In Memorial of the Fallen: a RWBY RP [IC Thread]

[Sonitusia]

Ether raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So you do know her. Just for the record, she didn't do anything to me. At least not directly, but frankly, since it brought me here and made me live my life properly, can I really say that it's a problem anymore?
Probably not." He spoke, as calm as he could be.

Then came her little speech about not leaving his friends behind.
To him, he hadn't completely did so. Not only had he left many of his blueprints over in Beacon, he had also been watching over them every once in a while.

"When peace of mind means survival, I think it's more important than just grinding your aches. Now if you'd excuse me, I have a deer to skin and cook before it goes bad.
As long as you don't come too near to my house, I don't mind your presence.
Try to keep the forest fresh. And be careful, I don't want to have to clean corpses." He finished, going on his way back to his home.

"I suppose you did like her, didn't you," Purnama hummed, already beginning to flicker from the area, "It's too bad really, she's looking for a partner right now."

As soon as he began to leave, the two parted ways, and Purnama reappeared back in Vale, without any kills under her belt to be proud of. Slightly bothered she didn't get to practice, she began to make her way through the night, only brought to light by the lamp posts that jotted the streets. Walking without any real direction, she tested her ability to unconsciously navigate while seemingly lost. It's too bad he didn't come back...

He was rather cute...~

[Ryanimus]

When Blanche heard Alex's joke she face-palmed so hard that she left a red mark on her face. "The only thing I will bring you is a glass of water to soothe your thirst," Blanche joked. "Although after class I will need you to strip, but I imagine you are wearing something under that armor. At least I hope so, its a little chilly today." She returned his wink.

---

Alex blinked. Strip? He looked down at his armor, then back up at his partner. "Well..the thing is.." he began, a blush forming on his gashed face. "my underarmor mesh is kind of.. conforming, so I'm not wearing much except for some underwear" he finished while rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Alex pointed to his chest plate a moment later. "Also my torso armor is con-caved right here" he pointed. "It doesn't look it, but I need to work on getting this off after class.. maybe alone?"

---

Blanche swiped her hand through the air, as if refusing alex's notion. "we are going to have to fight giant demon bears. I think I can handle seeing your bare chest and legs. Besides, thats what towels are for." They continued talking for most of the rest of class. Not really much else happened. Some of their other classmates fought a few bouts and then they were dismissed. It seemed the teacher was focused on applying knowledge instead of lecturing today. When the bell finally rung Blanche packed away her notebooks and rose from her seat. "You ready," she questioned; making sure that he was prepared to leave before stepping down the staircase to the bottom floor and exiting the room.

---

Alex jostled with his Armor a bit as he stood up. "Yeah" was his quiet reply. A blush was still present on his face, coming over the newly healed skin. He made his way on over to the locker he had stuffed coil into, taking out the unused boomerang and depositing it on his hip. Alex from the outside was trying to keep calm, but inside his mind everything might as well had been on fire. Oh oum, she's going to see everything down to my boxers. he thought. We haven't seen each other like that before. We always got changed in our washroom.. what if she sees something that disgusts her? What if she doesn't like the scars I have. OH OUM, WHAT IF I HAVE AN ERRANT CHEST HAIR!?! I don't want to lose bubbly Blanche! Not before the dance! Oh no ohnohnohno.. Alexander took a deep breathe, trying to gain control over himself, but failing miserably.

"I.. I guess I'm ready to go." Alexander said at last, walking out of the classroom with his face seeming to grow a brighter shade of red with each step. He waited by the door for Blanche to take the lead.

---

It was pretty obvious Alex was loosing his mind a little bit. Even if Blanche couldn't literally sense his emotions, it was drawn in big bolded red letters all over his face. She resigned to having a short laugh under her breath and walked outside. Once they made it back to the dorm she bounced up the steps, and walked up to their room. Blanche opened the door and went inside. A few seconds later Alex followed and she began to help him peel himself out of his armor. In her head she fought the temptation to let herself stare at one particular space of the room for very long. Blushing she kept moving, which might have felt a little rough to Alex, but eventually she got him fully unarmored before throwing a towel at him and disappearing out the front door in one swift flash of movement. "Great, ill be out here", she yelled as a single word slamming the door shut.

---

That all was.. a lot less troublesome than he would have thought. A small treacherous part of his mind was very sad it didn't go another way, to which he finally managed to grab a pillow and start to asphyxiate himself with it. He let out a soft scream and crashed onto his bed, eliciting jacob out from underneath as it gave a soft meow. Alex looked at Jacob and the two locked eyes for a second, before with a depressing sigh Alex began to rub Jacob's back, the cat purring contently as it stood still. Alexander's mind wandered for a moment, thinking about what just happened. Why was i such a walking pile of hormones. It's like my brain short-circuited! His mind chastised. He knew why, it was infatuation. Simple awkward infatuation. It was new and exciting for him. Things might be out of his control sometimes. Did Blanche feel the same? His mind wandered more, fantasizing about what it might mean if the answer was yes...

Then like an evil villain of some old 80's action flick, his discipline came kicking through the front door of that little mind party and took all the guests hostage. "You know what, I'm not going to let this get out of my control!" Alexander muttered as he sat up from his bed. He walked over to his dresser, staring at himself in the mirror. "I know she likes me. She said so herself. She is willing to go to the dance with me. I do have control of this" he told himself, repeating it like an invisible drill instructor was drilling the words into him. "I'll just start over again. New strategy. I walk out that door, and I begin to show her why I'm the guy she wants. I have almost no idea how.. I'm almost surely doomed to melt into a puddle in the process, but by Monty's last breath I will succeed with this relationship or I'll die trying." He seemed to finish with that last line, dressing himself as appropriately as he could. He tried to pick out some sharp looking clothes, putting on a pair of black jeans, a dark red dress shirt and black vest, and combing his hair back. Looking like an Italian Mafioso, Alexander takes a deep breathe. "Alright, let's do this." he says. Jacob Meows by him. "Oh you want to come too lil buddy?" Alex coos. "Well alright, come along then."

He steps out of his dorm the damaged armor placed within a carried dufflebag. Alex looks at blanche as he approaches her, trying his best to give a cheery smile to lighten his face. "Hey, Blanche. Your partner is all spruced up and ready to go get his magnificent armor fixed and upgraded.." he said trailing off "..and stuff."

and already you fail.

He took one of Blanche's hands with his own, giving it a gentle squeeze. 'Thank you for helping me out again. I really do appreciate it" he told her, his tone soft and sincere. Alex tried to let go of her hand so they could begin their trek into Vale.

---

A surge of warmth hit her hand in the spots Alex had touched as his hand receded. Blanche did her best not to look embarrassed, but most likely failed. "Come on, the shop is only like 30 minutes from here. We can even grab something while were out if you want." Blanche very unsubtly took his hand and half ran out the door with excitement. Most of the journey was uneventful. Blanche had seen a lot of this part of town before, but she still liked feeling the energy of it. Vale had ten times the amount of people her village did, and the city had almost a heartbeat to it if you listened close enough. Finally they arrived at a large wooden building with bay windows on the entrance. A hand carved sign depicted a pink rose with the words “Delarosa Arms and Armor” on a small ribbon. “Come on, I bet Mélanie and Aurélie will be happy to see us”. Without a seconds delay Blanche bounded through the heavy wooden doors and tackled Mélanie before she could get a word out. “Sister!,” Blanche squealed and the hug / wrestling match began, it was hard to tell which. After a moment both of them rose from the ground and dusted off.
“Glad to see you, I wondered where that boy whisked you off t-”
“Oh you’re here too,” she waved at Alex.
“Yeah,” Blanche responded happily, “we thought we would come by to say hello”
“aaaaaaaaaaand”, Mélanie pointed indicating the container in which Alex was carrying his armor.
“aaaaaaaaaaaand,” Blanche scratched her head in embarrassment
“See if you could fix Alex’s armor”, she blurted out as fast as she could.

“Mélanie!” called a voice from the back.
“Where are you. I needed those fire dust ingots 10 minutes ago”
Aurélie appeared in the doorway behind the counter and blinked a few times in disbelief “Ah, Blanche, finally come to get some work done. There is an apron on the hook behind you. Grab it and start breaking down those Iron Ice ingots for me would you”
“Actually, our sweet little sister comes in search of free labor.”
Aurélie’s expression went from neutral to unamused.

“Oh really, is that so?”
“My partner needs new armor,” Blanche protested, “plus it would be good for business. A lot of new students buy armor in the city. He could be a walking billboard.”

Both Delarosas exchanged looks then smiled.
“Okay,” Aurélie started,” but I want the Queen.”
Blanche sighed despairingly, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a black wooden queen chess piece, and handed it to Aurélie. Aurélie took it and turned to Alex “Alright little hero, give it here. Tell me how you fight.”

---

Like how I like my women, intense with an epic finish his mind pulled the answer from the gutter. It took every ounce of willpower Alex had not to blurt that out. Well, that and the giant hammer one of the girls was wielding provided some motivation. Trying to probe his environment for an actual response, he looked down at the chess piece in Aurélie's hand. The words came out of his mouth naturally. "With the grace of an agility fighter, kind miss. So lightweight yet durable."

Alex pointed to the chess piece in Aurélie's hand. "Hope you don't mind, but can i get that back. No free labor on my behalf" he said while fishing in his back pocket for what may be the proper amount of Lien, pulling out several 500 lien cards. Jacob came around Alexander's legs while he did so, looking up at the girls curiously. Alex motioned for Aurélie to hand the piece back over. "Now how much? I insist" he told her. "I was just lucky enough that she gave me the honor of accompanying me to the school dance, so I'm not going to take advantage of her kindness while I'm in her debt like that."

