Disclaimer, as it can probably be assumed, i own nothing here expect my oc's everything else is property of Rooster Teeth and Mounty Oum, thank you for reading this chapter.
Chapter 3: The Shining Beacon
They have arrived to Beacon Academy, Jaune Arc was the first student to disembark the ship, his eyes darted around for the nearest container, spotting one, he held no hesitation in emptying the contents of his uneasy stomach into the bin, after him, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long are the first pair to exit the ship, the two wasted no time in admiring their sights as they walked down the paved path towards the school, taking in the entirety of Beacon.
"The view from Vale's got nothing on this." Yang commented, and it was true, in comparison to the rest of Vale, Beacon looked like an entirely different place, it stood out even for an academy.
Ruby's eyes had already glued to the other students that walked by them, or more specifically their weapons, and she revealed her true semblance as she transformed into a 2D, starry eyed, chibi version of herself, unable to contain her compulsive weapon obsession.
"Oh my gosh, sis!" she exclaimed pointing to the various weapons carried around. "That kid's got a collapsible staff, and she's got a fire sword!"
Ruby tried to get closer to the weapons, but she was pulled by her hood and back to normal proportion by Yang as she let out a whimper.
"Easy there little sister, they are just weapons." Ruby gasped aloud, as if Yang had just spoken absolute heresy at her sister.
"Just weapons? They are an extension of ourselves, they are a part of us, and they are so cool!" Ruby explained to her sister in her own excitable little way. Yang couldn't help but to grin a bit at her sisters antics, she was outright adorable, but she also worried about her alot, especially with her immense hesitation to interact with people, there was that one guy in the ship she noticed Ruby talking to, she was internally hoping the hadn't gone too far with her teasing, she was well known for it, but she wouldn't stop kicking herself if she had spoiled Ruby's chance to make a friend.
"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asked her sister, and Ruby pulled out her signature weapon, Crescent Rose, a High Caliber Sniper Rifle that also doubled as a Scythe, it towered over Ruby in comparison, the weapon's frame was colored red with back trims, and true to the name, its blade formed a crescent shape.
"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose, I just like seeing new ones, it's like meeting new people, but better." Ruby replied to her sister, she fiddled around with her scythe, her tone taking a more reclusive tone to her voice.
"Ruby, come on, why don't you try and make some new friends of your own?" She playfully pulled her sister's hood down and over her face. "Like that guy from the Bullhead, what was his name again? Kane, yeah, he seemed nice enough."
Ruby pulled the hood back up so that it was no longer covering her face, she couldn't deny that Yang had a point, Ruby had always been, and still is, a pretty reclusive person, much preferring to spend time reading weapon magazines and practicing flashy moves with her scythe, she was a tomboy, and never found any interest in what other girls her age did.
"I mean, yeah, Kane seemed nice, but we just met, i wouldn't call him a friend yet." Ruby took off her hood at this point as she thought about the boy she spoke to, he seemed not that different then her, at least on the social aspect, he came off as someone who, while not bad in a conversation, would much rather be left to his own thoughts. "Besides, I have you right? We're friends."
Ruby gave her sister the old puppy eyes look, Yang's eyes darted around in panic, a slight sense of unease settling in as she tried to look for a way out.
"Well, i…. uhhh…. I mean…." She didn't want to outright deny it, she was in fact Ruby's friend and sister, but she also feared that by confirming it, she would be encouraging her sister to remain anti-social for the rest of the school year. She noticed a group of random people that she didn't recognize.
"Actually, my friends are here. Gotta catch up. 'Kay, see ya, bye!" Yang said as she blended into the crowd and made her escape, Ruby could only pout seeing her sister run off.
"Wait, where are you going?! Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms? *sighs* I don't know what I'm doing…" Ruby looked down in defeat as she was completely lost, no idea where to go now.
Back to the landing strip, the second pair made its way out, Kane Valdos and Ragni Slifnir were immediately greeted by the same view Ruby and Yang saw, they were amazed, on a closer view the building was even taller than both of them imagined, the great Tower of Beacon standing rather noticeable, standing out over any of the other buildings.
"*whistles* Not bad, headmaster." Kane commented, looking around he spotted "Vomit Boy" hunched over a bin, still emptying his stomach, Ragni and Kane both looked at each other with pity, they were starting to feel pretty bad for the guy.
"At least we made it out unscathed, sadly not the same could be said for some people's shoes…" Ragni looked back, still shuddering at what seemed to be some sort of near death experience for him.
"Um, excuse me?" a voice caught both boy's attention, they turned around and were greeted by a woman who seemed might displeased at them, evidenced by the frown on her face and the rapid tapping of her heels, a pale skinned young woman with pale blue eyes and long white hair that was pulled back in a ponytail to the side of her head, she was smaller than both of them, so the sight was kinda amusing to the duo, "Some people haven't finished getting off, would you please be so kind to not clog the exit?"
The pompous woman said as she played around with her hair, both Ragni and Kane moved away from the exit, but before the woman excited, a massive luggage cart with numerous cases strolled by them, the two looked at the sight with eyes widened as Kane whispered to Ragni "We're the ones who needed to make space? Look at all this stuff she brought, she can't possibly need all of it."
The pale girl glared at Kane, and a chill was sent down his spine, it seemed like she had better hearing than he thought.
"For your information, all this "stuff" as you call it, is Dust, mined and purified from the Schnee Quarries." Dust, it is a natural resource found all over Remnant that sprung up roughly a millenia ago, no really knows where it came from, some believe it predates mankind, and some even believe dust created mankind, found in four forms it can be combined both naturally and artificially to form new stronger types, it is the basis of much of current technology in Remnant, the huntsman and huntresses use it thanks to its unique reaction to the aura of humans and faunus, requiring a certain level to discipline to properly control its powers, though in the current age a more practical way to use dust for combat was invented in the form of ammunition, cartridges and bullets infused with dust with destructive results, some can even fuse dust into their very clothing and in rare and far more dangerous occasions, their own bodies.
Kane looked unamused by the smarky and uptight attitude the girl took, he could immediately tell they wouldn't be getting along, in comparison, maybe having Ragni on his team was not as bad, at least Ragni was affable to be with.
"Wait!" Ragni exclaimed, his face in pure shock. "All of this is dust? There is no possible way a single person could possess this much dust, unless they were…"
The girl allowed herself a smug grin across her face, as she lifted her head slightly in a pompous manner.
"Weiss Schnee, current heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Weiss introduced herself, Ragni looked at the luggage with a thoughtful expression, one hand to his chin.
"Well that surely explains all the dust you're carrying around." Ragni said, but then a question surfaced in his head. "But I gotta ask, why Beacon? Isn't Atlas a far more convenient spot for you?"
"That would be the easy way out wouldn't it? But I'm not here to take the easy way out, I'm here to be the best, for myself and for the Schnee family." the heiress proclaimed, for all her grandeur and arrogance, Ragni had to respect the drive Weiss showed.
Kane for his part was still largely unimpressed, he knew the Schnee's, kinda hard not to when their face is plastered in everything dust related, but he now understood his dislike for the heiress, he never liked the ivory tower folks, believing them to have never really fought to the top, rather being born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but then something caught his eye, Weiss had a scar that ran vertically down her left eye and face, and Kane couldn't help but to wonder.
