Eager faces pressed against the windows of the airship as it glided through the clear blue sky. The buildings and cliffside sprawled out below, giving the group of new students an incredible view of the city of Vale.

Burne "Arty" Umber stared wide-eyed at the town before him. The brick facades and arched roofs of the city's architecture and the warmer climate were all very different from his frigid home in Atlas. He leaned against the railing separating himself from the window. He reached out towards the spires of the school and touched the glass with his fingers, watching a flock of birds fly by below him.

Yep… this is real alright, he thought to himself, I am actually here in Vale. I am actually going to Beacon.

He tugged at the strap of his backpack, adjusting the weight of his weapon as he turned to look over the rest of the students milling around in the interior of the airship. He folded his arms and started to feel anxious. Everyone here was a stranger to him.

On the opposite end of the ship came the otter Faunus, Roland Solferino Wells, who was glaring down every inch of the hull. Behind him trailed a sandy haired man with a blood red balaclava pulled down below his mouth, a man by the name of Vincentas Saurus.

The man tossed a pale orange hard candy in an arc above his head. Right before he was able to catch that sweet little morsel in his mouth, it was snatched out of the air.

Roland held the sweet between his thumb and forefinger to examine it, "You're rotting your teeth," he threw the candy as far as he could. It bounced off the side of some blond guy's head. A "hey!" followed from that direction, but he paid it no mind. All that mattered was getting on with his day.

"I spent a lot of my paycheck on those candies, twerp…" Vincentas cracked his knuckles while finishing his survey of the area. The only potential threat seemed to be the loose cannon walking next to him. Maybe the others could cause some damage, but they had enough sense not to.

"I can't believe you have to follow me around," Roland looked around in an attempt to play off any connection to the man behind him, "Just leave. I'm fine."

"No can do, kiddo. Alabaster wants me to make sure that you don't get into trouble on the way to Beacon. You nearly bit one of the crewmember's ears off when they accidentally stepped on your tail just a few minutes ago. I'd say that Alabaster had reason to worry." Vincentas popped another candy into his mouth.

"My tail is sensitive, and I have a lot going on. Excuse me for being pissed off that some strangers want me to relocate to another kingdom. I didn't even want to go to Beacon in the first place." He rolled his eyes and leaned on the railing with his back to the blond in orange. "But it's not like Haven is a better option now."

For a second, Timbre Forté pulled down her hood. Fear shook her to the core. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. She thought that the Faunus boy behind her mentioned something about her coming to Beacon, but she found that she was mistaken. Her cover wasn't blown.

Calm down, Timbre. It's fine. Nobody knows who you are… yet… She released her clenched jaw. Everything would be fine.

When she reached the far end of the airship, away from the windows where the other students were gathered, she turned her attention back to the Faunus boy. She noted his odd cowboy-esque attire, "Going to a rodeo or something…?" she whispered to herself.

She kept her eyes on him in an attempt to identify what kind of Faunus he was. A kangaroo or an otter maybe? She looked away once she decided that it was definitely an otter tail. The tail was much too fuzzy to be a kangaroo.

Don't think I've ever seen an otter Faunus before… but hey. This is a big world.

A tall and intimidating man, obviously not a student, leaned on the railing next to the Faunus and said something with a stern look on his face. The Faunus' face contorted more and more as the man talked.

A chaperone? She tilted her head. That's odd. Why would he get a chaperone? Maybe it's his dad or something.

Timbre was snapped from her train of thought by an incessant slurping noise from somewhere near her. Keeping her hood down over her face, she looked around and saw a brunette girl in a sequin shirt sitting on one of the window railings. She was finishing off the contents of a soda can as she swung her legs back and forth.

The girl on the railing gave a toothy grin to the city beneath her. This is amazing! Everything is so incredible and beautiful! This is really it!

She tossed her soda can high up in the air, launched backwards up and off the railing, landed squarely on her feet, and then proceeded to snatch the can out of the air while retaining her rehearsed smile. Sepia Hughes wasn't one to care about the gawking and looks that she received as a result of her acrobatics. In fact, she relished in it. Her only regret was that she couldn't finish off her show with a cheer.

