"I feel as though I've been lied to..." Emerald said with a dejected sigh as she glanced around her new dorm room. Between spending time in the guest dorms and then crashing with Neo at that swanky pad, perhaps her standards had been raised a bit. But this was the most bare-bones thing she'd ever seen. Empty walls and plain style, not to mention just how much real estate was taken up by four beds and four desks.

At least, for once, all four of them seemed to be in pretty hearty agreement. "Yes, it is rather... unimpressive." Ciel walked up to one of the beds and crouched down to investigate it closer, a small smile creeping over her lips. "Well, I might have a few ideas. If you'll forgive me for assuming, we really only need two beds, yes?"

"How dare you. I was thinking we might just need one bed. I'm insulted." Emerald knew she had a way of pushing her luck, but she couldn't always help herself around these two. Their reactions were priceless, but even Neo looked a little shocked. "Oh jeez, calm down. Just having a bit of fun. Anyway, what's this grand plan of yours, brainiac? We can't just lug these bad boys out of the room, and as much fun as it would be, I don't think they'd like us hucking them out the window."

"I highly doubt Ciel's plan was to 'huck' anything out a window, Emerald." Penny joined her in inspecting the beds, obviously just as curious about whatever the real plan was.

"For any academy this size, the beds have to be pre-fab. You can take them apart into their component boards with a simple set of tools. And I..." She got up and went over to the pile of boxes bearing her name and began rooting through them until she hauled out a rather massive case bearing the Atlas seal on it. "I just got a shiny new toolkit to help with easy repairs for Penny! I can have these broken down in no time at all."

Neopolitan gave Penny a tap on the shoulder, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Well, while she's working on that, hows about the three of us go raid the old safehouse for some decorations and things. Penny, think you can haul that big cozy sofa?" This plan was still pretty crazy, but even Neo was getting on board now, so there wasn't exactly much Emerald could do about it.

Penny nodded excitedly and gave a decisive clap. "Naturally! My servos are quite capable!"

So that was how they spent the next few hours – heading to and fro with piles of random odds and ends, a couch, a large holo-television. Everyone figured that as long as the safehouse was going to eventually be discovered, they might as well strip it for everything they could. As promised, robo-Penny was crazy-strong and able to lift and carry all the more cumbersome objects without even straining. Emerald was really starting to appreciate the possibilities, having an android on Team CPNE. While they were out, Ciel had indeed managed to break down two of their beds and had shoved all the spare boards into one of the closets. As an afterthought she had also doubled up the mattresses on the two beds, which promised to be insanely comfortable. They put a happy little chill pad in one corner with the TV and couch, and the wall was plastered with posters and stolen 'warning' signs. It was an eclectic mix, and yet undeniably their room.

They were all admiring the improved space when a knock on the door drew their attention. Emerald popped open the door and was a little surprised to see Winter Schnee standing there on the other side of the door. "Hello girls. Do you mind if I come in?"

A bit bewildered, Emerald stepped aside and the woman came in, casting a glance around the space with a small nod. "Hmm, well, seems you've made yourselves at home. Though... did they mess up and only give you two beds? I'll have to contact housing and make sure they fix that."

Ciel coughed nervously, adjusting one of her gloves idly, trying to be as casual as possible. "Oh, uh... that was actually us, Ms. Schnee."

She gave an exasperated sigh, gripping the bridge of her nose for a few moments. "As a representative of both the Atlesian military and the scientists' R&D division, I really ought to tell you girls that it's unwise to pull this kind of thing on your first day. But..."

"Kinda hard to be too judgmental when you're shacking up with the headmistress," Neopolitan signed while snickering. Emerald began laughing with her, though Ciel and Penny looked a bit shocked.

It wasn't until Em looked in the woman's direction that she saw the way she glared at them and knew that, once again, Neo's big fat hands had gotten them in trouble. "I'm going to ignore that. I suggest that the two of you remember that you're here as part of a punishment and rehabilitation program. You may have experienced a degree of cavalier freedom in your previous lives, but if you can't show yourselves to be model students, you'll be placed in jail alongside your old friends."

Emerald crossed her arms and stared Winter down. "So did you come by just to judge our aesthetic choices, or was there something you needed?"

"Since I'm already staying in Vale without much else in the way of things to do, I've been brought in to Beacon as an adjunct professor, as well as your advisor, to make sure you're all adjusting to the school. This place is a fair stretch different than Atlas, and frankly even I am going to need some time to get used to it. I'm... sorry for getting off on the wrong foot here." She managed a smile that was actually pretty charming. "Please come stop by my office once you have your schedules. I'll need to set meeting times with all of you. Now, I should go check up on my sister and yell at her too."

The fact that she actually used a joke got everyone to laugh good-naturedly and they waved goodbye to Winter as she headed down the hall. Emerald gently shut the door and looked at the others, shaking her head in disbelief. "It's going to be a very strange year, isn't it?"


