The weeks following the announcement that the three sisters would be attending Beacon Academy was a flurry for their family. Ruby and Oriole had to get sized for uniforms, pack and say goodbye to their friends and teachers from Signal... a rather small group to be fair. Ruby was considered a bit of a weird girl due to her borderline obsession with weapons and Oriole's strictness and attitude when in school. They packed their things and arrived at the airfield to leave for Beacon Academy, one family of hundreds seeing of their sons and daughters off to the prestigious Academy.
Taiyang put on a brave face for his girls as they handed their bags over to the staff waiting. "I'll see you guys on Breaks, I'm just down here at Peach or a scroll call away." To their father this was a bittersweet day, they all were going to attend the Academy they've all dreamed of since they were children, only... he hadn't expected them to all leave at once. The tears in his eyes had to remain unfallen, he couldn't show such a face to his girls on the day one of their dreams came true. "If something happens I want you girls to watch out for one another... or if you need anything at all, just give me a call." Taiyang fussed over them, straightening Yang's jacket, dusting Ruby's scarf, and pushing Oriole's hair out of her face one after the other.
"Daaad~!" Ruby whined as he came back to straighten something else up on her.
"Sorry my little rose... I'm just so happy you guys are all going together." Taiyang said with a smile, under too much scrutiny one might notice the sadness buried underneath. "Okay you three, up the ramp, call me tonight to make sure you guys are safe."
Oriole nodded, a serious look on her face. "I will dad, don't worry."
Yang laughed a but and put one of her arms around either of her sisters' shoulders and pulled them in close, a big grin on her face. "Don't worry dad, anyone tries anything and I'll make sure they regret it." She clenched her fists, still pinning her sisters to her sides, obvious in the threat she was making against these unknown troublemakers. "Besides, you and Auntie Qrow trained all of us, you think anyone here is able to cause us problems? I'm shocked you think so lowly of yourself as our teacher."
Laughing Taiyang nodded, his daughters were just trying to make him feel better. "Yeah, of course, I doubt there are many here that would be a threat to you three together... just stay safe."
"Students of Beacon Academy, please board your assigned vessel, shuttles will be departing in five minutes." An announcement range out across air field, students began to break away from their parents, siblings, and other relatives to run up the ramp to enter the ships.
Oriole, Ruby, and Yang were no different. They gave their dad a quick group hug before turning and running up the ramp to the ship. Oriole paused at the top of the ramp before looking back at her dad and waved. "I love you dad! I'll make sure Yang and Ruby at least send you a message tonight!" A few other students laughed at the display but she shot them a look that promised retribution later, many of them getting quiet, she went to go to the main area of the ship with a boy spoke up.
"Wow... how fierce." A boy with red eyes said chuckling a bit. "But little... like a fox." He froze feeling an arm wrap around his shoulder as Yang leaned in.
"Got something to say to my sister?"
"Nah, nothing bad..." The boy looked at Yang, taking in her hair, eyes... build, then flicked his eyes back to Oriole, brilliant blonde to dirty blonde, lilac purple against red eyes like his own, and the thin petite build against... Yang's. "But... maybe I should talk to you instead?" A flirty smile crossed his face.
"Down boy. You don't even know my name yet."
"Yang, dad wouldn't approve of you flirting on the first day." Oriole said drily, she was rather offended the boy had checked her out and compared her to her older sister... 'I'm still growing...' She cried in her heart, not sure why what had just happened made her so upset.
"So... Yang, name's Daiki... you seeing anyone?" The boy took his chance.
Yang laughed and let go of him, though upon closer inspection she had a bit of a pink tinging her cheeks. "Nah, but she's right. Our dad would be disappointed if I fell for the first guy with a nice smile." Said dad was watching the situation from the ground as they were still in the opening of the ramp, his teeth grinding slightly, some punk was bothering his daughters already.
Daiki paused for a moment and looked between them again. "You really are sisters? Wild... oh, and my nanna always told me I had a brilliant smile." The smile he was so proud of crossed his face again.
"YANG! ORIOLE!" Ruby called from further into the ship, a crowd was slowly starting to block her view of her sisters.
"Well, that's my other sister Ruby calling us. See you around Daiki." She gave him a friendly shove and walked away.
"Nice girls... little crazy but what's life without some excitement." Daiki said to himself with a shrug as he turned and followed them up the path to the main area.
The flight to Beacon would last less than fifteen minutes but everyone was chattering excited. Yang couldn't hold her excitement any longer and hugged both Ruby and Oriole, crushing them in a bear hug. "I can't believe my baby sisters are actually coming with me to Beacon! This is the best day ever!"