"Where did you get that?" He asked, gaining her attention
"Excuse me?" Weiss's scowl had just intensified and it had Kane in its aim, the boy took no mind over this though.
"The scar, where did you get that?" he asked again, lacking any sort of tact, Weiss now approached Kane, and got her face uncomfortably close to his, forcing him to take a step back.
"I got it from a place called "None of your business", now if you mind, which I'm sure you won't, I have better things to do at the moment." Weiss said, she waved her hair one more time before turning her back to the duo and walking away from the two of them.
"Damn okay, it was just a question, you could have just said you didn't want to answer! Talk about touchy subjects." Kane said with an angry look on his face, Ragni came in to try and calm his new friend.
"To be fair Kane, you're not exactly the most subtle person, are you?" Ragni chuckled at the lack of social aptitude Kane displayed.
"Nah, not really." Kane said bluntly. "I don't do subtleties, never been good at 'em."
As the pair resumed their walk, they spotted a familiar face in the distance, Ruby Rose was looking around, she was once again fiddling around with her cape, looking around her, it was obvious to the duo that she was lost, they both shared a nod before making their way to her.
"Yo, Ruby, lost already?" Ruby turned her head to the source of the voice, seeing Kane and a giant of a man she did not recognize, a smile grew on her face as she ran to meet up with her acquaintance.
"Kane! You made it!" Ruby exclaimed as she made her way to the duo, Kane looked at her with a confused look.
"Well yeah, we were literally on the same ship a few minutes ago." Kane commented, this caused Ruby to blush in embarrassment and push her index fingers together.
"Right, eh eh, not really the right thing to say was it?" Ruby tried to chuckle the awkwardness away.
"Don't fret it, the first day of Beacon has got many people nervous as well, me included if i'm being honest." Ragni said with a smile, trying to assure Ruby. "If you're lost, stick with us, and we'll cover each other's backs."
"Oh uh, thank you." Ruby said, the man's cheery demeanor helped Ruby feel a bit more comfortable, but she was still uncertain of who he was. "Oh um, I'm Ruby Rose, pleasure to meet you." She gave a slight bow to Ragni.
"Ragni Slifnir, the pleasure is all mine Ruby." Ragni responded back, and Ruby allowed herself to smile facing the taller boy, if Weiss's comparison to Ragni was funny, Ruby's was outright comedic, her head didn't even reach his chest, Kane couldn't help but to chuckle seeing the two side to side. As Ragni and Ruby looked over to Kane, their expression shifted to confusion as they looked at the wild boy.
"What?" Kane asked, "What is it?"
"Kane, where are you sitting?" Ruby asked with a concerned expression.
"On a bench? You know, for sitting?" Kane retorted looking at Ruby uncertain what her point is.
"Kane, that's not a bench, that's luggage." Ruby told him, Kane looked down to notice that he was indeed sitting on someone's suitcase, they must have lost it during the disembark, he quickly stood up and analyzed the case.
"Uh, weird, it doesn't matter though, it ain't our business." Kane said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe not ours, but it's gonna be yours soon my friend." Ragni commented with a stone faced expression. "Good luck."
Kane looked at Ragni confused, then a sharp voice rang out.
"What do you think you're doing with that!?" He turned to the source of the voice and his face immediately dropped, once more he was face to face with Weiss Schnee, as her own eyes widened recognizing the boy who just a short time ago shamelessly sat on her luggage.
"YOU!?" They both yelled out and pointed at each other, Ruby covered her ears and Ragni looked on with a thoughtful expression.
"Are you dumb, deaf or both?" Weiss started. "This! Is! Dust! It's dangerous, it's expensive, and you sat on it! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"
"Uhh? Sorry I must have been zoned out to save myself from that awful pitch of voice." Kane retorted. "Maybe if you weren't such a snot nosed brat I would have bothered to care a little more."
Ruby tried getting in the middle of the two to try and break up the fight.
"Come on you two, we might have started on the wrong foot, but it's not too late to-"
"This does not concern you, aren't you a bit too young to be attending Beacon?" Weiss didn't even let Ruby finish her sentence, the red hooded girl visibly deflated and shrunk back with a devastated expression. "This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters."
"You're one to talk, you look like you missed the school bus to Signal Academy, your parents must be worried sick don't you think?" Kane went to the defense of Ruby, and he took great satisfaction seeing the heiresses face grow incredibly red with embarrassment, which made her stand out in comparison to her white outfit.
"H-how dare you!?" Weiss said with an indignant tone as she stomped her heels to the floor. The two looked like they were still gonna be doing this for a long time, that was until a loud booming voice caught everyone's attention.
"KANE VALDOS!" Ragni yelled out, gaining Kane attention, he was caught suddenly off guard by the loud yell.
"Uh...yeah?" He said, still trying to regain his composure, Ragni looked at Kane with a piercing gaze, he looked dead serious, Kane took a step back surprised by the sudden change of attitude his companion took.
"Answer me this Kane Valdos…" Ragni started as he pointed menacingly at Kane, "If Weiss Schnee sneezes, does she…. Weiss Schneeze?"
A long silence let itself hang in the air, Ruby, Weiss and Kane all looked at Ragni trying to process what he just said, and Kane was the first to break the silence as he laughed loudly.
"Ahahah! Weiss Schneeze! AHAHAHAHA!" he bellowed out as he fell to the ground clutching his stomach with one hand, and his forehead with the other.
"Answer me this…." Ragni started once more, assuming the same stone faced expression and menacing posture. "If Weiss Schnee snoozes in class, does she… Weiss Schnoozes?"
Kane let out another monstrous laughter, he was now kicking his legs around unable to contain his amusement, Weiss finally snapped from her frozen state as she looked at Ragni horrified.
"I..I would never fall asleep in class." Weiss said stuttering, her face growing even redder than before. Ruby collapsed to the floor on her knees, looking to the ground with absolute despair.
"No…not again…" the silver eyed girl told herself, as the light exited her eyes.
"THAT IS IT!" Weiss yelled out, she picked up her suitcase and stomped off. "I'm obviously wasting my breath here, so as the mature person here I will make the decision to walk away!"
And just like that, the heiress took off, leaving the trio to themselves.
"Tsk, I can already tell she's gonna be a pain in my ass." Kane said, regaining his composure after the laughing fit he had shortly before. "By the way, what was all that about? Not that I'm complaining, you killed it."
"Well usually when i see two people fight like that, i use a joke to break the tension, they either laugh, or get so embarrassed that they just flee the scene, it worked quite well as you just saw." Ragni smiled proudly at his joke related de-escalation abilities. "Besides, I could not help myself, I have a soft spot for bad jokes."
The wild boy let a small chuckle, amused by Ragni's methods, then something caught Kane's eyes, he spotted a bottle near him where Weiss was once standing, picking it up he recognized the contents of the bottle, it was dust, specifically fire dust, she must have dropped it during the commotion and was so embarrassed she didn't even notice it, he smiled to himself as he stashed the bottle into one of his pockets.
