “types”–ranging from dust types to dealing physical damage with an actual weapon–and her role often changes from battle to battle depending on what is needed to take down the opponent in the most efficient manner possible.

Boasting the best speed and agility on the team, Yarrow behaves as a kind of bastardized assassin. She lurks in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to lunge out and strike, though she hardly ever goes for the kill right off the bat. She’s a touch twisted in the sense that she likes to play with her opponents, though if the situation calls for it, she will end it quickly. Surprisingly enough, Yarrow is by no means a glass-cannon; while Rohan often has her employ more underhanded tactics, she’s more than capable of holding her own in a fist fight, per se. She’s actually quite vicious when forced to fight close-range, often making use of her teeth and nails as well as her weapon.

On the rare occasion where the team cannot communicate via their earpieces, the flow of the battle will shift dramatically in comparison to the battles where the fight is orchestrated by Rohan. Yarrow becomes a loose cannon of sorts, doing as she pleases; the other three will take their cues from her and generally stay out of her way, and Rohan will pick off whoever she leaves alive. Guinevere and Cole, meanwhile, will often be seen pairing up and taking to the opposite side of the field. This is especially odd given that it goes against the partners determined through initiation, which were Yarrow and Guinevere, and Rohan and Cole.

Outside Combat
In spite of how well they work together in battle, the over all relationship between the four teammates is poor at best. This is primarily due to Yarrow, who has driven a sizeable rift between herself and the three humans with her tendency to frequently voice how she feels about Remnant’s “resident shit-stains”. In her not-so-humble opinion, humans are the dregs of the world, and she would very much like to see them all keel over and die (preferably under Faunus rule, though that’s not absolutely necessary). While she isn’t as vocal as she was in the team’s earlier days, she still does it enough to occasionally provoke Cole into a full-fledged verbal fight, which Guinevere desperately tries to stop. Rohan, in the meantime, simply keeps his head down, not wanting to get involved.

Either way, Yarrow’s stance puts her at odds with her teammates, making her very much a loner–though, if you ask her, she’ll tell you that she prefers it that way. She spends her free time in the shady underbelly of Vale, interacting with the few like-minded faunus that she can find.

Rohan is also a bit of a loner; his background has estranged him some from Cole and Guinevere, and is poor fighting ability has earned him a stamp of disapproval from Cole. Not that Cole is open about this–he’ll just sigh and shake his head in disappointment at Rohan after a sparring session, which has a very negative impact on Rohan’s confidence and self-esteem. The fact that the young man is so passive and quiet doesn’t help his situation much either (though it does keep him from being targeted by Yarrow–of all the members of CGRY, he’s the one who she can tolerate most). Guinevere will try and spend time with him and draw him out of his shell, which works some but he’s a difficult person to converse with due to how reluctant he is to engage in something. Oftentimes he’s just left to his own devices.

Cole sits somewhere between loner and socializer. His quietness often has him sitting in the corner during social gatherings, though once someone has drawn him out into the conversation, it’s pretty much guaranteed that he’ll stay there. He doesn’t talk much to his own teammates, though; as highlighted above, he absolutely despises Yarrow, and he’s not overly fond of Rohan. While he acknowledges the young man’s intelligence and value on the team, he’s frustrated by the fact that Rohan threw away everything Cole is working toward for a life that will be incredibly harsh. He does, however, like Guin, and gets along with her fairly well (even if she is fighting a losing battle by trying to be friends with everyone in CGRY. He figures it’s a waste of time and she’d be better off doing something else, which has served as a big roadblock in the progression of their relationship).

Guinevere tries to be everyone’s friend… And it never works out too well. She gets frustrated with Cole’s stubbornness, gets angry when Yarrow refuses to listen to any kind of reason, and she’s pretty tired of having spent two years working with Rohan and still having him hide in his shell. These issues haven’t necessarily stopped her–she still plays the role of team mom and the bridge between the three uncooperative people–but she’s taken to socializing with people outside her team a fair bit.

Formation
As per Beacon Academy tradition, team CGRY was formed after the initiation process that all first years have to go through. For that particular year, students were dropped out of an airship moving at high speeds, and upon landing (the landing strategy itself was left to the students) in the Emerald Forest, had to team up with the first person they made eye contact with. From there, the pairs would have to scour the area for one of the many relics–they were colourful stones that year–scattered throughout by Beacon’s staff, retrieve said relic, and bring it back to the pre-arranged meeting place. The pairs that found the same type of stone would be put together to form a team of four.

