Astra tapped her leg absent-mindedly as she sat on the floor against the wall. She'd already finished deciding where to put all of her stuff and now she was bored again, waiting for her new teammates to get their rest.

She still couldn't understand how they could possibly be tired already. Had their exciting fight against the Ursa not filled them with energy? Or they fact that they were officially in training to become Hustman? The day was hardly even half over!

All the same, she'd respect Luna's wishes. She'd asked nicely, after all, and Astra could appreciate that. She was so used to people in charge snapping at her to sit down and be quiet that it was a nice change to be led by someone so kind and patient. Not that Luna had even been a leader for long, but Astra could already tell she'd be a good one. Kind, smart, pretty, all the natural qualities. And she was a lesbian too, which was always a plus.

Cobalt was nice too; it was nice to know a guy that wasn't constantly trying to speak over all of the women in the room. In fact, he seemed quite the opposite, happy to follow anyone else's lead. He was cool.

Lily though, now she was a weird one. Astra had met some pretty grumpy people in Atlas, but she hadn't expected to find one so grumpy here. Who could be unhappy at Beacon? With all its nice people and all the trees? And yet, Lily seemed like she'd rather be anyone else and Astra wondered what she was even doing here if that were the case. She seemed like she needed a hug, but Astra had the feeling she'd get her head bitten off if she tried.

"Can you please stop that tapping?"

Astra winced at Lily's sudden annoyed voice. It was like she could hear her thoughts…

"Sorry," She replied sheepishly. "I got kind of bored."

Cobalt's head poked up from over the side of his bed. "We can probably do something quiet if you want."

Astra perked up instantly. "Ooh! We should introduce ourselves more!"

"How so?" Cobalt inquired.

Astra scrambled forward and sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. "We can sit in a circle and formally introduce ourselves! And say, like, our name, Semblance and a fact about ourselves or something!"

"I'd be down for that." Cobalt climbed down from the ladder and sat near Astra. "Luna, you in?"

Luna peered over her book at them. "Yeah, sure." Folding a corner, she closed her book at sat down with them.

Before anyone else could say anything, Lily stood up. "I'm having a shower." She said abruptly, snatching up her suitcase and leaving the room.

Astra stared after her. "Not to be rude or anything, but what's her problem?"

"I think it's me," Luna commented, looking downcast. "I got the feeling back in the forest, but…if her mother was Emerald, then she probably feels uncomfortable being here with me, all things considered."

"I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn't place it until the ceremony," Cobalt added.

Astra was confused. "What's the problem with that, though? I know Emerald was like…one of the bad guys, but isn't she fine now? Team RWBY helped her in court and everything." She vaguely remembered hearing about it.

"Yeah, but the history's still there," Luna replied. "I think Lily just feels awkward being around the daughter of people who once fought against her mother."

"I don't think it's just you, Luna." Cobalt placed a hand on her shoulder. "I may not have your Semblance, but something tells me she feels that way about everyone. Like the world's out to get her for what her mother did."

Sympathy stabbed Astra in the get, an unusually low feeling for her. "That's sad," She commented. "It's not her fault. Nobody should blame her for stuff that happened over 20 years ago."

"I know," Luna nodded slowly. "That's why I'm not bringing it up. I think she'd prefer if we didn't talk about it."

"Right," Cobalt agreed. "We just need to give her the space she needs until she warms up to us. She'll realize in time that we're not judging her for anything like that."

Astra's legs started to ache from sitting cross-legged and she flicked them out to place her feet on the ground. "Alright, well uh…who wants to start with the introduction thing?"

"I'll go." Cobalt offered. "My name's Cobalt Scarlatina, I'm bi, like to draw and I can control like…rocks and stuff. With my mind."

"Ooh, yeah! You did that back in the forest," Astra remembered. "Very cool. What's your limit?"

Cobalt looked thoughtful. "Well, I can't move, like, anything massive. I think the biggest I can do is a small boulder. Pretty heavy, though. The bigger the rock, the more effort it takes." He pulled his dagger out of his belt. "I like to use it to reinforce this."

Astra grinned. "Useful! It'll be cool to see you actually do that. Next outdoor training session, you've gotta show me."

"Deal," Cobalt chuckled. He looked to his right. "How about you, Luna? Care to tell Astra what you can do?"

Luna blushed. "It's not a big deal…"

Astra leaned forward in interest. "Aw, come on! I bet it's awesome!"

