"It was nice of them to let you in early, Weiss." Winter said.
"I know!" Weiss responded, excitedly. "It's a lot of pressure, though. I hope I can live up to it…"
"I didn't say you didn't earn it." Winter said, smiling at her sister. "You've got this, Weiss."
Weiss smiled back, but not all of her doubts were assuaged. She didn't get to think about them for very long though, because a holograph of Professor Fall popped up on the window. Both Weiss and Winter focused their attention on it.
"Students of Beacon, I'm Professor Fall." Winter leaned over to Weiss, her red eyes showing a glint of amusement.
"She seems like she'll be a massive pain in the a…" Winter stopped when she received a swift elbow in the side from her sister, but Weiss couldn't help the smile creeping onto her face.
"Please, report to the auditorium upon landing." Professor Fall said. A voice could be heard in the background of the video, to which the professor rolled her eyes and with an annoyed expression, continued: "And please, enjoy the view."
The video feed cut there. Weiss rushed over to the window with everyone else, and Winter walked over more slowly.
The view was, as Professor Fall had put it, enjoyable to say the least.
Vale felt so big when you were down and in the city, but… up here, from this airship, it looked so small. Weiss could see the outer walls of Vale all the way around.
Something caught her attention, though, as a girl with long red hair sprinted by, barely a blur in the corner of Weiss' eye. The girl ran into the bathroom, from within which, a retching sound could be heard.
"You think she has motion sickness?" Weiss said to her sister, a frown on her face.
"She better get over it if she does." Winter said, indifferently.
Weiss shot a look at her sister, but said nothing. Eventually the ship landed, and the pair unloaded onto the grounds of Beacon academy.
"I'm afraid I'll have to leave you for the time being." Weiss told her older sister. "As rushed as my enrollment was, I didn't have time to set up the allowance for dust, and I need that."
"I'll see you in the auditorium, then. Good luck!" Winter said to her sister, waving to her as she walked in the opposite direction as Weiss.
Weiss took a deep breath, and began exploring the uncharted territory of the grounds while looking for the administrative offices. She didn't get very far, before she bumped into something.
Or rather, someone. Because while Weiss was paying attention to the signage, trying to navigate to the office, she didn't notice the person she was headed for. In a blur of red, the person landed on her feet while Weiss crashed to the ground. Rose petals showered onto the ground around her.
"What are you doing?" The girl said, a pointed glint on her face and in her voice.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Weiss said, slowly rising to her feet.
"Well, maybe you should!" the girl said haughtily.
"Look, I said I'm sorry, I was just-" Weiss turned to the girl to defend herself, only to see that she was gone.
"Geez, what's her problem?" Weiss said to herself, shaking her head.
"She's a Rose. The whole lot of them are nothing but spoiled Atlesians." A gruff voice said from behind her. Weiss jumped at his suddenness. She spun on her heels and faced the guy behind her.
"Oh, uh… surely they can't be all that bad." Weiss said. The guy raised an eyebrow and stared silently at Weiss, letting that comment hang in the air. Weiss' eyes drifted up the horns poking out of his hair. oh...
"Well, anyways, I'm Weiss." She said, holding her hand out, and cutting through the uncomfortable quiet.
"Right." The faunus said, as he turned and left.
Weiss stood there frowning after him, hand still extended. After a few seconds, Weiss shook her head, and turned back towards where the administrative offices were. She was once again startled, this time by the redhead from the bullhead and, again, jumped back a number of feet.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The girl said, very quickly. She stood there awkwardly for just a moment too long, before sticking her own hand out towards Weiss.
"I'm Pyrrha, by the way. Pyrrha Nikos." She said.
Weiss stood there for a few seconds. Pyrrha didn't exactly look like Weiss would expect an initiate at Beacon to look. She wore a bronze chestplate and bracers, but that was it. Everything else from the baggy hoodie to the skinny jeans looked exceptionally civilian.
But she's here. Weiss thought, before smiling and extending her hand to shake Pyrrha's.
"I'm Weiss. Nice to meet you." She said, "Wait a minute, aren't you the one who threw up on the ship?"
"Look, all I'm saying is that motion sickness is a serious issue!" Weiss said, a little exasperated.
"I'm fine, I promise!" Pyrrha said, smiling at her new friend. "A little post-flight shakiness isn't going to stop me anytime soon."
"If you say so. But, make sure you see the nurse if you're still feeling symptoms." Weiss said, acquiescing.
