As the heat of the sun broke the morning air, the spire of Shade Academy welcomed a slew of airships with open arms. The mismatch of crafts rose above the jagged edges of the plateau, a busy fleet of clashing styles all converging and swirling about the blinking light atop the central tower as they each found their place in a holding pattern, disembarking one at a time.

Yes, today was much like any other day, but a day that came only once a year. That was the funny thing about 'firsts'. After your first first, they started to become routine. Strange concept, isn't it? Things being routinely new. Well, that's exactly what Shade Academy was doing right now, taking in a routinely new, expectedly unexpected batch of students. Some, as evidenced by the quill shaped emblem on the side of one particular shiny, chromed Air Bus, were even coming from Atlas. That was just weird. But weird was to be expected. Strange how that works, especially in Remnant. And thus begins a new story.

Inside each of the ships, a holographic screen was displaying local news. With such proximity to the CCTS Tower, even the most staunchly tuned transmissions were overwhelmed by the sheer number of broadcasts.
"Authorities have moved to suspend a local doctor's medical license after evidence surfaced which indicated him of illegal activities. Allegations of illegal surgeries are being sorted, as-"
And just like that, the feed cut once again, overridden by the landing pad transmitter at Shade.
"Welcome to Shade Academy," a voice spoke, no visuals being given- it seemed the broadcast was coming from older equipment, evident by the static that followed the sound, "As future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it will be your duty to uphold the stability of the world- no pressure."

Many years ago, when she was a little girl, Azul's father fed her stories of how scary life could be as a huntress. Tales of the tearing talons of Grimm and the roughhousing rogues that stalked the streets at night. All things that could kill those that sought to uphold the peace. She knew now he was trying to scare her on purpose. He was so desperately worried he would lose his children the way he lost his wife. But Azul had still wanted to be a huntress. She wanted to be a hero like her mother was.

As a girl, she was genuinely scared of the stories her father told her.

She was no longer scared.

She was terrified.

But not of Grimm, criminals, or anything that lurked in the dark, but of all the people around her. All the people smothering her on this teeny tiny ship. Granted, nobody was even standing that close to her, but it felt like they were smothering her. She could feel their judgemental gaze upon her. Their eyes saying "Who's this trembling girl?" or "What a feathered freak". It was all she could do to stand in the corner and force a wavering smile on her face, hoping nobody would look past her seemingly happy face.

All she wanted was to get off the ship and get to work. Putting a dust round in the skull of a Grimm at 100 paces seemed so much easier than having to smile and wave at all these scary strangers. It was a great mercy to Azul to finally hear the words "Welcome to Shade Academy".

Sweet freedom.

Sweet release.

---

Nickel counted herself lucky she didn't have a stomach. It was hard not to be thankful given that someone else on the Vacuan air bus, standing not too far away from her, had come down with motion sickness during the trip. Certainly such an affliction had to occur every semester in a handful of new students, but that didn't make it any less embarassing- or unpleasant-looking. Had she the capability to become motion sick, she almost certainly would have; this was her first ever time being carried by air bus, and having only come into existence two months ago wouldn't have helped her resist the affliction, either.

I guess dad built a bit of luck into me. Hahah!

As the air bus touched down and students around her began to disembark, Nickel was still smiling at the absurdity of such an idea, as well as the heartwarming image it formed in her mind, as she followed the crowd onto the sandy rocks Shade Academy was built upon. Immediately the screens above caught her attention, as seemed intended, as the news program they were displaying changed to a different broadcast. It sounded like one of the academy's staff was addressing the new arrivals, probably an administrator.

But is their equipment really so poor that they can't transmit an image of the speaker? I should have them talk to dad about that.

As she mused inwardly about whether Shade would have enough money to pay Toolmaster's fee if they didn't even have enough to make a professional first impression on the new students, Nickel looked around at the crowds disembarking from the other air buses. Some of the buses were even from other kingdoms, and the students filing off of them looked suitably exotic. Nickel's smile grew wider, thinking of meeting lots of foreigners and learning about the world beyond the sands of Vacuo through them. How did their values differ from those of Vacuans? Would she be able to see the value in their opinions?

Taking a calming breath in and out, Nickel let the tension drain from her body, replacing her excitement with a more relaxed energy. If she was going to learn anything, she had to pay attention, and she couldn't do that while wrapped up in her own imagination.

Tori almost screamed when the doors on the airshuttle opened.

The interior had been kept exactly as she, and probably most of the Atlesians, liked it: cold. The air conditioner had been going full-blast since they'd let Atlas' airspace, and it had kept the place a delightful chilly temperature. So, when the doors opened and let in the blast of hot, dry desert air, Tori had to stop herself from screaming like a little girl, instead ramming her arms into Sigyn to make her feel more in control of the situation (a quirk that she often indulged in) and getting in line for escape. A line that seemed to take FOREVER, as she was blasted backwards by the hot wind. It was so much that she almost wanted to jack one of her vials of ice dust into the gauntlets, just to spray some out in front of her so she could walk through it.

Of course, that would freeze her solid, something that she wasn't quite in the mood for. So she simply sighed and waited until the front of the line was her, and then disembarked to Vacuo. She'd get used to the heat soon enough.

