A chime rang out throughout the Ballroom awakening the entirety of the first year class. "All first year students are to awaken and prepare for the Initiation today. Please be prepared by nine." Groggy and shambling, everyone went about their business to prepare for the day, changing into everyday clothes, brushing their teeth and heading to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast.

Daiki slumped into his spot beside Oriole, across from Yang. "Not enough beauty sleep pretty boy?" Yang quipped, seeming more chipper than the boy this time around.

Daiki groaned a bit, rubbing his eyes, bags could be seen even with his tanned skin. "Jauney-boy is a hugger in his sleep… I almost couldn't get any sleep last night…" a faint smile touched his lips before he continued, "I get it, I'm irresistible, but I am not down for the surprise cuddling." Pausing he took a couple quick bites of his cereal. "Then, that crazy redhead was in the men's bathroom," his spoon used to point over at a girl in white and pink clinging to a boy wearing green, "I had my… never mind what I had, she shouldn't have been in there." This was the first time the girls noticed his dark skin turning a different shade.

Yang laughed, wholeheartedly, the flirt seemed to have met his match in the bathroom. "Oh, embarrassed about your…?" trailing off she held up her hand and wiggled her pinky at him. It was her turn to go on the offensive now that he had shown weakness.

Daiki scoffed, brushing his hand through his hair. "Not at all Miss Yang, however I lack the confidence of one such as yourself," somehow he had kept a straight face despite the hypocrisy, the night before he had nothing but a pair of loose shorts on. Now however he was quite covered up, a loose set of white puffy pants, a similar sleeveless shirt, and a crimson vest.

Yang chuckled at Daiki's response, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "Oh, confidence is my middle name, dude. Along with charm, wit, and impeccable style, of course," she replied, her tone dripping with playful arrogance.

Daiki raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Ah, yes, how could I forget about your modesty?" he quipped, his voice laced with sarcasm as he took another spoonful of cereal.

Yang leaned back on her bench, crossing her arms with a smug grin. "Modesty is overrated, D-man. It's much more fun to embrace one's greatness," she retorted, her tone light but filled with self-assurance.

Daiki chuckled, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Ah, but there's a fine line between greatness and arrogance, my charming Yang. Though you might want to watch your step lest you fall on the wrong side of such a line," he teased, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he savored the banter, the lack of sleep seemingly driven away.

Yang grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she leaned closer to Daiki. "Oh, don't worry, D-man. I've got my balance down pat. Unlike some people who stumble around like sleepy pandas," she teased, nudging him playfully with her elbow.

Daiki chuckled, his gaze meeting Yang's with a playful glint. "Ah, but even pandas have their charm, Miss Yang. It's all part of the package," he replied, a hint of laughter in his voice as he returned her playful jab over the table.

Oriole glanced between two, a hint of discomfort flickering in her red eyes. "Um, guys, maybe we should focus on getting ready for the Initiation today?" she suggested tentatively, most of the food was either eaten by this point or had begun growing cold. At this point it was just a verbal spar between Daiki and Yang, Ruby had been quietly eating but sometimes would giggle a bit from their back and forth.

Yang looked up at Oriole and then pulled out her scroll to check the time, half past eight. "Oh… yeah, we should hurry up and head to the Locker Room to finish getting ready."

The four got up and went to leave the cafeteria to head towards the Lockers. However on the way Daiki broke off and snatched up Jaune who was sitting alone mumbling to himself. "Come on Jauney-boy, let's get ready for the Initiation huh?" The blonde looked horrified at the invitation to come with them. Jaune struggled for a moment but joined their group with a sigh. "Don't worry, I got your back bro."

"That's what I'm worried about…" Jaune grumbled, but he couldn't escape Daiki's embrace.

Daiki laughed and slapped him solidly on the back before releasing him from his half-hug. "Come on. I failed you last night but today! Today we'll try again!"

Oriole giggled at the odd pair. Jaune had a false confidence and weak will while Daiki the reverse, even their appearances were reversed. Blue to red eyes, blonde to black hair, pale to dark skin, and an awkward shy smile to a confident flirty grin. And yet, one of them decided they were friends. "It's okay Jaune, Daiki's a good guy… I think."

Oriole couldn't think of anything bad about Daiki, besides his constant flirting with Yang. Originally he had been trying to chat up all three of them… maybe hitting him the day before had soured his opinion of her. Panicking inwardly she tried her best to keep a neutral face. "Besides, he might be your partner after today."

