Chapter 2

First Day

Thor had left team RWBY to their own devices of sorting out the room. He'd claimed the corner and was more less set up. He didn't have much to begin with other than his clothes and bed roll. Such was the life he lived without a family or real home. The girls all had brought numerous items from home, which he understood. Being young and away from home for the first time, most likely anyway, reminders of home were a comfort. Well Blake didn't have as much, but Weiss had more, so it evened out he supposed.

He made his way to the cafeteria for breakfast before the first class of the day, which according to his schedule was "World History" but was starting later than normal to allow students to unpack. He didn't have a "team" this week, as there weren't any team exercises until the second week of classes, so for now, it was just school.

He was going to be miserable.

He was competent student, but it brought him no joy. He was a warrior, and book work was tedious. Still, he'd do it, because he had to. That aside, he knew that learning these sort things could be helpful. It was like taking bad tasting medicine, you didn't like it, but you know it was for the best. He still didn't look forward to it. But there was combat class to look forward to, even if actual sparing wasn't going to happen until later in the week.

It didn't matter much right now, he was hungry and as boring as the classes were going to be, if he had sit through them on an empty stomach, it would be ten times worse. As he made his way to the cafeteria he noted the cool autumn air and light breeze. He hadn't taken such note of the weather, oddly, in a very long time but ever sense he'd come here he noticed it more. Perhaps it was because for the first time in a very long time, it was out of his hands, and he was experiencing it as a human did. He was experiencing it rather than directing it.

He enjoyed cool or even cold weather, and here the air felt…cleaner than in the city. Inhaling deeply through his nose, he could almost smell the change of the seasons on the air. He stood enjoying it for a moment before continuing on his way to the cafeteria.

One of the things he noted on his first day was the extreme variety of food offered by the school. It was almost funny, but he knew that physical activity, combat in particular, took a lot out of a person and that a person needed to re-fuel after, that included getting rest and sleep, and eating a proper diet. And Beacon seemed to have gone to incredible lengths to make sure virtually any dietary needs were meet. It was almost funny, but he wasn't about to complain, because he was hungry and was ready to get to business.

By the time he sat down his tray was loaded with bacon, ham, sausage, a pile scrambled eggs, four fried eggs, four hard boiled eggs, a pile of corned beef hash, a dozen pieces of toast, a stack of waffles, a stack of pancakes, a helping of hash browns and whole cartoon of orange juice. As he sat down, he drew stares from some of the other students as he ate.

"You going to eat all that?"

Thor looked up to see another student, a girl he hadn't seen at initiation. But she was wearing the school uniform and beret. "Yes, that's why I put it on my tray." Smiling as he did so and took another bite.

She laughed and sat across the table from him "You're gonna get fat."

Thor looked her over as he chewed and decided she wasn't trying to antagonize him, just teasing. He could only assume she was an upperclassman given she wasn't at initiation but was clearly a student. He put his fork down, took a swing of his juice and extended his hand.

"I'm Thor."

She reached out and shook his hand "Sorry about that, maybe the nurse can help?"

Thor's face twisted into a confused expression, until he thought about it for a second and laughed and clarified "Thor Odinson."

She smiled "Coco Adel." She said before letting go of his hand. "You're that student who didn't find a partner right?"

"Yes, my fault for not thinking about the larger picture." He smiled at his own mistake now, but truth be told he'd been furious when he'd found out.

"Pretty rare for that to happen." She said, "I've heard of it happening a few times in the school's history, it's always one of two things."

"Which are?"

"They are either really good, or really bad." She smiled at him "Which are you?"

Thor realized the point of the conversation in that instant, he was being sized up by one of the older, at least in this form, students. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" He said still smiling, but the tone of his voice cooled off ever so slightly.

Coco, still smiling, stood up and walked away. His teenagers mind let his eyes linger on her longer than he might of normally, then he went back to his breakfast. He thought as he chewed, he'd of course heard of the few students in his situation, he just hadn't thought about in relation to him until now. Incidents like his were rare, in part because initiation's test changed from year to year, but also because most of the time students were at the same skill level. In his case it wasn't skill that got him here was he'd sort of cheated his way ahead of the group with his equipment had just isolated himself.

