div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left""Okay, this one's ours," Nix said, pointing at the plain white door of their dorm room before the other three got there as well. From a nearby room, Nila's high-pitched muffled laughter could be heard. "After you~" he added motioning at Kris, followed by a small, elegant bow. /div
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div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"A proud smile on his face, the team leader scanned his Scroll on the door, which unlocked with a soft clicking sound. At first sight, the dorm room of team KRMN seemed ordinary: four beds side-by-side, separated by the large window and wooden bookcase in the middle, with a small nightstand between them. Their heavier luggage had been transferred from the ballroom to the dorm, and placed carefully by the closet on the left. On the desks were four sets of books, and other equipment necessary for tomorrow's classes. Perhaps it was because their bags and suitcases were taking up the most part of the room, but everyone silently agreed that their dorm was rather… tiny. However, the fact that they were all going to be sleeping in the same room seem to bother only Malva; the rest were fairly accustomed to sharing a room with the opposite sex. /div
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div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"Kris was the first to break the silence. "It's a little constricted, but I think we can manage once the suitcases are out of the way," he remarked. "Okay, so. Pick a bed, guys." br /br /"I'd like the one next to the window," Rosanna and Malva said, almost simultaneously. The two girls then exchanged a quick glance and neither of them moved, until Malva motioned for her to pick first. br /br /Rosanna made a hesitant step forward, backed out for a second, before walking shyly to the corner of the bed on the right of the window. Without hesitation, Malva then claimed the bed opposite to Rosanna's as her own, while Nix tossed his backpack and flopped on the one on the far right. Kris sat down on the far left /br /"Now that this has been settled," Malva said, jumping up from the mattress, "it is time to unpack. We won't have time to do so tomorrow morning."br /br /"Are you kidding?! Classes don't start until nine!" Nix complained, reading from the schedule on the bedside table. "And I'm tired! We fought all those Grimm! Let's just do it tomorrow." Seeing the girl's agitated expression, Kris stepped in before those two could start arguing /br /"I know we're all worn out from the exam, so how about we unpack just the basics?" he suggested, immediately looking over to Rosanna for support, who nodded her head positively. "We'll leave the rest of the organizing for after class." br /br /Malva agreed, an expression of triumph drawn over her face, and began the tedious task of unpacking and re-organizing her two enormous suitcases. Kris tiredly unzipped one of his duffel bags, taking out heaps of neatly-folded clothes, as well as some books. Rosanna followed in their example, although, since she was carrying nothing more than a large gray backpack, she was bound to finish before the other two. While his teammates were quickly immersed in that activity, Nix remained spread over the bed, watching silently as the others worked, until finally, reluctant and mumbling under his breath, he got up and began unpacking too. Searching for any empty space to stash his belongings, Nix came across the school uniforms in the closet. br /br /With everyone moving around and bumping into each other, it became obvious just how cramped the dorm was. After several attempts to relocate some furniture and hundreds of complaints from Malva that the noise was disturbing the other students, the newly-formed team managed to leave just enough living space for the four of them. After finishing up, the four members of team KRMN looked at their now changed-up, tidy dorm room. It could still use some work, Malva thought, but it'd suffice for now. br /br /"This started off as just 'unpacking bare necessities', but we ended up redecorating the whole dorm," Nix remarked, with just enough snark to earn Malva's disapproval once again. He jumped back onto his bed, taking his Scroll in his hand. br /br /"Do not let tomorrow know what you can do today." With one final kick, Malva shoved her now empty suitcase under her bed. "I doubt you'd be any more eager to do this tomorrow morning..." br /br /"It's gotten quite late now, though. Maybe we should call it a day," Rosanna chimed in right after a small yawn. Her lack of decent sleep over the past two days was beginning to take a /br /There was no objection to her proposal, and everyone went off to begin their nightly routines. Rosanna and Malva opted for taking a bath then instead of the next morning so that "We won't run late," as the purple-haired sniper claimed. While the blonde was finished in no more than fifteen minutes, Malva took her time, exiting the bathroom almost an hour later, wrapped snuggly in her bathrobe and filling the room with the sweet, flowery scent of her shampoo. br /br /By that time, her teammates were already tucked in, but she spent another half-hour meticulously arranging small vials of perfume and a variety of make-up products on her bedside table, before moving on to examine her new school uniform. Even after she ultimately determined that there wasn't so much as a tear in the seams on any of its articles, she sat on her bed with a white towel over her hair and began writing in a small leather back journal. br /br /"Aww, is that a diary? How cute," Nix teased her, and received a judgmental glare as the only reply. br /br /A few minutes later, Malva finally decided to go to bed. She put her Scroll aside, having set enough alarms to wake even the heaviest sleepers, covered herself up to the neck with the blanket and turned away from the window. "I hope none of you snore." br /br /Before Nix could find a witty remark to reply with, the girl had fallen asleep. After that, the room fell silent. br /br /