"You'd give Yang a run for her money, I can tell that much." Ruby said, still kneeling on the floor. "Who is she anyways, and why is she so mean?"
"That's the Schnee's for you alright, arrogant stuck up bastards." Kane said with a growl.
"Yeah but, why are the Schnee's so important?" Ruby asked the now puzzled Kane and Ragni.
"Ruby, you seriously don't know who the Schnee are?" Ragni asked, but before Ruby could respond a new voice answered her question.
"Ruby, I'm as ignorant as they come, and I even know who the Schnee are." Kane added.
"Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." they all turned their heads to the new figure, a young woman with wavy hair and amber eyes made herself present, she wore a black bow on top of her head, her clothes were black and white, she gave off a mysterious energy to her, like there was far more to her than meets the eyes. "And Weiss Schnee is the future heiress to that company."
"So it wasn't just a boast, she really is a damn snot nosed princess." Kane commented.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the SDC been under some fire lately over controversies?" Ragni asked inquisitively to the black haired enigma, her expression dropped a bit, showing sadness in her eyes.
"Lately a lot of information has leaked regarding mistreatment of labor forces and questionable business partners." The woman continued her explanation. "According to a source, most labor they use are faunus refugees, desperate for better living conditions, they don't have much choice then to tolerate the abuse they receive."
"That or join the White Fang." she finished off, letting off a sigh before she continued her way, walking to the massive building of Beacon.
"She's a ray of sunshine, no?" Kane muttered to himself, Ragni was the only one able to hear him.
"When you're as aware of the issues of the world as she probably is, then it's hard to maintain a happy and cheerful attitude." Ragni told Kane, the wild boy sighed, that was something he did understand well, many times he crossed many people in the rough times of their lives, most of them faunus, forced to work like slaves or freeze to death on the outside, it always brought him a weird feeling of pain in his chest, like a pressure.
"Wait, what's your name?" Ruby shouted attempting to catch the attention of the enigma, but she was already out of her view, she sighed to herself in defeat. "Welcome to Beacon…"
Then a hand extended down to her, Ruby looked up to the owner of the helping hand and recognized the blonde knight from the ship.
"Hey." he said, offering her a smile. "I'm Jaune."
Ruby smiled back as she took his hand for help.
"Wait." she said as she stood up. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?" Ruby asked Jaune, much to his horror.
"Yeah, it's him, it's definitely him!" Kane said, now hiding behind Ragni.
"It's Vomit Boy, he's back!" Ragni added, with a horrified expression, with Jaune sighing in despair at his newly acquired nickname.
(a short time skip after)
"All i'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem that people let on!" Jaune said defensively to the group, the four of them were walking around what seemed to be the main garden of Beacon, scenic trees and arching architecture was present, they were walking alongside a winding road that was alongside a river, making their way to the amphitheater where the headmaster would be welcoming all the new students.
"Look man, not our fault you couldn't keep it down your gut for a little more than twenty minutes." Kane told their new party member, Jaune Arc, while holding his hands up as if he was declaring his innocence. "But for real, is it even possible to get motion sickness that quick?"
"That's literally how motion sickness works, you get sick, while in motion, especially if it's quick." Jaune explained, while motioning methodically with his hands while detailing the intricacies of motion sickness. "I still can't believe my first nickname here is Vomit Boy, I mean how would you feel if people started calling you Dust Butt?" Jaune's posture slouched as his arms hung off his body loosely.
"Meh, it wouldn't stick, it's not as catchy as Vomit Bot if you ask me." Kane answered nonchalantly, his posture relaxed with both hands behind his head, walking alongside Jaune to the left and Ragni to the right, Ruby was next to the knight, she seemed to be paying attention while Ragni was seemingly distracted with something.
"Well, you could have blown a hole in the pavement if your butt was big enough, then people would start calling you Thunder Butt, which depending on your judgment, could be a compliment." Ruby said, giggling at the childish nickname she just made up for him, even Kane and Jaune joined in the casual ribbing.
"See, now that's a good nickname, set the fear of god's right into your opponent." Kane chuckled with a smile, amused at the sudden turn of the conversation, weirdly enough, Ragni had not yet contributed much to the conversation, he had always been the first one to reach out for small talk so far, maybe his social battery was running low, happened to everyone, Kane would not fault him for that, but he was looking around, as if he was trying to find someone.
"What, are you gonna sit on a Beowulf to death?" Jaune teased, with Ruby letting out a quick but loud chuckle at the mental image of the young boy sitting on the Grimm to death.
"Hey, what is the ass but just another muscle. If we're in a despairful situation and I have no other choice, then why not?" Now the three of them started laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of the conversation, Jaune darted past the group and stood in front of them.
"I haven't properly introduced myself yet have i?" Jaune posed in front of the trio, puffing his chest out and with both hands at his hips, superhero style. "The name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it!"
Kane and Ruby looked at the young knight with doubt, Ruby mocked a smile, but Kane just raised an eyebrow.
"Do they?" the two asked at the same time, causing both of them to look at each other with a quick motion in surprise.
"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind." Jaune stopped before he could embarrass himself further, his superhero effect shattered as he was now rubbing the back of his head, staring sheepishly at the ground. An awkward silence had now filled the air, but before they could continue along, the silver eyed girl broke the silence.
"Oh yeah, I never showed you my weapon after you showed me yours." Ruby turned towards Kane with wide eyes, excited to show off the custom built weapon she had made herself, from behind her back, she took out the weapon in its compact form
"What is that, some sort of hoverbo-WOAH!" Kane didn't even finish his sentence as Ruby unleashed the weapon in its full form, the blade piercing into the pavement, both Kane and Jaune flinched, the sudden transformation of the weapon catching the two of them off guard, "Might wanna give a heads up first Rubes."
"Is that a scythe?" Jaune asked, still hesitant to approach the weapon, but also admiring the weapon from afar.
"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle." Ruby informed them both, her head turned upwards with a smug look not too different to the heiress.
Jaune and Kane both glanced a look of confusion at each other before Kane whispered.
"I think she means it's also a gun." He informed Jaune.
"Ohhhhh. Cool." Ruby chuckled at Jaune's admiration of her weapon, to Ruby Crescent Rose was like the child she built herself, if always made her happy seeing other people admiring her "baby", looking down at the "injury" her weapon dealt to the floor she bit her lower lip and looked around to see if anyone saw before she quickly stored her weapon back into its original form.
"So, what do you three have?" She asked them. Jaune pulled a sword from the hilt attached to his hip.
"I got this sword." Jaune said, taking a couple of wild swings at the air, before he pulled a rectangular shape from the other side of his hip, the shape shifted and spread into a shield. "I also got this shield!"
"So what do they do?" Ruby asked, curious on what kind of surprises Jaune's weapons had.
"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away…." Jaune said as he struggled with the weight of the shield.
"Wait, but wouldn't it-" "Still weigh the same? Yeah it does." Jaune interrupted Kane as he dejectedly looked down to the floor.
"Well I personally like it, it's simple, reliable, and not too hard to use, kinda like my weapon, so it makes me feel less silly coming to Beacon with just a bat." Kane said, pulling out his trusty bat, while Ruby had already seen the weapon, but she now noticed that it was worn out beyond its time, it was either a really old weapon, or it hadn't been properly maintained over the years.
