Riliane woke from her peaceful and well deserved slumber due to Olive's loud excitement. "Wake up Captain Sleepyhead~"
Somewhat forcing herself to laugh at the nickname Riliane sat up, facing towards the rest of her new dorm room. She could tell from all the rustling that Xanthic and Amelia were both already awake. "Wh- what time is it?"
"Just past 7:30," Amelia answered softly from her place across the room.
"Do you all usually get up this early?"
"Early?" Xanthic sounded sincerely confused, "My parents would have a fit if I was still in my pajamas by eight." Though she could only assume from his statement, Xanthic was the only one already in his school uniform. She also couldn't see his face turn bright red. "Oh! Uh, sp- speaking of getting dressed I- I should uh probably… L- let you ladies do that…" He quickly left the room, the door shutting firmly behind him.
"Do you need any help, Captain?" Olive had almost immediately recognised Riliane's disability.
"I can manage dressing myself," She responded bitterly and fumbled with the clothing. Naturally it took her the longest before they let Xanthic back in.
His eyes quickly fell on Riliane and the ribbon tied sloppily around her neck. "Oh, um, let me help," Xanthic tied the red strip of fabric carefully and the bow looked much better.
"Uh… Thanks," Riliane wanted to be upset that she apparently couldn't tie a ribbon properly, but knew there was no point in getting mad about it.
"Do you guys think we should unpack now or after class?" Amelia held up her bag for emphasis.
"It'd be nice to get it out of the way I think," Xanthic voted.
"But chores in the morning are the worst," Olive objected. "Besides there wouldn't be any rush if we do it later."
"Riliane?" Amelia asked their leader for a tie breaker.
"Huh? Um… We could start now and finish later if we need to, probably. How much time is there until class anyway?"
"They begin at nine," Amelia said after rereading her schedule.
"That gives us an hour and eight minutes," Xanthic informed them.
"Should be plenty of time, right?" Her question was answered by various nods and mutterings of approval.
...
Nearly done with unpacking Olive and Xanthic were both kneeling at the bookshelf underneath the window filling it with various volumes of books and comics. "You read Red VS Blue too!?" Olive pointed excitedly at the small stack Xanthic was adding to his side.
"Y-yeah," He was slightly taken back by her sudden recognition, but smiled softly. "Though I wish the art was better in the early volumes…"
"Hm… Why don't you have the latest issues then? Surely you can afford them."
"Well, honestly, despite the better quality drawings, I don't care for them. I uh… really like Doc, so now that they've gotten rid of him-"
"He was the purple one right?"
"Er- that's right…" They continued talking about the series until everyone had finished up and decided it was time to go.
"Don't you need anything?" Amelia looked at Riliane who was the only one without a book bag.
"Not really," She waved her hand in front of her own face. "I have a bit of trouble learning from books." Riliane and Olive laughed at the joke, but the other two felt unsure about it.
Night seemed to fall quicker than it was supposed to that day for every student but Riliane. Because of her overprotective parents she had never attended a school before and while being initially filled with excitement it quickly faded into more negative emotions of self-pity and sorrow. She had never realised before how different her education had been due to her disability so her first time in a "normal" class was overwhelming. Riliane wasn't used to feeling inferior to her classmates like she did now, she wasn't even used to the feeling of competitiveness of having classmates. The day now over all she wanted was some time alone to reflect. With a clap of her hands Riliane activated her semblance and could "see" the sound waves reflect from the walls. This allowed her to have a sense of the still unfamiliar building and she followed the path leading to the roof that had become visible to her. Approaching the door she could make out someone's voice from the other side. She was about to turn back when the voice stopped suddenly and the door opened, "Riliane?"
No longer being muffled by the wall she could recognise the voice, "Oh, good evening Xanthic. L- lovely night, I'm guessing."
"Y- yeah, but uh, that's not really why I…"
A woman's voice came from his scroll, "Is something the matter, Xanthic?"
