Chapter 1: Meeting

(or The Misadventures of Vomit Boy, Trash Can Girl, Weird Eyes, and Sharp Shoes)

Reina shuffled aboard the airship, doing her best not to cry. Stupid parents, making everything so stupidly emotional. She was a Huntress-in-training, dammit. Huntresses didn't cry. Well, they probably did, but only over epic things, like a fallen comrade. Not from saying goodbye to their parents. She would see them over the break anyway. Geez, Reina, get it together. This was just embarrassing. She gave one last big sniffle, wiped her eyes, and and took a deep breath. This was it. She was on her way to Beacon now. This was it. No more parents, no more old friends, just her, her dream, and like, dozens of other people, Reina noted, as she took in the people around her.

These would be her classmates for the next four years. They were future friends and rivals (and, you know, it would be cool if there was a girlfriend in there too). She should start now. Make some quick conversation, learn some names, bond over the anxiety of starting out at Beacon together, but, just randomly going up to a person? What would she even say? "Hi, I'm Reina, what's your name?" She did not have a bubbly enough personality to make that not embarrassing. So, in the end, as the last few shuffled in and preparations were made, Reina elected to awkwardly stand around like the rest of them.

Then, the ship took off. Everyone's mood shifted with the altitude, as they were now officially on their way to their new home. Reina stood on tip-toes to properly see the view. It was amazing, she could see so much of the city out the window, and the view was only getting better. This airship was taking them to their goals and dreams, and the view was as grandiose as one could expect. The silence of awe and excitement was punctuated only by the sounds of someone barfing his guts out.

Wait, what? Reina whirled around, and sure enough, right by the now-sealed entryway, a boy was gagging into a trash can. Motion sickness was a cruel mistress. Reina felt the urge to go talk with him. Like, maybe give him some comfort, or ask if he needed anything. But then, she didn't want hop into the center of attention like that, particularly when the center was so… unsavory. But if she thought it was going to be embarrassing just being next to him, it must be horrible for the boy who was vomiting. He could use a friend. With that thought, she made her way over to the trash can.

"Um, excuse me, are you alright?" she asked. Smooth, Reina. Just ask the vomiting boy if he's alright.

"No, but don't worry," the boy croaked. "Just not used to -hurf- this flying thing."

"You mean the airship?" she asked, concerned for his state of mind.

"Is that what this is called? Makes sense. It's like a ship, but for the air," he chuckled. His laugh promptly turned into vomit, much to Reina's horror.

"Um, I don't think you should try to talk." The boy gave a thumbs-up as approval for her advice.

"So, if you don't know what an airship is, are you from way outside the kingdom or something?" she ventured.

Another thumbs-up. Reina sucked in a breath. She had never met anyone from outside the kingdom before. And now he was her first Beacon friend. And he was still vomiting. How much did he eat this morning?

And so, Reina, for the duration of her first-ever ride to Beacon, stood idly next to a vomiting boy, occasionally asking him a yes-no question. When the ship finally stopped, the boy immediately righted himself, and, with a hurried mutter of "Need bathroom", sprinted away. As he sprinted out of view, she realized she hadn't even told him her name, and she hadn't gotten his, unless it happened to be Hurf. Way to go, Reina. She shook her head at herself. Mission Make a Friend: Non-conclusive. She walked out onto to the plaza, collected her luggage, and got moving.

Selena impatiently tapped her high heels as she waited for the initiation to start. She was in the auditorium, among throes of other people. She really didn't like being in this crowd. She could hear whispers all around her, people talking about how excited they were, sharing advice they had gotten from older siblings, everyone trying to get all buddy-buddy before school began. She scowled. Just a bunch of useless chatter. The only thing it did was grate her nerves. Oooh, look it's Beacon Academy. Wow, gee whiz! Not like I haven't seen a billion photos and knew this day was coming for months! Wow! So exciting! Hey, random person next to me, do you know how exciting this is? I'm going to tell you!