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div align="left"No matter how much she turned and twisted, Rosanna just couldn't get comfortable. Perhaps it was the different environment, the awfully quiet room, or maybe her own agitation that prevented her from falling asleep. Her mind was flooded with questions about tomorrow: What would happen? Would she be able to pay attention in class? Would she know the answer if the teacher called on her? What would happen if she didn't? What if her grades weren't good enough? What if everyone else in the team were clever enough to understand everything, while she struggled? What if Russ and Alban were right when they told her she's not smart at all? What if she was only good at fighting? emWhat if, what if...br /embr /She let out a heavy sigh and grabbed her Scroll on the little wooden nightstand between hers and Nix's bed. The brightness of the screen blinded her, but she saw the bold "strong1 A.M." /strongthrough squinted eyes. She lifted her head, pulling long strands of damp hair out of her face. Next to her, Nix was sleeping peacefully, limbs spread over the bed, the blanket curled around his body. On her right, Malva was also in deep slumber, curled up with just the top of her purple head peeking out of the covers, but Kris was wide awake, bent over something under the light of the lamp. Though she tried to be as quiet as possible, the faunus inevitably heard her. br /br /"Rosanna? Did I wake you up?" When he turned around, she noticed the object he was holding was a /br /"No, no. I just can't sleep. You can't either?" she whispered. br /br /"Ah, well... Guess not." Kris folded the letter in two and put it back into an envelope, before returning it on the nightstand. "Hey, can I ask you something?" The girl nodded, hugging her pillow in her arms. "Are you happy with how things turned out? You know, partners, our team, me becoming team leader... How do you feel about all that?"br /br /"You're not happy?" she replied with furrowed /br /"I am! Heh, trust me, I'm more than happy. This whole thing is like a dream-come-true situation for me, you know?" His eyes lit up in excitement when he talked, just like when Ozpin was announcing teams. "Sounds a bit hackneyed, right?" br /br /"No, no! I mean... I think it's great, that you have a dream, and that it's becoming reality." The thought of her non-existing purpose in this Academy popped into Rosanna's head again. It felt a little weird, but she tried to ignore it. "I... I didn't expect anything from the first day, so I don't know how I feel just yet. But I don't feel bad about you being our team leader. I just don't know you three at all yet. But we can get along, right? We just gotta get used to each other, I guess," she added with a small giggle, making a gesture first at Malva and then at Nix. br /br /"Is not my fault the porcelain doll doesn't like me," Nix murmured groggily, rolling over at Rosanna's direction with a yawn. The blonde jumped up at the sound of his voice, as she was sure he was asleep just moments ago. "I'm very likeable, ya know..." br /br /"Malva's a good person, she's just a little...short-tempered," Kris said, scratching the back of his head. As much as he wanted to defend his friend, there was no denying that Malva was the opposite of easy-going. "We will all get along eventually." br /br /"Hah...'emshort/em'," Nix commented, still half-asleep. "A tiny short-tempered porcelain doll."br /br /"emI can hear you,/em" Malva squeaked from under the covers in her usual irritated tone. "Just know that I'll ditch all three of you here if you can't wake up in the morning. I'm not going to be late to class just because you people wanted to have an after-midnight chat. So shut it!" With a dramatic puff, she pulled the blanket over her head, falling silent after a couple of seconds. /div
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br /Embarrassed, Rosanna shied away, Nix rolled back over snickering to himself, while Kris broke into a small awkward smile. "As I was saying..." he muttered and turned off the lamp. "Anyway. Let's try to get some rest." br /br /Rosanna nodded her head and lied back down. Not five minutes had passed before she lifted her head up from the pillow again. "Kris?" she /br /"Mm?" The faunus pushed himself up from the bed, tufts of hair falling on his /br /"I'm... happy about this. You three seem to be very talented people. I want to believe that we're gonna do okay." Her voice sounded gentle and hopeful, but a little melancholic. br /br /"It means a lot to hear that. I promise you, I'm going to do my best. As your partner and as team captain."br /br /"Hell yeah, captain! Go get 'em!" Nix joined in a little louder than the others, instantly earning a simultaneous "emShhhh/em!" from the other two, but it was too late. The doll had been awakened once /br /"emDamn it, go to sleep already!/em"br /
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div align="left""I am spent!" Nix declared dramatically, barging into the dorm room and jumping immediately on his bed. Their first day as Beacon Academy students was over, and he was doing nothing to hide how tired he was. "And to think that this was just day one! These guys waste no time at all, huh?" he continued. br /br /"You thought they were going to go easy on us just because it's day one?" Kris commented, loosening the red tie around his neck, followed by an equally-tired Rosanna and a fuming Malva. br /br /"Nix, don't change the subject!" the petite girl stormed inside the room. She dropped her books on the desk with a loud thud, and turned around to glare furiously at her partner. br /br /"Oh, c'mon! You're still on about that thing? Just forget about it already!" he grunted. The expression on Malva's face, however, suggested she wasn't going to let go of the subject so easily. br /br /"Do you seriously believe I can simply emforget/em that you got disqualified a minute into your first sparring match?!" she exclaimed with visible