Peri was almost relieved when he heard that a boy had apparently vomited. Almost. The smell of the discharge wafted through the barge, making little boy blue gag. The stress of being on a flying ship, surrounded by strangers and the tension of having such a scary guy behind him almost made Peri vomit. Fortunately, before he had the chance, the airship finally docked, and Peri was pushed to the front of the queue out. It was one of the better parts of being so small.
Peri tightened the straps on his backpack and walked out into the glowing warmth of the sun, he felt sweat begin to flow down his forehead. It was about thirty five degrees, and the navy blue sweater Peri's mother made him wear was an unnecessary burden as he began to slowly trudge to the main boulevard. Peri's pace was stopped dead by a warm, yet commanding voice. Peri didn't catch what the voices owner had to say, but froze in his tracks.
"Hey, you!" the voice called out a second time. Peri turned to see another intimidating figure waving around Peri's brown leather wallet. He boy with the wallet stood twenty meters back. He was a taller boy who wore a white tailcoat. The right side of his chest shone in the sunlight with the amount of medals and badges he wore. Atop of his short, black air was the familiar white and grey of the Atlas, the colours were adorned on what looked like an officer corps cap. On his belt he wore a scabbard for a rather large looking sword, so large that Peri was surprised he could walk straight.
"Hello?" the boy walked closer towards him and Peri blinked, looking back at him, anxious to make the first move. "You dropped this." The boy said, offering out the wallet on an open palm.
Peri finally snapped out of his anxiety, and took the wallet. "Oh, thank you…." Peri mumbled quietly under his breath before continuing on his way. The boy in uniform followed at a brisk pace.
"Quite an exciting time, don't you think Peri?" he asked, ignoring the fact Peri was trying to avoid him. The boy overtook his smaller counterpart and began assessing Peri with his deep dark eyes.
Peri swallowed, "H-how d-did you g-get my name?" Peri asked, a little disturbed to say the least.
"Your wallet, it had a library card." The boy said with a smile "Apologies if I did offend Peri, my names Sevag." the boy said, "Captain Sevag Schwarz." Peri nodded in acknowledgment of the boy as they crossed the courtyard. "Quite an impressive view, isn't it?"
"Captain?" Peri asked curiously, it was quite a stretch to believe that this boy was also a captain.
"Yes, see." Sevag pointed to a badge, it was a small chrome badge which sat above the others which read 'Captain Sevag Schwarz'.
"Ah, so, what did you do?" Peri asked, not wanting to anger the taller of the two, or insult his ego.
"I was elected the rank by my peers," the soldier beamed "My superiors believed I was eligible and made me one of the candidates."
Superiors? Rank? Where did this boy come from, "Oh, so were you in the army, or something?" Peri asked.
"Atlas Military Academy." Sevag said with a small forlorn smile, "I was captain of Alpha Platoon, until, well I changed to train up as a Huntsmen."
Peri was confused, why had Sevag done this? He seemed successful to say the least, why would he transfer. "So, uh, why did you change?" Peri asked, "Why would you become a Huntsman?"
"It was a personal issue." He said, "There were some difficulties, and I decided to skip the hassle and enrol here instead." Sevag said curtly. He continued, albeit at a leisurely pace. The soldier's eyes glossed over the grand garden and lawn, as if to change the subject. "They're rather nice, aren't they?" Sevag said, "Nothing quite like a bit of greenery."
Peri nodded in agreement, it was quite a change from the drab concrete of inner city Vacuo. "Yeah, we uh, we don't have stuff like this back home."
"It's going to be good to call this place home." Sevag said, before looking out at the grand gardens that were laid out either side of the avenue.
"I uh, suppose it is." Peri said quietly, to be frank, it was nerve wracking for Peri to up and leave home like this, and was already having second thoughts.
"Suppose it is?" Sevag asked, "Peri, this is Beacon, perhaps the best academy for Huntsmen there is."
"Well I suppose it is…" Peri said quietly, "Why are you so damn sure it is?" he asked accusingly.
Sevag's brow furrowed in thought, "Well, you have to think about it statistically, and from a geographical position." Sevag said assertively.
"Geographical? What does geography have to do with anything?" Peri asked, raising an eyebrow at the taller soldier.
"Vale, is less than an hour's trip back there." Sevag said, "Most other academies have at least double that for transit time. There's nothing like having good food and the city a little over half an hour away."
Peri considered the argument and shrugged "What about statistics then?" Peri asked "What do they have to do with anything?"
