(A/N: Updated character/harem list with new entry.)
XOXO
"You have all come here today in search of knowledge, looking to hone your skills and gather experience, both of which you will dedicate to the protection of the common man, once you graduate." Ozpin stated, his voice cold and sweeping gaze colder. He didn't speak particularly loudly but every word was clear. "But as I look amongst you, all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose and guidance."
Ozpin's scan of them slowed before stopping, his light brown eyes, partially hidden behind round spectacles, locking gazes with Yin.
"You assume knowledge will free you of this-" Ozpin continued his speech, stare broken. "-but as you will soon learn during your time here, the knowledge we have to offer will only take you so far. The first step will be up to you."
The Amphitheatre, a giant room home to so many rows upon rows of chairs that all the first years present couldn't even fill out the front portion at the foot of the stage, was dead silent, the once anxious yet anticipatory atmosphere replaced by a depressive aura that hung about as the headmaster gazed down upon them.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
They sat there forced to stew in the headmaster's cold speech. Until he stepped back, the stage taken by blonde woman with piercing green eyes. "If I may have your attention." Her words sliced down the silent tension, everyone paying her their full attention. "As some of you may already be aware, your presence here has not guaranteed you a spot at the academy. Tomorrow you'll be undergoing an initiation to prove that you truly have what it takes to attend Beacon."
There were some murmurs, the less informed that somehow made it this far taken aback but no one raised any complaints, cowed by the woman's no nonsense vibe or the headmaster's lingering presence behind her.
"In the meantime, you'll have free reign over the campus. I implore each and everyone of you to take the time to explore Beacon and take in the resources and facilities that will be available to you. You won't have access to everything but it should put into perspective just how much is expected of all of you."
More whispers and conversations broke out, far more excited in nature.
"Lunch and dinner will be provided to all of you in the cafeteria and sleep arrangements are being prepped in the academy's ballroom. And be sure to keep an eye on your scrolls; the number of the temporary locker assigned to you will be sent through them. That is all."
The dismissal fully broke the dam, conversations erupting across the room.
"I heard the headmaster was a bit different but that wasn't what I was expecting." Pyrrha said, barely audible over the conversations around them. She hadn't looked away from the stage, following headmaster Ozpin and professor Goodwitch until they disappeared behind the curtains.
"He's nice. I think. He was nice when I met him." Ruby said, drawing his and Pyrrha's attention. She jumped a little when she realized they were staring at her. "Uh, I'm not sure how much I can really talk about it but I met him and professor Goodwitch. I'm actually here at Beacon a whole two years early because of the headmaster."
"Oh? You must be extremely skilled to be scouted by the headmaster himself." Pyrrha said.
"Aw, it was nothing special. I just got a little lucky." Ruby tried to deflect the praise, clearly embarrassed by the attention. "I'm just a normal girl with totally normal knees."
"No one gets scouted by one of the four major academies through luck alone." Yin said as he stood up. The instances of a headmaster singling out a student was far and few between and luck was merely one of many factors. "So, where do you two want to go first?"
Ruby opened her mouth but the words died before they ever left, the girl glancing to Pyrrha as they both stood up to follow him.
"I'm in no hurry to see anything in particular. You, Ruby?" Pyrrha picked up on the look, passing the proverbial ball into Ruby's court.
"Really? Then I want to go check out their workshops. My dad and uncle has always said Beacon has way better equipment to work with than anything back at Signal." She said, rushing ahead of them as they slipped out of their row of seats. "Oh, I can't wait to see what they have! Come on guys!"
"She seems to have forgotten all about that explosion." Pyrrha said as the two of them picked up their pace.
"Thanks to you." Yin said, glancing her way. "Is she going to be the third member of our team?"
"Truthfully, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may for the rest of our members, but I see no reason why not. She seems nice enough and it might save her some trouble. I can't imagine many would be eager to team up with someone younger than them."
Yin hummed.
Pyrrha was a genuine nice girl. That type that couldn't help but help others even if it would be a possible detriment to herself.
Good to know.
XOXO
"Look at all the equipment guys! They have everything here!"
Yin and Pyrrha watched Ruby rush around a large room chock full of the equipment one would need to create and or repair weapons. It'd taken them awhile to figure out how to get to the building, accurately named The Workshop according to the maps posted around, and the advanced equipment inside it was quite different than most others they'd seen. Heavily ventilated with all sorts of rooms that differed in nature, one could probably see the entire process of creating a weapon done without leaving the place, from smelting their own ores to putting any final aesthetic touches on at the end.
And Ruby was drinking it all up, her current excitement maintained through every room they toured.
"I take it you have experience in the creation of weapons?" Pyrrha questioned.
"Yep! I've made a whole bunch of stuff." Ruby shot away from the materials and back to them, grinning. "And this is my greatest creation." She reached to the rectangular object at the back of her waist and with a quick flourish the thing began to spread out. In no more than a second she was twirling a giant scythe in hand, the thing easily dwarfing her in size. "Behold, my baby, Crescent Rose!"