She leaned back on the railing and watched as the looks slowly subsided. Yup! Definitely my kind of people. Enjoy the moment and move on. She watched another of the inhabitants of the airship, one with a hood. Mint green. It was undoubtedly Timbre Forté, she knew that much. Being a huge fan of Timbre's work, her obsession led her to reach out and call for her. No sound came out, but she continued to wave her arms.

A jerk came from underneath her feet. She had been so enthralled by her surroundings that she hadn't noticed the scene outside the window panning down. In an instant, a wave of anxious teens made their way to the exit, including her idol. Her small fingers looped over the edge of her choker and tugged. A wince flashed on her face for half a second, an ingrained reaction from her time in recovery.

She filed in behind the boy in orange. Maybe she could catch up with Timbre at some other point.

Arty slowly made his way down the ramp to the grey brick walkways of the cliffside courtyard. His face was still full of awe as he gazed to the towering spires of the school. The students around him seemed to disappear. All of the sounds of the jittery students around him were drowned out by Beacon's majesty.

Much more impressive up close. His mind wandered out to every corner of the school. Reality came crashing back into his mind with the shouting of another student.

"Hey! Watch it!"

He felt a sharp pain in his right arm as an elbow jabbed him. As he shook off the initial shock of the impact, he noticed the piercing gaze of a cowboy with blazing purple eyes.

"You about broke my tail!"

Arty's brows scrunched up in confusion as he looked down to the ground. The other guy's brown-furred otter tail twitched back in forth in front of him. Arty noticed a bit of dirt at the end that must have rubbed off of the bottom of his boot.

"Holy crap! I'm so sorry! I didn't-"

"Yeah, I bet you didn't. Watch where you're going next time," the Faunus fumed. His raised fist was latched onto at the wrist by the man in red behind him.

"You're not helping to disprove my point from before," the man in red chided while he shoved the Faunus' arm back down. He turned to the orange-clad boy as he led the Faunus away, "Sorry about this one. He's got a bad temper."

Arty just stood there dumbfounded for a second until he suddenly felt more arms hit him, only this time it was two hands planted firmly on his back. He nearly fell on his face when a figure flew overhead. Barely managing to keep his balance, Arty saw a girl dressed in all brown land on her feet in front of him. She turned, waved, and skipped off towards the school.

What the heck is with that girl? Why all the gymnastics?!

Timbre huffed as the crowd stopped just short of the front doors to the main hall. Darn it. I just want to get today OVER with! Timbre put her hand over her mouth to suppress a scream when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She refrained from turning completely around in order to hide her face.

A notepad and a black marker were thrusted towards Timbre's face. Sepia finally got to her, but it seemed that her idol wasn't too thrilled about being recognized. In an attempt at communicating her peaceful intentions, Sepia dragged her thumb and index finger across her lips to signify that she would keep her trap shut. After all, it wasn't like she had another option.

Realizing what the girl was trying to say, Timbre took the paper and pen.

"Alright," she was about to scribble her name down when she looked back up, "who am I making this out to?" She wanted to make sure that she would please her fan. As much as she wanted the girl to go on with her day, it still warmed her heart to see someone so fascinated with her.

Sepia's smile faded. I didn't think this one through… She tapped her thigh as she formulated a way to get her name across. Upon snatching back the pad, she scribbled down her name at the bottom of the page and handed it back. Her smile flashed back onto her face as she awaited the signature.

Timbre's tension loosened when she realized that this girl was mute. She read the name on the pad: Sepia.

"Sepia. That's a pretty name," she turned to a new sheet of paper, wrote her name along with a short message to Sepia, and handed the pen and pad back, "Maybe we'll see each other again soon."

Sepia's eyes fell over the autograph with wonder. Her first day at Beacon was already proving to be fantastic. It was way better than she had imagined, and her wild imagination rarely had any bounds.

The doors finally opened. It was time to go in and start this new phase of not only her life, but the new phase of all of the lives around her.

As the students filed in and filled the room, a proper-looking man with greying black hair and a white suit stepped onto the raised stage. He was already clapping his hands as he walked across the stage, seemingly happy with the turnout.

As some of the other students gawked at the man's presence, Arty sat there with a more reassured look. He recognized the man before him as the strange visitor he had met after... the incident. His name was Onyx Alabaster, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. That frigid day, he invited him to come to study at Beacon, despite protests from General Léon, Atlas Academy's headmaster and leader of the Atlas military. Needless to say, Arty's father wasn't happy either, but he knew there was no other choice considering the fact that General Léon had banned Arty from going to Atlas Academy for his training. He was grateful to this man, to say the least.