She hoped.

The second her feet touched the landing pad, she immediately bolted for the buildings of Shade Academy, praying to anything that would listen to her that they would be air-conditioned and that she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life in the sweltering heat. She almost wanted to go back to Atlas, despite everything. Almost. But no, she admonished herself, she was here; she had waited to get here; and she would make the most of it, hellish climate or no. She took a deep breath of the scalding air and turned back to the crowd, diving in and preparing to mingle with the rest of the (mostly younger, she noticed) new arrivals as she could. Maybe the Vale shuttles would bring someone interesting. She'd always kind of liked the idea of Vale, but Beacon academy had given her a hard no, and a Huntress training was on top of her list. It was fairly disappointed to her: before she'd left Atlas, she'd voraciously read of the famous Hunters and Huntresses of the other kingdoms, and there seemed to be more from Beacon academy than anywhere else.

And so she found herself leaning against the side of the Vale airbus, watching as people disembarked. The sweltering, ever-present heat pressed down on her, and she pulled her arms, still clad in enormous metal gauntlets, over her head and stretched with a groan.

Onyx did not feel very comfortable in the airbus right now, there were too many people present here and they were packed way too tightly for the lion faunus' liking and the fact that he stood out like a sore thumb in here thanks to his size didn't help his comfort levels that much. Part of him simply wanted to go back to Maroon's forge and craft weapons, armor and other things, hoping that one of the Hunter's making the orders here would be the one to kill his intended target.

But that would not feel right.

No, he had to do it himself and in order to do it, he had to join Shade Academy and form a team. That thought didn't really help his comfort levels all that much. However, finally, the airship landed and he could finally exit outside in the comforting heat of the desert. As he exited he stretched himself out for a second and looked on around, noticing a lot of students that were not from Vacuo and some that even complained about the heat itself.

That in itself made Onyx frown. There were people here that had not shown their capability in surviving the harsh terrain here, the heat, the Grimm, the hardships. However, he could not let that get to him, he simply shook his head and moved on. Natural selection would have all those unfit to be here and leave and have those that deserved to be here to become Hunters in this harsh land.

As he studied the people present there, however, he noticed someone standing out near the Vale airbus. A tall, white haired and quite well built young woman, however, that was not the only thing that attracted his attention, but the quite large pair of gloves she wore as well. They looked extremely well made and looked like they could pack a decent punch if it came to a fight.

And so, without so much as a second thought, Onyx turned and moved straight towards this young woman, not really thinking what he'd actually say to her beyond questioning her about her weapon. The moment he reached her, he asked her rather abruptly, not caring if she had seen him approaching or not.

"Hey, you!" He called towards her. "Name's Onyx Harkin, did you make those weapon yourself, perchance?" He said, making sure his Lion's Claws were plainly visible as well.

Oliver Braunschweig

Oliver, ever stone faced, watched as some poor bastard emptied his stomach into a nearby trashcan. His face didn't give it away, but it did make him a little queasy himself. But it would take more than that to make a Braunschweig puke his guts up. Not that Oliver was much of a Braunschweig these days. A few of his extended relatives had written to him in the days leading up to his departure for Vacuo to inform him that he was betraying hundreds of years of tradition by turning his back on his homeland and giving up the soldier's life for that of nothing more than a hired gun. Oliver was well aware. Oliver did not care. While he could stomach watching someone empty their stomach, he couldn't stomach the idea of having to lick the brass ring of leadership back in the glorified boot camps Atlas called "combat schools". He had come here precisely because he hoped this was the last place that was going to invoke hundreds of years of tradition on him.

Stepping off the ship when it arrived, Oliver was greeted by the arid heat. It was grating on him, being used to the cold of Atlas, but he was made of pretty stern stuff. He stoically stepped out onto the landing area and just took a deep breath in. This was the start of a new life. Hopefully the start of a free life. A life where people weren't looking over his shoulder and barking orders about how to "do it properly". A life where he could take his time and learn his own way to do it.

Oliver decided to take the opportunity to simply chill out and relax in the landing area. He was sure that in due time the academy would call on them to form up and assemble, but maybe that would take a while. Even if it was just for a brief second, Oliver just wanted to take it all in and find his zen.

"Welcome to Shade Academy. As future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it will be your duty to uphold the stability of the world- no pressure."

Brunhilde inwardly gave an incredulous chuckle, standing next to the window of the Vacuan airbus with her index fingers and thumbs forming a diamond in front of her chest. As if saying "no pressure" would just magically ease her nerves. She looked out of the window to the sandy reaches below, seeing the plateau of Shade Academy split the horizon in two. How much stability was there to even uphold in a place like this? It had only been a few months since her parents had made the decision to move from Vale to Vacuo, and she still hadn't quite gotten used to their new environment yet. This kingdom seemed almost lawless sometimes compared to the orderly ways of Vale. Was living here really better than being close to places the White Fang was active?

