ㅤㅤㅤ

To Live and Learn

CHAPTER 1

"They say that victory comes from a small soul. If only those small souls have bigger brains."

-Gilbert Vermilion, Political Analyst

The trip to Beacon was not a comfortable one.

It wasn't because I was anxious that I was going to a school where teachers would try turning you into a killing machine through rigorous training and boring lectures, but it was because of an old enemy of mine—motion sickness. The first few hours weren't so bad. Dizziness aside, I thought that I would finally be able to get used to it, I have been riding these types of things several times now. Then I got a grim reminder that no matter how hard I try, air travel would still not get along with my weak stomach.

I've been struggling to hold my vomit for hours and the airship's lack of restrooms wasn't helping. Apparently, some moron on the airship manufacturing company thought it would be a hilarious idea not to add any lavatories despite long travel times and instead spend the rest of the budget on extra holo-screens. They didn't even bother to add any waste containers nor a single open window where I could just release it there and let an unlucky schmuck get hit by an indirect aerial assault. Thanks a lot, bastards; I hope you get sued for this one day.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon!" A female voice greeted via hologram. It was a sign that I was close to finishing that nightmare of a flight, which was a relief. I paid attention to the message, hoping that focusing on something else would slow down my nausea. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy!"

Which I never wanted in the first place. I felt bad for all the idealistic idiots who had the desire to get in here only for them to pick me instead. They would have made better Huntsmen than I would, even if they would last for only less than five seconds on the field before getting chomped on by a Beowolf because their overdesigned weapon ended up jamming before they could even use it. If I didn't care about trying to preserve my family's honor, I would have gladly traded this position with one of them and let the responsibilities of glorified pest control be their problem while I enjoy whatever boring empty lives they have.

The message continued. "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

Yeah right, I scoffed. If your definition of courage means running around and getting a crime lord killed only because you forgot that you brought a Grimm into town, then I fit just right in.

The hologram faded and everyone went to the windows to check the view, meanwhile, I was back with my losing battle against motion sickness. I tried to restrain my vomit for a few more minutes before the airship would be able to reach Beacon's port. But alas, I came to the point where I couldn't hold it any longer, so I gave up and let some of it out before stopping. I swallowed it back and panted for air before holding it out again.

I saw that my pool of bile ended up hitting one of the brown shoes of an above-average looking blonde girl with long messy hair, who was being accompanied by a short girl with a red and black dress that looked popular for teenagers in a goth phase. Both of the girls were shrieking out of disgust and were withdrawing themselves from the puke. Knowing that they can kick my ass at a minute's notice over this and not because I think girls take their shoes seriously, I slinked towards the corner of the ship, not caring about the disgusted remarks being made by other attendees.

I'm going to file a complaint to the airship manufacturers after this.

A few minutes passed which felt like an eternity. The airship finally came to a halt and opened its doors. The first thing I did after exiting the ship was to quickly unload the rest of my vomit in the nearest garbage bin before getting up and panting for fresh air. I'm a son of a well-respected Huntsman who is also an Atlesian Commissar and a former military commander, and I have been said to be the one who saved a humble town from a ruthless bandit lord and an overgrown Ursa that even fully-trained Huntsmen struggle to defeat... and the first five seconds in Beacon has me throwing up in a trash bin. Not exactly the best way to start your school year as the Savior of Podunk or whatever they call me.

After finally departing from a lengthy battle with nausea, I took a moment to relax and headed to the courtyard to give my first impressions of the academy. I stopped in the middle of the tracks to appreciate the academy's structure. I heard people say how beautiful Beacon is and I've seen pictures of the academy itself but I was not prepared to be astounded by its beauty in the flesh. It truly did earn the moniker, 'The Shining Beacon' as it almost looked out of place being located next to the city of Vale, home of Vav [1]. The world's capital for bad teeth, manic sports fans, wrong-hand driving, random stabbings, endless raining, and the worst national dishes outside of tea.

Now I'm no expert when it comes to architecture but Beacon looked more like a palace than a school. If it didn't call itself an academy, you could easily trick someone into believing that royalty or an evil wizard or dragon lives there. Then again being one of the most prestigious academies in the world gives you the privileges of rubbing your glamour on the other schools' faces, or it's just another example of Vale clinging on to their romanticized past of chivalric knights, castles, princesses, and such. Now with that being said, the structure is quite remarkable, it almost makes me forget that this place would probably be the death of me.

