"Dormitory building, third floor, white door at the end of the hall" Carmine repeated aloud, reading off the directions to his dorm he had received from Ms. Goodwitch after she issued him his scroll. "Dormitory building, third floor, white do…" Carmine stopped as he rounded the corner from the stair well only to realize that every door in the building had been painted a brilliant ivory white, and none of them where adorned with a room number. Carmine nearly threw his scroll. Instead, he was determined to find his room before the end of the day and picked up his pace down the seemingly endless hallway, though with all the white, you thought he would have noticed the red clad figure he nearly crushed walking so fast.
"OOW!" Ruby said, as her head bashed into Carmine's midsection, sending her tumbling to the floor. "Oh geez, I'm so sorry!" Carmine said, picking up Ruby from the ground, nearly ripping her arm from her socket in the process. "EEP!" Ruby said as she was yanked from the ground, up on to her feet, swearing she had caught some air in the process. "Are you okay? I didn't step on you did I?" Carmine stated worried, mockingly turning Ruby around, looking for a boot print on her. "What? No, no! thankfully I've still got all my parts in place" Ruby said, brushing herself off. "Ha, all right then, I'll have to take your word for it. Sorry again um…." Carmine said, not knowing the name of the pint sized girl he'd used for a doormat. "Ruby! Ruby Rose!" She said sticking her hand up to high to shake his, in a mocking handshake. "Well then, Miss Rose" He said, taking her hand in his "Its been a pleasure to meet you" Kissing her hand in the process "Even if it was in such an awkward manner". "Awkward should be my middle name at this point" Ruby said, trying to cover a blush, as deep as the color of her cloak.
Ruby began to cool herself off and asked "So um…." Her words hung in the air, until Carmine caught on. "Carmine" He said
"Carmine Vain, I just came in today"
"Oh so you just came in with the newest first years?" Ruby asked, puzzled
"Well yeah sort of, though I'm actually being put into a second year class's, with a second year team" He explained
"Wait what?" Ruby scratched her head
"Well I'm too old to be with the first years, and I didn't exactly attend an academy like signal, I was able to take the tests because of my mom and attend Beacon early" He tried to explain further "I basically skipped a couple years ha-ha" He said said scratching his head
"OH! Like me!" Ruby said happily, bouncing on her feet
"You're uh…You're a second year too? He asked, not remembering her from the flight
"Nope" She piped "Ozpin said he saw something in me and offered me to come this year with my sister, she's in her first year too but she graduated the academy like everyone else"
"Wow, you must be pretty good to be approached by Ozpin directly" Carmine said, crossing his arms across his chest
"Yeah, I guess" She said, rocking on her heels
A few seconds passed in the quit hall before either could work up the nerve to speak
"So umm, speaking of teams" Ruby inquired "Which one did you get assigned too? I haven't heard about any new ones being formed yet."
"Well I actually got assigned to 'shadow' a team or two" Carmine said, holding up his fingers for air quotes "But I'm having a hard time finding them, they're supposed to be one this hall here where I'm bunking" He finished, gesturing down the corridor
"Oh really?" she said, thinking of all the possible teams for him to shadow on team RWBY's hall
"Yeah, and I'm having a hard time pronouncing it too. Ms. Goodwitch just sent me four huge letters but I have no possible clue how to pronounce them!" He exclaimed, drawing his scroll "Um R-W-B-Y?" He spelled out "REBY? ROBY?" He said trying to pronounce it, before the huntress snatched his scroll fro him and squealed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She squealed in excitement, dancing around in place "You're shadowing MY TEAM!" She said, pointing to herself and immediately latching onto Carmine's waist for a hug. "'Whoa, I, um what?" Carmine said, reeling back, lifting his arms up "I'm shadowing YOUR team?!" He said, pointing down to the girl. "Yeah! Team RWBY!" The girl exclaimed, letting go of Carmine and throwing her hands up in celebration.
"Well I guess I found who I was supposed to be teamed up with ha-ha" He said, scratching his head "Now to find where the hell I'm going to lay my head for the night" He said looking down the hall
"OH I'll help you! I know this place like the back of my hand" The huntress said throwing up a fist in confidence. "You said it was at the end of the hall according to your scroll right?" Ruby questioned, looking too his scroll again.
Carmine replied "Yeah, and speaking of scrolls can I see mine back now" He said, mockingly holding out his hand.
"Oh yeah, my bad" Ruby said, handing the scroll up to him, and he stuck it back in his jeans pocket. "End of the hall? Wait that's where the auxiliary rooms are".
"The what?" Carmine asked, beginning to walk down the hall, Ruby struggling to keep up with his long stride.