frustration. "Professor Goodwitch was so angry! What was that comment about 'using your semblance like a villain'? Explain yourself!"br /br /During the solo sparring matches just a few hours ago, Nix had been put up against a student from another team. From the start, the fight seemed awfully one-sided, with Nix cornering his opponent and leaving them no opportunity to strike back. Right when it seemed that Nix would win, professor Goodwitch stepped in, called the fight off, and disqualified him, on the account of exploiting his semblance. Despite the other members' attempts to calm the tension down, Malva, who believed she was being affected since she was his partner, had been pressuring him about it ever since that day's classes ended. br /br /"Relax! Look, I already got lectured by Goodwitch, I don't need to hear all that again from emyou/em!" Nix complained, not looking up from his Scroll. br /br /"Well, if you had given everyone a better first impression, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Malva cried back, pushing her middle and index fingers on her temples. "Do I need to tell you again that your actions represent the team as a whole? This a very prestigious academy, and you spent the first day goofing around like we're in elementary school! First professor Ozpin comments on your groggy appearance on our way to class, then professor Port tells you off for not paying attention. And then that! Can you please take this whole thing more seriously?"br /br /"Ugh! What's your problem?" The two teammates exchanged a prolonged irritated glare, but in the end, Nix was the loser of the stare-down. "My semblance is hypnosis, okay? I can gain some control over someone's mind for a short period of time. During that time I can either confuse them or tell them what to do. In that guy's case, I told him to not fight back. As far as I know, my victims can tell what's going on, but can't do anything until I call it off or it wears off on its own. So, yeah, that's it. Satisfied now?" br /br /There was a short silence, broken only by a small gasp from Rosanna. "That's pretty cool!" the blonde said, fascinated by Nix's ability. Malva, on the other hand, didn't share the girl's enthusiasm. br /br /"So, you emcheated/em."br /br /"I have the right to use my semblance, don't I?" Nix shrugged. "Rosanna used hers all the time, while you won only because of your semblance! So why can't I use mine to win?"br /br /"Because it's cheating! It's unfair for your opponent. You can't just do that!" Malva insisted, placing her hands on her hips. br /br /"Why not?" Little by little, Nix's tone of voice became louder, just like Malva's. br /br /"There ought to be some fair play. And because you're supposed to show your skills! Or perhaps, are there none to display?" Malva smiled cockily, raising an eyebrow. br /br /"Enough, you two. You can let it go now," Kris said, but was blatantly ignored. br /br /"My semblance emIS/em a skill of mine," Nix insisted, clenching his fists. "And, emperhaps, /embefore you jump into conclusions, should I inform you that I got accepted here through recommendations?" br /br /"Hah." Malva broke in a malevolent smirk. "Who on Remnant recommended emyou?/em"br /br /"emListen here, you little-"/embr /br /"emEnough./em" The tall lion faunus stepped between them, pushing both Nix and Malva away from each other. Albeit visibly irritated, Kris was still calm, as if he'd born witness to such a scene before. Rosanna sat awkwardly and nervously on her bed, eyes switching between the three. "You need to calm down," he told Malva sternly, like a parent patronizing his child. Malva glared daggers at the young man, shot the same look at Nix, and sat on one of the desk chairs with a loud exhale. br /br /"Alright, listen. It's obvious we have our differences," Kris continued. "We still don't know a lot about each other, but we need to get along if we want to have a pleasant time here. Nix, you're right when you say you have every right to use your semblance. We just gotta find a way to...emimplement/em it into a strategy so it's not... you know..." He made a vague gesture with his hands. br /br /"Cheating. emRight/em..." Nix mocked, crossing his arms over his chest. br /br /"No, no, bear with me for a sec. Think about it. Your hypnosis can create openings for our attacks; you can confuse our enemies to get us out of a pinch, giving the rest of us an opportunity to strike back. And since you're partnered up with Malva, you can figure out a way to keep opponents away from her. Or maybe even lure them into stepping into her dust mines- you know, the traps she used to win today. Or, emor/em, you can hypnotize them into turning their attention somewhere else, while the rest of us go in for a surprise attack..." Kris went on and on, excitement drawn all over his face, stopping only after noticing the others' expressions. br /br /A little flustered, he cleared his throat. "I mean, those are just some ideas, nothing solid at the moment... But there's potential, right? After all, professor Goodwitch did mention that we will be fighting as teams soon enough. Some of these could work."br /br /Nix knitted his eyebrows, considering some of Kris's ideas, until his face lit up. "Yeah...yeah! That could work! I could probably find a way to use it without getting Goodwitch angry. Maybe she won't complain as long as I don't tank the fight like today. But I can see some of these ideas happening."br /br /"In theory, they all work," Malva remarked. "It's easy to toss ideas out like that, and the possibilities are indeed endless, if one thinks about it. But we need to put them into practice before using them in a real fight. It would save us from an unwanted defeat, and tons of embarrassment."br /br /"Of course, we have to test them beforehand," Kris nodded. "How about we get to it tomorrow, after classes end? There's so many combinations we can come up with."br /br /"Somebody's getting worked up," Nix teased, but without making it sound mean. "Alright, alright. We'll work on 'em. You can fight