Alabaster tapped the microphone and cleared his throat. "First off, let me say, I welcome each and every one of you to Beacon Academy. For those of you that do not know, I am Professor Onyx Alabaster. As of tomorrow afternoon, I will be your headmaster. Today I am just a man who is here to make sure that you are all comfortable with the academy that I am humbled to lead. This will be your introduction to the school. Each of you will be split into groups and be teamed up with an upperclassmen to go on a tour. You will then spend the night in the dormitory commons to rest up before your team initiations tomorrow. I won't keep you any longer, so, if you would please go over to this side of the room, you will be given a scroll if you do not already have one and find your names on a list with your tour group leader. Once again, welcome to Beacon and may you all become successful and valiant Huntsmen and Huntresses through your time spent here."

As Professor Alabaster finished his speech, the students began to scatter and check for their names on the holographic boards and get their scrolls.

Arty walked up and scanned the boards for his name. He was so focused on the lists that he didn't even notice Roland next to him. Thankfully, Roland didn't notice him either.

"Where is… oh, there it is. I'm with… Lurida Rhea…" Arty whispered under his breath.

"Dragged around by Gavin Quasar with Timbre Forté and… Rime Chione...got it." Roland clacked away at the typewriter affixed to his arm to make a note for later. "Wait...Timbre Forté… Timber Forté?!" his eyes widened as he looked at the note, "Probably just a coincidence…"

Timbre overheard the Faunus boy from earlier say her name.

Great, she thought, I'm stuck with the hot-shot. She pulled her hood down farther and screamed internally.

Xannie Rhea, Everest Hyperborean and… Zero…? Sepia was taken back by the last one's lack of a full name. Well… they all at least sound interesting! In an attempt to stay optimistic, she skipped along to go meet her group. She bounded across the room, making her way to the front of the crowd of students. All of them began their search for their tour groups.

Only a few minutes later, all of the students began to cluster around their assigned tour guides.

Arty was a bit… confused by his tour members' attire.

First off, the group leader, Lurida Rhea, was in a skin-tight black suit with a bright neon purple pattern. Even more striking was the fact that her hair and eyes were the same painfully bright shade of purple.

Secondly, there was this tall blonde guy fit for the Atlas military, stance and all. He was dressed in all blue camouflage and a black combat vest. At this point, Arty felt extremely out of place in just jeans and an orange t-shirt.

Lastly, was a guy who was wearing clothes much too warm for the hot and sunny day that everyone else was sweating their way through, but he didn't seem bothered in the slightest. He looked ready to go skiing in his down jacket, gloves, and ski pants. His clunky snow boots clacked loudly on the brick path.

I used to think I was the weird one, but now I swear I'm the only normal person here. He thought to himself as Lurida cleared her throat. Arty thought she looked frustrated, as if she were being forced into being a tour guide.

"Okay. Listen up. I'm Lurida, and I don't want you guys speaking over me. This is Beacon." She held out her hands as if to show off the school around them. "I am required to say that I hope that you all have a wonderful time here. I hope that you all have a wonderful time here."

Yep, definitely forced to be there.

"The tour begins now." She rolled her eyes and began walking towards through the courtyard. "Stupid Gavin. Making me do this crap." She didn't so much as look back at her group of students. "Yeah. So. This is the courtyard. Let's go to the cafeteria. That's where food is, for those of you with simpler minds." And there she was, off again about ten feet in front of her own group.

As the four of them walked and looked around, Arty suddenly found a heavily padded glove being held out to him.

"Hey. Name's Ebon. Ebon Carbonado. You?" The skier seemed to realize how much his bulky glove would get in the way of a formal greeting. He quickly yanked it off and held it back out to Arty.

Arty hesitantly shook the guy's hand. "Burne, but my friends call me Arty."

"Well then, Arty, it's nice to meet you." Ebon looked around Arty to the guy in blue camo. "What about you, tough guy?"

The soldier-esque young man just glared straight ahead. "In order to prevent you from bothering me, my name is Navy."

Ebon nodded. "Navy… cool." He dragged his finger in circles next to his head while looking to Arty.