"Impressive." Pyrrha said as they examined it. Whatever material it was made of had to be super lightweight for her to be able to walk around with it. "And you made it yourself?"
"Yep. Every student at Signal has to make their own weapon." Ruby spun the weapon again, slipping back in place on the harness at her waist as it returned to its much smaller form. "Come on, you guys have to show off your weapons too. I want to see them."
Pyrrha had no problems satisfying the request, showing off her javelin and shield. Milo and Akouo respectively.
Apparently, he was the only one here who didn't name his weapons.
Ruby gushed over the weapons, question after question fired off about them. Pyrrha was patient with the girl's bubbliness, doing her best to answer questions whenever she actually got the chance to.
"I do believe it's Yin's turn." Of course Pyrrha's patience did have it limits and she carved herself an escape from Ruby's near obsessive attention by directing it over to him. She shot him an apologetic smile as the eager Ruby shot over to him, bursting with excitement.
Yin adjusted the long, slim metal case hung over his shoulder, rolling the strap of the case between his fingers.
Showing off his weapons just because someone asked? This would mark a first for him.
"Ruby! I knew I'd find you somewhere here." A voice called out just as he took his case into his arms.
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing past him and towards the room's entrance. Long well taken care of blonde hair, purple eyes, stylish clothes that showed off a fair bit of skin. Yin recognized his former classmate in an instant. "I can't believe you just left me like that. Right after you left I bumped into crabby girl's luggage, blew up-"
"Oo, meltdown already, sis?"
"I'm serious Yang. I literally blew up. There was dust and everything."
"Whatever you say, but its not like its all bad." Yang said with a grin. "You managed to make yourself a pair of friends. I'm proud of you." She reached over, ruffling Ruby's dark hair who groaned, trying and failing to push the hand away. Yang looked to them, recognition flickering in her eyes. "Well, what are the chances of this." She let Ruby go, walking over to them, a fist raised.
Yin raised his own.
"Yin, my man! I didn't expect to see you here." Yang said as they bumped fists. "How'd you get into Beacon?"
"Practical exam." Yin answered. Since not every person who applied came from one of the primary training academies, Beacon offered practical examinations generally meant for those raised beyond kingdom walls. It was also a good chance for those with subpar grades to prove that they had what it took to attend despite what transcripts suggested.
His bare minimum approach to work back at Signal landed him firmly in the second category.
"Good on you. I knew you had what it takes to get here."
"Hold on." Ruby joined them, looking between them. "You two are friends?"
"I wouldn't say-"
"Yeah we are." Yang slung an arm across his shoulders, forcing his face down beside hers. He opted not to fight against it "Me and this guy have been in the same class for years. He's a bit lazy but he's reliable in a fight."
"Real flattering." Yin said blandly.
"Am I lying?" At his silence Yang's grin only widened. "That's what I thought." She released him and he rubbed his neck while she looked between them all. "Between him and miss Invincible here, you've got yourself a pretty good team."
"Yang." Ruby whined. "We're not really teammates. They're just letting me walk around with them."
"Really?" Yang looked to him and Pyrrha with a raised brow. Her silent request came across loud and clear. Yin maintained his silence, looking to Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye.
"You're welcome to join us, Ruby. The both of us would be happy to have you." Pyrrha said with a smile.
"Really? You don't have to do this just to be nice. I'm sure I'll-"
"What she means to say is thank you." Yang ruffled Ruby's hair again before taking off with a casual wave. "Do your best and try not cause your new friends too much trouble." She disappear beyond the door, leaving the three of them back on their own.
Ruby grumbled a bit while fixing her hair before smiling awkwardly at them. "Sorry about her. You guys really don't have to team up with me if you don't want to though. I don't want to force myself on your team."
"You heard Pyrrha. We're happy to have you." Yin said, walking past Ruby and to the door. "Its about time for lunch. Want to go see what they're serving?"
Ruby smiled at him before nodding, both of the girls following him out of the room.
XOXO
"Look. Isn't that the guy who's been going around with Pyrrha Nikos?"
"It is but I don't recognize him though."
"He's probably just some nobody trying to cozy up to her so she can get him through initiation. What else would you expect from a faunus?"
Yin's ears twitched about, picking up yet another string of whispers about himself. The ballroom, a massive room that could fit well over a hundred people comfortably, had been rid of all furniture and decorations, everyone given free reign to set up their provided bags for the night. He hadn't planned on becoming a topic of conversation among his peers but it turned out just being around Pyrrha was enough to be singled out.
Only time would tell whether or not that would prove beneficial or detrimental.
Book and bedroll tucked beneath one arm and his free hand stuffed in his pocket, Yin made his way through the first floor, most spaces already taken up. Like him, casual clothes abandoned in favor of a gray baggy sweat shirt and similarly colored sweat pants, everyone was in their sleepwear, most talking amongst themselves but a few were already trying to get to sleep.
