Chapter Four: Team CFOM

I've never felt this tired in my life before, even after that one time Papa trained me in aura instead of Uncle Black. It was really scary and it made me hurt all over. But the hurting I feel is only my legs. The time I was training with Papa, it was snowing and he wouldn't let me go until I manipulated the ice. It hurt my hands, since I couldn't use gloves according to Papa. I had to use my bare skin.

I don't really like being in Winter because when I get cold I think of that moment. I like looking at pictures of snow though, where the branches swap their leaves for white sleeves and fairy lights tangle in the high above trees… That rhymes, oh my gosh- I should write that down. Wait, I don't have paper. In fact, I don't have anything on me but Breeze and Lavandula- deflated, of course. She's shy, except when she's performing and doesn't like to be carried around where she can be seen.

Where AM I anyway? This looks like a main street… Of sorts. Is there like, a street map? A, uh… I think it's a trajectory. I've been wandering Vale, trying to find something similar to an airship dock that can take me to Beacon. Maybe I should just ask, who looks like a student around here…Oh my gosh, look at his feathers. They're so coooolorful. It's like a rainbow came down from the sky and landed on his booty, becoming each and every little feather fluff. They're a bit dusty though. I went to tap the tall guy with the pretty feathers on the shoulder, but I… Couldn't reach and I slapped his back… Oh gosh. "Uh, excuse me, do you know where-"

"Dude, where've you bee-?" He turned around, and looked down at me. "Whoa, sorry. Who are you?"

"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry…! Uh- I just, um, well." I was caught off guard by his calm reaction. I slapped him on the back, why is he okay with this?

"You don't have to be shy, just tell me what you're needing." The boy laughed.

Breath in, breath out. "Sorry, you're right, I just need to get to Beacon Academy."

"I can get you to Beacon, but I need to wait for my fuckin' friend. He went to go buy snacks, but he's really just chasing some local girls."

"Chase? I hope they can run fast." I said, but he started to laugh. I didn't tell a joke, but I'm glad I made him laugh.

"Hahah, don't worry, the girls in Vale have been running from Fandango for years now. Oh, right, my name is Chrome. Chrome Regalia. My name, that is."

"...Chrome Regalia…" I counted the syllables with my fingers. "Yes. We can be friends! I'm Apricot Lum."

"What's that thing you did with your hands?"

"I counted the syllables in your name, then added the number of syllables in my name. Together, we have 9 syllables and that means we'll have a nurturing friendship."

"...What do the other numbers mean?"

"Well, it's not really what they mean, it's what they are. One is feisty and spitfire, two is a follower, three is relaxed, four is competitive, six is in a rivalry with four, seven is awkward, eight is a romantic and nine is motherly. Zero isn't really anything to me, it's kind of like… Uh, blank space."

"You missed out on five. How come?" He was interested in what I said.

"I don't like five, five is mean to the smaller numbers, but you haven't been mean to me yet even though you have five syllables in your name." He started laughing again, which is kind of bothering me. I'm not making any jokes, I really don't trust people with five syllables in their name.

"Hahaha. Don't worry, I don't plan to be mean to you, though. I'm going to go try to find my asshole friend, you should follow me." He ruffled my hair. It reminded me a little about Uncle Blackjack, but uses worse words. I think that's how I knew that- for a fiver, anyway- he was okay. I skipped along side him. "What are you doing in Vale, anyway? Are you an exchange student?"

"Nope, I was here for a show but then I got a letter saying I got accepted to Beacon."

"Oh, yeah! The circus was in town for a bit. You came to watch?"

"Uhm, yeah. I did see it. Did you go and see it?" I wonder if he's seen me before. I think I would've seen him in the crowd, his feathers, along with his height made him stand out in a crowd of people.

"Yeah. Went to go see a night show, enjoyed it but I've heard from another dude in my team that it's different from the dayshow. But wow… Miss Cocktail was something else."

"Candy Cocktail?"

