Routine, or A Typical School Day

7am.

A soft ringing echoed through the lifeless room of Team Magna. Unlike the cries of the academy's wildlife, the origin of this ringing was the bed of one Alicia von Violettila. Moaning as she slowly returned to the waking world, Alicia slowly grabbed her Scroll and shut off the alarm with a button press. She had always been an early riser from an early age, and attending Lantern Academy had done little to change that fact. Yawning softly as she sat up on the edge of her bed, Alicia stretched her stiff arms, before gripping the edge of Gavin's bed and standing.

"Gavin dear. It's time to wake up," she said softly, reaching up and groping for a limb attached to her partner. Finding an arm, she shook him gently, knowing that the motion would wake him.

Groaning as he was shaken from his sleep, Gavin groggily opened his eyes and turned his head to face the person that had shook him awake. Following the arm to a surprisingly well-set shoulder, he found his eyes wandering lower then they should. She really needs a new nightgown. She barely fits that one these days. She barely fit it two years ago, upon thought.

"Gavin, are you staring?" Alicia asked, her voice still sleepy but amused never-the-less. Yawning as he sat up, Gavin stretched his arms and shoulders before answering.

"Maybe a little," he admitted, before chuckling as Alicia slapped her hand against his bed gently.

"You are taking advantage of an invalid," she said softly, her voice full of mock disgust. Gavin sighed and smiled as he climbed down from his bunk.

"Some invalid you are. I remember something involving a chair and a scarf," Gavin mused out loud, grinning as Alicia gave a shocked gasp, followed by her hitting his shoulder. Chuckling, Gavin collected both his and Alicia's uniforms from the end of his bunk, before leading her to the bathroom.

Washing away the last remnants of shaving foam from his face, Gavin stared at the brown eyed young man in the mirror. Behind the man in the mirror, he could make out the form of Alicia behind the fogged shower door. Running a wet hand through his loose hair for a moment, he then reached for his toothbrush. Half awake and going through his morning routine was when Gavin allowed himself time to simply think about his lot in life. A Hunter's son, set along the path to being a Hunter himself, taking the eldest daughter of an upper class family with him. Said daughter was now singing softly in the shower, causing Gavin to smile around his toothbrush. His relationship with Alicia was difficult to define. Anyone with any amount of common sense would be able to tell that the two's bond went far deeper then simple friends. To him, Alicia was a combination of sister, best friend and, after a night during the gap of time between academy semesters that the pair spent alone, lover. This is the woman I will spend the rest of my life with. Better get used to the singing. Not that bad, anyway. Spitting into the sink and running the water once more, Gavin heard the shower door open, before he stepped backwards and took Alicia's extended hand.

"Thank you Gavin," she said, stepping out of the shower slowly. A slip, fall and cracked skull at the age of eight had left Alicia with a healthy fear of slippery bathrooms, and Gavin knew that she felt safer with him around. Handing her a towel without looking, Gavin then turned and kissed her on the cheek, earning himself a happy hum from her, before undoing and kicking off his sleeping trousers and stepping into the shower himself.

7:35am

Markus growled as his alarm roused him from his sleep. Groping for his Scroll, he blindly tapped the screen until the annoyingly loud sound was silenced. Groaning softly, he rolled over onto his side and made himself comfortable once more.

Before bolting upright as an even louder alarm rang above him. The nail to the coffin of his hopes of falling asleep once more was the resulting impact of his head against the top bunk. Groaning as he fell backwards, his wolfish ears twitching in pain, he considered simply eating the owner of that damned alarm. Then, the owner thumped down to the ground wearing naught but a t-shirt that barely reached her hips and a set of boxer shorts that did little to hide her body, and Markus found himself having a hard time being angry. After a yawn and a stretch that tested Markus' ability to not stare at his partner's body, Nikita spun on her heel and shook him.