My gaze was rudely interrupted when I heard what sounded like an explosion. I was only here for barely a couple of minutes and we're already having them. I turned around and saw the short goth-looking girl from earlier being yelled at by a familiar regal-looking girl almost entirely clad in white. The only thing I heard was when the first girl called the other a princess or something before another girl entered the scene. This one had long black hair and wore the most oversized bow I've ever seen on the top of her head. Gods, and I thought those only existed in silly cartoons. The girl in white angrily took something from her before leaving. [2]

"I promise I'll make it up to you!" the gothic girl in red cried out to her, who was probably pretending to not have heard her. She sighed and turned to the other girl, only to see her walking away as well. All alone, she sat down and fell to the ground.

I got to admit, that girl in black had a pretty nice hind. I found myself mesmerized by it while she was leaving before I snapped out of it and realized that the girl in red and black was still miserably lying on the campus floor. I felt a hint of pity toward her so I decided to go out and help her, it would give her a better impression of me than the guy who almost puked on her boots. Besides, if I were to survive four years here, I needed someone to watch my rear.

"Hey," I called out. She opened her eyes, revealing her silver irises, something which I had never seen before. "You okay?" I asked, offering my hand.

She smiled and took my hand and rose from the ground. "I'm fine. Just having a rough start."

"Happens to the best of us," I said with a friendly smile to gain her trust. After practicing that smile for a while now, it all felt natural to me. It's as if I'm talking to one of my own sisters.

She paused for a moment before recognizing who I was. "Wait, aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

Well, that could have been worse.

=o=

1. Refers to the second titular character of Jaune's comic series, X-Ray and Vav, whose Valish heritage is a major part of the character.

2. It was just one of the dust vials that dropped after Ruby fell on my luggage. I had my servants take care of the rest.

We headed inside the academy's walls together. As we were walking, I tried to convince her how serious motion sickness was, how it's a more common problem than people think and why it's not my fault that air travel makes me nauseous.

"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind. I didn't quite get your name," she excused.

Oh right, I thought. We haven't properly introduced ourselves to each other. With that out of the way, I gave out the cheesiest introduction I could think of: "Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!" Okay, that was a little too cheesy than what I was aiming for but seeing her unconvinced face, it worked.

"Do they?"

They don't.

Instead of answering, I gave out a shrug. It's not like I'm going to convince her that ladies always fall for guys because of their cheesy pick-up lines. Mom said that women don't work that way.

"Names Ruby, Ruby Rose," she perkily introduced herself.

"That's a pretty name," I replied brightly. "I have a sister named Rose, you kind of remind me of her sometimes." Come to think of it, it's funny to see that having generations of parents name their kids after colors caused some kids to have the same name. I know at least four people named 'Amber', even my mom's name is a derivative of it to the point that some people call her that as a shortened nickname. [1]

Ruby smiled for a second but I noticed it turned upside-down. "Look, Jaune... I'm sorry for calling you 'Vomit Boy'. I guess I just was coping with the fact that my sister ditched me and that other girl yelled at me because I caused that explosion... might as well call me 'Crater Face', huh?"

I was rather confused on why she would call herself 'Crater Face' though because last time I checked—there weren't any craters below her I saw after the explosion. Now that I think of it, either my eyesight was failing me or the gods were too lazy to make one today.

Because of the awkward atmosphere, she decided to change the subject. "So… I got this thing." She pulled out her weapon, opening it out into a sniper rifle with a short scope. "This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one's mine," she presented proudly, cocking the charging handle before further expanding her weapon as it unfolds the curved blade beneath its barrel and then abruptly stabbed the ground, making me flinch slightly as I try not to think that she picked a farming tool that was meant to harvest crops of all the weapons to choose from. [2] "And it's also a scythe."