Ciel and Penny were early risers. Because of course they were. Neither Emerald nor Neopolitan were quite so lucky. Only Penny's incessant cheer was able to rouse them – not because of its stunning positivity but because it had a way of grating on one's nerves when they weren't eager to get out from under the covers.

As expected, waking up sucked, and the uniforms sucked, and having to walk all over the campus sucked, and basically Emerald was in kind of a grumpy mood. At least the free food in the cafeteria wasn't bad, and she found a spot to sit with Coco and her crew while Penny and Ciel went to join their crushes in Team RWBY. She knew she couldn't rag on them too hard, since even Neo had admitted drunkenly the other night that she wouldn't mind a chance to 'climb Yang like a tree'. It wasn't as if she didn't understand why.

"Well well, if it isn't the wayward children. How's student life at Beacon so far?" Coco did her usual thing, peering at the two of them over the top rim of her sunglasses with a little smirk.

Emerald grumbled as she took a long draw from her coffee mug while Neopolitan made some vague hand signals that did not in any way correlate to actual words. This caused all of Team CFVY to bust out laughing. Emerald shoved a large mound of eggs into her mouth and chewed her way through it for a few moments. "It has its upsides. Not sure I'm looking forward to classes..."

"Which are like... most of your first year. But hey, if you survive to your second, you get to go out on Grimm-hunting expeditions and stuff. And you've got a great team backing you," chimed in the rabbit-eared one. Emerald hadn't actually met Velvet before. She was a quiet girl with a weird accent, but she didn't seem too bad.

"Team Mindfuck" Neopolitan added, bumping fists with Emerald as the two chuckled while everyone else looked on in mild confusion.

"Sorry, inside joke."

"Aaaanyway..." Fox mused, attempting to slip past that minor awkward moment. "What's your class schedule looking like?"

Emerald fumbled for her scroll in between bites of bacon. "Oh, yeah, uh... Grimm Biology with Port... History of The Hunt with Oobleck... and something Professor Schnee is calling Tactics and Semblances. Not entirely sure what that is. Or... why that class meets up on Vytal in the coliseum."

"Well, we can grill her on it when we pop in to her office later," Neo reminded her and she nodded with a little shrug.

They continued to eat amid cheerful conversation, and every now and then Emerald could feel herself really getting swept away by this place. To think that, not so long ago, she was cursing all these people for how nice and good they were, and now she was practically one of them. Weird how quickly things could change. But it was just like she'd been saying, being here provided her with a home and a kind of family, food and something productive to do with herself. If all of this panned out, she could be a huntress and basically spend the rest of her life taking down Grimm and being a badass. There were worse ways to live.


After this morning's rather disastrous meeting with Professor Schnee, it was incredibly fulfilling to accidentally walk in on her and Goodwitch mid-kiss. Both women immediately separated from one another, looking like they might die from embarrassment. It was, if Emerald was being honest, delicious revenge. Judge us for sharing beds, will you.

Goodwitch rushed out of the office, giving the team a curt nod, red-faced and tight-lipped. All four of them wisely chose to say nothing at all until Schnee had composed herself and leaned up against the edge of her desk. "Ah, so, uh... how are you girls doing? How were your first few classes?"

"Wonderful! I think it took me some time to adjust to Dr. Oobleck's... um... speed? But after a time it felt normal." Penny was cheerful as per usual. Ciel nodded enthusiastically. And neither Emerald nor Neo wanted to beat down that positivity so they just shrugged noncommittally.

"Thank you for stopping by. I actually had a quick request to make of you all. Today will be my first time leading or teaching a class, and... I do not like being inadequate. And that requires honest feedback. Emerald and Neopolitan, I know that you in particular are not afraid to hold back if there is something I'm doing wrong. If I'm to be a teacher here at Beacon, the least I can do is make sure I'm properly engaging."

The four of them all shared a quick look before turning back toward Winter in mild surprise. This was rather unexpected. Em cleared her throat and attempted to dig in a little deeper. "I mean, you want it you got it. But why so worried? You already have the professor aesthetic down okay."

She sighed and crossed her arms, staring down at the floor. "I'm attempting to combine the teaching style I received at Atlas with the more impulsive style that is so prevalent here at Beacon. It's not going to be an easy task. Also, unlike most of the other courses here, mine is intended to be almost exclusively focused on combat and training of various kinds." She cleared her throat again, trying to bore a hole in the carpet with her eyes. "And... it would just be... nice. To... To have a reason to stay in Vale a while longer. Ah, for Weiss."

God, you could just feel your heart breaking into a million little pieces. It would have been so easy to point out what Winter's clear intentions were. But Emerald kept herself in check and just offered a cocky smile. "You got it teach. I'll make you wish you never asked me for an honest assessment."