Arty couldn't help but laugh, but quickly stopped because he was pretty sure that at least four of the arsenal of weapons in Navy's combat vest could be used to kill him instantly.

"We aren't here for a meet-and-greet." Lurida stopped dead in her tracks. The itinerary said that she was wrong, but she disagreed with that stupid itinerary. "I wonder if Xannie is having a better time..."

"Alrighty guys! My name's Xannie Rhea! I'm a member of Team GLXY, so, if you ever need any help, don't be afraid to ask my teammates. Gavin is our leader, he's like this really cool armored space warrior guy. My sister Lurida looks exactly like me only purple instead of yellow and her hair is longer, aaaaand Yamuna is a short Faunus girl with these cute little wolf ears. So, what are you guys' names?" The girl in black and neon-yellow jumped excitedly while looking to her group.

Oh, she doesn't know… Sepia quickly typed out her name on her scroll and held it up.

Xannie looked at the scroll's screen. "Sepia Hughes. Aww, you don't need to be shy. You don't need to talk to me through your scroll."

Sepia quickly typed out two words. "I'm" and "mute" before showing her so that the situation could be spared any more awkwardness.

Xannie's eyes widened and she cupped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god… I'm… I'm just…" her cheeks turned red. "Uhhhh… what about you?" She quickly moved along to avoid embarrassing herself any further. She gestured to the giant, super muscular, caveman-looking student.

Is he even the right age to be a first year?... Xannie thought to herself. I mean, Yamuna's brothers started late… but this is ridiculous.

"NAME. EVEREST. HYPERBOREAN." Veins popped along his massive biceps. He jammed a thumb at his chest with enough force to flatten a car as he went on to explain who he was. "EVEREST. STRONGEST. ONE. THERE. IS."

"Ooooooooookaaaaaaay… Thank you Everest. And so, you must be Zero…" Xannie looked at her paper again. "There must be a mistake here, I don't seem to have your last name."

The last group member, a thin pale boy in a black hoodie and jeans stood there in eerie stillness. He had a blue scarf wrapped around his mouth under his pulled up hood. He glared at the peppy group leader with a cold stare. After a painfully long moment of silence, Zero finally spoke, "I don't have a last name."

Xannie just stood there. Dumbfounded. "So… let's move on with the tour." She quickly turned around, rubbing her temple with a gloved hand. She turned so that the others wouldn't hear her talking to herself, "The others can't possibly have anybody weirder than these three…"

Sepia happily went along with her new friends on the tour. I was scared that this Everest guy might overheat… She snickered at her own internal joke. I hope Timbre is having as much fun as I am!

I. Hate. My. Life. Timbre was trying to refrain from bashing her head in on the nearby light post she was walking past with her tour group. The Faunus boy from earlier, whom she had learned was named Roland, had been radiating hatred from the moment they started the tour. Why is he even here if he doesn't want to be? She thought to herself, making sure to keep her hood down whenever she caught him throwing glances her way. I've never heard of anybody being required to go to combat school before.

The other person in their group, Rime, was much more likable. She was shorter than Timbre, but held her manner in a way that made her seem much more mature than her appearance made her out to be. She could swear she saw Roland sneering at Rime's jacket, which she wore off of her shoulders. She was almost scared that Roland would just bash the girl on the head with the massive typewriter he had strapped to his wrist for whatever reason.

A large, armored guy led his group with his head held high and a prideful smile on his face. Their group leader, Gavin, had proven to be one of the largest sources of positive energy in the school. "You guys will love it here at Beacon!"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Roland muttered with as much sarcasm as he could fit into three words, "Oh, and what else? Are we going to be making friends, too? Oh, and I can start with these two ditzes!" He rolled his eyes as he gestured to the girls on either side of him. All of the positivity felt poisonous.

Rime looked at Roland in disgust before walking behind him to walk alongside Timbre.

"Can you believe this guy?" Rime asked before her eyes widened in realization. She didn't believe that the other member of the tour was actually a celebrity! When she saw the name, she, like Roland, thought that the name was just a coincidence. "Oh my god. You really are Timbre Forté!"

Timbre quickly shushed the shorter girl, "Shhh! Please, keep it down! I'm trying to kinda lay low right now…"

Rime rolled her eyes. "C'mon. You're at Beacon. Celebrity status really won't matter much here. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to be a Huntress, right? That's why you had your big 'Final World Tour', isn't it? What exactly is somebody like you doing here anyways?"

