Being ushered into the Auditorium by Professor Goodwitch, Oriole dried her face on her shirt's shoulders, though her eyes were still a bit puffy and her face still tinged red. Professor Goodwitch gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder before she turned and went towards the stage to prepare for the Welcome Ceremony. Oriole looked amongst the crowd of people and eep'ed when she said Daiki was there on the other side of the room, she shrank up a bit to try and avoid his gaze. The boy seemed none the worse for wear after their exchange in front of the crowd. Slinking into a shadowy corner she hid from the eyes of the other students as best that she could.
'I can't believe I let him get to me. What was I thinking? Why did it get to me?' Oriole thought to herself, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to comfort herself for a moment before she reached into her pocket to pull out her scroll. Opening up her contacts she scrolled down to 'Dad', hovering over the call button with his face there smiling back at her, she teared up again. She couldn't even last a few hours since leaving Dad before calling him? Angrily she put the phone away, she couldn't call Dad yet. If she called him he might suggest her coming home if she didn't feel ready yet.
She slid down the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees, while she felt better after her talk with Professor Goodwitch now that she knew Daiki was here she couldn't face him again. Hiding her face by burying it in her arms she waited and hoped no one would approach her. Subconsciously she entered the mindscape in her mind and tossed the coin there, the gold and black flipping through the air madly, it seemed like it showed the black face much more often than the gold, the shining gold barely visible against the enshrouding black.
However, despite the oppressive blackness the coin landed with its gold face up, suddenly the area was filled with the golden light and she let out a sigh of relief. However that sigh cut short when she heard footsteps and her head snapped up. It was Daiki, why was he coming over to her?!
Crouching down about five feet away he gave a small smile. "Hey litt-..." Catching himself he shook his head. "Oriole... about before. I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Oriole felt confused, shocked and her face was heating up again, just with him being close by.
Daiki bowed his head. "I apologize profusely for my actions in the courtyard. I know I can take things too far sometimes and I do not blame you for what happened."
Slowly he stood up and held his arms out to the side as if to say he meant no harm. "After the ceremony ends, if you are free, I'd like to talk with you... properly." Stepping back he slowly turned away.
"Wait!" Oriole spoke up suddenly, her face still pink. "Did you mean it?"
Daiki froze and turned his head back to her. "What?" It took him a second to realize what she was asking before he nodded. "Yeah, you are cute." A quick and brilliant flash of his smile crossed his face and then he caught himself, toning it back. Daiki gave a small wave before walking away, leaving Oriole feeling conflicted but smiling to herself about what he had said... no one but her sisters or Dad had ever said she was cute. But at the same time he had been flirting with Yang earlier on the ship, letting some, but not quite all the air out of the compliment.
When he was far enough away she thought he wouldn't hear her; she let out a small sound of happiness. "He thinks I'm cute!" The first time a boy around her own age had called her cute... boys at Signal were afraid of her, she would be the most aggressive in their training and it put people off. Not to mention her strict adherence to the rules, which she realized she had already violated at least a few of Beacon's with the incident earlier... But Professor Goodwitch said she would turn a blind eye to it today... right?
The golden light faded from her body, dropping her into darkness in her corner of the Auditorium.
A few minutes passed and she looked up seeing Yang standing in the crowd, hard to miss with her long mane of brilliant gold hair. Oriole took stock of herself, rubbing her face with her sleeves quickly to make sure there weren't any marks left from crying before she stood up and walked up to Yang. "Hey Yang... you lose your friends?"
Yang spun around and saw Oriole was by herself. "Where's Ruby?"
"Uh... I don't know... she was with some scrawny tall blonde boy the last time I saw her," Oriole hadn't really given much thought to where her sister had gone off to after she had her panic attack earlier.
Yang looked down at Oriole, it didn't sound right that Oriole had left Ruby by herself, they both knew Ruby wasn't exactly the best at navigating or dealing with people. "Uh huh... so... what have you been up to?" Yang squinted at her closely, something was setting off her big sister radar.
Oriole broke eye contact first and looked down and to the side. "Nothing much... just you know... walking around and meeting some people." Daiki, Professor Goodwitch, they were people right?
"Oh, who'd you meet?" Yang asked, her suspicion seeming to vanish in an instant, Oriole couldn't help but mentally shake her head at her sister... It was either a trick or she really believed the half-assed lie.
Without thinking her left hand had grabbed the hem of her shirt and was twisting it slightly. "Just you know... some other students... oh and I met Professor Goodwitch, we had a talk earlier about school and stuff." Not a lie exactly but not the full truth. This was just casual conversation but Oriole felt like she was being grilled by Yang, and under her gaze Oriole cracked. "I hit Daiki..."