pretty well, so I'm kinda fired up to see what we can come up with."br /br /"Do keep in mind that Goodwitch mentioned that she'll have us fight with our partners as well," Malva stated. "We will have to focus on that too." She looked over to Rosanna, who nodded. br /br /"Alright! Now, I can elaborate more on those ideas, based on what I understood from watching you fight. If you can give me some time to finish up something for Oobleck's assignment, I'll get back to that right away." Searching among the small stack of books on the desk, Kris picked out a notebook. br /br /At the sound of the word 'assignment', an expression of worry spread over Nix's and Rosanna's face. "Wh-when is it for?" the blonde asked nervously. br /br /"He said he wants to see the progress we made, so we have to show him something by Wednesday," Malva responded. br /br /"Ah, okay. We've got time," Nix sighed, giving Rosanna a reassuring wink. br /br /"Don't you dare leave it until last minute!" the purple-haired girl retorted. "Scrap work will affect our team's overall grades! Besides, it's not even that difficult. If you've studied just a bit of history, you'll find it very easy."br /br /"Also, most of the points-to-be-addressed were already written on the board," Kris added, not lifting his head from the book he was reading. br /br /"When... When did you even begin it?" Nix said in confusion. br /br /"We had some spare time between lunch and the sparring matches, right?" Kris replied. br /br /"So have you finished it?" Nix asked. Malva smirked, and handed him her notebook. Its first pages were filled with rows and rows of beautiful /br /"...What language is that?" he asked again, with Rosanna leaned over his shoulder peeking at Malva's notes and trying to compare them to her own /br /"That's cursive."br /br /"Well, can you translate it?"br /br /"Are you mad?! As if I'd let you copy my work!" She stretched out her arm, trying to grab her notebook from his /br /"Come on! Just the important stuff? I promise I'll change it up."br /br /"Weren't you two paying attention to Doctor Oobleck?" Malva exclaimed, finally yanking her notebook out of his hand. "You can't rely on us to write your homework for you! This is serious business!" br /br /"Come on! It's so hard to listen to him! He speaks so fast! Why does he speak so fast? And who thought it was a good idea to put him for our first period? And why did he have to give us an assignment emon the first day/em?" Nix continued, but knew Malva would not give in. But from the corner of his eye, he noticed Rosanna had sneaked up on Kris, copying like mad out of his book while he was writing. Malva would not give in, but emmaybe/em... "Oh, captain. My captain. Team leader-"br /br /"Nope. Not happening," Kris cut him off, turning around just in time for Rosanna to step away undetected. br /br /"emPlease. /emYou're my only hope. And well, Rosanna was straight-up copying your notes moments ago," Nix called out, pointing a finger at the /br /Rosanna turned red when Kris looked over, and squinted her eyes at Nix. "Snitch," she murmured. br /br /"I can't believe this..." Malva sighed and shook her /br /Nix's pleadings persisted, involuntarily dragging the blonde girl into the appeals. "Come emon! /emAt least help us out a little! Rosanna and I need your help! We're a team, aren't we? Didn't Ozpin say that we have to emwork together/em? It's not that big of a deal! Just once! Just some directions..." Nix said, but Kris, who couldn't help but laugh awkwardly, insisted that it'd be wrong. br /br /"Just give it up and do it on your own!" Malva squeaked. br /br /Still, the white-haired teenager was not ready to stop trying. "Alright, then. If you help us, then you can be sure I'm not letting anyone defeat us next time."br /br /"Since we're a team, we're all kind of expected to do exactly that when we fight..." Kris retorted. br /br /"Oh, and we're not expected to help each other with studying?" Nix returned, gesturing /br /"You could have already completed some of it, if you had simply started working..." Malva commented. Blushing profusely, Rosanna nodded in agreement and decided to sit down and get to it, but Nix was unfazed. br /br /Soon enough, the bargaining began. Nix showered his teammate with promises of treating the team to coffee, buying food, or doing the chores around the dorm, but what started off as simple suggestions quickly got out of control. Neither Kris nor Nix could keep a straight face anymore, and the initial negotiations had turned into a silly game of retorts coming back and forth. The cheerful duo was enjoying it, but eventually Nix decided to take action. br /br /"Okay, I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice!" he exclaimed and quickly moved his face in front of Kris's, as if to hypnotize him. br /br /The lion faunus was initially caught off-guard, but instants later realized Nix's intentions. "Dude!" he said. "Not cool! Look, you can hypnotize our enemies, but not us, okay? You're not gonna be using your semblance on team members."br /br /"Hmm..." Nix smiled cockily, crossing his hands over his chest. "Only if you help me out with the assignment." br /br /"Heh... so that was your plan all along?" Kris commented, narrowing his eyes at Nix. After all the pestering and negotiating, the lion faunus reluctantly gave in. "Just because it's only day one, okay?" he sighed, allowing the brown textbook to be snatched out of his hand. "But you won't copy it! You're going to make some effort. I'm gonna guide you and Rosanna through the assignment, so sit down and listen closely." br /br /Without a single word from either of them, Rosanna and Nix, pen and paper in hand, looked attentively at their leader as he recapped Oobleck's lecture on Remnant, emphasizing all the points that they had to include in their assignment. While Kris helped them, Malva immersed herself in elaborating the work she'd already done, leafing through her books. It wasn't long before she was finished, and while pondering what to study next, she heard Kris make a minor mistake. Unable to let it pass, she abandoned her desk, and, dropping a heavy history book onto Nix's lap, joined the makeshift lecture. /div
