Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.

Also to the guy who wanted us to get to Beacon soon; it's funny you mention that... lol.


Airships were a great advancement in technology, allowing quick travel from place to place. Flying allowed one to make much better time than otherwise, it often proved safer due to the relative scarcity of airborne Grimm, and airships provided very large amounts of space for passengers.

Altogether, it was probably one of the single largest innovations of mankind.

Jaune Arc understood this. He accepted the usefulness and popularity of air-travel.

It didn't mean that he had to like it.

"Urgh..." He groaned pitifully, having chanced a look towards the cityscape down below... bad idea, that.

He had woken up today excited as could be, taking everything he could into account. That included his horrible motion sickness.

Knowing that Beacon was on a cliff above Vale, it was rather obvious how the students would be arriving. With that in mind, Jaune didn't eat breakfast, instead keeping a Pumpkin Pete's cereal bar in his hoodie's pocket.

Never before had the teen been so grateful for his foresight and planning. While his stomach was positively tying itself in knots due to his unfortunate condition, the white haired Arc was at least glad to say he had nothing in his stomach to vomit. It would suck to cheat his way into Beacon only to be stuck with a name like Vomit-Boy until the end of time.

Granted, the fact that he was seated in a corner in the room closest to the exit with his hood pulled over his face didn't make things much better reputation-wise.

But he could deal with that.

Honestly, not even this could get him down. He was still incredibly happy to be going to Beacon, even if his means of entry to the prestigious academy were less than legal. Looking back on it, he didn't even really regret doing it either since it had been the whole reason he was able to meet Melanie, Miltia, and even Junior to some extent. He went from having no friends to three, so that was something.

Jaune still didn't know if he could consider Neo a friend or not. She was an oddball no matter how he looked at it. The first night he had met her, she tried to kill him. Came very close, as a matter of fact.

After that, she had agreed to forge his transcripts at what he had later been informed was a massively discounted price. Asking Junior about the usual cost of her services had put it into proportion just how much of a deal she had given him, unless her favor ended up being something worth the remainder of that price... in which case it would probably be stupidly dangerous and Jaune doubted he would survive the experience.

And then there was her undeniably clingy behavior. She still bombarded him with random inquiries, though they had slowed somewhat as she miraculously agreed not to blow up his scroll during school hours. And whenever he actually met the girl face to face, she would usually find herself a seat on his shoulders or latch onto his back, not to mention that she occasionally shared a bed with him.

It was weird, since Jaune highly doubted there was any romantic intent. She just seemed to like physical contact. It would be great if he didn't still have nightmares about her trying to murder him.

Though, thankfully, those had been getting more and more scarce as he interacted with her more. She was desensitizing him to that aspect of her personality, he figured... that was actually kind of disturbing to consider.

His thoughts were interrupted by yet another bout of nausea washing over him, which he attempted to force down. After dealing with this issue for most of his life, Jaune was a bit more tolerant of it than otherwise. He let a ragged sigh slip, shaking his head slightly. Stomach calming somewhat, Jaune slipped to his feet almost cautiously before just leaning back against the wall.

He needed a distraction. What was going on nearby?

A news report... well, Jaune wasn't much for the news, but it was something he could look at to distract himself.

And as it turned out, he saw a familiar face. Roman Torchwick, a notorious criminal who had been on a crime spree robbing every dust store he could find as of late.

Huh. So that's where he had seen the guy before. Well that was coincidental. And this was Neo's partner in crime? 'Sheesh...' Jaune thought to himself idly, inspecting the mugshot of the redheaded man. 'The people I've managed to meet lately, I swear...'

Thus far all of his associates were, in some way, connected with the criminal underbelly of Vale. Junior was one of the most reliable sources of information in the city and had his hands in many illegal dealings, Melanie and Miltiades were enforcers of his, along with Neo and Roman being a pair of career criminals, one a forge and the other a thief.

The thought almost made him laugh, he would have if not for the fear that it would upset his stomach more. Wasn't he supposed to be a good guy?

Instead, he continued to watch the news report from his isolated position, trying his best to remain inconspicuous and not draw anyone's attention. He didn't want to start up a conversation in the state he was in, for obvious reasons.

Faunus rights rally, White Fang interference. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. The White Fang was an organization that even he knew about despite his rather isolated nature.

They had started off as a peaceful protest group, fighting the inequality of their people through nonviolent means. They were determined to finally gain the equality that their people deserved.

But it never really worked, not enough to make a difference. The Faunus were still treated poorly, no matter how many boycotts and rallies they had, and eventually it had drawn the organization to a darker path.

Now, they were closer to terrorists than anything. Murders, vandalism, arson, kidnapping, nothing seemed to be too far for them anymore.

It was sad, honestly, because in a way Jaune understood. They had tried to do things the right way, the moral way... and it hadn't gotten them anywhere. And so instead of persisting with that path forever and accomplishing nothing, they switched methods. Violence and fear made for effective motivators.

The saddest part was that it worked, in a twisted sort of way. No one gave a damn if some Faunus wouldn't buy their wares or dine at their restaurants, but when the stores and the restaurants themselves were at risk things changed.

Anywhere that refused Faunus was hit, some harder than others. It became a matter of profit, they lost more by refusing the Faunus than they did by accepting them.

'What a world we live in...' Jaune thought to himself, clutching his stomach painfully even as a grimace crossed his features. 'If we could all just throw away these stupid prejudices I can't imagine how much more progress we could have made as a civilization.' Jaune just didn't understand it, himself. People were people no matter how you looked at it.

The screen cut out, replaced by a holographic image of a woman. Jaune blinked, focusing again.

She was a blonde woman with a very stern look to her, the piercing expression on her face making it obvious that she was very much a business before pleasure kind of person. She was garbed in a white long-sleeved suit that exposed part of her chest, something that Jaune felt himself appreciating even through his nausea, and puffy sleeves that got tighter near the wrist before spreading back out near her hands. Her lower body was clad a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and lighter black-brown stockings.

After a moment, the woman introduced herself as Glynda Goodwitch. He vaguely recalled the name from Neo, who had briefly mentioned her as a very dangerous huntress and someone he should be wary of in school.

His transcripts were good enough to fool the faculty of Beacon, but he had to live up to them. If she felt like he wasn't as good as Neo had made him seem to be, things would become difficult.

With that in mind, he tuned out the rest of her little speech and sighed, covering his face with his palm. When would they be landing? He really did not know how much more of this torture he could handle. Jaune had been purposefully isolating himself, even going so far as to ignore the few random students who had come to chat with him. He didn't feel confident enough to speak without dry-heaving.

Finally, miraculously, the ship stopped moving. Feeling the discomfort in his stomach fade slightly from the lack of forward motion, the teen quickly made his way to the clearly marked exits.

He was, unsurprisingly, the first to exit the airship. Moving at a very brisk pace, Jaune found himself off of the airship and on solid ground for the first time in what seemed like hours but was really only like twenty minutes or something similar.