Jaune looked away and scratched his head a bit at the word partner. Even Daiki's face changed, but to one of amusement, his voice charged with it, "Partners huh? Sorry, Yang's the only one for me."

"Keep trying D-man, you might wear me down eventually… but I doubt it." Yang replied while she felt the awkward air between the two and pounced, "So, what's the secret?" Yang nudged Daiki's arm with her elbow, "Come on, you can tell me."

"So yesterday while I was napping Jaune-" Daiki began, an air of nonchalance about the whole thing.

Jaune suddenly panicky started yelling, "Aghhh! Not important! Nothing happened."

Daiki laughed and gave a shrug. "You heard the man, not important, nothing happened. It did boost my self esteem though." Jaune groaned and seemingly sobbed a few times, whatever had happened had broken his spirit. A moment of silence passed and Daiki spoke just three words, voice deadpan but with a tinkle in his eye. "Beautiful Desert Rose."

Jaune grabbed his face in embarrassment while Daiki cackled at the memory. Ruby flinched at the scene, not sure if Daiki was teasing Jaune or just outright bullying him. A lightbulb snapped on for Yang and she began to cackle alongside Daiki, at the same time Oriole's cheeks turned pink, was Jaune into Daiki?

"I'm telling you, it was an accident!" Jaune espoused, for nearly the thousandth time, but Daiki just laughed it off with a wink, as they walked through the Locker Room. Jaune was facing the group, arguing his innocence against an accusation most of them could just guess at as neither had actually said what had happened.

Yang, Ruby, and Ori broke off from the pair to go to get their things but the three kept giggling amongst themselves as they split up.

"Jauney boy! That's Pyrrha Nikos!" Daiki's whisper shout reached them from a few rows over. "You should go speak with her!" There was a small grunt and the sound of an awkward collision as laughter drifted back to them.

Oriole paused, looking at her sisters, genuine concern on her face now. "Is… Daiki bullying Jaune?" She didn't have a weapon, but she did keep some tough fingerless gloves with arm guards inside and hand wraps, it would be weird to not have anything in the 'weapon' locker.

Yang looked up and towards where the two boys had gone. "Uhh… I don't… think so?"

In her own locker Ruby was humming happily to herself as she got Crescent Rose out, stroking the casing of the weapon in its travel form.

"You seem awfully happy Rubes, what's up?"

Ruby nodded, smiling, "Yep! No more awkward small talk or "getting-to-know-you" stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking," Ruby continued to pet her weapon lovingly, imagining that she would finally get to fight something instead of awkwardly walking around and getting to know the other students.

"Well, there are teams, you'll have to get to know someone else." Oriole said, tightening the straps on her guards, simple metal and leather bracers over the wrapping, squeezing her fists several times to ensure she could move them easily.

"Yeah, sorry to say Rubes, if you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together." Yang spoke up, her Ember Celica collapsing around her wrists into their bracelet forms.

"UGH! You both sound like Dad!" Ruby groaned out, slipping Crescent Rose around her body to its resting place on her lower back's harness. "Okay, first of all: What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly: I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

Oriole's hand came up and buried her face into the palm, due to second-hand embarrassment, though her gaze swept across herself and her two sisters. Milk did not seem to be the secret. "Ruby… teams are made up of four people, what are you going to do when it is time to make teams?"

Ruby looked down a bit, uncomfortable at the thought. "Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your team or something..."

Yang nodded, flipping some of her long hair around and beginning to stroke it a bit nervously. "Ruby, we don't even know how teams are going to be made. Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?"

"My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby suddenly was looking up at Yang, a glint in her eye. "What about you Ori?" She turned to Oriole who looked a bit uncomfortable.

"What? No! Of course I do! I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!" Yang said, looking very awkward at Ruby's accusation.

Truth be told, Oriole didn't know if she wanted to be with them, on one hand being on a team with her sisters would be comfortable, but being comfortable didn't help one grow stronger. "Ummm… it might be best for our development to join different teams."

"What the-?! I don't need to 'break out of my shell'!" Ruby stamped her foot down, causing Oriole to roll her eyes, for being the older sister sometimes she was quite childish. "Guys~!" Ruby whined, upset that both of her sisters were trying to avoid being on a team with her.

"It'll be good for you," Yang offered with a weak smile, not sure how else she should continue. "You could team up with Jaune! Or maybe Daiki. They're your friends now, right?"

"Maybe Jaune… but Daiki seems to be more your and Ori's friend," Ruby muttered, despite how she acted sometimes she did notice that Daiki showed greater interest in her two sisters.