"Uh Kane, don't take any offense, but you should really get your weapon checked." Ruby told her friend, slightly cringing at the sight of the battered bat, to her it felt like seeing your favorite pair of shoes get all creased up, or like overburnt cookies that she'd left at the oven for too long.
"Probably, but hey, it served me well for 5 years, it can probably last a bit longer, though I do get what you're saying, it was a gift after all." Ruby and Jaune took their eyes off the bat and looked at Kane curiously. He understood what they were about to ask, so he beat them to the punch. "It was given to me by my sister, well not literally my sister, more like… sister in the way that you've known each other for a long while now, you get me?"
Jaune nodded understandingly before taking a couple more practice swings.
"My sword is more of an heirloom than anything, My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune added, raising his sword up and inspecting it, turning it from side to side
"Well I like it as well. Not many people have an appreciation for the classics." Ruby giggled as Jaune sheathed his sword back and folded his shield, putting it back in place. "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."
Kane and Jaune both paused, and even Ragni seemed to have been shaken off his thoughts when Ruby said that detail.
"Wait… you built that?" Jaune asked dumbfounded, his jaw threatening to fall off
"Yeah of course, all students in Signal build their own weapons." Ruby said it in such a casual tone, that it confused her on why that information took Jaune and Kane aback so much, but Ruby quickly ignored them as she turned to Ragni. "What about you Ragni? What's your weapon?"
Ragni was now paying attention to Ruby, but instead of answering her question he looked at the trio with a wary expression.
"We're being followed by someone." He said suddenly, catching the trio completely off guard.
"Can you sense them?" Ruby was the first one to ask, clutching onto her compacted weapon, but not unleashing it yet.
"No. I can see them." Ragni said. He pointed to a tree that they had passed by while walking around the garden. It was a modest distance from them, and they could see a head peeking out of it, they spotted dark blue hair, and what seemed to be fins. "I never said they were good at it."
The figure seemed to have known it was caught, as it hid its head behind the tree, but unfortunately for the mystery figure, the long staff it carried still gave away its position, both ends sticking out of both sides of the tree, hell, she wasn't even able to hide her whole body, the tree was far too thin for that.
"Hey!" Ruby was the first one to shout out. "Are you a stalker?" immediately the four of them heard a loud eep sound coming from behind the tree.
Then in a quick burst of motion, a woman revealed herself to the group, skin, player then even Weiss's, and dark blue hair, with a single strand of black that stood out on the right side of her hair, her eyes were a dark violet color, she wore a black summer jacket and underneath a long navy blue dress that reached all the way to her ankles, she also wore a pair of black ankle boots, most distinguishable from her though was her animalistic feature, a pair of blue fins, one for each side of her head, exposing the common trait of a faunus, seemingly being of a more aquatic branch.
The not so mystery woman seemed to be incredibly nervous, her legs were shaking, and she was holding her staff in front of them, as if putting it between the group and herself, Ruby, Kane, Ragni and Jaune all looked at each other as the silence grew longer and longer, Jaune was the first one to break the ice however.
"Hey-" Before he could finish his sentence the girl flinched and raised her staff, trying to hide her head behind it, carefully peeking at the group, still shaking from anxiety, but soon she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.
"I'MSORRYI'MNNOTASTALKERMYAPOLOGIESOKAYBYE!" she blurted out as she ran surprisingly fast, leaving a trail of dust behind, soon exiting the group's sight, the four of them were left dumbfounded at the bizarre encounter.
"Wow, and I thought I was bad at this." Ruby was the first to say something. "But now i feel bad, maybe she just wanted to talk? Be friends? Aaahhh… she ran away because of me, didn't she?" Ruby slumped down, Ragni pats her shoulder reassuringly, having to slightly kneel down to reach her without it being uncomfortable.
"Is she a student?" Kane asked himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "she doesn't seem to be exactly the huntress type of student."
"Well, it's a bit too early to start judging that, she might surprise us later on, who knows?" Jaune added to the conversation, feeling some pity towards the nervous faunus that was following them around. "She might even be on your team."
"I'd still take her over the Schneeze." Kane said, as Ragni let out a small chuckle at the reminder of the jokes he made at the Ice Queen's expense. "Here's hoping we don't walk into her for the next few years."
"Speaking of walking." Ruby chimed in, the rest of the group turning to her. "Where are we headed anyways?"
"Simple, the Amphitheatre, that is where all the students are gathering to listen to the headmaster's introduction speech." Ragni said, pointing towards the same direction the faunus from earlier had run off. "Matter of fact it should already be starting right now."
The party all looked at each other for a minute, then the realization that they were going to be late hit them as the 4 of them ran to the amphitheater with a greatly panicked expression, passing by the other faculties of Beacon, which they did not have the time to stop and admire, but soon enough, they reached their destination.
The amphitheater is a large glass-domed structure with a large open area where all the students were currently waiting, it was like the landing strip back in Vale all over again, with the crowded students all gathered together awaiting the headmaster's appearance.
"Ruby, over here!" The voice caught Ruby's attention, as when she tracked the source of the voice she noticed her sister amongst the crowd, waving towards her. "I save you a spot!"
"Oh!" Ruby yelled out, turning towards her group with an apologetic smile on her face. "Hey, I-i gotta go! I'll see you three after the ceremony!" and just like that, Ruby Rose sped off towards her sister.
Shortly after, Ragni spotted the same girl that Ruby had called out before, she was leaning towards the walls of the building, and trying to not get herself mixed within the crowd, Ragni gently elbowed Kane's arm, gaining the attention of the latter as he merely raised his eyebrow in confusion, Ragni motioned with his head, pointing to the faunus.
"How about we get to know our number one admirer a bit better?" Ragni asked Kane, who merely groaned at the suggestion.
"And why exactly? She seems fine by herself." Kane retorted bluntly, Ragni frowned at Kane's solitary attitude.
"C'mon, we're just gonna be saying hello and exchanging names, maybe make a new friend, don't be such a rock." Ragni said as he grabbed Kane by the arm and started to drag him alongside towards the faunus girl, turning a deaf ear to Kane's protests and groans "See ya after the ceremony Jaune!"
Jaune looked back to see the giant drag Kane to someplace, and then suddenly noticed that the whole group had disbanded, much to his dismay.
"Uh? Hey wait!" Jaune tried to reach out, but despite Ragni's size, soon lost the two in the sea of bodies, he let his posture drop a bit and let out a sigh. "Great, where else am I supposed to find another nice quirky girl, a good-hearted powerhouse and a mysterious boy?"
Meanwhile, the mystery faunus girl was leaning over by the wall, her eyes darted nervously all over the crowd, she held on to her staff with a strong grip, stomping her boots gently and carefully onto the ground in order to not bring any attention over to her, she gently brushed her hair with hand and tried to use it in order to hide her fins, before she sighed and gave up on it.
"That's stupid, I shouldn't be doing that." She muttered to herself, letting her eyes fixate on the ground beneath her, before shortly letting her body slightly slide off the wall.