"Oh, so you saw the night show too? Which night?" Pervert, and it's Mrs Blanco. She's married, and her last name isn't Cocktail anymore. I didn't say that out loud, of course, but I wanted to. I don't think I should tell him I'm a performer.

"Uh, whichever one you didn't go to. Anyway, you said you were in a Huntsman team?"

"Oh, right, yeah. Team CFOM, with Fandango, Orion, Malone and I."

"Seafoam… How is that spelt?" I thought a little bit about it, but couldn't decide on the spelling CFMM or CFOM

"C, F, O, M."

"Chrome… You're the leader?! That's so cool! It's like, C for cool, C for Chrome, C for seafoam. I don't think seafoam is spelt with a C though, otherwise it would make a 'kuh' sound, like keyfoam or something... Wait, cea would sound like sea anyway… Language is weird."

"You're overthinking it a little, but thanks for calling it cool. I worked hard to become the leader at initiation. Maybe you'll become a leader, too."

"Ah, sorry! I'm always overthinking like this, haha. But… You really think I could become a leader? Maybe, but… I don't know. What's initiation about, anyway?"

"Whoa, sorry. Not allowed to talk about initiation to the new first years. It's different every year, anyway." He brushed his hair back with his fingers, getting his fringe out of his way and slicked back with the rest of his hair. His hair was a slick, greyish green but it might've been the lighting in the street. Under the yellow streetlights, it was more greenish then grey, like one of the colors on his peacock feathers. "Yo, man! Did you have any luck?" He said with a sarcastic tone to a tall boy, like he was mocking the other.

"Nah, but it looks like you did, who's the little one?" I didn't think I was that short. It's just everyone else around me that's tall. He had to bend over to look me in the eyes. He has pretty blue eyes. Maybe this is a sign I need to start wearing heels? I don't think Lavandula would like me standing on her with heels, though.

"Apricot, she's cool. She needs to get to Beacon Academy for Initiation."

"She's a day early, though. Anyway, I won't judge. She's got really thick-"

"Thick what?" I asked, even though he was talking to Chrome about it. I caught him off guard, which is weird. It's like he forgot I was here, even though he was talking about me.

"...Uh, you know. You have nice, thick thighs." He said, looking embarrassed with what he was saying. I don't know why he'd be embarrassed about it, it's a compliment! Maybe he's shy.

"Oh, wow! Thank you so much! That's really nice of you to say. Papa said I should at least try to work off my blubber, but how the heck do I do that? It's like, a part of me and stuff." Wow, a compliment from a stranger…! It's gotta be my blubber, it makes me a little thicker in my muscle areas. Chrome was laughing at him… Or was he laughing at me? He seemed really amused at what I was saying before.

"Blubber, you're a faunus as well?" The boy asked me.

"Well, yeah. It's not as obvious, but like, if you cut through my skin and eat me, I'm sure I'll be delicious because of my blubber… Wait, no. Just take my word for it, I have blubber."

"Uh, right." He tilted his head in confusion. "Anyway, I'm Fandango."

"What's your last name?" I asked.

"Ocean, Fandango Ocean." I counted the amount of syllables in his name.

"Wow, we're going to have a good friendship as well…" I yawned. "Sorry. I'll explain later. I just need to get to Beacon."

"Wait, what are you going to do once you get to Beacon?" Sleep, duh. Probably in a bed, maybe. Hopefully.

"Um… Sleep? Why?" That's a silly question.

"...Where are you going to sleep?"

"In a dorm? Wait." Wait a minute, how could I sleep in a dorm if I'm not even a student yet? Oh no. Oh geez, this is no good. "...Oh, I get it. Um... Well, there IS always begging and pleading for a place to stay."

"Don't worry about that! It'll be fine if you stay in our room."

"What the hell, dude?! You can't do that."

"What? Why not? You do it all the time."

"That's different, man. You're not actively trying to bang her!"