It didn't matter, though, because he was finally on land. Sweet, sweet earth. He felt better already, deeply breathing in the fresh air even as he continued to walk off to the side of the plaza, intending to catch his breath and enjoy his cereal bar.

The teen found himself a nice space beneath one of the impressive looking pillars that lined the walkway, noting vaguely that others had begun to trickle out of the ships but paying them no mind.

Seating himself happily with his back to the tall pillar, the teen pulled out his cereal bar and unwrapped it before taking a bite. 'Ah, the sweet taste of artificial flavoring and sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.' Jaune chuckled to himself, keeping from scarfing the bar down by just eating small bites of it, intending to make the small snack last a bit longer. Indulging in sweets always made the after-feeling of motion sickness better, now that he could actually stomach them.

Jaune smiled to himself contentedly, sighing softly even as he settled the cereal bar on one of his legs, fishing his scroll from his jeans pocket for just long enough to type a brief message to Neo. 'Made it in one piece.' He placed the scroll on his other leg, picking up the bar again and taking another bite of it just as a small blip alerted him to the reply.

'Good. If you managed to die or get thrown out on the ship it would have been rather embarrassing.' Came the scathing response he had expected. Rolling his eyes, the teen typed up his own reply as he munched on his sugary treat.

'Love you too, dear.'

By this point, he had honestly become desensitized to Neo and her shenanigans. It was way easier on his sanity to just play along with her, and the girl herself didn't seem to mind it. Initially he had been scared she would take offense and murder him or something, but the girl seemed unflappable.

Case in point?

The final response from his ice cream loving associate was a picture of her blowing a kiss towards the scroll, something which got a snort of laughter from him.

She looked cute like that, he would admit. Like she wasn't all of the world's evil in one pretty little package.

He felt like today was going to be a good day. He had made it at long last! Jaune Arc was ready to take the first steps towards the dream he had harbored all of his life. In these hallowed halls, he would learn to become more than just another Huntsman; he would be one of the greats. Perhaps not the absolute best in the world, he wasn't arrogant enough to expect that much, but most certainly up there with the legends everyone knew by name. One day, he would be something special. He just knew it, today felt like a wonderful day to be alive!

... and then he heard the explosion.

The sudden noise had thoroughly surprised Jaune, which led to now. He was currently choking on the last bit of his cereal bar, hacking frantically as he attempted to get his breathing back under control.

Managing to do so after a few moments, the wide eyed teen breathed deeply. "Okay. That was unexpected." He mumbled to himself dully, as though trying to make sure his voice still worked. Standing from his position, idly shoving the wrapper of the cereal bar into his pocket so as not to be a litter bug, the white haired teen glanced around to try and find the source of the explosion.

Instead of seeing bombs dropping, Grimm running amok, White Fang members with rocket launchers, giant robots, or any other sort of ridiculous assailants... he saw a girl.

She was small, clearly younger than the usual students of the academy. She was probably around Neo's height, garbed in an outfit that was quite eye catching. The girl was clad in a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak held to her blouse by a pair of silver crosses.

And she looked positively miserable.

Gah, damn him and his good nature. Seeing a young girl on the verge of tears was not fair. It just wasn't. There was no force in this world with as great a sway over him as a damsel in distress, especially a girl who looked to be younger than him. Just looking at that almost physically hurt him.

Sighing lightly, he threw on a warm smile and made his way over to the girl with long, confident strides.

Just as she looked up, noticing the shadow above her, Jaune held out a hand and widened his smile. "Hey. I'm Jaune."

The girl looked up at him with the single most innocent pair of eyes he had ever seen, a vivid silver color that put shame to the finest jewelry he had ever laid eyes on. "Ruby..." She mumbled, accepting his hand with a small, embarrassed smile. "Uh... are you that Weiss girl's brother?" She asked cautiously.

Jaune blinked. "I've got seven sisters, but none of them are named Weiss. Why?" That was a rather odd question to ask.

"Because you both look alike." Ruby answered, relieved by his admission. "She's got the same hair color as you, but her eyes are less... blue." Much less blue. Her eyes were sort of pale, icy blue whereas Jaune... well, his were deep blue like the ocean. "And she's less nice." Way less nice.

The white haired Arc gave a raised brow, before shrugging after pulling the girl to her feet. "Well I like to think I'm pretty nice."

"Good. Because I've already had someone blow up at me today... after I blew up myself."

"Oh. That was you? I thought there was something crazy going on, like giant robots or exploding Grimm or something."

"No, no... just ah... making friends?"


Several minutes later, Jaune and Ruby were walking along the pathway discussing various things.

Namely, motion sickness and Jaune's proneness to it. "Look, I'm just saying it's a way bigger issue than you're making it out to be." He repeated, perfectly serious. "I've dealt with this crap for my entire life. In a world dominated by air travel can you imagine how annoying it is to get severe nausea whenever you fly on one of those metal monstrosities?"

Ruby cringed, seeing the point. "Yeah, I kind of get it." At first it had seemed kind of silly, being sick from just getting on an airship, but putting it like that made it seem like a real issue. How did he even get anywhere if he could barely stomach flying? Oh man that was going to make air-drops horrible for him too, wasn't it? Ouch.

Jaune sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry for harping on about it, but I get a lot of crap for my motion-sickness from people who know." Why the hell had he told Neo that again? "So it's kind of become a point of mine to make people realize that it genuinely sucks." No, seriously, what had even tempted him to let Neo of all people in on that?

After that, things descended into a comfortable silence. Or at least it was comfortable for Jaune. Ruby seemed somewhat... anxious. Jaune figured that she wasn't the best with silence.

"So..." She started suddenly, reaching behind her back to grab the red weapon he had seen at her back. "I got this!" The girl swiftly pulled the weapon from her back.

At first glance, he had thought it was a rifle. It looked rather blocky and bulky, so he expected some kind of high powered gun maybe... or a grenade launcher or something.

Yeah no it was a freaking scythe. "Whoa!" He started, backing away from the rather surprising action. "Uh, is that a scythe?" Wow, that was super neat. It like... unfolded. Into a scythe.

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." She replied proudly.

"... it's also a gun?" He asked quietly, some small part of him explaining that he really should have expected this.

"It's also a gun." Ruby reaffirmed happily. After basking in the glow of someone sufficiently awed by her baby, the girl turned her attention towards Jaune. "What kind of weapon do you have?" Just the thought of what her new friend could have with him had her excited beyond measure.

And then he smiled widely and held out the stick he had been carrying. "I have this."

"... That's a stick." Ruby noted blandly.

"Yes. Yes it is." Jaune replied, equally proud of his "weapon" as Ruby had been of her own.

"... your weapon is a stick." Ruby couldn't seem to wrap her head around the concept.

Another proud nod. "Indeed it is." Jaune could have told her the story behind his weapon of choice, or why it was a practical weapon in general due to his Semblance... but this was way more fun.

