"So, what's life like out in Patch?"

Ruby snapped her eyes back up from her magazine to see that the boy with the bowl-cut, Yu, had moved his things to an empty futon next to her and Yang. Though she was a bit hesitant to keep talking with a complete stranger, she knew that she couldn't just hang off her big sister's shoulder throughout her entire school life. "Uh, well it's pretty quiet and secluded out there. Not nearly as crazy crowded and busy as Vale, but it can sometimes get a bit boring. That's actually why Yang and I liked to take the ferry to the mainland whenever we had time off growing up."

The elder of the sisters chimed in, embracing the younger sibling in a half-hug. "Of course, I'd always find her snooping around the weapon enthusiast shops, or dumping hours into the local arcade!"

"Hey, at least I'm not the one getting into trouble in the redlight district!" Ruby tried to push Yang off here, to no avail.

"No, but trouble always finds you!" Yang pulled her sis in even tighter, making sure to give her a playful noogie as she struggled.

Yu chuckled. "You two'll have to show me around town sometime, then. Though I was technically born in the city, most of my life has been spent in Inaba, so I'm still finding my bearings out here in Vale proper. Could certainly use an experienced guide."

Yang had a smug look in response to that. "Well look at this smooth operator." She let go of Ruby to shift her attention to the young man. "I bet you open up with that line to all the ladies you meet, don'tcha?"

"Haha, I guess that did come out a bit flirty," Yu admitted. "Though I actually happen to have a girlfriend back home."

Well, he is pretty good at this whole "socializing" thing, so I guess that makes sense, Ruby thought. Better than me, at least…

Yu seemed to notice Ruby's internal negativity, though he was interrupted before he could inquire further. "Yo, I'm back!" The three of them looked to see their new faunus friend, Makoto, jogging up to them in… what may as well have been underwear, given how little it covered. While Yu managed to stay fairly straight-faced, Yang's jaw may as well have hit the ground at that point. Jeez sis, drool more why don't you?

Just as Makoto was about to sit down, another girl in a white nightgown yelled at her. "Just what in the Gods' names do you think you're wearing?!"

The girl in question had white hair tied up in a ponytail, and was waving her finger in front of Makoto, chastising her choice in attire. Behind her were a boy in a plain white undershirt and sweatpants, and a girl in a white kimono.

"Seriously, what are you thinking?!" The ponytail girl continued. "This is a school environment, and here you are, gallivanting around like some kind of cheap—."

"Please Weiss, allow me," the boy cut her off, approaching Makoto as the girl, Weiss, reluctantly yielded. "I apologize for my friend's rather rash critique of your… attire," he cleared his throat, then continued. "However, I must respectfully request that you change into something more befitting of a future Huntress. As students of Beacon Academy, it is our utmost duty to embody the ideals and principles of our forebears, and to show the world that we are not only professionals on the battlefield, but that even our appearance is professional, reflecting these same ideals as passed down—."

"Okay, I'm just gonna stop you right there, buddy." Makoto cut off the boy, clearly not in the mood for a lecture. "First off, what I decide to wear is my own business. If the staff members tell me to change, fine, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." She then pointed back to Weiss. "Secondly, if you try and call me what I think you were about to, we're going to have a serious fuckin' problem, capisce?"

"Is that right?" Weiss scoffed back in response. "I can see you act just as barbaric as you dress. Not surprising for a faunus, I'll admit."

"Alright bitch, you just crossed the damn line!" Makoto began cracking her knuckles. Yang and Yu both stood up, the former sharing in her newfound friend's anger. "I don't know what your deal is, but I'm about ready to shut you up myself!" Yu followed up Yang's warning with his own. "You people need to leave. Now."

Ruby noticed that, rather than backing off, the girl they called Weiss was getting even more aggressive, and the boy beside her had changed his stance, as if prepared for a fight to occur. Contrasting those two was the girl in the kimono, who was trying to stop the others, but was speaking far too softly to be heard above all the yelling.

Crap, I don't want there to be a fight before we've even started Initiation! Think, Ruby! You've gotta stop this somehow! She knew that things were about to boil over, but what could she do? They'd already begun drawing a crowd of students that were egging them on to start fighting, and it would become inevitable if things went on any further. Oh, screw it!

Activating her Semblance, Ruby flew forward in a burst of speed, stopping herself between Makoto and Weiss. "Just knock it off, all of you! Do you seriously want to get us all expelled on day one?! Get a hold of yourselves!"

Her friends were stunned, left speechless by Ruby's sudden outburst. Even her sister was startled, though her expression quickly shifted to a smile that seemed to say, Damn girl! I didn't think you had it in you!

On the other hand, Weiss seemed furious. She was about to go off on Ruby, but the kimono girl finally rested her hands on both her friends' shoulders. "I believe that she is correct. Weiss, Akatsuki, let us retire for the evening. Nothing good will come of pursuing this issue further."

