Beacon Courtyard (Early Evening)
"I get that you haven't seen her in almost a year. But why are you bringing me?" Dominic asked his partner as he walked to the docking station.
"Because she will no doubt want to meet the person that bears the title of Team XICR's Leader." Connor replied, much to the blonde's annoyance. "Please try to be civil with Winter. I know she can be a bit... much. But getting to know her won't kill you."
"Wanna bet?" the pyromancer said under his breath before seeing something in the distance. "Is that Ruby and Weiss?" he asked, running to his sister. "Hey, sis. I'm guessing you and Weiss are also here to meet Winter."
"Wait, your sister?" the girl asked.
"Indeed." Connor said, watching as the Atlesian aircraft landed. Once the doors opened, Winter exited alongside armed guards. She took notice of Connor and Weiss, walking down to her siblings.
"Winter, I'm so happy to see you!" the heiress said, ecstatic. "Oh! Your presence honors us." the girl said, bowing as Dominic face-palmed.
"Beacon. It's been a long time." Winter said, stepping closer to the group. "The air feels different."
"That may be my fault." Dominic said, looking sheepish. "I got hungry on the walk here, so I ate three rotisserie chickens from the concessions."
"Of all the times to joke, you chose now?" Connor asked his partner, who shrugged in response. He hoped this wouldn't leave a bad impression on his sister.
"So, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked.
"Classified." the woman answered.
'She's here to see Ozpin.' Dominic deduced, unable to think of any other reason an Atlas Huntress would come all this way.
"Oh, right." Weiss said, as if realizing her mistake. "Well, how long are you staying?"
"Classified." Winter repeated.
'Now that's just plain rude.' Dominic said to himself, his eye flashing red momentarily. If Winter saw this, she didn't express it.
"Of course." Weiss said, looking down.
"...Well. This is nice. I think?" Ruby said, trying to think of something to say.
"You are going to love it here." Weiss said, having gotten her excitement back. "I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas. Vale too. The government and school are completely separate, can you believe it? I-"
"I am more than familiar with how this kingdom handles it's bureaucracy." Winter said, ending her sister's tirade. "That is not why I came."
"Right. I'm sorry." Weiss said, embarrassed.
"Nor did I come to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle." Winter berated. "But it appears I have no choice in the matter."
"Whointhewhatnow?" Connor asked, surprised. "Weiss and I both won in our matches."
"Only a novice would refer to those as victories." the woman said. "Weiss, I counted at least three strikes missed. Connor, you had several chances to take out Scarlet before you finally dealt the finishing blow."
Clenching his fist in anger from his partner being belittled, Dominic unintentionally caused a small earthquake. While it was too minor for humans to feel, faunus and animals felt a bit uneasy.
"Leave us." Winter said to the robotic guards behind her, which obliged without a second, or first, thought. "How have you two been?" she asked, her demeanor having switched from her militaristic persona.
"Please know we're both fine." Connor told his elder sister, smiling.
"Yes, we've been doing splendid. Thank you for asking." Weiss said. "I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class."
Dominic interrupted the reunion by coughing loudly, reminding the Schnee of, in his mind, a very important distinction.
"Fine. Technically, I'm tied for first with Dominic." Weiss corrected, eliciting a proud laugh from the blonde. "But I'm excelling in all my other classes."
Winter raised her hand, then smacked Weiss' skull with enough force to fracture a boulder. "Silence, you boob!" Winter scolded as her sister put pressure on her wound. "I don't recall asking about your position. I asked how you'd been. Are you both eating well? Have you taken up any new hobbies? Have you made any friends?"
"Well, there's Ruby. And her brother, Dominic." Weiss said, gesturing to the siblings.
"Charmed, I'm sure." Dominic introduced, bowing. Then, moments later, he shot back up to his full height and took a step back. 'Are you insane, this woman is packing enough firepower to send us to the moon. Are you seriously asking yourself if you're insane? Fair enough.'
"I see." Winter said. "So, these two are the leaders you spoke so highly of in your letters. How appropriately underwhelming."
That sent Dominic's anger up a couple more notches, increasing the temperature of the surrounding area. Ruby, having been accustomed to her brother's 'mood swings', discreetly took the blonde away from Winter.
"Uh, HAM!" the young huntress yelled, catching everyone in earshot off-guard. "I, uh, lost my ham in... one of the classrooms."
"Your ham?" the Schnees all said in unison.
"Yes. I... age and cure ham as an after-school project." Ruby said, trying desperately to keep her excuse alive. Unfortunately, nobody bought it. "DominicneedstohelpmefinditOKbye!" she rapidly shouted before grabbing her brother's wrist and dashing back to the building.
Winter turned to her younger siblings, as if searching for an answer. "Yeah, I don't know what the hell that was." Connor said, shrugging.
Unknown Location (Early Evening)
As the mysterious egg-shaped rock rested in it's canister, it pulsated with a red light. When Dominic's earthquake occurred, a lot of the delicate machinery and equipment shook around. Nothing important broke, but the disturbance caused the egg-shaped rock to form a small fissure around the size of a human finger at it's base.
For a minute, the capsules surrounding the larger canister glowed in rainbow light. In that light, silhouettes of human bodies could be seen in each and every capsule save for one. That last capsule had a label on it that bore a name written in blood.
"Raven".
Winter Schnee
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Semblance: Schnee Glyphs
Element: Air
Battle Class: Knight