Timbre kept walking, holding the edge of her hood.

"Right… if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but you need to realize you can't hide under that hood for four years." Rime put a hand on Timbre's shoulder and smiled at her. "You gotta come out from under there sooner or later! Especially when you get teamed up with three complete strangers, right?!"

Picking up at on the budding conflict, the leader butt in, "Guys! Guys! At Beacon, we keep it positive! Let's not get off on the wrong foot!" Gavin held up his hands as he stopped the group in front of the dorms.

"Get off on the wrong foot?" Roland rubbed his temples, "Gavin, your positivity is toxic. Please, knock it off and give a real freaking tour."

"I would advise that you stop acting like this, Roland."

Roland glared daggers at the spaceman and cracked his knuckles. "Oh, what, I can't have a bit of fun?"

Rime piped up. Timbre noticed that she gripped at a dark blue crystal hanging on the end of the silver necklace around her neck. "Your idea of 'fun' isn't exactly fun for the rest of u-" She was cut off by a sudden sizzling noise filling the air.

Inches from Roland's nose rested a curved, white bow-staff arcing with a black electricity. "I said… we keep it positive at Beacon. I thought that I made that point very clear." Gavin matched Roland's glare and watched him lower his arms.

"Fine, whatever, sorry." Roland looked the opposite direction.

"Great!" Gavin split the staff in half and clasped the individual pieces to either side of his belt. "Carrying on with the tour."

Rime picked up the pace a bit to catch up with Gavin and slapped him on the shoulder. "Nice job, dude! He was being a real jerk back there." She said happily.

Timbre laughed for a second, but turned and saw the seething hatred that Roland was aiming towards Gavin and Rime.

What in the world is his deal?... she thought to herself as Gavin held the door to one of the dorm buildings open for them.

"GAVIN!" A shrill, but jovial voice radiated from down the hallway. Seconds later, Gavin was tackled by a Faunus girl who was only half his size. Her kimono clung to the static-filled plates of his armor. "I'M SO HAPPY THAT THE NEW PEOPLE ARE HERE!" She grinned and then looked at the group. With one eye navy blue and the other bright yellow, her hypnotic gaze drew in the attention of the group.

Gavin's group sat there, each wondering how this short little girl could possibly be at Beacon, much less be part of a second-year team.

"Oh! You're some of the new kids! How nice!" The wolf ears on her head twitched with excitement. "OH!" She focused on Roland. "A Faunus!" She leaped away off and ran a circle around him. "Otter, huh? Cool!" She glanced at Timbre and Rime. "A celebrity and a… girl! How great!"

Giving Rime a look over, she frowned. "You might get cold dressed like that! Pull up your jacket. Or don't. It's pretty hot out today."

She focused on Timbre, leaped over her, and pulled her hood along with her on the way. "There! Now you won't get too hot! That's more comfortable!"

Timbre felt her blood run cold. Her face now exposed. Roland, Rime, Gavin, and Sepia were the only students that knew she was there, but now four more knew. The young Faunus girl, and her tour group. All three of her students panted as they approached. One girl, a redhead dressed in a red and black flower dress, gasped as she regained her composure.

"Oh my god! You're-" She began.

"I know! I'm… I'm Timbre Forté…" She pulled her hood back up tight.

The girl in the dress came up and held out her hand. "I'm Alice Crims. It is a pleasure to meet you in person." Her thick posh accent only amplified her seemingly snobbish demeanor. The words seemed finely rehearsed.

Timbre looked up shyly and shook her hand.

A sickly pale woman in a flowing white skirt and light blue top waltzed her way over to the group. "And I am Frost Aurora. Very nice to meet you."

Alice glared at Frost, making Timbre feel comforted by the fact that her group wasn't the only one having some conflict.

"And I'm Yamuna Luna, by the way!" The Faunus girl clapped and looked around. "Wait… one… two… hey! Turf! Turf! Get over here and introduce yourself, too! You need to make friends!"

"Sup." A tanned guy in a dusty green tank-top and a green beanie said hesitantly as he gave the group a thumbs up. "I'm uh… I'm Turf Fescue."