"Who? What? Why?" Yang's barrage of questions punctuated the air, her bewilderment evident at Oriole's unexpected revelation.
"The boy from the ship! He called me cute!" Oriole whined, looking around realizing she had spoken a bit too loud, face taking on a pink hue for seemingly the millionth time that day. Not only that but in front of Yang too. "In front of a whole bunch of people!" Oriole was sure that was the biggest crime that Daiki had committed, it wasn't just the teasing, it was that there were witnesses. A lot of them.
Yang blinked a couple times processing what was being said. A boy was flirting with Oriole, and she hit him. "Okay... good," Yang said with a laugh. "Don't worry about it... you didn't kill him right?"
"No, he's in here somewhere." Oriole responded, her gaze darting around the room in search of the elusive Daiki.
"How do you know that?" Yang asked a small raise of the eyebrow showing her amusement at the slightly embarrassed Oriole.
Oriole hesitated, her gaze flicking downwards as she wanted to evade Yang's scrutiny and gaze. "Umm... well... I saw him earlier."
"You just saw him? Nothing else?" Yang persisted hinting at her skepticism, her probing gaze unrelenting.
"Yeah... nothing else... Seriously!" Oriole denied, Yang's face said she didn't believe her for a moment.
"Do you like him?" Yang's question hung in the air, her tone gentle yet probing.
"NO!" her gut reaction was to deny it completely. "I don't know... he was more interested in you before... so I don't know..." The emotions swirling inside weren't what she was expecting to have to deal with at Beacon; training, fighting, monsters, even classroom lessons she could handle... But clearly boys were not on that list.
"Hmmm... well, you can talk to me whenever, I got your back sis."
Oriole nodded but glanced at Yang, then back down at herself, shoulders drooping slightly. "I know Yang, thanks. I love you, sis."
"OOOOH! I love you too!" Yang yelled out and wrapped Oriole in a constricting bear hug, worse than the one on the ship since now Oriole was facing her prestigious strength alone without her Aura enhancing her body. Oriole felt like her ribs were creaking under the assault of Yang's love.
"Let... me... go... Yang..." Oriole squeezed out, trying to get air back into her lungs.
Yang placed Oriole back on her feet and let her go with a small laugh. "Alright, Ori, sorry," Yang seemed to be back into her unusually high spirits once again. It felt like she was just brushing over the issues Oriole had brought up, barely acknowledging the boy issue or the fact she had embarrassed herself in front of dozens of people.
They did get a lucky distraction when Ruby came through the far door the Auditorium, Yang noticed her first and waved. "Ruby! Over here! We were waiting for you!"
Oriole noticed Ruby slipping away from the blonde boy she had seen earlier, a moment of staring made her realize it was the same boy that had puked on the ship. The boy hesitated but didn't choose to follow Ruby, had he noticed that Yang was the girl yelling about kicking his ass earlier? Glancing at Yang she wondered if she realized it too.
"How's your first day going, little sister?" Yang asked when Ruby got close enough to the two of them.
Ruby's face twisted up into one of indignation. "You mean since you both ditched me and I exploded?!"
Yang was caught by surprise, it seemed both her little sisters had a rough start to their time at Beacon. "Yikes! Meltdown already?"
Oriole spoke up softly beside Yang, her nervous tick showing through. "No… no… she actually blew up… in a literal sense."
At the same time Ruby exploded with emotion. "No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?" Her voice trailing off as she tried to recall exactly how it had happened.
Yang gave a half-hearted laugh, thinking her sisters were trying to pull a prank on her. "Are you both messing with me?"
Ruby's rant continued unabated by Yang's confusion. "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"
At this point a girl Oriole and Yang didn't recognize came marching up behind Ruby. "YOU!"
Ruby jumped and moved to hide behind her two sisters. "Oh no! It's happening again!"
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" The girl stamped her foot, her heel making a loud clack drawing some attention.
Yang looked over her shoulder at Ruby, understanding blooming on her face and her voice came out flat. "Oh my god, you really exploded."
Oriole whispered softly. "It didn't seem that bad from a distance…"
Ruby seemingly gaining some confidence spoke up. "It was an accident! I'll make it up to you!"
The girl shook her head before rummaging into a bag she had been carrying. A few seconds later she held out a loose pamphlet towards the three sisters. "In that case, read this and stay away from me in the future."
"Uhhhh…" Ruby hesitated, unsure of what to do.