Just a bunch of idiots. It was bad enough having to deal with her parents getting so overly excited her going to school, but she figured there might be at least one sensible person among the students. Clearly, she was wrong.

She sat against the wall and crossed her arms. Then just as quickly uncrossed them. The mechanism attached to her arm that dropped her wand, Rune Queen, into her hand made for an incredibly elegant-looking move, at the price of making arm-crossing somewhat uncomfortable. She played with her Scroll to pass the time, not bothering to engage with anyone or look around. She wasn't going to put any more effort into this than she had to. She looked up when the lights eventually began to dim and saw the stage light up. Oh goodie, speeches. Their Headmaster, Ozpin, walked out onto stage. Grey hair, green muffler, suit pants and jacket, the guy look liked he had gotten dressed 50 years ago and never changed. She got a look at his face. Wow, he looked like he wanted to be here even less than she did. He looked around with a bored look of mild scorn that even she was slightly impressed by. "Students..."

Ouran did one-handed, handstand push-ups on his sleeping bag to kill time. He was bored. He had dealt with that monstrous airship thing, then he had to just stand around so the Headmaster gave a speech about potential and stuff, only to have to just sit around for a whole night after that. What a pain. The only cool part of the day had been seeing the school. He had never seen a building so tall before. It was crazy awesome. However, even the luxury of adventuring around the campus and gathering his bearings was deprived of him. They had been ordered to remain here for the night. So far, this legendary Hunter school was just a bunch of nothing. He supposed he had been warned that traditional school might not sit well with him. But its results were undeniable: his uncle oozed strength with every fiber of his being. "A meal is only what you gather for it." His grandpa's old saying rang in his head. He sighed, as usual, Grandpa's wisdom prevailed. He couldn't sit around complaining about stuff. He would need to acclimate himself to the school environment to make the most of this experience, but Jaune, his trusty guide, was back in Vale. Wait, he could go find that girl who chatted with him while he was barfing! She was nice, and probably went to school before this! And if he looked for her while walking on his hands, it would be a workout too! Genius.

He looked around, trying to see if he could see her. After a few moments, he realized that he had no idea what she even looked like. She had been wearing a pink sweater right? Would she still be wearing that? And, it looked like a bunch of people were wearing pink anyway. He shrugged to himself, which in his position was really just another push-up. Looks like it was time for Plan B.

He began moving in a random direction, one hand in front of the other. As he walked, he sniffed the air. Kingdom people wore a lot of what was called "deodorant", strong smelling stuff that masked their scents. There was an incredible practical value in being able to disguise your scent that Ouran fully appreciated, but it made things a little tricky for him. Luckily, he knew that she would have at least slight traces of a scent that wouldn't be covered by deodorant: vomit. She had been next to the trash can the entire time, meaning she should still smell of it. All it took was a little searching, and that was one thing he excelled at.

As he walked around, sniffing the air, Ouran noticed he was getting stares. He supposed anyone would look at something new in their peripheral, but the weird thing was they didn't turn away after they processed it, they just kept staring. Ah, it was dark, so they probably couldn't see that well, huh? They were just trying to make out the details.

All of a sudden, he caught a slight whiff of familiarity. He brushed the useless thoughts out of his head and started towards the scent. It smelled a little like vomit, just enough for him to take it as his first lead. He walked up to the source, a guy in some kind of sleeveless T-shirt, sitting there reading a book. Well that wasn't quite right. He had been talking to a girl, not a guy, on the airship. Perhaps this guy had been around that trash can after he had left. He started to sniff the guy. He could use a stronger sample to locate her easier.

"What the fuck are you doing?" the man asked, jolting back from Ouran.

"Ah, sorry," Ouran explained. "You just smell like vomit is all. No need to worry."

Ouran continued on his way, determined to find the Trash Can Girl, when suddenly a foot jutted out in front of him. "Hold it right there, punk," the vomit-smelling guy growled. "You start sniffing me for no reason, say I smell like vomit, and then just walk away? Ain't happening."