"The auxiliary rooms are basically small apartments" Ruby began explaining "They're here in case a huntsman or huntress needs a place to bunk for a while after a mission"
"Wait, I can't sleep with your team?" Carmine said, incredibly confused "Seems like that would be pretty counterproductive to team building"
Ruby rebutted "Well, considering my team consists of four girls, that would be equal parts awkward and uncomfortable" She said, in a matter of fact tone of voice.
Carmine immediately began to blush, which Ruby found funny compared to his stoic demeanor "Oh, I uh um, hope I'll get to meet them soon" He said, trying to cool himself off and hide his blush in the process.
"Don't worry, I'll introduce you to them soon enough. Right now they're helping Ms. Goodwitch wrangle all the new students. I was actually on my way to do the same until I, quit literally, ran into you!" Ruby said poking him in the side.
Carmine rubbed his side and realized they had reached the end of the hall "Well, looks like we're here" He pointed out "I'm guessing mine will already be unlocked" He said, trying the knob on the door, only for It to beep distastefully.
"You need to use your scroll to unlock it" Ruby pointed out, "Swipe your scroll against the door and it should be unlocked as long as your scroll is active"
Carmine retrieved his scroll from his pocket and gently held it up to the metal lock on the door, allowing the door to emit a pleasant chirp and swing open. The door swung open to reveal the small apartment and Carmine took a step in to look about, with Ruby craning her neck to get past his large frame and sneak a peek.
Carmine stopped just inside the apartment and looked around. Facing the inside of the apartment, he noticed the entrance was on the left corner. To his right was a small kitchen that took up the right corner and housed a small island bar for guests to sit at. Walking a few feet, he noticed a very short hall to the left with a door on either side of the it, and upon taking a peek inside he noticed the right lead to a sizable bedroom, with a bed big enough to sleep two, and a closet to stow his clothes and equipment. Backing out of the room into the opposite door revealed a small bathroom with all the standard appliances. Walking out of the bathroom and back down the hall he noticed the kitchen on his right and a sizable living room on the left, fitted with a corner couch and large wooden coffee table. Opposite of that was a large flat screen TV, probably meant to provide entertainment to visiting hunters and huntresses, but Carmine didn't complain. He also happened to take note of the pint sized huntress admiring his new pad with stars in her eyes.
"Woooooooooah" Ruby said, dashing around the flat, poking, prodding, and awing at whatever she could get her hands on. She decided to dash towards the living room, only to caught by the collar of her cloak a foot above the ground. Confused, she decided to investigate what exactly she had snagged herself on.
Flailing her feet about, she looked behind her only to see the heavy fist of her newest team mate gripping her cloak.
"Hey!" Carmine said, gesturing to the rest of the flat, now covered in rose petals "You wanna tell me what gives short stuff?"
"Oh" Ruby said, tucking into herself as Carmine let her down "Sorry, its my semblance" She said hunched over, avoiding his gaze.
Carmine rubbed the bridge of his nose and began to speak again "Its fine Ruby, cleaning up gives me something to do for the rest of the evening, as soon as I put up my armor and what not"
Ruby nearly smacked herself for not asking him earlier "Yeah, what is your weapon anyway? Can I see? Please please PLEEEEAAASSE" She pleaded, gazing his ruck sack on the island in the kitchen, her eyes coming to rest on the silver pommel and leather grip sticking out of the top of the bag.
"As soon as you introduce me to the rest of this 'Team RWBY', I'll introduce you to my baby" He said, putting up his fingers for more air quotes, smugly smiling to a pouting Ruby.
"Awwwwwwwww, fine" Ruby said, stomping a foot into the floor. "I guess I should leave to let you get settled in for the night. I'll tell the rest of the team about you once they get back from helping Ms. Goodwitch" She said, beginning to saunter towards the door, taking one last look at the ruck sack, and its interesting contents.
"Sounds like a plan, Rubes" Carmine said, following her to the door to close it behind her. "I'll be over first thing in the morning to meet the team" He said as Ruby walked into the hall and he leaned onto the door frame.
"Sounds good!" She exclaimed hugging Carmine "We can go to breakfast afterwards to celebrate!" Ruby backed off, and Carmine rustled her hair.
"Goodnight Ruby" He said, as Ruby walked away. Ruby heard him and turned on a dime in the hall "Goodnight Carmiiiiiiinnnnneee!" She said, stretching her arm up and waving goodnight to him.
Carmine watched her walk down the hall and into her team's dorm before closing and locking his door behind him, turning around and slumping against the door.
"Ho boy" He said, laughing to himself quietly "I've really got my work cut out for me" And with that he stood up, grabbed his ruck sack, threw it onto his bed, and went to work looking for a dust pan and broom.