Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.

CHAPTER 3

The welcoming ceremony was a short affair. Most of the evening was allocated to getting the many potential students settling in for the night. Sleeping mats and bags were provided for those who didn't bring any, and in droves the young men and women rotated through the sex segregated showers to bathe. Though the showers were divided, the locker room was unisex. The room itself was large enough that solid partitions between the two sides (each side being where the seperated showers were located,) allowed everyone to change into their sleepwear in relative privacy. Once situated, Ruby and Clayton cuddled up on a shared sleeping bag. "This is awesome, our first sleepover!" Yang said, plopping down next to the Crimson Couple, definitely not eyeing her sister's shirtless boyfriend.

"Don't remind me." Ruby said, resting her head against Clayton's shoulder.

"And the best part. I think I made a new friend today." Yang continued, trying to avert her attention away from the two. Internally, Yang was practically ripping her hair out. It wasn't often she got to see Ruby and Clayton cuddled up and being lovey with each other, on account of the two always keeping their affections away from her and her father, and she would be lying to herself if she thought there wasn't just a hint of envy lingering within her. Not because she wanted Clayton to herself per say, though she would admit there was a time back at Signal where she considered asking him out before he'd began dating Ruby. But having someone that would hold her tight, kiss her every time they saw each other, that's what she wanted… Unfortunately for Yang she missed her chance at having him, and wasn't going to cuck her own sister, what kind of monster would even think of that. No, Yang was content to find someone else, it was just a matter of finding someone who'd have her. Glossing over the many boys in the room, her eyes settled on... Oh god no, Jaune was in a blue rabbit onesie... "Well there goes any sex appeal he had." Yang thought.

"That's one friend to one enemy." Clayton said, glancing over at Weiss, who was seated across the room paying no mind to him thankfully.

"Wait… Weiss Schnee is at Beacon? Did you get into a fight with Weiss Schnee?" Yang asked. Clayton sighed.

"It was an argument Yang, I broke it up before Clayton hurt her." Ruby said, as Yang shot daggers at the heiress.

"Was she as bad as I've heard?" Yang asked.

"Racist, yes. Drinker of faunus child blood, no. Definitely no." Clayton said, as he grabbed a book from his day bag with his foot. Suddenly his nose caught a whiff of something. "Who's striking matches?" He asked, looking around the room. His russet colored eyes landed on two people, one a black haired girl who'd lit a candle holder for reading light, and another across the room still fully clothed in a very faded white or grey coat and pants, who'd started smoking a thin cigar by the window.

"That black haired girl… does she look familiar to you?" Ruby asked Clayton, only for him to hum in thought.

Pale sat by the window, mostly just to keep a distance from the faunus in the room. They always seemed to pack together, away from the humans. He could already tell there were a few like minded individuals in the group of 100 or so students. The tall red headed boy gave one look at the monkey faunus and his girlfriend and sneered. He seemed nice and stupid, Cardin, if memory served. He'd be a good underling to have hang around. The Schnee was on his side of the room too. She might have been a bit bitchy, but her family's personal war with the Fang, and what he could imagine was a well nurtured hatred for the filthy animals might come in handy… Then again. "Excuse me, but you know it's against campus policy for first years to smoke on school grounds." Bitchy, like he figured.

"Last I checked, we wasn't students yet." Pale said, before taking another drag, and puffing a cloud of smoke towards the heiress rather than out the window.

Halcyone caught the scent from halfway across the room. Her nose wasn't particularly fantastic at picking up on foul odors having been accustomed to the conditions of Vacuo, but if she could smell it, the humans could too, and few olfactory attuned faunus in the room were probably being assaulted by the smell of the lit tobacco coming from a boy over by the corner window. Sitting up from her sleeping bag, undershirt falling back over her shrapnel scarred abs, Halcyone got up and walked over to the boy that was the cause of the stink.

She whistled sharply, to catch his attention. Interestingly enough the heiress to the SDC was berating him for the same offensive smoke, though probably because he'd blown it in her face. Served her right. "Hey, if you're gonna smoke, do it outside. You might not seriously be disturbing the humans around you, but every faunus in the room can smell that even at the window." Halcyone said, resting a hand on her hip. The boy looked her up and down, as if he was looking for a faunus trait on her. "Good luck with that." She thought, as the boy put the cigarillo back in his mouth.

"You one of those faunus lovers?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow, plopping a faded and dirty white round brim hat on his head, covering his steel blue eyes from view.

Oh, he was one of those kind of people. She'd need to phrase this differently. "Look, all I'm saying is that a few of them don't look particularly happy about the smell, and two of them have at least a foot on you." Halcyone said, crossing her arms over her modest chest. The boy in white seemed to look up at the people in the room, and rested his gaze on the back row where a giant of a man sat against the wall.

"I'll take it under consideration." He said flatly.

Pale tossed his cigarillo out the window. Usually when he was being conscious of his smoking it was to gauge wind speed, and direction, rarely would he be at a close enough distance or be upwind for it to catch attention of his prey, but if a human was pointing out that the smell of burning tobacco was earning him the ire of the faunus in the room, it might make his time at beacon a slight bit harder. "Wouldn't want to upset the animals now would I." He said with a smirk, earning an eye roll from the facially scarred faunus lover as she walked away. Checking her back side as she left, he saw no evidence that she had a tail or other features associated with a faunus, and shrugged. Weird of a human to point out something on a faunus' behalf… Unless she was giving some friendly advice to a fellow human. Shrugging to himself, Pale pulled his hat over his eyes and laid back as the heiress left to go bother someone else. He'd need his rest before initiation.