No, she told herself. She had already bemoaned the huge change long enough. She couldn't do anything about it, so there was no use letting it dominate her thoughts. She gave her head a shake, her brown locks swinging from side to side behind her. She had to focus. She was going to become a huntress, just like her mom and dad. The people living in Vacuo still needed protection from Grimm, just like the people in Vale, and she'd be just as proud to provide it to the former as the latter. And she'd never get to that point if she just spent all her time feeling nervous and sorry for herself.

The air bus touched down and other students started filing out onto the academy grounds. Not wanting to be in anyone's way, Brunhilde waited for everyone else to disembark first, making her the last one off of the Vacuo shuttle. She moved out of the landing area immediately, not wanting to be in the way of anying getting off the next ships to touch down. She looked around at all the students. Some wore fashion common in Vale, which helped make her feel a bit more at ease. She herself had opted for a plain white tee with tan shorts, and a green sweater tied around her waist that she had intended to wear on her actual torso, wanting to look nice on her first day at Shade Academy. She hadn't yet updated her wardrobe for Vacuo's weather to combine form and function; it was either Valean form or Vacuan function. So there it stayed, around her hips instead.

She turned away from the throngs of people to gaze up toward the Spire - the antenna for Vacuo's CCT tower - shielding her eyes from the sun with her left hand as she did so. Here she was, Shade Academy. A surreal experience, seeing as how she'd always imagined herself attending Beacon if she'd been good enough. All the pride of having reached a high pillar without any of the familiarity.

Brunhilde frowned, feeling herself dip back into that negative line of thinking again. In a desperate attempt to refocus her thoughts, she pulled Jormungandr over her shoulder, the camo-pattern guitar having been strapped to her back for the entire ride since it basically went with her wherever she went, and brought her fingers to the strings. A victorious-sounding guitar riff sounded out over the crowd of students talking and monitors displaying the news. The sound signified the pride she felt at having trained hard enough to be accepted by one of the most famous hunting academies in the four kingdoms.

Immediately Brunhilde lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, trying to shrink herself as she looked around at all the people who were no doubt staring right in her direction now.

As the door of the Atlesian airbus opened, the cool, conditioned air was quickly displaced, its manufactured feel leaving with it. What was left as the young man in green began to move was a tepid mixed air, falling away to dry heat others crossed the threshold before him. When a rather tall, broad girl in white left, the young man lifted his rather large duffel bag and hard traveling case, and removed himself from his former position- having been leaned against the metallic back wall of the cabin. Before his scarf even began to feel heavy and warm, his hair stood on end, taking a green tint in a fauxhawk like pattern. The soft crackle that accompanied this change, as seamless and unnoticeable as it was, was nothing compared to the sensation he felt, cutting off sensory information, causing him to squint in the bright atmosphere, even moreso than others would against the light- though he was looking away from the sun.
Facing the ominous looking ruin that appeared to be Shade Academy, the young man- seemingly unfazed by the heat, despite being of Atlesian heritage- saw several who looked like first year students, as well as returning, more confident looking Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. One such individual seemed to walk hurriedly into the crowd... only to come back out and lean against the next airbus to make touchdown, one from Vale, it seemed.
This was followed by a young man, almost as tall as the young woman, asking her something. The young blond-and-green didn't hear what he said, but this was a bit ridiculous. He made an arrogant stride forward, one arm partially outstretched, palm flat.
"Hey, this is a touch-and-go operation," he remarked, his voice projected and harsh, "Back off before your meat-heads get knocked off by an engine or something," his arm then turned towards the cavernous shadow at the base of Shade Tower, "Gate's most likely that way, in case you lunkheads couldn't follow through."
And with that, he walked on, obviously ignorant to anything else said to him as he walked past. His path through the crowd kept him away from large clusters of people, as he kept an ever widening gap between himself and others. As he passed, he heard a rather bombastic, if not high pitched guitar being played, which caught his attention, causing a sharp gaze to be cast in that direction.

---

As the ship completed its descent to the ground, Skyler Gallegos uncoiled herself from her seat. She'd wrapped the serpentine portion of her body all around it to secure herself, figured it'd keep her in place in an emergency just as well as the seat belt provided. Skyler was the youngest of this batch of students headed for Shade Academy; she was only 15 years old as opposed to everyone else's 16 or 17, or so she had to presume. But she showed more than enough talent at Mirage Academy to warrant her early transition. She even found Mirage Academy much too easy for her, having been prepared for combat through a brutal training regime from her father when she was 8.

Unsurprised by her own success, Skyler looked down at her Scroll for a brief moment, and followed the other students outside. Just as she was about to step off, she heard the voice inching closer and closer to her, and felt as though she had to prepare for an ambush.

"Yay, we made it, we made it, WE MMMAAAAAAAADE IIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!" this was the sound of Morgana Solomon, a butterfly faunus that served as Skyler's classmate and, to Skyler at least, was as much an annoyance as she remembered her to be. Unable to contain her excitement, Morgana had spread her arms wide to try and hug Skyler, but Skyler held Morgana back by the middle finger to her forehead, before bringing her thumb to the fold and flicking her into flinching.

"OW!!" Morgana rubbed her forehead as she exclaimed, "Skyler! What was that for?"

"I keep telling you to back off from me, and yet you never listen," retorted Skyler.

...