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div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"A proud smile on his face, the team leader scanned his Scroll on the door, which unlocked with a soft clicking sound. At first sight, the dorm room of team KRMN seemed ordinary: four beds side-by-side, separated by the large window and wooden bookcase in the middle, with a small nightstand between them. Their heavier luggage had been transferred from the ballroom to the dorm, and placed carefully by the closet on the left. On the desks were four sets of books, and other equipment necessary for tomorrow's classes. Perhaps it was because their bags and suitcases were taking up the most part of the room, but everyone silently agreed that their dorm was rather… tiny. However, the fact that they were all going to be sleeping in the same room seem to bother only Malva; the rest were fairly accustomed to sharing a room with the opposite sex. /div
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div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"Kris was the first to break the silence. "It's a little constricted, but I think we can manage once the suitcases are out of the way," he remarked. "Okay, so. Pick a bed, guys." br /br /"I'd like the one next to the window," Rosanna and Malva said, almost simultaneously. The two girls then exchanged a quick glance and neither of them moved, until Malva motioned for her to pick first. br /br /Rosanna made a hesitant step forward, backed out for a second, before walking shyly to the corner of the bed on the right of the window. Without hesitation, Malva then claimed the bed opposite to Rosanna's as her own, while Nix tossed his backpack and flopped on the one on the far right. Kris sat down on the far left /br /"Now that this has been settled," Malva said, jumping up from the mattress, "it is time to unpack. We won't have time to do so tomorrow morning."br /br /"Are you kidding?! Classes don't start until nine!" Nix complained, reading from the schedule on the bedside table. "And I'm tired! We fought all those Grimm! Let's just do it tomorrow." Seeing the girl's agitated expression, Kris stepped in before those two could start arguing /br /"I know we're all worn out from the exam, so how about we unpack just the basics?" he suggested, immediately looking over to Rosanna for support, who nodded her head positively. "We'll leave the rest of the organizing for after class." br /br /Malva agreed, an expression of triumph drawn over her face, and began the tedious task of unpacking and re-organizing her two enormous suitcases. Kris tiredly unzipped one of his duffel bags, taking out heaps of neatly-folded clothes, as well as some books. Rosanna followed in their example, although, since she was carrying nothing more than a large gray backpack, she was bound to finish before the other two. While his teammates were quickly immersed in that activity, Nix remained spread over the bed, watching silently as the others worked, until finally, reluctant and mumbling under his breath, he got up and began unpacking too. Searching for any empty space to stash his belongings, Nix came across the school uniforms in the closet. br /br /With everyone moving around and bumping into each other, it became obvious just how cramped the dorm was. After several attempts to relocate some furniture and hundreds of complaints from Malva that the noise was disturbing the other students, the newly-formed team managed to leave just enough living space for the four of them. After finishing up, the four members of team KRMN looked at their now changed-up, tidy dorm room. It could still use some work, Malva thought, but it'd suffice for now. br /br /"This started off as just 'unpacking bare necessities', but we ended up redecorating the whole dorm," Nix remarked, with just enough snark to earn Malva's disapproval once again. He jumped back onto his bed, taking his Scroll in his hand. br /br /"Do not let tomorrow know what you can do today." With one final kick, Malva shoved her now empty suitcase under her bed. "I doubt you'd be any more eager to do this tomorrow morning..." br /br /"It's gotten quite late now, though. Maybe we should call it a day," Rosanna chimed in right after a small yawn. Her lack of decent sleep over the past two days was beginning to take a /br /There was no objection to her proposal, and everyone went off to begin their nightly routines. Rosanna and Malva opted for taking a bath then instead of the next morning so that "We won't run late," as the purple-haired sniper claimed. While the blonde was finished in no more than fifteen minutes, Malva took her time, exiting the bathroom almost an hour later, wrapped snuggly in her bathrobe and filling the room with the sweet, flowery scent of her shampoo. br /br /By that time, her teammates were already tucked in, but she spent another half-hour meticulously arranging small vials of perfume and a variety of make-up products on her bedside table, before moving on to examine her new school uniform. Even after she ultimately determined that there wasn't so much as a tear in the seams on any of its articles, she sat on her bed with a white towel over her hair and began writing in a small leather back journal. br /br /"Aww, is that a diary? How cute," Nix teased her, and received a judgmental glare as the only reply. br /br /A few minutes later, Malva finally decided to go to bed. She put her Scroll aside, having set enough alarms to wake even the heaviest sleepers, covered herself up to the neck with the blanket and turned away from the window. "I hope none of you snore." br /br /Before Nix could find a witty remark to reply with, the girl had fallen asleep. After that, the room fell silent. br /br /