Gavin gave everyone the thumbs up. "Great! Now that we've learned each other's names, what do you guys say that we go get some lunch back at the cafeteria? That way we can grab something to eat and go meet the rest of the new kids!"

"You're all idiots." Roland pushed past him.

Gavin gave a hearty laugh before going dead silent. "What was that, Roland?"

"Word of advice." Yamuna began giggling. "Under any circumstances… don't piss him off." Her ginormous smile served as a final warning.

"Too late for that, sister." Rime whispered to the Faunus girl.

"Fine. Whatever. Let's just go." Roland huffed and crossed his arms.

The arched windows and high ceiling of the cafeteria made the room feel very open and comfortable while the Gothic style made it even more awe-inspiring in its sheer amount of detailing. Arty sat down with a plate of food. He had somewhat broken away from his group to try to talk to some of the other new students. He hadn't had any luck, as he was sitting alone on one side of the room.

"First day is kind of a failure so far." He ate a spoonful of mashed potatoes. "How am I gonna get through initiation tomorrow?..." Arty put his spoon down and pulled a folded paper out of his pocket. He opened the note, the bright red stamp on its crumpled surface read 'ANNULLED'. It was his original team assignment from Atlas with his friends Midas and Curie, and Midas's cousin, Ledning. "How would things have been different if I hadn't have screwed up so bad?..." he clenched his jaw in remembrance of his actions, "you guys must be pretty upset with me, huh?..."

Across the room, Timbre walked around the tables with her tray, trying to find a place to sit. She had already mulled over what Rime had said. Her hood was down, showing her long black hair and red highlights.

You can't hide under the hood for four years. Go make some friends. You only have… less than 24 hours until you're going to be put onto a team with three of the people in this room.

Timbre saw a blond boy in an orange t-shirt with black sleeves sitting by himself. She found the orange streaks in his hair kind of funny. They kind of reminded her of herself. He was picking at his food, not eating any of it as he stared almost sadly at a piece of paper sitting on the table in front of him.

He looks kinda lonely… Timbre thought to herself as she adjusted her course. Around the room, she heard whispers of her name. Why in Remnant did I pull down my hood…? Her frown slowly contorted into a well-practiced smile as she stopped a few feet to the left of the boy. "Hey! Are you all alone, or are you waiting on somebody? If you are, then it's totally fine. I just thought that you looked like you could use some company," she motioned to sit down, "I kinda don't know anybody here so… why not try to make some friends, right?"

Arty quickly folded the paper back up and shoved it in his backpack before looking up to the girl talking to him. At first, Arty thought he was going crazy. He could have sworn that the girl that had just sat down next to him was the singer Timbre Forté. It couldn't have been her... could it have? He looked behind and around himself to look for the person that she surely must've been talking to.

"Are… are you talking to me?" He said pointing to himself.

She began to that think she was making a mistake.

"Yes, you." She sighed as she took a seat a few feet down from him, "So what's your name?" She used her fork to begin stirring the spaghetti on her plate.

Arty was about to speak, but then he and Timbre were both stunned with a combination of awe and fear at the walking building with two trays of food in each hand. A satisfied grunt came from the man as he walked on by. "EVEREST. LIKE. SPA. GET. E." He boomed and made his way to a mouse of a girl. He sat, the seat beneath him cracking under his enormous weight.

"Thanks, Everest!" Rime beamed as the neanderthal laid one of the trays down in front of her.

Arty and Timbre shook their heads free of the spectacle they just witnessed.

"Ooookay…" Arty began. "I'm… uh..." he held out his hand in an awkward attempt at an ice breaker, "my name's Arty Umber. I'm actually not from around here… You see, I just got here from Atlas yesterday, so… I'm not waiting on anybody, considering I don't know anybody yet."

"Wow. Long way from home, huh?" The girl said through a mouthful of noodles as she shook his hand.

"Yeah… hey. Has anyone ever told you you look a lot like that singer Timbre Forté?"

Timbre gulped. "Well… that's probably because I am that singer Timbre Forté."

Arty's eyes widened. "Oh…" He wanted to say something, but his voice refused to function from the unexpected turn his day was taking. After an awkwardly long moment of silence, Arty finally found out what to say. "So, what brought you to Beacon?"

Timbre's expression softened. "Um. I just… decided it was time for a career change." She pushed her hair back behind her ear as she looked down at her half-empty tray glumly.