"Or did you not mean what you said?" the girl in white demanded, her voice sharp.
"No! No, I'll take it…" Ruby said, her voice small as she reached between Oriole and Yang to grab the pamphlet from the girl, the words 'DUST for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals' stamped across the front, clearly it was an insult.
Yang looked between them and decided to try and break the tension forming. "Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot," she moved to allow Ruby to face the other girl without any obstruction. "Why don't you guys start over and try to be friends, okay?"
"Yeah! Great idea Yang!" Ruby cheered up suddenly, sticking a hand out for a handshake. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"
Weiss reacted in a way none of the sisters expected, suddenly overflowing with enthusiasm. "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" Her thumb pointing over her shoulder at the boy from before who had entered with Ruby.
"That was–" Oriole was shocked by the sudden shift in the conversation.
"Really?!" Ruby was practically about to jump out of her own skin in excitement.
"No," came Weiss' deadpan reply, the enthusiasm dead in a moment replaced by a glare of obvious hostility.
Yang wanted to speak up but the lights of the Auditorium dimmed and there was the sound of someone tapping on the microphone on the stage drawing away everyone's attention.
Professor Ozpin cleared his throat once before he began to speak. "I'll... keep this brief," his voice and gaze were flat and yet seemed to pin all of the students in place under his presence, "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." With that he simply turned and walked off the stage.
After Professor Goodwitch dismissed the students for the rest of the day the trio noticed Weiss had already disappeared. Yang spoke up first deciding to try and take charge. "How's about we go get something to eat? It was a bit of a trip from Patch to Vale, then up here."
"How can you want to eat after all that?" Ruby was shocked by her appetite, they had just been screamed at by some stuck up girl, mocked, and before they could reply the welcome speech had started. It was frustrating.
Yang gave a shrug. "I'm just hungry. Are you telling me you aren't?"
A small grumble escaped from Ruby, they had eaten in the morning but it was the afternoon now. "Well…"
"Sorry to interrupt!" Daiki literally appeared beside Oriole. "This one promised me a date after the ceremony, mind if I cut in?" flashing his smile, as if he knew he was good looking, or at least was just that confident.
Oriole's face began to brighten, equal parts anger and embarrassment. "Y-you! That's not what I said!" she shouted wanting to hit him but having already had Professor Goodwitch overlook one incident caused her to hold back.
An eyebrow raised in suspicion she stepped close to Daiki, invading his personal space. "I am going to warn you once pretty boy, make my sister cry… you'll regret it."
Daiki retreated a step, trying to defuse the situation with another joke. "Wait, it isn't like that, just a friendly chat… besides Yang, you are the sister for me." Now it was Yang's turn to have her face go through several emotions, her hands clenching into fists by her side. Oriole's face also took on a thunderous appearance for a moment before she caught herself, and schooled her face to indifference.
Realizing the sisters were more alike than they appeared his smile dropped. "Shi-" the punch barely missed his face as he dodged the sudden jab. "Wait! Wait! Hold on! It's a joke! Sometimes I can't help myself!" A cross this time, again he was able to narrowly avoid it, the boy had actual skills besides his glib tongue. "Miss Yang!"
Oriole struggled to maintain a straight face at the comedy show she was now witnessing from the front row. Yang was the one who teased boys, not the other way around. Daiki just so happened to be either brave or stupid enough to not realize this fact until he was now bobbing and weaving for his life.
"I'm sorry, I take it back!"
"Oh so now I'm not good enough for you?!"
Ruby was cackling off to the side, her day made better by the scene of Yang trying to pummel Daiki. Some other students took notice but seemed to not particularly care this time around, they were streaming out of the Auditorium likely to explore or go eat.
Another dozen exchanges and yet Daiki had still avoided all of Yang's blows, his smile still faintly present on his face but it was overshadowed by his concern. Every dodge he tried to placate her with words but it only seemed to upset her further. "Stop smiling!" Yang roared at him, cocking her fist back for a wild haymaker.
Oriole decided now things might be getting a bit out of hand. Activating her own Aura she launched herself between the two, one hand coming up and catching Yang's fist… it hurt. "Sis, I think he gets it," she tried to play it off, but her hand was throbbing from the blow but it was the easiest to catch because of how telegraphed it had been. "The Professors are still around…"
Yang's eyes had turned red during her outburst but now flickered back to the gentle lilac. "Right… uh… this guy huh?" instantly she tried to play off the attack as some sort of joke. Even Daiki laughed a bit awkwardly.