"Well what do you want me to do then?" Ouran asked, growing irritated. Why was everyone in this place so determined to not let him do anything?

"I don't like the tone you're taking with me," the guy grumbled. "I think I'll show you that I'm not someone you can mess with."

Ouran wasn't entirely sure what this guy's deal was, but he could recognize that tone of voice anywhere. He flipped up onto his feet. "You wanna fight?" he asked eagerly. He hadn't had a spar since the exam. Jaune had told him randomly picking fights was frowned upon, but clearly he was among people of a similar mindset here. Excellent. He had been itching to rumble with somebody.

"Yeah, get ready for a beatdown, weirdo."

Ouran grinned and shifted into his stance. Trash Can Girl would have to wait.

Leo sat on his bag, reading a book, while thinking about the Professor's welcoming speech. "Knowledge can only carry you so far", fascinating. What was the missing factor then, strength? No, not that. He had called them "wasted energy, lacking in purpose, direction." Strength would do nothing to alleviate that. What then? He knew what he wanted to do, and he knew why he wanted to do it, but apparently "knowing" was not good enough. What was that missing factor? No problem had ever been too difficult for his mind before, but perhaps that was the issue. Perhaps the factor was something that could not be deduced, only experienced. Or, perhaps, he was taking the whole thing too seriously. The way Professor Ozpin spoke and looked, it was his 1000th time reciting the thing. Leo could see that he wasn't even thinking about what he was saying. More than likely he had written that for a freshman class long ago, and never bothered to write another one. He didn't seem to be a man who enjoyed pomp or ceremony. But, he had written it at some point, which meant the words were genuine.

Leo's ruminations were interrupted by the sound of a fight. He scowled and clapped his book shut. What the hell were they thinking?! Getting into a fight now, that was practically asking them to get kicked out. Leo wasn't even sure they were all proper students yet. He would have to do something about it. He strode over to where it was and looked on at the crowd gathering around the fight. Faces of mild interest or nervousness could be seen, but none were willing to actually get involved. Ridiculous, did anyone but him have common sense?

He broke through the crowd of bystanders, one fighter was on the floor, looking like the wind had been completely knocked out of him. The other, a tall blonde, was looking down at him. "Come on, one kick isn't enough to knock you out is it?" he asked.

Leo activated his Vision. Clearly, this was not someone to be taking lightly. "Excuse me," he demanded, getting the boy's attention. "Stop fighting now, or do you want to get expelled?"

The boy turned to him. Sky blue eyes, his face and skin were rough, with the occasional zit, and no sign of any chemical, make-up or otherwise, whatsoever. His sunshine-blond hair was, despite its short length, rather unkempt and scraggly. Leo recognized it as the hair belonging to the vomiting boy from the airship. Muscles were sinewy, veins visible. Lived in the wilderness, or at least somewhere physically demanding. Had little to no care for beautification, skin clearly should indications of being outside for extended periods, further validating the wilderness angle. Lack of wrinkles indicated a rather stress-free, happy attitude.

Ouran turned around to see an extremely odd sight. A guy that barely made it to his jawline, with pitch black hair, except his bang, which was somehow blue. That wasn't even the odd part. The odd part was his eyes. They freaked Ouran out. They were dark green, a normal eye color. But the way they were the kid was looking at him was weird. It was like he was the ultimate predator, eyes watching every single twitch Ouran made. This guy was a wolf and he was a rabbit. Ouran did not like that feeling one bit, so, hopped up on adrenaline, and suddenly forced into a panic situation, he did what made sense. He picked the boy up, and threw him across the room, removing the eyes from his vicinity.

Leo was fascinated. Typically, men attempted to somewhat restrain their emotions. That blonde however, showed all of his glee, and then, even more rare, all of his fear and discomfort upon looking at Leo. His microexpressions and shown expression were exactly the same. He'd have to inspect the boy further. Then he crashed onto a book, or more specifically, his head did.