He'd made a mistake in his rush to get in, he hadn't thought of the entire thing through. He wasn't always the best at this sort of thing when he was in the best state of mind, but he'd noticed the tendency had increased in his teenagers' body. He'd tried to temper it, but it was hard, as he often didn't notice he was doing it till after he'd done it. He supposed he'd just have the weather his teen years a little while longer, then…well he didn't know, but he hoped it would get better. It was funny, he'd never thought of these things the first time through his adolescence, but he supposed going through it once was giving him hindsight, but in real time. It was bizarre, and he supposed it was only something someone going through the same thing would understand.

As he finished, he brought his tray to bussing station and headed back to his dorm for his books for classes. He was mildly curious to see what the dorm looked like now. He had few personal affects, and nothing he'd consider decorative. But he was betting he'd be able to tell a good amount his dorm mates from what they brought with them. These girls wouldn't be his team, at least not in all instances, but they would be his bunk mates, so he wanted to learn a bit about them. He knew a little, from there encounter during initiation, but still, not anything of great importance, he had a cursory idea at best. Ruby, he'd meet and spoken to somewhat, and knew she was young for school's standard student, meaning she'd been accepted early. He'd tried for that as well, but his…behavioral issues kept him out.

As he approached the room he heard a commotion on the inside. He almost knocked before remembering it was as much his living space as anyone's. Opening the door, he came on a sight that was…pretty funny.

Team RWBY was in the middle of stacking the beds into bunk beds, which was actually a good idea. But what he was looking at was and incredibly hasty idea. They were tying the bed posts together and stacking them on books.

"Do you think…that is stable?" Thor asked as walked towards his books.

"Stable enough." Ruby said almost defensively.

Thor walked over to one of the beds and gave it a shove. It swayed but righted itself almost like a spring.

"Hey, are you trying to knock it over?!" Ruby shouted.

"If that knocked it over, it wasn't going to hold up to a person sleeping on it." He said with smile as he saw Ruby's expression change from irritation to realization.

"Oh yeah, guess you're right." She said.

He went to his corner and retrieved his books for class "See you in class." And with that he departed.

Blake watched as Thor left the room for class, before looking back to their beds. They didn't look nearly as stable as they should if they were going to sleep in them, but Thor's little test had made her reasonably confident they wouldn't collapse while they were out for the day. They' have to reinforce it, never the less.

He thoughts wondered to Thor. He wasn't…right. Something about him just wasn't normal, but what that was she couldn't place. He was strong, but that wasn't it. He had full beard, which as odd, but not totally unnatural. No, it was something else about him that was…not typical. How he spoke was, mostly normal, but he she'd caught him using phrasing and words that felt, archaic, in the time she'd spent around him. Granted that hadn't been much, but she still noticed it. If he hadn't stood out in a number of other ways, she'd probably not of noticed. It was all the minor peculiarities about that added up to him standing out, in her mind.

But she knew most other students, her own team likely included, probably wouldn't notice. She was on high alert for anything out of ordinary. She was though he might come off as a little odd to most of them, but she was more than little paranoid, but she knew that might keep her alive, seeing potential threats before they could get her.

In her rational mind, she knew it was probably nothing, and he was just a bit of an oddball, but she'd keep an eye out for him for a little while till she was sure that's all he was. It was probably just her paranoia, especially when she should probably far leerier of her own teammate. Weiss and she were already not getting along, and she was the heiress to the Schnee Dust company. Thor didn't concern her as much as Weiss did.

Ruby was nice though, and her partner Yang was…alright. She was nice and all but far more extroverted than she was. Overall her team, and roommates were not what she had in mind, but she supposed she had been lucky not getting caught just by coming to Beacon.

"That man." She heard Weiss say as they gather their materials for class. It was Weiss, looking even more irritated than she normally did.

"Thor?" Ruby asked, "What did he do?"

Blake knew it probably wasn't anything he'd done, at least not today. Weiss was in a mood ever sense the team naming ceremony. She hadn't been particularly cordial before it, and she has and understanding Weiss has some sort of run in with Thor on the first day. She was irritated about few things and Thor's little test of the beds was just something for her to focus on. What Thor had done was at worst a little rude for not asking, but the fact he was right sort of made up for it.

Picking up her books Blake left, not wanting to hear whatever tirade Weiss had about the minor infraction.

"What's Wrong with Thor?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"He's loud, annoying and now he's taking up space in our dorm, room we don't have!"

"But…he didn't choose us, it says here in the letter." Ruby held it up and was about to read it, but Weiss continued.

"So? He's still nuisance. Thinking he's better than m…us. Just because he killed that Nevermore himself."

"I don't think…" Ruby began.