... Oh Dust he was starting to feel like Neo.

Ruby blinked, before nodding slowly, giving him a look as though he had a few screws loose before she noticed something. "Uh... Jaune?"

"Yes, Ruby?" Came the reply.

"Where are we even going?"

"... I was following you." Jaune explained, blinking. "Uh... you think there'd be any directories around here?" She gave him a deadpan look. "A food court?" Still the deadpan. "... Easily recognizable landmarks?" He tried again.

"... No, I don't think so." Ruby finally admitted with a giggle.

Jaune sighed. "Of course not."

"Why hello there students!" A voice suddenly called, startling the pair. As they turned to regard the owner of the voice, they... didn't see anything but a cloud of dust? Not Dust, no... just dust. Like regular dust.

"Would the two of you perhaps happen to be lost? It seems so due to the fact that you are all the way out here when the ceremony is taking place in the main hall." The duo startled again, turning quickly to come face to face with a green haired man with a wide smile on his lips and a thermos in hand, a pair of spectacles settled haphazardly upon his nose and a rather disheveled appearance. His white shirt was untucked from his dark green pants, collar raised, and a yellow tie hung loosely around his neck.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing about the man was that he was talking at an extremely high speed. They almost couldn't understand him. Almost.

"Uh..." Jaune spoke first, Ruby still too petrified by the idea of social interaction it seemed. "Yeah, we're sort of lost... you said the main hall?"

"Capital!" The man spoke, raising one hand and a single finger. "Peter and I had both been asked to round up any students who had lost their ways on our grounds in order to keep them from missing the ceremony, and thankfully it would appear that our efforts were both necessary and appreciated! Moreover, this means that I have likely pulled ahead of my colleague in our competition." Seeing the confused looks on the faces of the two children before him, the man chuckled before taking a swig of his thermos. "Come along now, we must get you back on the proper path in order to keep to the schedule that has been set."

Blue eyes wide in confusion, seeing as how the man had said most of that in a single breath and within the span of a few seconds, Jaune nodded slowly while Ruby found herself hiding somewhat behind him. "Uh... huh... so... the ceremony?"

"Yes, yes, that's correct! We need to send you off on your way do we not? Ah, that way, just follow the path and it will take you directly to the room in which the ceremony is being held!" He pointed off towards the exact opposite direction of the path they had been on. "Simply follow the road and it will take you to your destination. Ah, by the way, I am Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck. Please refer to me as Dr. Oobleck, and have a pleasant day!"

And with that, he was gone in another cloud of dust.

The two teens blinked, Ruby peering out from behind Jaune as though she were terrified he would return. "Uh... that was one of the professors?" She squeaked, marveling at the speed the man had done... well, everything.

"... right." Jaune chuckled nervously, impressed by the rather timely intervention from the almost comically fast man. The only thing keeping it from being funny was that the man was one of the professors at the school, and with speed like that... well, where did everyone else compare on that scale? It was rather intimidating to think about. "So, off to the ceremony." He announced, promptly turning on a heel and beginning to walk that direction, leaving the bizarre yet helpful meeting behind.

"Wait for me!" Ruby yelped, following after him. "You're not gonna ditch me like Yang did, Jaune!"

"Who's Yang?" The white haired Arc asked, turning to regard the younger girl briefly.

Ruby, catching up immediately, fell into a more reserved walk at his side. "She's my sister. Older sister, the one who was actually supposed to go to Beacon this year."

Jaune quirked a brow at that. "What do you mean by that?" If anyone wasn't supposed to be here, it'd be him, though he'd be keeping that little secret to himself.

"I'm saying that Yang was actually a graduate of Signal, and she's the same age as everyone at Beacon... and I'm not." She blushed at the scrutiny this drew, quickly explaining. "I was allowed in on special circumstances, after I ended up stopping some Torchwick guy from robbing a dust store."

Eyes widening, he couldn't hide how impressive that was. "Roman Torchwick? The criminal swiping all of that dust?" Neo's partner? If that guy was in the same league as Neo, or even close, then it meant he was tough as nails. And some fifteen year old girl had managed to stop him? "How did that go down?" Was she some kind of prodigy?

Blushing deeper at the sudden interest, Ruby attempted to summarize so she could draw the topic away from her exploits. "Uh, I was shopping one night and some guy tried to rob me... so I kicked him into a wall. And then there were more of them, so I beat them up too." She frowned. "And then the guy with the cigar, Torchwick or something, he shot at me with a Dust round from his cane. I dodged it and he ran off, so I followed." The frown deepened somewhat as she recalled the specifics of that night. "He had a Bullhead, and he managed to get on it and throw a red Dust crystal at me, then he shot it... and Ms. Goodwitch saved me. From there, Torchwick and someone else managed to fly away."

"Wow." Jaune replied. "That's really quite the story. I'm glad you're okay." Roman was a dangerous man. Just the fact that he associated with Neopolitan meant he was every bit as much a killer as that girl, which meant he really may have hurt or killed Ruby even if she was a child. It was lucky that Glynda Goodwitch had arrived to help, or that could have ended poorly.

She pressed her fingers together, embarrassed at the sudden concern. "It's fine, really. I got out of it okay." It was nice to know people cared, though.

Jaune chuckled. "If you say so. But yeah, I had a really weird situation too recently." The curious silver eyes that peered at him were almost unfairly adorable. Even having built resistance over the years to cute, living with his seven sisters, Ruby was too damn good at it. "See, I was heading to my favorite hang-out to talk to a couple of my friends back in the city."

"Uh huh." Ruby nodded, paying rapt attention to the story as they walked. It was actually sort of unnerving just how intent she was.

Rubbing the top of his head, Jaune sighed. "Well, I got there and for whatever reason the place was near deserted from the outside. Usually people loiter around, but that night they were gone. So I went to go in, and I didn't hear any music. Those friends of mine work at a night club, and there's pretty much always music playing. I got really suspicious and ran in, and saw one of my friends fighting some girl and the whole club destroyed."

Unseen by him, Ruby's face paled slightly even as her eyes widened a bit. "Uh..."

Jaune was too occupied with his story to really notice. "So I see this blonde girl shove her elbow into Melanie's gut, Melanie being one of the friends I mentioned, and she's clearly stunned by it. She was wobbling from just that hit, so the girl was totally a powerhouse. Those gauntlets of hers didn't help either, though... but anyway, I managed to keep her from knocking Melanie's block off, and then I ended up taking over the fight."

Ruby was now quite uncomfortable with this story, knowing full well where she had heard it before. Her sister had vaguely mentioned some white haired boy with ice powers after she had found her outside of that club in the middle of the night, and she had clearly come from a fight judging by the bruises on her arms and legs. Yang hadn't given her the full details, but Jaune was filling them in quite nicely.