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div align="left"No matter how much she turned and twisted, Rosanna just couldn't get comfortable. Perhaps it was the different environment, the awfully quiet room, or maybe her own agitation that prevented her from falling asleep. Her mind was flooded with questions about tomorrow: What would happen? Would she be able to pay attention in class? Would she know the answer if the teacher called on her? What would happen if she didn't? What if her grades weren't good enough? What if everyone else in the team were clever enough to understand everything, while she struggled? What if Russ and Alban were right when they told her she's not smart at all? What if she was only good at fighting? emWhat if, what if...br /embr /She let out a heavy sigh and grabbed her Scroll on the little wooden nightstand between hers and Nix's bed. The brightness of the screen blinded her, but she saw the bold "strong1 A.M." /strongthrough squinted eyes. She lifted her head, pulling long strands of damp hair out of her face. Next to her, Nix was sleeping peacefully, limbs spread over the bed, the blanket curled around his body. On her right, Malva was also in deep slumber, curled up with just the top of her purple head peeking out of the covers, but Kris was wide awake, bent over something under the light of the lamp. Though she tried to be as quiet as possible, the faunus inevitably heard her. br /br /"Rosanna? Did I wake you up?" When he turned around, she noticed the object he was holding was a /br /"No, no. I just can't sleep. You can't either?" she whispered. br /br /"Ah, well... Guess not." Kris folded the letter in two and put it back into an envelope, before returning it on the nightstand. "Hey, can I ask you something?" The girl nodded, hugging her pillow in her arms. "Are you happy with how things turned out? You know, partners, our team, me becoming team leader... How do you feel about all that?"br /br /"You're not happy?" she replied with furrowed /br /"I am! Heh, trust me, I'm more than happy. This whole thing is like a dream-come-true situation for me, you know?" His eyes lit up in excitement when he talked, just like when Ozpin was announcing teams. "Sounds a bit hackneyed, right?" br /br /"No, no! I mean... I think it's great, that you have a dream, and that it's becoming reality." The thought of her non-existing purpose in this Academy popped into Rosanna's head again. It felt a little weird, but she tried to ignore it. "I... I didn't expect anything from the first day, so I don't know how I feel just yet. But I don't feel bad about you being our team leader. I just don't know you three at all yet. But we can get along, right? We just gotta get used to each other, I guess," she added with a small giggle, making a gesture first at Malva and then at Nix. br /br /"Is not my fault the porcelain doll doesn't like me," Nix murmured groggily, rolling over at Rosanna's direction with a yawn. The blonde jumped up at the sound of his voice, as she was sure he was asleep just moments ago. "I'm very likeable, ya know..." br /br /"Malva's a good person, she's just a little...short-tempered," Kris said, scratching the back of his head. As much as he wanted to defend his friend, there was no denying that Malva was the opposite of easy-going. "We will all get along eventually." br /br /"Hah...'emshort/em'," Nix commented, still half-asleep. "A tiny short-tempered porcelain doll."br /br /"emI can hear you,/em" Malva squeaked from under the covers in her usual irritated tone. "Just know that I'll ditch all three of you here if you can't wake up in the morning. I'm not going to be late to class just because you people wanted to have an after-midnight chat. So shut it!" With a dramatic puff, she pulled the blanket over her head, falling silent after a couple of seconds. /div
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br /Embarrassed, Rosanna shied away, Nix rolled back over snickering to himself, while Kris broke into a small awkward smile. "As I was saying..." he muttered and turned off the lamp. "Anyway. Let's try to get some rest." br /br /Rosanna nodded her head and lied back down. Not five minutes had passed before she lifted her head up from the pillow again. "Kris?" she /br /"Mm?" The faunus pushed himself up from the bed, tufts of hair falling on his /br /"I'm... happy about this. You three seem to be very talented people. I want to believe that we're gonna do okay." Her voice sounded gentle and hopeful, but a little melancholic. br /br /"It means a lot to hear that. I promise you, I'm going to do my best. As your partner and as team captain."br /br /"Hell yeah, captain! Go get 'em!" Nix joined in a little louder than the others, instantly earning a simultaneous "emShhhh/em!" from the other two, but it was too late. The doll had been awakened once /br /"emDamn it, go to sleep already!/em"br /
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div align="left""I am spent!" Nix declared dramatically, barging into the dorm room and jumping immediately on his bed. Their first day as Beacon Academy students was over, and he was doing nothing to hide how tired he was. "And to think that this was just day one! These guys waste no time at all, huh?" he continued. br /br /"You thought they were going to go easy on us just because it's day one?" Kris commented, loosening the red tie around his neck, followed by an equally-tired Rosanna and a fuming Malva. br /br /"Nix, don't change the subject!" the petite girl stormed inside the room. She dropped her books on the desk with a loud thud, and turned around to glare furiously at her partner. br /br /"Oh, c'mon! You're still on about that thing? Just forget about it already!" he grunted. The expression on Malva's face, however, suggested she wasn't going to let go of the subject so easily. br /br /"Do you seriously believe I can simply emforget/em that you got disqualified a minute into your first sparring match?!" she exclaimed with visible frustration. "Professor Goodwitch was so angry! What was that comment about 'using your semblance like a villain'? Explain yourself!"br /br /During the solo sparring matches just a few hours ago, Nix had