"Wakey wakey, Mark. Brand new day, full of opportunity!" she said happily. Yawning himself as he threw his covers down his bed and swung his legs out, Markus got to his feet and stretched his aching muscles. Even a week after their encounter with the Deathstalkers, his back and shoulders still ached somewhat from the brutal punishment they had endured. Yawning once more as his arms flopped back down to his sides, Markus looked down at his shorter partner, and noticed a faint blush on her cheeks. Looking at himself, he remembered throwing off the shirt he normally wore to bed in frustration during the night, and realized he was wearing nothing but a slack pair of trousers.

"What? You staring again?" Markus knew from her flustered attempts at a denial that he was right. He knew that the short Northerner had somewhat of a crush on him, and he also knew that he didn't exactly have the worst looks in the world. Teasing her is fun. Great start to my days. He was roused from his brief musing by Nikita thumping a fist against his chest gently.

"Get a move on, pup. I wanna get out of these," she said, turning him around and pushing him towards the bathroom. Chuckling softly, Markus knocked on the door and waited.

A moment later, the door was opened and Alicia stepped out, clad in her uniform. The uniform itself was simple; a sandy brown shirt or blouse, dark coloured pants, skirt or shorts, and fully enclosed footwear. Headmaster Nort had stated, when asked, that the school favoured practicality over impressions, to an extent, and thus the students had free reign on what they wore alongside the stated requirements. And, due to the blistering and ever-rising heat of the Sanstrum summer, that was as little as possible. In Alicia's case, she wore a dark shin-length purple dress alongside her blouse, it's material obviously rather thin.

"Good morning, Markus," Alicia said pleasantly. Humming softly in response, Markus stepped aside and allowed her to pass, before stepping into the bathroom. Walking next to Gavin, who was currently inspecting a bruise on his shoulder, he flicked the tap on and splashed water across his face. Now fully awake, he stared into the icy blue eyes reflected back at him. The eyes of a wolf. Of a Hunter. Pulling his gaze away, he looked at Gavin's reflection as the shorter teenager prodded the bruise gently.

"What happened?" Markus asked as he ran a hand over his chin. Don't need to shave.

"Fired Dante awkwardly a few days ago. Wasn't properly braced. Recoil nearly broke my shoulder," Gavin replied, grabbing his shirt and pulling on, before doing up the buttons. His choice of clothing was simple; Uniform shirt, dark brown pants, and his ever-present cowboy hat. Adjusting his hat's drawstring so it wouldn't strangle him in a breeze, Gavin nodded in satisfaction.

"What's the theory class today?" He asked, turning to his team leader.

"Grimm Biology. Carrying on from last week," the Faunus replied as he scratched behind his ear gently.

"The Beowolf stuff? Should be easy enough," Gavin remarked, tapping his hand against the basin as he made to leave. "Don't take too long. Class starts at 8:10, remember." Markus nodded in response, already going for his toothbrush.

7:50am.

Markus exited the bathroom, a yawn crawling it's way up his throat as he shut the door.

"Awww, is our pup tired?" Nikita said from her perch on the edge of her bunk, a playful grin gracing her face. Rolling his eyes, Markus tossed his sleeping trousers onto his bunk and grabbed his shoulder bag from where it was hanging.

"Come on. Got 20 minutes for food, then we have class." Sighing as Nikita groaned and flopped backwards, Markus looked to Gavin, who raised an eyebrow. Giving the other male of the group a grin, Markus grabbed Nikita's bag from it's hanging place and slung it across his shoulder as well.

"Come on you. You're coming to Biology whether you want to or not."

"But I don't wan- HEY HEY!" Nikita's complaint turned into surprised shouting as Markus reached up and pulled the smaller teenager from her bunk, before carrying her over her shoulder with one arm. "Put me down! Put me down!" Chuckling as she pounded her fists against his arms, Markus turned his head to Gavin, who was laughing at the sight of him carrying his partner.

"Go on. We'll be a moment." Markus nodded, before carrying the protesting Nikita to the door and out of their room. Hearing laughter, Gavin turned to see Alicia chuckling into her hand.

"100 lien says they're dating by the end of the month," he said. Alicia nodded, stifling her laughter.

"You're on."