Of course, nowadays all the cool kids have a weapon that can turn into a gun, which ranges from plausible and practical (for example, Bleu's halberd rifle and admittedly El Segador's shotgun machetes.) to stupid and downright ridiculous that it begs you to ask what were they thinking when they were designing them and what gave them the idea that it would even work in combat. There was this one guy who had a laser yo-yo as a weapon, while his weapon didn't transform, it begged to ask what was he thinking when he designed that crap. Let's just say he became too crippled to become a huntsman. This is why I was never a big fan of these types of weapons, they'll only cause more problems than they would solve, and the more complex they are, the more prone they are to malfunctions and the more painful they are to maintain which is why I prefer simple and conventional weaponry that even a child could use.

I'm not sure what to think of a large mechanical scythe that could transform into a long-ranged weapon though, but considering she managed to get into Beacon, she probably made it work. Well, at least that's what I think, I really hope that silly thing doesn't end up becoming a liability.

I tried to sound as enthusiastic as I could. "Oh, that's cool!"

"So what do you got?"

I gulped for a moment since my weapons are pretty boring compared to others, then again I wasn't planning to impress anyone. "Well, I got this sword," I unsheathe the Crocea Mors and gave it a twirl. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age, as some may call it, but that's about it.

"Ooooohh!" She seemed impressed for whatever reason despite my weapon being arguably the dullest armament in an academy full of crazy hardware that I might as well bring a rusted shovel as my weapon and she would probably have the same reaction.

"And I got this shield" I took out the Désir Ardent and raised it to its shield form. Basically the closest thing I got to a transformable thingamajig.

"So, what do they do?" She asked, curious to see if they were just more than meets the eye.

"Well—the sword… kills things." I know it's blatant it really was the only answer I could think of. "And the shield gets smaller when I'm not using it," I said while demonstrating it and putting it back on my belt. "And before you ask, yes it still weighs the same." I have pretty much gotten accustomed to its weight since I used to carry shields that were just as heavy.

While it's nothing much to be proud of, I was happy with my choice of weapons. The simplicity of the sword makes it very useful, effective and easy to maintain. They're also still pretty common even if only a few people use them today, so if you lose your sword, you can easily just replace it with another one. As for the shield, it plays a crucial part in defense, and as for someone who values his life, the shield is my most trusted friend on the field of battle.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons," she giggled. "I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"That's nice. I never crafted my own weapon." I didn't have much of a reason to. I haven't attended any combat schools which would have required me to craft one. Besides, why bother making your own weapon, when there are several well-made weapons for you to use?

"Oh? So where'd you get it?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight during the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" she chuckled. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah... the classics," I muttered, putting my sword back to my sheathe. Not much of a classic as throwing a bucket of water under you before you land though. [3]

"So why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?" she asked as we continued to walk.

I thought for a reason before coming up with one. "Eh, why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'" I lied. Mom actually told me to never trust strangers, especially the suspicious-looking ones.

"Hmm..." Ruby hummed. "Hey, where are we going?"

I didn't realize we were wandering around blindly until she brought that up. "Oh, I don't know. I was following you."

They didn't exactly give me a map or anything, they just told me to get to the auditorium once I arrived. We found ourselves lost inside. There wasn't a directory or some recognizable landmark we could as a reference.

I looked around for a clue and in a distance, I saw a tall, athletic, redheaded beauty who caught my attention. I squinted my eyes and leaned my head closer to take a good look at her. She looked kind of familiar, I think I've seen her before from somewhere I have trouble recalling. She was curiously looking around before walking away.

"Uhh, Jaune?" Ruby waved her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"

I snapped out of my daze before pointing towards the tall redhead. "Let's follow her, I think she'll take us to the auditorium," I said, proceeding forward as the girl led the way while we remained discreet she wouldn't realize that she was being followed by two lost weirdos.

=o=

1. An unfortunate side effect of the colorful naming convention that remains a problem to this day, while common names were a thing before the Rainbow Revolution, the first batch were mostly named after basic colors, which provided almost no variety and caused bureaucratic problems and confusion around the world where it would be eventually dubbed as the 'Rainbow Crisis'. Ever since then, names referring to colors have become more diverse, sometimes loosely, but even then, some of them are still overused, especially with less creative parents.

2. Ignoring the fact that scythes have been proven to be effective melee weapons, and the existence of war scythes, which while different from regular scythes, still prove that they can be used as weapons.