"Man, that girl was crazy though..." He muttered in irritation. "I managed to trap her, I got her so good too... but she just shrugged it off! Her eyes go all red and next thing I know the back of my head is getting to know the concrete stairs on the other side of the room."

Ruby winced, both from the further confirmation that her first friend from Beacon and her sister had gotten into a fight and in sympathy for having taken a Semblance powered punch from Yang. However, she didn't interrupt Jaune, partially because she wanted to hear the rest of the story Yang hadn't told, and partially because she was kind of scared to bring up the fact that her sister was the one who had smashed his favorite place to hang out.

Jaune sighed. "So long story short; I got back up, and boy was I mad. I don't think I'd ever been that angry before, honestly." No one had ever screwed with his family to the degree that blonde had messed with his friends, so Jaune never had reason to get all that angry. Why would he? People could mess with him all they wanted, he didn't give a damn about that. Family, though? Oh that was not a good idea. And once he actually made friends it just extended over to them.

But back on topic. "I went all out. I pulled out every stop I could, I tore the club apart about as bad as she did by the time we were done. God, I feel bad about that... but anyway. I managed to win, I guess... took everything I had to even keep her restrained, and she was barely even winded by the time we were done! I'm just glad she actually kept her promise and left, I don't think I could have kept that fight up." No, no way he could have. He was on empty there. He'd blown his wad entirely on the high powered windstorm, snow generation, ice shards, ice walls and spikes, and so on.

Jaune had turned the club into a friggin' snowfield fraught with obstacles of the dangerous sort, all just to corral the girl in long enough to try and freeze her.

As the duo entered the main hallway, Ruby continued to listen to his story, though she had begun to glance around worriedly. "W-well Jaune it's been really nice meeting you, but I've gotta go find my sister now so... EEK!"

"Whoa, Ruby what's wrong?" Jaune heard the squeak at the end of her statement and turned, having intended to let her go find her sister without any fuss until he became concerned by her sudden exclamation.

Suddenly an arm was thrown over his shoulder, an action he noted had been performed on Ruby as well as the girl was giving frantic glances towards the offender.

"Y-Yang!" Ruby hissed through clenched teeth, wide eyes shooting frightened glances towards the white haired teen. She knew full well that Yang recognized him, there was no way she wouldn't! How could she not recognize the guy with solid white hair and a freaking stick in the middle of a room filled with high tech weaponry?

The teen in question was confused, though. What was wrong with Ruby... wait. The girl looked kind of familiar.

This was her sister, right? Yang. So that's who she was. A blonde girl with lilac eyes, a rather full figure, and an aura about her that positively radiated confidence. Seemed like an alright person with one single exception.

He recognized her.

"Heya little sis!" A cheerful and eerily familiar voice came from the blonde girl, who began squeezing the younger girl tightly into her side in a gesture of affection. "Oh and hey there snowball. Been a while, hasn't it?"

Jaune twitched. He actually twitched, clenching his hands harshly even as the temperature around the three of them began to drop rapidly, something both of the girls noticed and only one of them was freaking out over.

He said nothing for a moment, before reaching up and peeling the girl's arm from his shoulders. Turning to regard her fully, he confirmed that it was in fact the same girl who had torn up The Club and injured Melanie, Miltia, and Junior as well as several of Junior's men.

Seeing the frightened and sad face of Ruby, from her position under the confident blonde's arm, Jaune released a sigh that froze the moisture in the air in front of him, eyes briefly flashing a pale blue.

"... I don't like you." He noted calmly, eyeing the blonde with an expression of cold neutrality. "But your sister has been nothing but pleasant and I'm not going to lose a friend over a grudge with someone else." Another sigh, much deeper this time, though without the freezing effects as the air lightened up and warmed back to room temperature, assorted other students noticing the small altercation. "So... for the time being, I'm going to refrain from giving you a bad case of frostbite. But remember that you're the reason two of my friends were bedridden for days."

Yang winced slightly at the chilly tone, having sort of expected the cold shoulder. But apparently Ruby had managed to warm up the ice-prince's heart a bit, because that was significantly more pleasant than she had expected when she had begun to antagonize the teen. Saying nothing, she unraveled herself from Ruby and walked off.

Ruby looked between the two of them, expression making it clear she was torn, but a glance at her new friend made it quite clear where they stood.

His icy demeanor had melted away into the same fond smile he'd been wearing during their entire talk, and he nodded for her to go to her sister.

Honestly, Ruby was incredibly relieved that her first friend from Beacon was still so nice to her even after the issues he had with her sister. Mouthing a quick 'talk to you later!', which was met with a chuckle and a thumbs up, the girl darted off after her sister.

As she left, Jaune sighed again, slumping down slightly. "Great, where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk with now?"


"Soooo..." Yang began, looking over towards her younger sister as the two of them stood waiting for the Headmaster's speech. "How's your first day at Beacon going Ruby?"

The silver eyed teen gave her elder sister a glare. "You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" That was not how Ruby Rose had expected her first day at school to go, no sir. Who got caught in the center of an explosion before even getting into the combat aspects of the school?

Apparently her.

Yang gave her a worried look. "Yikes, meltdown already?" She asked, feeling bad for leaving the girl alone. The blonde had expected it to make her a new friend or two, and as it turned out ditching her had done exactly that. Yang just never would have expected the walking popsicle to be her first friend, especially since she had never expected to see him at Beacon of all places. Man, that was gonna be fun later.

Ruby gave the older girl a deadpan. "No, I mean I literally exploded a hole in front of the school." She griped, waving one arm at her sister. "And there was some fire, and... and I think some ice?" That entire spectacle had been rather... violent. She was actually sure there was some electricity crackling in that explosion as well.

"... are you being sarcastic?" Yang asked, amused by the rather petulant response from her sister. Ruby tried to seem mature at times, but she really was such a kid at others.

"Tch, I wish!" The red-clad girl replied glumly. "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me. And then I sneezed. And then I exploded." Ruby emphasized this part with a particularly spiteful look. "And then she yelled again, and I felt really, really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" As the girl made her explanation, complete with hand gestures and vivid facial expressions galore, someone behind her seemed to finally take notice.

"You!" An angry voice called out from behind the young girl.

"Oh God it's happening again!" Ruby yelped, practically blurring into her sister's arms.

Holding her little sister bridal style with an uncomfortable look on her face, Yang proceeded to watch the white haired girl stomp over and begin berating Ruby.

"You're lucky we didn't get blown off of the cliff!" She yelled for the whole room to hear, clearly irritated by the event.

"... Oh my God you really did explode." Yang deadpanned towards her little sister, who looked back with a quivering lip and mortified expression.

"It was an accident!" She mumbled guiltily, quickly removing herself from the older girl's arms and turning to regard the white haired girl who reminded her of a really mean really angry Jaune. "It was an accident!" Ruby assured the girl, hoping that her tone and expression conveyed the apology as much as she felt it.