"What shouldn't you be doing?" With surprising stealth, Ragni was able to sneak up on the woman, with Kane still trying to free himself from his grasp, even trying to bite him at some point like a dog being taken to the vet.
The sudden appearance of the two took the girl by surprise, in her startled state, she jumped up quickly, but soon lost her balance, and fell forwards, crashing into the floor, unfortunately taking a poor bystander with her, Ragni and a now free Kane winced at the crash.
"Owwww…" the faunus said, kneeling and holding her head with one hand. "Sorry."
"Oh uh, it's quite alright, I didn't mean to frighten you like that." Ragni apologetically said to the girl.
"How about you use your damn eyes next time!" the other girl that the faunus crashed into said, as she stood up and faced the kneeling faunus. Her skin was tanned, and she had short scarlet hair that was shaggy in style, her brown eyes looked down onto the girl with annoyance, she wore a red shirt, and above it a black leather jacket that was fully zipped open, beneath her waist, she wore jean pants of the same color with the topside slightly torn open, either cause of accidents or a design choice, she wore red combat boots.
"Oh uhh, i'm so sorry, i-i should have… should have paid more attention to my surroundings." The faunus girl meekly said, avoiding eye contact with the other girl.
The annoyed look of the crimson haired girl subsided as she noticed the fins that stuck to the side of the other girl's head, she awkwardly looked to the ground before reaching down with her hand, the faunus looked at it with surprise, before hesitantly taking it and pulling herself back up.
"It's fine, it was just an accident anyways, nerves and all that stuff." the tanned girl said before turning around and leaving the three of them.
"We're the ones who should be apologizing, we didn't mean to startle you by any means." Kane side eyed Ragni when the latter said that.
"We? I literally did nothing!" Kane fumed, but Ragni ignored him as he approached the faunus and extended his hand.
"My apologies, I'm Ragni, and that is Kane." He gestured to his ill-mannered companion who was now crossing his arms. "Don't mind him, he's actually a good guy." Kane once again side eyed Ragni, not sure how to feel being called a "good guy". The faunus girl slightly shrunk back a bit, trying to hide her face beneath her hair.
"H-hi Ragni… and Kane too…." a bit of an awkward silence lingered, Ragni still had his hand extended towards the girl, when she looked at it, she then understood what Ragni was trying to do. "O-OH! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean… I was distracted, sorry!"
She shook Ragni's hand with both of her's, slightly bowing towards him.
"I'm Gunhilda, Gunhilda Holstein, it's… nice to meet you two, if you want, you can just call me Hilda though, Gunhilda is a bit too long… or so i've heard." The named faunus introduced herself, quickly letting go of Ragni's hand and picking up her staff from the floor.
"Alright Ragni, we got the girls name, can we go now?" Kane asked bluntly.
"C'mon Kane, ain't you got even a bit of patience?" Ragni wrapped his arm around Kane's head and brought him closer to Gunhilda, to the latter's surprise as she slightly moved back. "Ask her a question, anything."
Ragni let go of Kane's head as he smiled, Kane stared daggers at the giant, and Gunhilda looked at the two of them with much confusion, soon Kane gave up and sighed before thinking of a question to ask her.
"Alright then… Hilda, right?" Gunhilda nodded aggressively. "Why were you stalking us back in the garden?"
Gunhilda suddenly started to turn red, even her faunus traits slightly glowed red at the sudden question, she waved her head just as aggressively as she nodded.
"No, No, you misunderstand, i-i wasn't trying to stalk anyone." She started, waving her arms around as if to proclaim her innocence. "I just stumbled into you four by pure accident, and I just so happened to hear your conversation, and you sounded like you were having fun and being friends, and I wanted to try and make some friends too, but I didn't know anything about making friends, so I just hid being a tree and listened, so I could maybe learn something and eventually have the courage to approach you all and talk about things, but you were all talking about weapons and my weapon isn't even a weapon, it's just a regular old staff I use, so I felt really out of place, and I was about to leave, and mentally beat myself up for being such a lame person, but then the big man over there spotted me, and then the little girl called me a stalker, and I'm not a stalker just so you know, but I was put on a spot, and I was afraid of their forth being known as the school weirdo for stalking on people, I didn't want that to be my legacy so I-"
"ALRIGHT!" Kane yelled out, his expression showing his exhaustion brought by the faunus girl's rant, even Ragni was staring at her with wide eyes. "Alright, just give us a quick synopsis, please."
"... I was too nervous to say hi…" Gunhilda mawkishly admitted, much to her embarrassment.
"...Wow, you're not very good at this whole socializing thing, are you?" Kane asked her with one eyebrow raised, in the background Ragni chuckled to himself.
"Look at the pot calling the kettle black." He told Kane, amused by how similar, yet different these two were.
"Shuddup!" Kane turned to face Ragni, with a frown in his face.
"Hey, look at the bright side, at least you're not with them." Ragni pointed at Ruby and Yang, who were in a unfortunate predicament with Weiss, the heiress seemingly scolding Ruby over matters she did not fully understand, as Yang looked at the both of them confused at what she had missed out, at some point Weiss even unintentionally pointed at Jaune, which caught the blonde knight's attention, looking at the scene unfold, Kane could not help but to feel bad for Ruby, and for the poor team that will have to deal with Weiss.
"Is that Weiss Schnee? What is she doing here?" Gunhilda asked herself out loud, her tone showing worry and some fear.
The attention of the three of them was then drawn to the stage, where Headmaster Ozpin was readying the microphone, with Professor Glynda beside him, Kane glared at the professor, still bitter over his loss, but the professor was too preoccupied to take any notice of him.
"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
The headmaster then left the stage, leaving the crowd of students to whisper amongst themselves, Kane, Ragni and Gunhilda all stared at each other with unsure expressions, the speech was far shorter than any of them expected, but it made the message clear, they may be students, but they were training to become huntsman, to fight the apex predators of mankind, and that despite all they would learn in Beacon, they survival was not guaranteed, and it will be ultimately up to them, to insure that they live on to see another day, it was less of an introduction, and more of a warning then anything. After the headmaster left, Glynda stepped up to the mic.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." No introductions either, quick, short, and to the point, tomorrow their fate would be sealed. Honestly Kane liked the straight forwardness of it all, and he definitely looked forward to tomorrow.
"Finally, a chance to cave some skulls in." He said with a grin, Ragni and Gunhilda on the other hand seemed to be thinking of different matters.
"So, that's our headmaster then, is it just me, or did he look… out of it?" Ragni asked, facing towards Gunhilda.
"He looked tired, even more than usual for someone of his position." Gunhilda added, sharing the same concern with Ragni.
Leaving the Amphitheater, Ozpin stopped for a quick moment to look down at his scroll, a message from Qrow."The Queen's hand is bigger than we suspected." Ozpin sighed, making his way back to his office.
Meanwhile, nighttime had already set in, time has passed so quickly it caught most students off guard, including Ruby, who was now wearing her pajamas and a sleeping mask above her head, was laying down writing a letter, when her sister, Yang, wearing a similar attire, crashed down next to her.
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said cheerfully.
"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys." Ruby responded nonchalantly, not even taking her eyes off what she was writing.
