They didn't have to wear uniforms. That was the first, most striking thing Weiss noticed when she entered the class, and looked at the flurry of colour and patterns that adorned the clothing everyone wore, all bundled up in the winter chill. Somehow, it caught her off guard, even though she'd been walking through the school, and wasn't wearing a uniform herself.

It was a stark contrast to the white uniforms of Atlas Academy. To say the least. They all looked at her with varying levels of curiosity. Suddenly, Weiss was a little bit more self conscious of how she looked. Her outfit was mostly monochromatic. Light colours suited her best, and she'd worn them her whole life. Was it a little too boring now? Weiss clenched her hands a little in front of her, searching the faces in the class, trying to find, maybe a glimmer of recognition in anybody? It was unlikely she'd know any of them, but perhaps they knew of her. No doubt a fair number of them would know of her last name.

She was Weiss Schnee. She pushed down the pit of fear in her stomach that threatened to overtake her, and ground herself back in the moment. There would be time to think about all this later. Now, she needed to be here and... integrate? Maybe that was the best she could hope for. Gods. Why was everything so difficult?

"Miss Schnee, would you like to say a few words to introduce yourself to the class?" Principal Ozpin looked to her, breaking her out of her reverie. All eyes were on her. Her brain automatically switched to her 'public functions' mode. The headspace she got into whenever Father had insisted she come to the public events, the parties and galas, and she was forced to talk to strange aristocrats who'd bore her at best and harrass her at worst.

She cleared her throat. "Hello. My name is Weiss, and I'm honoured to be in Beacon High, to learn alongside you all for the next two years," she spoke clearly and without hesitation, a perfectly polite, gracious smile plastered on her face. This was just another crowd, another group to impress, because she was told to do so. Same old, same old. Weiss repressed the instinct to bow. They were high school students. Not a high-profile, skeevy politician hanging onto her family's coattails. Instead, she just bowed her head. There. That was polite, right?

"Well said, now let's get you on with the learning, hm?" he folded his free hand behind his back, giving Weiss a brief, inquisitive look, his eyes containing a little glimmer that hadn't been there before. He scanned the class very briefly, before his eyes fell on a student seated around the middle.

She seemed young. Younger than everyone around her, at least. Short, dark hair with red highlights framed her round, youthful face, coming to rest at around the point of her chin. She had silver eyes, the shade of a troubled, growling sky before a storm. She'd dressed herself comfortably, with jeans that looked well-worn and a hoodie that looked like it was excellent at retaining warmth.

She was... different, from the others in the class. In what way, Weiss couldn't quite place. Perhaps it was her youth that set her apart: she had to have done something to be in junior year so young.

"Ah, Miss Rose, would you be so kind as to escort Miss Schnee around today? I'm sure she'd appreciate it, especially from someone with a more... unique perspective. Wouldn't you agree?" he looked at her expectantly, with the kind of smile that hid ulterior motives. She seemed surprised, as if she hadn't expected Principal Ozpin to single her out to easily. Yet it seemed as if he had had his eye on her the whole time.

'Unique perspective'? What could he have possibly meant by that? Weiss' curiosity was all the more piqued by Ozpin's strange, almost cryptic words. A part of her compelled her to follow that thread, to uncover that particular mystery.

The other part of her looked over to the rest of the class, weighing her best odds in picking out someone to show her around on her first day. She could go with the girl, but she couldn't possibly be taking risks on her first day based on some unknown factors.

No, Weiss had to be calculated today.

There, at the very back of the class, she found her in.

Pyrrha Nikos, renown athlete, three time Olympic medalist. Weiss knew she'd recognized her. Now, there was someone whose achievements placed them around her level. Excellent.

"Oh! Um, yes, sir. I can show Weiss around," the girl gave the principal a tight-lipped smile, seeming a little bit reluctant. Weiss almost sighed- she could relate. She barely made eye contact with Weiss as she swept a lock of dark hair behind her ear, clearing her throat awkwardly. Weiss transfixed her gaze on the ear she'd tucked the hair behind. She blinked and pulled herself out of her reverie. "You can sit here, uh, I guess," she gestured to the empty seat on her left.

On her right were two other students. A taller blonde girl and a dark haired girl. They both looked older than her, though neither seemed anything less than friendly towards the girl.

"Actually, sir," Weiss cut in, as politely as she could. "I was hoping to be shown around by her," she pointed to the back of the class where Pyrrha sat. The girl blinked once, then turned to look at Pyrrha as well. She turned back to look at Weiss, her mouth was slightly agape, and she had a strange look on her face. Weiss paid her no mind.

"Oh!" Pyrrha smiled wide, and Weiss took that as a good a sign as any. "I'd be happy to."

Score one for Weiss Schnee. She tried not to look too pleased with herself. Fortunately, she was something of an expert on hiding emotions from people. Call it the Schnee gene. She looked over to Ozpin, who stroked his hairless chin in a moment of thought.

"Very well, I do wish to make your transition here into Beacon as comfortable as possible," he said, conceding to Weiss as he nodded.

Okay, that was at least one worry taken care of. Now Weiss just needed to see what the rest of the day held. She was unusually confident she could manage.

"Well, if that's settled, then I shall take my leave. Be well, students," he nodded to Mr. Port, the teacher in the class with the grand mustache and eyebrows, as he exited the classroom.