And suddenly there was a pamphlet in her face. "What's this?" The girl asked, surprised at the random appearance of the pamphlet. It was titled "Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals", with the image of a rather baffled looking caricature of a man on it staring at what was clearly a dust crystal, a pair of question marks off to the side of his head reinforcing the image of cluelessness.

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company Product." Giving a dull, bored look as though she had recited this particular speech hundreds of times before was the white haired girl known as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. "Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust application and practice in the field." She finished her speech with a deadpan look leveled on the girl who was currently staring, just as bewildered as the caricature on the packet, at the cover of said pamphlet.

Ruby stared. "Uhm..." She mumbled, glancing nervously towards the girl who had just rattled off the entire disclaimer for a product off the top of her head like it was a normal thing.

"You really want to start making things up to me?" Weiss asked blandly, pushing the pamphlet towards the girl.

"... Absolutely?" The scythe-wielding girl was honestly questioning it at this point...

"Then read this and don't ever speak with me again." The Schnee heiress announced, pressing the packet into the smaller girl's hands as though wiping her own hands of the matter entirely.

And this was where Yang cut in. Rubbing the back of her head at the rather tense atmosphere, she spoke to try and salvage the situation. "Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot." Understatement, that, but this white-haired girl seemed to only have wrong feet... but still. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends?" Or act like a total ass and give her a good reason to wipe that holier than thou look off of that pretty little face... either one.

Ruby, the ever optimistic and lovable thing that she was, was all for the idea. "Good idea, sis!" She praised, turning to the other girl as though they had only just met, even going so far as to extend her hand to shake. "Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies." Or any number of things, but Weiss seemed like the kind of girl who would appreciate a practical outing over just blowing time.

All of a sudden, the cold expression on Weiss' face was gone. "Yeah!" She replied, raising her hands in excitement briefly before lowering them. "And we can paint our nails," The girl showed off her nails, still smiling brightly, before one hand found it's way to her hip. "And try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like..." She paused, glancing about until her gaze landed on one particular young man. "Tall, bright and scraggly over there." One thumb was directing attention towards the white haired Arc, who had arrived after hearing the commotion.

Said teen quirked a brow, wondering just what kind of conversation he had walked into and whether or not he should be insulted by the obviously fake enthusiasm directed towards his appearance.

Ruby, however... well, optimistic was pretty much her defining personality trait. "Wow," She said, moving closer to the girl hopefully, amazed that she had made another friend so easily. It was just too good to be true! "Really?" The girl couldn't help but ask, wide silver eyes beseeching the girl to say yes.

The smile disappeared, replaced immediately by a frown. "No."

At being shot down so horribly, Ruby hung her head in sadness, something which drew Jaune's ire quite a bit.

This was the girl Ruby had thought was his sister? That was some kind of joke. No sister of his would be so... mean.

He was torn between going over to comfort the girl, who looked so much like a kicked puppy that it almost physically pained him, and tearing a strip out of the Schnee girl for putting one of his friends in such a state in the first place.

The decision was taken from him by the sound of a microphone being tested and a gentle clearing of someone's throat, which drew attention to the arrival of the Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

Headmaster Ozpin was a tall man with grey hair and small, dark spectacles, though he truly didn't seem old enough for a solid head of that color. His outfit mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green undershirt, in addition to black dress shoes and long, dark-green pants.

Behind the shades one could see a pair of thin brown eyes, currently narrowed as he began to deliver his speech to the students gathered before him. "I'll... keep this brief." He announced, voice monotone as he pushed the spectacles up slightly on his nose. "You've traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills." A brief pause, lasting just a moment, and then he spoke again. "And when you finish, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people."

How the headmaster of a school managed to make such a dedication seem so trivial was beyond Jaune, who's entire purpose for being a Hunter was centered around the protection of everyone.

"But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of direction." The harsh words were delivered with the same tone of a man who was commenting on the weather, as opposed to the headmaster of the very academy they had all decided to attend. His statement drew uncomfortable fidgeting from many of the students gathered, irritated looks from others, and some self-conscious students even went so far as to divert their gaze from the seemingly judgmental stare radiating behind those dark glasses. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will show you that knowledge can only carry you so far." Expression unchanging, the man leaned forward ever so slightly, a motion so small most would miss it. "It is up to you to take the first step."

And with that, the Headmaster promptly turned and proceeded to walk away from the microphone, allowing the blonde woman who had been standing at his side to approach.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight." Her soft voice echoed through the room, carrying a comforting contrast to the Headmaster's parting words. "Tomorrow, your initiation begins." She paused for just a moment, leveling a serious look at towards the assembled students. "Be ready." She warned them, before nodding slightly. "You are dismissed."

With that announcement, the tense atmosphere broke somewhat and students began shuffling about, the assembly quickly falling to ruin as everyone began to go off in their own direction to try and familiarize themselves with the school they would be attending.

Shrugging, Jaune walked his way towards the three girls who had been conversing before the speech. The Headmaster's words seemed to have snapped Ruby out of her funk, though now she looked contemplative.

Yang spoke up first. "He seemed kind of... off." She noted, not rising to the sudden arrival of the white haired Arc.

In response, Ruby finished her thought. "It was almost like he wasn't even there."

Ignoring the rather deep and thoughtful nature of the conversation he was stepping into, Jaune felt the need to poke at the girl who had been making fun of him. "My hair's naturally white, y'know."

This drew incredulous gazes from all three girls, though Yang's was laced with amusement as opposed to the irritation on the face of the Schnee heiress and Ruby just seemed to wonder where the relevance to that was.

Jaune shrugged, giving them all a smirk. "Too tense. Needed to lighten the mood." Also he seemed to bother the Schnee girl just by being around, so that was a plus.


Later that night, the students all found themselves in the open expanse of the ballroom, sleeping bags strewn all across the floor. Many of the students had already changed into their sleep clothes and were preparing themselves for bed.

Jaune was among those who had changed, though his outfit had drawn a fair amount of scrutiny from the people he knew... and the ones he didn't.

So what if he was wearing a light blue onesie with bunny slippers and a white rabbit on the chest? It was cozy as hell, and a gift from his sisters. Was it likely that his sisters had given it to hims solely for their amusement? Yes, but that was beside the point. He made it a point to sleep with this on most of the time.

Neo had nearly died when she saw it. Seriously, he really thought she was going to die from the way she had been rolling on the floor in silent laughter. But by that point she had already given him his papers, so that would've been fine... Ugh he couldn't even think that to himself as a joke. Maybe say it aloud to her, because she would know it was and find it humorous, but without the reaction from her Jaune felt guilty. Maybe they really were friends, then...

Meh. Whatever.

"So... a onesie." Yang, who he was still not on particularly good terms with, commented. "Bold choice, there, cottontop. Let's see how it pays off."

Eyes rolling, Jaune turned to respond. "It was a gift from my sisters, it's really comfortable, and if anyone gives me shit about it I'll probably just threaten to freeze them solid."

