Ever since its creation, the Vanity spell was quick to become popular among every kind of civilization. Only a few could imagine living without it, that's how life-changing it was.
This spell allowed the users to put on a "second layer" of clothing. An illusion that changed the way you looked.
It had no hard requirements and it was easy to learn, which made it ubiquitous everywhere. It was an amazing and dangerous ability. Easily exploitable by many.
It allowed you to hide your true self from everyone else. Be it an embarrassing outfit or physical deformation, the Vanity would let you put on a second face and hide it.
All attempts at cracking down on this spell were met with failure.
-:-O-:-
After accepting their… temporary enrollment, Cherry and Vera had some paperwork to do. However Ozpin couldn't do that. He had an urgent meeting with the Council. Peter and Oobleck also couldn't do that as they weren't qualified to sign up new students.
Miss Goodwitch had to be called. She took them both to the teachers' office, and logged into one of the computers there. There were a lot of miscellaneous objects here; most common were papers possibly related to classes. Screens and devices that neither Cherry nor Vera recognized… besides a coffee machine.
Miss Goodwitch sat on a chair in front of a computer. She motioned for the girls to sit on the opposite side. "In times of emergency, Beacon can provide shelter for refugees, or simply those in need. We are required by law to keep a certain amount of free rooms for such and other cases."
She typed a few things on the keyboard, and then grabbed two small stacks of paper. "You two won't be students, mind you, unless you officially sign up for a scholarship and pass our exams. Despite that; you will have the right to use our facilities at will unless that will intervene with our lessons. You will also be asked to not damage our property, or cause harm to our students. In short: If you prove yourself to be problematic we can revoke your refugee status, and deport you to Vale to be detained by the police."
Miss Goodwitch then gave them both a stack of papers. "More on that here, make sure you read it." The page on top had a wall of text so massive it took all of the space.
Vera took her stack and began to skim through the text. "Did you, like, ever have to deport people?" She asked.
Glynda nodded, which made Vera nervous. "Only in extreme circumstances… But yes."
"Yikes." Cherry said. "What happened to them?"
"That's not something I can tell you." Miss Goodwitch replied. "Ozpin told me that you two are from the other side of that portal." The two girls nodded. "Have you ever been to Vale, Atlas, Vacuo or Mistral? Do you have an ID?"
"Nope, first time I'm hearing of those!"
Miss Goodwitch nodded and rubbed her forehead, thinking This is going to take a while. She thought to herself as she reached out for more papers. "These are to apply for an ID. Even if you're here for a short moment, this can prevent a lot of possible problems in the future."
Vera was surprised, but she took the papers with little hesitation. "You guys are, like, strangely prepared for this."
"Some people are born in very remote regions." Miss Goodwitch told them. "Occasionally the Grimm will take out those villages… and chase the refugees all the way here. It's not rare for those people to either lose their ID, or not have it in the first place."
Cherry frowned, but understood Miss Goodwitch's words. Destroyed villages, huh? She grabbed a pen and began reading. It was all pretty standard stuff; personal information like their name and date of birth, their age, race, nationality. "Is stuff like that common?" Cherry asked as she filled in the boxes and check marks.
"...Fortunately not, but occasionally it's going to appear on the news." Miss Goodwitch responded. "Usually there are some Huntsmen living there to train people and keep the Grimm out. But if something happens… then usually they're too far away to respond in time."
Militias? Cherry remembered how Ozpin told them that this place didn't have soldiers. Well, that's perhaps the best they can get, maybe not everyone can be one of those Huntsmen? It was still curious how they just decided to just ditch the military. Very weird to hear in her opinion.
Something caught Vera's eye among the wall of text. "...We can attend classes if we want?" Vera asked.
Miss Goodwitch shrugged. "As long as you're not bothering anyone, Ozpin sees no reason not to give people a chance to learn something. But you will need the teacher's permission to join, though."
"Oh!" Now Cherry was curious. "What do you teach?"
"I teach combat." Glynda replied.
Combat? That sounds cool! "Like, you fight them?"
"Usually not." The teacher shook her head. "I assign the students to fight each other, usually one-on-one, sometimes team-versus-team, then provide feedback based on what they show."
"Can I join?" Cherry asked. "I wanna see the fights!"
"...As a spectator, right?" Glynda asked, Cherry nodded. "We can arrange something later."
"Yooo!" Cherry pumped her fist, and quickly finished filling out the application. Miss Goodwitch took it, corrected her glasses for a moment
"Cherry Mountainwatch?" The teacher couldn't help but to ask. "Half-Dwarf?"
"Yes? My dad is a dwarf." Cherry explained. "And mom took his name."
What could Miss Goodwitch say to that? Ozpin did not say anything about that. How am I going to put that into the system? The only options were a Faunus or a Human, because no one expected that one to change anytime soon. At least she put her gender as female. "...What is a Dwarf?"
"A Race." Cherry said bluntly. Glynda just stared at her. "What? It's literally a race back home-!" Vera placed a finger on her mouth.
Cherry stared at the Zoologist. "Please don't shout." The girl told her.
Cherry licked the finger, making Vera recoil and Cherry grinned at that. "Dwarfs are, and this is what my dad once said to me; 'short and stumpy alcoholics who are absolutely obsessed with rocks and stones!'"
Miss Goodwitch couldn't help but to be confused by such a description. It was less a factual description and more of a disdainful opinion towards a specific group of people.
Cherry jabbed her thumb into her chest. "I have a dwarven liver and their blood in my veins. Thanks to those sacred genetics: I can easily drink all of you under the table!"
"...Does that mean, like, you have a liver in your veins?"
Cherry smiled at Vera's question, but didn't comment on it.
"Here on Remnant we only have two races: Human, and Faunus. The system never accounted for more than that." Glynda told them. "...Which one do you think would better describe you?"
She would have to later talk with Ozpin about this, but right now this was the best she could do. The program would not accept anything other than two races Remnant was already familiar with.
"I don't know what Faunus is… so probably human?" Cherry said. "I mean, my mom was so, I'm half-human anyway."
That was also strange, because Remnant didn't have "half-races". You were either a full human, or you were Faunus. Not half-half. I might actually put her as Faunus. She didn't have any non-human characteristics though. But if she has a "dwarven liver", then wouldn't that count? How different would it be from a human liver? Faunus it is.
It felt wrong when Glynda typed that into the computer. Like she was making a mistake in the papers. She might have to talk to the immigration office about this.
"About 'drinking all of us under the table.'" The teacher quoted, and glared at the party girl. "We're a school. No alcohol allowed on our premises." Not just a normal school. A huntsman school. Last thing Glynda wanted were drunk teenagers hurting themselves with their own weapons. "On a related note… you look rather young, how old are you?"
Cherry was short and small, she also had a very young face. Too young-looking for someone to talk about drinking.
"I'm twenty." Glynda refused to believe that. "I'm legal, and able to drink."
Miss Goodwitch checked her papers once more, and found her day of birth to be… way over twenty years old. "The date you put in here was six hundred years ago."
Both Cherry and Vera were surprised to hear that. "What?" the pink-haired girl exclaimed. "What year is it?"
"Two thousand eighteen."
"..." Cherry just stared at Miss Goodwitch in shock.
…I will definitely have to call the immigration office. Miss Goodwitch thought to herself. They had a definition of a special case here. At this point I should be glad that we can at least understand each other. Ozpin gave her a few details on them via text, but now Miss Goodwitch truly appreciated the word 'complicated' that he used to describe them. "In any case: Don't smuggle any alcohol in here, and remember that most students here are underage."
Cherry grumbled but didn't argue because she understood why Miss Goodwitch was doing this. She was preemptively putting on the boundaries so that she and Vera couldn't claim "we didn't know." So that in some insane case Cherry would try to woo some random teenager here, not that she was that dumb to try, Oz and Miss Goodwitch could skip the warning and go straight to the punishment.
Vera handed Glynda her own form, and the teacher skimmed through it. Okay, this one is weird. "Veronica Maxwell?" She read out aloud.
Vera didn't know what to say to that. "Yeees?"
And Miss Goodwitch didn't know how to put this."That's… That is a very unique name."
"Really?" Vera asked. "My name is, like, very common back home."
"And here it is not." Glynda responded, then put the name into the system. "It's not an issue, mind you, but some people might find your names weird."
"What about me?" Cherry asked.
"Your name is normal."
Cherry grinned while Vera… simply couldn't believe it. "But, like, her name is Mountainwatch! How is that normal?!"
