The amphitheater was filled with students anxious to know their teammates, their roommates, and likely their most immediate friends for the next four years. All sat in pairs, clinging to further acquaint themselves to the comrade who had assisted them through the treacherous badlands. Not to the like, Raider avoided conversation with Calluna, and although she wished to meet with Duna and Hydra again, was forced into hiding by the severity of Calluna's plot. He and Raider had arrived first at the pick-up zone—thanks to Hydra's negligence—and consequently achieved the title of "the Hotshots of Haven" even before they returned to the academy. The reputation of excellence was a dull silver lining: however grateful Raider was for their triumph, she regretted losing not one but two possible friends.

Raider glanced at the phlegmatic goat beside her, and wondered if he would be her only companion; the hypothetical entranced her, and incidentally, she was startled when the static of a microphone crackled through the auditorium.

"Again, Headmaster Lionheart isn't feeling well so it seems you're stuck with me again." He was a familiar voice—the one that had forewarned their induction in the Badlands—and dressed in dull green overcoat, collar struck upward, and stone-gray undershirt. For a combat instructor, the attire was underwhelming, but the grueling exhaustion one could see within the old of his eyes was means to convince of a seasoned Huntsman. "He wrote a speech, but luckily for you, I didn't so let's get right into it."

"Ready yourself," Calluna whispered.

"What why?"

"Raider Ulfolk and Calluna Oldspell." Raider's hearted sped, and on impulse, she stood when Calluna did. They snaked through the isles and marched across stage; Raider's ears twitched in excitement and pride, and rather than surprise, the revelation as to why they were called first was made immediately clear: "You two arrived at the pickup zone first and with one of the fastest times to date. I commend your valor and your precision; however, in order to strengthen ourselves, we must make our weakest our strongest. To do so, you will be teamed with the pair who arrived at the evac last: Hydra Petralgama and Duna Marchog."

Raider nearly coughed, visibly lamenting to face those she had betrayed; she heard footsteps behind her and, stepping into line, Duna sent a sideways glare to Raider and Calluna.

"Hotshots of Haven, huh." Duna's tone was unamused, and though Raider winced at the vitriol, could say nothing to justify her accomplice role in their downfall. The wolf averted her eyes, and looked to Calluna for assurance: like a sentinel, he stared forward, seemingly unabashed by the quandrous formation of their team.

"You will fight, dine, and live together as Team Orchid," and as the letter assembled on the screen, Calluna visibly furrowed, "led by Raider Ulfolk."

Had she not so strongly desired to subjugate Calluna's pride, Raider might have stood in awestruck silence. But, so strongly compelled to curtail her partner's gross hold of their relationship, it was an instantaneous transition between total disbelief and utter satisfaction. Smirking, she leaned down and whispered, "Isn't that ironic, Luna?"

Brunswick congratulated Raider, and shook her hand to the chagrin of her teammates, and now, subordinates.

"Justice is dead," Duna muttered as they walked off stage.

"Don't be so grim," Hydra comforted, putting a hand on her coat, "Justice isn't dead. It's just… not here."

"Because it's dead."

"You know what?" Hydra dashed in the path of Duna, stopping her, Calluna, and Raider, "Duna, you may think this is some type of tragedy, and Calluna, you may think you were robbed of a title rightfully yours, and Raider, well, you look pretty smug so I don't think this is much of a loss for you."

"You don't say," Duna snapped only to be shushed by the green-hair.

"Here's the way I see it: Duna and I would've finished first had not certain atrocities been committed, Calluna, but you did have the wit to outsmart us, and for that, you finished first. This team, I think, is a combination of the two best teams—it's just unfortunate we ran into each other."

"I agree." For two reasons, Raider stepped to Hydra's side. Primarily, she agreed with him and was exhilarated and terrified to conceive this had been Calluna's plot all along: to artificially sabotage the foremost pair into last place and consequently team with them. Raider considered the plausibility of Calluna's cunning and was convinced that in order for him to do so, he must have thoroughly researched and calculated— something she would later like confront him over.

Secondarily, it would be prudent to sate Duna and Calluna's embittered cynicism to prevent the schoolgirl equivalent of a coup de tat.

"See? Raider gets it. Come on, Duna!"

"Fine! Whatever! We may have accidentally tricked Haven into making a dream team."

"Excellent!" Hydra stepped towards Calluna, undeterred by the lilac fire. "Come on, Cally—"

"We will reconcile by ice cream." There was a pause, and the sudden sound of Raider stifling laughter. Calluna momentarily eyed her, and she so stopped. "I want ice cream, and the atmosphere is tense."

Hydra and Duna were speechless: for the short time they'd known Calluna, he presented an immovably sour demeanor, so to demand such an absurdity was utterly dumbfounding. To Raider, however, it was an obvious ploy to control the situation and obvious refusal to the implied submission to her leadership.

