Gross, gross, gross, was all Ruby could think as Jaune emptied his guts into a paper bag, heaving as he caught some breaths between his hurls. Typically she teased him for his air sickness, but up close it was just uncomfortable to watch.
"It's okay Jaune" She tried to soothe, lightly patting his back as he relived himself once again into the bag, before he finally took a break, lying back in a heap as he took a large swig of water.
"Oh dear god" Jaune croaked, leaning up to look at the roof "Why couldn't we have just taken a bus there?"
"Cause it would have taken like a week" Ruby responded, passing him a bottle of water, as well as a can of ginger ale to hydrate himself and soothe his stomach.
"It'd be worth it" Jaune moaned, as he took some slow deep breaths to quell the storm that was brewing inside once again. Thankfully the ginger ale seemed to do its job, allowing Jaune some relief from the flip flops of his belly. After a few minutes the feeling subsided, allowing him to finally breathe normally, and with some breath mints that Ruby provided he was good as new, at least for now.
"So" Jaune asked, sitting up straight once again "Did you see anything interesting when I sprinted to the garbage can? I didn't really get a good look of what was going on in the airship before we settled down here."
Ruby's eyes burst wide with excitement "Ohhh I saw one girl with a fire sword, and other guy with the collapsible staff, and so many other awesome weapons! Oh my goodness they were so cool!"
Jaune raised his eyebrows "Oh did you get a chance to talk to them?"
"No" Ruby replied
"Did you even see their faces?"
"No"
Jaune rolled his eyes "Ruby, you do realize that you're gonna have to actually talk to people if you want to make friends?"
"Hey!" Ruby countered, an appalled expression crossing her face "You're just as socially awkward as me!"
"True" Jaune nodded "But at least I try to talk to them. I just suck at it."
Before Ruby could respond back with a rebuttal, the door opened slightly, as a tall figure in a hoodie tried to slip in to the compartment, letting out a small squeal of surprise when they realized that there were already people in it.
"Hey!" Jaune called out as they tried to escape back out into the hallway "We have the same hoodie!"
The figure looked up in surprise at the bunny symbol on the chest of his hoodie, revealing their emerald eyes.
"You want to sit down?" Ruby asked, perplexed and intrigued by the newcomer. "I'm pretty sure everywhere else would be full by this point."
The mystery person silently considered this, before sitting down across from Jaune and Ruby and pulling their hood down, revealing their full face and head.
Simply put, she was the most stunning girl that Ruby had ever seen in her life. Her bright green eyes were complimented perfectly by her stunning long red hair, which rested elegantly on her shoulders.
"Hi" Jaune greeted "I'm Jaune Arc, and this is Ruby Rose."
Ruby tried to say something but found herself instantly tongue tied by the girl's appearance, only managing a friendly wave.
"Hello" The girl replied almost hesitantly "My name is Pyrrha Nikos."
Jaune reached his hand out "It's nice to meet you Pyrrha."
She took his and shook it, pleasantly surprised at this interaction. She and Jaune begun chatting causally about Beacon or something. Ruby would have joined in but she was having other problems.
Damn it Ruby pull yourself together, you have to say something or else she'll think you are some kind of weirdo.
"What kind of weapon do you have?" Ruby blurted out, her curiosity winning out over her nervousness.
Pyrrha blinked in surprise, taking off her oversized hoodie to reveal the rest of herself.
She wore a fairly low cut bronze armored corset, with a matching bronze neck piece, leaving most of her chest and shoulders uncovered. Her hands were both clad with black gloves, one having a bronze bracer connected to it. Bellow her corset, she wore a black mini skirt, mostly covered by a sash the same red as her hair. Her thighs were bare, but the rest of her legs and feet were covered by armored greaves and boots. She was slender, yet well-toned and powerful looking. She certainly looked the part of a huntress, far more grown up then Ruby felt.
She then reached behind her back, pulling out a short bronze sword and round shield, presenting them to Ruby.
"These are my weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱" Pyrrha explained "Miló can turn from a sword to a spear, and a rifle, and Akoúo̱…well, Akoúo̱ is just a shield."
"WOW!" Ruby nearly drooled over Pyrrha's weapons "Those are like better versions of Jaune's weapons."
"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed, half joking "Crocera Mors is an old family heirloom. Can't improve on perfection."
"Riiiight" Ruby replied, rolling her eyes "Don't mess with the classics."
Jaune crossed his arms, a proud expression across his face "Damn right."
Pyrrha giggled at the exchange, before asking "And what weapon do you have Ruby?"