"I think I'll take a rain check on my walk with your sister."
"Might want to wait a few years pal… she just turned fifteen."
Daiki's mouth opened and closed several times before he suddenly had a serious look on his face. Once more he bowed his head. "I see, the fault lies with me once again. I did think she looked a bit younger, but… never mind. Oriole I think I'll have to cancel our walk, unless your sisters wish to join us, as friends of course." He tried to be diplomatic to avoid triggering either of the blonde sisters while Ruby was watching everything with a look of gleeful amusement. She had never seen Yang lose her cool quite like this, and it was certainly entertaining.
Oriole winced as she squeezed her sore hand, the impact of Yang's punch still reverberating through her bones. Despite the pain, she managed a strained smile at Daiki's attempt to diffuse the situation. "Yeah, maybe it's best if we all just... calm down," she suggested, hoping to bring an end to the escalating tension.
Yang took a deep breath, her aura gradually subsiding as she regained her composure. "Yeah, sorry about that," she mumbled, a hint of embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
Daiki nodded, his expression somber as he realized the gravity of the situation. "No harm done... I should have been more mindful of the circumstances." His tone was sincere, a stark contrast to his earlier joking demeanor.
Ruby, unable to contain her amusement any longer, burst into giggles. "Well, that was fun!" she chimed in, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Yang shot her a playful glare before turning her attention back to Daiki. "Yeah, sorry for... well, everything," she apologized, her voice tinged with genuine regret.
Daiki waved off her apology with a gracious smile. "Water under the bridge. Let's just chalk it up to a misunderstanding, shall we?" he suggested, his tone conciliatory.
Oriole nodded in agreement, relieved to see the tension dissipating. "Yeah, let's just forget about it and move on," she agreed, eager to put the awkward encounter behind them.
"Yang~!" Ruby grumbled, now feeling her hunger. "Let's go get some food!"
Yang laughed, the tension seemingly evaporating from the group at Ruby's whining. "Alright… I guess lover boy can come with… as a friendly walk and a meal."
Daiki's playful smile returned and he gave an exaggeratedly fancy bow from the hips. "It would be this lowly one's honor to accompany you three beautiful sisters."
Scratching her nose Yang turned her head to the side. "Yeah, yeah… keep it up… maybe it'll get you somewhere eventually."
Daiki opened his mouth as if to continue his teasing but snapped it closed as he thought better of such a course of action. Instead he gave Yang his most dazzling smile and nodded. They began to walk, merging with the stragglers leaving the Auditorium.
Oriole's pace lagged as she felt her heart clench, a hollow feeling invaded her body, leaving her feeling cold inside. Slapping her cheeks she ran a few steps to catch up, trying to shake off the specter that hung over her. Disappointment, envy, and bitterness tried to take root in her heart.
—
"So, I hope to not seem invasive but I am curious… you two," he pointed at Yang and Oriole with his fork, "I can believe have the same parents, similar hair, red eyes, and fighting styles… but you," the fork flicked over towards Ruby, "Are different. Why is that?"
Yang gave a shrug before she gave the answer Daiki likely couldn't have foreseen with a crystal ball. "My mom and Oriole's are twins, that's why we look so similar."
His mouth dropped open, staring at the three sisters, the answer was both incredible and shocking. "So… you share a father?" He asked hesitantly, both intrigued and scared of the answer.
Oriole nodded, answering this time. "Yeah, our dad was on the same team as our moms when he attended Beacon." Daiki made a strange hand motion while his eyes went skyward, his lips moving rapidly.
Ruby laughed a bit before speaking up. "They were awesome when they were younger! Dad, Mom, Auntie Qrow and Auntie Raven! Just wa-chaa! Ca-chow! They won the Vytal Festival Tournament twice!"
Daiki looked back at the girls. "Your father is my new hero." His face seemed completely serious.
"Huh? What about our moms?" Ruby asked innocently while Yang pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh. Oriole mindlessly spooned potatoes into her mouth, Daiki's statement made her brain shut off, she blushed brightly at the implication of what Daiki was saying. "Auntie Qrow taught me how to use a scythe!"
"Oh, uhhh yeah. Your moms sound pretty cool too." Daiki said before he shoveled a large amount of food into his mouth so he wouldn't have to answer follow up questions.
Yang decided this would be a good time to change topics, or at least targets. "Daiki, what about you and your family? You got any siblings? A cool moms or dad?"
