Today marked the first giant leap for Kalinin Kesvena becoming a huntress. Today was the day she would be officially a first-year student at Vacuo's Shade Academy. Today was the day her growth spurt would finally arrive despite already being seventeen. Today was the day she could look in a mirror and say without a doubt she had no regrets today, tomorrow, or any other day… two out four isn't too bad, right?
If there was one thing Kalinin regretted today, it was deciding to take an airship instead of a train to Shade Academy. It wasn't that she disliked flying, she would love nothing more than be able to fly herself; nor was it something lame like air sickness. Kalinin just felt uneasy just loitering while someone else was piloting and more than likely not thinking about how the lives of themselves and their passengers was essentially in their hands. She actually never understood why she is uncomfortable having others fly her around, it's something she had to begrudgingly accept.
Said acceptance vanishing like a dead Grimm as the ship experienced mild turbulence. Kalinin eyed the emergency doors at the back the airship with gears already turned in her mind. The future huntress shambled forward, avoiding the concerned looks of her fellow freshmen. Whether that concern was because of her shambling, the nervous laugh she was making, or both was none of her concern; Kalinin was going to get off of this ship one way or another. Even if opening the emergency doors somehow caused the ship to crash, the other prospective students were sure to have some way of handling a ten-plus thousand foot drop and the pilots probably had parachutes or something, right? The girl reached for the door… to only freeze when a firm hand placed itself on her shoulder. Kalinin turned her head, and only her head. to meet hand's owner.
Standing directly behind her was a woman with a fair complexion who was significantly taller than her, not that was saying much, probably average height by most standards. She was blonde and sported a hairstyle that made Kalinin think of her dad's attempt at an over-comb, but longer and shaved on one side instead of balding. Similar to the owner's grip, her face seemed firm, not showing any emotions. This was a surprise to Kalinin as most people would have at least reacted to someone turning their heads a full one-eighty, but the woman's poker face stood.
"Are you alright?" the blonde asked, her firm grip released and her expression turned into a weak smile.
Kalinin turned the rest of herself to meet the stranger and answered with a grin, "Yeah, just want to get out of this airship as soon as possible."
"Well, I think you're in luck, we're almost there."
The woman nodded her head to the right and took a step back as Kalinin moved to the glass pane of the airship. The campus of Shade Academy was in plain sight as the ship gradually approached the drop-off zone. In hindsight, jumping out of an airship when it was this close would have been pretty embarrassing. The short one turned around to regard the woman who stopped her from doing something stupid.
Looking more intently, the blonde wore a lot of gold or gold-colored materials, from her boots, steel-toed, by the way, to her necklace with signet rings attached, along with a white muscle shirt and cargo pants. Speaking of muscles, by the Creator, she was ripped! She could probably bench press the airship with the passengers still inside even without Aura.
Kalinin held out her hand and grinned again. "Thanks for earlier. I'm Kalinin Kesvena."
"Bertha Zuckers." Bertha took the offer and shook her hand briefly.
"What primary combat school did you attend?"
"Sanctum and yourself?"
"Self-taught. What made you decide to go here instead of Haven?"
"That is a subject I'd prefer not to get into," the muscled woman took a moment to clear her throat before continuing, "So, self-taught, hmm? I take it you have a less than conventional weapon then?"
"Sure do! But I want that to be a surprise for the Initiation."
The ship finally landed and everyone on board gradually shuffled their way to the doors.
Zuckers took note of Kesvena as the latter made her way off the airship. From the way the girl in question acted on the way over, one would have normally thought she was prone to airsickness or had a fear of flying. But Zuckers knew better there was a reason she was trying to open the emergency door; the fact that Kesvena had worn what can be described as a red and white jumpsuit, albeit with some sort of wrapping around the torso, only raised further suspicion. The red-violet-haired child was without a doubt up to something and Zuckers was determined to find out what. That would be easier said than done as the child disappeared into the mass of students, using her diminutive stature to fade into the crowd. That clever trickster. Regardless, the short one wouldn't be too hard to find later on; Zuckers resigned, hefted a large metal cylinder and a duffel bag from the floor of the ship, and made her way to the main building on campus.
It wasn't hard to miss; the building dwarfed all the others by a landslide. Not to mention the roof flared out far beyond the building and gave it the appearance of a tent; a tent with giant orbs of light on the top, anyway. The design was mostly fitting, given the academy's name. Zuckers began to sweat as she stood in front of the tented tower.
The sweat wasn't because of being in awe or anything along those lines; the weather seemed to call for extreme heat, despite the school year beginning in the fall. Mistral's high temperatures were a far cry from what is presumably a low for Vacuo. A handful of her peers didn't seem to disagree with this thought as they and herself briskly paced for sanctuary.
The act made it easier to discern the locals from the transfers. Zuckers noted a couple of individuals leisurely strolling in spite of wearing jackets, hoodies, and the occasional scarf. The biggest stand out was a pair a ways behind Zuckers, a boy and a girl, standing under a massive shield as though it were a parasol; it wasn't so much the shield itself that stood out, but the fact that neither person was actively holding the shield as it spun above them.