"We have a tradition to name our children after colors. It's a remnant of a Great War." Miss Goodwitch explained. "While Mountainwatch might raise some eyebrows, Cherry isn't really that weird here." She paused for a moment, realizing how much time she wasted talking about… their names. "Not my place to comment, and we don't have all day."
Unfortunately, Vera's form was also full of surprises. "You're a human?" Glynda couldn't help but ask.
Vera, once more, was confused. "Yeees?"
"I'm asking because, looking at you, people would rather think of you as Faunus."
"Fungus?" Cherry said.
"No, Faunus."Miss Goodwitch said.
"I… never heard that word before." Vera said.
Glynda nodded. "They're a race of people with various animalistic features." in Vera's case, that would be the pair of fox ears on top of her head… as well the tail growing out of her tailbone.
"Oh." Vera looked down at herself. "Oh."
Miss Goodwitch nodded. "Usually they have only one of such features, but that shouldn't be a problem. I must warn you though, some people won't be too friendly towards you."
"...Is it, like, because of those ears?"
"And the tail, yes." Miss Goodwitch nodded. "The discrimination against Faunus is a… long part of Remnant's history."
Cherry grimaced.
"But remember that such discrimination is not allowed here." Miss Goodwitch said. "If someone is rude, or hostile, don't hesitate to alert a teacher."
"Okay!"
"You think someone would do that? Just walk up and harass her?" Cherry said. "That's, like, asking to get mauled."
"I can already think of some people foolish enough to do it." Goodwitch said.
Cherry turned to Vera. "Break their legs." She told her with an eerie smile.
"If you do, that's detention. Or jail time."
"Pick them up and throw them far away."
Goodwitch sighed. "They're kids. Self-defense is okay, but don't cripple them because they're dumb."
After the paperwork, Miss Goodwitch took them to a different part of the school. Here Cherry realized something: This school was big. Like, the building was really massive. How many people are they teaching here? She thought to herself.
The teacher led them to a part of the building that the girls haven't seen yet, but there was… nothing really to describe here. It was an empty hallway with the exact same door put the exact same distance. There was also some kind of flat screen next to each door, Cherry could read the text on it.
Dorm 1, Dorm 3, Dorm 5, oh, a fire alarm! Dorm 7…
They finally stopped by the Dorm number 25. Miss Goodwitch pulled out something that was a Not-Cellphone and held it out in front of the screen. It flashed green and the girls heard a lock opening.
Huh, so that's why the doors didn't have a lock. Cherry thought to herself. It was interesting to see the differences between here and her home. First the elevator… now this.
Miss Goodwitch opened the doors and stepped in, Cherry and Vera followed. "Here is where you will be sleeping." The teacher told them. "Usually these rooms are used by teams of four, so you will have some extra space."
The room was modest, bare of any decorations, possibly to make space for students to decorate it.
The four beds were split up into groups of two - each one on the other side of the room, each one had a cabinet to store personal belongings. This room… is smaller than I thought. Cherry thought to herself. Four people were meant to live here? How cramped would it be?
"We have a curfew after ten pm, and I hope you follow it. Any questions?"
I can't really complain. It wasn't like Cherry paid for it, or had any viable alternatives. In other words… Beggars can't be choosers. "What's over there?" She pointed at the other doors far into the room.
"A bathroom and a shower." Miss Goodwitch said. "Soap and shampoo are provided bi-weekly, towels are washed every second weekend and I can give you tampons, pads and other hygiene items later today."
Cherry was surprised. They thought of everything. And all of it was free?
"You two have scrolls?" Miss Goodwitch asked. She was not surprised to see both Cherry and Vera say "No."
"...You can't enter this room without them." Miss Goodwitch said. "You two wait here, I will try to find something for you."
There wasn't anything they could say to that. "Alright, thanks!"
Cherry examined herself in a mirror. Checking out the Beacon Uniform that she wore.
No, Miss Goodwitch didn't give any. The room was completely barren of everything except the furniture. No uniforms that Cherry could borrow for a bit.
So how was she wearing a uniform? The answer was… magic. "Hmm…" If only she was actually good at tweaking the vanity spell. She knew how to apply it, how to keep it up, but never really dabbled into the deeper stuff like customization. "How do I look?"
They were supposed to just wait here and make themselves comfortable in their new room. But Cherry got plans. Mischievous, non-malevolent plans that would affect literally no one else but her.
Vera looked at Cherry. "It's, like, low resolution." She nodded. "And Pink hair clashes with it."
Not the hair! It was the hardest part of Vanity. "I kinda can't do anything about that. I'm not Roxy." Hair was incredibly difficult to adjust with magic. Roxy was usually the one that helped Cherry with it, being a stylist by trade. Either her or Henry. By herself Cherry could only keep up the hairstyle she already had; which was a mess of pink wavy hair that almost reached to her shoulders.
Vera was sitting on the bed, her legs swaying back and forth as she watched Cherry's clothes magically change colors, shapes and resolution. "You think they have clothes for, like, people with tails?"
"Maybe." Cherry said. "I mean if these Fungus people are common here, then why wouldn't they?" Oh? Cherry has hit a bit of a breakthrough. The jacket was starting to actually look good. This would've been easier if I wasn't doing it from memory.
What Cherry was trying to do… was to fit in. All of the students here were wearing that one very classy uniform here and Cherry wanted in on it. She will not be a student, yes. But that didn't stop her from at least trying to fit in with all of the "cool kids."
Plus she wanted to see how Miss Goodwitch would react to that. Cherry technically didn't steal anything, she just copied the look with her Vanity spell. And after a good twenty minutes of hard work she has managed… mixed results.
The Beacon uniform was very classy, something that rich people would wear. A plaid skirt gave color and accented the dark jacket, whose golden trim just screamed "rich and classy person." To top it all off there was a white shirt to finish the outfit. Roxy and Henry would love to see it. That Huntsmen profession must be either very revered, or Beacon was just very rich… Maybe a little bit of both, actually.
Cherry's take on that outfit was practically Off-Brand Beacon Uniform™️. It was the best Cherry could do with her inexperience with the Vanity Spell, a short amount of time, and working on something she barely had time to see, much less memorize. It wasn't the worst hack job in the world, but she couldn't help but to think that something was a little bit off. It's not off brand, it's Legally Distinct™️ The thought made her laugh.
"...I don't think they're called fungus." Vera said.
"But fungus is a fun word!" Cherry laughed. "It even has fun in it, it's literally half fun!"
"Then what's the other half?"
"A gus." Cherry said. "They're a gas. The Faunus are a gas. Vapor. They will go poof and scatter and never be seen ever again!"
Vera snorted at the absurdity of her words. Classic silly Cherry being silly. The good mood lasted for a short moment as Cherry tweaked with the textures of her outfit, making sure that nothing would suddenly turn into a blurred blob whenever she moved.
Vera bounced on her bed. "Ya know, these beds are, like, quite comfortable." The mattress was firm, but not too firm. It sank under her weight until a certain depth and then stopped. How? Vera didn't know, but she couldn't feel any springs in the mattress.
"Do I hear a slumber party?" Cherry asked. "Oh, we should totally have a slumber party tonight! It would be fun!"
"We, like, already had a slumber party at home." Vera yawned. The first yawn since their arrival there. "I'm getting tired."
"A slumber afterparty?" Cherry proposed. "We will tuck ourselves nice and comfy and go to sleep."
"So we just sleep, then?" Vera chuckled. "Sure, that kind of party sounds good!"
The doors opened, stopping Cherry in her own tracks, and two girls entered the dorm room, followed by Miss Goodwitch. Cherry… recognized one of them. It was that black-haired girl with a bow on top of her head. The one that was the first to look under the table. Cherry tried to remember her name… but she never really heard it. The other girl was completely new. Red hair, wearing a cool-looking ornament on her head. She seemed nice, and she was already waving to them.
Cherry waved back, amusing the redhead. Even the black-haired girl reluctantly raised her hand in greeting. Good manners! These two will do something with us. Show them around, maybe? Wouldn't be surprising, considering that the teachers are having their hands full with the portal outside. It would give me an opportunity to make new friends. That black-haired girl seems fun. A bit quiet, maybe shy, maybe just didn't have much to say.
"Hello again!" Cherry showed off her new outfit to Miss Goodwitch, waiting for her to say something.
The teacher was confused. Just as Cherry wanted. "I… Did someone leave a uniform here?"