"T-that's not true," Oriole tried to deny, but it did actually seem like Ruby was left out somewhat when he had been talking with the three of them. A strange feeling of accomplishment crept into her heart and it made her feel uncomfortable. "Daiki's just weird."

Oriole felt a little awkward, speaking about Daiki made her wonder what was going on with him and Jaune, so she gave a small wave to her sisters. "I'm going to go check and make sure he's not being mean to Jaune." Walking a couple rows over she found Jaune currently chatting with Weiss and Pyrrha and she almost squealed like a fangirl seeing Pyrrha was actually there. Daiki was standing a few lockers away, leaning against one with his back to Oriole as he watched the events playing out before him.

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" Pyrrha said politely with a smile, her eyes locked onto Jaune.

"You don't say," Jaune turned away from Weiss and approached Pyrrha instead." Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Oriole dropped her face into her palm again, the second time in the last ten minutes, was Jaune really this self-confident? Now she was certain he had said something to Daiki and that was why the red-eyed boy was teasing him. She walked up behind Daiki and waved a hand in front of him. "Is this how he acted with you?"

"Oh, absolutely, I had him going for a couple minutes," Daiki said, his voice in a higher pitch causing Oriole to jump a little bit in surprise, the boy brushed his hair back behind his ear, giving her a side-eye. "Until I dissuaded him of the idea," his voice dropped to his normal speaking tone. "I couldn't keep a straight face."

"Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Weiss said loudly.

"Not in the slightest, snow angel." Jaune said with a goofy smile to Weiss.

"This is Pyrrha." Weiss said, motioning towards Pyrrha.

Pyrrha gave a smile and a wave, "Hello again!"

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

Oriole couldn't help but giggle at the comedic skit happening before them. "There's no way he's this ignorant, right?" Turning her head to Daiki.

Daiki was just laughing quietly to himself while watching. "No, I think he really is… maybe he's from an even more remote village than I am… otherwise he's been living under a rock." Tapping his chin with his hand Oriole couldn't help but stare a bit before catching herself and turning back to the scene before them.

Weiss finally broke, her anger reaching higher and higher at Jaune's ignorant replies, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

Finally one of Pyrrha's achievements broke through the dense walls that was Jaune's mind. "That's you?!" Now he was looking at Pyrrha with admiration and respect, "But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

Pyrrha looked a little embarrassed while she smiled, "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Weiss demanded of Jaune, she had moved to be next to Pyrrha.

Jaune's shoulders slumped and his head dropped from his happy and confident stance from before. "I guess not... Sorry…"

Pyrrha reached out and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader!"

"Is she serious?" Oriole turned to Daiki, Jaune didn't have the confidence to even take some mild criticism, why would Pyrrha want him as a leader?

"Maybe… she's an odd duck."

Weiss groaned, "Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

Jaune slipped away from Pyrrha and stood over Weiss while flexing… at least it looked like he was flexing. "Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

Weiss cringed back, taking a half-step back from Jaune. "All right, that's a bit too close! Pyrrha, a little help, please?!"

Pyrrha flipped her weapon in her hand, and suddenly it shot out, catching Jaune's hood and dragging him several yards to pin him to a wall. "I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called over to him.

Before anything further could happen the loudspeakers in the area rang out, Professor Goodwitch's voice played over them, "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Weiss and Pyrrha left right away, walking passed Jaune on their way out of the Locker Room. "It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha said as she pulled her spear out of the wall.

Jaune slumped to the ground and muttered, "Likewise."

Daiki and Oriole shared a small smile as they walked over to him, and much to their surprise Yang and Ruby came from the next row over, it seemed they had been listening as well, less obviously though. "Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang asked while holding in a laugh.

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune muttered, looking up he saw himself surrounded by girls… and Daiki who gave him a wink and held out his hand.

"I don't think Weiss liked being called Snow Angel, Jauney boy." Daiki said, his voice fluctuating between his high and normal-deeper tones, he let out a couple of coughs, as if trying to clear his throat while looking upwards.

Oriole looked at Daiki, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… thanks Ori," his voice came out a bit higher again, but he slapped his chest with his hand, his voice returning to normal, "Just fine… Let's all get going, yeah?" Reaching down he grabbed Jaune's hand and yanked him up to his feet. "Let's go Jauney boy, we'll get you a girl even if I have to do it myself!" He said with a laugh, slapping himself in the chest to show his dedication to the idea.