The girl was about the same height as Zuckers but an average figure and olive complexion. Her hair was a brown briar, tangled with hairs sticking out at points. Her outfit was, on the other hand, comparably tame: A blouse with a pink-blue gradient, jeans of a similar blue, and brown wedges. Her face was obscured by the unruly hair, but it was still apparent she was conversing to the boy next to her all the while absently playing with her Scroll.
The boy, however… seemed familiar; Zuckers slowed her pace until they were almost side by side to get a better glimpse of him: Tall to the point of looking awkward proportionately, black hair with bits of grey, dark-green eyes and fangs that were exposed even when his mouth was closed…
"Messer?" Zuckers inquired as she placed herself in front of the shielded pair and walked backwards.
The brunette turned her head slightly to the woman in front of her and the tall boy. Her hands still on the Scroll. The boy tapped a finger against his lips, presumably in thought. He answered the query with one of his own, "Bertha? I thought you were going to Haven?"
"Change of plans. Who's your friend?"
There was a bit more edge in those words than Zuckers had intended. If the other two noticed, it didn't show.
"She's-"
"Aichi Seiten," the brunette interjected, "And I wouldn't say we're friends. I hope we can do better than that before the Initiation."
Seiten parted her hair to reveal her face and gave a wink with a deep red-eye. The curtain closed afterwards. At this point, they were into the shade. The shield retracted into itself and set itself onto the brunette's forearm; at that time she put away her Scroll.
"I'll… uh… see you guys inside."
Messer dashed off and his lanky form partially vanished into the crowd.
"So how do you know Schwalb?" Aichi asked of the strapping blonde.
"Same hometown," Bertha curtly answered as the two of them continued to the main hall.
"Childhood friends?"
"No."
"Classmates?"
"No."
"Lovers?"
"...No." Finally a crack in the stoicism.
"Hmm, what a shame. I guess there's no accounting for good taste."
"...Who I do or do not take interest in is none of your concern."
The amazon had taken great care in choosing her words and maintained poise.
"Who says it was your tastes I was talking about?"
The two of them stopped walking and Aichi took a step into the other woman's personal space. The brunette continued, "Well-groomed, strong, caring, if how you acted on the airship means anything. Beautiful."
"Any man who catches your eye should feel privileged. Or any woman," she added in a more sultry tone. She caressed Bertha's face with a hand while the woman being regarded stood in stunned silence. Said silence was broken with a light tap to the strapping woman's face and Aichi had cheered, "Well, if you're not interested, I'll be sure to take good care of him!"
She skipped backwards and set herself forward with a twirl. The brunette flashed a grin to Bertha. The muscled woman clearly did not take the teasing well as she made a mad dash to the teaser.
Aichi unfurled her shield and pulled out her Scroll. As soon as an edge of the shield touched the ground, it began to spin forward taking its owner with it and sped away from the angry woman.
Schwalb stood around in the main hall and heard a guttural roar and a howling laughter from outside. The boy shuddered and could only hope he would never have the misfortune of meeting the owners of the noise.
An explosion was heard from outside.
He could only pray he would never have the misfortune of meeting the owners of the noise and whoever set off the explosive. Schwalb ran a hand across his already slicked back hair and readjusted his clothes. Between his grey thermals, his forest-green fatigues and boots, and his assortment of knife-loaded belts there didn't seem to be anything out of place.
"Hey, are you a vampire?" a disembodied but feminine voice asked.
"Oh, dear Creator! Who said that!?" Schwalb demanded as he jumped back and hit a pillar. And stayed on the pillar... and stood on the pillar. He darted his eyes and head to find the source of the voice. He looked almost directly below and saw a girl waving at him. The lanky boy jumped down from his spot and made a brief cough. "Sorry about that. I've been a bit on edge since I got here."
"I was too on the way here, don't worry about it," the girl replied. She was shorter than he realized. Then again he was pretty high up on the pillar.
"Were you the one that asked if I was a vampire?"
She nodded in confirmation. Much shorter.
"It's the fangs, isn't it?"
Another nod; this time accompanied with a small shrug. The man held a hand to his face.
"I'm not a vampire. Just a bat faunus."
She looked rather disappointed but also more relaxed by the answer. Before the conversation could continue, the headmaster... the headmistress stepped onto the stage of the main hall and gave an energetic speech marking what would be the rest of the school year and directing the freshmen to where they will be sleeping before the Initiation begins.
Schwalb turned back to his speaking partner to only find she was gone. Presumably somewhere in the crowd of students already leaving the main hall. As he was about to join the crowd, the boy felt a tapping on his shoulder. He did his best to contain his surprise and turned around to meet a curtain of hair more frayed than earlier and partially singed(?). The curtain was parted enough to unveil a grin from the owner which was paired with a thumbs-up. Schwalb pinched out a lone flame still a top the brunette's hair and gave a confused smile and thumbs-up in return.
A/N: Well, this marks the beginning of what I'm sure to be a great (ok) story. For this story I'm trying out different "habits" in the narration as the focus shifts between characters. If it works great, if not, I'll just go with a more conventional writing style. Reviews and constructive criticisms are always appreciated. At least when I get around to reading them.
Until Vacuo is explored a bit more in the show, this fic will be sticking as closely as possible to the Canon. Which shouldn't be too hard as I won't be doing anymore than touching on Canon events to give a timeframe or something. And for the record, the events in this fic take place around the same time as the show. So yeah. Thanks for reading.