She turned to go down outside the ship, only just catching a glimpse of the news portraying the revocation of a shady doctor's medical license before the feed cut off and Shade Academy did its thing.

"Wonder if this will be a challenge at all," Skyler mused aloud.

"I heard we get to go into teams for this," said Morgana, as if Skyler wanted her opinion, "Can you imagine that? We'd get to be the dream team Creamy Mirage Sisters! Wouldn't that be amazing?"

"Eww, that's the worst team name I ever heard in my life!" Skyler spat, "Besides, I'm actually hoping they don't enforce that as a rule. I don't know about you Morgana, but I myself wouldn't want three mindless goons slowing me down."

"C'mon; don't think like that!" Morgana pleaded, "They're supposed to be friends. They're supposed to help you when you just might need it mo-..."

"So what? They expect my hand to be held out just like at Mirage?!" Skyler lashed out, anger smoldering as she turned away from Morgana, "See? This is exactly why we can't be friends; I won't leave my brain out to rot like yours clearly has..."

"Huh? Wait, why would you...?! SK-SKYLER??!!" Morgana called out to her classmate, but she could only watch as Skyler slithered away from her to lose herself in the crowd of other applicants, and buried her head in her hands, "Oh god... what did I do wrong?"

Saffron yawned wide, covering her mouth out of pure reflex, as she pressed herself to the glass. The Atlas airbus was freezing, and she couldn't wait to get outside to what she saw ahead of her:

Shade.

She really was tired; she'd stayed up all night last night, unable to sleep out of pure anticipation. And now it was happening! She'd never dreamed that she'd get to see a Huntress academy in person, much less attend one! Barely withholding a manic giggle, she pressed herself to the glass even harder. At long last, she'd escaped the crushing, stifling cold--both metaphorical and literal--of Atlas, and now she had a whole life spread out ahead of her. And Shade was the first stop on that life. She couldn't wait! It was all she could do to not jump up and down in the cabin as she left her sad old life behind her.

As the shuttle landed, she dashed over to the door, hopping in place a little bit as she waited mpatiently for the thing to open. And when it finally did, it wasn't even fully open before she couldn't take the suspense and waiting, and Flickered out. The heat of Vacuo rolled over her, and she smiled hugely as her feet touched the ground about ten feet from the shuttle, looking around at the myriad people disembarking from all walks of life and regions of Remnant. There were the Atlesians, of course: tall, cold, usually arrogant, ninety percent of them definitely had sticks up their asses. They really like big weapons, don't they? she thought, making sure that both pieces of Checkmate were safely tucked into the fancy orange sash around her waist. She'd worn her nicest clothes today, and she hoped that the short, sleeveless cheongsam, black with brilliant orange trim, would make a better impression than her usual sweatshirt. Not that I'll be wearing that much here, she thought, smiling even wider. She wasn't really even conscious of the fact that her tail was swishing back and forth excitedly until it nearly clipped a tall Mistralese.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, spinning and skipping away from him before a response could be made. Speaking of the Mistralese, there were some of them unloading too, though it looked like fewer to her. Maybe it's too far away, she thought. She saw one or two more cheongsams among them--it was, after all, a Mistral fashion first and foremost. She threw the whole crowd a cheeky wave as they disembarked, all the while walking backwards towards the gate to Shade. There were the Vacuan natives, of course. They were usually distinguishable by how at-ease they seemed in the weather, and what kind of clothing they wore to deal with the harsh climate (to most people) of their homeland. Saffron laughed out loud. Harsh climate? This was great! She felt so alive!

And then there was the kingdom of Vale, and--

A guitar riff ripped through the air, and Saffron's mouth dropped open as she looked for the culprit. Standing halfway between the dock and the gate was a very brown-looking girl, a white tee and tan shorts clearly exposing her faunus tail as she hunched her shoulders, seeming very nervous. A massive smile split Saffron's face, and she darted over to the girl, grabbing her hands in her own.

"That was awesome!"

She felt the eyes on her, naturally. There was no way such a loud sound was going unnoticed. Brunhilde was semi-used to it, though. She knew she'd be able to calm her nerves and move on after a moment, which was why she had allowed herself that moment of impulsive spontaneity. What she wasn't ready for was someone grabbing ahold of both her hands before she even had the opportunity to return Jormungander around her back, the motion jerking her forward, and for that someone to yell a compliment into her face. Chestnut-colored eyes widening in shock, Hilda was, well...silent, for a moment. Passively, her mind took in the features of the girl before her - bright orange hair, bright(er?) blue eyes, light skin, and a massive, jagged grin of carnivores' teeth.

A voice inside her shouted at her after a moment, telling her to respond already. She'd just received a compliment on her music! Respond, damn it! Hilda blinked once, then remembered she had to breathe. She took a breath in, which probably appeared to her fellow faunus girl as preparing to say something, before closing her mouth and jerking her hands free of Saffron's grip. She raised her left index finger vertically in front of Saffron, trying to gesture "one moment, please", then reached into the left pocket of her shorts. Producing her scroll, she began typing out a message with her thumbs. Since she didn't yet have anyone else's scroll ID, she left the message unsent and simply turned her scroll to face Saffron.