"I'm going to class." Weiss cut her off and left in huff.

Yang had been watching as her sister tried to reason her Weiss but once she'd left she stepped into comfort her sister. "Don't let it bother you sis, she's…a little high strung."

Ruby smiled weakly at her sister's attempt to cheer her up "I kind of got that, but, why is she so…miserable?"

"I think." Yang began but pausing to choose he word carefully. "She's used to being on top, and in 24 hours, she's been shown up and not picked as team leader."

"So?"

Yang didn't know how to explain to Ruby properly, so she settled on "She's just having rough start, okay? Give it a bit to let her settle."

Thor was bored beyond what he'd thought his capacity was. These classes were dull beyond comprehension to him. He knew some found them interesting, and he did to, in small doses but not in the hour long lecture he was receiving.

Once the classes for the day were over, thank the heavens, he headed to the cafeteria for dinner. This was his favorite meal of the day. Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but dinner was his favorite.

His tray loaded he sat down started to eat and think about the day's classes. No actual combat classes until the beginning of next week. Boring classes until then, and he was considering maybe just leaving and going about the whole thing a different way. But if he did, he didn't have anywhere to stay, no money or a means to earn it, getting hired as a Huntsman was unlikely without a license. He was too old to back to the group home he'd spent the last few years and didn't have other prospects. IF it weren't for the fact his human body had all the frailties of humanity, he might have done so anyway, but he needed food and shelter. Well he supposed he could live in the wild, but that didn't seem like it would result in much in terms of his goals here…whatever those were. Or maybe it would, he really didn't know. But that course would be harsher, and frankly, the life a huntsman seemed more likely to yield result.

"Need some company?"

Thor looked up to the voice, and saw Yang and Ruby with their own, significantly less packed, trays. His mouth was full, so he just nodded and gestured for them to sit. Of his roommates, these two he got along with better than the other two. Granted two days' worth of interactions wasn't much to go on, but Blake and Weiss were far colder and distant.

He swallowed his mouth full before speaking "Enjoy the first day?"

Yang responded "Pffft, did you?"

He laughed at that and shook his head. "It was a bit dull, wasn't it?"

"I can't wait to start combat training!" Ruby added suddenly.

"Not till next week sis." Yang said while nudging Ruby's shoulder.

They all laughed at this. Not real laugher of a good joke, but the type of laughter, but one that was just people being comfortable around each other. Not friends, not yet but perhaps soon.

Ruby

Thor was…fun, she'd decided. She had liked him when she had meet him, but he was louder and more boisterous than Yang. She loved her sister, but sometimes she was bit much. Thor wasn't family, so she'd been a bit leery of him. Not out of dislike, but more that he would push her out of her comfort zone.

But beyond that, there was something about him that made her uncomfortable. She couldn't put her finger on it. She liked him, but he made her uncomfortable. When she was around him her stomach felt uneasy, and her pulse quicken.

She'd talk to Yang about it later, but right now, with Thor and Yang, she was having a good time now. It wasn't party or anything, but she was laughing, and she wasn't comfortable exactly, but this was pleasant. And it was funny to see Thor eat. He ate enough for four or five people, but he had such an athletic build.

Thor wasn't on her team, although she expected to work with him at some point during the year, but he was easier to talk to than Blake and Weiss. They were both distant and Weiss was particularly cold and almost hostile. Blake was just closed off, but at least her and Yang seemed to be building a proper relationship, but Weiss was just not cooperating.

She wanted to be a good team leader, but Weiss wasn't making it easy. She was cold and angry with her and she didn't know why. Well, that wasn't true, she had an pretty good idea it had to do with not getting the position as team leader. That made her sad and mad at the same time, but she just shoved it down to keep the peace.

She almost wished she had meet Thor in the forest, he'd been her third choice back then, but she hadn't meet up with any of her choices. But she didn't know why she'd put Thor below Blake honestly. He was way more outgoing friendlier on the surface than Blake. Granted she knew Blake better now, and had the idea she was just closed off, but still.

She watched Thor ate, and wondered what made him…not off putting, but made her less inclined towards him than Blake, who was also bookish, if a bit standoffish. Yeah he was loud, but so was Yang. Yang and Thor chatted while she thought on this, there was just something that made her nervous about him, that made her uncomfortable. She didn't feel…unpleasant around him, but her heart rate was elevated.

She'd have to talk to Yang about it. Her sister just seemed to know about these things.

AN: So more of a puff chapter, but one I felt I needed to write.

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