Once Professor Ozpin gave a whole speech about what our time at Beacon was going to be like and after Professor Goodwitch told us about the procedure was going to be for tomorrow, myself, Andrea and the wolf-twins as I decided to call them headed down to the ballroom to set down our sleeping bags and change into our sleepwear. The girls went to the locker room whereas Elias and myself changed in the middle of the ballroom.
It turns out that neither of us cared if a girl saw us shirtless, and I was kind of hoping to see one of the girls checking me out, but to no avail. I sighed and put on a pair of cyan shorts and a light blue shirt that served as my pyjamas. Elias already put on a pair of dark green sweatpants when I noticed that his back had a massive tattoo on it.
Judging by the amount of surface area it covered, it must've cost the guy a lot of time and money to have it done. It stretched from just below the back of his neck down to his lower back. The art was of a smoking volcano with what looked to be obsidian rocks littering the mountainside. Before I could examine it further, Elias pulled on an apple green t-shirt.
"Hey, Elias?" I asked the wolf faunus.
"Hmm?"
"What's with the massive tattoo on your back?"
He smiled back at the confused expression I had on my face and laid down on his sleeping bag facing me and motioned for me to do the same. "Your semblance is always with you even if you're not using it at the time, right?" I nodded, still confused and laying on my own sleeping bag. "Since my semblance is being able to control rocks, I figured I might as well have my symbol on my body where it can be with me at all times rather than when I'm just wearing my combat gear." He finished.
"Wait, you can control rocks?" I asked, even more confused than before.
"Sort of. I can make stone surround my body, but like armor, it makes it a whole lot harder for me to move that part of my body." He demonstrated by holding out his right arm which now had a thick layer of rock around it. "So if for instance, I was to punch you with my right hand now, it would hurt a helluva lot more than if I wasn't using my semblance." The rocks then fell away from his arm and left nothing behind.
"Ok, I guess that makes sense. But wouldn't it have just been a whole lot cheaper to have your symbol on all of your clothes?" I asked.
He rolled his eyes at me. "It's a sentimental thing. My semblance is a part of me; it's not just something I put on whenever I want." Elias replied with crossed arms, indicating he wanted to end the conversation.
"So what's Dee's semblance?"
"What's with all the questions?" He asked me.
"Sorry, I didn't realize I was being so invasive." I replied, now lying on my back.
I heard him sigh. "Fine, just this last question then we should probably get some sleep." I then smiled at him and faced him from my position. "Her semblance is being able to control wind. She can hit you with a gust of air that can knock you off your feet." Elias said. "Now I get to ask you a couple since you asked me like, five." I nodded back. It's only fair.
"What's Andrea's semblance?"
I chuckled to myself quietly as I remembered my friend's personal ability. "She can basically become a shadow. She can't exactly turn herself invisible, but she shape shifts into this weird four-limbed black shadow. In the light, you can easily see her but when it's dark like it is now, it's almost impossible to see her. In fact, she might be listening to our conversation right now." I said looking around for the familiar shadow figure of my friend from Signal, only to see her sleeping in her own bag which was placed next to Denera's.
"Right then, second question: where's your symbol?"
"I just haven't thought of a good one yet or where to put it." I responded.
"Okay, last question. What's your semblance?"
I just shrugged at Elias. "Don't know it yet."
He gave me a look of curiosity, then shook his head. "Okay then, I guess I'll see you in the morning. G'night, Joe."
"Night, Elias." I said just as I noticed Weiss Schnee yelling at the two girls from the airship and a girl in a black nightgown blowing out a candle. I closed my eyes and put my head down on the pillow.
This is going to be a fun four years. I thought with a smile.
The next morning, I got up as quickly as I could and noticed Elias snoring quietly in his own sleeping bag. After changing, I decided to let the guy sleep and went to grab some breakfast. When I got to the cafeteria, I saw Andrea already there, eating her own breakfast with Denara, the two of them dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. The two of them saw me enter as they waved at me. I waved back and got a plate of scrambled eggs with a sausage, a few pieces of bacon and a glass of orange juice.
I approached where the girls were sitting and sat across the table from them.
"Morning, ladies." I greeted them.
"Morning, Joe." Denara replied.
"Sleeping Beauty." Andrea said with a smirk.
"Real funny." I said sarcastically. Looking at what my oldest friend was having for breakfast, I sighed and shot her an exhausted look.
"What?" She replied innocently.
"I thought you said you were going to stop drinking coffee." I said, gesturing to the paper cup with the dark brown drink inside.
"It's decaf." She replied back.
I shook my head. "Doesn't matter, it's still coffee." I said as Elias approached with a tray full of meat with only water to drink, taking a seat beside me.
"Hey guys." He greeted us. "I guess even Beacon has its fair share of bigots and assholes." He said casually.
Assuming he was referring to me, I immediately got offended. "What the fuck did I do?" I asked the wolf-faunus.
He looked at me confused for a second before smiling and shaking his head. "I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to this guy named Cardin I ran into on the way here."
"Let me guess, he hates faunus?" His sister interjected, to which Elias nodded.