Weiss made her way to the back of the class, sitting next to Pyrrha, who greeted her with a friendly smile. They exchanged pleasantries as Weiss settled in.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos, although I have a feeling you already know that," she blushed a little bit. "Not to be boastful or anything," she smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, not at all. It's a pleasure to meet one of the most renowned athletes in the region. I had no idea you went to school here," Weiss said. Pyrrha blushed deeper, giving a little nervous laugh.

"Well, the pleasure is all mine. I wouldn't have thought I would pop up on the radar of someone as big as a Schnee," Pyrrha spoke with a hint of reverence, and a little bit of disbelief. She supposed that was the tone she was going to get a lot today. It rubbed her the wrong way, but she was mostly relieved to know that people had actually heard of her and knew her.

Still. Weiss' eyes almost threated to glaze over, as it did whenever someone started speaking to her about her family.

Out of the corner of her vision, she spied the girl from in front looking at her.

She turned to meet her gaze.

Miss Rose, Ozpin had called her.

Huh.

After a brief moment, Rose turned back around, and Weiss fell back down to earth, continuing her conversation with Pyrrha as they half listened to Mr. Port.

The rest of the day went off just fine. Another one of life's little blessings. Faintly, Weiss wondered if she could start really counting those. The little blessings in life. They were, after all, all she had sometimes.

The silence of the snow. The serene feeling of watching snowflakes drift down to earth.

The warmth of a fire in a big, cold room.

The small goodbye you could at least share with someone you love.

Weiss stopped short of giving a big fat sigh. She had bid goodbye to Pyrrha as she gave her the last of the tour. The school was surprisingly large, bigger than Weiss had initially expected. It was almost comparable to Atlas, though obviously their facilities were second to the prestigious academy. But Weiss had even been provided with a map, a little foldable thing she had kept in her bag.

Maybe she was a little bit too proud to admit she couldn't find the front entrance, and too stubborn to actually pull the damned thing out.

Weiss continued her wandering, confident as you please. This way people would assume she knew what she was doing, and not bother her and try to help her.

After a little bit more wandering, she ended up at the car park. Okay, that was a little bit closer to the front entrance. Weiss hugged her small frame as she trudged through the sudden howling wind that had picked up. Winter was definitely out in full force. She sighed. She missed her sister.

She allowed herself to be a little lost in her own head. There weren't very many people around, so she could just walk and think a little bit. Maybe a small indulgence after a pretty long day would do her well, right? She deserved that at least. Klein would have agreed with her. Weiss should have treated herself the way Klein treated her. It was a noble thing to aspire towards.

Weiss took a deep breath. It would be okay. Everything would turn out fine, she just had to keep putting one front in front of the other until-

Something smacked her head and pushed her down onto the floor. She barely had time to let out a little gasp before she found herself flat on her ass, vision swimming a little bit. She pressed against the pain on her head.

The shock and pain quickly gave way to flaring hot anger.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry!" Weiss heard a squeal from above her. She shot the person the dirtiest look she could muster up, while her world was still spinning a little bit. There came more subsonic squeals of apologies as Weiss took a moment or two to breathe and let the world stop tilting on an axis. Okay, things were fine, just fine-

She felt hands on her, and her heart picked up the pace. It went into overdrive. Somebody was just... touching her! She jerked back like she'd been poked by a hot iron. Weiss almost shoved her off, brushing the hands off of her. She took a look at her assailant.

Rose. It was Rose. For a brief moment, the wires in Weiss' head got crossed. Her mind blanked, like it was refreshing itself.

Then the annoyance dominated every part of her head.

This. Fucking. Idiot.

"You," Weiss hissed at her. "Dolt!"

It had been a long day. It had been a really stressful week, month, year. Weiss really, really didn't have any patience for this. At all. And yet, here she was, having to deal with someone who just went around touching her after knocking her flat down, and her head hurt and she just wanted to go home but she was here and she was dealing with this.

Weiss got up quickly, picking her bag up. "Would you watch where you're going! What, is walking and being aware of your surroundings too difficult a multi-task?" She scowled, fury and murder in her veins as she wiped snow and whatever ground gunk off herself. Rose shrank into herself. And Weiss suddenly realized that she was... small. Smaller than Weiss, who was barely 5'3" herself. And she was young, and scared, and she looked like she was about to cry, and suddenly the fight deflated out of her.

Okay, Weiss. Maybe, let's just... okay?

Weiss, in a crazy impulse, had an apology on the tip of her tongue.

Instead, she just walked away.

What? And how? Why?

Weiss bit her tongue. Nothing made sense anymore. That was the quickest Weiss had ever deflated on anything. And to apologize to someone? For something that wasn't her fault? To this girl, Rose, who'd honestly just threw her onto the floor practically.

"Fuck," Weiss muttered as she walked away. This place was turning her around. She just had to get home.

Klein was waiting patiently in the car as Weiss finally, finally made her way to the front entrance, entering the car. He made some small talk as they drove back home, but then respectfully chose to keep the silence when she kept herself tight-lipped.

Weiss, later on at home, lying in bed, thought to herself that she just had to recenter herself. This new environment would not shape her. She would shape it. She was Weiss Schnee, damn it. She just... needed a little bit to find herself again. And she would run this damn place, like Father had always taught her to be.

Yeah.

Yeesh. Yes, so like I said, I really dislike replaying the same events through different POVs, but I felt it really important to the story to establish Weiss' thoughts and feelings as she entered Beacon. Going forward, I'll try my best to not repeat events.

On another note, thank you all for the lovely reviews, favourites and follows. Thank you for even reading this!

(Hey, I know tumblr is imploding right now, but if you guys want, I'm on it: catharsisman.)