Chapter Text
Ruby was in a bit of a predicament. First, she was ditched by her older sister to hang out with her school friends, then she was being yelled at by a pretty, but very crabby girl whose luggage she’d fallen into after tripping on a crack. The white-haired girl was going on and on about the dangers of Dust while shaking a vial that didn’t seem properly sealed, resulting in Ruby sneezing and somehow triggering the Dust into a small explosion that knocked Ruby back a bit and briefly engulfed the white-haired girl, who lost her grip on the vial as she tried to avoid the explosion while activating her Aura to protect herself.
The other girl exclaimed, “Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!”
Ruby tried to apologize, “I’m really, really sorry!” but her apology was cut off when the slightly shorter girl began an angry tirade, including a jab at her age.
Annoyed that her fear of being dismissed as not belonging at Beacon by a potential classmate due to her age had already come true before classes had even begun, Ruby responded with, “Hey! I said I was sorry, princess!”
“It’s heiress, actually.” Says another voice, which belongs to a taller black-haired girl with a bow that was a slightly lighter black than her hair. “Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the Largest suppliers of energy propellant in the world.”
“Finally, some recognition!” The girl Ruby now knew as Weiss stated in an arrogant tone.
“The same company infamous for its controversial labour practices and questionable business partners.” Continues the black-haired girl Ruby had yet to get the name of, causing Weiss to sputter incoherently as Ruby stifled a laugh, before Weiss grabbed the vial of Dust the black-haired girl had picked up and brought over after Weiss had dropped it, proceeding to storm off in a huff.
Trying to salvage the encounter somewhat, Ruby calls out to the retreating Weiss “I promise I’ll make this up to you!” She did feel a little guilty about the explosion, after all, Weiss could have been hurt if she hadn’t activated her Aura in time. Turning towards the girl who’d yet to introduce herself, Ruby begins, “So, what’s...” only to see the older girl had already begun walking away. Feeling dejected, Ruby collapses to the ground, muttering to herself “Welcome to Beacon.”
After a short moment, she feels a shadow block the sun from hitting her closed eyes, and as she opens her silver eyes, she sees a young man with blond hair holding his right arm out to her, who says, “Hey. I’m Jaune.”
Taking the offered hand and getting back to her feet, she replies “Ruby. Hey, aren’t you the guy who threw up on the ship?” with a snicker.
After talking to Jaune and briefly getting lost on their way to the auditorium, and telling Jaune that if his “Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue.” line ever works, to let her know so she can try it on another girl, they arrive, and she spots her sister Yang and says farewell for now to Jaune.
As she arrives next to her sister, who is idly playing with one of the feathers in her blond hair, Yang asks her, “How’s your first day going, little sister?”
Upset at being ditched right after they made it to Beacon, Ruby replies, “You mean since you ditched me, and I exploded?”
“Yikes, meltdown already?” Yang asks, a look of mild worry on her face.
As Ruby explains her encounter with Weiss without mentioning her name, not wanting Yang to go into protective older sister mode and start a fight on the first day, she hears a female voice behind her say, “You!”
As Ruby realizes it’s Weiss, she jumps into Yangs arms out of both reflex and to keep Yang from lunging at Weiss if she said the wrong thing to Yang. Ruby loved her older sister, but Yang’s temper when people threatened her or those she cared about often got the better of her, even if Yang always ended up the victor in the ensuing fights.
After a long-winded rant while holding a Dust for Dummies pamphlet, and Weiss telling her she can make up for the explosion by reading the pamphlet and never talking to her again, Yang, who did not seem to realize who was is, tries to be diplomatic. “Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t you start over and try to be friends?”
Eager to do just that, Ruby puts on a cheerful voice, turning to Weiss and saying. “Great idea sis. Hello Weiss, I’m Ruby Rose. Wanna go shopping for school supplies?”
In a sarcastic voice, Weiss replies with, “Yeah! And we can paint our nails, try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like... tall, blonde and scraggily over there.” Pointing at Jaune as she finishes talking, Jaune seems to overhear part of the conversation and see Weiss pointing at him.
“Swap out talking about cute boys for cute girls, and that actually sounds fun! Do you really mean that?” Ruby says, with Yang shaking her head at Ruby either missing or ignoring the obvious sarcasm coming from the shorter girl.
After a brief moment of shock over Ruby’s casual admittance of interest in girls, Weiss responds in a deadpan voice, “No.”
Any further discussion was cut off by Headmaster Ozpin’s odd introductory speech, followed by Professor Goodwitch’s announcement of their sleeping arrangements prior to initiation. As Ruby and Yang discuss the speech, Jaune seemingly hits on Weiss, to no avail.