"I want smoothies." Raider crossed her arms; it was never a chore to combat Calluna, and as it seemed, an activity out of leisure than necessity. Leading the team was her responsibility, so in the case Calluna did oppose her, she would be vindicated to reprimand him. The need to indirectly derail him should pale the option to directly confront, but the luster of the latter was of no interest to Raider. "We should hold it to a vote."

"All in favor of ice cream?" Unfortunately for Calluna, he was the only one to favor his suggestion; Raider had assumed Hydra and Duna would side with her simply by terms of personality favoritism. "Actually?"

Her team in tow, Raider cut through the crowd of Samba Smoothie patrons; it seemed as if many of the Haven students had similar idea of how to celebrate with their teams. "My treat, guys," Raider said, slapping a small stack of lien on the melmac counter.

"You sure, Raider—

"Just go with, Hydra." Duna waved a dismissive palm to her partner. "Raider: I'll have a large strawberry smoothie."

"Sounds good. Hydra? Calluna?"

"Mango sounds lovely," Hydra said, fingers upon his chin.

"I don't want a smoothie." Calluna crossed his arms, and Raider did the same.

"You can either choose or I'll choose for you."

"I don't want a smoothie."

"Ah, right. You don't want a smoothie, huh?" Raider turned to the store clerk: "One mango, one strawberry, and two pineapple smoothies." She slid the lien towards to the worker.

"Raider—"

"I'm just paying you back for helping me out back in the Badlands."

Hydra raised his hand to propose a counterpoint: "But since you saved Duna, doesn't that mean she should pay for your smoothie? "

"Um—"

"And since Calluna and I saved both of you, she should also pay for our drinks too."

"Hydra—"

"But I suppose that since it was Calluna's plan we should all pay for his drink—"

"I don't want a drink—"

"Hydra!" Raider huffed, "Look, this is about another time so just deal with it." And immediately after disclosing the encounter with the Death Stalker, she regretted having mentioning it.

Hydra crossed his arms and raised a stony brow. "There was another time Calluna saved you?"

"Yes, but—"

"So shouldn't you buy him two—"

Calluna stepped in an interrupted Hydra's misplaced chivalry. "I don't want a drink!" However, upon subsequent consideration, Raider opted to antagonize Calluna than to halt Hydra's hysterics: she turned to the clerk and handed them another fistful of lien.

"Make that three pineapple smoothies—"

"Raider," Calluna growled, attempting to grab the money from her hand; she swerved her wrist and shoved it to the clerk's chest.

"Four pineapple smoothies—"

"Are you daft?"

Raider leaned towards Calluna and flicked tip of his horn. "Five pineapple smoothies." Calluna's gloved hand slapped her her, yielding a dry satisfaction on her face. Duna's ice blue bore into Calluna's lilac, and on Raider's behalf, Duna shoved Calluna by the shoulder.

"Don't touch her like that, one-horn."

"Duna!" Hydra yelped, putting a hand to her shoulder, "We were just starting to get along—"

"Are you really going to just let this guy try and boss you all around?"

"I wouldn't say he's successful," Raider interjected, disarming Duna into a baffled response.

"Yes, I mean, but are you really going to let him try?"

Calluna retorted Duna with a bizarre form of embittered grace: "People typically confront the people they don't like. Your vicariousness is rather inconsiderate to our leader, Duna."

Hydra stepped between the goat and the human, putting a hand before each. "Enough infighting, please? Could we have a normal conversation? Look at everyone else here. All these teams and partners that actually like each other." Guilt affronted RCHD, and it seemed as if the quarrelling had stopped.

Raider's lips twisted in a pinched scowl, disappointed that it was by Hydra's remarks she realized her behavior was as obstinate to diplomacy as Calluna's. However, it seemed as if Calluna, in his off-putting veil of torpidity, had turned Duna's favor against him. But as much as she wanted a leash on at least one teammate, Raider's sensibility got the best of her; she took Calluna and Duna by the wrists, pulling them to the outside of the café. Hydra gathered the profuse quantity of smoothies and followed his team, his face rife with undertones of prolonged vexation.

"Look, it seems like we have a hard time liking each other; because of that, we're going to have to put a bit more work into getting along." Raider put her fist to her palm, and her ears flattened. "We're going to a combat school; if one of you wants to be a brat, I will give you combat. Got it, Duna?"

"Of course, leader—"

Disinterested in Duna's reply, Raider moved to inquire upon her partner. "Calluna?"

"I would rather not fight with my teammates," said Calluna in tactful agreement, "At least not physically." Duna blew a strand of white from her eyes, delicately provoked by her teammate's politics.

"Good. So can I enjoy my smoothie?" Raider looked to Hydra, struggling to carry the multitude of fruity drinks she had ordered. "Er, smoothies?"