"Right." He contemplated his next question, "So what'd you think of the tour? Pretty great campus, huh?"

"Yeah. The tour itself was great," she sighed, "Listen, I hate to be a downer, but I really need to vent to somebody, anybody… So, I hate to put you through this."

Arty was a bit surprised by Timbre's sudden trust in him, "Uh… okay. Yeah. Go ahead and vent. I don't mind. Good to do that every now and then," Arty realized he was rambling a bit and mentally kicked himself to turn off his suddenly functioning voice.

"Thanks… there was this one guy in my group that just drove me insane. Super spiteful and rude..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he kept trying to pick fights with the rest of my tour group." Timbre pointed to the short blonde girl sitting next to the hungry caveman.

"Her? Wow. What kind of guy tries to pick a fight with a girl like that? She doesn't look like she could make anybody angry enough to lead to punches."

"I know. She's a really cool person from what little time I've spent around her. This guy… Roland, or something like that, is a real jerk. Hates everything and I swear if his frown got any bigger, his face would cave in."

That description rang a bell in Arty's brain. "Wait… does he happen to be a Faunus with an otter tail?"

Timbre leaned forwards, "Yeah! How'd you know?"

"'Frown any bigger and his face would cave in.' Also, he tried to pick a fight with me back on the airship when we first got here because I accidentally stepped on his tail."

Timbre looked surprised. "Wow. So I guess this Roland guy is just a jerk to everybody then."

The sound of a throat clearing came from behind the two. "Excuse me."

Arty and Timbre turned to see the purple menace with his arms crossed.

"Speak of the devil." Timbre whispered to Arty. Her upper lip drew back in disgust as she looked up at the newcomer.

"At least I have the guts to talk about someone to their face, cowards." Roland growled. "Who do either of you think you are, anyway?" Vincentas didn't have a leash on him this time around. No one was there to hold back his wrath.

All day, Arty had been relatively quiet in hopes of preventing any trouble, but he'd already had enough of this guy's attitude. "Dude, c'mon. Chill out. We're just trying to get through today, and it doesn't help having somebody threaten to pick a fight as soon as we get here." Arty's tone had become much more serious as he quietly reached for his backpack. So much for avoiding trouble.

"Oh, tough guy, huh?" The cowboy thoughtlessly clacked away at his typewriter. "I mean, we can go a round if you want. I'll kick your a-"

The crashing of trays and gasping of people filled the area as a girl dressed brown and gold sequins slid through a sea of trays and glasses and stopped, crouching on the table in front of Timbre. She pointed directly at her face and gave a wide smile.

Timbre welcomed the friendly face. She decided to not drag any more attention to herself and let the two guys go at it as Roland kept typing for whatever reason. She decided to try something. In a few hand gestures, she signed 'Do you know sign language?' to Sepia.

'Mostly, but I'm still a bit clumsy with it.' Sepia signed back. Her hands shook, but the message was clear. 'I'm so happy that your hood is cow!' She frowned as she looked at her hands for a moment before readjusting her hands to sign 'down'. Her cheeks flushed.

Timbre chuckled. 'It's okay. You'll get better at it.' Timbre thought about the need to make friends again. 'If you want, I could teach you.'

'Absolutely!' Sepia signed back, but then looked on at the ensuing argument between the orange and purple ones. 'What are they doing?'

"Being reckless…" Timbre groaned.

Roland cracked his knuckles and crinkled his nose. "You really are stupid, huh?! I could wipe the floor with you in a heartbeat. Go on, try me!"

"Hey! I was just pointing out how rude you were being, but if I really have to," Arty suddenly whipped out his weapon, a long-barreled orange gun with silver accents, and pointed it at the Faunus boy. "I don't mind making a mess."

At first, Roland was surprised that the runt had the gall to pull his weapon on him, until he noticed the chamber on top of the gun. He stopped typing as he began to laugh. "A paintball gun?! What kind of Huntsman uses a paintball gun?!"

"Try me 'Typewriter'."

"Happily." The long strip of paper coming out of Roland's machine contorted and folded in a flurry of paper and ink. In less than a second, a blade was fully extended out parallel to his arm. "I'll slice that thing into bits, wannabe Huntsman."