"Nope. I just magic it up!" Cherry grinned, and just confused them further. They stared at her, trying to comprehend what she just said. Cherry made it even more confusing by going back to her old outfit in front of their eyes, simply because she wore it for so long she already knew the thing by heart. "Just something to blend in!"
There was… no reaction from Miss Goodwitch. But the other two girls were more interesting. The black-haired girl was more confused than before, while the redhead was intrigued. "Interesting ability, is it your semblance?" She said.
What was semblance again? "...I have no idea what a semblance is," Cherry answered. "we just call this the "Vanity Spell"."
The redhead nodded in understanding, her eyes widening a bit.
Vera called out from the bed "She, like, worked on it for the past twenty minutes just to do this."
Nobody laughed. The joke fell flat on its face.
Welp, whatever. Cherry brushed off the lackluster reaction. "It's all in good fun!" She said. "What do you think, ma'am?"
Miss Goodwitch stared coldly at Cherry. "...I hope you remember the rules."
"Yes, yes." Cherry saluted. "Not disturbing or interrupting lessons, I remember all that!"
Miss Goodwitch nodded in approval. "That's correct…" She was silent for a moment. "What you just wore was a… poor imitation of our uniforms. The bow and the shirt were all wrong and our uniforms don't have emblems on the shoulders… Where did you even get that idea?"
Cherry blinked, then looked at her own shoulder. "I don't know! I only had, like, a few minutes to see those uniforms." Cherry made mental notes for the future, staring at redhead's uniform for future reference. Huh… There really is nothing on their shoulders. She was surprised to see that, she was even more surprised that she for some reason tried to even add something like that.
"In any case" Miss Goodwitch motioned to the redhead "this is Pyrrha Nikos" and then to the rather dejected black-haired girl. "and Blake Belladonna. Because we will have our hands full for the foreseeable future, I have elected these two students to show you around instead."
"I don't agree to this." Blake said. Miss Goodwitch glared at her.
Vera waved to them from the bed. "Hello guys, I'm Vera!"
"I'm Cherry! Nice to meet you!"
Blake looked at her. "...Wasn't it you who just hid under the table in the library?"
Pyrrha was confused. Miss Goodwitch was… closing her eyes very hard. Good thing this happened before our talk, hehehe. "Hehehe, yup! I like your bow, by the way! Very cute!"
"...Thanks." Blake said. "What were you even doing there?"
"I was just trying to get as close to the courtyard as I could."
"And the note you stuck on Yang?"
Yang was who? The blonde? "Mischief."
Miss Goodwitch took a long look at Cherry, and then placed a hand on Blake and Pyrrha's shoulders. "They're going to be your responsibility. Make sure they don't get into trouble."
She included Vera into that list, but they all knew who she actually meant. But Cherry was already planning to not be a problem. She wanted people to laugh, not to ruin their day.
"Please no." Blake pleaded.
"Silence!" Miss Goodwitch said. "We have a situation on our hands, so we need someone to keep an eye on these two. Do well, and you will get extra credit."
Blake didn't show any interest in the bribe, but she didn't argue further.
"Are they new students?" Pyrrha asked.
"They're not students, these two girls came to us through that portal in the courtyard." Miss Goodwitch explained. "They're unable to return on their own, so Ozpin gave them an offer to stay here until someone from the other side picks them up."
"...Oh?" Pyrrha eyed Vera with curiosity. "What's on the other side?"
"Home." Cherry answered before Miss Goodwitch could.
Pyrrha's shoulders dropped. "I suppose I walked into that one… But what exactly is home?"
The party girl gave the redhead a funny look. Cherry, don't laugh at me. Pyrrha thought to herself. "That's a very good question." Cherry teased. "The barest things you need for the place to qualify as home is a private and enclosed room, with a chair, a table and some source of light inside… But if your standards are low you can go with even less than that."
Blake slowly died inside as she listened to this… remarkably weird explanation on the housing. Pyrrha awkwardly chuckled and looked at the teacher for help. The teacher sighed. "I don't have the details, but do us teachers a favor, and keep these two out of trouble. There's a chance someone might come pick them up within a few days."
Blake didn't want to do that. She wanted to do anything else but to babysit these girls. The teacher won't let me just walk away, right? "When exactly will someone come pick them up?" She asked.
"Wilbur, like, probably already knows we're missing." Vera said. "He has a really good intuition for these kinds of things."
"He has, but there's a Blood Moon back home… so he's kinda occupied." Cherry added. "He could be looking for us in the morning though."
"Morning? So tomorrow?" Blake asked. It shouldn't be that bad then.
"You can talk about that later." Miss Goodwitch, pulling out two flat devices: Two thin silvery discs with diamonds in the middle. "These are Scrolls" she handed one to Cherry, and the other to Vera. "You will need them to unlock the doors here. If you have any questions, you can ask Miss Nikos or Belladonna."
"Oooh, goodies!" Cherry eagerly took the Scroll and pressed the diamond. She almost dropped the thing because she didn't expect it to split into two and separate, letting her see a plate of… hardlight? "This is cool~!" She squealed.
Blake gave their teacher a confused look, while Miss Goodwitch only nonchalantly shrugged. They were no longer her problem. They were Blake's and Pyrrha's problem. And when the teacher left them alone… it only took Blake a few moments to break. "You guys… never had a scroll before?" Blake never imagined she would have to ask something like this.
Vera gave her a sheepish grin. "We're, like, very far away from home." She told them. "We don't have stuff like that back there."
It is that bad.
Blake closed her eyes and nodded. She was not prepared to teach someone on how to use a scroll out of all things. All she wanted was to finish her book in peace. She was in the middle of a nice chapter, taking in the plot and interesting characters. One visit from Miss Goodwitch later and instead of reading, Blake was teaching two strangers what should've been common knowledge!
Don't be mad at her. Blake thought to herself. This is not her fault that no one taught her how to use it.
How "far away" could their home be anyway? Atlas? No… Maybe Vacuo. No matter where she would be in Atlas she would've been exposed to technology. Vacuo on the other hand… She doesn't look like she's from Vacuo though.
Blake decided to drop it and not think about it further. "You press a button here to turn it on, and then pull the ends away." Goodwitch gave them a good, if not a bit old Valean model. It had two ends and an unfoldable holographic screen. She sympathized with her. She sympathized… but was also slightly annoyed that she had to be doing this.
Vera nodded and, after seeing some logos she was met with a log-in screen. She tapped that with her own finger. "Oh, touchscreen." She muttered under her breath, typing in the password that Goodwitch left them on a piece of paper.
Blake nodded, glad that at least she was a fast learner.
"I mean… it's not really that complicated." Cherry said. "It is very cool though!" She folded and unfolded the scroll, watching the screen shrink and grow in fascination. This girl is childish. Blake thought to herself. At least Pyrrha was handling her. The redhead girl was politely smiling as she watched Cherry have fun.
"Can I ask where you two live?" Pyrrha asked. "I'm sorry but I'm just curious."
Cherry thought for a moment. "You know, it's kinda hard to tell now…" Pyrrha was confused. "The easiest way to describe it would be… not here, err, not Remnant. Apparently." Pyrrha was even more confused.
"I'm sorry?"
"Like…" How do I explain it to them? Cherry wondered. "The Grimm. They're a big thing here, yes? We, uh, don't have them back home. None. Nada." Cherry smiled sheepishly as every word just confused Pyrrha even more.
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.
"We have Zombies. We have Eaters of Souls. We have Face Monsters and Unicorns… We don't have Grimm." Cherry told them. "They don't exist in Terraria."
Pyrrha was incomprehensibly confused.
Blake kept staring. Zombies? That didn't sound good to her.
"Yeah, like, every moment here is confusing." Vera added. "Like, I have seen many things in Sol, but nothing we've seen here."
"Sol?" Blake said before she could realize. I never heard of a place named Sol before.
"Name of our settlement." Cherry said. "Wilbur built it, so that people would have a place to live after the Corruption and Crimson destroyed the world."
Blake furrowed her brow in confusion. She gave Cherry a weird look after all this weird stuff she just tried to tell them about.
Cherry didn't flinch under Blake's gaze, she just shrugged. "Told ya it's hard to tell." She said. "Oz told me that he knows nothing about Corruption or Crimson… while we know nothing about Grimm. So, yeah."
