Generic Disclaimer: Seriously? You've already read it twice... or is it three times? I do not own RWBY.

-RWBYS-

-Chapter 3-

-Impressions and Awkward Moments-

Silver grinned slightly as he and his companions made their way towards the auditorium's entrance. "So, let me get this straight: we just walked around aimlessly for almost an hour... only to find out that we needed to go to the first place we should have checked? Because that makes perfect sense." The swordsman looked to either side in mild amusement; he was in the middle of the trio.

"It made sense to me!" protested a tall blond teenager with a sword, shaking his hands in front of him.

"Oh, well. At least we had time to talk!" was the only female's positive spin on the situation. She smiled winningly at her two companions, but mostly at the silver-haired swordsman.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Silver complained.

Cue innocent look from Red. "Doing what?"

"That!" Silver pointed at the wide-eyed, 'I-didn't-do-anything-wrong' face Red was directing at him. "It looks like I just kicked your puppy. That makes it really hard to be sarcastic."

Red blinked, then nodded apologetically. "Sorry."

Silver grinned, ruffling the girl's short black-red hair. "No problem." Red squeaked in embarrassment, then glared at the swordsman. He simply chuckled.

By this time, the trio had navigated through the ornate arch that served as the auditorium's entrance, and entered the building proper. Silver raised an eyebrow at the number of people gathered within, while Red looked around for her sister.

"Ruby! Silver! I saved you guys spots!" The two teenagers looked towards the person who had called their names. A cheerful blonde was waving at them enthusiastically from deeper in the crowd.

"Oh!" Ruby turned towards the only unnamed companion. "Hey, we gotta go. See you after the ceremony!" Turning, she scampered over to her sister's location.

Silver sighed, giving Jaune a look that clearly asked what, exactly, he had done to deserve such punishment. Patting the older swordsman's shoulder, he said, "Catch ya later. Oh, and avoid any women without pigmentation!" With that odd bit of advice, he flickered out of existence, reappearing behind the two sisters.

Jaune shook his head, sighing in mournful exasperation. "Ah, great. Where else am I supposed to find nice, quirky people to talk to?"

Silver heard the rhetorical question from his friend, and glanced over at the hapless older teen. What he saw brought a grin to his face. "Hey, Red, Yang? I'll be gone for a minute." Before either girl could protest, he flickered out of existence. Reappearing behind Jaune, he tapped the teen's shoulderguard. "I'd advise looking behind you. That's just me, though." Flashing a peace sign, he flickered out of existence again.

Blinking, Jaune muttered, "Huh?" Turning, he found a tall, attractive girl with fiery red hair watching him closely. "Er...Hi. I'm Jaune d'Arc." He waved awkwardly, smiling sheepishly with a small blush on his face.

"Pyrrha Nikos; nice to meet you."

Back with the sisters, Silver grinned as he watched the somewhat helpless blonde strike up a conversation with the redhead. 'Ah, the start of yet another friendship,' he thought, giving himself the mental equivalent of a pat on the back.

Yang had watched the younger fighter's actions with a small grin. 'Hm... Is he already starting to play matchmaker? I might get along with him after all!' Crossing her arms, she gave the two early-admit students a knowing look. "So, how's your first day been? Anything interesting happen yet?"

Ruby and Silver shared a weary glance, then returned their attention to Yang. Ruby scowled at the smiling blonde. "You mean, after you ditched us and we exploded?"

Yang grinned at her younger sister's word choice. "Yikes. Meltdowns for both of you? Already?"

Silver shook his head, smiling slightly. "No, as in, actual explosion. There was some fire, and some ice, and I think there was lightning... Whatever. It all makes a crater, no matter how ya slice it." He shrugged carelessly. Then he frowned with an ironic level of seriousness. "Or blow it up as the case may be."

"Are you two making fun of me?" Yang asked, grinning broadly at the two partners in crime.

Ruby scoffed, crossing her arms. "I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, then Blanc jumped in." She sent a small smile of gratitude towards the silver-haired boy, then continued her narration. "Then we sneezed, and then she blew up, and then she yelled again, and then Blanc almost killed her, and then I felt really, really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at us!"

Yang blinked at the rapid-fire relation of events, while Blanc simply sighed at Ruby's tendency to babble.