Yang nodded, fully aware of his ability to do just that. "Yeah, that was a weird experience." She admitted after a moment of thought. "Usually people just, y'know, try and beat me or stab me... but you basically hugged me. Something we wanna share?" The girl asked with a smirk.

A snort came from the teen. "In your dreams... I would bet money that the two of us would be fighting again by now if not for the fact that I'm actively restraining myself for Ruby's sake." Said girl was currently in the bathroom, hence why he was even really talking to Yang despite the fact that he tolerated her at best.

"Thanks for that, by the way." Yang said suddenly, surprising him. "What? You were the first friend Ruby made in this entire school, snowball. I'm not holding any sort of grudge with you for beating me, but I get why you're not happy with what I did. So I just wanna let you know that I'm glad you're not taking your anger out on her because of me."

He gave her a neutral look, lips in a thin line. "... I'm not mad at you for fighting Melanie and Miltia, you know." The Arc teen admitted after a moment.

It was Yang's turn to be surprised. "What? Seriously?" She had kind of assumed that was his whole point.

"It's more that you started that whole thing by picking a fight with Junior in the first place." He clarified, explaining the reasoning to her. "You know how people normally get info from him? They ask politely and, usually, provide incentive." Which Yang did in a way, it was just that the incentive in this case was literally his own balls. Which was far from polite. "If you had just done things the way everyone else does, that whole incident would never have happened."

He sighed, shaking his head. "Honestly, I'm not even going to sugarcoat this. I think that you're incredibly irresponsible for that. What should have been an easy conversation, maybe a bit of haggling, turned into a brawl that tore up the entire place up. I can't be mad at you for defending yourself from Miltia and Melanie since they attacked you, but I can definitely be mad that you got it to the point where you needed to defend yourself at all."

Much to her credit, Yang honestly looked guilty after he put it that way. "I... get what you're saying, snowball. I go overboard sometimes." Really, she did. It had, at one point, nearly gotten both her and her little sister killed by Grimm. She had grown since then, learned to moderate herself, to take better stock of a situation and decide if it was really the best way to do things... but sometimes punching something was easier than talking, such as the case with Junior.

But Jaune was right, much as she hated to admit it. If she had just asked, maybe flirted a bit and gotten a good price out of Junior for the information she wanted, that whole night could have been peaceful. It didn't matter to her too much; she genuinely enjoyed the fights, but looking back on it Yang realized that she was kind of the bad guy in that whole thing, and that wasn't the best feeling.

The worst part was that she probably wouldn't even feel bad if there wasn't someone directly connected to the people she had hurt telling her all about it. If there wasn't a constant reminder of the fact that she had been in the wrong there, Yang probably would have forgotten that whole incident until it became relevant again.

And that made her feel kind of bitchy.

A deep sigh came from the teen who had just finished berating her. "Look, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life; I've got no right to do that. But you literally came to Junior for the same kind of thing I did, because you heard he knew just about everything that went on in Vale. I talked to him, passed a bit of lien his way, and he told me what I wanted to know. You grabbed him by the balls and threatened him until he told you whatever it was you wanted. That's like going into a clothing store and punching the clerk in the face until he directs you to the women's section."

Yang would have found the comparison funnier if she wasn't the one he was referencing.

"Did you actually think about how bad you were gonna screw up their business with that stunt?" Jaune asked seriously, giving her a dull look. "Honestly, really and truly. Did you stop and consider the fact that you could cost the club a huge amount between the repairs, the negative reputation, and the injuries? Those suit-and-tie goons actually work there for a living you know. That's the money they use to buy food, pay bills, and so on." Sure, Junior did have other less than legal exploits to fall back on... but honestly? The Club generated a huge revenue due to it's popularity. It's status as Vale's "Best Worst Kept Secret" made it an ideal place for young adults who wanted to feel like they lived dangerously without any actual danger, and for the foreseeable future that income was pretty much gone.

Jaune didn't know how big of a problem that was going to be, just that it was going to be an issue. He only really cared about it because it involved Melanie and Miltiades, but it was worth noting that the rank and file suits had to get their paychecks from somewhere.

"No, I didn't." Yang admitted, meeting his blue eyes with her own lilac. "I didn't think about any of that; I just wanted answers to my question. I could have handled it better, you're right." That much she would give him. She could have done that without throwing a single punch, probably gotten the answer for free without even bringing threats into it. "But that's not how it happened, so I don't really bother dwelling on it."

Jaune nodded. "I get that, I really do." Seriously, there was no point in dwelling in the past. But still, you should at least take the time to learn from it so you didn't make the same mistake twice. "But just... in the future, if you ever go back to the club... don't you dare do something like that again." He glared right at her, frowning deeply. "I can forgive you for this; it'll take a bit of time for me to really get over it, but I will. But if you ever hurt them again for something stupid like that, I'm going to find a way to make you pay for it." He didn't care if she was stronger than him, or that he beat her almost solely off of surprise.

If he was properly motivated, there wasn't much that would stop Jaune Arc.

Yang met his glare with her own steady gaze, unflinching in the face of the threat. "I don't appreciate the threat, but I get where you're coming from snowball."

And she did. She understood completely. If someone hurt Ruby, even on accident or just due to a mistake anyone could have made, she would have been positively livid. Far more out of control than he had been that night. Moreover, Yang didn't even know if she could ever forgive anyone who hurt her little sister.

But Jaune was willing to forgive her for what she'd done, which was far from an accident, and that spoke volumes of his character. He wasn't a bad guy, they had just ended up meeting on some pretty bad terms. Honestly, she had no problems with him, but even for good reason she wasn't just going to take that threat lying down.

So the two continued to regard one another intently, neither letting up on their gaze. Lilac eyes met ocean blue in a battle of wills that would likely have gone on all night.

And then the tension between the duo was shattered as Ruby clumsily stumbled in between them, holding on to a pillow shaped like a corgi's head. "Er, hi?" She waved, an awkward smile coming to her lips.

The older two looked down at her curiously before a thought occurred to one of them. "Weiss is nearby isn't she?" Jaune asked with a smirk, assuming that the younger girl was trying to avoid the heiress in order to prevent yet another rant.

Ruby squeaked at being figured out. "N-no, what makes you think that I was hiding from her so she didn't yell at me again?" Her rather frantic response sounded much better in her head, and so the girl quickly slumped down onto her sleeping bag with a groan, holding the pillow over her head.

Jaune found himself restraining a very unmanly noise. Good grief, she was so adorable. When she got like that he really did have to restrain himself from hugging her.

Chuckling at her sister's antics, Yang slid down beside her and wrapped an arm around the younger girl. "Look at it this way, sis. You made a friend today, and now we're all having a big ol' sleepover... but, y'know, there's this one girl who's a total snob."

A small giggle came from Ruby. "I don't think dad would approve of all the boys at this sleepover."

