Filia for most the trip to Beacon had kept her eyes closed. It had become more than clear to her that chances of returning to New Meridian have dropped to unfavorable odds. With no roof over her head because of getting fired the night before, she has somehow found herself attending yet another school. "No point in hiding it Samson, we are never going to see home again." She said opening her eyes and looking up toward Samson's hiding spot before continuing chuckling at a statement she said several weeks ago "Guess I really was meant not to find out who I was."
"Maybe if you are lucky enough, you will get bashed in the head hard enough to remember." Samson's sadistic statement did have truth to it. Two months after she got infected, she did try that just to end up with a mild concussion.
"I'd rather not take the risk... again." She sighed as she scanned the flying machine's passenger bay. There were a lot of students here. To her left she saw an overly dressed student in white, based on her looks she concluded that she may be of noble birth. The last time she encountered one of those types of individuals. Samson did not get along well with her, course it did not help when said noble happened to be both a fake and certain Egyptian dressed psychopath that killed several of his pasts hosts or a princess that actively tries to finish her own wars with a personal military division.
She continued her scan of those present. Other passengers consisted of a quiet out of the way Black haired girl nose deep in a book protected by a blank dust jacket, her cheeks somewhat red almost if embarrassed. A duo couple one that was reserve trying to calm the other one down as she jumped from area to area in a hyperactive behavior, a yellow armored girl with a surprisingly large crowd around her, apparently some of the rumors on the ship is she is some kind of huntress prodigy. The last two that caught her eye caused her to dive her head back into the newspaper she picked up this morning to fake reading it. The reason being is she recognized the two. The tallest of the two was the woman she delivered the shotgun shells to. She was busy strangling or bear hugging, hard to tell from this angle, a small kid in a red hood. Filia could tell she was the one from the robbery last night. She got up and began to make her way to the front of the flying ferry, so she was not noticed by them.
As she arrived toward the front the ferry conveniently managed to dock at the same time. She waited patiently looking toward the metallic door to see what the school looked like. Several students had gathered behind her now as the heavy doors began to fall. To Filia it was like the grand curtain of a theatre opening to the stage of a musical as Beacon Academy lied behind it. The school looked like a castle from a fantasy setting. Course, that was not too surprising to her anymore. Everything in this world felt like a fantasy novel revitalized. She was about to walk when a blonde boy ran past her in a hurry to vomit his insides out.
Filia stared at him as she walked on careful to sneak past the two from yesterday who were gawking at weapons that some of the people had. The one in red seemed to really, really like weapons. "(She is almost like Peacock, not sure if that is a good thing.)" was all that went through both Samson and Filia's head as the two passed unnoticed.
"Why are you avoiding people kid?" Samson finally built up the nerve to ask, "You know it will do you some good to begin getting some trust so you have people you can rely on in the future." He was speaking from experience it was how they always had shelter back in New Meridian. Samson knew a lot of people, granted a good portion were also infected with a form of parasite or a creature from the city's dark underbelly.
"It is as much for our sake and for there's. we do not know how they will react to seeing you. You and I don't really belong here." She continued her reasoning "The biggest reason is a person with a hat is less conspicuous than a person with living hair. If we're found out… I'd rather not find out what they would do. I would rather keep those who know about you to a minimal number, at least for now."
Samson grumbled as he began to shift himself into a more comfortable position under the baller hat as she continued to explore the campus. It was massive to say the least, it wouldn't surprise her if this place was at one point an actual castle.
As she contemplated the size of the school. a crowd rushed past her knocking her forward a little. She quickly adjusted her hat just to have it nearly blown off her again from a concussive shockwave that originated behind her. The heat from it felt intense. She quickly turned around to see two people completely covered in soot, one of the two was the girl in white from before, now mostly charred from the front and back. The other student caught in the center of the blast was the same little red hooded kid from before. She listened in to their talk or more accurately put, lecture from the "noble" as Samson would put it.
"What were you thinking?" she stated irritated at the kid in red's recklessness before looking at her more closely noting her size and age, "Aren't you a little young to be coming here? Beacon isn't any ordinary school, we're here to fight monsters."
Filia began to tune the two out and resume exploring the campus. "Whatever we do let's not Piss her off" Samson said sarcastically, she could tell Samson wants to scare that rich snob badly.