Blake couldn't comprehend. This sounded ridiculous. Corruption? Crimson? What in the dust's name were those? Eaters of Souls or Face Monsters? …I'm giving this too much thought. She only needed to show these two girls around. Tomorrow they should be gone. Maybe. Possibly… Most likely. Just keep an eye on them until tomorrow and you're free.
Pyrrha sent Blake a look that she hoped would show that Pyrrha… didn't really know how to handle this situation. Showing two girls around their school? Pretty easy thing to do. Talking about… whatever that was? Blake and Pyrrha were woefully unprepared for this. No wonder the teacher wanted to dump them on us. Blake realized.
If every single word left from Cherry's mouth was going to be that confusing… Blake would just nod and not listen. She didn't have the capacity or desire to think about this. That was all she got. Just… don't think about it, nod and try to change the topic to something less confusing.
Just gotta make sure that they don't get into trouble. Miss Goodwitch's words echoed in their minds.
"W-Would you two like to eat something?" Blake sent Pyrrha a questioning look, trying to figure out why she asked that… but that was a genius idea. If they have to show them around, a place to get food would be a great starting point.
And Cherry took the bait hook line and sinker. She carefully folded the Scroll and put it in her pocket. "I'm actually still full of cake, but YES!" Cherry cheered and got off the bed. "Wanna go, Vera?"
Pyrrha smiled to herself. They're a little strange, but… Just like anyone else, they liked food. Weird… Weirdness aside, maybe this wouldn't be so bad? I wonder how Jaune and Ren are handling Nora.
Pyrrha looked back at Blake, and saw her texting with Yang. Yang sent her a link to an article.
…And a headline was saying that a portal had opened in the middle of Vale.
"This situation is… concerning. Our investigators are doing what they can, but as it stands there's… very little information that they can gather."
Ozpin skimmed through the reports with a thin lip firmly held up. This is not good. This wasn't even bad, it was practically the worst possible scenario. These portals were everywhere. All four kingdoms had them stuck somewhere, and some have opened even in the wild and remote areas. And through those portals, monsters from the other side have slowly begun to cross into Remnant. This is not good at all.
"Some people have begun theorizing that this is the beginning of an alien invasion."
In Vale and Vacuo, the effects were fortunately small; just a few dozen people were injured before the authorities could take control of the situation. In Mistral however, entire villages had to be evacuated after some massive and never-seen-before worms began to terrorize their populace. And Atlas? Atlas as a whole was in chaos and no one knew why.
Vale has found 3 of such portals within their walls, including the one in Beacon. Fortunately, these were in places easy to manage. Unfortunately people were already scared. They had to do something before the Grimm sensed that. "How are the Grimm?"
"...Surprisingly inactive." Another councilman said, this one in charge of keeping his eye on them. "Despite the widespread worry among our people, we got no reports of Grimm raiding our villages."
That surprised Ozpin. "No Grimm attacks?!" He asked. "Not a single one?"
"Yes!" The councilman nodded. "The eggheads are already trying to find the exact reason, but ever since today's morning the number of Grimm attacks has taken a nose-dive. We can all guess why."
"The portals…" That was… a lucky break. The Grimm should've been throwing themselves all over their walls by now. That's weird, very weird. "I assume the lack of news isn't due to a cut off connection."
"Nope, we just checked. All villages are accounted for, and no one is saying anything. ...Perhaps the portals are affecting Grimm too, in some way?" This idea sounded wild at first, but these portals were magic, and weird stuff was coming out of them. Why not also make them pacify Grimm for some reason?
"That's a terrifying thought!" One of the councilmen spoke.
It's either that, or Salem is planning something. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. Qrow has not reported back yet. I will have to ask him for an update.
"I would say it's a stroke of luck." Ozpin replied. "Otherwise the Grimm would be piling up against our walls right now."
"That's… a fair argument."
"As for the idea of this being an alien invasion: I find this to be… too unorganized." Ozpin said. "You would think that, if someone wanted to invade our lands, they would take advantage of this confusion. It would be very easy to send out an army right into Vale."
A few hours ago, an enemy army teleporting right inside Valean walls would be a catastrophic event. Now though? Anyone that would try to get into Vale would need to get through multiple lines of police forces and patrolling Huntsmen. The window of opportunity was quickly closing on them.
"Perhaps we're not the target?" One of the councilmen, the one who gave Ozpin the first briefing, proposed. "Maybe they're targeting Atlas instead?"
Ozpin pondered on such idea while the councilman continued. Atlas was de facto militarily the strongest out of the four kingdoms. If they fell, the remaining kingdoms would be left vulnerable. Take out the most dangerous one first, and then clear the remaining resistance… a clever, if not risky idea.
The councilman continued to speak. "While we are confident that their government is still alive, after these portals appeared the Atlas military has issued an informational blackout. No news or articles on this topic could be released to the public, and their ambassador refuses to comment on it; citing that he has orders from General Ironwood."
Ozpin frowned at this. James is trying to prevent information from spreading? Why? "That is weird." Ozpin agreed. "I will try to ask James later about this." While Mistral was in chaos and Atlas was… unknown, the situation in Vale seemed rather good and stable for now. This was a good opportunity to share his own findings. "On an unrelated note; we also had some visitors from the other side: A couple of monsters just as strange as everyone else has encountered… but also two mostly ordinary girls."
That piqued their interest. "What do you mean mostly ordinary?"
"Physically speaking, they look just the same as we do, but these two girls have no knowledge of Remnant, even the name "Remnant" was confusing to them."
One of the councilmen frowned a bit, while another nodded for him to continue.
"But more interesting were their abilities; I have seen one of those girls teleport at will, change how she looks, and store more items in her pockets than it would be physically possible."
The reactions were muted at first. "Was that her semblance?" Someone asked.
"That would be multiple Semblances if we went that route." Ozpin retorted, stressing the word to emphasize how weird it was. "But no, that girl said it was magic and spells."
"That's preposterous! Magic?!"
Not a reaction he hoped for, but not something Ozpin hadn't expected. Magic, real magic, was just a fairy tale. The closest thing they could get to magic was Dust and Aura: A very limited kind of magic, with very limited ways that one could use them.
But today changed everything.
"Is that so weird?" Ozpin asked. "Monsters that never appeared in our recorded history have just appeared in Vale, Mistral and Atlas. Monsters that, unlike Grimm, can bleed and leave corpses like we do." Ozpin grabbed his mug and took a heavy swig of coffee. "I have seen a giant eye that flies, a man who is dead by all things considered, yet he can still move and walk… and a girl that turns into a beast during a special kind of night. The chance that there's actual magic on the other side… is not zero."
His words brought silence into the meeting. No one wanted to argue with him. Strange times create strange events, and while Semblances and Dust have some wonderful and powerful abilities… they were nothing compared to what magic could do. "Is it an invasion?" Ozpin asked "...Maybe. For now we cannot rule out that possibility. But we've certainly made contact with a society that exists outside of Remnant."
The evidence was just too overwhelming. Nothing that came through that portal made sense for them. The magic that Ozpin sensed wasn't even from Remnant. It wasn't power granted by the Brothers to those that walked on these lands a long time ago. It was alien magic and an alien portal, with alien forms of life coming through it: Aliens that look strikingly similar to humans and faunus from Remnant.
"This is an exciting and terrifying thought!" A councilmen summed up the thoughts of everyone else in this meeting. "Where are those girls now? Why did they come here?"
How to explain, without creating any misunderstandings or problems down the line, the fact that they've only crossed because Vera was trying to kill Cherry? "It's… a little complicated," Ozpin said. "I will send you a detailed report later, but in short: They've crossed the portal by accident. They are now in our custody and Glynda is currently signing them up for the Refugee program."
That seemed to confuse them a bit. "Refugees? But why?"
"They cannot go back" Ozpin answered "the portal won't let them go through just like we can't. However they spoke of someone named "Wilbur" that might come and look for them. We plan on contacting that individual and hopefully open a dialogue."
Some of the council members nodded in approval. "A good, diplomatic approach... But wouldn't they also be unable to return?"
Ozpin… had no argument to that. He just had to nod in agreement. "It is a possibility. However we cannot do anything about it, not unless we suddenly find a way to send out a message to the other side."
"That is… a fair reason." Several other heads nodded too, silently approving Ozpin's plan. "When would that individual arrive?"
"We don't know for certain. The girls think it would take a few days at most."
"Then we will leave them in your care. I assume that paperwork has been fulfilled?"
"Glynda is already on it."
"I see… Did you learn from them?"