This was met with a rather wide grin from the blonde. "I know I do." She replied with a purr, glancing towards the side where some shirtless teens were not-so-subtly displaying their figure for anyone to see... and then her gaze landed on the icy teen she had been conversing with. "... well except for the guy in the freaking onesie. Way too conservative there, Peter Cottontail." Holy crap it just occurred to her that she had just been sharing a serious moment with actual tension and everything with the dude in a bunny-rabbit onesie with slippers and everything.

And she actually considered him a threat too! That was just plain wrong. No one wearing a freaking onesie should ever be labeled a threat!

Jaune sniffed at this. "If I wanted to run around shirtless I would. This is just way more comfortable." He legitimately didn't get what was wrong with the onesie. It was comfortable. "I'm not your eye candy, Yang."

Her response was unexpected in some ways... and yet entirely predictable in others. "Well of course not. Ruby called dibs." Yang explained as if it was just a fact that he didn't know.

"Yang!" Ruby squeaked in response, a fierce blush on her cheeks even as she pushed against the older girl to remove herself from her grip. "I did not call dibs on anyone!"

And of course, this merely fanned the flames. "So you're sayin' I should take a shot at him? Fire and ice could make for a steamy night." Her grin could hardly fit her face by this point.

Ruby was now as red as her hood, stuttering and fumbling and muttering something about steam.

"Welp." Jaune started, eyeing the sisters settled on the sleeping bag by his feet. "You broke her." The teen gently poked the girl in the flank with his big toe, displaying the bunny-eared slippers for all to see.

Yang shrugged. "Eh, she'll fix herself sooner or later. I do this a lot."

"It's a sister thing, I know." Jaune replied, waving the whole situation off without a care. "I've got seven of them so believe me when I say I know."

A proverbial light bulb lit up over Yang's head. "So that's why you're so comfortable in the onesie. I bet your sisters made you play dress up."

It was Jaune's turn to shrug. "Yep. Several times. I've gotta say, dresses? Don't get the appeal. Too breezy." They got less interested in dressing him up as time went on and his muscles began to develop more noticeably, because that kind of ruined the feminine appeal he had.

But the baby pictures, man... the baby pictures.

"... Wow." Yang blinked. Jaune Arc was weird. Seriously, this guy was openly admitting that he had been forced into dresses for his sister's amusement, prancing around in a bunny-rabbit onesie, and he wasn't even remotely embarrassed about either of these things. That just wasn't the normal kind of reaction a guy had. "Are you gay?" She asked, one hundred percent serious in her questioning. "I don't even mean that as an insult or anything, I just wouldn't expect a straight guy to be so comfortable with... well... everything you just said."

Snickering at that, the white haired teen replied. "No, no, I'm not. Not that there's anything wrong with it or anything, but I'm into girls." He had nothing against homosexuality, but he wanted to be quite clear on where his preference lied just for future reference. Rumor mills in schools tended to get out of hand. "If you ever saw the background on my scroll, you wouldn't have to ask that question." Granted he still had to question just why he kept the picture of Neo on the couch anyway, but she looked cute like that despite the rather... intimidating side of her that he knew existed. When she wasn't trying to murder him she was downright pleasant to be around.

This drew the blonde's attention, the girl obviously intending to try and get him to show her just what he meant by that... but then she was pushed over by a pouting Ruby, landing with a small oomph on her sleeping bag.

"... meanie." The girl mumbled, glaring petulantly at her sister only to squeak as a hand was laid gently on her scalp.

"Good Ruby." Jaune joked, petting the girl's hair softly as he had often done with his sisters. After a moment of no reaction, he found himself curious. Usually his sisters would get annoyed with him for doing that.

Blinking, the teen looked down to see the silver-eyed girl apparently in a state of bliss. Her face had a lighter pink blush to it, eyes closed as she attempted to press her head closer to his hand.

If she had a tail, the Arc boy was certain it would be wagging furiously.

'I just learned an incredible thing.' Jaune noted to himself with a grin, before reluctantly removing his hand from the girl's head, his reluctance being in part due to the expected pouty look that crossed her face in response.

Just as Ruby was about to ask why he stopped, she belatedly realized that she had melted into a puddle under his hand and promptly pulled her sleeping mask over her face in mortification.

"Teasing your sister is incredibly fun, Yang." Jaune admitted, glancing towards the blonde who had just picked herself up.

Said girl shrugged. "'Course it is. She's adorkable."

"Yaaaaang!" Ruby groaned, clearly not pleased with being called such. Lifting her sleep mask from her face, the girl glanced around to try and find something to steer the conversation away from messing with her.

Spotting a black haired girl off to the side, Ruby jumped at the opportunity it presented. "Oh, hey, it's her."

The other two looked over, seeing the same girl. She was sequestered away from the rest of the crowd, reading a book by candlelight. The girl had long dark hair, piercing yellow eyes, and fair skin. Skin which they could see a good amount of due to her chosen sleepwear, a short black yukata that showed off a great deal of her legs.

"You know her?" Yang asked curiously.

"Well, no, not really." Ruby admitted sheepishly. "She saw what happened earlier, with the exploding, but she left before I could say anything to her."

Eyes lighting up, Yang immediately jumped to her feet. "Then I know just what needs to be done here!" She announced, reaching down to grab her younger sister by the arm.

This drew much concern from said sister. "Ack!" She yelped, being dragged to her feet via her sister's grip. "Yang, what are you doing!?" Ruby squeaked, being tugged away from her former resting place without any heed to her complaints.

It was around this point that Ruby regretted mentioning the dark haired girl. If she had to choose between being teased by her sister and friend or being forced into awkward interaction with a stranger, she would take the former over the latter any day. Especially if she could get Jaune to keep petting her hair. That had been really nice. Yang was always too... rough.

Case in point; the situation Ruby was being forced into at this very moment.

"Helloooo~!" Yang sang out as she came within speaking range of the stranger, tugging Ruby before her and then releasing the smaller girl from her grasp. "I believe you two may know eachother?"

The dark haired girl looked up from her book, having heard the distinct sounds of someone being dragged towards her but clearly hoping it wouldn't involve her, and then visibly restrained a small sigh as she spoke. "Aren't you the girl who exploded?" She asked the younger one.

"Yeah, I'm Ruby." She held her hand out to shake, but seeing no reaction from the other girl she drew her hand back. "But, uh... you can just call me Crater F- actually no, just call me Ruby." The socially awkward teen hung her head in humiliation, clearly having no idea how to even speak with a stranger without making a fool of herself.

"Okay..." The dark haired girl replied, but said nothing else.

The two sisters glanced between one another. "What are you doing?" Yang stage whispered, watching her sister botch this entire thing horribly.

"I don't know help me!" Ruby let out in one breath, in quite possibly the most awkward situation of her entire day.

"So, what's your name?" A third voice cut in, drawing Ruby and Yang's attention to the fact that Jaune had followed them over. The white haired teen had a small smile on his face, and unlike Ruby he seemed perfectly comfortable interacting with strangers.