8:35am

"Now, there are many different subspecies of Beowolf found around the world. We discussed the general features of the Beowolf family in last week's session, but this week we'll be focus on the subspecies many of you encountered during your initiation; The Sanstrum Beowolf, or Sandwolf as many people refer to them as." Markus listened as their lecturer, a woman in her mid-thirties named Professor Marian, spoke in her commanding voice. She has a presence, to say the least. Any time the woman exposed her left side, Markus found himself staring at the massive scars on her face and neck, and wondered what could have caused them.

"Seryyvolk. You're paying attention. What are the defining traits of Sanstrum Beowolves?" Markus jumped as he felt Professor Marian direct her attention to him. Blinking and feeling his ears, perked up from listening intently, twitch, Markus stumbled on his reply for a moment.

"Umm... Sanstrum Beowolves have very thin fur to deal with the heat of the desert. They also have less bone armor on their bodies for the same reason." Marian nodded in approval, and Markus sighed in relief.

"At least one of you did the required reading. Yes, Sanstrum Beowolves, which I will refer to as Sandwolves for the rest of the class, have less armor and fur then their cousins elsewhere, to counteract the heat. They also have a pungent, and poisonous, sweat that they also constantly produce. Now..." As Marian continued to talk about Beowolves, Markus turned his gaze to his team mates, seated to his left. Nikita was, predictably, not paying full attention. Her textbook was open to the required reading from the previous week, which she had only gotten two thirds of the way through. Her eyes, however, were lazily following Marian as the woman paced. Well, she's at least trying. Nikita had difficulty paying attention to anything this early in the morning, so Markus was glad she was even slightly focusing on the class. Beside her, Gavin sat with a rapidly filling pad of lined paper in front of him, a pen in his hand. Taking notes for two is hard. And beside him sat Alicia, her hands clasped in her lap, her unseeing gaze directed to the front of the class and a small recording device seated on the desk in front of her. At least Gavin only has to take down the board notes. Returning his gaze to the professor, he made himself comfortable again, his ears twitching forward.

11:25am

"Oh thank the seas that's over!" Nikita exclaimed as she sat down at the cafeteria table, her tray piled with various small snack foods. Markus chuckled softly as he sat beside her, his tray holding something resembling two full meal; pieces of toast and pasta with cheese and bacon sauce. He then winced as a wave of loud noise entered his ears, and his wolf ears pressed themselves against his skull in protest.

"You should really pay more attention in that class, Nikita," Gavin said as he sat down across from the pair, before helping Alicia into her seat. Gavin's tray had something similar to Markus' on it, while Alicia had a small collection of fruit on hers. Picking an apple up, she took a small bite and hummed softly.

"But it's so boooring. Seriously, why do we need to learn about Grimm when we're just gonna chop em up?" Nikita replied, before shoving a cookie into her mouth. Sighing, Markus took a bite from his toast before speaking.

"The stuff in that class will help us chop them into little pieces. Ever think of it like that?" he said, before turning his attention back to his food. He looked up at Gavin and Alicia for a moment, before attacking his food with uncharacteristic ferocity.

"Hmm. Good point. So! What's next?" Nikita asked, shoving another cookie into her mouth, before grabbing her own apple and juggling it in the air for a few moments.

"I have Firing Range, as normal. Alicia has Dust and Glyphs with Professor Bain, and you two have Melee Combat with Professor Bartimas," Gavin stated. Markus gave a small nod before swallowing the last of his food, Gavin and Nikita's eyes widening as they realized he had demolished his meal in under 30 seconds. Markus raised an eyebrow in response.

"What? I was hungry."

2:30pm

Markus threw himself aside as the bladed staff shot past his defences. Wincing as his armor collided with the ground, he covered his body with Remus as the staff swung at him. Feeling the massive greatsheild jolt as the impact bounced off, he clicked Romulus into ranged form and blindly fired a burst of Dust at his attacker. As his opponent back-pedaled from the cloud of hot Dust, Markus got to his feet and rushed his opponent, a smaller student by the name of Xing Yu Guan. Guan quickly moved to punish the larger Faunus, ducking aside and jabbing at his exposed sword arm. Expecting this, since Guan had already tried it once before, Markus dug his heel into the ground and spun. The bladed staff bounced off the plate of armor covering his back, augmented by his Aura, before Markus continued his spin. Whipping Remus around violently, he smashed the staff from Guan's hands, and before he could react, rested Romulus on Guan's shoulder, the blade gently making contact with his Aura.

