The brilliant flare of an explosion draws your eye and the familiar face at the centre your attention.
Ruby is lying morosely on the ground as two other girls walk away form her, and each other. You step past the servants gathering up the discarded bags and crouch next to her, smirking when she fails to notice you.
"Good morning. Are you okay?" You ask.
Ruby yelps and flails before turning her head to see you.
"Xanthe!" She yells in surprise. "Where did you come from?"
"The airship. Why did you explode?" You ask.
"It was an accident. I sneezed!" Ruby explains.
You smile at her reaction and she sighs before sitting up and smiling back.
"So you use a bow?" Ruby asks after a few moments of silence, her eyes on your weapon.
"Since before I could walk." You brag. "This is seventy two inches of solid elm, a true self bow." You saw, pulling your bow off of your back and flexing it.
"Cool." Ruby says appreciatively, her eyes briefly focusing on the runes you'd carved into the arms, the nocks you'd carved from mammoth tusk and the black leather grip. "This is a longbow right?" She asks.
"No, the limbs of a longbow are shaped like a half-circle. This is a flatbow, named for the flatter limbs." You explain, letting Ruby take it form your hands and try to bend it.
"You made this yourself?" She asks, handing your bow back. "Every inch." You confirm, standing up to re-sling your bow.
"And I made this." Ruby says, leaping to her feet and pulling a red metal rectangle from beneath her cloak.
With the whir of clockwork it unfolds to become a massive red and black scythe.
"Impressive." You say, gingerly poking at the spike on the back of the blade. "Why'd you choose a scythe?"
"My uncle's a super cool Huntsmen and I wanted to be just like him." Ruby brags as she strikes a pose.
"My father was the best archer and hunter my mother ever met." You say quietly before focusing on Ruby's weapon. "What's this hole?" You ask, poking at the rectangular protrusion.
"That's the barrel. She's not just a scythe, she's a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby continues, pressing a button and making it collapse into another configuration. It takes you a moment to recognise it as a gun.
"Useful. The shifting mechanism mean you always have the weapon you need." You comment.
"Well, almost. My uncle's can turn into a sword too, but I couldn't fit that in with sacrificing barrel length and strength." Ruby explains. "Crescent Rose is my baby. It took me a year and a half to finish her and another year to master her, but she's the reason I'm here."
"It took me a while to land on a self-flatbow. I've used composites, recurves and longbows, but after some issues with glue and materials and finding I preferred the greater length, I settled on this. It took me three months to find the right tree." You explain, skipping over your issues with laminating the composite bows and layering magic into them at the same time.
"What's it's - her name?" Ruby asks.
"I didn't name my bow." You say, blinking when you realise Ren, Nora and Maria all named their weapons. You just hadn't noticed.
"Why not?" Ruby asks, looking like you'd told her you didn't name your hunting dog or horse.
You pause, considering your answer. You can't tell her about the orcish belief about how giving something a name granted it life, thus allowing it to be killed. You'd learned that from Kurga and Ingra when they'd taught you how to make a bow.
"It feels arrogant." You say eventually. Your craft, your deeds can't compare to what Lady Yaniel did with Radiance or what the Knight-Commander did with Finnean. "I wasn't even sure this bow would last when I made it. And even though it has, I haven't done anything with it. It's nothing special, just a bow."
"A bow you made. Your weapon of choice." Ruby argues.
You shrug back, not sure what else to say.
"You two comparing your weapons? Because I've got a gun-gun." The two of you turn to see a familiar blonde man with tanned skin, spiky blonde hair and a shirt that gives you a perfect view of his muscles.
You can't help but run an appreciative eye along his physique, knowing half the following would dress like that if they had the skills needed to back up the unspoken boast.
He twirls a red and gold staff before making it collapse into a pair of guns chained together.
"Gunchucks? That's so cool." Ruby says, awed by the display.
"Right? I couldn't think of anything cooler." The man says as he turns to you. "Hey, congrats on passing the exam. When the professor pulled you away I thought they might've failed you right away, but clearly not." He says.
"Apparently I'm not the first illiterate student, though I do have to learn." You explain with a shrug and a sigh.
"Illiterate?" Ruby mutters to herself. "Wait, you don't want to learn how to read?" She asks in shock.
"It's never been relevant before now." You say defensively.
"I'm Sun by the way. Sun Wukong." The man interrupts.
"That's a hell of a name to live up to." You blurt out, astonished by the idea of naming someone after the Monkey King. The Journey to the North was probably the most popular story from Tian Xia in your following, right next to the tale of Shizuru and Tsukiyo.
"I don't worry too much about that. A monkey's a monkey right?" Sun says with a shrug.
"Still." You say, shaking your head. It isn't exactly blasphemy, but few would invite the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's attention like that.
Wait, Sun Wukong is known on Remnant but not Desna or Pharasma? How is that possible?
"I'm Ruby Rose." Ruby says as you think.
"Xanthe Valkyrie." You add, feeling like you missed something else.
"So are we meant to head to the dorms now? Do you guys know where the dorms are?" Ruby asks as she notices everyone else has dispersed.
"There's a speech in a hall and we're meant to put our things in lockers." You explain trying to remember if Ren had said where that speech would be given.
"The bags got taken to a building back here and the Welcoming Ceremony in in the auditorium near where we did the exam." Sun explains, turning to lead the way. "So why'd you guys choose Beacon? I wanted to see the world beyond Vacuo."
"I grew up in Patch and my parents came here, so I never thought about going anywhere else." Ruby explains.
"I think Ren said Beacon is the best of the academies." You answer, meeting Ruby's eyes as she glances back at you. Her bright silver eyes.
That's what Maria was talking about. Not that she told you how they worked, or if every person with silver eyes had magical anti-Grimm powers.
It's a pity she's flying to another continent and you can't ask her anything about it.
And they're a secret, so you can't ask Ruby.
"Who's Ren?" Sun asks, interrupting your thoughts.
"He's an old friend. He's with my sister, somewhere. I got separated when we disembarked." You explain.
"Oh yeah, you're here with your sister too? Did she get in early?" Ruby asks excitedly.
"No, we're twins." You reply. "What do you mean early?"
"I'm fifteen. Professor Ozpin made an exception for me." Ruby says, her voice lowering as she speaks.
"That's plenty old enough to fight." You say dismissively.
"So you're both going to be here at the same time as your sisters? That's pretty cool." Sun says.
The conversation soon turns into the three of you comparing your relatives - Nora for you, Ruby's older sister Yang, a strong, fun brawler and Sun's cousin Starr, a monk that runs a dojo in Vacuo. You almost miss the start of the Headmaster's oddly distracted speech and find yourself meeting Yang afterwards, introducing Ren and Nora to the others in turn.
The six of you spend the afternoon wandering the school and talking, though you find yourself thinking in silence fairly often.
It's like for every answer you get, you discover ten more questions.
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As evening falls you're all herded into a ballroom and given bedrolls. Who do you end up talking to as the day comes to an end?
[ ] Breaking the Ice - You find yourself caught between two girls refusing to talk to each other - a dark haired girl in a bow and a brunette girl with a ponytail and freckles.
[ ] Offering an Escape - You spot a blonde guy hitting on a white haired girl and intervene before she stabs him.
[ ] Seeking Sanctuary - You step aside to find a moment of peace beneath the stars and are joined by Ruby's sister and a tall redhaired woman.