"So, what's your story?" Pyrrha asked. "No offense, but you seem a little… young to be here."
"Oh, I was admitted early. Stopped a robbery, caught the headmistress's attention, but it's no big deal." Weiss said.
"No big deal!? That sounds awesome!" Pyrrha said, starstruck.
"Guess it was pretty cool." Weiss said, a bit sheepishly.
"...So, We're supposed to be headed towards the auditorium, right?" Pyrrha said nervously, after a few seconds of silence. "Do you… happen to know where that is?"
"Right this way." Weiss said with a smile.
Weiss saw her sister waving at her from the edge of the crowd and turned to her new friend.
"I gotta go, there's my sister. I'll catch you later!" Weiss said.
"Oh, ok!" Pyrrha said. "Have… fun!"
Weiss, growing used to the air of awkwardness, smiled to herself as she rushed off to Winter's side.
"I assume you got the allowance situation handled?" Winter said.
"Well, no, I'll have to do it later. I just ran into some people, and I mean some people. First, there's Pyrrha back there. She's nice, but a little awkward. Before that there was some faunus guy who just completely abandoned me mid-conversation. Before that there was this weird girl I may have fallen into, but she was super rude. I tried to apologize and she just left. I don't know what her deal was!" Weiss ranted to her sister.
Winter, for her part, kept looking between Weiss and something behind her as she was talking.
"Did this girl have bright silver eyes, and a glare strong enough to kill a goliath?" Winter asked.
"Yeah, she did! How did you kn… she's right behind me isn't she?" Weiss said.
Winter smiled and shrugged at her sister. Weiss whirled around to face whatever was behind her, and saw the aforementioned silver eyes and deadly glare aimed at her.
"Y'know, I came over here to apologize, only to hear about how 'rude' and 'weird' I was." The girl said, using finger quotes to accentuate her points. "I think I'll just take my leave."
"Wait, no. I'm sorry, I-" Weiss started, but the girl held up her pointer finger, shushing Weiss before beginning to turn away.
"Now hold on." Winter said, stepping closer to the pair. "It seems like you guys just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you both start over?"
"Good idea, Winter!" Weiss said, jumping on the opportunity. "Hi, I'm Weiss!" She said, sticking her hand out to the girl.
"Ohh! I'm Ruby! Let's go shopping and paint our nails and talk about cute boys!" Ruby responded, voice oozing with sarcasm, before returning to normal. "Pfft."
The girl turned and left in a burst of rose petals.
Winter put her hand on her sister's shoulder, preparing to console her, but didn't get the chance before the mic sounded off from the stage.
"Hello, initiates." The headmistress voice sounded out from on stage, significantly more dull than usual. "I'll try to keep this brief. You all came here today, in search of knowledge. To hone your skills, and hopefully, to dedicate your lives to protecting the people. It is a noble goal, and to achieve it, you must be strong, resourceful, wise. All attributes you are missing. It is our goal as instructors to give you these tools, but you must learn to utilize them yourself. Good luck."
She stepped off to the side, before Professor Fall stepped up in her place. "You will all be sleeping in this auditorium tonight. Initiation begins tomorrow. It is in your best interest to rest well. You are dismissed."
"She seemed… off." Winter said, in thought.
"Almost like she didn't believe what she was saying…" Weiss said, agreeing.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha said, joining the two, while having missed the conversation.
For the third and final time that day, Weiss almost jumped out of her skin.
"So, are you gonna put that scroll away and get some sleep, or am I going to have to take it from you?" Winter said, eyeing Weiss with her one open eye, as the students around them prepared for bed by laying in sleeping bags laid neatly around the floor.
"I'm just talking to my friends from Signal. They have so many questions about Beacon." Weiss explained.
"They can wait til tomorrow. You need to rest. There's a big morning ahead of us." Winter said.
"Yeah, you're probably right. But I'm gonna miss those guys." Weiss said, closing her scroll.
"They're not dead." Winter said, to which Weiss shot her confused look. "You'll be able to see them on break."
"Yeah, but that's a long way away!" Weiss said.
"Sure, but you'll make plenty of friends here to fill the time." Winter said. "You've already got Pyrrha."
"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure Ruby hates me, so net neutral." Weiss said, glumly. "And then there was that interesting-"
"OW! What the hell!" A voice shouted from across the auditorium, interrupting Weiss.
"...faunus." Weiss said with a mildly annoyed expression, before turning her attention to where the sound came from.