"Their tales were quite unbelievable." Ozpin said, recounting what he heard from them. "Most notably… is that they don't have Grimm. None at all. Instead they have some kind of other monsters: Corruption and Crimson they called it."
That surprised everyone ELSE in this call. "...Then perhaps this is what has crossed into our kingdom!" One of the councilmen said. "Not soldiers, but their Grimm equivalent!"
"Some of them were… literally humans." Another argued.
"Have you seen them? These were obviously not actually people… More like a living corpse!"
…Is this a good time to say that we have captured one of those? Ozpin wondered. A living corpse sounded similar to the Zombie they had in the Infirmary. I would have to ask these girls more questions about the monsters they have.
When Blake and Pyrrha led them to the kitchen, Cherry expected to see… well, a kitchen. Where she could whip out a quick meal for herself. Beacon however had something else. The kitchen was more like a bakery, but instead of just bread the shelves had already prepared food - made by actual chefs out in the back where the actual kitchen was.
"Woah, this looks very delicious!" It looked very delicious. Not much was left… probably because it was already after lunch time for these kids. But whatever was left looked really tasty! But all of them were behind glass… with the way in on the other side of the counter. And there was no one there.
"How much does it cost?" Vera asked. "I, like… don't have a lot of money. Do you, Cherry?"
Oh, yeah… We're in a society. And that meant financial transactions. Something that Cherry was familiar with, but was she currently prepared for it? She checked her stuff and with a degree of disappointment she found out that she left her piggy bank at home. "Nope, I'm completely broke!" She admitted… possibly too cheerfully considering the circumstances. "Oh wait, that's pretty bad. How do I not starve to death?"
"You eat." Cherry liked Blake. "The food here is free, though. Just talk to the cook."
"Yoooo!" Cherry cheered, but not too loudly, to not hurt Vera too much. "Hello! Anyone here?"
"Yes, yes!" The cook popped her head out and approached the counter. "Hi, there! Glynda told me about you, want to eat something?"
Cherry and Vera considered their options while Blake tried to not let Cherry's… energy annoy her too much. This is my life now. Taking care of… another Ruby. Or Nora. Blake was surprised how well that description fit Cherry. Cherry was just as small as Ruby, but also just as… energetic as Nora. Annoyingly so.
Vera stared at the pieces of meat laid before them, pork and beef, she recognized with a sick feeling in her stomach. Both were simply slathered in sauce that would be undeniably delicious for anyone that was not Vera. "Do… you have a salad?"
The cook raised an eyebrow, but started to put some vegetables on Vera's plate. "Anything else?" She asked. Vera shook her head. "...How about I give you the rest of this salad?"
"Oh! Like, yes, thanks!" This would result with the cook filling Vera's entire plate with veggies, instead of giving her just a tiny bowl for the side-dish. The zoologist liked that trade-off.
"No problem!" The cook gave her a thumbs up "Whatever is not eaten today, we will have to get rid of it by evening. Better if it goes to you than just be sent away to get turned into compost."
The vegetables were cut into small and easily swallowable pieces. From iceberg lettuce, to bell peppers and cucumbers to tomatoes, radishes and onions. The delicate oil mixed with spices and herbs finished the meal and gave the vegetables some taste. Vera walked away from the cook happy and salivating at the delicious meal.
Cherry approached the counter with an empty plate and a loud "Well…! I would like some of that tasty looking meat. The potatoes too. The potatoes are good!"
"Coming right up!"
Cherry got a more well rounded plate. Two medium sized pork cuts alongside some creamy mashed potatoes and with some sauce on top. To finish it all off, she got the same salad as Vera, just in a smaller portion and in a separate bowl to not let the sauce mix with the oil. A good lunch to gain energy and get everything needed to grow strong. Cherry thanked the cook and went to join Vera and the others.
Pyrrha opened the doors for them and led them to the actual cafeteria. It was a little awkward at first, as neither Blake nor Pyrrha took anything to eat… but Cherry was prepared.
"Wanna see a magic trick?" She held out her hand, palm up and empty.
Blake and Pyrrha said nothing as they watched Cherry's hand. She took her second hand and put it perpendicularly to her other palm. So that neither Blake nor Pyrrha could see her hand.
"Ta-dah!"
And when Cherry took her hand away, in her palm there were two tiny cupcakes.
"Here you go, a treat!"
Blake stared at the baked goods in front of her. It was a small and plain cupcake without much on it, just some chocolate chips. "...Thanks." Blake grabbed one, not expecting something like this. I didn't see her pull this from anywhere. And even then, where could she pull it from? Her sleeves would've crushed this thing, but it was almost untouched.
She took a bite. It was sweet. As a cupcake should be.
"That was amazing!" Pyrrha also took a bite. "And it tastes good!"
Cherry was happy with that. "Hehe, thanks!" She told them, "We know you two were kinda forced into this, and this is probably also very confusing so I wanted you to at least get something outta this."
Blake didn't expect this. Thoughtful, huh? She didn't really have anything against Cherry and her… cheer. She was simply annoyed that Miss Goodwitch took her away from her book and forced her here. Besides that, Cherry was like Ruby and Nora… and Yang. Cheerful, crazy and social. But not someone she wasn't dealing with already.
"Thank you for the gift, then." Pyrrha said. "What do you think of Beacon?"
"I haven't seen much of it, yet." Vera said, "So far, it's kinda cool! But… Do you all live in such small rooms?"
"Yes." Pyrrha laughed, "It's not that bad once you get used to it."
"My team made bunk beds to get more space." Blake added.
She… didn't expect Cherry to suddenly gasp. "It was you!?" Blake blinked, not knowing what to say. After some consideration she could only nod, as it wasn't like that information was anything private.
"Oz told us that there was a team that made themselves bunk beds. It was your team?"
Blake held back a groan. Why did Ozpin tell her that? "It was Ruby's idea."
"Can I see them?"
Ruby… wouldn't mind that. Neither would Yang. "Maybe?" Weiss might, but Blake hoped for the Schnee to not say anything. "I would have to ask my team."
Cherry pumped her fist and took a bite out of her own food, Blake sent out a quick text to Yang and then pulled out her book. She got through an entire 3 paragraphs before Cherry interrupted her. "Watcha, reading there?"
Please eat and let me read in peace. She really wanted to finish reading that chapter and find out what happened next. "A book."
"A book." Cherry nodded to herself. Blake feared that she might press further but she… didn't. She just said "Alright, enjoy it." and went back to eating.
And Blake could only feel gratitude for it. "Thank you." She went back to reading, ignoring the curious gazes from Pyrrha and Vera. While she couldn't get absorbed into the book like this, she could at the very least satisfy her own curiosity and learn what happened next-
If only that sizzling sound would stop!
"Hey! Wait!"
Blake heard Oobleck shout and footsteps approaching them. Vera's ears perked up, hearing the same thing. They ignored it… until the doors to the cafeteria burst open and a cat… literally flew into the room… on a stick of dynamite.
No one had much time to react before the cat launched itself at Vera - landing into her embrace with little more than a confused "Oof." from the zoologist. Vera only needed a quick glance to recognize the kitty currently shaking within her embrace.
"Remy? Remy, what are you doing here?!"
The cat, Remy, looked terrified of something. Their orange fur bristled, while they tried to climb into her embrace, one that Vera quickly gave. Then it just continued to shake in her arms. What Blake and Pyrrha found curious was that this cat wore ahardhat with a lantern on it for some reason.
"You know this cat?" Pyrrha asked. I could've sworn that they rode on something, but I can't find it. She thought to herself. More magic stuff again? Do their cats also have magic? She reached out to pet it but they just hissed at her and got away from her.
Vera quickly began to stroke it to make it calm down. "That's Remy, she's a friend's cat." Vera scratched her behind the ear. "Why is she here?" She asked and looked at the green haired teacher that just entered the cafeteria. He was heavily panting.
"You four…" Oobleck paused to take a breath in and out "That cat… is it yours?"
"Yes?" Vera hugged the kitty closer. "And you're, like, scaring her."
The cat was hissing and glaring at Oobleck, who seemed to be so tired that he would almost collapse at Vera's feet. "I'm sorry." He breathed out. "That cat went through the portal and immediately took off into the building. I chased after it because we didn't know if it was dangerous. I could've sworn it conjured explosives somehow…"
Oobleck's tired? Pyrrha blinked. How long was he chasing after the cat?
Vera shifted the cat so it was a bit further away from the teacher. "She's harmless, I will take care of her."