Before they arrive at the Ballroom, Ruby drags Yang to a secluded spot for a private conversation. “So, I know you have this whole not hiding who you are thing, and I respect that, I do, I admire the courage that takes, and I’m not telling you to hide that you’re a Faunus, but please, try to let me be the one to tell people I am one too. I’m not asking you to lie if asked outright, I just want people to see me as who I am, not as the Faunus girl who thinks she is better than them because she has family on the faculty and can pass as human. You know how hard that made making friends at Signal for me, and the ones I did make are not here!”
As Ruby gives her a pleading stare, Yang just sighs and says, “OK, I promise not to out you if I can avoid it, but there are people who are going to ask once they find out about me. I’ll let my other friends know to try and avoid mentioning it if they can by deflecting with the fact that we are half-sisters if it makes you feel better. As for the family on faculty issue, that is not the case here at Beacon, so at least you don’t have to worry about that!”
“Yeah, except now the people who avoided picking on me to avoid dad or uncle Qrow’s wrath, whether risking expulsion or extra homework, now have no incentive to hold back, and with me being two years younger, and despite yours and dad’s best efforts, I suck at defending myself without Crescent Rose. Maybe if I had mom’s claws instead of these minorly larger canines...” Ruby begins to mutter at the end, sad that one of the few things she doesn’t have in common appearance wise with her late mother was something she would have found really useful as a Huntress. Dad always said Summer hated cleaning them, but she did admit they were handy if her weapon was out of reach or stuck in a Grimm that wasn’t dead yet.
Trying to move the conversation away from the mother Ruby never really got to know outside stories, photos, and a few early memories, Yang tries to cheer her up as they make their way to the Ballroom. “Come on Ruby, didn’t you make a friend in that blonde guy you came into the auditorium with? That is a 100% increase in friends!”
“I’m pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend, bringing me back to zero.” Grumbles Ruby, as she changes into her pyjamas before waiting on Yang to do the same.
“I’d say there is no such thing as a negative friend, but there are some people who make those they claim to care for miserable to make themselves feel better. In your case, you just made one friend, and one enemy. And let’s be honest, are you that surprised that the Schnee heiress would be a stuck-up snob? We’ve both heard uncle Qrow complain about Specialist Schnee before. Odds are pretty good that they are siblings.” Yang replies as she finishes changing, with the two sisters making their way to where their belongings were located.
“Maybe, but you know what dad says about judging people based on their last name. Uncle Qrow being a prime example. He’s about as far from a bandit you can get without being an honest police officer, even if he drinks like a stereotypical bandit.” Retorts Ruby, looking up from where she was writing about Beacon for her classmates that she got along with who wanted to know about the school, only to shake her head at Yang eyeing several male students and the odd female student. It always amused her how their dad seemed happy that his youngest daughter wasn’t attracted to men, and how he was always encouraging Yang’s relatively recent realization that she also found girls attractive, more so than when Yang showed interest in guys. Honestly, she swears her dad did a 180 on Vermillion once she started transitioning to female, shame they broke up, but Yang planning to attend Beacon and Vermillion going to Shade meant it was doomed from the start. At least they remained friends.
After putting her notebook away, Ruby spots the girl who managed to distract Weiss and stop her from yelling at her. As she looked at her, hoping to gather the courage to thank her, Yang sees where she is looking, and seeing an opportunity to tease her younger sister asks, “Who is that? Your newest crush?”
As Ruby turns to correct her sister's insinuation, Yang can’t help but notice how the mystery girls bow seems to twitch in their direction. Interesting. “I do not have a crush on her! That’s the girl who helped me with Weiss. I was trying to work up the nerve to thank her, but now it’d be too embarrassing if she heard you!”
“You talk like you’ve never embarrassed yourself in front of a pretty girl before.” Teases Yang, who then quickly grabs Ruby who is blushing furiously as she remembers several such incidents, most of which Yang was present for.
As Yang introduces them and attempts to break the ice and fails, she keeps a casual eye on the girl who reveals her name to be Blake as Ruby begin discussing books and how Yang used to read stories to her as a child, her suspicions grow as she notices the bow move right before she hears Weiss begin to complain about their talking keeping her up. As she is drawn into the argument, Blake blows out the candle that Yang suddenly realizes is the only light source still on. Having been plunged into darkness, Yang grabs Ruby’s hand as she makes her way back to their sleeping bags, lamenting the fact that her night vision is somewhat better than a regular human, but worse than most other Faunus, like her sister. At least they don’t have people complaining about the light from their scrolls like Weiss is getting.
As Yang lays down next to her sister, she can’t help wondering why Blake is hiding her Faunus ears, as that would be the trait a bow like that could conceal. Is she one of those Faunus who grew up with a human parent who was ashamed or overprotective and made to hide who they are? Was she like Ruby, wanting to be judged on her own merits rather than what she is? Perhaps she had been picked on by human children when younger and wore the bow to avoid bullying? As she fell asleep, she decided that if she got the opportunity, she’d let Blake know if she ever needed to talk or just be herself without fear, she and Ruby would be a safe haven.