---

Mélanie and Aurélie ginned at each other, and then shifted their gaze to Blanche; who mysteriously was looking at every other conceivable corner of the room except her sister’s eyes. “Ah, I see your plan. Marry money and save the family from this life of labor. Well, Blanche, seems you are hard at work,” Mélanie teased as Aurélie returned the chess piece to Blanche. Aurélie proceeded to take the armor from Alex and remove it from the container. Each piece was examined carefully before Aurélie commented, “This is much too heavy then. Maybe some Moonstone, no, black opal.” Without speaking to anyone else Aurélie disappeared into the back room still muttering about the possible modifications. Mélanie closed Alex’s outstretched hand and patted it, “when she’s figured out what shes going to do she’ll bill you.Don’t worry. She’s a pain in the ass, but she knows more about smithing than anyone else in Vale. Maybe even Revenant.”
“You all are welcome anytime, but your armor won’t be ready for at least a week. Check back then.”
Mélanie winked at Blanche, “if you’re not too busy”

---

Alexander leaned against a wall for one of beacon's dormitory buildings as he waited for his partner to catch up. They had returned from Vale after Blanche had gone shopping for a dress to the upcoming school dance. A dress she was determined to keep out of Alex's sight. Such a demanding lady Alex mused internally, shaking his head with a chuckle. HE had managed to grab coercitor and his old armor set before being ushered from his own dorm room, the leather and kevlar mesh worn but holding a familiar feeling to his body. Seeing as how his new armor was being repaired, this would have to do for now. He continued to toy with his scroll, running a series of daily checks over his system's files and the equivalent to what a BIOS would be in Remnant. Mostly checkings for any spyware or viruses of the like, since he didn;t want an anonymous user logging his communications.

All the while, his mind wandered over various things. Again to matters came to the forefront. His impending meeting with Team STAR and now Layla seeing as she wanted to tag along for some reason. He wouldn't deny her sudden interest raised a red flag. It was suspicious, but that can be chalked up to her personality. being their roommate, it was only a matter of time until she grew curious about why her teammates were always out and about together. Perhaps she thought they were together. She wouldn't be wrong he thought. Not wholly correct either, but that was a given. A conspiracy to hunt down powerful criminal lords isn't at the top of anybody's list of possible reasons.

Then what seemed like a committed part of his brain now was passing thoughts of Blanche through his mind What would she look like in her dress he wondered. He could just imagine a long silky dress wrapping around her now. An open back exposing the subtle contours of her body, her creamy white skin and..

Alex's daydreaming was interrupted by a topic of his thoughts when Blanche came out in her usual combat attire. Alex subdued the urge to blush at almost being caught with his own daydreams. "Ah, at last! My girlfriend in shining armor" Alex said to Blanche instead, beaming a mustered smile. "Dangerous and sexy, it seems you brought your A game today" he adds with a short bow. "Everything okay?" Blanche nods and mimics curtsying, "I knew I'd be sad if I needed it and didn't have it. Soooooooo, I brought it"

Alex lets out a breathe as he stashes his daydreaming for another point in the future. It was time for business. "Alright, we're going to meet with Team STAR. I'm going to try and recruit them for our plan with Atlas" he said, a look of uncertainty dawning on his across his face as he looked down in silence. He stood there for a moment contemplating the situation. "Half of them have the right motivation to help us, so for the most part it should go smoothly" he begins to say. "But just in case, I feel like i should warn you. They may try to kill us on the spot if they don't agree, or we could wind up arrested" he said, before adding "this is your last chance; if you want to back out of all this now, say your peace. I'll understand.. I'll go see them alone if you do."

Blanche , without hesitation, punched Alex in the arm just hard enough for it to sting "All this time and you still don't understand a thing about me do you?" She smiled with equal parts compassion and reassurance "we got this hun, you and me. No force in nature can stop the ava-blanche." Alex for his part, visibly winced at the stinging sensation left from his partner's hit. "Gah, what do you have to go and knock the feeling out of my arm?" he asked har while rubbing the afflicted spot and trying his best to fake a mortified look, shutting his eyes in the process. "such unbecoming behavior!" He holds the look for a second, before opening an eye slightly to look at Blanche, a smirk forming at the edge of his lip.

She continued smiling, "You have to be tough to lead people like me. Can't have you going soft."'Alex simply walked over to Blanche at this, his smile growing ever more with each passing moment. "You're right, I can't. Especially now that I have your life to think about too" he told her, his tone sincere in a moment of thankfulness. Blanche would always have his back. That he knew.

"Speaking of soft, I'm nothing like that!" he scoffed at her in a mocking tone tone, "that is.. unless you want me to show you how 'tough' I can be.." he said in a teasing manner, eyes drooping a bit while staying locked on hers. "Haha, maybe later. You'll need that blood in your top brain for now," Blanche grinned seductively like a promise of a reward to come for good behavior. "Hmm, good point" Alex said with a beaming smile, he would give that to her, appreciating the banter. It served as a good distraction for his mind, and as a reminder of what he had to lose now. Yes, he was about to personally go about recruiting more people into his campaign that promised possible death to all whom followed him. A campaign which could see him dead, and his lover distraught. Such cheerful prospects! But what lie beyond if he succeeded.. the sky was the limit.

Alex ran his hands along the utility belt strapped to his waist before double-checked coercitor, making sure the gunblade was secured to his waist along with the ammunition and dust vials it used. Satisfied with his quick inspection, Alexander began to make his way to the Lecture halls, where Team STAR and Layla awaited them both.

---

sin & lunas legion

The classroom that Alexander had picked for the meeting with Team STAR plus Layla was invaluable for two reasons. One was the general area being devoid of people in this time of the day, reducing the chance of a random person popping in to interrupt them. The second was this classroom, the design similar to other classrooms like th8se of professor port and doctor oobleck, had an absence of security cameras - perhaps it was ozpin's confidence in nothing happening near his own office. In any event This area became a relatively safe spot to meet in private.

Alex walked in with blanche close in tow to see Team Star plus Layla mingling among each other. "Gentlemen" Alexander said, stopping to nod at his third teammate. "Layla" he added before turning to face everybody. His face portrayed a friendly expression, smile and eyes bright while he let one hand rest idly on his utility belt.

"Thanks for coming on short notice. Everybody's time here is valuable, so I'll save the small talk and get right to business. You can ask questions after if anyone has some, then we can all go about the rest of our day and relax. Sound good?" He began with a confident voice, accompanied by small gestures of one hand. Confidence and positive body language he mentally recited between breathes. That's what would win over others.. well, the pay would give a motivator too.

"Well, this is more than just a 'gig' or a fancy event" Alex began, "it's work. I've got a job offer for all of you, a mission per say, and i'll pay well. $50,000 lien just to give an estimate, to help me see something through. The pay will be a yearly salary if it's necessary."

Alex took another breathe, his eyes trailing over each person in the room to gauge their reactionk seeming to hesitate for a moment. Seeing blanche nearby, alex found the words to continue. "You see, the name 'sighart' was a name unique to an atlesian noble familyvthatcexisted up to five years ago. I say 'existed' because i lived to watch my family's downfall." He said, fighting back the sad tinge on the edge of his voice.

"I lived as one by one my family members, and close friends died or 'went missing'. My own little sister included. I know that it was all the work of a few people.." alex explained, ".. a few people that currently help run the kingdom of atlas itself."

alex raised his hand up, holding it out in a manner as to calm anybody should they start getting upset. "Now don't misunderstand me" alex said "those people may run atlas, but they're criminals. Murder, smuggling, fraud, faunas genocide, you name the crime and chances are one of those people have done it" he explains, "if you need proof, I can provide as much for you as necessary." An exaggeration since he wasn't in possesion of as much 'proof' as he would like, but he would secure more given time. For now though what he had as far as intelligence was sufficient for his current task.

"I'm looking to put these people behind bars if possible. They have a lot of people protecting them though, but it's my hope that i can get some help to overcome the barriers those monsters have put up for protection. They've destroyed people's lives, my life, and they'll continue to desroy the lives of innocent people, unless good people like us hunters and huntresses stop them!"

Alex put his hands together, rubbing them slightly in anticipation of the answers he was about to receive. "So my quest is to stop them.. but will you come along?"

---

united formosa

"That went about as well as it could have" alex said with a relieved breathe as he walked along with blanche back to their dorm, arms linked behind his head. He was done all he had set out for himself for the day, and now his mind was idle with thoughts of the present. "You know, i haven't forgotten your promise earlier" he said to his girlfriend in a mischievous tone, eyelids drooping slightly as his vision swam over blanche's form. "You're lucky i'm such a concientious boyfriend, otherwise i might take wanton advantage of it" he said with a chuckle.

[Stormwrath]

Dorms
Avena's appearance sponsored by Nach's production studio.

Nighttime had fallen on Beacon, and everyone seemed to be doing whatever things that they would usually do in the night—be it study for tomorrow’s quiz, talk about trivial things with their teammates, stay up all night, go to the bathroom and totally take a shit or something (honhonhon), overthink about the Dance coming up, or a combination of any of them. For Jackson though, he had just arrived on campus, fresh from his little trip to Vale. There weren’t as many people strolling around as much as during the day, which was weird considering that night strolls were common in the school. Homework appears to have dragged everyone down, or perhaps he just arrived late into the night.