Still clearly annoyed, Weiss turned and stomped off without a word. The other boy, who the girl referred to as Akatsuki, turned towards Makoto and respectfully bowed in apology. "...Please forgive our rudeness. Though my intent was never to be hurtful, it seems that we overstepped your boundaries. Would you please accept my humble apologies, Miss…?"

"Nanaya." Makoto responded, letting out an exasperated sigh. "It's Makoto Nanaya." She then returned to her normal, bubbly self, and smiled as Akatsuki returned to a standing position. "Don't worry about it, chief! You're not the one I want to hear any apology from, anyways."

"Ah, I see." Akatsuki chuckled, albeit nervously. "Getting an apology out of Miss Schnee may be… challenging. Miss Kuraokami, if it isn't asking too much of you…"

His friend smiled. "I will talk to her." She gave a quick bow to Makoto and her friends. "Please excuse me."

As she left, Akatsuki turned back to the others. "Have a good rest of your evening, everyone… and good luck during tomorrow's initiation." After doing an about-face, the young man walked off at a brisk pace. Just as he was leaving, Noel returned from the changing room, wearing a teal pajama set, and looking rather confused. "Um… did I miss something, or…?"

Makoto shrugged. "Nah, it's nothin' worth worrying about. Come on, let's chat a bit with the others before it gets too late!"


"Well, I guess this'll have to do for tonight."

After a bit of convincing from Hyde, Jaune finally decided to ditch the bunny pajamas. Unfortunately, this left the poor boy with little left to wear. Eventually, Jaune returned to his assigned mattress, opting to just sleep in his jeans and an orange shirt with the "Pumpkin Pete" cereal label on it. Jaune wasn't exactly a huge fan of the cereal, given how much corn syrup it had, on top of the terrible artificial flavor. But, it had been gifted to him by his sisters, so he kept it around anyway. Gifts are always worth hanging on to, after all.

Flopping down on the cushion, Jaune finally had a chance to rest. This whole day has been a complete nightmare. To top it all off, our teams will be determined tomorrow. Gods, I hope that the team I get is at least a bit chill. What if I get stuck with jerks, like those Cardin and Carmine guys that Hyde was talking about... or worse, what if I get teamed up with one of those girls from the incident earlier? They'll end up hating me before we even start classes…

Jaune couldn't help but drown in his own thoughts. He tried so hard in life to play the optimist, and usually it worked well enough for him. But his first day at Beacon went anything but well, and the fear for his future was growing to the point that it was practically written on his face.

"Hey Mister P, are you doing okay?"

Oh right, Heart is still awake. Jaune rolled to his side to face her, noticing that her friend, "Sa-sa" or whatever her name really was, had already fallen fast asleep. "I'm fine, Heart. It's just been kind of a rough start for me. By the way, do you think that you could maybe drop the 'Mister' stuff? My name's Jaune." He held his arm out to greet her properly. "Jaune Arc."

Heart happily shook his hand, looking pleased with the thought of making a new friend. "Heart Aino! Nice to meet you, Jaune!"

"Likewise."

You know what? This might not be the worst night ever, after all. If I count Hyde and Kanji, that makes three friends today. Maybe if I'm really lucky, I could end up in a team with all three… okay, that might be a bit of a long shot, but at least it's something.

"Yo Jaune, we're gonna need a quick favor."

Leaning forward, he noticed that Kanji and Hyde had actually shown up. "Uh, is something wrong guys?" Jaune wondered why they came back this way. "Aren't your futons the other way?"

"Yeah, about that," Hyde said, "Turns out that Cardin ran off with our futons, and we don't know where our other friend ran off to, so we might need you to share your mattress."

"Yikes, I dunno guys," Jaune tried to gauge how much space they had. " I don't think that there's enough space for all three of us here."

"Oh, just man up and scoot over a bit!" Despite Jaune's protest, Kanji walked right up and flopped down beside him, as Hyde reluctantly followed suit.

"Oooh, it's like a slumber party!" Heart then pushed her own mattress to line up with the boys'. "See, now there's plenty of space for everybody!" She then plopped down next to Hyde, who was noticeably uncomfortable, but kept his mouth shut out of embarrassment. Kanji, on the other hand, had one more thing to add. "Oh, so I guess I have a bit of a snoring problem, so… sorry in advance."

I'm not getting any sleep tonight, am I?


High above the courtyard and its hectic student hopefuls, the clockwork tower that made up Ozpin's office clicked in rhythm with the headmaster's steady attendance to the mountains of paperwork that had dropped in conjunction with the new school year. Though he'd been diligent in his work, it seemed as though Professor Ozpin had quite the rough night ahead of him.

Naturally, the late hours of work would be interrupted by the buzzing of an elevator's arrival on his floor. With some minor reluctance, Ozpin looked up from his work to see his close friend and colleague, Glynda Goodwitch arrive with a young girl and boy in tow.