"Samson please don't, she seems to be rich. I don't want to get kicked out of our only shelter, or worse end up on a mafia hit list." Stories of the cat burglar, Ms. Fortune entered her mind. She encountered her once, but they never paid much mind to one another. Last, she ever heard about her was she was planning on stealing some vault worth of dirty cash from a Medici Mafia Laundering front to donate to an orphanage in need. they retaliated by hiring some assassin to take her out. she can't say she approved of her when she gets violent but, she did like the idea of helping those in need.
After walking around the campus, she managed to find an empty plaza to rest in. she sighed as she reached into the bag, she had brought with her and pulled out what she told was a pocket radio. After waking up this morning and getting evicted She decided to just use the cash to give her something to help her remind her of home. She picked it up in a secondhand shop as well as a few slabs that contained either music or in her preference old radio drama stories. Out of most of the ones she bought, she found the supposed legend of a warrior prince and the undying princess as it reminded her much of the old Annie TV show that always aired in New Meridian. Unfortunately, the strange card disc thing was badly damaged meaning only the start of the story worked. She pulled one of the weird cards out of their case and inserted it into the radio as the sound of more ritzy jazz music had started to play. She almost dazed off to the smooth jazz track before a shadowy figure blocked the light in her face. She opened her eyes to see the kid in red from the other day and the blond kid who threw up when they arrived. She immediately shot upward in shock.
"Sorry, sorry" the kid spoke as she jumped back from Filia's fast movement. "it's just I saw you at the dust shop yesterday." the girl spoke up after a quick look over Filia's attire which was poorly kept. "Are you joining Beacon to?" Filia nodded though remained quiet. The kid's enthusiasm seemed to get excited really quickly "I didn't know you were training to be a huntress." at this point she was holding back what appeared to be a load of energy and enthusiasm. "I can't wait either It is going to be so amazing, the adventure the weapons the…." She paused before realizing she seemed to be getting ahead of herself. "Er, sorry um I don't think I got your name." She responded sheepishly and embarrassed about her behavior though Filia and Samson were very much amused by it.
"It's fine. My name's Filia by the way" She smiled a little finally relaxed enough to somewhat forget that she was trying to hide Samson.
The girl in red seemed satisfied with her answer. Filia gestured to her causing the kid in red's silver eyes to widen "Oh right, I'm Ruby Rose and the person that was throwing up is Jaune." as she said his name, he held up a hand and waved.
Filia did a more in-depth look at the two of them she has only ever seen Ruby from either behind her or from a distance. She was about the same size as her with black hair though it seemed to show traces of red, she could not tell if it was because she had highlights or if it was natural. clothing wise, it was hard to miss the red cloak she had on. the rest of her attire consisted with a Black dress and Black corset with red straps. "(This kid makes Parasoul look more colorful)" was going through her head. the rest was not helping her case. with black stockings and what looked like black boots with just traces of red on most of her clothing. The only items outside of the cloak that exhibited additional colors was a dark gray belt embellished with a silver clip shaped and engraved like a rose flower and holding exposed ammo and a few secondary pouches hanging around her waist
Jaune on the other hand was what she would regard as slightly more confusing in design. simply put, he looked like an average high schooler on his day off after he decided to join a renaissance fair last second. a Black sweatshirt with a hood with a breast plate only on his chest and similar color and themed pauldrons to help guard his shoulders. down below was only a pair of blue jeans held up by a brown belt underneath a second belt that held his weapon, a sword.
Filia looked back at the two and decided to speak up "It's nice to meet you two." She commented somewhat nervous to her surprise Samson was not exactly on edge. If anything, he seemed to not be threatened by these two.
the two of them weren't sure what to make of Filia, her head was covered by a white Baller cap with a Black band wrapped around it. her basic clothing consisted of a stained white button shirt with two pockets on it. a small tie hung from her neck, but it has been torn to a point it looks like a mix between a scarf and a choker. a belt is wrapped around her to keep her skirt on. worn down purple stockings that head down to her surprisingly minimal damaged shoes. "So where are you from?" Jaune asked curious given her attire.
Filia looked at the sky trying to think of the best way to describe where she is from. "I'm from a, uh, Major Metropolitan that is a long way from here." She said quickly hoping they don't pursue it.
"So, from Atlas?" Jaune asked to get clarification.
"(Crap.)" She was getting nervous "Yeah let's go with that." Filia stated quickly without hesitation. It wasn't like she wanted to lie but telling it to the wrong person and she may find herself in a strait jacket.
Ruby stepped in "So, what do you use as a weapon?"