"Bout over. Markus wins via lethal blow and Aura level," the pair's professor, one Professor Bartimas, shouted. In his late 40's, the man was a giant, towering above even Markus. "Xing, you need to have variety in your moves. A Grimm will adapt just as easily as Markus did to your style otherwise."

"Yes sir," Guan said, bowing to Bartimas. He then turned to Markus and repeated the gesture to him. "Good fight."

"Good fight," Markus replied, smiling as he bowed. He got on with Guan, even if Guan seemed intimidated by his size. Hopping down from the raised platform arena, Markus walked over to where Nikita sat, the shorter girl tapping her hands against her knees.

"That was cool," she said with a smile. His ears twitching in the way that did when he was embarrassed, Markus sat down in the chair beside her, resting Remus against his legs and Romulus between them.

"Bartimas is right. Guan needs to do more then 'disarm, jab, slash'. It'll get him killed," Markus said softly. Nikita nodded in agreement.

"For someone that quick, he's as stiff as a fisherman's harpoon." Nikita then looked up as Bartimas called her forward. Grinning, she stood and extended a fist to Markus. Looking at it for a moment, Markus then rolled his eyes and bumped his own fist against hers gently.

"Kick his ass," he said softly. Nikita saluted in response, earning a chuckle from Markus, before jogging to the arena and hopping up onto it. Her opponent was some jock named Jonathen. The two bowed to each other, and then the fight was on.

Nikita and Jonathen circled each other, weapons in hand. Nikita held her axes across her body, one at hip level and the over resting on her shoulders. Jonathen, on the over hand, had his fists raised in front of him, his claw-blades leveled at Nikita. Then, with a cry, Nikita surged forward and went berserk. The fight was short, burtal and all one way. Nikita swung her axes at Jonathen, forcing him to back-pedal away. Not allowing him time to recover and counter-attack, Nikita continued to move forward, her axes controlling where Jonathen moved. Then, as Jonathen staggered backwards, Nikita saw a true opening; Jonathen went to counter-attack, a sloppy jab with his claws, brought on by desperation. Throwing herself under the blow, Nikita collided with Jonathen's legs, sending him sprawling. As he made to get to his feet once more, Nikita straddled his shoulders and slammed her axes into the ground beside his head.

"Nikita wins via lethal blow. Jonathen, you cannot afford to be put on the defensive. You're faster then her and she still put you on the run," Professor Bartimas said as Nikita ripped her axes from the arena floor and got to her feet.

"Well, I didn't expect her to just wildly charge me," Jonathen said under his breath.

"You back-chatting me boy? Have fun doing ten laps around the building!" Bartimas shouted. Nikita had to suppress a giggle as Jonathen groaned, before dragging himself to his feet and wandering towards the arena exit. Jumping from the arena and walking back to Markus, Nikita sat herself down with a happy sigh.

"What an idiot," she said. Markus nodded.

"What made you just rush him?" he asked. Nikita chuckled.

"Nobody expects the shortest girl in the class to scream like a Beowolf and wildly run at you with axes," she replied slyly. Shaking his head as he chuckled, Markus turned his attention back to the arena, where the next match was starting.

4:40pm

Markus pushed the unlocked door to Team Magna's dormitory room open, before staggering in and collapsing onto his back his bed, panting. Nikita followed him in, her face flushed red from the heat.

"Spirits. When did. It get. So fucking. Hot?" Markus panted. Alicia shrugged, before returning her attention from the new arrivals to her book.

"We are in a desert in the height of summer. Of course it's going to be rather hot," she said. Nikita groaned as she undid her uniform shirt.