"I know I do." Yang purred as she eyed all the Beacon students, she spotted Kane, laying on his side with one hand supporting his head, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion, weirdly enough, he was wearing the same clothes he came to Beacon with, only without the shoes and the jacket, she thought he was cute, but a man that had no awareness on how maintain himself was one of her biggest turn offs, her eyes darted to Ragni, and she liked what she saw, very much so, Ragni was topless, wearing only some sleeping shorts, and so there was a lot of skin showing, which allowed to highlight his body, Yang could tell looking at it that he was insanely strong, Kane was more ripped in comparison, meaning he had a lower body fat percentage, which allowed his muscles to be more visible, but Ragni was buff, which meant that his body fat was higher, but so were his muscles, physically, he was definitely stronger.
Ragni was stretching his arms and legs, while making some small talk with Kane, then a new contender entered her view, Jaune Arc wearing his feetie pajamas, he waved at Yang, and Yang waved awkwardly back, letting out a slight groan at the sight, no offense to the man, but definitely not Yang's type.
"What's that?" Yang finally took her eyes off the sight to investigate what Ruby was writing about.
"A letter to the gang back in Signal." Ruby answered, taking her eyes off the letter to look at her sister. "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."
"Aww, that's cute." Yang teased, which got her a pillow thrown at her face in response.
"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here." Ruby confessed, looking away from her sister in embarrassment.
"That's not true Ruby." Yang said, "There was Kane, he helped you recover your emblem, remember? There is also Ragni, from what you told me, he seems like a friendly guy, with a great sense of humor i may add, and there was also Jaune, he seemed nice. That's three friends before we even started our semester proper."
"Yeah, but I didn't do anything to deserve those, what if the three of them end up together in a team and forget about me? What if they start thinking I'm annoying, like Weiss did? What if-" Ruby ranted before her big sister covered her mouth with her hand, preventing the shorter girl from further degrading herself.
"Nope." Yang responded, Ruby stared at her sister without saying a single word before she understood what she was doing.
"Hey! That's my trick!" Ruby said, undignified at the theft, frowning at her sister as Yang chuckled to herself.
"Now there is the little sister I know." Yang said, before taking a more serious attitude. "Look Ruby, you can't just assume you're going to screw things up, there are plenty of reasons to like you, your kind, you're cute, hell, you made Crescent Rose with little to no help! And if they don't like you, their loss, they don't know what they are missing out on."
Yang told Ruby in an a attempt to lift the silver eyed girl's spirits up, Ruby allowed herself a prideful smirk, the creation of Crescent Rose was still one of, if not, the biggest highlights in her life, while many students at Signal built their own weapons, they were usually simplistic in design, a sword with a gun attached, a spear that could shock people, a whip that set himself ablaze, Crescent Rose was unique, one of the most powerful weapons, designed by a 15 year old, initially her professors has suspected that either her dad or uncle had it made for her, but after dad had explained that it was indeed Ruby that made the weapon by herself, the professors at Signal were flabbergasted, she easily passed that class with no problem.
"I'm still kinda bummed about Weiss though." During the ceremony, Weiss Schnee had scolded Ruby, despite not being a part of the scuffle between her and Kane and the circus that was Ragni's puns, guilty by association, the heiress had said, despite the fact that it was Ruby that was trying to de-escalate the situation, the ceremony even ended with the heiress handing Ruby a pamphlet detailing a bunch of policies she didn't understand. "So, I'm pretty sure that's a negative for me."
"There's no such thing as negative friends, besides, that's still three friends and one enemy, it's a net positive." Yang smiled at her sister, another pillow hit her square in the face, courtesy of Ruby, she quickly shrugged it off, however. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!"
A bright light caught the attention of both, as Ruby sat up straight, facing the light, it was the same mystery girl that wore a black bow that she had encountered after Kane and Weiss's scuffle, she was currently immersed in a book she was reading.
"That girl…" Ruby muttered, remembering her meeting with the enigma.
"You know her?" Yang asked her sister curiously.
"Not really. She saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything." Ruby said, Yang stood up and grabbed her sister.
"Well, now's your chance!" she lifted her sister up with ease and started dragging her towards the girl.
Ruby protested, but to no avail, as she made no progress in freeing herself from her mischievous sister's grasp, the scene caused a couple of heads to turn, which only further embarrassed the silver eye'd girl, the girl that was reading her book became aware of the ruckus, looking over her book to see the sisters standing in front of her.
"Hellooooo~!" Yang said in a singing tune, Ruby, finally free from her sister's grasp, pouted and turned her back to Yang "I believe you two may know each other already?" She asked with a grin on her face.
"Aren't you… the girl from the courtyard? With the short-tempered guy and the other one with an awful sense of humor?" The black-haired girl asked, now lowering her book to have a better view of the sisters.
"Uh… yeah! My name is Ruby, but you can call me… Ruby…Nice to meet you…again…ahaha" She laughed awkwardly as she timidly extended her hand towards the girl, but Ruby's gesture was ignored as the other girl had already resumed her reading.
"Okay." It was the only response she got after a brief pause, sounding more annoyed than anything. Yang turned to her sister, leaning closer to her.
"What are you doing?" She whispered to her, she had no idea Ruby was this bad at making small talk, then again there was a big difference between talking with people and with weapons.
"I don't know, help me." Ruby whispered back, before resuming her innocent smile, internally pleading Yang for some assistance, her big sister relented and tried to give Ruby a hand at salvaging this mess of a social interaction.
"So…What's your name?" Yang asked, the girl sighed, not taking her eyes for her book.
"Blake." She said quickly and bluntly.
"Well, Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister! I like your bow!" Yang had learnt that a well-placed compliment can help crack a person's outer shell, it allows them to drop their guard and feel more comfortable around her, that was the tactic she tried to employ, but the enigma kept quiet, so she tried to add something more "It goes great with your…. pajamas."
Yand dropped the ball, and Ruby was left looking at her sister in disbelief, as she had grown up believing that Yang was supposed to be the charismatic one.
"Yang! That was awful!" Ruby whispered to her sister, Yang ignored her.
"Nice night, don't you think?" Yang tried to salvage the situation once again, but Blake sighed at the further attempts.
"Yes - it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book! That I will continue to read. As soon as you leave!" She said, trying to urge the other girls to leave her alone as she went back to reading her book.
"Yeah, this girl is a lost cause." Yang whispered to her sister, as she was starting to leave Ruby noticed the book Blake was reading, she recognized it, a story from her childhood.
"That book, it's the one about the two souls, right?" Yang stopped in her tracks as she looked at Ruby, Blake too lowered her book slightly to make eye contact with the silver eye'd girl, a look of surprise on her face. "The two stuck in one body, constantly fighting for control."
"...You've read it?" Blake asked Ruby, who had now gained her full attention, much to Yang's surprise.
"Yeah…" Ruby said, crouching down to meet Blake's eye level and wearing a warm smile on her face. "I love books."
Blake could not help but to chuckle a bit, Ruby slightly blushed, embarrassed at sudden sentence she just said.