"Please stop." Ruby wheezed out, as if the breath had been forcibly squeezed from her lungs in the hug.
"Yang, you're going to crush us." Oriole said, trying to keep her breathing level but she was having a hard time breathing like Ruby.
Dropping the both she stepped back. "But I'm so proud of you both!" The excitement was infectious, both Ruby and Oriole smiled slightly.
Ruby looked away, seemingly embarrassed and proud at the same time. "Really Sis, it was nothing... we just fought some bad guys."
"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees."
"We just did what we needed to do. No one will even notice us." Oriole said, getting a bit embarrassed at how excited Yang was for them, despite knowing this was coming for a few weeks, maybe getting on the ship actually hammered home they were coming with her.
Yang's excitement blew away like an untied balloon as she looked at the two of them. "What's with you? Aren't you two excited?"
"Of course I'm excited... I just... I got moved ahead a year. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything..." Ruby muttered, worried that people might think they got in through connections and not their own skills.
Yang looked at Ruby with confusion then pointed at Oriole. "So? She got moved up two years? Besides, you guys are special, you are my sisters!" A nearby screen showed the image of the Dust Till Dawn shop they had a hand in stopping the robbery of back then. "Hey, look, they're about to talk about you guys!"
"What?!" Ruby and Oriole turned around to look at the screen Yang was pointing at.
The screen flicked to a mugshot of Roman Torchwick, the man they had seen in Dust shop that night, his orange-red hair and even his white coat, clearly he had a particular fashion sense he stuck to. "The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. Three weeks ago he was thwarted by two of Signal's own Huntsmen in Training and a passing Huntsman but still managed to escape due to unknown circumstances. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa."
Next the screen changed to a woman with light purple hair with a background of a protest, a large number of Faunus with a sprinkling of Humans held signs and were screaming without sound. "Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted several such events around Vale. Is this a sign of growing unrest amongst the Faunus? More tonight at seven."
Oriole let out a sigh of relief. "They didn't show our faces..."
"'Course not, you guys are under age still... the Professor probably made sure to keep your names out of the reports after all." Yang encouraged before the news turned off and Professor Glynda Goodwitch appeared. "Hey it's the lady who was with Professor Ozpin."
The image spoke in a welcoming tone. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"
"What's her name?"
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."
"Oh... can she hear me?"
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." A moment after the final word the image vanished, showing the window behind, the mirror finish of the windows seemed to fade away revealing the outside world for the first time during the trip.
Ruby ran up to the window and put her hands against it to look outside. "Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here!" Oriole walked over, excitement bubbling up inside, she looked out the window following Ruby's gaze to the school.
"Oh, there's our neighborhood." Oriole pointed to a different area, neighborhood was a bit of a weak description given that they lived a few hundred yards from their nearest neighbor.
"Well... I guess the view isn't for everyone." Yang quipped as the trio of sisters were looking out the window a teenage boy with blonde hair nearby began to choke and gag, before he began to throw up on the floor as he rushed towards a nearby trashcan, however he past right behind the girls.
Ruby giggled a bit shaking her head. "Well, it was nice for a moment."
Oriole looked at her sisters with a smile but then her eyes went wide. "Um... Yang... don't panic."
Yang spun around to look at Oriole, a soft squishing noise could be heard as her feet moved and her face dropped. "EW! EW! EW!" She went to stamp her feet and both Ruby and Oriole pushed her against the wall to prevent her from stomping in the vomit she had stepped in. "That scrawny kid, I'm gonna kick his ass!" She roared, mostly out of disgust of stepping in vomit than any actual threat to the boy's body or life.
Yang seemed to freeze for a moment and stopped struggling after a second and looked away. "I'm cool... let me go." She muttered, causing Oriole to look towards Yang had been but didn't see anyone that stood out. "I'm chill, promise."
Ruby and Oriole shared a concerned look before letting go of Yang. "You okay Yang?" Oriole probed gently, not sure what caused the sudden change in reaction.
"Don't worry about it, you'll understand when you are older." Yang said with her 'I'm your big sister, so don't question me' voice.
Ruby leaned around Yang's chest and whispered, obviously loud enough for Yang to hear. "It's boy stuff."
Yang thumped Ruby in the top of the head playfully. "What do you know about 'boy stuff' Rubes?"
"Enough! But I don't need boys, I have my baby already."
Yang was clearly not ready for the answer. "Y-you... you know what, never mind Ruby, as long as you are happy." She gave up in arguing with her sister more interested in weapons than people, socially at least. The ship thumped into place as they could see the ramp dropping revealing their first sights of Beacon without glass between them. "I need to get off this ship." Yang said, the smell was beginning to get bad near them.