Oobleck didn't try to get closer, not that Vera would let him. The cat was already as agitated as she could be. The poor thing is terrified. Vera thought, continuing to scratch her back to soothe her.
"That puts my mind at ease." Oobleck breathed out. "I will notify Ozpin about this feline companion. Now, if you excuse me, I will return to the courtyard."
Oobleck left, but Remy kept glaring at the doors. Vera had to gently rub her back "Shh, shh, shh" She cooed to the cat. "The bad guy is gone now."
Cherry reached out and gave Remy some scratches, which the kitty gladly leaned into. "That was something." She said. "...And she's not living near me, why is she here?"
Vera shrugged. "I don't know… Urist will come looking for her."
"Will he come here as well?" Pyrrha reached out to pet the kitty… only for Remy to hiss at her too.
"She's, like, really terrified right now." Vera told her. "Not a good time. And I hope he won't, otherwise Wilbur and Tiara would have three people missing."
That put Cherry's imagination onto a dark path. People back at Sol don't know that the other side of the portal was full of nice people and untouched by Corruption and Crimson. Would they think we disappeared like Fay? Or that we died like Connor or Sam? How would Wilbur react if they met him with fear and hostility?
…He wouldn't hesitate. Cherry realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach. He doesn't know that these people are nice. He will not hesitate to attack them. Cherry would have to keep watch in the courtyard tomorrow, to prevent any misunderstandings.
Remy was patting her shoulder, demanding more scratches from her and bringing Cherry back from her thoughts. Cherry rolled her eyes, took a bite of her food, and scratched the cat's belly. "Spoiled girl."
Remy began gnawing on her finger, Cherry just let her do that. Her digits were protected by Orichalcum.
Pyrrha didn't miss the thoughtful look on Cherry's face, but she didn't comment on it. Instead the redhead girl was focused on their next destination. Where could we take them next? Pyrrha wondered. The library? Maybe. The training rooms?
She would need a teacher's permission to get inside one of the training rooms, but that wouldn't be too hard. But what could they do in the training room even? Have them watch how they spar? Would Blake want a spar? "Would you like to see our training rooms?" Pyrrha proposed, turning to her black haired companion. "And would you like to spar?"
Blake grimaced, and Pyrrha immediately knew that the idea would get shot down.
"Training rooms?" Vera asked. "Like, a gym?"
"That's… close." Beacon had such training equipment in the storage. "But not really, it's an arena where we can spar against one another."
"Oooh!" Cherry was interested. "Sure!"
"Not interested" Blake however shot it down. "I just asked Yang and she said that I can show them our room. We can go there next." Blake shrugged. Cherry wanted to see their "Bunk Beds", and Blake could try to shirk them off to Yang instead. Win-win.
"Welp, later then!" Cherry shrugged. "Let's have a party in Blake's room instead! I will bring… more cupcakes!"
Blake stared at another cupcake that Cherry just pulled out of her sleeve. "...How many do you have stashed in there?"
"Uhh…" Cherry blanked out. "Plenty."
Blake didn't want to know. She also didn't take the offered cupcake.
"So Goodwitch put you both on babysitting duty?!" Yang laughed at Pyrrha and Blake. "Hey there, squirt! I still owe you for that note you put on me."
"Hehehehe." Cherry laughed and both of them bumped their fist. "I'm twenty, though. Not a kid."
That wasn't something Yang expected to hear. "You're still short." She said nonetheless.
Cherry jokingly sent a sucker punch at Yang's stomach. She stopped just short of it, not wanting to actually hurt her… but Yang still moved to defend herself. That cheered both of them up. "Yeah, you're cool too." Yang said, then turned to Blake and Pyrrha. "So, what's the deal?"
"They came through the portal in our courtyard." Blake told her. "...Apparently, they're aliens."
Yang blinked in confusion, and she couldn't help but to send a bewildered look towards Vera. Vera smiled sheepishly and raised her hand. Vera's palm swelled and rapidly grew hair. Her nails grew longer, thicker and sharper… And then it all fell to the floor. The hair and extra nails.
"Wow…!" Ruby watched as all of it began to vaporize in front of her eyes. "Is this your Semblance?"
"...I don't know?" Vera said. No one actually explained what a Semblance is, yet. "Maybe?"
That wasn't an answer Ruby wanted… or expected. She looked at Pyrrha for answers, and the red-haired girl just closed her eyes and nodded with a smile. Pyrrha understood her confusion. "That- that thing you just did with your hand." Ruby said, pointing at Vera's hand. "That was like a Semblance!"
Oh. Vera now realized. "So Semblance, like, turns you into a werefox or something?"
…Was that wrong? Why was the blonde laughing? "Not everyone. Just you." Yang told them. "But let's just have some fun and save the lectures for later! I feel like these two are already overwhelmed as it is."
"That's true, actually!" Cherry perked up. "Tons of new info! Can't remember it all!"
"See!" Yang faced her team and Pyrrha, then pulled out her scroll and flashed it in front of the lock. "Cherry up, kid! We will teach you all about Remnant soon enough, but first… a party!"
The shock on Cherry's face brought even more laughter from Yang. The Party Girl was left completely bewildered. "The audacity!" Cherry shouted. "For that pun… a party trick!"
Yang's eyes widened up and her brows shot up as Cherry walked up to her. "W-Whoa- hey!" Before the blonde could react, much less defend herself or push the girl off, Cherry reached out towards Yang's ear. Cherry's hand moved past her ear and brushed against Yang's hair. Yang absolutely didn't like that, but Cherry pulled back very quickly, holding out a small cone-shaped hat towards her. "Ta-dah! Because we cannot have a party without party hats!"
Yang blinked. "Wha… huh?" She grabbed the hat, almost automatically. It felt real, and like paper. "Where did that come from?"
"Tee hee hee hee hee hee." Laughed Cherry and provided no answer.
"Is this your Semblance?" Yang asked.
"I don't know what that is." Cherry said. "But that was just a little bit of Magic, silly!"
"Magic, huh?" Yang shrugged and put on the Party Hat. "Feels like I'm a kid again!" She told them. Cherry laughed. Yang laughed. Blake was glad they were getting along.
Then they met Weiss who was in the room, and she wasn't happy.
"It's you again, pervert!"
Here we go. Blake was actually wondering what would happen now. How would Cherry annoy the Schnee? And Cherry seemed to start by simply laughing at her, which was already infuriating Weiss. "Don't laugh!" The heiress ordered, but that just made Cherry laugh some more.
Because Cherry, from what Blake noticed in that short moment they've spent together, was feeding off the others' reactions. If you react, she will laugh at you. If you don't… Blake hasn't seen that happen yet, but Blake presumed that Cherry would eventually be bored and leave… or just get more creative.
"Relax Weiss." Yang told her. "Miss Goodwitch nabbed Blake and Pyrrha to watch over her and her friend, so we're showing her around."
"I was there. I already know she became a babysitter."
"I'm twenty." Cherry stated.
Weiss stared at her. "...You don't look that old."
"...So?"
"They're aliens." Yang told her, shrugging. "Don't think about it, Weissy."
Weiss didn't believe it. "What is that supposed to mean? Aliens?!"
"Miss Goodwitch told us that they came from the portals." Blake explained, collapsing onto her own bed. "It's complicated."
"I think it's exciting actually." Ruby said. "We get to be the first people to meet aliens."
"...You know it's, like, starting to feel a bit weird to be called an alien." Vera told them.
"Oh, sorry." Ruby raised her hands to placate Vera. "It's just that I, we… don't really know what to do with that."
"Have a party?" Cherry asked.
"A party? Here?" Weiss turned to look at Blake, who shrugged.
"She wanted to see our bunk beds." The black-haired girl told her. Weiss scoffed at this idea.
"What were you even doing under our table?" Weiss asked.
"I was just trying to get home." Cherry replied.
"Then why were you trying to draw something under our table!"
"I am not very smart!"
Blake cracked. She didn't expect Cherry to just shout it out without hesitation. She hasn't even hesitated to admit that.
Weiss scoffed, not even a crack of amusement on her face. "At least you're admitting it."
"Great!" Yang clapped her hands and rummaged through her belongings, pulling out a small wireless speaker to play music from. "Only the finest tunes in Remnant."
Yang pressed a button on her scroll, and music began to play from the speaker. Cherry began listening to the first few seconds, then smiled and began bobbing her head as she began to like whatever Yang just put out: A rather calm song to listen to and have in the background.