"YOU TWO!"

"Oh, God, it's happening again!" Ruby panicked and jumped onto Blanc, who caught her.

"Uh...R-Ruby?" Blanc's face turned the color of his eyes as he found the small girl's face only a few inches away from his own. He was also intimately aware of the fact that he was holding Ruby against his chest. 'I'm not sure which is worse. The fact this is actually happening or the fact that I really don't mind it?' He blinked. 'Oh, crap... Overprotective sister in area!'

"Er... S-sorry, Blanc..." Ruby trailed off, cheeks putting her namesake to shame.

Yang was watching the two, torn between taking a picture to tease Ruby with and killing Blanc with his own swords. Her face was frozen in a grin, while her fists were clenched tightly.

Silver smiled awkwardly, lowering Ruby to the ground. Rubbing the back of his neck, he laughed, glancing nervously at Ruby's sister. Ruby awkwardly kicked the ground. Seeking to eliminate the pregnant pause that ensued, and to clear his head, Silver turned to the original cause of the odd scene. "Oh. You."

Silver's voice instantly turned hostile upon seeing the offender. Ruby nervously slid halfway behind Silver, using him as a human shield. The cause of their less-than-welcoming reactions was the presence of the albino girl from earlier, the one they had blown up. Scowling angrily, the colorless girl pointed at the two early admits. "You two are lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Yang slowly shook her head, disbelief evident on her face. "Oh, my God... You two actually exploded..."

Ruby instantly protested. "It was an accident!" Stepping out from behind Silver, she bowed her head in apology to the other girl. "I'm really, really sorry about earlier; it was an accident."

Weiss scowled, and held out a pair of pamphlets to the two younger teenagers. "What's this?" Ruby asked, somewhat confused.

"It appears to be some form of paper." Silver's deadpanned remark earned him a baleful glare from the albino. Smiling lazily, he returned his gaze to the pamphlet. 'Dust for Dummies and...Wow... And I thought I was a jerk, this girl should teach classes!'

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product." Silver grimaced as he and Red were subjected to what sounded like a legal disclaimer. He flickered out of sight, reappearing behind Weiss. He began to copy her actions mockingly, leading Red to clamp both hands over her mouth in an effort to stifle her laughter. "Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."

Grinning impudently, Silver slyly asked, "Do those applications include blowing yourself up?"

Ruby giggled at that point. Weiss glared at Silver with hate-filled eyes, but didn't deign to answer his taunt. Turning her frigid glare to Ruby, she pointedly asked, "You really want to start making things up to me?"

Ruby nodded eagerly. "Yeah!"

Silver just shrugged. "I really couldn't care less."

"Read those, and don't ever speak to me again." Weiss scowled at the two, doing her best to kill them through hateful staring alone. She failed quite miserably.

"If you keep scowling like that, your face might freeze that way, Ice Queen." Silver grinned at the hostile girl. "If it hasn't already," he muttered in an undertone.

Yang sighed at the trio's conflicting personalities and antics. "Look, uh, it sounds like you three just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you just start over and try to be friends?"

Silver grimaced and shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, I really couldn't. I don't forgive people easily."

Ruby winced at Silver's eternal stubbornness and kicked him in the shin. A hollow clank was the result as her metal-toed boot met with his armor. "Come on, Blanc, don't be so mean!" Turning to Weiss, she extended a hand in apology. "I'm Ruby. It's nice to meet you! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

Blanc stared at Red for a full five seconds, then rammed his hand into his forehead, sighing through gritted teeth in exasperation as he did so. 'How can anyone be that freaking nice?! Sweet Mother of Ashes, I hope that mindset isn't contagious!'

Yang laughed at the swordsman's response to Ruby's friendly attitude. The blond girl gave the exasperated boy a comforting pat on the back, barely holding back another fit of laughter. "There, there."

Weiss pasted on a bright smile, and replied with enough sarcasm to kill a lesser person. "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, silver, and weird here!" She pointed at Blanc.

Ruby blinked, then scowled at Weiss. "I'm nice, not dumb! You don't have to be sarcastic about it! And Blanc is not weird!"

Blanc smiled slightly at Ruby's defense of him. "I am sort of weird, actually, Red. But the thought is appreciated." The smile turned from his usual cynical twist of the lips to a smile that actually touched his eyes. "Thank you."