He looked up to see that he had landed on a girl's lap, on top of her book. He glanced at her face. Long blonde hair, purple eyes, and a very frustrated look. She had an extremely smooth face and skin that was flawless, relative to most of their peers at least. The frustrated look was self-explanatory. Her face and hair suggested a stylist and a dermatologist, meaning a luxurious lifestyle. Make-up was almost perfect, meaning she had great skill in applying it, not to mention quality tools and chemical. She liked to look good. She had no issues displaying her full anger with the current situation. She was somebody who spoke her mind.

Selena was irate. Apparently, she was just "wasted energy, lacking in purpose, direction". No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get those fucking words out of her head. Seriously, it was starting to piss her off. It's not like she didn't-

All of a sudden, some random guy crashed headfirst into the book she was trying to read. Oh no, she was not in the mood to deal with this guy. She looked over to where he had come from. Clearly that big blonde kid had sent him flying. Well, he could have him back now. "Sorry, hon, but it's going to take a movie and a couple dinners first," she snapped, flicking Rune Queen to form a rune circle for Flame Dust on the back of his head. She pulled her book out from under him and activated the circle. His head shot forward, rocketed by the fire it was now spouting. She noted that she had put too much power into it, as he had just crashed into a girl at the edge of the fight. Ah well, not her problem anymore. She went back to trying to read.

Leo noted that her Semblance allowed for remote, potentially long-range Dust manipulation. Not necessarily the limits of her power either. He attempted to steer clear of bystanders, but his momentum was too much for him, and he crashed into a girl who was pulling on the tall blonde from earlier with thin strings. String that thin and durable was not sold in stores, so her Semblance was the creation and manipulation of Aura strings. Highly versatile. She had mahogany-colored hair, green eyes, and headphones. He realized she was the girl who talked with the vomiting kid on the airship. Her face was more rounded, with light acne. Her headphones indicated she was shy, or at the very least unwilling to talk in this new environment. Yet, the fact that she was restraining a mild acquaintance indicated a sense of responsibility and duty to others. He did note with interest that she swayed out of his way, resulting in them tripping over each other rather than a full-on collision. Flexibility and quick reflexes. The panic on her face indicated she was not the best at dealing with high tension situations, but she still managed to handle it well despite that. Impressive. He did note faint worry signs on her face, indicating her confidence was not quite up to par with her sense of responsibility and expectations.

Reina was distraught. She had been watching her airship friend fight, fretting about whether or not to call a teacher. She had figured her airship friend was probably just doing this as some macho thing to make up for the embarrassment of earlier, and calling a teacher would only make that worse for him, but still, she didn't want anyone to get hurt. Then some other guy had walked in and told him to stop. She had watched with horror as he literally just threw the guy over her head, and had decided that he did need to be stopped. She had sent out a cascade of string from her fingertips to net the boy up, and had been managing to restrain him. Now, she dodged out of the way as the one guy that had been thrown somehow hurtled back towards her. She managed to avoid a head-on collision, but he still hit her feet, causing them both to fall.

Ouran was confused. After throwing Weird Eyes away, he had tried turning back to the fight, but couldn't. He had looked down to see strings covering his body. The kingdom had some quality twine to be that thin and still hold him. He traced the strings back to the source and saw Trash Can Girl holding them. Why was she restraining him? Was she still worried about his health? Or was she trying to tell him to play defensively? Either way, it was a nice thought. Just as he was about to tell her he was totally capable of going toe-to-toe with this guy, Weird Eyes was sent flying from some girl's lap straight into her, and then the girl who sent him flying just turned and read her book. Ouran's eyes narrowed. Somebody needed to be taught manners.

"Hey, Sharp Shoes!" Ouran bellowed. Silence reigned as everyone reacted to the peculiar statement. Reina watched with shock, and Leo with interest, as Ouran marched through the crowd and up to his addressee.