"Really?" Weiss wasn't amused.
"C'mon Weiss!" Yang smiled. "The lessons are canceled for tomorrow, we can celebrate a bit!"
"Yeah! It's party time!" Cherry cheered, then reached out to Weiss… a small cupcake waiting in her palm. "Cupcake?"
Weiss blinked, looking intensely at the offered baked goods. "...Where did you get that one from?"
Blake walked by and stole the cupcake from Cherry's palm. Cherry just summoned a new one, which was taken by Yang and then Pyrrha. Cherry began to simply summon more cupcakes and wait for Weiss to do something.
The white haired girl couldn't comprehend. "...What?"
"She has hammerspace." Blake explained to Weiss. "She can just… summon things out of thin air."
"Oooh!" Ruby took a cupcake and took a bite. "Tish ish nice!" She swallowed. "Is that your semblance?"
"It's a… long story." Cherry said. "I will tell you later."
Weiss sighed and ultimately grabbed the offered cupcake, becoming the last person to taste the sweet sensation of… dough and chocolate.
The party wasn't anything crazy. They listened to some music, had some fun with the balloons and ate sweets that Cherry had in her inventory. Cherry and Vera explained to them their situation while playing some board games that Ruby brought from the library.
It was fun and cheerful, especially when Yang managed to pull Blake into a game of Exploding Cats… and the blonde drew an Exploding Cat on her first turn, making her immediately question who shuffled the cards.
It was Cherry. And everyone quickly learned that Cherry cheated at card games. Whenever she shuffled the deck she became uncannily familiar with the positions of notable cards in the deck. It wasn't a spell or magic, just some party tricks that she spent days learning. This got Vera, Yang and Ruby to try to team and stop Cherry from winning. And they did by having Ruby clumsily shuffle the cards herself to negate Cherry's advantage.
And that turned into Cherry giving them lessons on how to shuffle cards without bending them too much.
"Split the deck, put them together like this, gently pull each side up like this, and then just let them fall. You want to bend just their corners, less strain on the cards that way"
Ruby nodded as she listened intently.
Weiss didn't play the game, as she was sitting in the corner and playing with Remy, giving her pets and hugs while the cat purred under her skilled hands. The cat calmed down a lot thanks to Vera, enough to allow Weiss to take her down on her lap for more scratches.
Vera sat next to Weiss, watching the cards falling out of Ruby's hands when she tried to shuffle them. "Why does she have that helmet on?" Weiss asked. She once tried to take it off, but Remy was surprisingly protective of it. "She tried to claw my face when I tried to take it off."
"Don't." Vera told her. "Remy, like, her owner is a miner. And he takes her into the mines."
"So he got her a helmet?"
"She likes it!"
Weiss couldn't argue with that, but had to admit that she looked silly in it. The lantern on it was actually functioning, and Weiss could turn it on if she wanted to. "What good would a cat do in the mine?" She wondered to herself.
"Well, like, sometimes you just need a friend. Especially if you're spending a couple of days at a time deep below."
"Hmm." Weiss thought for a moment… then flicked the light switch on and let Remy loose. The cat began roaming around, curiously investigating the room she was in. Staring, watching, sniffing. It was slightly amusing when Remy shone light right at Yang's face.
The blonde girl recoiled and covered her eyes. "Damn, that's bright." She said. The cat gave her a curious sniff and then began investigating elsewhere. Yang reached out and turned Remy's light off, then glared at Weiss. Weiss blew a raspberry in her direction. "Yeah, love you too Ice Queen!" Yang told her.
Weiss had a witty response already prepared when she felt her scroll suddenly buzz with an alarm ringing out. She pulled it out, turned off the alarm then her eyes glanced over at the time. "Curfew in 10 minutes." She declared and cut off the music.
People were confused by the sudden silence but a quick repeat of what Weiss just said was enough to explain everything. It was almost ten p.m., and Miss Goodwitch will soon start patrolling these halls. "Quick, start cleaning!" Yang took off her hat, grabbed a nearby cup and gave it back to Cherry.
Cherry, instead of taking her stuff back, simply clapped her hands twice. What happened next was that everything she brought; the food, the plates, the numerous strings of confetti that someone left behind, it all disappeared in a puff of light. So was the disco ball that Cherry placed in the middle of the room.
Weiss stared at the now pretty clean room. There was barely a trace that they held a party here. "...I suppose that works." She turned to Vera. "Do you know where you're going to sleep?"
"That was so freaking cool!" Yang told Cherry.
Vera thought for a moment. "Dorm 25?"
"That's just next door, huh?" Weiss said.
"Really?!" Asked Cherry, Weiss nodded. "Yooo, we're neighbors!"
"I wonder if that's why Miss Goodwitch wanted someone from our teams." Pyrrha asked.
"Where is your team, even?" Yang asked. "Why didn't you call them here?"
The redhead gave them a sheepish smile. "Nora's grades were dropping, so Ren dragged her to study. I then decided to take Jaune to study with him and-"
"And then Miss Goodwitch took you and Blake to follow her and play babysitter to our 20 year old?" Yang finished, and reached out to ruffle Cherry's hair.
Pyrrha nodded, then began to laugh when Cherry began to playfully throw punches towards Yang. "Hey, hey!" Yang called, backing away from the pink-haired girl. "So violent!"
Cherry blew a raspberry at her.
"...I refuse to believe that you're older than us." Weiss said.
"Maybe she has stunted growth?"
Cherry pointed at Blake. "Shush." She ordered the girl… not like Blake wanted to say anything else. However this got some chuckles from other girls, but these had to be cut short.
"Alright, off to bed we go!" Yang told them. "Lest the evil witch finds us and we will be in trouble."
"Yes yes." Saluted Cherry. "See you tomorrow!"
They left the dorm room, letting the girls clean up their room a bit more before going back to sleep.
Pyrrha then walked to the opposite side of the wall, and unlocked the doors. Cherry was surprised. "You live here too?!" She asked.
"Mhm." The redhead nodded. "I suppose we will be seeing each other tomorrow. We don't have any classes right now, so I'll gladly show you around a bit more."
"Alright, coolio!" Cherry pumped her fist in a small celebration, then reached out for a fistbump.
Pyrrha gave her a light tap with her knuckles before going back to her own dorm room. Vera heard some girl shout "Pyrrha!" before the doors were closed.
Then it was just two of them in an empty hallway. And fatigue that they were suppressing was already starting to hit in.
It took a bit of fiddling, but Cherry and Vera eventually figured out how to open the lock on their dorm room. …That was easier than I thought. They literally just needed to rub their scroll over the flat device next to the doors and eventually it would open.
So of course the next thing Cherry did was to rub her scroll over someone else's doors. This time the device flashed red and the doors remained closed.
She did it again and the same thing appeared. Ah, security. Satisfied with her own findings, Cherry finally went to her own dorm room.
But not before waving to Miss Goodwitch, who was already walking down the hallway. The teacher looked at her and tapped her wrist, indicating that free time had run out and a curfew was in effect. Cherry nodded and closed her room.
"Well!" She yawned, no longer able to fight off exhaustion. "We got through the day, and I'm tired… I feel like I haven't slept for 24 hours."
Cherry then realized that this might actually be the case. When she and Vera went through the portals, the night just started. "...We have gone through an entire day in Terraria… and then another day here."
Was the time opposite here? Day in Remnant meant night in Terraria? Cherry shelved that thought for later. I'm too tired to think about it.
"...And, like, no Wilbur, or anyone else." Vera said. "You know we can't just sleep here?"
Cherry gave her a solemn nod. It was an unfortunate fact. Currently their sole hope was either a Recall Potion, or Magic Mirror. Both of them worked on taking you to your 'Point of Rest' - The last spot you've slept. If they were to actually go into those comfortable-looking beds and sleep… then that Point would move and they wouldn't be able to return.
"I'm, like, amazed though. Not even a day and you already had a party with these kids."
Cherry laughed. "They're fun." Instead of lying on the bed, she sat on the floor beside it. "What do you think?"
"Hmm?" Vera asked. "About what?"
"They're all confused." Cherry said. "They called us aliens… and none of them even heard of the Inventory or Vanity spells! Or magic in general!"
The excitement of meeting new people passed. The curfew began and everyone went to rest for the day. Cherry now had time to finally lie down, rest her legs and contemplate their situation.
"This is nuts! NUTS!"
…and how badly everyone here were in danger.