The three girls blinked in mild surprise at the change the small act of smiling had on Blanc's features. The small lines between his eyebrows vanished, as did the tense set to his jaw. The air of bitter, self-mocking sorrow evaporated from around his eyes. All in all, it transformed the cynical, sarcastic swordsman into a much more cheerful-seeming person.

Within a minute, though, Silver's usual demeanor reasserted itself. "Ozpin's about to say something." He pointed up at the stage, where an older silver-haired man was preparing to address the students.

The professor cleared his throat and thumped the microphone twice. "I'll... 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. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

Silver scoffed half-heartedly. "Then give us a compass." The two sisters glared at him, but noticed that his humor lacked its usual effort.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Sweeping his penetrating gaze over the massed students one last time, he turned to leave.

Ruby used the lull in speakers to poke Silver in the side. "Hey, Blanc. Are you okay?" The cause for her concern was the fact that her cheerful companion was staring at the ground, eyes downcast and far more mournful than normal.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Red."

On stage, the Huntress who had set Ruby and Blanc on the path to Beacon stepped up to the microphone. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Yang glanced at her sister and friend. "Was it just me? Or did he seem kind of... off?"

Ruby nodded, still looking at Blanc in concern. "It's almost like he wasn't even there."

"Probably lost in his own thoughts. We all have our own concerns." Silver's voice was quieter than normal, more serious and mature. Looking up, he grinned at the two sisters. "Listen, I've got to go ask the Headmaster a question. I'll probably be pulling a late night, so save me a spot, eh? Thanks!" Before anyone could comment, he flickered away.

"Why does he always do that?" Ruby wondered out loud. Yang shrugged.

-Later-

Ruby was sprawled out on her sleeping bag, writing. All around her, other students were in similar positions. Dressed in a black tank-top and rose-patterned pants, Ruby was less than aware of the world around her. To her left was an empty sleeping bag, with a small note reading 'Blanc Argent.'

"It's like a big slumber party!" Ruby glanced up to find Yang crashing onto her own sleeping bag, to Ruby's right side.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby said absently, going back to writing.

Yang grinned appreciatively at a group of muscular, shirtless boys. "I know I do!" She then gave her sister a sly glance. "And I doubt you object to the idea of Blanc being around, do you?"

Ruby flushed slightly, but continued writing in her notebook. "Blanc's different, sis. He's already a really good friend!"

Yang laughed , poking her sister's cheek. "That blush tells a different story, little sister! Admit it, you like him!"

Ruby's cheeks flared scarlet at Yang's accusation. "S-shut up! I do not!" When Yang kept laughing, Ruby resorted to delivering a pillow via air mail. Cheeks still flaming, she went back to her notebook.

"Whatcha writing?" Yang inquired, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes as she leaned in to read over her sister's shoulder.

"Oh, just a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going," Ruby answered, still writing in the small book.

Yang grinned broadly at her sister's plan. "Aw, that's so cute! Are you going to mention Silver?"

Ruby slammed her pen down, looking up at her sister balefully. "Cut it out! I do not like him!" Sighing, she flipped over onto her back. "Besides, I didn't get to take my friends with me to school!" She looked down, somewhat depressed by that. "It's weird not knowing anyone here."

Yang grinned at her sister's worries. "What about Jaune? He's... nice! There you go, plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!"

Ruby rolled her eyes, staring up at the ceiling. "Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero!" The last was delivered with a Silver-like sarcastic cheer.

Yang scoffed playfully at her sister. "There's no such things as negative friends! You just made one friend and... one enemy!" Another pillow flew at her face, scoring a direct hit on the blonde. Sighing, she gently punched her downcast sister's shoulder. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!"

Ruby smiled gratefully at her sister's attempt to cheer her up. "Yeah, you're right. And besides, I've already got you and Blanc." The sisters then noticed that someone had lit a candle next to the wall, sending a wavering light over the area. Ruby looked over at the candle, recognizing its owner. "That girl..."

Yang looked over at the girl, who was reading a rather thick book. "You know her?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not really, She saw what happened this morning, but left before we could say anything."