"Blake." The girl replied after a small sigh, clearly wishing they would all just go away and leave her to her book.

Jaune smiled at her gratefully. "Sorry for bugging you, but Ruby here is sort of new and eager to make friends..." He ignored the petulant look this got him from the girl in question, knowing his next words would make it worse. "She's just shy... and Yang seems to like forcing her into really awkward situations for her own amusement." The kick to his shin was expected and he totally deserved it.

Another sigh from the girl. "Right..." She hoped it was made painfully clear by her monotone and refusal to regard them for much longer than a second that she was hardly interested in them, much preferring the book that she had continued to read even during their conversation.

"I like your bow." Yang said suddenly, drawing the girl's attention to her.

Blake scrutinized the blonde for a moment, as though to ask her if she had really just said that.

"It... really goes with your pajamas." The brawler girl tried again, less confident.

A sigh. "Right." Blake repeated.

Eyes rolling, Jaune leaned in towards Ruby for a moment and whispered something in her ear. The girl's face lit up and she took a step forward.

Blake was really prepared for the worst on that one. The socially awkward girl being given advise from a friend was now going to talk again, and that was a recipe for disaster.

"You like to read?" The girl asked, surprising Blake with the honest curiosity in her tone.

"Yes." She kept her response simple, though she couldn't help but want to speed the process of them leaving. "I was enjoying this book a lot, but it's hard with all the distractions."

Ruby was unfettered. "What's it about?"

And again, surprise from the dark haired girl. The question wasn't just some probing question to get her to open up, it really was laced with interest and honest curiosity. Blake figured that at least made it worth answering truthfully. "It's about a man with two souls." She began, face brightening somewhat at the continued interest on the younger girl's face even as her sister gave a strange look to the male of their group. "Both are fighting for control over his body."

"Yeah, real "lovely"..." Yang muttered sarcastically, earning a light slap on the arm from the white haired teen.

"Don't make fun of someone's hobby, Yang." Jaune berated with a small frown. The blonde just stared back at him dully.

Ruby, though... it seemed like she was on a roll. Her eyes practically shone as she took another step forward towards the girl, a small smile on her lips. "I love books." She admitted, unhindered by the continued attention of the girl. "Yang used to read me stories before bed every night. Stories of heroes and monsters... it's one of the reasons I wanted to be a huntress."

For the first time that night, the stoic and solemn figure of Blake was broken as she smiled, giving off a small laugh. "Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" She expected something like that, honestly, from a girl who was clearly younger. She was naive, probably not realizing the way the world worked yet. Blake, if she was being honest, was somewhat envious of that.

Blake did not get the response she expected.

"Well... I'm hoping we all will." Ruby replied, looking down to the seated girl. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

Jaune Arc, for his part, just smiled softly at that but said nothing. If he needed another reason why he liked Ruby so much, this was it.

"That's very ambitious for a child." Blake complimented with a small smile, before her expression dampened a bit. "But unfortunately, the real world doesn't work like a fairy tale."

In response, Ruby just offered a tiny smile. "But that's why we're here, isn't it? To make it a better place."

"Oh I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang butted in, ruining the moment entirely by wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and pulling her into a fierce hug. She then began making cooing baby noises at the younger girl.

"Yang get off! Cut it out!" Ruby growled, entirely displeased with her older sister ruining her cool moment. She didn't get those often, damn it! In frustration, she lashed out with a kick and a punch at the same time.

The punch hit it's intended target; Yang. She socked the older girl right in the jaw, devolving the situation into a sisterly brawl that they fell in to far too easily for it to be a rare occasion.

The kick, on the other hand... well, collateral damage was the only word to describe the feeling Jaune Arc had as he was sent sprawling, landing on his stomach next to the girl who had been reading with a loud thud.

"Yikes..." Jaune mumbled, shaking his head. "Ruby kicks hard." He glanced up to meet a pair of golden eyes, which were regarding him with amusement. "Er... hi?"

"That was nice of you." She said quietly, so as not to draw attention to them. "Telling her to ask about the book."

Jaune just chuckled, drawing himself into a seated position beside the girl, with a good two feet separating them so as to keep a respectable distance from her personal space. "Ruby is a sweet girl, but she's really awkward." He admitted. "I've known her just for the better part of today, but I can tell that much. So if you just let her flail on her own, she's going to make a fool of herself until she finds something to latch on to." He shrugged. "If no one else was going to throw her a line, I figured I would." Yang would probably never have thought to even mention the book, and Ruby herself was too flustered to really think about it.

Nodding lightly, the girl asked her first question of the night. "What was your name?"

Realizing with a brief widening of his eyes that he had never introduced himself, Jaune apologized. "Sorry, I asked your name but forgot to give mine. I'm Jaune Arc."

"Jaune." Blake repeated, nodding her head. "Thank you." The situation had been awkward for everyone involved until he had managed to salvage it. She didn't really like interacting with people that much, but it was tolerable now.

"What is going on over here!?" Someone shrieked, clearly not happy with the commotion.

Aaaaaand now it was no longer tolerable.

Ruby and Yang paused in the middle of their bout, Ruby holding Yang's upraised foot with one hand as though preparing to tickle it, Yang's arms windmilling as she was leaning backwards on one foot, a wide grin on her lips.

"Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" Weiss berated the two, before finally realizing just who it was at fault for this particular disturbance.

"OH NOT YOU AGAIN!" Yang and Weiss echoed one another, while Ruby's eyes went wide at the raising volume.

"Shhh, guys wait she's right people are trying to sleep!" Ruby pleaded, having released her sister's foot as the two began to yell at one another.

"Oh now you're on my side?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby shot back, one finger pointing up towards herself.

Yang, for her part, took a threatening step towards the heiress. "What's your problem with my sister?" She asked in a tone that was far from friendly.

"She's a hazard to my health!" The Schnee shouted back, undeterred by the threatening tone.

Blake sighed loudly, something Jaune echoed a moment later. Sharing a brief look between the two of them, both realized that the situation had gone from pleasant to ridiculous in the blink of an eye.

Lifting her candelabra from the small table near her, Blake was preparing to blow it out when a small gust of cold air did the job for her. Blinking, she turned to her side to catch the white haired teen standing up.

"Well, I'll go round those two up and leave you to your sleep." He offered with a small chuckle, using the limited light to navigate. "Goodnight, Blake."

Unable to keep the smallest of smiles from her face, Blake returned the gesture. "Goodnight Jaune."

Perhaps attending Beacon wouldn't be too bad after all...


AN: First day at school. I forgot to put AN's in the originally posted chapter. Fixed it now I guess.

I just kind of feel like any story on here needs to be framed by author's notes. It just doesn't feel... right, without that.

Anyhow. Jaune meets Ruby, they hit it off. And then Yang happens, and we all know what happens when Yang is involved.