"Oh, shit, sorry dude, I wasn't aware I needed to have an attraction to a girl before I bring her to our dorm." Chrome rolled his eyes. Attraction? I've heard attractive, but I haven't heard attraction before. I've heard it before to describe magnets when they connect, maybe, and being an attractive person means being a good looking person. So… If it means something about magnets and being a pretty person. It means that two people are connecting together like magnets, probably, but in a loving way, I think.

No thank you, I don't want to be… Connected... magnet-ted… Attracted? Whatever it is, I don't want that with anyone yet. I want to wait until I find the Blackjack to my Candy. Wait, I was too busy thinking to listen to their fight.

"Okay, fine. You win, let's let her sleep in the dorm." Fandango grumbled, and went on ahead. Aww, I missed the fight. "Follow me, there aren't a lot of ships to Beacon at this time, maybe one every hour, maybe 30 minutes."

We wandered around Vale, with Fandango leading in front. I haven't actually been sightseeing around Vale yet, surprisingly. It was surprisingly nice at night. The streets were quiet, unlike in the day when there are cars and trucks driving around really loudly. "What were you two fighting about? Back there, I meant."

"Don't worry, he was just jealous I was coming back with a girl and he wasn't. He's probably going to mope for a bit." Oh, I see now. Uncle Blackjack warned me about those kinds of boys, taking girls home and throwing them away the next morning. I better make sure to keep a close eye on him, I'll be sure to tell Breeze and Lavandula as well. Lavandula seems like she'd have a crush on Fandango because he's a pretty boy, but not me, nosiree.

"We're here, the airship is already here, surprisingly. It's not a long flight, and the view is really nice since you'll see the lit up city, and the academy from the sky." Fandango gave me a look, then pointed to the airship's doors with his arms. "Ladies first. I'm talking to you, Chrome."

"Ha ha. Very funny." His unimpressed laughter made me laugh as well. I got onto the airship, along with Chrome and Fandango. The airship was different from any of the ones I have been in before. Unlike the dusty cargo airships we always fly with the circus, this one was clean and smelt like… A mix of comfort and chemicals. Comfort because the windows and floors smelt like lemon. Chemicals because the lemon smell wasn't really lemon, it's lemon-scented cleaner. I took a seat close to the large windows to look at the view Fandango was talking about. It wasn't as good as he said it was, but I think that's because we were still on the ground.

"Attention all passengers, we are now ascending. We will be direct travelling to Beacon Academy. Have a nice flight. We will be ascending shortly." The captain said on the speaker… Ascending... I wonder what that means. What a polite man, though!

"Thank you, Mr. Pilot." I said to the captain, and as I say that the airship began to rise… So that's what ascending is, rising! It's pretty clear now what Fandango was talking about now. Sure, the view on the ground was alright, but now that we were up in the air? Magic. Like Uncle Blackjack was with me. The view reminded me of the circus, except it was very different from the circus, or looking at an upside down starry night sky. The river mirrored the moon, and shimmered like glass broken into tiny little pieces. I wonder what the view looks like during the day.

"Over there, there's the campus. See that green tower over there? Beacon Tower, and right at the very top? That's Professor Ozpin's office." I squinted my eyes, pressing my face up to the glass to get a closer look at the tower.

"I can't see him, but I think he'd be looking out of the window… I would be looking out too if I had a view like this, wow..." I smiled, taking in the view. It's like everything in this school was built to match the tower as a giant castle. How many people go to school here? Maybe like... ten. Probably more, but I'm… Too tired to think about this properly. My eyes seem too droopy to continue like this.

"...Hey, wake up… She's asleep what do we do?... I don't know!" I hear voices say, but I don't know who's who anymore… I better take a nap.


A/N: Thank you so much for reading this chapter of my fic, I really hope you enjoyed reading. I apologise for not having Author's Notes last chapter, but I didn't really feel the need for it. If you want me to add one for every chapter, let me know! This is the first chapter that is being posted before schedule, and a chapter that didn't really take me very long.

My chapters are fairly short so that you are able to binge read quickly. I'd say it's also to avoid filler, but Apricot's thought process is all filler anyway, haha. As always, thank you so much for reading. I'll do my best to keep on schedule.