"W-Well, my mom and Yang used to read me stories at night, before bedtime." She corrected herself. "Stories about heroes and monsters, about people who would inspire change and hope in the hearts of others, about how just one simple action can change everything. They are one of the reasons I want to become a huntress."
"And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake said, a small laughter escaping her mouth, now intrigued, and amused at the young girl's ambitions, finally letting go of the book she had been reading.
"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!" Ruby told Blake, her smile never leaving her face, Blake could not help but to smile at the hopefulness the aspiring huntress showed.
"That's… very ambitious." her smile then evolved into a sad visage, as she looked away from the sisters. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as the fairy tales."
"Well, that's why we're here, to make it better!" Ruby said, determination overflowing from her, suddenly Yang appeared from behind and lifted her sister up with a bear hug.
"I'm so proud of my baby sister! Look at her using her heroic heart to her advantage, you've grown so far!" Ruby tried to push Yang off her, feeling herself losing oxygen at an alarming rate.
Blake looked at the two sisters with amusement, smiling once more, and in that moment, there was no fear, no guilt, no worries, just the present that she was enjoying.
"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" Weiss entered the scene, and she immediately made eye contact with the two sisters.
"You again!?" Weiss and Yang yelled out, devolving into yet another argument.
In the boy's side, Kane watched the whole scenario play out, he chuckled, but part of him also felt bad for poor Ruby, it was the third time already that she had to deal with the pompous princess, but he didn't feel bad enough to run to her side or anything, last thing he wanted was to put up with Schneeze and her whole "daddy's princess" shtick she had going on. He turned around, with his head facing the ceiling, but was surprised by the view of Jaune head peeking out and looking back at him. The sudden appearance of the knight made Kane yell out in surprise and sit straight up, before getting up and facing the pajama knight.
"The hell Jaune? Are you trying to give me a heart attack!?" The wild boy said to Jaune, still catching his breath, and clutching his chest.
"Sorry." Jaune apologized, noticing Kane hadn't yet changed his clothes for sleep. "Aren't you going to change? You're not going to sleep like that are you?" Jaune asked, pointing to the unchanged clothing the wild boy wore.
Kane looked down and inspected his getup, confused by Jaune's question, he had always worn the same clothes he was currently wearing, they were his only set, so to him sleeping in them was no different from sleeping with any other clothes.
"I was, why?" Kane retorted to Jaune, his tone sounding a bit more annoyed than he really was, fortunately Jaune didn't seem bothered by it, or he didn't notice, but the knight did lean over closer to Kane, and took a quick sniff of his clothes, quickly backing away and cringing, letting his disgust audibly known.
"Dude, no offense, but you could use a shower, and a clothes wash." Jaune asked, pinching his nose.
"Uh? What do you mean, I just took a bath AND washed my clothes recently." Kane informed the knight, which led to the latter to eye suspiciously with one eyebrow raised.
"When?" Jaune asked simply.
"Last month." Kane told Jaune, almost proud of his answer to knight, Jaune on the other hand, looked absolutely mortified at Kane's answer, he slightly gagged, and a repeat of the infamous Bullhead Incident almost repeated itself, luckily Jaune dealt with this sort of things better then with motion sickness, so he was able to contain himself.
"Oh, shut it." Kane told the knight, crossing his arms and facing away from him. "Besides at least I look cool in what I wear, you look ridiculous."
"It wasn't my first choice! It's the only pajama I have, my spare got into… well… an accident back in the Bullhead." Jaune looked down, still embarrassed by what happened in the trip to Beacon.
Ragni soon joined the two of them, appearing in the middle of the two, wrapping both of their head around his arms and pulling them all together into a hug.
"Kane, you ought to take better care of yourself, hygiene is an important aspect of not only your physical health, but your social life too, not many people want to hang around with someone reeking as bad as you." Kane smiled at the wild boy.
"Hey!" Kane exclaimed, feeling disrespected by Ragni calling him out on his hygiene as well.
"And don't feel embarrassed by what you wear Jaune, nothing screams confidence more than someone wearing something ridiculous with pride." Ragni told Jaune, the knight smiled at his giant friend.
"Aw, thank man." Jaune paused, as he adopted a more confused expression. "Wait, was that a compliment or a roast?" Ragni ignored the knight's question, letting go of both of his friend, he let gravity weight him down as he crashed down into his bedroll, the two others merely shrugged at each other before joining their friend and laying down onto their respective bedrolls.
"So… what made you all join Beacon?" Jaune sliced through the silence with a question, everyone here had the same goal, to become a huntsman, but there was always something that caused them to want to follow their paths, whether it was a tragic past, personal glory, or a genuine desire to help, everyone was motivated by something.
"I'll start." Jaune told his companions "As I already said before, my great-great-grandfather fought in the war, but he wasn't the only hero, all of my ancestors before me were heroes, they fought for Remnant and kept the people save, and I'm just me, I want to be a hero as well, to inspire the same hope in the people as they did." Jaune told the group, Ragni seemingly immersed in Jaune's description of his family lineage, while Kane was half hearing what the knight was saying.
"Well, you're still plenty young Jaune, I'm sure you'll do them proud one day." Ragni told the knight, smiling at his friend conviction, Jaune nodded thankfully at Ragni for the encouragement.
"Well… where I'm from, we're always taught to give back to people, and treat everyone with the same respect and kindness you'd want to be treated, I always tried to embody those values wherever I go, I just want to help people, nothing much, nothing less." Ragni was the first to answer, Kane rolled his eyes at his driving force, but he also smiled, it was an incredibly simple reason, but no less admirable. "I'm not naïve though, I know I can't help everyone, but if I can help at least a few people, not matter how small it is, then I'd call that a job well done."
Jaune looked over Ragni, looking at the giant with great respect and admiration, before turning to Kane and waiting for his answer, Kane looked back before he sighed.
"I just want to get stronger, that's all." Kane answered shortly, Jaune looked slightly disappointed, expecting a more expressive answer, even Ragni looked at Kane inquisitively.
"Yeah, but why do you want to get stronger." Jaune asked the wild boy, he growled quietly at the knight's insistence.
"I don't know man, I just want to get stronger, there is nothing else to it!" Kane told him, a bit more loudly than he noticed, the knight flinched a bit, before looking to Ragni. "I got invited here by the headmaster, he told me I would have the chance to fight a bunch of strong people and monsters, so I said, "sure why not" and now I'm here, are you satisfied now?"
Jaune looked uncertain, and surprised, he would have never guessed that headmaster Ozpin himself had invited Kane to Beacon, when he thought of someone hand picked by Ozpin, the wild boy was now the first type of person that popped into his mind, Ragni looked at Kane with a friendly grin.
"Sounds like you lack a purpose, without a purpose, I'm afraid your goal is going to be much harder to acquire, but don't worry, we got four years ahead of us, I'm certain you'll find a purpose that will elevate you, you can bet on that." Ragni told Kane, the latter rolled back, facing the ceiling of the building they were in.
"A purpose, uh? Alright, whatever you say, I'll keep you updated." He chuckled, not really believing Ragni's words.
Meanwhile, at another corner of the sleepover, Gunhilda was still busy trying to find a spot to settle down for the night, still clutching her trusty staff, she was trying to find a spot that was isolated enough for her to be on her own, not feeling very comfortable sleeping near people out of fear of bothering them.