"I'm sorry to bother you at this hour," Glynda said, doing little to hide her grievances with the teens behind her. "But it seems that we have some late attendee's this evening, Professor. Two first-year students. Their student ID's have been assigned, and simply need approval from their headmaster to be eligible for tomorrow's initiation."

Ah, I suppose some degree of tardiness is to be expected. Standing up to face the new students, he smiled as he ushered to a group of heated pots sitting on a table beside his desk, with a stack of paper cups alongside it. "Coffee, decaf and hot cocoa, if anyone is interested." He then smirked as he raised his own mug to take a sip of his own drink. "Oh, but the first person to grab a cup gets to be the first to introduce themselves."

Glynda opened her mouth as if to protest, but stopped herself, simply crossing her arms in annoyance. The headmaster was always one for gestures of hospitality, even if these students in question hadn't yet earned it in her eyes.

Stepping forward, a girl wearing a white-on-magenta miniskirt and blouse combo took one of the cups in hand, filling it partially with decaffeinated coffee. Her copper hair was tied in twin pigtails, which trailed behind her as she spun around to face the headmaster with a warm and endearing smile. "My name is Rise Kujikawa. Sorry for arriving late, but my agency requested that I show up after Orientation." Not hiding her frustration, she added that "There's a chance that if I showed up on time, there'd be a bunch of students completely ignoring your staff. I didn't want to cause that kind of headache for you, Professor."

"Oh, I'm certain that it would've worked out just fine." Ozpin gave a quick look over the student background information on his scroll, noting that the girl had quite the global following to her name. "Ah, so your alias is 'Risette', I see." He then glanced at a video playing on the scroll from one of her live performances. "To think that such a successful idol would apply to Beacon. What led you to pursuing training as a Huntress, Miss Kujikawa?"

"I've seen firsthand the kind of damage that the Grimm can do, especially to small towns with little protection from local police or militias. I'm actually a Persona user, so anything I can do to help people, even if it's only a little bit, can still make all the difference in the world." She hesitated for a moment, giving away a hint of apprehension. "Although, that may not mean much, considering that it's coming from someone who has to be protected every time she goes onstage."

"Then tackling that kind of weakness head-on would be admirable, would it not?" Ozpin walked over to refill his own mug. "That aside, I do look forward to witnessing the pursuit of both careers. An 'Idol Huntress' has a unique ring to it, after all." He then gestured to his colleague. "Glynda, would you mind finding a temporary room for Miss Kujikawa? It may be difficult for her to turn in amongst the other students tonight. You may leave the young man to me."

The other Professor sighed, but simply nodded in response. "Let's be on our way, then."

As the two women left, the boy stepped forward, though disinterested in any drinks. "I guess that means I'm up next, huh?"

Ozpin smirked in response. "Mister Masakado, I've been filled in enough by your master to have a general idea of your history. I'd even go as far as to wager a guess that you'd rather not be here right now."

"Shit, are you supposed to be some kind of mind reader, old man?" The new student was just as crass as he'd been informed, though that was of no surprise to the headmaster.

"It doesn't take a mind reader to observe basic patterns in one's attitude and behavior." Shifting his gaze out towards the overlook that gave a clear view of the starry night sky, Ozpin switched his focus to the future. "Ragna, I realize that coming to this school was never your first intention, and perhaps one day I may be proven wrong, however…" He took another sip of cocoa, collecting his thoughts while doing so. "Both Jubei and I believe that time spent in a real team of students your own age will be good for you. There's also plenty of benefit to be gleaned from an official education, and being recognized as a genuine Huntsman must certainly be better than striking out alone as a fresh-faced mercenary."

Ragna scoffed in response. "Even without Master's help, I could do fine on my own. I don't mean anything personal by it, but I don't see myself getting along with a bunch of rich brats from the city."

The headmaster couldn't help but chuckle in response. "You'd be surprised by how many students here grew up as farmhands, or were raised in small, rural villages."

"Seriously?" That seemed to grab Ragna's attention. "Figured that only a bunch of pampered pricks came here."

"Well, regardless of where they came from," Ozpin became a bit more serious as he continued, "I expect you to at least attempt to be cordial with whoever you end up partnered with. Huntsman Academies are built on the foundation of developing four-man teams into strong, coherent units. These people will be a major part of your life for at least the next few years, so you'll be getting close to one another whether you like it or not."

Groaning, the young man rolled his eyes. "Great, I can't fuckin' wait for that shit."

Ignoring the boy's sarcasm and foul mouth, Ozpin ushered him towards the elevator. "I believe that should be enough for tonight's discussion. Your belongings are out by the other students; Go get some rest, Ragna. You have a long day ahead of you, and I won't be the only one watching to see how everything unfolds."

"Tch… Ya, I'll see you tomorrow, old man." As Ragna made his way out, Ozpin returned to his work.

I may have no right to call him family… but I still wish him luck. Besides, there's plenty of family to be discovered beyond mere blood ties…