Parking his motorbike by the dorm, Jackson felt like his energy had been all but spent. He had gone for some kind of “business”, and after that he scouted around the city to look for the stuff that his teammates would probably ask for—Leif’s ingredients, Carmina’s parts, and Avena’s… Well, to be fair she didn’t seem to want anything from him, not that she actually would ask him to get something in Vale, or anything really. Besides copy his homework and snoop around his smut comics of course, but that’s not the point.

For some reason it hadn’t occurred to the young faunus until now that he had no date to the Dance coming up this weekend. “Goddammit, I forgot!” he facepalmed himself. He began in his head to consider some of the girls that he would want to go with—it felt weird that he, the dashing, awesome younger brother of the great Adelaide Silver, would go to the dance without a beautiful girl beside him. He didn't consider himself to be that stuck-up, but apparently he was now. Jackson began considering who he would ask out, but as he made his way back to his dorm room he realized that picking a girl was harder than he thought. To think he couldn't pick one despite knowing many cute girls at Beacon—and being on a team with two of them!

Maybe Anastasia would be interested—after all, she's a nice person and seems like the only one that can understand him, but then again he doesn't really know her all that well. Or maybe Sirina would like to be his escort, but he wasn't sure she'd take kindly to that. Maybe he should ask Arrietty out to the Dance, but that girl's too cheery for his tastes. Hmmm, what about Carmina? No, that would be fucking weird asking out your girl teammate! His mind began to go through all of the possible people he could go with, but none of them seemed to be who he wanted to go with. Wait a minute, what about…

Jackson blushed and shook his head wildly. Nononononono, not her. Not in a fucking million years, no. She was in no way feminine or good-natured, and all she ever does is annoy the living daylights out of him with her incessant antics and get the team in trouble. Honestly, he had no idea why fate had even let him be paired with her in the first place. Sighing, he stood in front of the door to his room, about to reach out and turn the knob.

"Hi Jackson," called out a familiar voice.

He turned his head to see who it was, though it should be obvious by now. "Oh, hey," he apathetically returned the greeting. "So what do you want?"

Avena seemed to be hesitant to say what was on her mind. It wasn't like her to hold things back. Unsure why she'd stop him right here and now, Jackson then spoke, "Ummm, okay. I'm just going to go in and—"

All of a sudden he felt a hand hold him tightly on his wrist. Gazing into his eyes Avena asked, "Will you come to the roof with me?"

That seemed unusual of her, Jackson thought. The usual happy-go-lucky tone that was in her voice was all but gone, seemingly replaced by the tone of melancholy. "Wait," he reacted. "That's it? Uhhhh, I guess we can— Hey!"

Not waiting for him to finish, she ran down the hallway while still holding on to Jackson. She dragged him up the stairs and to the roof seemingly without losing energy. Once they made it up there, Avena let go of his hand and started to pant. Up here was perhaps the most spectacular view of Beacon ever—not even the CCT could top that. From here the two could see the moon paint the sky with a serene yellow glow behind Beacon tower, and the stars scattered in the background as if Monty himself had sprinkled glitter up there. Indeed this was a beautiful view—the world was all in front of them and beneath them at the same time.

Was this payback for when they first met?

"Okay," Jackson's fingers began to ruffle through his hair. "We're up here. So what were you going to ask me?"

Was it going to be alright to tell him? Maybe she shouldn't—if she asked Jackson out, that would give him the wrong idea or make him uncomfortable, or maybe even both. But what if he actually says yes? Again she remained silent, unsure of what to say. This wasn't like fighting Grimm, where she can just draw Grimsbane and slice 'em up on instinct. In fact there was no Grimsbane to rely on this time, and no Grimm to take on. The voices in her head were beginning to tell her, "Go on, tell him. Work up your courage. This is easier than fighting Grimm."

How did fighting Grimm become easier than well, this thing?

Slowly her lips began to articulate. "I know t-this is ummm… a bit weird and all… but…" Her pause went on longer than it should. Why can't she continue? "W-w…"

Avena closed her eyes shut. "What should I do?"

No, wait! Why did she ask for help from the guy she was supposed to go out with? Now it looked like she was thinking about asking someone else out. This would've been easy if she had just asked Carmina!

Jackson took a deep sigh—he must have felt tense. Not sure what Avena meant he asked, "What do you mean?"

Opening her eyes again, Avena briefly took her gaze away from him and looked down. "There's…" she stuttered, "…the Dance coming up, and… there's this guy I wanna ask out. He… he's a pretty cool dude. He plays a lot of video games, is a big fan of action thrillers, and he knows his way around Vale even in places I had no idea were there."

Gosh, that guy seems pretty cool, though the faunus didn't think that Avena would be into guys like that. He thought that she would be into people that were like her—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and living the life of a Hunter just for the hell of it. But there seems to be a little something off about her tonight. "I thought you didn't want to go to the Dance," Jackson replied. "Since you don't like being fancy."

Gods, you just had to remind me that, Avena squinted. She began to curl up a smile. "Yeah, but then I'd be missing out on the food."

"Figures," he shrugged.

Jackson sighed and pressed his temples. The answer should've been so obvious for her. "So, why not do it?"

"I…" Avena twiddled her fingers like a little child. "I don't know if I'm brave enough to approach him, or to ask him if he wants to go with me. A-and maybe I might come off as too un-feminine-ish."

She seemed like she was at a loss, Jackson thought. He didn't think it was because she wasn't very good at making friends—she got along well with Carmina and Leif, after all—more that she may have never been to a dance with a partner before. Now it seemed, she wanted to try it out for herself. "I know this may sound cliche," Jackson replied, "but just ask him out. You know, trust your gut and be yourself."

Yeah, tell her to be herself when he can't stand it.

He continued, "I mean, you're always brave enough to do really stupid things, and you don't really care if people criticize you for anything. More importantly, you don't let anything get in the way of doing what you want, and you face the world with the widest smile ever—as if you're screaming at the top of your lungs, 'Look out Remnant, 'cause you might miss the one and only Avena Sharpe, the world's best Huntress!'." Realizing what he just said he lightly scratched his cheek. "Well, I figured you'd say something like that, so."

Avena placed both of her hands on her mouth as if to suppress a chuckle. Man, to think that someone like Jackson would tell her the things she already knew about herself. She couldn't help but let go and laugh her heart out. "Hahahahahahaaa!!!" she flicked a tear from her eye. "I don't shout it out like that." Standing on the edge of the roof she looked back and Jackson and smiled. "I shout it like this!"

She then looked away and cupped her hands, gazing at the world before her. "LOOK OUT, REMNANT!!!" her voice reverberated through the campus. "CAUSE YOU MIGHT MISS THE ONE AND ONLY AVENA SHARPE, THE WORLD'S GREATEST HUNTRESS!!!"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to sleep!" came the response from another dorm building.

It was good to see Avena be her happy self again. Jackson chuckled, "Okay, okay. Good you're feeling all better."

"What do you mean?" she confidently scoffed. "I'm always feeling better."

The faunus raised an eyebrow. "R-right. So, go talk to him and and ask him out. Me and probably your gut are sure he'll agree."

He turned around and raised his hand in his usual wave. As Avena turned around to face him he said, "I'll meet you back in the room with the others, okay?"

She nodded silently. Her feelings were beginning to shift again. As she looked at Jackson walking away, her conscience was beginning to scream at her. The more that she looked at him, the more that it became harder to take. "Hey," she called out.

"Yeah?" he turned around and looked at her.

She suddenly pointed a finger at him and grinned, finally having gotten the courage to say it the only way she knew how—the Avena way. "You wanna go to the Dance with me, fox boy?"

Ballroom

And so nighttime fell on this otherwise normal weekend, and Beacon seemed to take on a slightly more formal ambience.

The ballroom was usually an empty place for much of the school year, only used during occasions like these or the reunions that happen once every few years. Now it had been given a fresh new look, with long satin ribbons suspended above the dance hall, balloons attached to rails and walls, and colorful lights below the windows. There were also bouquets of white roses that were placed by the entrance and by the stage. Speaking of the stage, it was located toward the end of the hall, and there seemed to be a drum set, a keyboard, and a couple of microphones. Behind that was a DJ set manned by two very famous electronic musicians. We don't know how Beacon managed to get them to play for this year's Dance, but they sure got lucky.

Team CFVY's work harmonized with the finishing touches that Weiss and Yang put together. Maybe Coco had left detailed instructions for them before she and the rest of her team left for Mountain Glenn. But for some reason these decorations seemed to take on a more… festive appearance, with red, white, and green dominating everything. There were also some Christmas wreaths that were put on the walls. We don't know why they chose to spread the holiday cheer this year, or whose idea it was to dangle a mistletoe on the chandelier (hue), but one thing's for sure—the art directors had waaaaaaay too much free time making up the whole scene.

Wait a minute, Mr. Storm, isn't it like between summer and fall at Beacon? How come they celebrate Christmas during that time? How can we be even sure that they celebrate Christmas? Also, isn't this technically breaking canon?

You ask too many questions, dear child. It is not good to fret over such trivial details.

But—

Shush.

By the sides of the room were tables for students to sit around, chairs for them to sit on after partying too hard on the dance floor or to avoid the whole ordeal altogether, and two long tables that were filled with all sorts of food and drink. From the large chocolate fountain to the punch bowl, everything seemed like the school catered from a high-end buffet. In reality, it was Beacon's own cooks that created all those mouth-watering delicacies—thanks to the efforts of one of their newest. In fact, they say the reason why they were able to serve incredibly delicious food this year was because of him. Everyone seemed to have a good time eating and drinking at the sidelines, at least a better time than the students on the dance floor that were waltzing to the tune of a Romanticist opus.