"Crescent Rose!" Ruby exclaimed "I won't bring it out here, cause well it's kind of cramped and won't show off her awesomeness, but Crescent Rose is a six foot long scythe that can transform into a high impact, bolt action sniper rifle. She is also capable of firing dust rounds, and hitting targets up to a kilometer away!"
"Wow" Pyrrha indulged the younger girl "Sounds impressive."
"She certainly is" Ruby said proudly "Made her myself!"
"Oh Wow!" Pyrrha was actually impressed this time. It was one thing to be able to use a multi-form weapon like Miló, but another thing to put it together yourself, especially with how complicated Crescent Rose sounded. She was impressed that someone this young was able to do that.
"Are you excited to be going to Beacon, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.
"Oh, well it does sound like a great opportunity." Pyrrha replied "It is the best huntsmen academy in all of Remnant, and it is always exciting to be studying somewhere that isn't home."
"Oh are you not from Vale?" Ruby asked.
Huh, I guess they really don't know who I am, Pyrrha thought to herself, this is a welcome change.
"No I am from Argus. I went to Sanctum academy before this."
"Oh that's cool. Ruby and I are from Signal, and grew up on the Island of Patch." Jaune said, before scrunching his face up in confusion "Wait wouldn't it have made more sense to go to Haven or Atlas if you are from Argus?"
"Yeah I just wanted to try something new." Pyrrha replied nervously "I thought it'd be nice to have a fresh start."
"Oh were you a dork or something back home?" Ruby asked innocently, before slamming her hand over her mouth, realizing she said it out loud, not in her head.
"RUBY!" Jaune scolded, a shocked expression across his face.
Pyrrha looked surprised, then her face shifted into confusion, before giggles trickled out of her mouth, and shifting into an eruption of laughter at Ruby's comment.
Both Jaune and Ruby looked at her with bewildered expressions, as her laughter slowly died down, and took slow breathes to get herself back together.
"Sorry" Pyrrha said, as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes "I just can't say I've ever been called a dork before, at least not in recent memory, and to answer your question, no, I have quite the opposite problem actually."
"Wait, what kind of problem could that be…." Jaune wondered before a sudden shift of the airship caused him to be rocked back, his face turning green and his stomach rumbling fiercely as he was cruelly reminded of where he was.
With that he got up, apologized to both of the girls before racing out of the compartment, nearly trampling a short white clad girl, who looked not too pleased at what had just happened.
The white haired girl stormed in with a huff "That idiot should watch where he's going."
"Sorry" Ruby apologized on her friend's behalf "He has really bad air sickness."
The girl stuck up her nose and huffed in response "We are all going to a school to become huntsmen and huntresses. Anyone going into our line of work should at least be able to control their stomach."
Ruby was about to respond in Jaune's defense, but the girl suddenly saw Pyrrha and her eyes lit up in delight.
"Pyrrha Nikos!" The girl stuck out her hand "Weiss Schnee. It is an absolute delight and honor to be able to finally meet you."
"Oh, hello" Pyrrha responded politely taking Weiss's hand and shaking it, her face falling slightly at finally being recognized "It is very nice to meet you as well."
Weiss then rolled her eyes, turning to face Ruby "And you are?"
"Ruby Rose" Ruby responded timidly under the white haired girls judgmental stare.
Weiss barely acknowledged this, as she sat down next to Pyrrha, chatting with her about something or other, with Ruby quickly interjecting.
"Wait how does she know you?" She asked Pyrrha, with Weiss responding before Pyrrha could.
"Do you seriously not know who Pyrrha Nikos is?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"I mean I met her about 10 minutes ago?" Ruby replied "So I know she is from Argus, has a super cool sword-spear-rifle combination weapon, and has really pretty red hair."
Pyrrha blushed at the last comment before Weiss continued her interrogation.
"She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, which is a new record! She's basically a professional athlete!"
"Oh" Ruby shrugged "That's really cool…Makes sense that she's so strong if she has such a cool weapon."
Ruby paused for a moment, her eyes widening in realization "Oh now I recognize you! You're on the front of every Marshmallow Pete's Cereal Box! That's Jaune's favorite cereal! He'll be really excited!"
Weiss nearly face palmed at this comment "…Okay, so now that you know who she is, do you really think you're in any position to be talking to her so casually?"
Ruby's face went red "Hey! You're talking to her! Who do you think you are?"
Weiss scoffed at this, her face becoming a deadly sneer "I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the largest dust company on Remnant. It's only natural for those of our status to converse."
She then turned to Pyrrha "Pyrrha, you shouldn't have to talk with ignorant riff raff such as this. Let's go see if we can find another compartment. I think the rest of the compartments are full but maybe…"
But she was cut off by Pyrrha, her expression hardening at Weiss's rudeness "I like talking to Ruby. She has been nothing but pleasant since I got on the train. I am going to stay here."