"Could you not?" Markus groaned, bringing a hand up to cover his eyes. Nikita responded by throwing her shirt at him.

"Fuck you. I'm hot, and putting a tanktop on, and not even a Ursa Major will stop me," she said, being opening her drawer and digging through them.

"Is she naked, Markus?" Alicia asked, her voice laced with amusement.

"Only partly," Markus replied wearily. Normally, he would attempt something resembling a sarcastic comment, but the fact that the temperate had skyrocketed over the course of the afternoon meant that he had little thought for anything but staying cool.

"Ahh! Much better!" Nikita, now wearing a light blue tanktop, kicked her drawer shut and glared at Markus. "You happy?" Markus' response was to sit up and yawn.

"Yeap. Hungry now, though," he said, scratching his ears as he sat on the edge of his bed and kicked his shoes off.

"Then let's eat!" Nikita cheered, already moving for the door. Markus growled softly, and Nikita froze in place.

"No. We do the reading for Marian first. Then we go and eat. Say, where's Gavin?" Markus asked, speaking over Nikita's exasperated groan.

"He's with his father, down in Sanstrum. He's in the city for a few days for work, and both are taking the opportunity to spend some time together," Alicia replied with a small smile. "Nikita, can you find my copy of Grimm Biology, Volume 1 please. It should be in the bookcase."

"Okay." As Nikita looked over the various books, Markus lowered his voice so that Nikita couldn't hear him.

"I'm surprised you're not with him," he said. Alicia's smile grew slightly larger before she replied, just as quietly.

"It would do them good to spend time together by themselves, and Gavin's father doesn't know of our... Relationship. Which begs the question, how do you know?" Markus felt his ears twitch softly, and scratched at them again.

"Guessed. Don't worry. Have no interest in spreading rumors." He then grabbed his bag and pulled out his own copy of the textbook as Nikita approached with Alicia's copy.

"Here you go. Pretty big for a textbook, don't you think?" she said, placing the book on Alicia's lap.

"All the better for hitting you with if you don't do your reading," Alicia replied happily as she opened the book to a small fold. Grumbling, Nikita dragged herself up onto her bunk.

"Markus, can you throw my bag up." Markus grabbed her bag from the end of his bed and tossed it over the edge of the top buck. "Cheers." Markus hummed softly, before grabbing his own copy for where it sat and laying back on his bed.

7:30pm

Lantern Academy had four dormitories, one for each year. Four floors each, the amount of students in each year was never enough to fill more then two of those floors' worth of team rooms. As such, the fourth floor of each dormitory had been converted into recreational areas. Having finished their reading for the evening and had dinner, Team Magna were now entertaining themselves in the first year's Rec Room, as it was known.

Clunk. Markus gave a satisfied hum as the 13 ball disappeared into the corner hole. Standing straight, he moved around the Eight-ball table, eyeing the remaining balls on the table.

"Good shot," Gavin said. He, Markus, Nikita and Jacob Hargreve, another sharpshooter from Gavin's Ranged Combat class that Markus and Gaven had become friends with, had taken over one of the Eight-ball tables. Alicia was seated nearby with a few other students that she knew from Firefly Academy, simply chatting and discussing things of interest to them.

"You're up," Markus said, holding out the cue to Nikita. The four had split off into teams of two, which Markus felt was unfair, considering Gavin was currently the best shot in the Academy, and Jacob wasn't far behind.

"So, Markus, where you from, anyway? Don't remember ever seeing you at Firefly," Jacob said as the three watched Nikita line up her shot.

"Didn't go to Firefly. I... Well, I just scrapped into Lantern, honestly," Markus said. Gavin grimaced as Nikita hit the white too hard and, instead of knocking her intended target into a hole, managed to completely overshot and sink the 8 ball instead.

"Fuck. Well, now we have an excuse for a story," Nikita said, looking up at the partner that, despite knowing each other for three weeks at this point, she knew barely anything about prior to them meeting.

"You sank it, you remake it," Gavin said, pointing at the table. Rolling her eyes, Nikita grabbed out the triangle and started collecting the balls from the depository on the side of the table.