been put up against a student from another team. From the start, the fight seemed awfully one-sided, with Nix cornering his opponent and leaving them no opportunity to strike back. Right when it seemed that Nix would win, professor Goodwitch stepped in, called the fight off, and disqualified him, on the account of exploiting his semblance. Despite the other members' attempts to calm the tension down, Malva, who believed she was being affected since she was his partner, had been pressuring him about it ever since that day's classes ended. br /br /"Relax! Look, I already got lectured by Goodwitch, I don't need to hear all that again from emyou/em!" Nix complained, not looking up from his Scroll. br /br /"Well, if you had given everyone a better first impression, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Malva cried back, pushing her middle and index fingers on her temples. "Do I need to tell you again that your actions represent the team as a whole? This a very prestigious academy, and you spent the first day goofing around like we're in elementary school! First professor Ozpin comments on your groggy appearance on our way to class, then professor Port tells you off for not paying attention. And then that! Can you please take this whole thing more seriously?"br /br /"Ugh! What's your problem?" The two teammates exchanged a prolonged irritated glare, but in the end, Nix was the loser of the stare-down. "My semblance is hypnosis, okay? I can gain some control over someone's mind for a short period of time. During that time I can either confuse them or tell them what to do. In that guy's case, I told him to not fight back. As far as I know, my victims can tell what's going on, but can't do anything until I call it off or it wears off on its own. So, yeah, that's it. Satisfied now?" br /br /There was a short silence, broken only by a small gasp from Rosanna. "That's pretty cool!" the blonde said, fascinated by Nix's ability. Malva, on the other hand, didn't share the girl's enthusiasm. br /br /"So, you emcheated/em."br /br /"I have the right to use my semblance, don't I?" Nix shrugged. "Rosanna used hers all the time, while you won only because of your semblance! So why can't I use mine to win?"br /br /"Because it's cheating! It's unfair for your opponent. You can't just do that!" Malva insisted, placing her hands on her hips. br /br /"Why not?" Little by little, Nix's tone of voice became louder, just like Malva's. br /br /"There ought to be some fair play. And because you're supposed to show your skills! Or perhaps, are there none to display?" Malva smiled cockily, raising an eyebrow. br /br /"Enough, you two. You can let it go now," Kris said, but was blatantly ignored. br /br /"My semblance emIS/em a skill of mine," Nix insisted, clenching his fists. "And, emperhaps, /embefore you jump into conclusions, should I inform you that I got accepted here through recommendations?" br /br /"Hah." Malva broke in a malevolent smirk. "Who on Remnant recommended emyou?/em"br /br /"emListen here, you little-"/embr /br /"emEnough./em" The tall lion faunus stepped between them, pushing both Nix and Malva away from each other. Albeit visibly irritated, Kris was still calm, as if he'd born witness to such a scene before. Rosanna sat awkwardly and nervously on her bed, eyes switching between the three. "You need to calm down," he told Malva sternly, like a parent patronizing his child. Malva glared daggers at the young man, shot the same look at Nix, and sat on one of the desk chairs with a loud exhale. br /br /"Alright, listen. It's obvious we have our differences," Kris continued. "We still don't know a lot about each other, but we need to get along if we want to have a pleasant time here. Nix, you're right when you say you have every right to use your semblance. We just gotta find a way to...emimplement/em it into a strategy so it's not... you know..." He made a vague gesture with his hands. br /br /"Cheating. emRight/em..." Nix mocked, crossing his arms over his chest. br /br /"No, no, bear with me for a sec. Think about it. Your hypnosis can create openings for our attacks; you can confuse our enemies to get us out of a pinch, giving the rest of us an opportunity to strike back. And since you're partnered up with Malva, you can figure out a way to keep opponents away from her. Or maybe even lure them into stepping into her dust mines- you know, the traps she used to win today. Or, emor/em, you can hypnotize them into turning their attention somewhere else, while the rest of us go in for a surprise attack..." Kris went on and on, excitement drawn all over his face, stopping only after noticing the others' expressions. br /br /A little flustered, he cleared his throat. "I mean, those are just some ideas, nothing solid at the moment... But there's potential, right? After all, professor Goodwitch did mention that we will be fighting as teams soon enough. Some of these could work."br /br /Nix knitted his eyebrows, considering some of Kris's ideas, until his face lit up. "Yeah...yeah! That could work! I could probably find a way to use it without getting Goodwitch angry. Maybe she won't complain as long as I don't tank the fight like today. But I can see some of these ideas happening."br /br /"In theory, they all work," Malva remarked. "It's easy to toss ideas out like that, and the possibilities are indeed endless, if one thinks about it. But we need to put them into practice before using them in a real fight. It would save us from an unwanted defeat, and tons of embarrassment."br /br /"Of course, we have to test them beforehand," Kris nodded. "How about we get to it tomorrow, after classes end? There's so many combinations we can come up with."br /br /"Somebody's getting worked up," Nix teased, but without making it sound mean. "Alright, alright. We'll work on 'em. You can fight pretty well, so I'm kinda fired up to see what we can come up with."br /br /"Do keep in mind that Goodwitch mentioned that she'll have us fight with our partners as well," Malva stated. "We will have