"Oh" Weiss replied, deflating at Pyrrha's response, as the three sat in silence, before a knock at the door drew their attention.
It opened, revealing a girl with long black hair, with a matching bow on top of her head, with yes, a black scarf, vest and stockings. She was however wearing a sleeveless white crop top under the vest. She was carrying what appeared to be a romance novel in her hands.
"Sorry, everywhere else is full. Can I sit here?" The girl asked.
"Sure" Ruby replied, glad to break the awkward silence "My friend is just using the washroom, but I'm sure there's enough room for five people in this cart."
She nodded, before sitting next to Ruby wordlessly, opening her book back up, and continuing to read. This went on for about a minute, with Weiss giving the girl a cross expression, folding her arms, as the black-haired woman turned a page.
"Um, are you not going to introduce yourself?" Weiss asked "You know that's kind of rude."
Blake sighed, before looking back up at the rest of them "My name is Blake."
"I'm Ruby" Ruby said, raising her hand to say hi.
"Pyrrha, it's very nice to meet you." Pyrrha replied, who had returned back to her previous cheery mood.
"Weiss Schne…" Weiss begun, but Blake stopped her.
The black clad girl's eyes narrowed into a cold and judgmental expression "I know who you are."
Weiss looked insulted "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Who doesn't know about the Schnee Dust Company?" Blake said, malice on every word "and their controversial labor force, as well as their questionable business partners?"
Now it was Weiss's turn to have her face go red, sputtering back in response "H-how dare you, t-the nerve of, uch!"
After a few other annoyed and indistinguishable rambles, she got up and stormed out of the compartment, with everyone letting out either a small smile, or an internal sigh of relief at this development.
"Oww" Jaune groaned, rubbing his nose, which had apparently being slammed by the door when Weiss was leaving.
He then looked at the scene before him, and noticed the new girl staring at him in surprise.
"Umm, what did I miss?" Jaune asked, confused about what had just happened.
"So Blake" Jaune asked "What combat school did you go to?"
Blake had been half participating in the conversation between the three students. Mostly she was content with simply reading her novel and listening.
Not that she disliked them. No, on the contrary, she was pleasantly surprised with how much she enjoyed the company, and had a good time passively contributing to the conversation. They all seemed to be very decent people, albeit all being delightfully socially awkward in their own way. Blake found it a nice change of pace compared to who she was used to interacting with, and all of them were significantly better than the Schnee.
Ruby, she found out also liked reading when Ruby started asking questions about her book. Although once she found out the content of this particular novel (Blake refused to tell her, but Jaune recognized the title due to one of his many sisters owning this very same book, and told Ruby) Ruby decided to stop asking anymore questions about it. Despite this difference in interests, Blake found her adorably innocent, and quickly determined the girl wanted to be huntress for the right reasons, even if she was a tad naïve. She was delighted to see Blake's weapon, Gambol Shroud, and its many transforming forms, Blake even had to promise to show her it in action, when they weren't in a cramped train compartment.
Blake strongly disagreed with the idea that the animal traits that a Faunus displayed contributed directly to their personality. Granted she did admit that there were some similarities that she had in behavior to a cat, but that was absolutely not a result of her ears. Tuna was just really, really good. But she did have to admit that if Jaune was going to be any Faunus, it would most defiantly be a golden retriever (which was not a bad thing, despite her dislike of dogs.) He was a strange mix of goofy, friendly, and awkward, and despite clearly not being the best fighter, was trying desperately to improve. Granted he was also a bit of a flirt, which could likely become annoying with time, but it was harmless and earnest enough. Blake certainly knew much worse guys when it came to that particular field.
Pyrrha was very…nice, which was all Blake could really figure out about the girl. Granted she appeared to come by it genuinely, but she seemed hesitant to bring any of her emotions past her chest. Blake was certainly not one to talk, but she had her reasons to be emotionally distant. She was certainly curious what Pyrrha's were. Blake didn't keep much on celebrities and pop culture, save for her niche interests, but apparently Pyrrha was some sort of pro athlete, which surprised Blake, as those type of people typically have the opposite problem. She enjoyed Jaune's reaction when he found out she was featured on the box of his favorite cereal.
Nevertheless she continued to read while listening into their conversation, only responding whenever she was mentioned or addressed. Like she should probably be doing right now, as her silence at Jaune's question was starting to get a bit weird.
"Oh um…sorry" Blake responded, feigning mishearing the question "What did you say Jaune?"
"Oh, what combat school did you go to?" Jaune repeated "Like Ruby and I went to Signal on patch, Pyrrha went to Sanctum. Where did you go before this?"