3. A supposed method of preventing injury while falling from a significant height. Without aid from aura, this obviously doesn't work. Unfortunately, I am unable to find what made him say this and what makes it a 'classic', so this means we could only speculate for now.

The annoyingly familiar redhead led us to a large building before being pulled over by a group of people who seemed to recognize her. Judging by that, she either has a lot of friends or she's some sort of famous celebrity. Either way, she continued to enter the building while being followed by the said group.

"Well, this must be it." I declared. The two of us entered the hall and saw an entire audience of soon-to-be Grimm fodder, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Just by looking at everyone, I realized that I looked somewhat out of place. Everyone looked like they were dressed to kill with their over-the-top Grimm-killin' gear, meanwhile, my "Huntsman outfit" simply consisted of my everyday outdoor attire with some armor on. I could only hope that this didn't make me look like an easy target.

"Ruby! Over here!" called out the blonde from earlier whose shoes I vomited on. Her appearance was distinct enough that she stuck out like a sore thumb among a crowd that might as well be a bunch of faceless silhouettes. "I saved you a spot!"

"Oh, hey I gotta go. I'll see you after the ceremony!" Ruby then left for her blonde friend.

I was actually glad to have met her, that girl's optimism was able to brighten my day. I hope things go well in her choice of profession with that fancy sniper-scythe of her, and I mean it, really.

Looking around the auditorium, I was able to spot the redheaded girl I followed. Still curious about who she was, I wanted a closer look. So I moved forward, pardoning myself from the people until I was beside her.

She noticed me move toward her side, so I found it necessary to greet her before this could get any more awkward. "Umm... hi.

"Hello," she graciously greeted me back, though it sounded like she was trying to be polite.

I felt a little tense with this acquaintance for whatever reason. The only thing I could do was continue the small talk in order to keep my first impression from becoming worse. "Nervous?"

She made a single shrug, looking away for a second. "I guess you can say that."

"So, mind if I ask for your name?" I then asked. She looked at me again and I saw her emerald eyes widen, looking surprised by that question. That made me worry for a second, I thought that I might have said something that could have offended her.

"Pyrrha Nikos," she answered with a reassuring smile. "It's fine. There's no harm in asking."

That was able to ease my apprehensions, unfortunately, I still couldn't stop stuttering like a clueless idiot who never met a woman before. "Uhh... okay... thanks. Ja-Jaune Arc. A pleasure to meet you, Pyrrha." I offered my hand.

"Likewise," she accepted the gesture.

"Look, sorry if I bothered you. It's just... you looked familiar, and I just wanted to get that out of my system," I told her.

"Don't worry about it. In fact, it feels nice for someone not to recognize me for a change," she said, confirming that she was popular indeed which made me kind of glad that the same thing didn't happen to me, given that I have been recently famous for.

I checked to see how Ruby was doing and saw her being scolded by that girl in white again, making me wonder what's the problem with them and if it had something to do with the craterless explosion that happened minutes ago.

"…Like tall, blond, and scraggly over there." I heard her say to Ruby, apparently pointing her thumb back in my direction. I wasn't quite sure if she was talking about me, I mean I wasn't the only tall blond in the crowd. But I figured that any questions would have to wait because our opening ceremony was about to begin.

Enter The Great Powerful Ozpin[1] – the man responsible for trapping me here. Turns out, my little joke about an evil wizard living in Beacon wasn't far-fetched. Beside him was the woman from the hologram in the airship–Glynda Goodwitch, if I'm not mistaken. Not exactly bad-looking for a teacher but she's a little too old for my tastes and I prefer women that don't have any wrinkles on their faces.

He approached the microphone and spoke. "Ahem" Everyone in the room turned to him. "I shall keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

Heh, you wish, I thought, faintly scoffing at him as I stood in the crowd.

His speech then became a little more blunt, much to everyone's shock and confusion. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction..." he gave a subtle glare at me as if that remark was directed towards myself. Considering that Dad told me almost the same thing, that's probably the case. Nobody was able to notice this because they were too busy murmuring about what the hell he was talking about.

