"Lotta people around today," you observe, looking at the crowds surrounding the ice cream parlor you took Blake to. Seeing as you'd spent most of your time in Remnant in Vale, you pick up that, in addition to there being considerably more people, there were many that looked… well, different. Different styles, different clothes, different… races. There was a large number of Faunus among these newcomers from what you can see. Faunus were the minority, but it's apparent that most of the crowd had some form of trait.

Blake glances around, enjoying her ice cream. "Oh, yeah. Today's the day that a lot of the tournament goers ought to be arriving. These people must be from Vacuo and Atlas."

"You know, as someone whose partially responsible for setting things up, I should have known that." You remember that you have quite a bit of paperwork to catch up on thanks to your injury. Ozpin is thankfully rather understanding in regards to your job. "I actually do need to do some work, now that I think about it…"

"I don't blame you for being forgetful, considering everything. I was actually going to meet up with my team after we finished here. Weiss said she wanted to welcome the Vacuans at the docks since they'll be coming in by boat, but I think she just wants to spy on the competition. AND conveniently avoid the landing zone since that's where the Atlas crew will be coming in." Blake blows some air out of the side of her mouth, accompanied by a change in demeanor. Frowning, she adds, "Wonder if her dad is going to come…"

You avoid continuing this conversation. Blake had radical views about Jacques Schnee, and while you agree with her, you'd rather not engender this side of her. Considering Weiss was her partner and there was already some friction between them, you think it best to try and stop those conversations. You lean back and sigh. "I should probably start heading back and catch up on everything I've missed..."

Blake finishes the last of her ice cream. "Yeah, I should find a meeting spot for my team." She looks out the window and tries to look past the buildings in her way. "You know, if you take a little walk, you can catch an airbus by the landing area. You can pop over and check out the people coming in from Atlas."

You nod. You should really check them out, considering you have little context of Atlas outside of Weiss' stories. Catching up on the entire world's history and geography has been an ongoing process, so you've mainly been focusing on your immediate surroundings up to this point. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. How do I get over there again?"

Blake extends a hand. "Pass me your scroll. I can give you a waypoint." You pull out your scroll and hand it over. She pulls out hers and fiddles with a map application. Moving to yours, she swipes around before stopping. "Oh, do you not have Waypoint? I thought that was a preloaded thing…"

You think for a moment.

Oh, right.

While you can't thank Ozpin enough for what he's given you, he didn't give you the best. You had an older model scroll that was about three years out of date. That was about three million years in technology time, especially for… Ugh, a Schnee Dust Company brand scroll, proving Blake's point. They give up updating old models after a year or so so people have to buy the new stuff, and you don't exactly have the funds to drop on a new model. Gods, that's annoying.

"Bluh, I have an older model. It doesn't even support the lightishreddit app. And if I ever accidentally ghost you, it's because notifications sometimes just don't work."

"Ah, that explains that…" Blake bites her finger. "Tch…" She shakes her head and flicks through your apps. Settling on an old notepad app, she says, "Just follow these directions from here and you'll make it." A bling comes from Blake's own scroll, prompting her to hand yours back. "I got to run. See you later!" With a whoosh of silky black hair, she leaves the parlor and heads out.

You finish off your ice cream and set out. Looking up at the road sign, you line it up with Blake's directions and start heading (hopefully) towards the landing area, where large air vehicles depart and arrive from. Having had no need to leave Vale, that's the one place you hadn't really explored since arriving here, so it's the one place you don't know how to get to.

Thankfully, you have directions!

Wait, what street was this again? Oh, were you supposed to cross, THEN turn? Isn't that a dead end over there? Okay, that's the place with the blue tarp, but then there's a second blue tarp over there…

Okay, yeah, you're lost. And this time you don't have an automatic driverless vehicle to pick you up. At least you look like you're in the right area… Damn, was Blake wrong or do you just not know how to read?

Thankfully, you hear something. The noise is pretty easy to distinguish thanks to your Faunus hearing. You look up and see a large transport ship clearly headed downwards; with some deductive reasoning, you figure that it's headed to where you are! Then you can grab a flight home. You start heading in the same direction and try and map out where you are now.

One of Blake's directions specifically mentions turning at… Aha! There's the Noble Book Barn! You look down at the next one that says to turn directly at the corner and the landing area will be right–

Bump.

You stumble backward, dropping your scroll in the process. You take a second to register why there was a mountain in the middle of the sidewalk before turning up to look at it.

"Oh, my word, I am terribly sorry!" says a shockingly soft gentle voice. An absolutely massive woman with short brown hair with a blue streak in it squats down and extends a hand.

You absentmindedly take the outstretched hand and shake it. Instantly, the insane level of pressure you feel re-centers your focus; this woman was as strong as she was huge, even though she was holding everything back and being polite. "Oh, no, that was my fault! I got lost looking at directions," you say, brushing the giant off.

"And here I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk not minding myself! It's as much my fault as yours." The massive woman takes a step towards the nearest building. As she was easily 7ft tall, she left a massive gap of space for people to walk past. "And how impolite of me to not introduce myself!" Once again, she extends her hand. "My name is Ms. Sierra Blueridge. A pleasure to meet you."

Still taken aback by… well, everything, you take Sierra's hand and shake it. "Briar Redfield."