"Thank you! :D You look great! Your eyes are so blue!"

---

Whilst the trip to Shade Academy was farily peaceful and uneventful, it was the arrival that made Aqua roll her eyes in annoyance as the hubbub began almost in tandem with the ship's door opening, the greatest example of the incapability of these easily excitable soon-to-be students being a grating guitar riff that made her grimace. No attempt was made to hide just how annoying she found that particular display.

Picking up her bag and her combined weapon, having been compacted in that shape as an eight foot tall polearm would've been a needless hindrance to her comfort in the heated interior of the ship, the Mistralese girl stepped out of the ship and shielded her eyes from the sun for a few moments until they were more accostumed to it. She was never going to get really used to this, and specially not if a winged faunus shouted for her friend right next to her ear. "Oh god... what did I do wrong?" lamented the girl.

"Stop moping, you're in the way" was Aqua's tactful reply, spoken as she slung her bag over her shoulder then held her weapon with that same hand. And, even if the fairly fairy-looking girl moved a bit out of the way, Aqua reached out and pulled from her forearm to effectively yank her out of the path anyway.

"There. Now that you aren't catatonic, you can go with the rest of the students. Or practice to be a statue. Up to you". And so, the palest Huntress to ever grace Shade Academy made her way with the rest of the students. Or, rather, through the rest of the students, heading straight towards the main building as she swerved to avoid the others who didn't move at her same speed. If she bumped them? Well, they were in the way on the first place. They should apologize.

I like this person, Tori thought immediately, as the tall, well-built, hooded boy--a bit younger than she was, she thought, despite his height--walked straight up to her, mincing no words and speaking straightforward. His language was a bit strange--who in the Maidens' names says 'perchance' unironically...? but the fact remained that he wasn't one of the verbal dancers that Tori found so aggravating. The fact that he wore a pair of strong-looking gauntlets, even if they weren't nearly as heavy as hers, didn't hurt either. She flashed a smile, dropping her still-stretching arms down in front of her and giving him a closer look at Sigyn, turning it a few times so he could appreciate its bulky (and admittedly asymmetrical) glory. She took a great deal of pride in showing it off: she hadn't exactly had easy access to a weapons-forge in Atlas. Working out was something that she could do without a facility. Weaponmaking? Not so much. So as mismatched as her gauntlets were, she loved them like a proud parent.

"What, Sigyn? Yeah. Took a while and," she tapped a few mismatched plates with one of the massive metal fingers, "the whole thing is mostly cobbled together from scrap, but it works." She shucked the right gauntlet off, revealing a hand that was surprisingly fine-boned and delicate, and held it out. "Tori Rauðrgant. I'd usually be a little more physical in a greeting than a handshake, but it's a little hot here for me." She chuckled, but remained visibly uncomfortable in the heat.

Onyx stared quite intently at Sigyn, despite their roughness compared to the gloves he had, he had to admire the craftsmanship even so. ”Where you see scrap, I see perfection.” He said, not really smiling, though there was a slight bit of excitement in his voice. ”You made your weapon to fit you and you alone, perfectly.” He said, now seeing Tori offering her hand to shake. He raised a brow at that gesture. He rarely ever removed his Lion’s Claws from his hands, especially for such rather meaningless gesture.

However, in the end, he did remove one of the gloves and shook her hand. Compared to hers, his was quite rough, as one would expect of someone living in the harsh lands of Vacuo and a smith on top of that. ”If you wish, I can perhaps teach you a few tricks and help you improve on perfection, if you wish, that is.” He said, nodding towards her, opening his mouth to say something else, however, he saw a young man telling them to move on and rather rudely called them meat-heads.

---

”What did you just call us, stranger?” He asked, his eyes narrowing and his fists clenching as the stranger walked past them.
For a moment, the young man let the silence build, until he was likely at the edge of their range of hearing, as they were far enough from him that he would barely hear their speaking voices.
“You’d think meatloaves like you two would have better spatial awareness. Get out of the jet-wash, dorks. Engine intakes are no place for sucking face,” he berated with a mildly projected voice, not even giving them the courtesy of looking in their direction.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you are intentionally looking for a fight, stranger.” Onyx said to the young man, slowly approaching him, intending to look as menacing as possible to this rude new acquaintance.

The blond’s heart sank a bit: but on with the show, “You really don’t want to do that, lover-boy. But you never know when someone else’s Semblance could hit the breaks before you get going. I’d advise not doing anything foolish,” remarked the boy in green coldly.

Tori cracked her knuckles vigorously and glared at the frustration that had presented itself to them. “Onyx? Perhaps I’ll take you up on that offer later. As of now, I want to tell him something.”

She stood up to her full, impressive height and stalked up to the boy. However, as she approached, she could see a violent green nimbus of energy surrounding him. It snapped and crackled, only becoming more turbulent as time went on. As Sigyn drew near, it seemed the Aura was keen to lash out at the metal of the weapon. The boy stiffened as he felt her proximity. She stopped her hand short, surprise and caution crossing her face for a moment before she dropped her hand back to her side. Her voice, when she spoke, was calm and soft, but low, almost a rumble.