Luna ran one of her hands over her ponytail. "Okay, well uh...I'm Luna Xiao Long, I live on Patch…or, I did, at least. And I can kind of…sense other people's emotions."

Astra's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open with a gasp, her tail shooting into the air.

"You can vibe check people!?"

"Uh."

Astra darted forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Do it right now! Vibe check me! What am I feeling right at this very moment?"

She sat back and bounced excitedly as Luna's face grew concentrated.

"You're uh…overwhelmingly excited."

Astra squealed. "You're right! I totally am!" She brought rested her head on her hands. "Gosh, that's amazing. You're so cool!"

Luna's whole face turned red for some reason. Was she not used to compliments or something? Or did it just get warmer in here? Astra certainly couldn't feel a temperature difference, but maybe she was just to excited to tell.

"O-okay, well uh…do you want to go now?" Luna asked.

Astra bounced. "Right, yeah!" She placed a hand on her chest proudly. "I'm Astra Katt, I really like love hearts and smiley faces and I can – oh wait!" She leaped to her feet and darted over to the window, pulling the curtains shut and cloaking the room in darkness. Couldn't show off her Semblance without the right lighting!

Sitting back down to a confused Luna and Cobalt, Astra got comfortable and prepared herself. Taking a deep breath, she focused her energy and lifted her hand. From her palm arose a small, floating ball of glowing light that drifted lazily even after she removed her hand.

"Ta-da!"

Luna and Cobalt's eyes widened as they stared at the light, their faces bathed in it.

"That's beautiful…" Luna breathed.

Cobalt nodded slowly. "It's like a firefly but…without the bug. And bigger."

Astra felt a glow of pride. "It's useful in battle too. If I throw it really hard or hit it with Light of the Party- that's my weapon, by the way- it can do a ton of damage."

Luna reached out a hand. "Can I…touch it?"

"Sure!" Astra chirped. "It only hurts if I throw it."

Luna's hand brushed against the glowing ball, her expression changing to one of wonder. "It's almost…soft, but still smooth somehow. I've never felt anything like it."

"That's really neat, Astra." Cobalt smiled kindly at her. "You must be pretty pleased with it."

Astra grinned. "Yeah, it's pretty great." She waved her hand through the ball and it disappeared, letting darkness fall onto the room again. She stood up and walked over the open the curtains again. "I discovered it when I got stuck outside at night once, as a kid. There was no moon out and I got really scared, but then this ball of light appeared from my hand. It made me feel better and I stayed in place with it until my mom found me."

"I found mine while training with Fox and Yatsuhashi, before I started training at Signal." Cobalt chuckled. "I almost throw a rock at Fox and we were all really confused before we figured out what happened."

"I don't really know when I got mine." Luna commented. "It's kind of just…always been there. I thought it was normal until I actually mentioned it to my moms."

The door to the dorm opened and Lily walked in, now wrapped in a green dressing gown, her hair still wet. She looked embarrassed as Astra, Luna and Cobalt glanced at her.

Astra waved. "Hey, Lily! We're talking about our Semblances, what's-"

Lily's eyes narrowed and she cut Astra off. "That's none of your business." She stopped and seemed to compose herself before continuing, "Just…leave me alone. Please." She stomped over to the bed, leaving her suitcase beside it, and lay down with her back to the others.

Luna gazed at her, pity in her lavender eyes. "Well, uh…feel free to chat, if you want."

"I'm good, thanks." Lily muttered in reply.

Luna's face fell and Astra placed a hand on her shoulder like Cobalt had done earlier. She said nothing but offered a smile. Luna smiled softly back and pleasure flared in Astra's chest. So, this was a gesture she liked, then. Good to know!

"Ooookay, well. Do you guys wanna unpack now?" Cobalt asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

Astra's tail shot into the air. "Yes! Finally!" She bounced over to her suitcase. "Okay, so I've picked out where I want all my stuff to go, but I'm happy to negotiate if any of you guys wanna put anything in the same place. You'll know which stuff is mine, 'cause it'll have stickers on it."

Luna chuckled. "Good to know."

As Astra unpacked, her gaze fell to Lily again. It was going to take some work, but with the help of these new friends, she was sure she'd be able to get through to her. And once she did, Team LLAC- her team- would surely become the best to graduate from Beacon since team RWBY. Well, not that RWBY had graduated from Beacon. But still!

This was going to be fun, she was sure of it.