He looked back at the crowd and continued. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." The way he was speaking, it felt like a lecture for me disguised as an opening ceremony for the school, and I'm not sure if I should feel offended or not. "It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin turned back, leaving the stage as Miss Goodwitch stepped up. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed," she announced before leaving as well.

Normally, I would still think of something witty, but I just stood there, trying to comprehend if Ozpin just called me out in front of the entire school.

I was able to stop spacing out before Pyrrha was able to see me in my bewildered state. "That was... strange." She was visibly just as perplexed as everyone else.

"You tell me," I replied, hiding the frightened tone in my voice. Wanting to move on, I decided to go check up on Ruby. "I got to go, it was nice knowing you, Pyrrha."

"It was nice to meet you too," she nodded gladly. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"That'll be great," I said before finally moving on. I walked toward where Ruby was standing, interjecting between whatever ongoing conversation she had with that other girl that I swore I'd seen and heard before but I couldn't seem to put my finger on it. "Hey Ruby, is there something wrong?"

I turned my head to the girl in white to finally get a good look at her, I once again found myself in a gaze. She was actually quite beautiful up close. Her silver hair was nicely complemented with a side ponytail that was pinned with something that resembles a tiara. She had light blue eyes with a scar on the left that made her look no less graceful. Her body was a little petite, right down to having a modest chest, but I can't help but think that it adds to her angelic appearance. I never believed in love at first sight, dismissing them as ludicrous nonsense popularized by mediocre romance novels... until now.

...Then I took it all back after she opened her mouth.

"Yes, there is something wrong!" she answered before Ruby could say anything. "Your idiot of a girlfriend almost got us killed!"

I slightly flinched. There goes my plan to ask out this pretty if irritable white-haired chick. She may look like an angel but from what I've seen so far, she acts far from it. "Whoa, okay first off, I am not her boyfriend, and second... who are you?"

In contrast to Pyrrha, she did not take kindly to my lack of recognition. "Have you been living under a rock?!" She yelled before toning her voice down to a prouder manner. "I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Cool, and I'm the vice-mayor of Who-gives-a-crapville. I'm familiar with the Schnee Dust Company, or the SDC, for short. It's that Atlesian company that has its name everywhere from tall, glamorous buildings with bright lights that basically say 'We're a big deal'; to cheap, disposable plastic bags you see littered on the streets. I just couldn't bother to know what's beyond their company name and products. I rarely use dust myself in a practical sense.

It then hit me that this was the same girl whose concert I attended during a field trip when I was in military academy. I didn't pay much attention to her as I only cared about receiving extra credit from the trip, but I did remember her having a beautiful voice when she sings. It's a shame that from what I've seen from her so far, her talent did not match her attitude.

"The name's Arc, Jaune Arc. Pleasure to meet you." Well, it was a pleasure for maybe like three seconds.

Her expression barely changed. "Now with that out of the way, would you kindly tell your friend to be more careful around dust?! I don't need her causing more property damage." [2]

"I'm sure she already apologized and promised not to repeat it again," I said, hoping there weren't any hard feelings despite her repulsive attitude, especially for someone with a pretty face like that. "And if that wasn't enough then I would also like to apologize on her behalf."

She groaned and decided to change the subject. "I noticed that you've made your acquaintance with Pyrrha Nikos..." she folded her arms. "Do you have no idea who she is as well?"

Oh no, I could see where this was going, I thought. "Well... she looked kind of familiar. No, I can't say I heard of her though."

Her eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and befuddlement as if I said something that is absurd. "Excuse me? You really don't know who she is?!" I simply shook my head. In my defense, just because someone was famous, it doesn't mean I should make a big deal about it. "She graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it." There are a lot of academies with their own pretentious-sounding names that I couldn't bother to keep track of them all even if I were familiar with them.

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row, a new record!"

"The what?" I know what Region Tournaments are, of course. They were just something I couldn't care less about.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" [3]

"Wait, that was her?!" That one, however, got my utmost attention. I couldn't give a frack about who she was and what school she goes to, but her being The current mascot of the latest edition of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes made me feel like I was able to discover one of my life's greatest mysteries that I didn't know I wanted. It was no wonder why she looked familiar, ever since her face was slapped on every Marshmallow Flakes box, I've been trying to ask: 'Who is this chick and what is she doing on my cereal box?' before immediately moving on and just ate its contents. It didn't bug me again until now.