The respective pairs that eventually made up CGRY were Yarrow and Guinevere, and Cole and Rohan. Neither one was exactly optimal–Yarrow kept attempting to agitate Guinevere, who wouldn’t let the faunus get to her, which naturally, only served to enrage Yarrow and encourage her to keep being an ass. Rohan, on the other hand, worked well with Cole in terms of personality (or well enough, anyway), but had a difficult time keeping up with the brawler when it came to physical tasks. Fortunately, neither pair encountered much in the ways of spectacular fights, and retrieved the two grey moonstones without much difficulty. They were later put together as team CGRY, with Cole as their appointed leader.

Year One
The evening that they were shown their dorm was the same evening that issues began cropping up in the team. They sat on their beds, and introduced themselves. When it was Yarrow’s turn, she seemed cordial at first… Only to start complaining about how she’d gotten stuck with only “filthy, disgusting humans” as teammates. Cole was quick to react with aggression, starting what would be the first of many physical skirmishes between him and Yarrow. Guinevere tried and failed to get the situation under control, while Rohan hid in the corner and refused to get involved. The fight only ended after Cole accidentally smashed the window with his bare hands, resulting in a visit to the infirmary and a property damage report the following morning.

From that point on, Yarrow would intentionally agitate Cole. She tried to do it to Guin and Rohan several times, but Guin’s “best” reaction was bursting into tears, and Rohan just sat there silently, looking extremely uncomfortable. Neither one was particularly enjoyable, but Cole was great–on a good day, she could get him to throw punches within just a minute of trash-talking the human race.

On top of constantly baiting Cole, Yarrow proved to be an all-around nuisance when it came to teamwork in the classroom, or in the field. She never obeyed–whether the commands came from a teacher or a team member–and would actually sometimes go out of her way to sabotage Guinevere and Cole. She never bothered much with Rohan, who, for the most part, left her alone, making him a lesser target in her eyes. Her behaviour still dragged him down, though; everyone’s marks suffered greatly because of her, to the point where they boasted the lowest grades of their entire year.

At the beginning of the second semester, Beacon’s staff finally intervened. The team was warned that if they did not improve their performance, they would run the risk of being forced to repeat the year or even be expelled. This came as a bit of a reality shock for all of them, Yarrow included; she had, after all, worked just as hard as they had to get into Beacon, and now she was running the risk of being kicked out. And she couldn’t have that. She begrudgingly agreed to cooperate from that point on, much to the relief of the others. This led to their second semester going surprisingly well (especially compared to their first) in terms of academic achievement, and they finished the year with grades slightly below average. Even so, tensions were still running high in the team; Yarrow still continued to bait Cole here and there, who, in spite of his best efforts to remain calm, was still rather susceptible to her more unpleasant remarks.

They did, however, manage to start hammering out some semblance of teamwork. It was during this time that Rohan was eventually appointed as the team’s tactician–a unanimous decision that, admittedly, left Yarrow and Cole a bit disgruntled (Cole wanted to be the strategist, as he was the leader, and Yarrow was hesitant to take orders from a human). However, they both acknowledged that he was the best person to fit the role, as Cole was not well-suited for strategy and Yarrow was a bit… heartless.

Year Two
Mercifully, the team’s second year was much less eventful than their first. Cole and Yarrow only fought occasionally, with Cole having grown a thick enough skin to take most of what she said (though there were still some things that would set him off without fail). They managed to pull their way toward the upper end of their classes in terms of grades, though they never strayed to far above the average–mostly because they were still trying to repair the damage done in their first year.

Rohan was arguably doing the most work, trying to figure out the best way to communicate on the battlefield. Speaking was more of a nuisance than it was worth–even if they devised code-names for things, a) the enemy would be able to decipher them if given enough time, b) Cole likely wouldn’t hear the commands over the din of the battle anyway due to his hearing impairment, and c) if Cole used his semblance, no one would be able to hear them. Hand-signals were a no-go either, as Rohan was often behind everyone, and typically had his hands full with his weapon anyway. Inspiration struck him when he remembered how the security guards at his father’s company communicated–via earpieces. They would have to modify it to suit their needs, but it was a huge leap in overcoming the communication barrier on the field, which was desperately needed.

His connections enabled him to acquire the necessary equipment and modify it as needed for their purposes. The devices went through a mere three changes before the finalized version was settled upon–it was the commands that took up the majority of the team’s time. Rohan didn’t spend long deciding on what notes would signal which movements, but getting the team to remember and understand them was another story. Hours and hours went into memorizing and practicing with the devices, and many of their sessions ended with all four of them frustrated beyond belief. Rohan was still trying to get used to which notes where assigned to which buttons on the transmitter, while the others were having a tough time distinguishing the different sounds and associating them to a command.