"And now with introductions out of the way, I do believe you dropped this," Sierra says, bending down to pick up your scroll. She delicately places it into your hand and smiles. Despite her massive size, it amazes you just how… gentle she was. There was a serious contrast between her huge, muscled frame and how softly she carries herself, reminding you of a mother. Despite that, she looks to be about your age, if significantly taller.

You take back your scroll and inspect it. You try turning it on a few times, but fail to do so.

"Oh, my… I do hope I didn't break it."

You smack the side of your scroll, causing it to light up. "Nah, it does that all the time. It takes a few tries."

"That means it was already broken, genius," says a new, far less soft voice. You look around until a… well, she's normal-sized, but tiny compared to Sierra. A girl with mechanical rabbit ears stepped out from behind her companion, her attention directed squarely at a scroll with several charms hanging off of it. Her thumb flew across the screen, rapidly changing tabs and chats, all of which you can see reflected in her futuristic glasses. Continuing to focus on her phone, she says, "An SDC Atlas S5 A70?" The woman's eyes flick upward for half a second, then return to her scroll. "Oh, and a Model B? Like, no wonder it's busted. That model sucked when it came out like, thirty years ago."

"Stella, you don't have to be rude about it."

"It's like, ACTUALLY my job to let people know about these things."

Sierra looks at you with an apologetic face. "Oh, don't mind her. This is Ms. Stella Rosegold. What she means is that–"

"–What I mean is that, like, your scroll is an out-of-date junk model from a company that abuses Faunus." Stella interrupts, still glued to her own scroll. She holds it up and shakes it. "This right here? This is innovation. And Faunus made and designed."

"Here, let me explain for her. She's still working on the forward-facing advertisements." Sierra reaches into her pocket and withdraws her own scroll… or rather, she shows that it actually isn't one. At least, not one quite like what you've seen. "This is a Rosegold Company Slate."

"A Rosegold Company Slate 3-Star Series Model G," Stella corrects(?) "Fully modifiable and open-source, comes with an encryption lock along with a fingerprint AND eye scanner. Safest phone you'll ever own."

Sierra hands you her slate, ignoring her teammate. On the surface, it looks like a scroll, but thicker, more rigid, and non-collapsible. It also was nestled in a case with several slots built-in. Sierra's also had a charm hanging off of it with a little mountain keychain. When you pressed the on button, a screen stretched out across a smooth area; you recognize it as the hardlight Dust that powers most of the screens and light posts around here.

"Huh…" you express, interested in this new tech. "Looks cool!"

"It is cool," Stella says, one of her tech bunny ears pointing at you almost like an old TV receiver. "It's also way more efficient, has a better battery life, and doesn't snap in two if you sit on it wrong. I know. I designed it that way."

You hand Sierra's slate back to her. She accepts it and says, "Stella, you were looking to expand your business here, correct? Would it be possible to–"

"–Hey, Pops?" Stella says, now speaking into her slate… while still texting someone else. "Yeah, I found this guy in Vale. Needs a new phone. Yeah? No, I'm not interested in him, I'm too busy to date. Kay? Okay. Byesies!" She hangs up, swipes at the screen then starts talking to someone else. "Daddy? Yeah, inorite? Sent it to Typhon, lol. Debating sending it to Sierra. Got those pics I sent you :3? Hot, right? G2G tho, bye!" She hangs up on the second person and starts scrolling through a picture sharing website.

While Sierra checks her phone for whatever Stella just sent, you take a second to process how a human can physically say things like, "Inorite," "Lol," and, ":3". Like, how did she say that with her mouth? Also, ouch at her lack of interest in you; sure you were dating Blake, but that hits the confidence a bit.

"You want a job, Blondie?" Stella asks, taking a selfie.

"Uhh…"

"Nothing serious. I talked it over with my Pops and he says it's cool to let you be a test runner for a slate. We haven't hit Vale yet, so you can help us make sure the launch goes smoothly."

You fervently nod. Seeing as you desperately need a new phone, you say, "Of course! I'd be happy to help."

Stella withdraws a box from a purse slung around her shoulder and passes it to you. "This is a Rosegold Company Slate 3-Star Series Model H, but don't worry, the OS updates as far back as the Model C, so you don't have to worry."

"Uhh…" you say, suddenly feeling like you need a notepad.

"Enter your tag on bootup and it'll walk you through transferring data. We plan on replacing a decent amount of SDC scrolls, so we make it mad easy to switch over. It runs on charge, but in a pinch lightning Dust will fill it up nice. Oh, if the signal isn't too strong, it' …" Stella carries on, now playing a mobile version of a shooter, her words getting less and less meaning every second. The amount of lingo, jargon, and acronyms makes her speech impenetrable.

Sierra pats you on the shoulder. "Just turn it on and it'll walk you through the important bits. I trust your abilities to decipher the rest."

Stella goes on for several more minutes before petering out on her directions. "Oh, one more thing. Gimme your number so I can text you. Just like, answer whatever questions I ask and we'll be good. That'll be all the payment we need for giving you the slate."

You nod your head and write down your contact info. "Thanks so much! I'll let you know if there are any issues with anything."

"Please do. We're the only competitor to SDC brand scrolls and we need to make sure our launch goes smoothly." A beep goes off on Stella's slate. "Sierra, eyes up. Typhon just landed and they screwed up his stuff."

"We best be on our way then! A pleasure meeting you."

"The same to you."

With that out of the way, you find an airbus scheduled to run back to Beacon. As soon as you get back into your room, you unpack your new slate and start the (incredibly easy and well-designed) transferring process.