"Beacon is the best academy in terms of academic output. They put out more Huntsmen than any other school." Sevag said, "That's the reason I'm here. If I wanted training, I'd be back in Atlas. A nation with an expert academy in its own right, yet I travelled across Remnant to be here." Sevag then paused, and smirked "Now, a question for you. Why are you such a contrarian?"
"A what?" Peri asked, having not heard the term before.
"Why are you so negative Peri?" Sevag teased "Why are you so fixated on trying to prove me wrong?"
"I am not." Peri said defensively. He wasn't going to have some Atlasean soldier try to make Peri look weak.
"Well you are, all this time you've been niggling away, trying to prove something or argue something. What I'm wondering is why?" Sevag asked, probing further.
"Well, I-I…." Peri didn't know what to say, trying to refute the argument was pointless.
"See, why are you so negative Peri?" Sevag asked "Today is the beginning of a new era for all of us." The soldier said "I suggest we enjoy it while we can."
Peri tried to shrug off what he said, but silently lamented it, Sevag was right in his own way. A pause passed between the two, until Peri decided to end it. "So, well, what now?" the smaller of the pair asked.
"I think we're about to get an introduction, we should get there before things get too crowded." Sevag said, noting that a large group of students was beginning to make its way to the entrance hall.
If there was one thing that Rory Crimson could enjoy, it was the way smaller people scuttled away before his intimidating size. A little grunt here and there meant he secured passage through the academy almost unopposed. He settled in the back of Beacons amphitheatre, as the students began to congregate.
Rory sat back and watched as the large amphitheatre begin to swell in audience as the airships deposited their cargo. He was going to engage in one his favourite pastimes, people watching. It was one of the more nuanced hobbies that the large boy took part in, whenever not antagonizing others. There was something about watching the relationships of others and attempting to decipher the context of strangers conversations. It was something that intrigued him.
Over the next twenty minutes, Rory observed new arrivals and studied them intently. For most of them, he could tell through their body language and the way they carried themselves, this was a tense time. There were some brave ones, people who'd carried over from the smaller, pre-huntsman academies, as well as near celebrities in their own right. Rory was a little surprised to see the eminent Phyrra Nikos make an arrival, he had been assuming she was going to either Atlas or Mistral.
The grand hall was awash with chat as old friends and allies reunited and engaged in small talk. That was until the room's lights dimmed. Rory's attention snapped to the centre stage. He observed a tall, lean man emerging onto stage carrying a cane. Through deduction, Rory assumed that must have been Beacon's head, the mysterious Ozpin. Rory sat back and got ready for the obligatory speech.
Ozpin stood tall and didn't appear to lean on his cane for support. Instead he addressed the crowd. "I'll keep this brief." He began in a voice louder than what Rory had expected. "You have come here today in search of knowledge." He paused, "To hone your craft, to acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."
That line got Sevag enthused, in his experience with speeches, they were usually preluded by a hook, before the pull which would bring everyone together. The Atlas cadet was left a little disappointed by what he heard next.
"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose," Ozpin paused, like a parent trying to give the talk to a small child. Sevag looked at the headmaster, he was confused. How was this meant to get them prepared for training and becoming humanities warriors? If anything, this was the talk a commander gruffly gave troops after a disastrous defeat. This was a day of praise for their determination. "Direction."
Rory was silently fuming as the headmaster then 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. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin then left the stage, leaving the amphitheater in a state of confusion and silence. Rory thinking one thing. What a bloody cop out.
The feeling was the same for Peri, whose heart deflated at the speech. Like the others, he'd anticipated something to raise his spirits, but instead it was something almost cynical. Was Ozpin simply jaded that he'd become little more than an over glorified high school teacher? Peri didn't voice his concerns, and looked at Sevag.
"What do we do now?" he asked the larger of the two.
On stage a blonde woman appeared and stood where Ozpin once was. "I suppose we wait for what she has to say, and then leave." Sevag said "They're probably going to direct us for somewhere to sleep."
The woman spoke in a calm, yet commanding manner "Now, if you'd follow me, I'll lead you to your beds for this evening."
Beacon's ballroom was set up with camp beds, ready to take the new cohort for a single night. Peri chose a bed next to the person he'd had the most to do with. Peri looked up at the ceiling as Sevag changed into his pyjamas. There was something mesmerizing about gazing at the ceiling. "Night Sevag." He said in a quiet voice.
"Night…." Sevag grunted in return, rolling onto his back and closing his eyes. Peri did the same and looked at the same spot on the roof, thinking about what the next day held for him. Apparently they were going to have some kind of initiation tomorrow. Peri was too exhausted to care and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.