Standing, Yang smiled broadly. Grabbing Ruby by her arm, she hauled her little sister over to the reading girl's spot, declaring cheerily, "Well, now's your chance!"

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Ruby protested, struggling futilely against Yang's iron grip. Despite her best efforts, the blonde dragged the helpless Ruby across the floor.

" Hel-looo! I believe you two may know each other?" Yang cheerfully greeted the girl, who had looked up slightly from her book.

Studying the two for a moment with sharp amber eyes, the girl blinked. "Aren't you the girl who exploded? With the guy in the coat?"

Ruby winced as Yang released her arm. Rubbing the abused appendage, she smiled in minor embarrassment at the recognition. "Uh, yeah. That was me. I mean, us. I mean..." Shaking her head, Ruby tried again. "I'm Ruby. The guy in the coat was Silver."

The black-haired girl went back to her book, muttering, "Okay." Ruby just stood, smiling awkwardly.

Yang sighed in exasperation at her sister's social ineptness. "What are you doing?" she hissed under her breath.

"I don't know! Help me!" Ruby hissed back, glaring at her sister in equal parts accusation ad pleading.

Yang grimaced, then humored her sister's plea. "So, what's your name?" she cheerfully asked the bookworm.

"Blake." The girl seemed utterly uninterested in talking, but was rather annoyed that her reading had been interrupted.

Yang grinned awkwardly. "Well, Blake, I'm Ruby's older sister, Yang!" Casting about for a way to engage the quiet girl in a conversation, she noticed the cat ears Blake was wearing. "I like your bow!"

Blake's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and her voice was just as irritated. "Thanks."

Ruby winced, recognizing some of Blanc's manner in Blake's attitude. Yang, though, either didn't notice or didn't care. "It goes great with your... pajamas!"

Blake sighed in exasperation. "Riiight..."

Ruby laughed nervously, not wanting to become involved in a possible fight. Yang smiled and glanced at her shorter sister. "Er, nice night, don't you think?"

Blake's hands tightened on the cover of the book before she replied. "Yes- It's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book! Which I will continue to read. As soon as you leave!"

Yang blinked, then shrugged to her sister. "Yeah, this girl's a lost cause."

Ruby, though, had her interest piqued. "What's it about?"

Blake looked up at Ruby, somewhat confused by her question. "Huh?"

Ruby smiled and clarified her question, gesturing at the novel. "Your book. Does it have a name?"

"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body," Blake explained, closing the book slightly.

Yang rolled her eyes and sarcastically scoffed, "Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!"

Ruby stepped forward, smiling at the fact she had found a common interest with the asocial girl.

"I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed." She smiled a bit absently, reliving some of the fond memories. "Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!" She finished with a blindingly sincere grin.

Blake hid a small smile behind her book. "And why is that?" She laughed lightly, eyes crinkling slightly as her smile widened. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

Yang, sporting yet another of her mischievous smiles, cut in with yet another jab at her sister. "Maybe with a certain silver-haired boy?"

Ruby glared at her sister, silently wishing for something to fall on her. Blake glanced between the innocently grinning Yang and glaring Ruby, noticing the slightly pink tinge on the latter's cheeks. "Am I missing something?" she inquired curiously, lowering her book a tiny bit.

"No! Yang's just bugging me about something that totally is not true!"

Blake gave Ruby a deadpan stare, then remarked slyly, "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." If one were to look close enough, they'd be able to see the small, sly smile forming on the black-haired girl's lips. "But... Do you really think you'll get a happy ending?"

Ruby smiled and nodded enthusiastically, silver eyes shining. "Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!" She was in full stride by the end of her short monologue, sincerity emanating from her in almost palpable amounts.

Blake smiled at the younger girl's obviously honest answer and bright, upbeat attitude. "That's... very ambitious for a child." Her smile turned into a slightly concerned, pensive frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

Ruby nodded at the quieter girl's point, but only seemed to grow more optimistic. "Well, that's why we're here. To make it better."

Yang cheered joyfully, squishing her shorter sibling in a massive hug and lifting the squirming scythe-wielder into the air. "Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!"

Ruby growled, then kicked her legs out in an attempt to break free of her sister's grip by momentum. "Yang, cut it out!" The older sister responded with an elbow to the back, and the entire scene quickly degenerated from there. As in, punching-and-kicking degenerated.