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think she deserves your time?"

I was already aware that I was out of her league the moment I saw her fans surround her. I didn't have any plans to go through the trouble of arguing with some short-tempered pseudo-princess any further, so I just told her what she wanted to hear. "I guess not."

"Good. Speaking of which, why am I wasting my time with you imbeciles? Now if you'll excuse me, I shall take my leave." She said dismissively before walking away.

Sigh, it's one of those girls. I decided to annoy her one more time before she was able to make her exit. "Oh, and just for the record, I'm a natural blond."

"Whatever," she scoffed.

Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine, I chuckled to myself.

"You alright, Ruby?" I turned my head to her.

"I'm okay. We just set off on the wrong foot, I'm sure she'll be nicer soon! After all, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!"

Oh Brothers, I was worried she'd take that advice to heart.

"Hey," Ruby's blonde companion called. "Thanks for sticking for my sister there—wait a minute, are you the guy who puked at my shoes?"

I'd say that made me tense up had it not been for the fact that I was more curious on how she called Ruby her sister. "Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that. Not a fan of long airship rides."

"You know what? Fuhgeddaboutit. You've been nice to my sister so I guess that matters more. She could use a friend these days. Just be careful where you throw up next time, alright, Vomit Boy?" She said. Judging by that nickname, I can tell that she is definitely not living that one down.

"I'll try not to," I said before properly introducing myself. "It's Jaune Arc, by the way." I did my best to maintain eye contact and not have my sights fall toward her 'distracting assets' that she shamelessly left open for everyone to see. Thankfully, living with seven sisters helped me prepare for this type of situation. She kind of looks like Rose, sans the twin ponytails and the country-girl accent, instead she had hair that looks like it was never cut once in her life. [4] Despite that, it didn't make her any less attractive. One upside I could mention was that this academy has a knack for attracting rather fine young women.

"Yang Xiao Long, nice to meet you," she shook my hand even though it wasn't necessary. Her grip was tighter than I expected it to be so much that I almost felt like my hand was going to squeeze.

"You said you two are sisters?" I curiously asked, she barely had any physical resemblance to Ruby and they don't even use the same surname for whatever reason.

"Well, we're half-sisters. We have the same dad but we were born from different mothers." Yang looked down as they both frowned. It didn't take a genius to know that there was something that happened that they would rather not talk about. With that, I could only give them my sympathies.

"I see. Sorry for asking, I get a little curious sometimes." I apologized.

"It's okay, I didn't want to leave you hanging." She reassured, cheering up as if we forgot what our previous conversation was all about.

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby called. "Thanks again for standing up to me there."

"Just helping out a friend," I said, smiling at her.

"Man—can you believe that Weiss girl? She's such a bi-...very irritating person." Yang hissed, apparently refraining herself from calling her with something more vulgar.

"She's rather cold, don't you think?" I chimed in with a grin, partly joking about how she was from Atlas and how the temperature seems to drop in her presence.

She laughed. "That's my line, Vomit Boy. Anyhow, it was really nice to meet you. We'll catch you later, right now we wanna tour the rest of Beacon."

"Be seeing you, Jaune!" Ruby said, waving away as she followed her older sister.

"You too, Ruby," I replied.

Would you look at that, I thought to myself. I was able to get along with the girls whom I thought would be the first students to beat me up because my bile ended up on them. Not bad at all.

I looked around to see if Pyrrha was still in the auditorium but she was nowhere to be found, making me guess that she had already moved on to somewhere else. There wasn't any reason for me to stay in there any longer so it was time for me to head out as well.

=o=

1. Ozpin's nickname, used by almost every member of the Arc Family since Sir Harry "The Flash" Arc. Jaune also has a few other nicknames toward anyone he found to be abhorrent to an extent.

2. Friendly reminder that The Schnee Dust Company® is still not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company® product.

3. Amusingly, Pyrrha actually disliked the cereal despite saying that she enjoyed posing for the box.

4. A correct assumption. Yang takes her hair very seriously. In fact, she unlocked her semblance at her first attempted haircut. Needless to say, Taiyang Xiao Long had to pay for the damages.