"Good question, Raider," Hydra said, shoving a smoothie into Duna and Calluna's hands, "can we?"

"I think I had too many smoothies," Raider groaned as she stumbled into RCHD's dorm, suitcase drug behind her, "I feel like a drank a cup of Burn Dust. Let's just figure out the bed situation so I can lie down."

Duna and Calluna simultaneously diverged, placing their respective luggage upon the beds furthest from each other. With little energy left to amend her teammate's feud, Raider flopped on the bed next to Calluna's, prostrate on the sable sheets. Her ears drooped in discomfort, stomach rumbling from the obscene amounts of liquefied pineapple she'd ingested.

"I guess I'll take the bed next to Duna then," Hydra shrugged, sitting on the bed between his partner and Raider. "Oh, Raider, by the way, you didn't go to Sanctum, did you? I don't recall you there."

Raider's ears perked, and she turned her head to look at Hydra. "Nah, we had a family friend who went to Haven so I just worked with him to get in."

"That's peculiar! From what I know, typically parents send their children to academies, right?"

"My parents are extremely overprotective," she sighed and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, "It was a actually miracle that I was sent here."

"How do you mean?"

"I was only trained by a Huntsman so I could deal with bullies and criminals, not so I could become a Huntswoman. But as it happened, I happen to have quite the strong aura."

"That's pretty sick you got in then," Duna said, getting from her bed to join Hydra and Raider's chat, "There's no way I could've gotten in here without Sanctum."

"Nor I," Hydra added, "Compared to you guys, I don't even know why I'm here."

Raider pursued her lips; she hadn't seen Hydra fight, but he was someone she didn't mind placating. "I'm sure you're fine—"

Duna rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her partner. "Hydra means that he has a life."

"Outside the sword?" Raider inquired, tilting her head.

"He's a crazy good sculptor."

"Really?"

"You inflate me, my dear." Hydra smirked at Duna, then putting down and shaking his head. "I am an amateur, but my work somehow manages adoration from certain circles."

"How so?"

"I get endorsements from certain companies and museums—usually museums—

across Remnant," Hydra explained, "and they cover my materials and wage, and I make a statues for their exhibitions."

"We should all go to one sometime," Raider suggested, standing up, "anything for a teammate."

"That would be fantastic if you could!" Hydra stood as well, apparently infected by Raider's enthusiasm. "I'd even love to sculpt you sometime. Especially Calluna."

Calluna's head swung to look at Hydra, incredulous to what he heard. "Excuse me?"

"You have such an interesting profile." The snake eyes leapt across the bed and encapsulated Calluna between his hands. "The horn, the eyes—like… a nymph!" Hydra was ecstatic, even for his typical, cheery demeanor.

In unison, his team inquired, "A nymph?"

"From the myths, remember?" It seemed as if the only familiarity of nymphs belong to Hydra who, after discerning their silence as ignorance, kindly informed them: "They were the disciples of the Four Maidens; they roamed the forest, beautiful, nubile girls and guided wounded warriors to the safety of their enclaves."

Raider bit her lip and looked to Calluna, visibly amused by Hydra's description. "And you think Calluna is 'beautiful' and 'nubile?'"

"Such imagery is rare, and that lone horn is precisely evocative of the nymphs' downfall—"

"When society became organized, became civilizations," Calluna interrupted, "the nymphs strayed further from their hidden dwellings to find wanderers in peril. They strayed further and further from the paths, inevitably killed by the very Grimm they had saved so many brave soldiers from."

Duna, rather confused by the point of the story, bluntly said to Hydra, "Bummer, so why did you call Calluna pretty?"

"The nymphs were said to have long, brightly colored horns so that travelers could see them from afar and through flora." Hydra tapped the top of his head to pantomime horns. "The symbolism of a single horn is tragic—emblematic of the duality of the nymphs' credence to save lost warriors but their obsoletion by society's hand."

"Thanks," Calluna leapt from bed; he monetarily lingered in the doorway to the bathroom. "I'm glad I'm a symbol of the death of beauty." The door shut, and immediately guilt wracked Hydra's expression. "I'm taking a shower. We all should after today."

"I swear I didn't mean it like that—"

Raider put a hand on his shoulder. "We know you didn't, Hydra."

"He's just been a drama queen," Duna chuckled.

"And you're not being very empathetic." There was a certain protectiveness Duna inspired, and for whatever reason, Raider acted on it. Calluna reacted poorly, but as a Faunus, she didn't want to imagine losing an ear, what would possibly take it, or who would possibly take it. "Let's just get some sleep, guys—start fresh tomorrow."

Hydra sighed and kicked off his shoes. "Homework should distract us… from ourselves."

"Yes, that's what I'm looking forward to."

"Aren't we all?"