Being the ones who planned the whole Dance, Weiss and Yang were left to take charge of things and make sure everything ran smoothly. Yang served as hostess for everyone and did it with a cheerful glow, but Weiss seemed to be a little bit gloomy tonight keeping the flowers upright. Rumors were that she was rejected by a certain exchange student from Mistral that she had a crush on, but that shouldn't ruin her night, should it?

Carmina was mostly enjoying herself by the fountain, picking off the cookies she glazed over with an overabundance of syrup. Her sweet tooth was beginning to take hold of her like a demon. It was supposed to be just one, she thought as she rapidly chewed on the cookie, but that was a lie—a massive lie the size of her bloated appetite. Hopefully she doesn't ruin her lilac-colored dress. After looking at how full her plate was with cakes and other sorts of desserts, the redhead realized she was gonna have to work off those carbs when the Shadowing kicks off tomorrow.

The doors opened, and Yang lifted her head to welcome the newcomers to the party. "You're just in time, you two. Welcome to the Dance!"

It would've been just a normal couple that Carmina would ignore, but her glance just happened to land on the couple that entered the building. Nearly choking on her food, she was left in disbelief. "Jackson? Avena? Together together?"

The band-aids on the sniper girl's face had disappeared for the night, and her bare back revealed scars that had remained hidden 'till now. Her turquoise eyes sparkled like polished gemstones made in heaven. Her long and flowing white dress was very simple, but it was incredibly elegant, making her look like an angel or a goddess. Simply put, the brazen and rough Avena had been replaced by a more enchanting version of herself for the Dance, and everyone seemed to be mesmerized.

"Oh, my, god!" Carmina scampered towards Avena, staring at her dress with the most sparkly eyes ever. "You're so beautiful! I didn't know you actually had a date to the Dance, much less with 'im. Hehe, no offense, Jackson."

"None taken," he replied.

[Nachfolgia]

Avena was nervous as hell when she walked up to the enterance to the dance. She wasn't the type to go to these things, only attending for the food. Well...that wasn't the only reason she was showing up. Avena had a little motivation in the form of a date. Last night she mustered up the courage to ask out none other than her own teammate and leader, Jackson Silver. She was happy to finally have him around her arm, but she still had anxiety about the whole thing.

Before the two entered, Avena stopped and took a deep breath. She was trying to erase all the negative thoughts she had and focus on the positive. Her friends were all inside and tonight was about having fun. Plus, all that amazing food was awaiting to be devoured by her...as well as Carmina, who was already taking her portions.

However, she still felt very exposed in her white dress. Her body was beautifully toned, but some very ugly scars covered every inch. This made her feel less beautiful, which was another unusual way of thinking for her. Mustering up the courage again, Avena and Jackson walked in.

Immediately, they caught the eye of of Yang who was standing to greet them. The dance was already underway as several students had already arrived and were chatting or eating. Of course, Carmina was among the ones eatting as her plate was stacked with cakes and other desserts.

Carmina caught sight of her teammates and was immediately stunned by A. Avena and Jackson came together and B. Avena looked amazing in her dress. It wasn't just her, however, everyone seemed to be totally shocked by her new look. Carmina ran towards the two and began commenting on how intoxicating she looked and the fact Jackson was her date.

" Hahahaha thanks Carmina. Before she left, Coco left me a lot of details on how to pull off the look. I think she was more invested in my dress than I was." Avena said as she moved her hands down her dress to straighten it out.

" But yeah, I managed to muster up my famous courage to ask him. To be honest, Fox Boy here gave me advice on how to ask him out." Avena smiled as she bumped him with her hip.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

Carmina was quick to jest. "I bet 500 Lien that she personally picked out the dress for you." Well, it's Coco, and the two girls had grown surprisingly close to her despite their diverging personalities and fashion choices. After all, it wasn't overnight that Carmina and Avena became more-fashionable-but-still-rough-on-the-inside. However, she was amazed her best friend could keep that dress a secret from her for so long.

"Oi," Jackson reacted to the sudden bump on the hip. "Famous courage? Are you kidding? Your 'courage' looked like a trainwreck last night, with all the stuttering and the finger twiddling. It's like you've been hit on the head with something."

"Hey," Carmina pointed at him with fingers that had some cake crumbs on it. "At least she eventually had the balls to ask you out, otherwise you would've gone to the dance a virgin."

"V-virgin?" Jackson almost blurted it out. That was a damn low blow, not to mention it brought up images in his head that he would rather not see at all, but it perhaps was to be expected since it was Carmina. "Yeah, look who's talking," he retorted. "There's a saying that goes, 'the woman who eats a great amount of cake has gone to the party by herself.' "

"What?" she dismissed. "There's no saying like that! I bet you just made it up. Plus, bringing someone to the Dance is a bother for me—since most of the time you'd prolly burn your head thinking over who to go with, endure sleepless nights regretting you didn't ask someone out, try to get him to meet up at a certain place so you'd have a chance and eventually fuck it up, pick out a dress that you think will impress, repeat steps 1 to 3 and still fuck up, and then go to the Dance knowing that you failed." As she was explaining all of this her tone shifted from that of a happy single lady to that of a desperate one.

Finished, she slowly turned away and hunched her back in shame, seemingly with a dark shadow gathering above her head. "FML," Carmina rapidly stuffed her mouth with more cake, shoving them into her mouth like she was doing the 100-cake challenge or the 200-cake challenge—depending if anyone's in Remnant's actually going to be that insane to do the latter. She'd possibly be the first.

"H-hey," Jackson muttered and reached out his hand. "Ummm, are you okay?"

"Yuh," her voice was muffled over the food. "Oim foin, thunk yu."

[Nachfolgia]

Avena laughed out loud at Carmina mentioning Coco picking out the dress. " Well, I guess you will that 500 Lien. Coco said that this dress 'complimented' me. I don't know what that means, but I look damn good." Avena said with a big grin.

Avena took a step back when her two teammates started argueing with each other. They did this very often in the dorm room, more so than Jackson did with Avena. The two would always be at each other throats over trivial stuff, like comics or when one bests the other in combat. For the most part, Avena sat back and enjoyed the bickering, but sometimes it went too far.

Avena frowned when she boticed Carmina getting upset and depressed. As soon as she sat down and began eating cake, Avena walked up and rubbed her back. " It's ok Carmina, if it didn't work out with Jackson, I would have asked you. It's not too late to find a date, I mean you're a bombshell. You're just as toned and athletic as I am, plus you don't have all these embarassing scars."

" And don't worry about about all the cake. You and I can eat as much as we want and not get fat. So, let's eat." Avena said before grabbing some cake with her hand and shoving it in her face, messing up her make up. She smiled with cake all over her face and teeth, trying to cheer Carmina up. Coco would not be happy.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

"That's what compliment means," Jackson pointed out to Avena.

"Oh, so I was right!" remarked Carmina.

As for Carmina, the stress-eating was starting to get to her—all while she muttered in a seemingly comedic fashion how she couldn't get a damn partner to the Dance. At least Avena was kind enough to comfort her with offerings of cake and dancing. But there was one thing that the sniper girl may have jumped the gun on. Waving her hands in front of Avena she reacted, "Wa-wa-wa-wa-waait, fox boy?" She coughed on her cake and began to laugh. Pointing her thumb at Jackson she added, "You thought I was gonna ask him to the Dance? Du-hu-hu-huuude, that would be weird as hell!"

"Ditto," muttered Jackson. Something the two can agree on for once.

"Besides," Carmina added, "It doesn't really bother me that I don't have a date tonight, and me and pretty much everyone else know that you'd probably be bummed out if that happens, since you have a crush on—"

All of a sudden she could feel a hand covering her mouth.

[Nachfolgia]

Avena was in a panic now more than she was before she arrived at the dance. Carmina had nearly spilled the beans on her having a crush on Jackson, but luckily Avena thought fast and covered Carmina's mouth. She has worked very hard these past several months covering up her emotions about the fox boy. Everything from silencing people to resorting to instigating a food fight to make people forget a slip up she made. Everyone else knew her feelings, but there was no way in hell that she was going to let Jackson find out before she was ready.

" Okay...let's go get some cake Carmina. You look like you're running low." Avena said with a nervous smile as she dragged Carmina with her. The two rushed over to the dessert table and began filling up some plate.

" Good job Carmina, you almost blew the secret. I didn't want Jackson to know until I am ready. Still haven't figured out all these weird feelings yet. I don't want him to think I'm weird or anything." Avena whispered as she put a slice of red velvet on her plate.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

As Avena dragged her to the dessert table, Carmina looked down at her plate and stared at all the cake that was still on it. "But I'm not running low."

"Ummm, okay," Jackson waved. "I'll just ummm, go and get a plate I guess." Geez, what was up with Avena tonight? No matter, he just went to the meal table and began to fill his plate.

The dessert table was mostly filled with all sorts of decorated and delicious pastries, all of them seemingly withholding a treasure trove of sugar from the mouth. There were a lot of cakes laid around on the table, from the assorted bite-sized cake slices for the carb-conscious to the massive multi-tiered cakes that the students have not touched yet (since they looked too pretty for eating, and no one wants to be where the cakes fall if they don't slice it right), not to mention the devil's food being drowned in all that delectable chocolate fudge. There was the oddball pancake stack on the table, but the two guessed that would still be considered cake—it has the word 'cake' in it, after all.