Yang finished wiping off the bottom of her shoes and threw the paper towel into the trash bin she was using to balance while cleaning off her shoes. "So gross..." Yang complained, but was happy that she had been able to get it all off before the stink set into her boots.
Turning she noticed that Oriole basically had Ruby in a headlock as she tried to follow people around, staring at their weapons and trying to ask them to handle them. "Ruby, it's very rude to bother people." Oriole said, voice flat, and despite being smaller than even Ruby she was able to hold her without much struggle, a difference in their training and strengths was evident. "Please stop... you can ask them about their things later..."
Yang came over with a small smile. "Easy there, Ruby. They're just weapons!" However this was obviously the wrong way to get Ruby to calm down as Ruby began to struggle more fiercely against Oriole's grip, causing the youngest sister to frown at Yang's thoughtlessness given the current situation.
"'Just weapons'? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!" Ruby's voice showed her fanaticism for weapons, a short glare was shot at Yang by both of her little sisters for different reasons but both triggered by the same statement. Oriole deciding that Ruby seemed distracted enough that she let go and stepped back from her older sister.
"Down girl. Besides, what about your own weapon? Why don't you swoon over it?" Yang asked, trying to deflect the conversation. Weapons were a sore spot for both of her sisters... one was obsessed with them, and the other refused to use one.
Ruby pulled her weapon from her back, it was currently compacted in its 'travel' form but rapidly expanded out into its full size, a scythe, Oriole's eyes flashed with sadness for a moment before she shook her head, causing Yang to sigh. Another fumble. Ruby was rubbing her face on her weapon's haft. "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose! I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better... they don't talk..." Ruby muttered and
Yang laughed, flipping Ruby's hood up over the top of her head, the cowl covering her eyes for a moment. "Come on Ruby, why do you try going out and making some new friends?"
"Why would I need to make friends when I have you guys?" Ruby asked, genuinely not wanting to go out and meet people, she was awkward unlike her sisters... well awkward in her own way amongst her three sisters.
Yang looked a bit awkward as she looked towards a group of other students. "Well... my friends are over there... so... I was gonna go hang out with them."
Ruby looked like she was going to whine about it but Yang just took off before she could do so. Turning back to Oriole she sighed. "Guess we're on our own."
A tall figure seemed to appear suddenly and put an arm around Oriole's shoulders. "Actually I got some business with this one, mind if I take her for a walk? Promise I'll bring her back in one piece." Oriole froze, how had someone gotten this close to her without her hearing or seeing them coming? They hadn't been there just a second ago.
Ruby got flustered because the boy didn't even bother waiting before starting to walk, practically dragging the frozen Oriole with him. It took several seconds before Oriole snapped out of it and struggled free of the boy's grip. Somehow they were dozens of yards from where they had begun in such a short time. Staring up at him she realized it was the boy who had been flirting with Yang earlier on the ship and she felt two conflicting emotions that she couldn't exactly put into words. "What do you want?" Her voice tinged with bitterness and excitement.
"Easy little fox." He held up his hands in a placating manner. "Just wanna talk, that's all."
"You tried to kidnap me."
Daiki laughed and looked around the school where they were at. The Academy was built on essentially a cliff island raised above an impenetrable forest filled with Grimm. "Kidnap a student of Beacon? I'd have to be the stupidest person on the planet." There was a bang in the direction they had come from and his eyes went wide a smile seemed to want to break out across his face, the twitching at the sides of his mouth gave it away but he instead said, with as much worry as he could muster. "Um... your sister just exploded."
Oriole snapped her back, she could see Ruby's figure standing near a girl just a small amount taller than her but dressed in almost all white. It wasn't someone Oriole recognized from the distance, but it was evident that she was fuming, her hand motions, the way Ruby was shying back before she suddenly stomped her feet, seemingly defending herself. Oriole hesitated, maybe she should go help her sister out of the awkward situation. A third girl approached the scene, book in hand, they chatted for only a few moments before the group dispersed rapidly, the girl in white walking away with purposeful strides, and the girl in black strolling away as if the whole incident didn't matter.
"Looks like everything is fine... Now, Little Fox..."
"My name is Oriole." She got exasperated and interrupted whatever he had been planning to say next.
"Oh, a Little Bird then." She glared at him but it only seemed to make him smile more. "Still so fierce, are you sure your parents named you correctly?"
At this point she had grown frustrated with his teasing and turned to walk away, only to find him standing there. "Easy... okay, I'll stop teasing you."
