"Don't worry, I got it." A redhead girl said to the cab driver as she pulled her luggage out of the trunk. She looked up and shaded her eyes with her hand. A massive set of buildings towered above her, with the one in the centre looking like a mini skyscraper. There was a massive metal gateway that led into the courtyard of what looked like a large puzzled castle that decided to sprout additional towers and buildings. Despite how it sounded, it looked quite modern. Most all the buildings were metal, some with glass walls.
Hundreds of people were milling about in the courtyard, darting this way and that. Some people were handing out flyers; some were looking as lost and confused as our redheaded cab rider. Who still hadn't paid the man yet.
"Ehem," came the disgruntled voice of the driver, who was holding his hand out expectedly. "That'll be 23 dollars Miss…?"
"Oh! Sorry! Right. And don't call me miss, my name is Ruby," the girl said as she fumbled around in her purse. She pulled out a beat up twenty and a rumpled up ten. "Keep the change," she said as she began hauling her bags through the grate. A sign on them said 'Welcome to Beacon University".
Ruby walked through the massive crowds, getting flyers shoved into her hands left in right with requests to join various clubs and organizations. She accepted them mindlessly, forming a small stack in the crook of her arm. She had one purpose in mind, and it was proving to be more difficult than it should.
"Are you a new student?" came a voice from behind her. A blonde woman dressed in purple was standing behind her, peering at her through a pair of fancy-looking glasses. She carried a riding crop in her hand, and was waving it aimlessly from side to side.
"Um, yes. Could you please direct me to the Red Dorm please? I'm…kinda lost." Ruby rubbed the back of her head and chuckled slightly.
The woman pointed in a direction without a blink of an eye, and fired off a bunch of directions, about a third of which Ruby caught. "Um. Thanks. I think," she said as she stumbled off in the general direction of the woman's crop.
Thirty minutes later, Ruby stumbled over the threshold of her new dorm room, which was bare of any personal touches at all. The only difference from the myriad of empty rooms she had passed by was a set of black bags at the foot of the far right bed.
Ruby set her bags down in front of the other bed and collapsed in a pile of limbs and clothes. She wanted to pass out and sleep for a day, but she had a crazy sister to find. Who could literally be anywhere on this massive campus. She located her cell phone and plugged it into a socket by her bed, charging up the long-dead battery.
As she made to walk out and find her sister, she heard someone emerge from the bathroom. She stopped and waited to say hello to who was presumably her roommate. A brunette girl with a cat-ear headband walked into the room and stopped.
"You…are Ruby Rose." It wasn't a question.
"Hi! Yeah, that's me, Ruby. And you are?" Ruby beamed and held her hand out to shake. The girl stared at it for a few seconds and shook it quickly.
"I'm Blake. Blake Belladonna."
"That's a really pretty name. I'd like to stay and chat, but if I don't locate my sister she's gonna blow a gasket. I told her I'd find her as soon as I arrived on campus."
"You have a sister? And you didn't arrive together?" Blake said, narrowing her eyes.
"Well, she's not really my sister. She's my half-sister. Same dad, different mom."
"So why are you here? Did you choose this college because she goes here?"
"Sort of. My mom…kinda died. A few months back. Car accident. Drunk driver and such." Ruby's cheerful demeanor disappeared for a few seconds, but then she brightened up. "But Yang and Dad said they'd be happy to take me in, as long as I went to college here with Yang. So…here I am."
Blake nodded, the explanation satisfactory. "That's a unique name, Yang. I used to know a girl with that name. Is your sister a tall blonde who sounds like her ego is three times larger than her body?"
Ruby burst out laughing. "That's my sister. How'd you meet her?"
"I never really met her, I just know who she is. We went to the same highschool together." Blake averted her eyes as she spoke, then piped back up. "I do know however that she hates waiting."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh crap! I gotta find her! Bye Blake! Nice meeting you!" Ruby shouted behind her as she barreled out the doorway and straight into another girl.
This one was a little taller than her with a snow-white hair tied in a ponytail. They collapsed to the ground, bags going everywhere and various books and articles of clothing spilling out.
"Oh. My God. I am so sorry!" Ruby squeaked, immediately gathering things up and handing them back to the rather disgruntled girl. "I should have looked where I was going, I was just in a big hurry to look for someone and I didn't see you and I'm really sorry-"
"Shut up and give me that." The girl said, snatching her things out of Ruby's hands. "You're in a public place. Act like it."
Ruby blinked, stunned by the snappy reaction. "I said I was sorry…" she said in a small voice.
The other girl sighed. "Fine. Just don't do that again." She stood up and offered Ruby her hand. "I think I'm actually in the room across from you, so to make it up to me you may help me unpack."
Ruby smiled and gladly agreed to give the girl a hand. "My name is Ruby by the way, and you are?"
"Weiss. Now hurry up, I don't have all day."
…
An hour later, Ruby heaved a massive sigh and slid down the wall to sit down. She had finally finished helping Weiss unpack. Weiss gave a small smile as she looked around the room, satisfied.
"You…have a lot of stuff." Ruby commented as she picked herself back up. "Again, I'm sorry for running into you."
"What were you in such a hurry for anyway?" Weiss asked, curious.
"Oh I was just going to…going to….oh shit."
"What? What is it?" Weiss said, a little shocked.
"I'll catch you later!" Ruby was already halfway down the hallway as she yelled back.
Weiss was still for a few minutes, her mouth still in a small 'o' shape. She then shook her head. What a peculiar girl, she thought to herself.
Ruby bolted across the courtyard, spinning around scanning for the signature blonde hair that was…somewhere in this accursed maze of a college. She was just about to give up when she was tackled from behind by what felt like a bull.
"Ooof!" she exclaimed as she fell to the ground, pinned down by the weight of the girl who sat triumphantly on her back.
"Found you!" she crowed, a sinister smile on her face.
"Yaaang! Get off!" Ruby said, smacking the ground with her fists as she struggled to get out of the ironclad lock of her sisters knees.
"Where have you been!? I've been looking for you for the last hour."
"Making friends, dummy. I met my roommate and the girl across the room. I helped her unpack."
"Why on earth would you do that?"
"I um, may or may not have run into her and spilled all her stuff."
Yang let out a barking laugh. "Still a massive klutz eh? So? She cute?"
Her face turning beet red, she screeched at her sister: "Shut up! And get off of me already, you're heavy!"
Laughing, Yang, stood up and pulled her sister up with her. "Now give me a hug. I know you missed me." She said, holding her arms out.
Still grumbling and red in the face, Ruby wrapped her arms around her sister. "Now, who's my roomie?" Yang said, grinning.
"Huh?" Ruby asked, slightly confused.
"I know a guy. I got us rooms across from each other, so you obviously met my roommate. Is she cool? Someone I can chill with?"
Ruby concealed a small smile. "Oh yes. You'll get along just wonderfully."
Yang frowned. "Uh oh."