There were also lots of cookies placed around, as well as chocolate boxes, fruit slices, pie slices, some ice cream and pudding, and the chocolate fountain that served as the centerpiece of the table. Right next to all the desserts was the punch bowl, where all the socially awkward people seemed to be toasting each other to good health or something.

"Secret?" she whispered back to Avena while she placed more dessert on her plate. "Dude, your crush on fox boy's an open book—everyone in the school knows by now. Even if I don't tell him he's gonna find out eventually."

"Oh, and those weird feelings?" the redhead pointed the tongs at her. "That's what happens when you have a crush on someone."

[Nachfolgia]

" Well I don't want him knowing yet. It's still awkward and I might mess it up. There's no way of telling if he'll be repulsed by the idea of us going out. Sigh...things were much simpler when all I had to worry about was getting mauled by Grimm." Avena vented as she continued to grab desserts.

Now it was time for Avena to feast her eyes on the piece de resistance of the entire table, the three tier cake. Avena's mouth watered as the delicacy gleamed in the artifical light, glowing like a gift from the heavens. The cake itself was so elegantly made that it seemed like Monty himself baked it. All in all, an absolute masterpiece of epic proportions.

Not wasting time, Avena grabbed a knife and began to cut a slice. The knife cut through the moist cake with no effort at all, like it wasn't even there. This made Avena want the cake even more and couldn't wait to dig in.

Avena put the large slice smack dap ontop of the other desserts on her plate. Looking at the mount of sugar with a smile on her face, Avena was not going to fit her dress for long.

Avena glanced up as something moved in front of her. It was the giant cake. She cut too large of a slice in the bottom tier and the pillars began to sink and lean. Avena took a step back as the top two tiers toppled over. The cake fell to the ground and slattered on the floor.

Avena looked on in shock at what had happened. As everyone looked in her direction, Avena seemed like the culprit. Pretending not to notice, she quickly walked away. " Time to sit down." Avena said quickly as she walked past Carmina, trying to not seem like the guilty party.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

"Avena," Carmina topped the pile off with a strawberry shortcake. "You asked him out to the Dance, and he said 'yes'. Like, holy shit, I didn't know he'd actually agree to that! That means you haven't messed it up and you still got a shot to segway into dating with him. Well, depending if you're gonna muster up more of that famous courage of yours."

"And also," she picked the strawberry off the top, winking an eye at her. "You never were worried about getting mauled by Grimm. In fact, you seem rather psyched up for it."

The archer girl seemed to be done with picking her servings of cake. But as she stared at everything that she had on her plate right now, she wondered how much was all of that gonna add to her weight. She wasn't worried just because it was gonna affect her athletic physique in undesirable ways, but it would affect her speed and agility in combat. Not to mention that she had eaten a lot of stuff already, so she might reach that point where she can't eat any more. After pinching her oblique to see how much fat she had right now, she felt like this should probably be enough for now. At least Avena doesn't care about the carbs she's gonna have with that giant cake slice of hers, but it would probably be time before even she'd feel like her stomach was pressed too tight in that thing.

As Carmina was about to turn around, she heard something crashing onto the floor. Everyone else was pretty surprised to see the three-tiered cake on the ground with bits all over the place, and the unlucky bastard who just happened to be right next to it. The redhead tried to appear straight-faced, but on the inside she thought that was hella funny. "Y-yeah," she faked coughing. "W-we should."

Meanwhile Jackson returned to the table, just in time as Avena and Carmina had returned. The sniper girl appeared to be a bit stiff, and her smile was tenser than usual as she set her plate down. "Ummm, what was that?" he squinted. He had heard something crash, too, but he didn't seem to catch it.

Back at the table, the cake was still on the floor, and everyone was still gathering around it. Some of them were shocked at it, others were disappointed they weren't able to have some of it before it fell over. Everyone started to back away as Weiss walked over to the dessert table and finally saw the damage for herself, her face disfigured with horror at the sight of it all. "Wh-wh... Who did this!?"

Guess Avena's enchantment was all but gone.

[Nachfolgia]

As soon as Avena sat down at their table, Jackson took a seat next to her. She didn't even look at him, especially when he asked about the loud noise across the room. " It's nothing. Everthing is fine, nothing to see here. Noise? What noise? I didn't hear a noise. Everything is a-okay!" Avena said in her usual nervous way, speaking really face and making no sense.

Avena was never good at hiding anything, especially looking guilty. When she's nervous, just like when she's ecstatic, the pink haired sniper would talk really fast. Her words would be jumbled up and become hard to understand. These two combined made her sound like a crazy person.

Avena sat quiet and stiff as she began eating the pile of desserts on her plate. As expected, the cake slice from the now destroyed 3 tiered cake was the most delicious thing she has ever tasted. Forgetting what she just did, Avena's muscles relaxed as her taste buds exploded in flavor. A satisfied look came over her face as she took more bites of the heavenly cake. " This cake is so...amazing!!!" Avena yelled out, tilting her head back.

Back across the room, people were gathering around the splattered cake. One particular person wondered upon the carnage and yelled out, demanding to know who was responsible. That person was none other that Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company. Avena has had more than enough run ins with her and knows to stay out of her way when she was angry. Hearing Weiss' voice call out, Avena slumped down in her chair, trying to hide herself from the white wrath.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

His eyes narrowed after Avena said all of that. Jackson began to think that maybe she had something to do with that crashing sound over there, but he didn't seem to have seen her do it, nor did he actually see what she may have toppled over there. All he could do was give a dragged out "Right" and glare at his date for but a few seconds, all while his fork was sinking into the beef.

No matter, it was perhaps time to eat. Again the contrast was made—Jackson ate like he was in a four-star restaurant, while Avena and Carmina nawmed down their cakes like stray dogs. This was what made JACL seem like an eccentric team. The girls were behaving like boys, while the boys were more refined like girls. Well, maybe not Leif, he's just currently absent from the scene and slaving his ass off, and he'd just eat like any country boy dipping his feet into the big city would, but that's not the point.

"I know, right?" she let the sweetness of the angel cake sink into her taste buds. "The moistness of this thing is just so right, and it compliments the softness of it."

"Oi, you're making it sound dirty," reacted Jackson.

"Hey," the redhead pointed her fork at him. "That's just you, dude, not me."

Carmina then poked it into a particularly large piece of cake and shoved it into her mouth, but some of it got lodged in her throat as she swallowed it. Beating on her chest she coughed, "B-be right back, Imma get something to flush this down." Standing up she once again left the table and began to head for the punch bowl.

Clean-up was sent over to scrounge up the cake and dispose of it later. The students thought that was a huge waste of cake back there. Damn that pink-haired girl of Jackson's.

The music seemed to fade away and stop as Yang went up to the microphone. The glass-headed half of the DJ pair nodded his head at her, and then she took a deep breath. "Is everyone having a good time?" she grinned, and everyone seemed to shout back resounding woo-hoos, yesses, and yaaaahs at her.

"Well then," she began, "Give a damn loud round of applause for a performance that is simply stellar—literally! Ladies and gents, give it up for Team STAR!!!"

And so the applauce came forth from the crowd as the team got up on the stage with their instruments. Now this party is formally cranking up.

[Sonitusia]

Ballroom

The dark-skinned maid had relegated himself to the corner, holding onto a half-empty glass with both of his hands. Despite what most would mutter as they passed by, Clover was contempt with where he stood, smiling warmly to those anyone who met his eyes. He enjoyed it when others were able to have fun, it was rather simple. Sadly, he was not called upon to be part of the ball's workforce, so all he could do was be entertained. However, his thought process for a moment to digest that final word.

Enter... tain...

The world seemed to flash before him, before he was transported to a similar, yet very different place. The people here were not of his age, and most definitely not of his status. He could hear himself greeting the guests, though no words actually came out of his mouth. Some would laugh, then slip their arms around his. The boy could see the Marseilles busy conversing with other important people as he was tasked to speak with these others to keep them accompanied. The way people here looked at him was... Different back then... It wasn't simple acknowledgment or momentary interest.

It was something... Darker...

Breathing in deeply and exhaling in the same matter, he pushed the memory aside and returned to the ball. He was wearing a simple maid uniform, altered for events like these; his mistress had first given it to him many years ago, and he would always have it tailored to fit his size every now and then. It helped that he didn't grow much, and fully gave true notice to the quality of his skin. A rich, milky chocolate, creamy to look at, and soft to touch. Not a hair could be found, and he smelled of the freshest tropical wild flowers. His lips glistening ever so slightly, it was a wonder how he could keep such good care of his body, when everywhere he tried to clean would end up disastrous.

"Is everyone having a good time?" she grinned, and everyone seemed to shout back resounding woo-hoos, yesses, and yaaaahs at her.

...

"Well then," she began, "Give a damn loud round of applause for a performance that is simply stellar—literally! Ladies and gents, give it up for Team STAR!!!"

First flinching at the wording, Clover almost delved back into his past, before Yang followed up quickly after the chorus of excitement. The disk jockey's music died down, and seemed to soon be replaced by a student band. He was ready to just stay back, but a sudden rush of the crowd had pushed him forwards. Through his suddenly lost breathing, Clover was forced to the center row of the upcoming concert, and decided there would be no choice but to enjoy.

Enjoy... Myself...

For myself...

[Nachfolgia]

Avena looked up from her mountain of food just as Yang took the stage. She acted as sort of a hostess, greeting people and announcing certain events. This time, Yang was introducing Team STAR to the stage to perform. Hearing them being called to the stage, Avena cheered words of encouragement. It wasn't because she was a fan or anything, Avena cheers for everyone, whether it's a sparring match or a concert.