Timbre dropped her fork in surprise. Her mouth fell open as she looked at the typewriter. "A sword… just… came out of a… typewriter…" the only thing that pulled her attention from the scene was the enthusiastic clapping from Sepia, who was still standing on the table. It seemed that she was egging on the fight by giving a silent cheer.

The two stood there pointing their weapons level to each other's faces. Right before it seemed that the two were going to go at it, the sword and gun were suddenly slammed into the table between them by a grey hiking shoe. Unfortunately, the sword was still connected to the reel of paper, and Roland's face took a nosedive directly into Timbre's plate of spaghetti.

A tall redhead in a white coat looked down at him with bright brown eyes, "Alabaster told me you were a bit of a troublemaker, Roland, but he also promised me that you were a level headed person, Arty, which honestly, after what you did, I don't see it, but okay," she gave him a thumbs up before faking a pout, "was he the one that was mistaken instead of General Léon?"

Arty began stammering as Roland peeled his face off of the tray.

"I-I-I… I…" Arty looked ready to run away.

"Carmen!" Timbre suddenly piped up.

"Timbre! Please… you're at school now, you can call me Professor Maple… or not, I really don't care," she turned her gaze to Arty and Roland, "are these two... bothering you?"

"No! No! They're not. We're actually getting along… very well." She glanced over to Arty and Roland, trying to communicate with them that she was trying to save them from Carmen's wrath. She knew that Carmen had a tendency to get a bit overprotective.

"Y-yeah! We were just… showing each other the weapons we made." Arty said, gesturing to his paintball gun, still held against the table by Carmen's foot. "Right, Roland, buddy?"

"Screw off, bud-" Roland was stopped by a hard kick to his shin from Timbre. "Is...what I would say if we weren't already great friends!" He forced an unnatural smile as he wiped the spaghetti from his face.

Carmen gave a suspicious nod, "Good… glad to see you all getting along," a mischievous grin spread across her face, "just be careful, though. You never know who you'll be on a team with!" She turned to exit the cafeteria, "See you at the cliffs tomorrow! Toodaloo!"

Once Carmen was out of earshot, Arty and Timbre sighed in relief.

"That was a close one…" Arty wiped his forehead. "Thanks Timbre."

"Heh, don't mention it. You just owe me another plate of pasta."

"I'll… go get it for you." Roland muttered with the first sign of embarrassment showing in his face. Before anyone could comment, he began walking off for the food line in silence and still covered in spaghetti sauce.

'Wow. I guess almost getting expelled on your first day sure makes a guy turn around.' Sepia signed.

'No kidding.' Timbre signed back.

Arty just watched confused. "Um… Timbre, who is this you're flapping your hands at?"

Before Timbre could respond, Sepia had already whipped out her scroll and typed out something almost as fast as Roland typed out his weapon. 'I'm Sepia Hughes. Director, actress, and special effects master, at your service! I had a role in a film, but I had scheduling conflicts coming to Beacon and all, among other things.'

Arty had never heard of her, but he wasn't going to say anything about that. "Wow. I've only been here about six hours and I've already met a singer, an actress, an ill-tempered cowboy, a skier, a military meat-head, a neon girl, and an eccentric professor."

'I was supposed to die in my first scene…' Sepia signed to Timbre glumly, but thought it best to leave that out with Arty. 'I was replaced by Scarlet Redhanson…'

Timbre nodded, not knowing how to respond to that.

"Here." Roland finally made his way back to the table and humbly set the tray in front of Timbre. The idea of spitting in her food was tempting, but Carmen Maple's words rang in his mind. She wasn't wrong. He'd be on a team with other people, and these people were just as likely to be on that team as anyone else was.

After a little while, the group leaders called for all the new students to go on the second leg of the tour. Afterwards, it was off to bed to get rested for initiation and team placements.

Later that night, Arty laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. The snoring of the other new students filled the room. He didn't know what time it was, but he was wide awake with the anticipation of being placed on a team with three others. He reflected back to his lunch with Timbre, Sepia, and Roland. Timbre was nice enough, but he didn't know how it would be being on a team with a celebrity. Ebon seemed like a cool guy. Navy and Roland weren't exactly pleasant to be around… but they did seem to know how to fight. Then there was Sepia, who was still a complete stranger to him, and a strange one at that.

I don't know. He rolled over and closed his eyes. I guess whatever happens tomorrow just… happens.