"Oh, uh, n- no! Not at all…" His face grew a shade of red as he held the scroll up to his ear again and spoke softer than before, "Er… I gotta go mom. Yes, I love you too, goodnight." The device deactivated with a soft click. Xanthic tried his best to play it cool, "S- so what're you doing up here Riliane? I would've thought you'd be in the dorm with Olive and Amelia."
"I just… I wanted some time to think by myself." She couldn't help but giggle, "Were you just on a call with your mom?"
"Er-" He sighed, "Yeah… It was part of a deal I made so I could attend Beacon… I have to call home regularly…"
"And I thought I had the most protective parents."
Xanthic smiled, "Being protective just means they care a lot, right?"
"I guess so…" Riliane stepped onto the roof and leaned back on the door closing it. "Though it feels a lot more like they don't have faith in me."
"Huh? Oh because of- Yeah, I can understand why you'd feel that way…" There was an awkward silence between them, "N-not to be rude, but um, how did you get up here by yourself?"
"With my semblance. Have I not told you guys about it yet?" Xanthic shook his head no. "Oh, sorry. Well, I can kind of…" She searched for the right words to describe the ability, "It's like I can see sound vibrations. The way sound waves bounce off objects I can perceive the world by the sound reflection, almost like bats do."
"So you could actually see the floor plan of the building just by standing in it?" Riliane nodded. "Wow… Wait, then why did you run into me during initiation? Was it not activated?"
"No, it was. I'm not sure why, but it was like you weren't there then after I hit you you were."
"Hm… Oh!" Xanthic chuckled, "It was my fault. You can only see things if they reflect sound waves. When you hit me my semblance was activated too, I can manipulate the amplitude of sound waves. I had created an area around myself that prevented sound from escaping, so I would have been invisible to you."
"On the airship then too?" He had to think for a bit before nodding. "Well that'll make fighting together a bit difficult, won't it?" Riliane sighed, "I have to lead people that I can't even see…"
"I'm not sure if my opinion means anything, but I still think you can be a great leader if you really put your mind to it."
"You're just saying that. You could probably do a better job than me."
"Th- that's not true at all!"
"Really? So you think someone who can't even tie a ribbon is a capable leader?"
His mind went back to that morning and his face now matched the ribbon in question, "S- sorry about that! I- uh, I'm just used to everything being so neatly done, I think… Uh… Not really the point…" He rubbed the back of his neck, "Well if you think about it, you're actually more impressive than you think… I mean you still can tie a ribbon despite being blind, but I can see perfectly and can't figure out a bow tie at all."
"That uh, doesn't exactly make me feel better… I already know I have to put things into perspective, but I just… I don't even know what purple is!"
"P-purple? It's like… Um… Lavender is purple, it's a relaxing color…"
Riliane looked at Xanthic with confusion and a bit of surprise etched onto her face, "What are you talking about?"
"Y- you wanted to know what purple was right? It's uh… Difficult to describe a color…" The confusion transferred to Xanthic as Riliane began laughing now, "S- sorry if I just sound... Well, stupid right now…"
"No, not at all. I've just never had somebody try to describe color for me, they always say it's just something you have to see to understand. But that's kinda my point I think, you're a far better leader than I could be. Heck you're gonna be in charge of a whole company someday, what's three students?"
"Three students is a very big deal!" Xanthic insisted, "A business is easy, just keep the numbers in line, but a team needs someone that knows what they're doing and is good with people. I've… I know I can't lead people, but well… You've hardly tried yet."
"You really think I'm the best option we have?"
"Of course. I mean n- no offense to Olive, but I can't really imagine her leading anything and with Amelia… You kinda have to talk to be a leader…"
"I guess you have a point…"
"So um… just stop worrying about it, cause all of us agree that you can do it."
Riliane smiled feeling at peace with herself and filled with a new determination to lead ROXA. "Xan can I ask you one more thing?"
"Of course, what is it?"
"Can you describe my hair color? Sometimes people compliment me on it, but I don't understand what they mean…"
"Oh, hm… have you ever gone outside, like, on a nice warm day and just… Enjoyed the feeling of the sun on your skin?" She nodded with a smile at the pleasant memories and Xanthic clarified, "Your hair is like the bright sun."