It took them a month before they were able to use the devices somewhat well. Yarrow was the quickest to pick up on things, followed by Guinevere, and then Cole. They continued to spend their time refining their skills with it, though, and adjusting so that they could use the device to the best of their ability. The most difficult part–aside from interpreting the commands–was trying to find that balance between strictly obeying and making their own decisions.

But as the months passed, they did manage to find said balance–it was a slow process, and involved numerous ass-kickings (courtesy of Grimm and their fellow classmates), and eventually, it did start to pay off. Where one day they might’ve gotten their faces kicked into the dirt, the next day they were the ones coming out on-top. Their system did have it’s drawbacks, but it allowed for a deeper level of communication that most teams couldn’t get on the battlefield. Considering their shitty teamwork, it was really the only thing that held CGRY together in combat; Rohan’s word was pretty much law, sans a few special occasions.

Year Three
Going into their third year, the team has managed to pick up their marks even more in certain areas (namely combat–their academic prowess varies greatly from person to person). They’re hoping to continue to excel and become one of the best teams in their year.

Trivia

 * The team’s name was originally “GRAE”. It was led by Guinevere, who was transferred over to CGRY along with Rohan. Those two were the whole reason that CGRY came about–I liked their names too much to drop them.
 * The other two members were Alani, an African Wild Dog faunus who’d had her tongue cut out by the White Fang, and Elysia. Alani was originally only supposed to have her name changed–as was Elysia–but her concept and colour were later changed, and she became Yarrow (an entirely different character, really. Alani’s original colour was also orange). Elysia was scrapped entirely to make way for Cole. The colour of the fourth member was then changed from yellow to black.


 * It’s no secret that the team’s colour is a blue-grey that is often called “sea grey”.
 * Each team member is based on a type of storm, which is reflected in their colour palettes, clothing choices, and abilities.
 * Cole - Thunderstorm Guinevere - Ice storm Rohan - Firestorm Yarrow - Sandstorm


 * Both Cole and Yarrow are from Vacuo, though they had never met prior to being put together on CGRY. Guinevere, on the other hand, has lived in the city of Vale her entire life, while Rohan hails from Atlas.
 * The RIRC handles a large portion of the Schnee Dust Company’s shipments, and the two companies once had a very successful partnership. Their relationship has since been strained since the White Fang’s attacks on the trains containing the SDC’s dust, however, and they have become less and less friendly toward each other in the recent years because of this.
 * Despite the connection, Rohan hasn’t really met any of the Schnee family, as he’s never been important enough to have any kind of conversations with them. His older sister, though–the one set to inherit the RIRC–is another story.
 * Cole also has a connection to the Schnee Dust Company; he used to work in the company’s dust quarries with his older siblings before gaining acceptance to Beacon. His brother and sister still work there.


 * Rohan’s method of communicating with her team during combat is based on the way that farmers communicate with their herding dogs–specifically, border collies.
 * CGRY bears a number of resemblances to team RWBY, most of which were accidental. The teams have the same colours–red, white, yellow, and black, albeit in different orders. This was purely coincidental–the earlier incarnations of CGRY had different colours that were changed later to adhere to Monty’s naming rules.
 * ​ Both RWBY and CGRY have a member of the upper class–both of whom are connected to powerful companies. However, where Weiss is set to inherit the Schnee Dust Company, Rohan will not take over the RIRC.
 * ​ They are also opposite in terms of abilities: Weiss relies heavily on ice and fares just fine in solo combat, while Rohan’s skills are centred on fire-based attacks, and lie more in supporting his teammates. That being said, Rohan relies on dust as much as–if not more than–Weiss does.
 * Weiss and Guinevere share the colour white, as well as a fighting style that relies heavily on dust. Guin is, however, more tankish and offence-oriented than Weiss is.
 * Both teams also have one faunus that despises the White Fang. However, where Blake finds the White Fang’s methods to be horrible, Yarrow’s hatred for the organization stems from their association with humans, not from what they’ve done–in fact, Yarrow has voiced her encouragement of more radical behaviour on more than one occasion.
 * ​ Yarrow and Blake are also feline faunus, with Blake being a domestic house cat, and Yarrow a caracal. They also both play the “assassin” role on their respective teams, though Yarrow is markedly nastier in every sense of the word and can also fulfill the role of a tank.
 * ​ RWBY and CGRY also have brawlers/tanks: Cole and Yang. However, their fighting styles (and personalities) vary drastically, with Yang’s being focused entirely on punches and Cole’s incorporating some kicking and grappling.