Blake chuckled and shook her head at the sisters' antics. Smiling slightly, she began, "Well, Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure to ha-"

"What in the world is going on over here?!" Ruby had just seized Yang's leg and immobilized it when the all-too familiar voice reached their ears. A white-haired girl had stormed over to the chaotic corner, face contorted in a mask of annoyance. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

Yang noticed the girl's identity the same second that the newcomer saw her and Ruby. They pointed at each other and wailed melodramatically, in perfect sync, "Oh no! Not you again!"

Ruby, always the one to try to defuse arguments, quickly shushed the two older girls. "Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!" she pleaded frantically, looking between the two glaring women.

"Oh, now you're on my side!" the white-haired girl sneered, bracing her hands on her hips and giving Red an unimpressed glare.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby protested, shrugging. After a moment, she amended her statement. "Except for when you were being sarcastic."

"Yeah! What's your problem with my sister?!" Yang demanded, mirroring Weiss' pose.

"She and that idiot are hazards to my health!" accused the albino girl. She looked around the small group as if noticing something for the first time. "Where is that guy, anyway?"

Ruby looked to one side, muttering worriedly, "I haven't seen him in a few hours. He said he needed to talk to Ozpin about something, and to save him a spot..." She trailed off, a bit more worried about her friend than she had been a few minutes earlier.

"Don't worry, sis! Blanc's like a dog, he always shows up!" Yang reassured her sister, ruffling the shorter girl's black-red hair. Ruby nodded, smiling slightly. Then she glared at he sister for comparing her friend to a dog. Weiss scoffed at the younger girl's reliance on her taller, far scarier, companion. Blake rolled her eyes and blew out her candle.

-Later-

It was a bit after midnight when Ruby was awoken by a shuffling sound beside her sleeping bag. Blinking tiredly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and tried to identify the indistinct shape that was moving beside her. "Mmh... Wh's 'at?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh. Hey, Red. Sorry I woke you up," Blanc's voice answered, quieter than normal, from only a few feet away. He lowered himself into his own sleeping bag, drawing the upper flap up over his lap. "Did I miss anything life shattering?"

"No, not much. Talked to that black-haired girl from earlier. Argued with Yang." Ruby gave the swordsman a quick rundown on the events of the evening.

"You and Yang argued? Do I even want to know why?" Blanc inquired with his usual humor, undoubtedly smiling in the dark.

"No! I mean, it wasn't anything major. It was just her teasing me, honest!" Ruby babbled, not wanting to explain what, specifically, Yang had been taunting her about. Unknown to Blanc, she was blushing again. She was cut off, though, when her friend gently poked her in the forehead.

"Heheh. Alright, I get it. None of my business," Blanc dismissed the topic, setting his pillow up to his preferences. That done, he lay back, letting out a half-pained, half-weary sigh as he did so.

"You okay, Blanc?" Ruby asked, worried about the ruby-eyed teenager. It was the first time she had ever heard him sound tired, or in actual pain, and it was not a thing she liked hearing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just... a bit drained from working on my projects," Blanc dismissed the girl's worries casually, doing a very good job at hiding the slight edge in his voice that indicated pain. He yawned hugely, stretching out his shoulders and arms. "G'night, Ruby. Sleep well..."

Ruby blinked in surprise as her friend trailed off mid-sentence, beginning to snore softly as he did so. 'He must really be tired,' she mused, laying back in her own bedding. "Huh... He used my real name..." she murmured, already falling asleep.

A/N: And thus ends their first day at Beacon! Yes, Ruby and Blanc are already dealing with mutual attraction, but are still in denial about it. Ruby more so than Blanc. Yang is doing the typical older sister act of teasing her little sister, Weiss is... herself, and Blake is amused.

A note on Weiss and Blanc. These two are so alike it's scary. They both hide behind masks, only that Blanc's mask is far more friendly and less standoffish. It's sort of like those people you should get along with perfectly, but instead, you just hate each other. Don't worry, they will eventually stop trying to kill each other, but will always be like water and potassium.

And, yes, I did introduce Jaune and Pyrrha an episode early. Sue me. I just like messing around with pairings. Hopeless romantic, as anyone who knows me will tell you.