Tomorrow is the Big Day!

(Narrator's P.O.V)

Mari went into the bathroom and locked the door. She looked at herself in front of the mirror and slowly reached her hand to the cloth that wrapped around her neck. She untied the little bow that held it in place and unraveled the cloth, exposing her gem. The pretty light blue gem shone like a light, giving off a warm blue glow. She smiled and materialized a clean cloth from her gem, and went over to the sink to get it wet. She cleaned her gem until it was very shiny, then wrapping it up again with the dark blue cloth, being careful do the bow just right. She puts the bow right over the gem, so it wouldn't be obvious that something foreign is there. Mari wanted to keep her secret safe. She unlocked the door and walked outside to the common area where everyone was sleeping. Technically gems don't need any sleep due to they get all the energy that they need from their gems, but it was nice to do so the time can pass by fast. Mari heads over to her assigned sleeping mat and sat down cross legged. She found a piece of paper and a pencil in the bag she had near the mat, and started to write about her experiences here.

Ruby was talking to Yang at her own sleeping mat, that is, until she saw Mari. She nudged Yang. "Hey, it's that girl I was talking about at the ceremony!"

"Well, why don't we go talk to her!"

"Wait, Yang! Ack!" Ruby said, as Yang picked her up by the arm and was dragging her to the mysterious blue girl.

Mari saw Yang walking towards her, dragging Ruby. She put her notebook down.

"Hello!" Yang said, extending her o's.

"Good evening." Mari said nodding.

"My sister has been talking about you!"

Mari raises her eyebrows. "Really?" Ruby blushes.

"Yeah. What's your name by the way? I never asked before." Ruby asks.

"Aquamarine. But I like to be called Mari." Mari said.

"That's. An interesting name." Yang said.

"Isn't that a name for a rock?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. Is it bad?" Mari asked, worried that they knew that she was a gem, if they already haven't figured it out.

"No! No! I like it! It has a good ring to it." Ruby exclaimed. Mari breathed a sigh of relief internally.

"Why is your skin blue?" Yang said. Ruby nudged her.

"Um." Mari was trying to make up an excuse. "Birth defect." she settled on.

"Oh."

"Nice talking to you, see you at initiation!" Ruby said, in a hurry to avoid further embarrassment. Mari waved at them.

Ruby and Yang then tried talking to a girl who was reading her book, obviously not appreciating their presence, and once it got to the point where Weiss came over and started scolding them for being so loud, the girl blew out the candle and everything went dark. Mari could see just fine in the dark, and she could see that the girl could see just fine too. She read somewhere that faunuce could see almost perfectly in the dark, but it didn't matter.

It was morning already and Mari just woke up from her not needed sleep and stretched her muscles. Today was the big day. People got put into teams and the teams stick until you graduate. Mari went into the locker room and materialized her axe and axe sharpener, and was pretending to sharpen her weapon as people came in the locker room. Nobody really noticed Mari sitting there, and just walked past her. A boy came up to her with a couple of his friends. Mari looked up to face them.

"Hello!" Mari said cheerfully.

"Hey look guys! The smurf can talk!" One of the guys said. They all snickered at his remark.

"Yes. I am fully capable of talking. Seems your vocal chords are defective, because nobody has the audacity to call me names." The boy picked Mari up by the collar.

"What did you just say to me blue?"

"I said you are defective. Are your ears defective as well?" He drops me. He is well over two feet taller than her.

"I could punch your face in you little brat." he sneered. "It would not be hard."

"Try."

"What?"

"Punch me. I dare you." Mari said with a grin.

"Argh!" He winds up and swings to hit her, but a split second before he hit her, she turned her face as hard as rock. "Ahh!" He said, clutching his fist, for he had smashed his hand in hard rock.

"What? How did this happen! You really are a freak!" He said, turning on his heel and running away, his friends right behind him.

"I'm sorry!" Mari yelled after them.

Mari sat back down with her face in her hands. "I got carried away, didn't I." she muttered to herself.

"Nah, that was awesome!" Ruby said. Mari jumped at her remark.

"Yeah girl, you totally got Carden good!" Yang said.

Mari blue cheeks blushed a deeper blue. "I guess I did."

"Hey, thinking about initiation today? I hear it's going to be a blast!" Yang said.

"I guess so. I was hoping to be on a good team, seeing as we are together for the next four years or so." Mari said.

"Heh, yep! No more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." Ruby said, hugging her scythe.

"Well, remember Ruby, you aren't the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up you're going to have to meet new people and work together." Yang remarked.

Ruby groaned, "Ugh, you sound like Dad. Okay, first of all, what does new people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up, I drink milk."

Mari snickered, "Well, if you were stuck between a wall and a giant Ursa, and your scythe is twenty feet away and out of reach, would you need people then?"

"Yeah I guess so."

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked Ruby.

"Uhh, I don't know… Maybe I'll just be on your team or something." Ruby muttered.

"Maybe you should try to be on someone else's team, like Mari's!"

"My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you don't wish to be on a team with me?"

"What? Of course I do. I just thought… I don't know. Maybe it could help you break out of your shell." Yang replied.

"I don't need to break out of my shell, I can just break it with Crescent Rose!"

Meanwhile, Weiss and a girl named Pyrrha were talking near the group of girls.

"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought as to who's team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone is eager to unite with such a strong, well known individual such as yourself." Weiss said.

"Hmm… I'm not quite sure. I'm planning on letting the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha replied while closing her locker.

"Well, I was thinking that we may be on a team together."

"Well, that sounds grand!" Pyrrha said. "Yeah, maybe us and that new girl over there. I hear that she is really amazing with her weapon."

"The blue girl? I haven't seen her before. Nor her weapon, have you?"

"I've only seen it once. She was talking to Ruby and pulled it out to show her. It was so pretty, and she has a unique way of pulling it out." Pyrrha explained.

"Hey guys!" Mari said, suddenly appearing in the middle of them. The two were dumbfounded how quiet and quick it was for her to appear. "Sorry to scare you, but do you know where you guys have seen a blue bag around here. I can't find it anywhere!"

"I haven't. Hey, I haven't learned your name yet. Care telling us?" Weiss asked.

"Not at all! It is Mari. Short for Aquamarine." Mari said.

"Well, I'll tell you if I see it, but we have to go up on the hill. Meet you there!" Pyrrha said, grabbing her spear and running out the door, shortly followed by Weiss.

"Alright!" Mari called after them. "Bye!"