Filia raised an eyebrow "Excuse me?" That was one of the most direct approaches she had ever witnessed from anyone maybe outside of that weird nurse she encountered one night. even then they never walked up and asked how you fight.
"In combat what do you use to fight?" Ruby began to ask again.
"Er, as in a fists fight?" She asked almost confused she may have fought a few seeking the skullheart back home but she was not familiar with Remnant fully.
"Kid." Samson muttered close to her ear "She means against the Grimm."
"Yeah, my fists." Filia blurted out getting nervous that Samson was trying to give advice. She heard the parasite slightly groan suggesting she missed the point of what he was saying.
Ruby didn't seem convinced, or she was disappointed, it was hard to tell with energetic types. "You do all the, Wahhhhh. Yaaaaoooo?" as she spoke, she began to make series of ridiculous poses that a b rate martial arts film would produce. Filia and Jaune had to take a few steps back as they stared at her dumbfounded as she did this. Ruby realized she was being stared at and stopped without saying a word
Filia sighed almost concerned "Truth is I left my weapon at the From Dust Till Dawn shop a few hours before getting on the ferry to here." though She was lying it was better than saying 'I have a head of living hair that shapes shift into figures as she strikes.' She still was going to beat herself over this one a good portion of the time she has been on Remnant she has done nothing but lie. to a degree it had started to sicken her. she hated being lied to and now she must do it to keep an extremely hard to control secret.
To Filia's surprise Ruby seemed to believe her "Oh I see, well this is my weapon." she held out a red weird looking briefcase. Suddenly a stick shot out of one end. it looked like it could double as a gun barrel the middle section of the pole stayed the same mostly, but the device was now close to double Ruby's size. the end of the long shaft began to flip showing a giant blade slide out. "This is Crescent Rose." she stated proudly "I made it myself, all the students at Signal have to. It's a combination weapon a scythe and a high-powered sniper rifle"
"Woah." Filia stated somewhat surprised at the shapeshifting device. She walked around ruby taking in all the details. "It's a beautiful device." Ruby took a stoic pose as she complimented the giant bladed weapon. She looked at Jaune with curiosity regarding his weapon.
"Oh, my weapon doesn't do anything like that." He was a lot more modest than she was expecting. "It's just this sword and a collapsing shield."
Filia nodded to show signs of Acknowledgment before looking at them. "Those things must be heavy to lug around." she realized that both devices must have had a lot of weight to them, The Crescent Rose particularly seemed to look very heavy.
"Not really." Ruby said as she waited for her weapon to refold back up as she continued to speak "I would love to see your weapon when I get a chance" Filia nodded.
Samson tugged on the back of her head. "I imagine you would be surprised by him." Filia remarked though she saw that the two were surprised by the more cryptic meaning behind her words.
Just then a speaker went off. "All first-year students, please proceed to the entrance hall." it announced before going back into silence.
The three of them upon hearing the message and left to the entrance hall. it was huge to say the least, at best the room was larger than Filia's old high school's gym but it easily gave several theatres' a run for their money. the three of them parted ways to find a place to sit. Ruby ran towards the yellowed haired woman from before while Jaune just walked off sad over a lack of people to talk with. Filia just stayed in place listening to the speech. if it was one way to describe it was generic. this Ozpin person while Charismatic in approach could be called dull. All Filia got from it is there is experience and knowledge but the two go hand in hand. It is safe to say it was just the speech they give every year to make a student feel intimidated. The blond woman known as Goodwitch gave them their instructions about the next day's big inauguration mission. A form of rite of passage Beacon seems to do every year to ascertain if the new batch was ready for their practices.
hours later
Beacon's ballroom was no different in design, this place was simply gigantic, grand, and as absurd as it sounded mixed a lot of fantasy and science fiction elements. Filia however was not taking in the architecture of the school as she soon realized that this was going to be a hard night to get through. She was stuck in the middle of a room with a lot of wandering eye teenagers. Samson could easily be seen if the two were not careful. "Looks like we're going to be last to sleep, first to rise Samson" she sighed as she went to put her radio on again this time with the radio adventure drama: Trials of the Discarded. She was in the middle the episode when two figures loomed over her. she looked up to see Ruby with the Blond woman again. "Ruby, is something wrong?" she decided to keep a form of formalities since it was getting a little late.
"I came by to introduce you to my sister" she waved her arm in the blonde's direction. Filia blinked for a moment in shock at how small a world this seemed to be.
"Hey the name's Yang." She waved with a carefree approach.