Okay Blake you practiced for this, c'mon, you knew you'd eventually have to answer this question.
"I-I was raised outside the kingdoms" Blake replied calmly "I didn't go to a combat school."
"Oh, really?" Pyrrha inquired "How did you get into Beacon then? The entrance exam is, well, very challenging. I'd be surprised if someone was able to make it in without years of schooling. You must have had very intense training elsewhere"
"You could say that" Blake continued "Where I grew up, if you didn't know how to fight, you didn't survive. Life is said to be the best teacher. The entrance exam wasn't too challenging compared to that."
Pyrrha nodded knowingly, before Ruby interrupted quietly "Was the entrance exam hard? Me and Jaune kind of didn't take it."
Now it was Blake's turn to be surprised "Oh and they still let you in? I didn't think they would make exceptions for this kind of thing."
"Well….Jaune and I stopped a robbery that was being done by this really scary famous criminal Roman Torchwick, and well we kind of scared him off, and Ozpin and Goodwitch saw us and kind of gave us a free pass in. I mean Jaune didn't do the entrance exam and I still had two more years left at Signal, so it was a little surprising all things considered" Ruby rambled, with a surprising non-chalice.
Blake and Pyrrha just kind of stared at both of them, before Blake finally broke the silence.
"Huh, I guess none of us had a normal combat school experience."
They all paused for a moment, nodding in agreement, continuing the conversation.
"How do you think they will decide Teams?" Ruby asked trepidly, rubbing the end of her cape between her fingers.
"I believe we will be in teams of four" Pyrrha answered "and the teams are supposedly chosen randomly in Initiation."
"What's Initiation?" Jaune questioned equally nervously, head filled with cultist images of dark cloaks and terrifying trials and rituals.
"That…I cannot answer." Pyrrha replied, scratching her chin with uncertainty.
"My dad wouldn't tell me what they do in Initiation." Ruby said, scratching her head "But he did say that it's always interesting, and very entertaining for the upper years to watch…"
Jaune gulped, imagining the ungodly horror of embarrassing himself in front of the entire school on his first day.
"…. I just hope I get put on a nice team." Ruby continued quietly, looking down at her feet "and not on a team full of Weiss's."
Blake and Pyrrha silently agreed, all remembering the interaction with the White-haired Heiress.
"I dunno she didn't seem that bad." Jaune responded as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Jaune, your interactions with her have consisted of getting bashed in the nose with a door as she stormed out of here. You didn't even get to talk to her." Blake deadpanned, glaring at him with an annoyed expression.
Jaune shrugged once again "I should have watched where I was going. I'm sure she didn't mean to do it."
"She wasn't very nice in here." Ruby huffed in annoyance "I think she would have done it, even if she knew you were behind the door."
"We could all try to be on a team." Jaune suggested, changing the subject from the Ice Queen "It would be great to be on a team with people who I actually know are nice. Maybe have some sort of way to find each other during initiation."
"It's a nice thought, but Professor Ozpin probably wants the teams to be random" Pyrrha sighed, beginning to pull her hoodie back on as she noticed the bullheads descent, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, as she placed a golden circlet atop her head. "But I certainly hope we all get teams that suit us well."
With that they continued to discuss and theorize what the initiation process could be, ranging from a spooky occult ceremony to a massive school wide brawl, none of which giving the four any answers regarding the formation of teams. As the aircraft touched down, the students got up from their places, strolling out of the bullhead, still engrossed in their conversation.
Blake, feeling fatigue set in as her social energy had been depleted, begun to slip away into the crowd of students. She hesitated, pausing mid stride as the rest of them continued onwards, chattering away.
"I-I'll see you all later, okay?" Blake announced softly, a light tone of timidness coating her normally calm voice.
Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha all turned around as she begun to disappear into the crowd, all looking a bit perplexed but otherwise unbothered by what she said.
"Okay, bye, see you later!"
"See you Blake!"
"It was lovely to meet you."
Blake let a small smile sneak onto her face as she broke free from the crowd and made her way into Beacon's courtyard, while the rest were distracted by the impressiveness of the castle's presence.
Her eyes scanned her environment carefully as she stalked through the grounds with a sense of purpose, hunting for her target.
Amber eyes widened as she found it, concealed by a large tree and several arborvitae bushes. She pounced through the shrubs and there it was, a small marble bench.
Content, she softly sat down on the bench, took out her book, and finally enjoyed the peace and solitude that she so craved. Again, she was met with a welcome surprise, as occasionally thoughts of what the three pleasant individuals she met today crossed her mind as she continued through her book.
Perhaps Beacon wouldn't be so bad after all.