Across the room, Weiss saw the aforementioned faunus, in a fighting stance, and surrounded by four others, the lead member of which was doubled over. The rest of the auditorium went silent with the initial shout, so everyone could hear the conversation clearly.
"Maybe you should show some respect." The faunus said, angrily staring down the doubled over guy. He seemed to recover, and looked at the faunus.
"You think just because you got a cheap shot in, you're tough, huh?" he said. "Let me show you what real tough people do to animals like you."
The man reared back to punch the guy, but only made contact with a glyph, as Weiss had rushed over to intervene, followed closely behind by Winter.
"I don't think ganging up four on one makes you tough." Weiss said, angrily to the leader.
"Oh, look, the prodigal child intervenes to save the mongrel." The green haired guy began feigning concern. "Oh, but it's dangerous here, kiddo. Maybe you should run back home to dad. He'll keep you safe."
Weiss froze only for a second at the comment, but it was enough time for the bully to see he had struck a nerve. Though, how deeply, he didn't quite comprehend.
"What's the matter, kid, dad not home for you or something?" He said leaning into Weiss face, as laughter spread around the other three bullies.
The guy was then, once again, blind sided by an attack. This time from Winter, as she punched him across his cheek. The guy recoiled away, before turning his glare on Winter.
"Back off, before someone gets hurt." Winter said, stepping between the guy and Weiss.
"Oh, another ice flake stepping up for the animal. Or maybe for the youngster. It doesn't matter, there's four of us, and two and a half of you." The guy said cockily, motioning to Weiss.
Winter only smiled at him.
"I count 4 on 4." She said.
The guy flinched as a white beowulf rested its claws on his shoulder and he spun around to see one of Winter's summons standing over him. It growled mere inches from his face, and Weiss could swear she saw the guy's legs shaking a little bit.
"ENOUGH!" A loud shout erupted over the room, as Professor Fall stepped in, a bout of flame shooting out of her hand over everyone involved with the confrontation's heads.
"All of you, go to sleep. Do NOT make me put you under myself." She said, clearly trying very hard, and failing, to control her anger.
The bullies quickly scattered, and Winter began walking back to her bag. Satisfied, Professor Fall turned back to the door she burst in from, shaking her head and muttering under her breath. Murmuring picked up throughout the room as previously paused conversations continued.
"Are you ok?" Weiss said to the faunus.
"I've been better." The guy said, "But I could have taken them."
"Riiiight. I'm Weiss." Weiss said, rolling her eyes. She extended her hand to him again. "Can I actually get your name this time?"
"Adam." The faunus said, extending his hand to her. "Y'know, Not very many humans would have done that, standing up for a faunus."
"I was only doing what was right. It's what we're here for." Weiss said.
"You might ask who 'we' is. You may have noticed nobody else bothered." Adam said, gesturing to the students around. "You and your sister seem like an exception. You've both earned my respect."
"Uh… thanks?" Weiss said.
"Don't waste it. Try and get some sleep, I get the feeling you'll need it." Adam said.
Weiss nodded her head in agreement and turned back to her sleeping bag, next to where her sister had already closed her eyes.
Weiss laid down next to her, and Winter opened one eye to give her a mischievous look.
"You know, you were right, he does seem like quite the interesting guy." Winter said, cheekily.
"Well, he did say you had his respect." Weiss replied, coyly. While true, that wasn't the whole truth, but it turned the tables on Winter, the rest wasn't that important, right?
Winter rolled over facing the other way, a little too quickly, and said nothing else. Weiss smiled in satisfaction, having gotten ahead of her sister's teasing, before rolling over and closing her eyes, letting sleep take her.
A/N: I have this and a little more pre-written, but the further I got into what I was writing the less confident I got with it. I did finally decide it was time to slap this up, in spite of the reduced confidence in its quality. I'm eager to see what people think.
Anyways, I know team CRDL (Oh god I didn't think about a team acronym for them yet) isn't technically formed yet, but I had that realization after I wrote the argument scene, and because I like parts of that, I didn't wanna rewrite it. So it stays, asynchronicity be damned.
Someone suggested using Snowpea in place of little red for Weiss and Roman. I really like that, and plan on using that one going forward, so thanks!
Excited to see more theorizing in the reviews, which I implore you to leave. Except the bots, I'm not paying for your art. (They can't even read this anyways... :( )
Thanks for reading, and have an excellent day!