We have never considered this…
These were good kids. Cheerful and helpful girls that did nothing wrong, merely wanting to make a difference in the world. Protect their friends and families. This world didn't deserve this incoming disaster that just appeared on their doorstep. No one did. But whoever opened these portals had no idea what they've just done.
The unfortunate truth was that their home, Terraria, was a ticking time bomb without any hope of preventing, or even mitigating the damage. With this… new place being forcefully pulled into it... Cherry now had to reconsider her plan.
But what could we do now?
"I… don't think we can do anything, really." Vera told her. "Not right now. Now all we can do is just wait for Wilbur."
Cherry sighed and let her head fall against the wall. Vera pressed further. "What would you even want us to do?"
"I don't know." Cherry sighed again. "But you've seen how confused Oz was about some stuff? He didn't even know about Demon Eyes! It's like they didn't even hear about the corruption, yet. Maybe they don't have the Crimson here, either!"
"But, like, that's a good thing." Vera pointed out.
"Yes it is!" And Cherry agreed with that. "But I also don't want another fall of the human kingdom."
Vera bit her lip and nodded, but didn't say anything. The advent of Corruption, and the early days of the war, weren't something that people could easily forget. Nor was it something that Vera wanted to think about now. Instead she walked towards the window to check the view outside.
We have forgotten to take Remy with us. Cherry realized. …Eh, she should be fine. Yang is a nice kid, and Weiss seems to like the kitty.
Cherry glanced at the pair of feet walking away, then she reached into her breast pocket. That part of her Inventory was dedicated for only one thing: A small hip flask forged from Titanium. She stared at it in melancholy; the source of her troubles.
This is useless now. She thought to herself. What could I possibly do with it now?
The crimson red liquid silently sloshed inside as she waved the flash back and forth, contemplating if she should spill this thing in the drain. No, not yet. This entire encounter has thrown a big wrench into their plan. On one hand, that was a good thing. Because that plan wasn't even good to begin with.
But now a lot more people were at risk here. And Cherry didn't know what to do with that information.
"Hey Cherry, look at this!"
Vera quickly brought Cherry out of her thoughts. The party girl looked up to see Vera motioning for her to come here. Cherry quickly put the flask back, got up, and went to see what Vera wanted to show her.
Cherry quickly realized what Vera tried to show her, and the sight was breathtaking. "Woah!"
"Amazing, isn't it?"
The moon here was bigger than back home. Not only that, but this moon was broken. Like someone had taken a hammer to it, half of the massive rock that Cherry was once familiar with was now broken into pieces. It kinda looks like a crumbled cookie. Cherry thought to herself. Actually that's not a bad description. The moon is a giant crumbled cookie! Hehe.
"I wonder what happened to it." Cherry asked.
"I guess we can ask the girls." Vera answered. "But the moon back home wasn't, like, cracked, was it?"
"Nope, it's not." Cherry said. "So I don't think we're in Terraria anymore."
It would explain the school, all of these people and Oz's confusion about the Blood Moon and monsters. As well their confusion about their stuff as well. This is a wholly different civilization. Maybe even a different world. Cherry thought to herself. Completely unprepared for us and our own problems.
There was a flash of light far away in the distance. Vera squinted her eyes to try and see, but the light disappeared as quickly as it began. Vera didn't think anything of it, only for a second or two later the lantern in front of them died. And with it died every other light in Beacon. Including the one in their own room.
"Huh?" Cherry was confused. She looked at their lamp for a short moment, wondering what happened. The next thing she knew was that Vera was dragging her away from the window. The party girl yelped in fright as Vera dragged them both away from the window.
Because a moment later their window exploded, sending chunks of glass everywhere. Vera curled up into a ball, while Cherry raised her hands to cover her face. She felt a few chunks fall onto her stomach and then slide down, hitting not flesh but the armor she wore underneath the illusion.
When the Party Girl lowered her arms, she saw a masked figure staring right at them. They were hanging from the wall, with their legs embedded in.
For a moment no one said anything. Cherry and Vera just stared at the person while they wordlessly ripped their feet out of the wall, and then fell down. They made a sound as they splattered themselves all over the floor. It was a woman's voice.
Cherry didn't recognize that person anywhere, but there wasn't much she could recognize her from. Her face was hidden behind a mask, and they wore a green beret to cover their hair, which was tied up into a bun. "Uh… Hi?" Cherry said, mentally asking herself How did that hat not fall off from her head? "Nice of you to hop in?"
The woman said nothing, but Cherry heard her sigh. She and Vera scrambled to their feet, while the woman calmly picked herself up… then she just stared at them. Without saying a word.
Cherry was starting to get uncomfortable with this silence. The mask she wore covered her entire face with an exception of the lips. Her lips, Cherry has noticed, were quivering for some reason. Pain… maybe?
"I-I'm"
Oh? Cherry was shocked. She can actually speak!
"I-I'm sorry for this."
Cherry blinked and then looked at the damage she caused. The window she entered through was just gone. Completely obliterated. The wall on the opposite side of the room? Absolutely shattered. Two massive holes where Cherry imagined the girls legs were. Another smaller hole left from her hand.
The burn marks were everywhere. But they didn't look like they were left from the fire, rather… electricity? People here are nuts! That woman just casually cannonballed herself into their room and she… just shrugged it off without much of a word.
"I mean… no one got hurt, right?" Cherry looked up and down at the woman. The impact left her shoes and pants in tatterns, but the woman didn't seem disturbed by it. "...You're not hurt, right?" Cherry asked. Kinda incredible that she is still standing after all of this, her knees must be made out of iron!
The question left the woman amused. "Yes, I am fine." She responded, a small smile appearing on her face. This voice. The tone of her voice. It sounded so familiar to Cherry, but she just couldn't figure out why.
There was a knock on the door, possibly the girls wanting to check on them. "You okay over there?" Vera heard Yang call out through the holes in the wall.
"Yup!" Cherry responded. "All fine!"
"What happened?" Ruby asked. "Lights in the hallway are out… And why are there holes in your wall?"
"Forget that!" Weiss shouted. "Just open the doors! Miss Goodwitch will be here soon!"
At the mention of Miss Goodwitch the woman seemed to freeze, then her lips turned into a thin line. Cherry was already moving though. "Yes yes!" She called to them. The party girl walked past the woman, who was now taking a deep breath, steeling herself for something.
She then grabbed Cherry by the shoulder, dragged her closer, put a gun to her throat and pressed the trigger. All in a single moment.
That single deafening bang hit Vera's ears, but what hit her harder was the sight of Cherry falling onto the ground. Cherry Mountainwatch went down like a ragdoll… and then did not get back up. Vera's friend and someone she could trust, who everyone could trust, was now bleeding on the floor in an unknown land.
Other girls also heard that noise. "Cherry?!" Yang asked. "Cherry what happened?"
And the woman, now an enemy and intruder, pointed her gun right at the Zoologist. "Vera, I don't have a lot of time, but you both need to die." The woman spoke. "I am really sorry for this."
To be continued…
Chandler's Law? In my RWBY crossover? Why yes, I'm going to do that!
Before anyone asks… yes, Cherry the Party Girl being a half-dwarf is literally just my own thing.
The Party Girl is pretty much the shortest adult in Vanilla Terraria. We know she's an adult because when she dies you get the "Party Girl has died." message, unlike "NPC has left." you get when underage NPCs such as Angler or Princess die.
So Party Girl is a short adult… and I decided to make her a half-dwarf for one very simple reason: It would be funny. There's literally nothing in canon that supports this idea and I did it anyway, because I found that thing hilarious and something that I could work with. It wasn't a decision that I made on a whim, and I have a few ideas for it.
Did I already say that this is more of a "Terraria-inspired" story?
Anyway, having Cherry and Vera be pretty much Refugees at Beacon feels way more fitting than trying to shoehorning them into becoming students so quickly into the story. Especially when for all they know this is just a temporary thing, and that they will be gone within a few days.
It also feels very fitting in-universe. Beacon does have an unquantified amount of spare dorm rooms, and a pretty large cafeteria. If some massive Grimm attack happened and there was a Refugee crisis in Vale they could, in theory, keep some of the refugees safe.
And one thing I have noticed about the Party Girl is that... the site doesn't have a tag for her. I just can't tag her as a character here, the site won't allow me.
I did send them out an email about this, but I haven't recieved a reply yet. So until the mods do something about it then Cherry will simply stay untagged... despite being the closest thing to a main character here.
- Harmless Orange