Selena looked up at him in irritation. How the hell did he not know what high heels were? Was he some sort of hick? She recognized him as the kid barfing his guts out on the airship. Had he vomited out his brain too? "I'm sorry, is 'Sharp Shoes' supposed to be me?" she asked.

"Yeah, it is," Ouran growled. "You threw Weird Eyes at Trash Can Girl and didn't even apologize to her."

Reina and Leo shared a look with each other. Neither was particularly fond of their new nickname.

"What are you going on about, Vomit Boy?" Selena seethed. "You launched a person at me first, remember?"

Ouran blinked and reeled back. He had done that, hadn't he? He hadn't really thought about it beyond getting Weird Eyes away from him. "So I did. I'm sorry for that," Ouran admitted. "Now, apologize to Trash Can Girl."

"See, I don't actually care enough to go over there and apologize," Selena explained. "But, since you do care, you can do it for me, and everyone can go to sleep happy. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Ouran tilted his head. "Are you on your period?" he asked, voice devoid of any embarrassment or shame.

Everyone who was still listening gawked in either horror or disgust. On the list of questions acceptable to ask in a room where everyone was fully trained to kill, "Are you on your period?" was definitely not there.

Selena was the most flabbergasted. "E-excuse me?" she asked. Leo could chart the growing rage on her face as she comprehended what had been said.

"No problem! My sister gets pretty nasty when she's hurting too!" Ouran explained, widly misunderstanding. He clapped her shoulder, grinning. "Not saying anything to anyone even when you're in that much pain! You're a tough one, Sharp Shoes! I like you! Still gonna have to apologize to Weird Eyes and Trash Can Girl obviously, but we can work that out later! For now, can I get you anything?"

Selena, unlike Ouran, continued to grow angrier. "I think, that one of us needs to cool off," she hissed. "Unfortunately, I have decided that that person is you." She flicked her wand to produce a circle of blue runes at Ouran's feet. Ouran looked down at his feet in shock. What were these blue symbols? Suddenly, the blue symbols are started generating ice. In an instant, he was trapped up to his waist.

"AGGH SNAKEBITES, THAT'S COLD!" he cursed, a blast of wind emanating from him as he flailed his arms. Leo noted that his Semblance was wind manipulation, and that he had it down to such an instinct that it reacted even to sudden emotional bursts. Impressive.

Reina immediately tied his arms together, to stop him from freaking out and hitting somebody. "Why the hell did you do that?" he cursed at Selena.

"I don't know what rock you crawled out from, Vomit Boy," Selena seethed. "But you do not ask a lady if she's on her period just because you don't lIke the way she's acting."

Ouran's eyes widened. "You don't? Okay, I'll put that on the List!" he replied, calming down instantly.

"I see," Leo muttered. "So you're from a village that's been around for a couple generations."

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Ouran asked, attempting to turn around, then looking very confused when he wasn't able to do so.

"You exhibit no innate understanding of certain societal norms, to such a degree that you made a list of notes on them. For that sort of cultural gap to exist, your village would have had to be around for… I would guess over 80 years."

"It's been around 85 years!" Ouran exclaimed. "Wow, you're really smart!"

"Why thank you, it-"

"STUDENTS! WHAT IN REMNANT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Everyone froze where they stood as the magisterial tone echoed through the hall. Leo looked towards the entryway to see Ms. Goodwitch, with an expression of rage and disbelief on her face, one that suggested she could not fully comprehend how atrocious they all were as students. Leo glanced around. It did look quite bad. There was a half-frozen boy tied up by one girl, frozen by another, while another boy just looked on. Well, he couldn't see how they wouldn't get punished for this. It was fairly well-deserved, he supposed.

Selena looked into the angry face of her teacher. She could practically hear the variety of scathing speeches she was going to get for this. Not fun at all.

Reina could frankly not believe that all this was happening. She had just gotten here, it was supposed to be nice and cool, and not this. Oh Dust, what where her parents going to say?

Ouran wasn't sure what the lady was mad about, but he hoped it involved him getting free at some point. It was really cold.