Elias' smile faded as he talked. "He made a crack about my fangs and I hit him with a stone fist. He'll live, but his chest will be sore for a damn long time. But at least now he knows not to mess with me." He added, his smile returning.
"Just don't kill anybody." Denara pleaded with her brother. "Even if they are racist against faunus." Elias merely grunted in reply as he dug into his morning meal.
I looked around as I sipped my orange juice and noticed a ginger-haired girl practically bouncing around the room, talking to a guy who looked like he just wanted to enjoy his breakfast in peace.
I put down my drink and tapped the table in front of Andrea to get her attention and gestured at the hyper girl.
"Think you could give her some of that decaf?" I asked. Andrea and the wolf-twins laughed at my joke and continued to eat.
After we finished our meals, we headed down to the locker rooms to ready up for initiation.
I opened locker 635 and put on my gauntlets with rectrable broadsword-length blades and micro impact grenades inside. I picked up the two metal shoulder pauldrons and strapped them on, making sure they were nice and tight along with the lightweight metal shin guards.
After I was ready, I looked over to see what Elias had for weapons and armor, who was assigned to locker 634. It was obvious he favoured endurance and strength over speed as he was clad in full metal leg guards, arm guards, a full chest plate and a half face mask that covered the lower part of his face, leaving his vision unhindered, all of his armor the same shade of green as his hair. On the upper right hand side of his chest plate was a smaller version of the tattoo he had on his back. His weapon appeared to be a large two handed-axe that he was strapped across his back.
"Before you ask, no it doesn't do anything else, it's just an axe." He said, noticing me looking at his equipment. "Can I assume those gauntlets don't just hold blades?"
His voice was slightly muffled from his mask, but I could still hear him clearly. I nodded. "They also hold micro impact grenades that are fired from the barrels on the underside of the gauntlet, whereas the blades expand from the top." I explained, gesturing to the barrels underneath and the slits at the top.
"Kind of an overdone type of weapon isn't it? I've only been at Beacon for a day and I've already seen two other students with gauntlets." He said.
"Yeah well, Castor and Pollux are mine and I think that they're special." I said. Besides, who gives a shit if other people have gauntlets? I thought to myself.
"Castor and Pollux?" He asked, clearly confused by the names of my weapons.
"They're the names of my uncles who helped me design and build them as well as use them in combat. Like you with your tattoo, it's a sentimental thing." I replied with a smirk.
"Fair enough." He said, closing his locker.
The girls were ready before we were and were waiting for us as we exited the locker room. Andrea had her special sword named Dusk and was lightly armoured up with hard leather bracers, shoulder pauldrons and shin guards. She uses this special fighting style that she probably told me about several times but I never bothered to remember where she only unsheathes her sword when she strikes and then sheathes it again when she's done attacking. If I remembered right, just before we left signal, she enhanced Dusk with a special type of dust that allowed for it to be ignited, shock enemies or lower their body temperature, the last part only being effective against other people.
I looked over at Denara who was dressed in much lighter armor than her brother, wearing metal arm guards, metal shin guards and a half-face mask identical to Elias' with a buckler shield on her back, everything also the same color of her hair. Her weapon looked to be a smaller, one handed version of the axe that Elias was using except in the middle of the axe, where the two parts of the blade met was a barrel so I assumed that the axe was also a gun. In her combat gear, I thought she looked even more beautiful.
A Valkyrie. I thought to myself. A beautiful woman warrior. I must've spaced because I felt Andrea shaking my shoulder.
"Joe, you awake? You realize that you have to be in order to pass initiation right?" She asked me.
I gently grabbed her hand and pushed it away from me. "Yes, Andrea, I'm very much awake." I said, catching one more quick look at Denara before I turned my gaze to my best friend. "Anyways, we should probably get moving." I said, gesturing in the direction of the cliffs.
I let Elias and Andrea take the lead as I walked behind them and beside Denara.
"So…" I started nervously. "I noticed that your brother's symbol is tattooed on his back. Did you do the same?"
"Why, you want to see me without a shirt?" She said flirtatiously.
Now me being the guy who has literally never had a girl say anything remotely close to that to me in that tone of voice just had no response whatsoever.
"I-I-I-I mean-uh…" She appeared to think my reaction was funny as hell judging by how she was laughing, which I had to admit only made her more attractive.
"It's alright, Joe. I was just messing with you." That put me at ease, but I could definitely feel my cheeks heating up. "And no, I didn't tattoo my symbol on my back. I just decided to put it on my shield." She reached behind her back and tapped the round shield twice. I looked at it and saw a blue gust of wind with several fallen trees behind it on a white background.
"That looks pretty cool." I said honestly. "And by the way, I wouldn't exactly mind seeing you without a shirt." I added with a smirk and a wink that I prayed to Oum she wouldn't find creepy.
"Well you're going to have to wait until after initiation, pretty boy." She said in what almost sounded like a disappointed voice as we approached the cliff side. The four of us took our positions on the far left four platforms as Professors Ozpin and Glynda explained what to do.
I tuned most of it out, but got the gist of it. Step 1: land without dying. Step 2: find a partner. Step 3: find the temple. Step 4: grab a relic. Step 5: head back to cliff with relic. Kill anything in your way.