A/N: Thank you to those who have reviewed, favorited and followed this so far. It's great motivation to see people are interested in this.

As I said in the previous chapter, I'm not entirely sure what the average chapter length will be yet. I'm gonna start off slow and steady and not set a minimum word limit for myself quite yet. For now I'll be focusing getting chapters out on a weekly basis.

What to do to pass the time was the question here.

Neo planned to drop by the assigned dorm for them, but doing just that wouldn't take very much time at all.

Humming a quiet, cheery tune to herself, she contemplated her options as she walked towards the nearest dormitory entrance she could see. All the while she had a slight skip to her step.

The farther she got away from the landing bays, the less other Haven students she saw. By the time she was at the dormitory building entrance she appeared to be the only one among the crowd donning the Haven student attire.

In turn, she got occasional curious glances in her direction as the Beacon students went to and from. Whether she was getting these glances due to to her being a Haven student lingering around the dormitory where only resident students resided or because of her height, she wasn't sure.

Oh well. Typical.

Pushing open the wooden double doors into the building, Neo stopped humming and entered before letting the doors close behind her with a creak and a click. From there she continued onward until she reached an intersection in the hall. Stopping right before she left that section of the hallway, she leaned forward to look down the halls that split off to her left.

Nope. Empty.

Before she could look the opposite direction however...

She heard a voice from the right.

Standing up straight, Neo watched as a girl in a red cloak walked by her going straight on ahead as she balanced a stack of books in her arms. It looked like there was a board game of sorts on top of the stack as well.

"Stupid text books..." The girl muttered to herself, managing to keep the stack balanced so far. She passed Neo, either not noticing her or paying her no mind.

Interesting.

Neo smiled, holding both her parasol and small bag in one hand as she followed the red cloaked girl. She didn't follow too close, but not too far either. At first she didn't notice, keeping herself in the zone by trying not to spill her books and board game. Shortly before she was to round another corner, the girl halted.

And so did Neo.

Not really being able to look over her shoulder very well, the girl in the cloak awkwardly shuffled around doing a 180 degree turn to face her.

"Uh... Hi?" She sounded awkward already. Unsure how to react, perhaps? She gave Neo a smile in an attempt to match her own.

When Neo gave no verbal response, the girl's gaze briefly flicked to the right. She didn't sound very talkative, did she?

"Are you... one of the exchange students?" She asked. "'Cause you kinda look one!" No response, just a shrug. The girl chuckled quietly and awkwardly. "You aren't the one for talk, ain'tcha'?" She asked, her smile faltering a bit.

She had no idea.

Rolling her eyes, Neo suddenly began to walk again. Past her she went, happening to round the corner the girl was going to. Blinking in surprise, the girl began to shuffle around again to follow. "I'm going to take that as a 'no...'" She sighed under her breath.

Judging by the fact she had a stack of books with her, Neo assumed she would be on her way to a library of sorts. Might as well follow - it would be a good idea to know where various facilities were.

Speeding up a bit to catch up with Neo, the girl spoke again. "Well I'm Ruby! Leader of Team RWBY- woah!" As a result of trying to catch up and keep pace with Neo, Ruby had let the balance of her stack of books falter a bit too much. On the verge of tipping as Ruby frantically tried to steady herself and the stack, Neo smirked softly.

She reached up, letting her finger touch the top of the stack as it swayed dangerously.

Balance.

The stack stopped swaying, Neo managing to help balance it just enough to allow Ruby to steady it the rest of the way. Ruby blinked in surprise, her pace slowing down a bit. That was a close one.

"Wow, thanks!" Ruby thanked the shorter girl, speeding up pace again as to not lag too far behind as she led her to round another corner.

"That would've been a big mess." Ruby added, earning herself a nod. Ruby exhaled, then continued. "So yeah! You're a student from Atlas huh?" A nod in response.

"Oh, well, that's great! I'm sure you'll love it here." Ruby smiled warmly, looking in her direction every few moments. "What's your name?"

Silence.

An awkward silence set in, Ruby quickly realizing she probably wasn't going to get an answer. She let out another awkward chuckle. "... Too soon?"

A nod and a slight glance in her direction.

"Uhhh... Oh!" Ruby slowed herself down to a halt, shifting the stack of books in her arms so one arm was a bit more free. "I heard some teaches talking about the exchange student assembly?" She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder best she could, probably indicating it was taking place somewhere in that direction. "And if your a Haven student I guess that's something you'd be interested in! Heh...?"

Neo halted, turning around to face the girl who was pointing her in the general direction of this assembly.

Perhaps that was where the other three were headed?

"I think it's starting really soon, so I bet if you hurry you could make it in time." Ruby added, allowing her free arm to go back to helping support her stack of books.

"Don't draw attention to yourselves" Cinder would say. Would not showing up for the assembly draw attention? Who would care if a single, measly student didn't show up for the more-than-likely boring speech anyway?

Cinder would, she supposed.

With a grin and a nod of acknowledgement, Neo walked past Ruby back the way they had come. Once she was far enough away, she would activate her semblance.

She didn't even have time to stop by their dorm and leave her bag.

What a bother.

"Uhhh... You're welcome!" Ruby said aloud as Neo began to walk away. She was quick to realize that she had still failed to get the silent girl's name however. Quickly she began to shuffle around again to face the direction she was leaving. "Wait! I still didn-"

Ruby turned around just in time to see Neo warp away with a quick flash of light.

FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=46300044 )