to focus on that too." She looked over to Rosanna, who nodded. br /br /"Alright! Now, I can elaborate more on those ideas, based on what I understood from watching you fight. If you can give me some time to finish up something for Oobleck's assignment, I'll get back to that right away." Searching among the small stack of books on the desk, Kris picked out a notebook. br /br /At the sound of the word 'assignment', an expression of worry spread over Nix's and Rosanna's face. "Wh-when is it for?" the blonde asked nervously. br /br /"He said he wants to see the progress we made, so we have to show him something by Wednesday," Malva responded. br /br /"Ah, okay. We've got time," Nix sighed, giving Rosanna a reassuring wink. br /br /"Don't you dare leave it until last minute!" the purple-haired girl retorted. "Scrap work will affect our team's overall grades! Besides, it's not even that difficult. If you've studied just a bit of history, you'll find it very easy."br /br /"Also, most of the points-to-be-addressed were already written on the board," Kris added, not lifting his head from the book he was reading. br /br /"When... When did you even begin it?" Nix said in confusion. br /br /"We had some spare time between lunch and the sparring matches, right?" Kris replied. br /br /"So have you finished it?" Nix asked. Malva smirked, and handed him her notebook. Its first pages were filled with rows and rows of beautiful /br /"...What language is that?" he asked again, with Rosanna leaned over his shoulder peeking at Malva's notes and trying to compare them to her own /br /"That's cursive."br /br /"Well, can you translate it?"br /br /"Are you mad?! As if I'd let you copy my work!" She stretched out her arm, trying to grab her notebook from his /br /"Come on! Just the important stuff? I promise I'll change it up."br /br /"Weren't you two paying attention to Doctor Oobleck?" Malva exclaimed, finally yanking her notebook out of his hand. "You can't rely on us to write your homework for you! This is serious business!" br /br /"Come on! It's so hard to listen to him! He speaks so fast! Why does he speak so fast? And who thought it was a good idea to put him for our first period? And why did he have to give us an assignment emon the first day/em?" Nix continued, but knew Malva would not give in. But from the corner of his eye, he noticed Rosanna had sneaked up on Kris, copying like mad out of his book while he was writing. Malva would not give in, but emmaybe/em... "Oh, captain. My captain. Team leader-"br /br /"Nope. Not happening," Kris cut him off, turning around just in time for Rosanna to step away undetected. br /br /"emPlease. /emYou're my only hope. And well, Rosanna was straight-up copying your notes moments ago," Nix called out, pointing a finger at the /br /Rosanna turned red when Kris looked over, and squinted her eyes at Nix. "Snitch," she murmured. br /br /"I can't believe this..." Malva sighed and shook her /br /Nix's pleadings persisted, involuntarily dragging the blonde girl into the appeals. "Come emon! /emAt least help us out a little! Rosanna and I need your help! We're a team, aren't we? Didn't Ozpin say that we have to emwork together/em? It's not that big of a deal! Just once! Just some directions..." Nix said, but Kris, who couldn't help but laugh awkwardly, insisted that it'd be wrong. br /br /"Just give it up and do it on your own!" Malva squeaked. br /br /Still, the white-haired teenager was not ready to stop trying. "Alright, then. If you help us, then you can be sure I'm not letting anyone defeat us next time."br /br /"Since we're a team, we're all kind of expected to do exactly that when we fight..." Kris retorted. br /br /"Oh, and we're not expected to help each other with studying?" Nix returned, gesturing /br /"You could have already completed some of it, if you had simply started working..." Malva commented. Blushing profusely, Rosanna nodded in agreement and decided to sit down and get to it, but Nix was unfazed. br /br /Soon enough, the bargaining began. Nix showered his teammate with promises of treating the team to coffee, buying food, or doing the chores around the dorm, but what started off as simple suggestions quickly got out of control. Neither Kris nor Nix could keep a straight face anymore, and the initial negotiations had turned into a silly game of retorts coming back and forth. The cheerful duo was enjoying it, but eventually Nix decided to take action. br /br /"Okay, I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice!" he exclaimed and quickly moved his face in front of Kris's, as if to hypnotize him. br /br /The lion faunus was initially caught off-guard, but instants later realized Nix's intentions. "Dude!" he said. "Not cool! Look, you can hypnotize our enemies, but not us, okay? You're not gonna be using your semblance on team members."br /br /"Hmm..." Nix smiled cockily, crossing his hands over his chest. "Only if you help me out with the assignment." br /br /"Heh... so that was your plan all along?" Kris commented, narrowing his eyes at Nix. After all the pestering and negotiating, the lion faunus reluctantly gave in. "Just because it's only day one, okay?" he sighed, allowing the brown textbook to be snatched out of his hand. "But you won't copy it! You're going to make some effort. I'm gonna guide you and Rosanna through the assignment, so sit down and listen closely." br /br /Without a single word from either of them, Rosanna and Nix, pen and paper in hand, looked attentively at their leader as he recapped Oobleck's lecture on Remnant, emphasizing all the points that they had to include in their assignment. While Kris helped them, Malva immersed herself in elaborating the work she'd already done, leafing through her books. It wasn't long before she was finished, and while pondering what to study next, she heard Kris make a minor mistake. Unable to let it pass, she abandoned her desk, and, dropping a heavy history book onto Nix's lap, joined the makeshift lecture. /div
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