As she was busy scouting the area for a suitable resting place, she didn't notice the large bump protruding from one of the bedsheets laid across the floor. She tragically tripped into it, falling face first into the floor, she quietly groaned in pain before sitting up and looking at what she bumped into, her curiosity got the best of her as she closed in on the strange bump, poking it a couple of times with her staff, she eyed it suspiciously, her face getting closer and closer, then in a quick motion, a head popped out of the bump, Gunhilda screamed in fear, as she once again tripped backwards.
"Helloooo~" The head sang out to her, when Gunhilda got her senses together, she could finally take a good look at the head, she was a fair skinned woman with short straight orange hair and turquoise eyes, her bubbly smile radiating across her face. The bedsheet was kicked up and in a blur of speed the orange haired girl appeared right next to the faunus girl. "My name is Nora, Nora Valkyries, nice to meet you."
Nora grabbed a titanic hold of Gunhilda's hand and started shaking it aggressively, causing the faunus to yelp in pain.
"Are you here to become a huntress, oh what am I saying of course you're here to become a huntress, DUH! Anyways, my name is Nora, Oh but I already said that didn't i? *giggles* Sorry, I'm just so super mega excited for all of this I came here with a friend I spent like THE WHOLE TIME thinking of awesome team names for any possible teams we get of course there must be a N and a R for me and my bestie do you know my bestie? He's like my best friend he can come off as a bit moody but in reality he's a softie I would know that cause I've known him for YEARS! But I actually lost him a while ago and I was looking for him but then I got bored so I just hid myself in this bedroll until he eventually found speaking of which have you seen Ren?"
Nora finally let go of Gunhilda's hand, the faunus stood there dumbfounded, looking at the girl with a petrified expression, before she shook her head to snap her out of it.
"Wait, who's Ren?" Gunhilda asked the overly energetic girl, to which she pouted.
"Weren't you listening? Alright again let me go over from the beginning." Nora sighed, and then took a deep breath.
"Are you here to beco-"
"I'm here Nora." A voice interrupted her monologue, much to Gunhilda's relief as she was not sure she could handle Nora for much longer. The young man that went by "Ren" was a boy with long black hair that ended midway down his back, there was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair that paralleled Gunhilda's own streak.
"REN!" Nora yelled out as she threw herself at Ren, the boy swung back and forth like a metronome, the girl hanging on to him like a koala.
"Hey." The boy said, his neutral expression unchanged, before turning to Gunhilda. "I'm sorry for any problem she may have caused, Nora is well intentioned, but there aren't many who can keep up with her… everything."
Nora pouted at Ren and called him a meanie, but Gunhilda awkwardly chuckled.
"Oh, it's quite alright, I'm the one who tripped into her, so if anyone should be apologizing it's me." Gunhilda explained to him.
"Well, you've undoubtedly already met Nora." Ren said, pointing at the gremlin that hang to his side. "I'm Lie Ren." He introduced himself with a slight bow.
"I'm Gunhilda Holstein, it's a pleasure to meet you two." Gunhilda reciprocated the bow with one of her own.
Ren turned around and began walking off, waving the faunus goodbye.
"BUH-BYE!" Nora yelled, waving her new friend goodbye as well.
She saw the two leave before she turned around and resumed her quest for a nice spot to sleep in, things at Beacon had been different from what she expected, while she expected many incredibly skilled individuals befitting of the status of the academy, she was surprised by the eccentric nature of many of these, there was the red hooded girl who called her a stalker, she groaned remembering that moment, then there was the big guy and the moody guy, the giant seemed friendly at least, though she didn't want to annoy the moody one, and now there was Nora and Ren, who were very friendly to her, it was a contrast from Atlas, where everything was far more homogenous and militaristic in nature, where in Beacon everything was far more diverse, and seemed more like an academy then a military institution.
"You've got a bad habit of tripping into people, don't you?" another voice asked her, looking downwards she spotted a familiar face, it was the same girl she bumped into at the ceremony.
"Oh uh, I'm sorry, I tend to, kind of just… zoom out, you know?" Gunhilda laughed nervously, the girl laughed before motioning to the faunus to lay next to her.
"You're looking for a spot right? You can lay down right here if you want." The girl asked her. "I'm Raelza by the way, Raelza Lana, just so we don't act like strangers."
Gunhilda hid herself behind her hair nervously, it took a few seconds before letting herself speak.
"I-I'm Gunhilda, but you can call me Hilda… it's quicker." She told Raelza, the tanned woman smiled at her amused by the faunus nervous attitude. "You don't need to give up your spot, I would hate to be a bother to you."
Raelza raised an eyebrow at Gunhilda, the faunus let out a *eep* as she went back to hiding behind her hair, anxious that she may have said something wrong.
"Why would you bother me? You seem chill enough." She said moving a bit to the side to allow Gunhilda some space to settle her bedroll in. "C'mon don't be a stranger, I already gave you my name."
Gunhilda looked nervously at the spot, before swallowing her anxiety and kneeling to set up her bedroll.
"O-okay." She set down her bedroll with a great amount of care, before she laid down on it, part of her blushed strongly at the thought of sharing a sleeping space so close to another person, but most of all she was thankful for the gesture. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Raelza chuckled. "By the way, those two dudes from the ceremony, were they causing any trouble for you?" Raelza face sharpened, and her voice took a more serious tone, the nature of the question catching Gunhilda completely off guard as her eyes widened.
"N-NO!" She screamed, noticing the volume of her voice she quickly covered her mouth and looked around to see if she bothered anyone, slowly relaxing as the coast was clear. "No, it wasn't like that, they just wanted to talk, if anything they were quite friendly, more than I expected, well the big one was friendly, the other one, I'm still on the fence about."
Raelza's face relaxed, allowing herself a relieved sigh, before raising the blanket over her shoulders and rolling over, now facing against Gunhilda.
"Yeah, that dude exudes bad energy, I'd just clear off him if possible." She said, as Gunhilda also raised her blanket over her shoulders, ready to fall asleep. "But if he tried anything with you, just call me and I'll kick his ass."
Gunhilda looked at the girl beside her with surprise before smiling at the kind, if not violent, gesture she offered.
"Thank you…"
Night settled in, and everyone now slept undisturbed, they rested their bodies for the day tomorrow, preparing themselves for their biggest test.
And with another chapter done, more OC's added, obligatory bio below, starting with Gunhilda
Gunhilda Holstein
Race: Faunus (Lionfish)
Weapon: Harmonia, a staff that allows her to conduct her semblance with more ease, apart from that, it's just a normal staff
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Birthday: 21st March
Nationality: Atlas
Personality: Quiet, Shy, Easily distracted
Semblance: Fish Summoning... nah im joking, it's a secret.
Gunhilda's last name was inspired by the German county that borders Denmark of the same name, and Gunhilda is the name of a former Queen consort of the german King Henry III.
Raelza Lana
Race: Human
Weapon: ~~Secret~~
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Birthday: 4th November
Nationality: Vacuo
Personality: Blunt, Headstrong, Stubborn
Semblance: Not telling yet, tehe