He kept an eye out for Ruby and Pyrrha, the three of them having split after dinner but he wasn't too concerned with actually getting to them. He made his way up to the second floor balcony that circled the room to find himself a spot, preferably one in a corner.
There was no perfect spot in a room full of this many people but an eagle's eye view of things with a place to-
"Hello again." A call from his side drew his attention. Pyrrha had found herself a spot away from the edge of the balcony, near some of the build's windows and was waving him over. He glanced back to the corner spot he'd been after to find it taken, a group now setting up their bags there.
How unfortunate.
"Hey." He said as he headed over. Like everyone else she'd changed and now wore a modest set of brown pajamas. Granted, he couldn't see as much of her form beneath the fully button up long sleeved shirt she managed to give the outfit a sort of a charm, especially since that sash was no longer present to hide the curves of her lower half. Loosing fitting as her pants were he could still tell that whatever training routine she did left her with a pretty good one.
"Ruby's not around yet?" He asked as he rolled out his bag beside hers and dropped himself into a cross-legged sit. Pyrrha was more lax than him, back against the bottom of the window sill and legs stretched out across her bag.
"I saw her talking with her sister before I came in here. I thought it best not to interrupt them." Pyrrha said. She gestured towards his book. "What are you reading about?" He raised it, showing the cover off to her. "A book about plants? Is that a hobby of yours?" She asked.
"Not particularly." He admitted as he flipped it open to a page he'd folded the corner of. "I imagine our initiation will be some kind of practical test that will either be held in one of Beacon's facilities or somewhere out in the island's wilds. I thought I'd refresh myself on some of the plant life beforehand." He didn't need the refresher but it never hurt to take the proper precautions if one had the time.
"That's smart. I hadn't considered doing something like that." Pyrrha complimented. She smiled slightly, not quite in her usual way, but in one that betrayed the faintest hint of nervousness. "Would you mind if I take a look alongside you?"
No reason to deny the request, Yin nodded and moved, placing himself against the window sill beside her and holding the book between them so that they could both read through it.
Two youths, nearly touching shoulders and reading through a shared book as moonlight poured in from the shattered moon from beyond the window and illuminated the pages? The sight brought about the inevitable, Yin's ears perking up slightly.
"Are those two dating or something?"
"Don't be stupid. If she's been dating someone there would've been articles about it and I would've read it. I keep up to date on everything Pyrrha Nikos."
"Dude…that isn't something to brag about."
That was just one of the many different exchanges he caught wind of. Another thing he was quickly learning through all his eavesdropping? Pyrrha had plenty of fans around the school.
"Yin?"
"Yeah?" He looked up from the pages. Pyrrha had pulled her legs back a bit, both of them now raised closer to her chest.
"Aren't you going to ask?" She questioned. "I know you've realized everyone is talking about me."
"Maybe I didn't." He offered more as a joke than anything else.
"I don't mean to offend you, but your ears kind of give it away." Pyrrha pointed out though she did smile slightly.
"Fair enough." He lowered the book, fully leaning back against the wall. "Do you want to tell me what it is everyone is talking about?"
"Not really." She admitted. "But-"
"Then I don't need to know." Yin cut off, raising his book back up. "From what I've read Vale isn't home to as many poisonous plants as Mistral but there are still a few things we should keep an eye out for so let finish up looking through this."
Pyrrha looked to him lips parted somewhat, left baffled. "But I think it might affect you going forward. People have already started saying things about you. I don't want to ruin your time here at Beacon."
He didn't really get her concerns. Anyone paying the least bit of attention in his shoes would've been able to figure out that she was a renowned fighter from Mistral so its not like she was sitting on a secret. And from what he's been hearing, aside from comments having to do with him being a faunus, most were debating whether or not they were dating.
So far Pyrrha was hitting homeruns across the board from personality, face, and body. Being mistaken for her boyfriend wasn't something to complain about. If anything the misconception might work in his favor.
Nevertheless, he took her concern seriously and lowered the book, looking fully at her. "Pyrrha, I've known you for less than a day and you're genuinely the nicest person I've ever met. I'm not the least bit worried about you ruining my time here." He raised the book back up and nudged his head towards it. "Now unless you've changed your mind about taking me on as your teammate, we're good."
Pyrrha's baffled expression remained in place for a time, as if she couldn't quite believe his words. Slowly though, she broke out into the smallest smile he'd seen yet. "Thank you."
So far, he'd been going off what universal standards but in that moment, with the moonlight pouring in over them, and her gaze unwaveringly holding his, there was something about her that struck him as beautiful. He wasn't sure why or what caused it but there was something about her that completely snatched up every drop of his attention.
Was it her smile?
Eyes?
The genuine emotion?
"Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head slightly. Yin blinked, only now realizing he'd been staring at her.
"I'm fine." He assured her before returning to their shared reading.
It was exceeding rare for anything like that to ever happen to him. How odd.