" You!!!" Weiss yelled, pointing straight at Avena from across the room.

" Shit." Avena muttered under her breath, trying to sit down quick to avoid being spotted.

" You rapscallion!! I know you knocked over the cake!!" Weiss continued to yell as she walked briskly towards Avena.

" W-what? I'm not a r-rap...rapping onion?" Avena replied, clearly confused by Weiss' words.

" It means mischievous, you dolt. Do you have any idea how much that cake cost? 1,200 Lien!" Weiss continued to birate Avena, placing her hands on her hips in anger. Since Weiss was noticeably shorter than Avena, She had to look up at her, which ultimately lessened Avena taking her seriously.

" 1,200?! If it was that expensive, why stack it that high? This was bound to happen sooner or later." Avena replied back, not grasping the reality of a simple cake being that expensive.

" That's beside the point. You are always wreaking private property. I know you were the one that also took some of my dust rounds. That was property of the Schnee Dust Company. You could be arrested and kicked out, which I'm suprised you haven't been already. Ozpin is too lenient on you and your team."

" I know what's going on. You've been working too hard and haven't eaten. Here, have some cake!" Avena said as she grabbed a piece of cake with her bare hand and presented it to Weiss.

" Ugh, revolting. You act very unlady like. I'm suprised you actually showed up with a date. Jackson must be embarrassed to be with you. " Weiss said coldly, before walking away.

" Well that was very rude, even for you Ice Queen." Avena said with a smirk, before taking a bite of cake from her hand.

[Serah]

It was then that Heamet appeared.
Sharply dressed, almost like he was off to a meeting, yet classy enough to be shown at a dance like this one.
It contrasted heavily with the old school walkman that blared music in his ears. It was more as a measure of precaution, every once in a while, his fuse tended to be short and since no one had yet seen him angered, he preferred not to show it, and instead did as much as he could to avoid all interactions, even with the currently playing music.
He had brought his own drinks, which was basically a bottle of vodka plus a flask of an unknown alcohol he distilled himself using his barriers, needless to say, he had a lot of it, and it was unbelievably strong.
Yet he never seemed to show any signs of drunkenness or such effects. Then again, he hardly showed anything anymore.

On his face was plastered a slight frown, as if he was out of it, barely looking around, he sat on a chair and haphazardly let his gaze wander.

Aria was already there, he had told her to go on ahead, that he had things to take care of.
Truth be told, given his mental state, she was kind of scared of what he would do, but arguably, that was the best state he could've possibly came in.
Rather, she was scared he wouldn't come in at all.

After having mingled a bit with other people, she came up to check on him.

"Hey. You alright Heamet?" She prodded.

"Possibly, depending on how depressed I currently am, which is a thing I cannot gauge yet, I'd say it ranges from: This is sort of okay, and I really want to die.
Given that I came here with strong alcohol, your guess is as good as mine, blin." He answered, in a low, yet somewhat charming tone that made the girl shiver somewhat.

"If you say so, big guy." She answered, before starting to get somewhat nervous.
"W-well... Since you weren't there at first, I couldn't dance with you, but assuming the group that's coming up plays a slow song, how about we go and... You know... Dance... Together..."

To this, the man looked up slightly, took off his earphones and brought Aria's face close to his.

"Aria, I may be drunk/depressed, but I'm not so inconsiderate as to deny you a dance." With that, he brought her even closer and kissed her.

[Icrum]

(Image)

Ballroom

And so nighttime fell on this otherwise normal weekend, and Beacon seemed to take on a slightly more formal ambience.

The ballroom was usually an empty place for much of the school year, only used during occasions like these or the reunions that happen once every few years. Now it had been given a fresh new look, with long satin ribbons suspended above the dance hall, balloons attached to rails and walls, and colorful lights below the windows. There were also bouquets of white roses that were placed by the entrance and by the stage. Speaking of the stage, it was located toward the end of the hall, and there seemed to be a drum set, a keyboard, and a couple of microphones. Behind that was a DJ set manned by two very famous electronic musicians. We don't know how Beacon managed to get them to play for this year's Dance, but they sure got lucky.

Team CFVY's work harmonized with the finishing touches that Weiss and Yang put together. Maybe Coco had left detailed instructions for them before she and the rest of her team left for Mountain Glenn. But for some reason these decorations seemed to take on a more… festive appearance, with red, white, and green dominating everything. There were also some Christmas wreaths that were put on the walls. We don't know why they chose to spread the holiday cheer this year, or whose idea it was to dangle a mistletoe on the chandelier (hue), but one thing's for sure—the art directors had waaaaaaay too much free time making up the whole scene.

Wait a minute, Mr. Storm, isn't it like between summer and fall at Beacon? How come they celebrate Christmas during that time? How can we be even sure that they celebrate Christmas? Also, isn't this technically breaking canon?

You ask too many questions, dear child. It is not good to fret over such trivial details.

But—

Shush.

Team FATE (Minus Eardwulf)

Today was the big day, as the Christmas themed dance rolled up. Well, Christamas to us non-RWBY humans. To them it was a winter holiday celebrating some dude who gave kids presents, and had elves and reindeer. But it's not Christmas, trust me. Anyways, everyone of team FATE, minus Eardwulf as he was busy with something in town, was at the dance. Fabi was clothed in a nice shirt that is reminiscent of a certain point in Earth's time when muskets ruled the battlefield, and matching pants of course. It was a nice green with white accents, though the buttons themselves were golden still, like the colour of a saint's aura. A Golden Aura. His weapon was in his locker, ready to be called at a moments notice. He was rejected, so he was going pretty stag. He didn't mind though. Plenty of ladies to try and woo.

Aiden opted for something a bit more traditional, though a red suit jacket might not be so traditional. However, he had a patch on the breast pocket. It was a military patch, reading '301st Atlas JROTC Platoon "The Screaming Nevermores"' on it. The patch showed that Aiden was in an Atlesian JROTC program, specifically the 301st JROTC Platoon, which was a fairly prominent JROTC Platoon during his training. He, along with the rest of platoon, trained alongside the standard Atlesian military and he held the knowledge of not only fighting in a squad, which helped him trough the team exercises Victoria like to put er class through, but how to lead people. He almost enrolled in the ROTC program immediately after combat school, but he figured becoming a Hunter an getting experience there would help him really propel through ROTC. His weapon was in his locker as well, though he left it there not in case of an issue, but because he wouldn't need it for a few days.

Like Fabi, Aiden was going stag. Not through any rejection, but failure to ask on time. He was planning on asking Blake, but after an incident involving Fabi's parents coming to visit, he completely forgot to. Also he was to nervous, but he wasn't ready to admit that. Taro actually had a date, and arrived earlier. He didn't say who it was, but that she was a fellow student. Aiden only caught a shadow of her while looking at Taro's scroll when he was off getting food, though Aiden swore that she was just pitch-black. Then again, Aiden didn't really look intently, just a quick glance. But with Taro's outfit, it was just a standard tuxedo with a nice carnation, some gloves for his hands, and really sweet boots instead of shoes.. However, like always, he still wore his helmet.

Aiden took to the food line, while Fabi was more interested with the backdoor. Aiden first grabbed a small cup of (Non-spiked) punch, then a small festiv cupcake. Though he ate food like a black-hole would suck everything in sight (huehue), today he was more sparse with his consumption. No, he was busy looking for someone more important than eating. Which was rare. It meant that he either was waiting for a friend or-

There she is. I should go talk to her, maybe try and squeeze another date in.

-looking for her. And he found her. Aiden was scanning the dance floor for a certain cat Faunus that he was heads over heels with, and found her in swift fashion. He looked around to see if anyone would notice him, nabbed a second cup of punch, and inched over towards Blake. As he neared her, a certain women who also stood at the food line looked, almost dejectedly, at the leaving Aiden.

Yamako (And Manus kind of)
Yamako, wearing a beautiful red dress with some holiday flair, stared sadly at Aiden. Not revealing it of course, emotions are for weak people. Or so she thought, but Manus, her fellow teammate, could see the sadness in her eyes. She was upset, as she had grown infatuated with Aiden. She didn't know how, or why, but she just wanted to love him. She fought with herself constantly after seeing him over wether she should love him or not. This was the first crack of her shell she imposed on herself, and may spell the end of Void, but that comes later. She stood in front of the food, accidentally, and didn't move. She was to busy staring at Aiden and feeling bad for herself. Would be a shame if someone wanted the cake.

Vic, Leika, Eardwulf, Taro, and Adam post to come soon. Maybe.

[Stormwrath]

Ballroom

Jackson seemed to freeze after happening to look at someone that was literally white from top to bottom. The distinctive gait, the patrician appearance, and the scar crossing her left eye all pointed to a particular person that was stamping her feet as she approached his table. Oh gods, he froze. It may appear that Ice Queen was on full bitch mode again, and that was never a good thing. Considering that Weiss would come to his table with a bad temper has certainly confirmed Avena's involvement with that crash from before.

Now it seemed, he finally knew everything.

He tried to ignore Weiss confronting Avena with less than friendly language—maybe that might be an understatement, for she was hella pissed after all—but after she seemed to insult Avena's choice of a date, he decided that perhaps he had heard enough dribble from her. As Weiss was about to leave, Jackson called out, "Hey, I'm right here. Don't drag me into this thing, Weiss."

She was a bit startled to find Avena's date sitting there, but that made her forehead crease even more. "Stay out of this, Jackson. Unless you want me to blame you for her conduct."