"We've meant before." Filia responded while keeping her attention on the two. Yang looked at her in confusion as did Ruby. "I was the one that delivered your shotgun shells." She clarified quickly to avoid any longer confusion.
Yang looked at Filia before making the realization herself. "Wow, talk about a change in careers. So, you have any training?"
Filia eyed at Ruby for a quick second the waited to see if Samson was getting nervous. He was but no different than normal. She thought on it a bit before giving her answer "Some, mostly from street fights an associate puts me in. He's been training me for my own personal goal."
The two looked at her confused. "Personal goal?" Ruby repeated more so out of curiosity.
Filia brushed it off just as quickly "It is nothing, just an old desire. I cannot chase after it now, but he has been helping me still regardless."
Yang looked at her with a look of dumbfounded confusion, she started to lean toward Ruby keeping her gaze on the mysterious friend, "Nice choice of friend Ruby" she mumbled to her younger sister. afterward she shot her attention back toward Filia "Bet the initiation will be fun, don't you think?" Filia remained silent distracted by her radio. much to Yang's annoyance "Alright, enough music for a second." She remarked reaching down and pulling on the cord of her headphones disconnecting them. Filia shot her head up somewhat shocked at Yang's behavior. "Answer my question."
She rolled her eyes "how would I know? I'm new here." She watched as Yang's eyes flash from purple to red like that time she was delivering her desired ammo.
"You are like the Ice Queen you know that?" Yang's hand was twitching it is possible that she has a shorter fuse than either Samson or Peacock which was saying something since both would be willing to get into a fight easily. Yang however managed to cool down a lot faster than the two of them combined, "Fair enough, even I don't know what to expect I just hope it will be fun."
"I doubt that will be the case." Filia spoke up "The last school I went to have an entrance exam. It was a two hundred question quiz. Not even sure how I made it in." Filia may not have much memory of her past, but hearing students complain about it when she attended made her certain it was something she had to do. "Based on what this place looks like." she looked around the ballroom, Elegant, free of fault, and beautifully crafted before continuing, "I imagine this place is no different."
Yang sighed "Well let's keep that a positive thought." She continued smiling that same kind of grin Samson got before a fight, or a big meal. Filia began to conclude she cannot be too bad if she was close to her sister. "Well, I'm going to hit the sack" Yang yawned "I'll see the two of you tomorrow for the entrance test." she walked off still stretching.
It was just Ruby and Filia accompanied by the two's awkward silence. Ruby began to get nervous as Filia calmly read her book as her radio played. "Well, I'll see ya around I guess." She stated awkwardly as she left.
As she left Filia looked up at her. She contemplated how much she could trust Ruby. "(She was kind and willing to see things without overreacting… well, violently anyway. She is a little childish though.)" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath coming to a new decision to open about who she was. "Hey Ruby." As she called her name causing her to stop and turn around confused. Filia nervously hesitated again before speaking up "You said you'd like to see what I use as a weapon, correct?" Ruby nodded interested, at that moment Samson tightened on her head. She moved her head a little and quickly muttered to Samson "I'm not showing her now. Too many people." She whispered so only He could hear her. She turned her head back to Ruby who seemed confused at Filia's somewhat erratic behavior. "Tomorrow, after the exam I'll let you see it. If I make it or not."
Ruby stood silent but then nodded showing signs of excitement. an hour goes by before everyone went to sleep except Filia who looked left and right at the room. before removing her hat for Samson to stretch and eat a bunch of the simple snacks she took with her. "So, you trust that kid?" Samson's mouth was full of junk food and wrappers from Filia's bag. She simply nodded as he swallowed. Samson sighed "I'll be honest Filia, you're a terrible judge of character." His tentacles reached into the bag again to pull out more of the food stashed in there. "But if you prove to be right on her I'll try my best not to scare her too much. I don't like it but, as I said, you need to build up your contacts. And that requires you to build trust in each other."
"Thank you, Samson" Filia yawned a little must be close to midnight. "You may not need to sleep for a while but, I think it's best we get cleaned up before others notice you So could you wake me?"
"Yeah, sure thing kid." Samson said looking into the bag for more food. Finishing his rummaging he looked over at Filia who was now out cold. "(Guess even she gets drained easily.)" he thought as he scanned the room while avoiding any patrolling teachers. Before retiring to bed himself, he looked up at the ceiling recalling the past "(I doubt you'd like what has happened to her Marcus… but I'm doing what I can.") he looked at what he could see of her sleeping face "Sleep soundly kid, you got a lot on your plate."