"I'm not telling you about my sister."
Daiki laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, my secret plan exposed. How you wound me." While he spoke he shifted his hand to his heart and clutched his loose shirt as if he had been hurt. "If you won't tell me about her then tell me about yourself. I am curious now... You three can't be the same age... and you seem a bit too young to be a normal student here."
It seemed Yang was right about it, others could tell she didn't belong at Beacon, or at least she was a bit of a special case, early admission. It wasn't impossible but very rarely had happened in the past. "None of your business. We aren't friend." Her voice growing sharper at his incessant probing.
"Ah, again! I am sped to the wick!" He gripped his chest harder and floundered around before falling on his back. "Truly a biting wit." Several students were beginning to watch this 'play' with a mix of amusement and interest. Whispers starting to build up from those watching.
Oriole let out a groan of frustration, he was getting to her, her mask was starting to crack. "Enough!" She hissed at him, her face starting to turn red.
Daiki got up and dusted off his loose sleeveless shirt before chuckling. "Okay, okay." Daiki shook his head to clear the hair from in front of his eyes as he looked down at her, his face showing a different look than the mischievous grin from before. "Huh... you are kind of cute aren't you?" It sounded like he was surprised by the observation himself. "I think..."
"AHHHH!" Oriole cried out and struck him in the chest with a palm, her face burning, a red spot against her subdued outfit, a second explosion in the last five minutes could be heard as Daiki found himself flying through the air, his Aura flickering as he had brought it up at the last moment realizing he had made a real mistake. Landing on the ground he rolled multiple times before crashing against a bench. More students began to whisper, and Oriole felt her eyes tearing up as she turned and ran away, bursts of Aura came from her feet as she threw herself headlong into a sprint trying to get away from everyone, tears blurring her vision.
Her run ended abruptly as she smacked into a tall figure dressed in white and black, bouncing back and falling on the floor. Looking up Oriole froze, she had run into Professor Goodwitch in a full run and the older woman hadn't even flinched. Oriole sat on the ground where she had landed looking up at her, scared, upset, and now even more embarrassed than before.
"Miss Branwen, what has you running around looking so upset on your first day?" Her gaze felt like it was pinning her to the ground, but beneath the strict exterior was a layer of care and compassion.
Oriole felt her tears falling and she began to babble. "That... fucking... guy... Yang... then.. checked her out... grabbed... Called me cute..." Without context, actually even with context it just sounded rather like gibberish because between words she took a deep shaking breath, words weren't said that she was thinking.
"Miss Branwen, breathe... Let's calm down a little." Professor Goodwitch's calm demeanor and reassuring presence helped Oriole regain some composure amidst her overwhelming emotions. Oriole took a few deep breaths, trying to steady herself as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
"I'm sorry, Professor." Oriole muttered, her voice shaky with embarrassment and frustration, tears still streaming down her face. "I didn't mean to... I just... he..."
Glynda knelt down beside Oriole, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Take your time, Oriole. It's alright. What happened with that young man?" It was clear something had happened between Oriole and a male student.
Oriole hesitated, unsure of how to put her feelings into words. "He... he was teasing me, and then he... he said something... inappropriate." She managed to get out, her voice barely above a whisper. The memory of Daiki's words echoed in her head 'you are kind of cute aren't you', exacerbating the roiling emotions she felt inside.
Glynda's expression softened as she listened attentively. "I see." Her voice calm and steady, reassuring. "It's not uncommon for students to encounter individuals who don't understand boundaries. But you must remember, Oriole, you have the right to stand up for yourself. No one here should make you feel uncomfortable or belittle you... however I feel like you have left out part of the story."
Oriole nodded, feeling a bit of comfort in Glynda's words. "I just... I don't know how to deal with it," she admitted, her voice trembling with vulnerability... "I hit him... in front of everyone..."
Glynda offered a reassuring smile. "It's alright to feel overwhelmed, Oriole. Dealing with such situations takes time and practice. But always remember, you have your sisters, and you'll find friends and mentors here at Beacon who will support you. However you should not resort to violence except in the most extreme circumstances. I think we can overlook it today however."
Oriole nodded grateful she wasn't to be reprimanded on her first day. "Thank you, Professor." She whispered, her voice slowly steadying.
Professor Goodwitch rose to her feet, offering Oriole a hand up. "Come, let's get you settled. We'll address this matter accordingly, but for now, focus on taking care of yourself."
Oriole took the offered hand and got to her feet, feeling a bit better after talking with Professor Goodwitch. "Thank you Professor."