"How did you scrap in? That implies that you did badly at your last Academy and, frankly Markus, you're one of the better fighters here," Jacob said. Being on the same team as Guan, Markus assumed that they discussed their days, and Guan would have told Jacob about their shared Melee class as some point.

"Well, I guess my fighting skill is the reason I don't have good transcripts." Sighing, Markus looked at his team mates, and the outsider that both Gavin and Markus considered a friend. "I went to Signal Academy in Vale."

"Oh wow. Bit of a trip, then. So why aren't you at Beacon?" Nikita said from the other side of the table.

"Because I put three other students in the hospital halfway through my last year at Signal," Markus said bluntly. Nikita dropped the ball she was holding, which rolled across the floor to where the trio were standing. Gavin bent down and picked up the ball, and inspected it, before placing it on the table.

"Why? And more importantly, how?" Jacob asked. Markus sighed again, leaning against the wall gently.

"Vale isn't exactly a beacon of Faunus rights. A trio of the less bright students at Signal with me decided that picking on the wolf boy was a good idea." His ears twitching as if to demonstrate the point, Markus continued. "One day, they decided to try to follow me home. I spotted them, they jumped me. It ended poorly for them."

"And how exactly did you put them in the hospital?" Nikita asked. Markus' ears twitched again as his expression hardened.

"Broke one's arm. Cracked the second's ribs. The third..." Markus shuddered. "The third... I smashed his leg against a low wall. Turns out, the impact destroyed his knee. He'll never walk again." The gathering stood in silence for a moment, before Markus continued.

"The headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin, stepped in before I got in any massive trouble. Apparently, he had his eye on me. Overheard him say that my scores 'impressed him'. Anyway, the cops... They wanted to throw me in jail. Ozpin instead managed to work it so I wasn't going to jail. The only catch was, I wasn't to attend any Combat Academy in Vale for the rest of my life. So I got kicked of Signal halfway through the year. Thus, the low scores." Nikita clicked her fingers instantly.

"So you went looking for an Academy that was out of Vale, but close enough so you wouldn't have to sell a limb to visit." Markus nodded.

"It helped that Lantern had the highest graduation rate out of all the ones I looked at," Markus said with a small smirk. Jacob and Gavin nodded.

"I can see how you would be able to take three other students on. You're not exactly small," Gavin said.

"Pretty sure you're the tallest in the year," Jacob added. Markus snorted softly.

"Not saying much, considering there's about twenty of us. Look, I'm not proud of what I did, but those bastards were going to harass my family. And, trust me when I say this, my brother... Would have actually killed them," Markus said. Nodding, Gavin gave Markus an understanding smile.

"Yeap, sounds like my Dad. He threatened to shoot anyone who had a go at me or Alicia," he said. Nikita clicked her tongue as she took the triangle off the table, the fifteen balls in place.

"Speaking of, how is your old man?" she asked, walking over to the trio and extending a fist.

"He's good. Wants to meet yous. All good if you come down with me this weekend?" Gavin replied, before extending his own fist. A shake, shake and scissor beating paper later, Gavin was lining up the break shot.

"Sure. Got nothing better to do," Nikita replied. Markus hummed in agreement, and Gavin took the shot, scattering the balls all over the table. As the conversation turned towards tomorrow's classes while Nikita lined up her shot, Markus allowed his mind to drift. I'm happy here. These are my friends. I have a future here, without my mistakes dragging me down. Markus was then brought out of his thoughts by a slight pressure on his side, and he looked down to Nikita leaning against him, almost unnoticed even by him. Looking up at him, she gave a brief smile, before grinning at Jacob as he sank a ball.

"Good shot," she said. Markus nodded in agreement, a smile growing on his face. This is my home.

A/N: Boy, was that long. Sorry for the wait. This took a while to tease out. Reviews and such are welcome, go check out r/RWBYOC for more details regarding the setting.

EDIT: Just fixing some glaring errors. Remember kids, proof reading at 3am is a fucking awful idea.