“I’ll admit, you have a point; it’s kinda dangerous to stand there. But if, in future, you have something to say to me, it’s rude of you to do it with your back turned like a rat. Say it to my face.” Then, lips turning up with a mischievous grin, she whispered to him, “I don’t know what’s going on with your Aura, but I could still snap you in half.”

The boy in question’s face was now a slate of distance. Being that he had the chance, though, he ran. Without thinking, he just ran, leaving a static electric popping and flashing against Sygyn as he skirted the crowd and disappeared into the haze of heat and shadow under Shade’s grand entrance.

Onyx, much like Tori, felt like he wanted to snap the young man in half. He was sure that he could use his Semblance to absorb the heat around him to give him the strength to do so and the resistance to not get too harmed by his own Semblance. Before he could do anything however, the young man just ran away like most people did when faced with people with overwhelming power.

”I say we just go the entrance as well.” He said, dropping his intimidating posture and relaxing a bit. ”That way we can still continue our talk without being interrupted by anyone else.”

Tori’s face turned pensive, more than anything else. Of course, the young man had very much frustrated her. But...when he’d run, there’d been something in his face that she’d recognized. She frowned, her thoughts rapidly snowballing down a hill as she tried to figure out what had just happened. “...Sure, that’s fine. I get the feeling we’ll be seeing him again anyway.” Heaving in a heavy breath, she began to walk forward, trying to ignore the little seed of doubt and guilt in the back of her mind.

---

Having gotten off one of the first air buses to touch down at Shade, Nickel was given plenty of time for one of her favourite hobbies: people watching. She propped herself up against the wall of one of the nearby buildings directly in front of the wide open landing area and observed as the other airships touched down one by one to unload their passengers. It was interesting immediately to see the different fashion choices, as well as expressions, of people from many different places. Some took to the heat well, others didn't. Some began socializing immediately, like the large hooded man and the atlesian girl with similar weapons, while others seemed keen to avoid interacting with people, like the snake faunus who brushed off the attempt to do so by...what was that? Logically, she should assume the small statured girl with butterfly wings to be some sort of faunus as well, but there were also records in her memory of creatures of myth that had similar descriptions to what she was seeing.

Nickel, eager to sate her curiosity, pushed away from her spot on the wall and made her way backwards against the flow of the crowd, leaving a trail of "sorry"s and "excuse me"s behind her. A pale girl with blue hair had a particularly sour expression as she moved past. Eventually, she managed to get back to the landing area and reached the object of her curiosity.

"Excuse me," Nickel said, standing before Morgana, about a head of height difference between them. Her stance left her leaning on her left leg, left hand on her hip. Her outfit was similarly casual, consisting of a white button-up sleeveless top with a black neck tie (courtesy of the Toolmaster, who insisted she should dress at least somewhat nice for her first day) tucked into a pair of blue jeans. "Uh...this is probably gonna' sound dumb, but...are you...an angel? Or, like...a fairy, maybe?""

---

"Stop moping, you're in the way," with that, Morgana was effortlessly shoved to one side before she could even react. She was warned about the way humans tended to treat faunus, but she didn't want to believe that was normal of them. Perhaps that was why Skyler was so reprehensive about humans in general, but Morgana herself had no way of knowing that.

Morgana considered confronting the girl; telling her what she did wasn't nice in the slightest, and asking her who hurt her to make her act that way. But maybe it was for the best to let it go for now. It might've given her a first impression of being a pushover, but it was better that than to get into a fight right out of the gate. That would just look bad for anyone; most of all Morgana herself.

Collecting herself, Morgana was just about join the others when suddenly...

"Excuse me," said a girl who'd approached Morgana out of nowhere, catching her attention "Uh...this is probably gonna' sound dumb, but...are you...an angel? Or, like...a fairy, maybe?"

"I wish," Morgana laughed her own statement off, "Just your average faunus that was lucky to be born with wings."

Something about this girl seemed off with Morgana, now that she thought about it. The height advantage she had over her wasn't surprising; Morgana was always a short person. But the facial structure was more fitting for an adult, and the arms almost seemed... robotic.

"Forgive me if I seem rude, but... may I ask what you are, exactly?" asked Morgana, her hesitance shown in her voice.

---

---

Skyler looked back for the briefest of seconds, and had caught eye of Morgana being shoved away by that girl. If this was Skyler the girl was trying to pass like that, she would've picked her up and slammed her on the ground. Immediately. And from there, Skyler probably would've continued to rub the girl's face in the sand, until she took the hint that she was barely worth the dirt that'd be trapped in the soles of one's boots. However, as much as she loved putting humans in their place, Skyler ignored the girl for now. She knew better than to act unnecessarily violent over matters that didn't directly concern her.

Another scuffle had caught Skyler's eye. This one took place towards the engine bay of the ship, and involved three people; a human boy going against another human and a faunus. That one human simply ran away after a while, abandoning the fight that he himself had started. However, Skyler caught up to him as he stopped running for whatever reasoning.

"You're a complete and utter moron, y'know that?" Skyler told the boy, as if she had to say it to his face.