"Look," he tried to calm things down, even though trying to cool down the Ice Queen would probably be a long shot. "Avena just wanted to have a slice of that cake, she didn't mean to accidentally topple it or anything. If she has to pay for the damages, let's not have that tonight. Frankly, I'd agree with her that you've been stressing out, so I suggest you let it go and have fun unless you want to cause a scene."

It seemed off that he would actually defend Avena, but it certainly did some convincing at least. After that, Weiss had nothing to say save for a huff in her breath as she walked away, seemingly defeated. Jackson looked at Avena and said, "You're welcome."

Meanwhile Carmina had arrived at the punch bowl and picked up a cup, gobbling it down in a single go. That felt very refreshing. Before she could go, she spotted a lone velvet cake slice that was left on the table. "Man," she said to herself, "it would probably be a waste if no one picked that up. Well, just a bit more..."

Picking up a plate she was about to go to get it, but someone seemed to be frozen in line. She didn't seem to want to get it, but why was she standing there? "Ummm, Yamako?" Carmina tried to get her attention, but it was no use. "Yamako?"

She then tried waving her hand in front of her. "Hey, Remnant to Yamako? You alright or something? You seem spaced out. Anyways, can you please move? I-I kinda want that cake over there."

[Sindrya]

Backstage

"Group huddle, right now!"

In an instant, Team STAR huddled against each other.

Aka-Inu took a deep breath. On stage, he was the team leader. He made that point clear during the team's first formation. Therefore, at the moment, he was dealing with the mental strain of leading the band. Not something out of the ordinary for him, only that the strain was higher today, since they were going to perform for a much larger crowd. When he settled down his nervousness, he looked towards his teammates.

"Alright. Let's get our head in the game, guys." The guitarist cast a look towards the medic-turned-drummer. "You too, Reinard."

"Wha-?! I'll have you know I never let my mind wanders on stage!", Reinard fired back defiantly.

"Yeah, but you're the only one with a date tonight.", Shiro, their rhythm guitarist, noted, without a hint of jealousy in his voice. "Knowing you, that'd probably throw you off."

Kuro chuckled in support of his brother's argument.

Reinard can only huff in indignation.

"I said heads in the game!", Aka-Inu whispered loudly, shifting their focus on him. "We're going to face a crowd much larger than what we've seen. To us, this is our chance to get girls. To Reinard, this is his chance to impress his date." Surprisingly Reinard didn't even protest at his distinction from the team. "Stay focused, stay calm, don't get stage-fright, don't get nervous, remember the lyrics, the choreography-"

"Dude.", Shiro interjected. "Relax. We know. We've been on stage together for like a year. We'll made it."

Aka-Inu took another breath. Leave it to the older white-haired leader to read them like a book. He could even make out his hidden stage-fright. Knowing that their somewhat-reliable leader got his back was always calming.

Ballroom

His eyes narrowed after Avena said all of that. Jackson began to think that maybe she had something to do with that crashing sound over there, but he didn't seem to have seen her do it, nor did he actually see what she may have toppled over there. All he could do was give a dragged out "Right" and glare at his date for but a few seconds, all while his fork was sinking into the beef.

No matter, it was perhaps time to eat. Again the contrast was made—Jackson ate like he was in a four-star restaurant, while Avena and Carmina nawmed down their cakes like stray dogs. This was what made JACL seem like an eccentric team. The girls were behaving like boys, while the boys were more refined like girls. Well, maybe not Leif, he's just currently absent from the scene and slaving his ass off, and he'd just eat like any country boy dipping his feet into the big city would, but that's not the point.

"I know, right?" she let the sweetness of the angel cake sink into her taste buds. "The moistness of this thing is just so right, and it compliments the softness of it."

"Oi, you're making it sound dirty," reacted Jackson.

"Hey," the redhead pointed her fork at him. "That's just you, dude, not me."

Carmina then poked it into a particularly large piece of cake and shoved it into her mouth, but some of it got lodged in her throat as she swallowed it. Beating on her chest she coughed, "B-be right back, Imma get something to flush this down." Standing up she once again left the table and began to head for the punch bowl.

Clean-up was sent over to scrounge up the cake and dispose of it later. The students thought that was a huge waste of cake back there. Damn that pink-haired girl of Jackson's.

The music seemed to fade away and stop as Yang went up to the microphone. The glass-headed half of the DJ pair nodded his head at her, and then she took a deep breath. "Is everyone having a good time?" she grinned, and everyone seemed to shout back resounding woo-hoos, yesses, and yaaaahs at her.

"Well then," she began, "Give a damn loud round of applause for a performance that is simply stellar—literally! Ladies and gents, give it up for Team STAR!!!"

And so the applauce came forth from the crowd as the team got up on the stage with their instruments. Now this party is formally cranking up.

The guitarist let out the umpteenth huff. He looked back towards his teammates. "Well, that's our cue.", he said as he put a hand in the air. Soon, Shiro, Kuro, and Reinard's hands were piling up on his hand. They grinned towards each other.

"To STARdom! Hoorah!"

---

The Stage

The lights on the stage went out for a moment. Team STAR - no, Band STAR, now holding their own instruments, bathed in the darkness enveloping the stage.

Suddenly, as a riff played by Aka-Inu with his Black Burial - now the safety switch completely on, since he didn't want to shoot any Dust rounds during concerts, the light gradually came back on. The riff increased in volume, then shifted.

As the lights now shone on the band, the audience could see Aka-Inu, Shiro, and Kuro jumped while holding their instrument, meanwhile Reinard raised both hands and slammed down his drumsticks hard on the cymbals, as they proceed to play the intro melody to their first song, a cover of Goya No Machiawase - meaning "The Midnight Appointment" - by a Vacuan band named Hello Sleepwalkers. They danced around the stage, showing of their energy, while playing their instruments expertly. As the melody was nearing its end, Aka-Inu stepped towards the mike and sang the lyrics.

Dangan kometa shoujuu wo boku wa katate ni motteiru
Furueta kimi no iru basho e ashi wo hayame mukatteiru

Then, Shiro joined in as the backing vocalist.

(TIC TOC hari wo TIC TOC to)
Aseru kokoro wo sekashita dake
(TIC TOC hari wo TIC TOC to)
Todomaru kehai mo naku susunde yuku

They played an interlude melody with the same arrangement as the intro, before singing the next piece.

Dare no ondo mo nai heya de
Hiekitta te wo nobashiteru
Fusaida boku no iru basho wa
Dare ni mo wakaranai

Back to Aka-Inu and Shiro's duet.

(TIC TOC hari wa TIC TOC to)
Owari to hajimari no sakaime
(TIC TOC hari wa TIC TOC to)
Subete kasanatta

Aka-Inu's brief riff preceded the chorus.

(Heikou shite boku wa matteita!)
Usugurai heya hitorikiri
(Heikou shite boku wa matteita!)
DOOR wo keyaburu sono oto wo!
(Heikou shite boku ga matteita!)
Usugurai heya hitorikiri
(Heikou shite boku ga matteita!)
Mou osoreru koto wa nai yo!

Shiro and Kuro's dance began to get wilder, as the beat picked up with the chorus. After the chorus, the brothers decided to let loose with their movements, since Shiro no longer had any part to sing.

Dangan kometa shoujuu wo motte
Kataku tozasareta DOOR wo keyabutta
Suitsuita juukou ga hanete
Kinou no boku wo tsuranuita!

Oyasumi sono zetsubou wo uketotte
Ashita e no boku wa aruki hajimeta!

Mata konya machiawaseyou~

Then they played the same melody like the intro. Aka-Inu joined the brothers in letting loose. Reinard was busy head-banging while beating his drums and cymbals. Then, they closed the song with another riff, and with the final beat of Reinard's cymbals, the song ended, as the band members stroke their pose - the same pose they always did after every performance. Right arm extended upwards, with their index fingers pointing at the sky.

The lights dimmed as the din from the cymbals grew dimmer.

[Lunas Legion]

Alex's Briefing

Layla sighed. She couldn't quite believe what she was hearing; it all sounded like something out of some terrible novel back home. Sole surviving scion of a noble family decides to get revenge on those who killed his family. Yes, it was noble and honourable and all that. However, the world didn't run on honour or nobility. The world ran on pragmatism, plain and simple. Idealists either died quick or adapted. Hell, she'd been one of those idealists, running from her family to pursue the career of a huntress.

"I'll tell you later if I'm in or not. Will need to do some digging of my own first. If I don't say, come bother me and I'll answer." She finally answered. It wasn't a lie, it was simply concealing the truth. She had no intention of going along with it, since depending on the precise individuals concerned, they could very well be looking at irreparably destabilising Atlas. She'd have to get Alex to give her the exact names later. She left the room in silence.

---

Ballroom

Layla liked parties. Unfortunately, she liked Mistral parties, and this most certainly was not a Mistral party. For one, the only available alcohol was punch. Punch. And she wasn't entirely sure it was even alcoholic. She'd gathered a good eight cups of it anyway and had claimed a table and chair near the edge of the room, glaring at anyone who even seemed to want to sit at the same table. She really wasn't in the mood for company tonight. She didn't have a date either, not that it really mattered to her; she went to parties even if she didn't have a date. She could've probably picked one up if she wanted, but she didn't care enough to do so.

She didn't really care enough about this to get a dress specifically either. She'd dug out a short purple dress from the chest that she'd brought all her things to Vale in and worn it. It was comfortable and looked pretty good on her, or so she thought. She picked up one of her many cups, not paying attention as to whether she'd already drunk from it, and sipped at it briefly before putting it back on the table. No sense to drink it all at once, then she'd have to go get more.