Daiki coughed a few times as he swallowed his food, drinking deeply from his cup of what before his fit stopped. "Sadly nothing so interesting as your family. Dad's dead, Mom is too, Nanna raised me, but she's not my grandma, she just took care of a bunch of us in the village." despite the tragic story of an orphan there was no sadness in his voice, it remained light as before, "She was a Huntress before she retired though, helped me get into one of the junior academies, then I got accepted here. I got in on a scholarship, otherwise we couldn't afford the tuition," ending his story with a shrug.
Despite his casual retelling Ruby was tearing up, Oriole had her hands clenching her pants and even Yang looked a bit shook. "You… you okay man?" Yang asked,
Daiki looked at them a bit confused before giving his shining smile. "Yeah, Nanna raised me for as long as I can remember, I had a good life," there was no sign that he had a hard life in his face, "Nanna and her partner saved our village but a lot of the adults had died trying to fight off the Grimm. Nanna stayed behind to watch over us while her partner went to get some help. Guess we grew on her because after bringing us all to a bigger town she retired from being a Huntress to raise us. She opened like a small training school, taught people how to fight better. Taught all of us how to fight too, but we didn't all want to be a Huntsman."
Ruby surprisingly was the first to recover and speak up, "So what kind of weapon do you use? Can I see it?" Neither of her sisters was shocked by the direction Ruby took the conversation, both almost expected it.
Daiki laughed and waggled his right arm, a large gold coiled dragon bracelet clinked quietly. "This is Coiled Dragon," the head of the dragon sculpted onto the end that rested just behind his wrist opened up. "Maybe I can show it off later, but for now, it's a sword, a staff, a whip, and able to shoot dust out of the Dragon's Maw."
"No gun?" Ruby asked incredulous, why make a transforming weapon without a gun attachment?
Suddenly the trio found Daiki on their side of the table, sandwiched a bit uncomfortably between Yang and Ruby. "Don't need one."
"Woah! Is that your Semblance?!" Ruby asked with a sparkle in her eyes, "That's so cool!"
A second later Daiki was back on his original side of the table. Spreading his hands out to the sides with a sly smile. "Maybe, could just be a magic trick." laughing a bit he went back to eating, "What about you guys, what weapons do you use?"
Innocent as the question was Yang couldn't prevent herself from sighing. Oriole stifled a laugh, at the same time Ruby took in an excited breath and put the collapsed Crescent Rose on the table. Ruby's eyes lit up as she unfolded Crescent Rose, revealing its imposing form, knocking over a small number of dishes. "This is Crescent Rose," she began proudly, her voice tinged with reverence. "It's a high-caliber sniper-scythe! I can slice and dice Grimm while I get up close and personal with some fancy footwork, or pick them off from far away!" she exclaimed, a hint of excitement in her voice as she demonstrated a few hand motions, thankfully without using her weapon.
Daiki's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he watched Ruby unpack her weapon. "Wow, that's... impressive," he remarked, clearly taken aback by the fervor she held for her weapon.
Yang leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest, showing off the twin golden bracelets. "And this is Ember Celica," she stated simply, expanding the bracelets to reveal her gauntleted fists. "They're basically shotguns built into my arms. Short-range, but packs a punch," she explained, a smirk playing on her lips.
Daiki's eyes widened in disbelief. "Shotguns in your arms? That's... definitely unique," he commented, clearly intrigued by Yang's straightforward approach to combat.
Oriole, on the other hand, simply smiled and shook her head. "I don't use a weapon," she admitted, her tone matter-of-fact. "I rely on my body and Aura for combat," she explained, a sense of quiet confidence underlying her words.
Daiki looked at Oriole with a mixture of surprise and admiration. "No weapon, just your body and Aura?" he repeated, clearly impressed by her approach to combat.
Oriole nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, it's how I've been trained since I was young," she explained, her gaze steady as she met Daiki's curious gaze. "I focus on hand-to-hand combat and Aura manipulation. Dad taught me, and Yang too, just a bit differently," she added, a note of pride evident in her voice.
Daiki nodded thoughtfully, taking in Oriole's explanation. "That's... pretty cool," he admitted, though now a new question came to mind. "If you two were taught by your dad, who taught Ruby?"
"My mom." Oriole stated glumly, her Mom picked Ruby to train personally since they were children.
"Auntie Qrow!" Ruby called out happily, she was very close with Qrow, seeing her as close to a mom as she could be.
Daiki regretted the question, Oriole's once proud and bright face showed a frown and signs of envy along with several other emotions he would rather not guess at. Yang however decided to change topics yet again. "Some of my friends said that tomorrow or maybe the next day we should be getting our teams assigned. Wonder how that's going to happen."