It took Saffron a few seconds to realize why the girl was typing on her scroll instead of just answering with her voice. Then, after a moment, she understood: ohhhh, she's mute, isn't she? Okay. In light of that, she waited patiently for the message to be typed out and shown to her. As she read it, she smiled even harder, briefly looking down at herself.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I tried really hard to look good today!"

Her eyes were, inevitably, drawn back to that guitar that was now on the girl's back. "That's a super cool guitar! Why are you carrying it around on your back right now?"

Immediately, though, her attention was distracted by something else about the girl: namely, the fact that she'd had to show the message directly to Saffron, instead of sending it. This was a problem, Saffron decided, that must be rectified posthaste! She quickly pulled out a scroll and, tapping a few buttons, shoved it in front of the girl's face, showing her Scroll ID and beckoning for her to do the same.

"I'm Saffron Merganset, from Atlas. Nice to meet you!"

His path into the sanctuary that was the empty opening of Shade Academy was clear. All he had to do was get inside, then skirt the crowd for whatever came next. Lifting his foot to resume walking, he was stopped by a voice behind him.
"You're a complete and utter moron, y'know that?"
Face now set like flint, the boy scoffed, "I didn't ask for your opinion."
And with that, he sank into the darkness beyond, for a moment, only the bright green streak in his hair giving away his location.

---

It was around that time that it was obvious most of the crowd had thinned out. The sky was now no longer busy with airships. The open area of flattened, trampled sand skirted with rocks that functioned like a courtyard was empty now. The majority of the student body seemed to have retreated inside Shade, with the majority of students clustered just beyond the entrance, where a large, flat piece of stone seemed to be functioning like a stage, complete with an auditory stone shell around it.

---

Her suspicions were confirmed. The girl before her was simply a faunus with wings as her feature. Well, lesson learned - there is no magic in the world, only cold hard science, and myths are myths for a reason. Nickel did her best to not look disappointed by the revelation.

Wait, now she was being asked what she is? "Not any more rude than me asking you, hah!" Nickel responded without missing a beat. She was pretty sure she didn't look any different from a regular human, save for the distinct lankiness of her limbs. Was it something about the way she carried herself? No, there was no time to figure it out. Dad has told her to keep the whole "android" deal under wraps for the first little while so she didn't freak anyone out while they were trying to settle into school life.

"Anyway, I know I look like a lanky dude but I'm actually a girl. I just haven't, y'know...started growing in any direction but "up" yet." Nickel's gaze lowered down even further past Morana's face, finally getting around to taking in the rest of her details beyond her wings. "Kinda' exactly the opposite of you, actually! Haha, damn, girl!"

Step one: feign ignorance, complete. Step two: redirect the conversation. Nickel looked around, noticing the crowd had thinned considerably. Looked like the airships had finished dropping off their passengers. "Whoops, looks like I kept you. Sorry. Should we head toward the academy?" Nickel asked, pointing in the direction of the entrance with her thumb.

---

Brunhilde, having turned her scroll back toward herself, was just about to answer the question about her guitar when the girl who'd asked it thrust her own scroll forward and introduced herself. Hilda, after a moment of feeling surprised by the sudden gesture, smiled and added Saffron's ID to her list of contacts. Her body began to shake as she did so, excitement beginning to overflow from within. She'd only been at the academy for a minute and she'd already made her first friend! The tippy-tap of her thumbs came to a stop after a moment, and Saffron received a message on her scroll.

"I'm Brunhilde Braun. You can call me Hilda if it's easier."

The tapping of thumbs resumed, signalling that another message was on its way.

"I like to be able to express myself, and since I don't have a voice, I use music. Also I was always told a good Huntress always has her weapon ready."

"It's your weapon? That's so cool! How does it work?"

Saffron had always loved weapons. She'd never been much good at building them--Checkmate had been constructed with a stack of books on mechanics, fifty-three drafts of blueprints, and a blacksmith consultant--but she loved looking at others' weapons. And she'd never seen a guitar weapon.

With a flicker of movement and a flash of light, she was instantly behind Hilda, looking at guitar. She couldn't tell where the instrument ended and the weapon began. "Is the neck a gun that you take out of the body? Or does the head turn into an axe?"

Another blink, and she was back in front, thinking stance taken. "Hmmm..."

A series of thumb taps later and Saffron would have her answer. "Both. Only it's a sword, not a gun. It's name is Jormungandr, after a sea serpent from a story that is big enough to cause earthquakes.

"The sword absorbs kinetic energy each time it's swung. After enough is built up, it can be discharged from the axe head."

She didn't mind giving away the "secrets" of her weapon, having been smiling at her screen as she typed. It was kind of fun to brag about it a little for a change, and Saffron seemed so excited by it, it wouldn't feel right to rebuff her. The way Saffron heaped attention on her made her feel a bit like a celebrity. Which, she supposed, she'd have to get used to if her dreams for the future ever came true.

Saffron looked up from her Scroll and gave an interested hum. "I always kind of wanted to play an instrument, but I was never very good at it, and we didn't have enough to afford it anyway. And anyway," she perked up, "I can focus on being a Huntress now!"

After a moment, Saffron sudddenly realized that they were an island in a tide of people that steadily swept towards the academy. But she didn't care enough to move, so instead, she grinned wide and flicked her own weapons out, turning them from knives to guns in the blink of an eye. "This is Checkmate. Nothing as interesting as kinetic energy--seriously, that's so cooool!--but hey, it works!"

She looked at Jormungandr a little bit enviously. I wish my weapon could do that.

Hilda couldn't resist the ear-to-ear grin that bubbled up from her heart. It had taken a lot of trial, error, and professional help to get Jormungandr to work the way she wanted it to, and it was a great feeling to have it appreciated so vocally. Checkmate, by comparison, seemed much simpler, Hilda thought as her thumbs trapped away. Saffron could probably repair any issues easily all on her own, whereas she would have to take a trip all the way back to Vale if something happened to Jormungandr's kinetic absorption system. Plus...

"Checkmate seems more versatile, though. Jormungandr is all about raw power in close quarters. Not great at range and no precision."

Having noticed Saffron looking around a moment ago before quickly drawing attention to her own weapons, Hilda looked around as well while her message was being read. They'd been left behind while they were talking! Hilda began to walk towards the entrance of Shade without a...well, word. She turned and walked backwards, gesturing "follow me" with both hands. She wanted to keep up with the other students but not at the cost of abandoning her first friend. Saffron followed, having no issue understanding Hilda's overt gesture.

---

"Oh! So you're a human?" Morgana queried, "I see..."

Now that she thought about it, she didn't entirely know what she'd hypothetically be looking for that'd make Nickel appear less human. Scales? Claws? Things of that nature? At that same time, Morgana had noticed that Nickel was eyeing her up, seemingly impressed by what her body had to offer. However, Morgana herself was quick to feel embarassed, unsure whether she should be offended or she should take it as a compliment.

"Well..." she hesitated, a chill running down her spine as she looked down to her chest, "The thing is, these aren't much bigger or smaller than what I noticed on most of the other girls. They don't actually stand out all that much..."

It was at this time that Nickel apologized for having taking up some of Morgana's time, to which the butterfly faunus immediately shook her head.

"Oh no; if either of us should take the blame for the delay, it'd be me," she replied modestly, before looking back toward Nickel,"If I'm honest, you're the first human I've had a positive interaction with, y'know? I grew up in Menagerie, so I haven't had a real chance to interact with humans at all. Well, unless you count having been bullied early in my tenure at Mirage Academy. But you? You seem nice."

Suddenly, she realized she made a faux pas. Here Morgana was, going on to tell Nickel a little bit about herself before she even knew her name.

"Whoops. Silly me. We haven't even introduced ourselves yet! I'm Morgana Solomon. Nice to meet you."

"Call me Nickel. Last name's not important," she replied, noting mentally that Morgana failed to address the question she'd asked her. Maybe she had distracted her somehow? Either way, she stood in place as the crowd continued to thin, awaiting the shorter girl's go-ahead regarding heading into the school building. In the meantime, she decided now would be a great opportunity for learning, given that she'd stumbled across a foreigner so quickly. And given she'd apparently made a good first impression, something she felt quite proud of herself for, she hoped Morgana would humor her at least for a little bit.

"Menagerie, you said?" she repeated as her right hand came to rest under her chin. Nickel recalled the most pertinent info she had on the place. South of the continent of Anima, it was established as a Faunus-governed nation following the Great War, comprised mostly of uninhabitable desert lands, seen equally as a safe haven as it is a poor substitute for equal treatment. Humming in thought, she also did a quick review of information she had on Mirage Academy, located right there in the kingdom of Vacuo. "So are people in Menagerie just nicer in general than in Vacuo? Or was the bullying you suffered a result of the continued tensions between humans and faunus?"

"Tension?" Morgana was confused, evidently having never thought of it that way, "My parents and some of the others at Menagerie had warned me about the humans, but I had no idea that was what they and the faunus even had."

Her head sank low, and she stopped in place and pondered for a moment, but shook her head.

"Still, I don't believe that had anything to do with the way I was treated back then," Morgana answered regretfully, "Truth be told, I feel as though they were simply being insolent for the sake of insolence, as much as I'd loathe to think it..."

Morgana resumed her walking towards the entrance with Nickel again.

Nickel wasn't entirely sure what it was, but she didn't like the tone of voice Morgana had adopted. Was it...sad? Probably. Wait, no duh she was sad! Her question had brought up bad memories, most likely! Stupid robot, why don't you try thinking before you open your big fat mouth?!

"Yeah, people are stupid like that," Nickel spat in response, equally disgusted with herself as with the people Morgana was describing. "Hey, I'll make you a deal: you run into anyone like that around here and I'll sit them down for a talking-to for you. All I ask in return is, like...hangin' out together?"

Is that how friendship works? Something's telling me it's not supposed to be so business-like...

"No, it's OK," Morgana replied, "I can handle myself when I need to. We can still be friends though!"

She smiled warmly, now back to her usual self. Her small reunion with Skyler didn't go so well, and there was that girl that pushed her aside just because she happened to be in her way without realizing it, but Nickel seemed nice enough of a person. This may've been the break she needed.