The sound of music caused her to glance up at the stage. To be more precise, the sound of some pretty terrible music, but that wasn't what interested her. She rested her head on a raised fist. No, it was the musicians that interested her. Team STAR had been in the room when Alex gave his little briefing. Might be useful to see if they were actually going along with it or not. She blinked, and leaned back as the racket finally ended, her attention drifting back to her cups. Vacuans wouldn't know good music if someone killed them with some. Now she just had to last the rest of the party on these.

[Ormata]

Zimt Krasnyy
Ballroom

Things seemed to be going well. Well...somewhat well. The giant had some small amount of distaste for the various kinds of music and this band did not remind him of the Atlesian concerts and the like. It didn’t seem to be a concert sort of place, though, so he let it slide. Granted he had chosen a suit, black jacket and black vest with a sky blue tie, and he had somewhat been hoping for a less rambunctious style. He had some fun with some of the other kinds of music, though. Some fun.

A cake had fallen over, too. Zimt would have laughed at that, had he dared to inspire the wrath of a fellow Atlesian, yet he most definitely did not. She was rich, she was...poor-tempered, at times, and she was also a she. He could pick her up and throw her, yet that did not necessarily mean he should. Instead Zimt stood, off to the side, snorted at the sight before taking a drink from his glass again. Granted it was no fine wine, nor even a smooth cold flavor. No, Zimt had coffee, dammit. He wanted to stay awake, after all.

Yet then someone yelled-out. Zimt spun, looking for the source of the sound. It was Yang, one of the organizers with Team RWBY. He had seen them run-about, and perhaps Blake had seemed a bit down at times, yet overall they seemed rather...active. Well. Save for Ruby. Yet he doubted she had even wanted to come. She didn’t seem to be the type, and instead hung-about the punch bowl awkwardly. As she spoke he took another drink. They definitely had good coffee creamer. It was a pity he had eaten before.

"Give a damn loud round of applause for a performance that is simply stellar—literally! Ladies and gents, give it up for Team STAR!!!"

Then the music started and Zimt didn’t understand a word of it. The duet was...odd, and he enjoyed the other voices, anyways. This was just a bit strange. Just a bit. Then again, Team STAR was strange to begin with. They had just a little bit of class. Just a little. He took another sip of his coffee, before making his way over to the food. Perhaps he could have a bite.

It was the kind of buffet you would find at a higher-class place; the cooks were good. Heck, he could even see some fancy-schmancy shrimp, arranged so nicely. Cakes, pies, and general pastries were all present in their various colors and coatings, some still steaming hot and the smoke rising like in one of those drawn books from Vacuo. He picked-out a few shrimp for his own plate, before leaving the table and looking for a seat. You couldn’t eat standing, that was simply wrong.

He found one such seat, which was just a bit already occupied. Just a bit. A young lady was there, already, drinking herself down a drain. Rather, she was attempting to. The school had an interesting policy on alcohol and didn’t quite allow it. Zimt was surprised no-one had tried to sneak a keg in. Perhaps they had been successful. He could almost see that. Almost.

“You mind if I sit down?” He asked her, not quite sure if he should just...sit.

[Legatia]

Savannah Montaigne

It had been nearly a week since the Atlesian girl had left her homeland. After a long trip via sea, she arrived late at night two days prior. Her processing to get into Beacon finished last night, and it was today that the girl had learned her first day at Beacon would be.. a dance.

Summarily, the girl scrambled.

With so little time to prepare, and knowing absolutely no one, a date was out of the question- though she wouldn't likely have gone with anyone, anyway. However, even without a date to go with, she'd find her third day in Vale filled with shopping. Relying solely on her own wits and the opines of shopkeepers, she was able to blow a couple hundred- probably closer to a thousand Lien on stuff for the dance- A long, flowy brown and white dress to complement her hair, falling to near the ankles and held up by thin straps criss-crossing her shoulders; silver jewelry in the form of bracelets, small earrings with emeralds, yet foregoing a necklace. Her honey-colored hair was left neat as always, but for the occasion was done up behind her head in a messy bun, a few fringes of hair falling to frame her face. She opted not to use makeup, primarily because she had absolutely no idea how to do so, sans lipstick- which she did use, in a light pink color. And by the time she had finished buying the items, bringing them to the room she used in place of one for a team's room, she had to put them on to prepare for the dance.

And so, the Atlesian girl arrived quietly at the ball, stepping into the room quietly and looking around. She quietly moved out of the action quickly, noting that there was a concert going on now, and instead going to do something she had been wanting to do for the past few hours- eat.

[Lunas Legion]

Layla glanced up from her cups. He seemed nice enough, and she was probably going to fail on making it through the entire night on just these, so a distraction would be welcome. "Feel free. Could use the distraction, since whoever made the punch appears to have forgotten that alcohol is supposed to go in punch, and seeing that I have all of these..." She gestured to her many cups. "I'm pretty much committed to drinking lots of punch in the vain hope that there's alcohol in there somewhere in some tiny amount. Next time I'll bring my own. Can't have a party without alcohol, even if it's just me drinking."

[Ormata]

Zimt Krasnyy

"I'm pretty much committed to drinking lots of punch in the vain hope that there's alcohol in there somewhere in some tiny amount. Next time I'll bring my own. Can't have a party without alcohol, even if it's just me drinking."

Well, she definitely wasn’t from about here. Vale people seemed a bit more subdued in their drink, at least on the surface. Zimt hadn’t taken the opportunity to visit any of the clubs, and in all honesty most of them had been a see-and-forget sort of thing. He saw the name on the map, looked away, and forgot them. They had more...mundane names. Nothing that really caught your attention. Of course, the clientele they went for didn’t need their attentions to be caught in the first place, so maybe the issue was a moot one.

In any case, though, he snorted good-naturedly at her, sitting down. Could use the distraction. Well, sure, he could see that. Her accent suggested somewhere else, too. Mistral? No, she didn’t seem to have the smell. High-culture Mistral people were, well...cultured. They had the arts and a venue like this wouldn’t interest them. Low-culture Mistral people would come here to pickpocket, and she wasn’t doing that, either. Vacuo? Maybe.

Maybe. She did seem to have an interest in drinks, after all.

“Zimt,” he said, by way of introduction, dipping a shrimp and taking a bite. Hm...it had a tang to it. Tasted kind of like...well, he couldn’t find that it tasted like. Tomato, that was there most definitely. Some spices. Hm. Chewing briefly, he swallowed the piece, making one of those ‘so-so’ kinds of faces. “And you?”

[Sonitusia]

Mentari Nachtmann
Just outside the Ballroom

Tapping her foot to the rhythm of music inside, Mentari hummed quietly while sliding her finger across her Scroll. She wore a modern dress, a look of boredom plastered across her face. The girl ignored the looks of people who entered the the door besides her, not taking her eyes off of the screen. This was going to be yet another social event, one that reminded herself of a past she didn't enjoy much. Even if it wasn't meant for business, the memories of being left at the mercy of meeting guests she would never see twice wasn't pleasant.

Backstage

"Group huddle, right now!"

In an instant, Team STAR huddled against each other.

Aka-Inu took a deep breath. On stage, he was the team leader. He made that point clear during the team's first formation. Therefore, at the moment, he was dealing with the mental strain of leading the band. Not something out of the ordinary for him, only that the strain was higher today, since they were going to perform for a much larger crowd. When he settled down his nervousness, he looked towards his teammates.

"Alright. Let's get our head in the game, guys." The guitarist cast a look towards the medic-turned-drummer. "You too, Reinard."

"Wha-?! I'll have you know I never let my mind wanders on stage!", Reinard fired back defiantly.

"Yeah, but you're the only one with a date tonight.", Shiro, their rhythm guitarist, noted, without a hint of jealousy in his voice. "Knowing you, that'd probably throw you off."

Kuro chuckled in support of his brother's argument.

Reinard can only huff in indignation.

"I said heads in the game!", Aka-Inu whispered loudly, shifting their focus on him. "We're going to face a crowd much larger than what we've seen. To us, this is our chance to get girls. To Reinard, this is his chance to impress his date." Surprisingly Reinard didn't even protest at his distinction from the team. "Stay focused, stay calm, don't get stage-fright, don't get nervous, remember the lyrics, the choreography-"

"Dude.", Shiro interjected. "Relax. We know. We've been on stage together for like a year. We'll made it."

Aka-Inu took another breath. Leave it to the older white-haired leader to read them like a book. He could even make out his hidden stage-fright. Knowing that their somewhat-reliable leader got his back was always calming.

Ballroom

His eyes narrowed after Avena said all of that. Jackson began to think that maybe she had something to do with that crashing sound over there, but he didn't seem to have seen her do it, nor did he actually see what she may have toppled over there. All he could do was give a dragged out "Right" and glare at his date for but a few seconds, all while his fork was sinking into the beef.

No matter, it was perhaps time to eat. Again the contrast was made—Jackson ate like he was in a four-star restaurant, while Avena and Carmina nawmed down their cakes like stray dogs. This was what made JACL seem like an eccentric team. The girls were behaving like boys, while the boys were more refined like girls. Well, maybe not Leif, he's just currently absent from the scene and slaving his ass off, and he'd just eat like any country boy dipping his feet into the big city would, but that's not the point.

"I know, right?" she let the sweetness of the angel cake sink into her taste buds. "The moistness of this thing is just so right, and it compliments the softness of it."

"Oi, you're making it sound dirty," reacted Jackson.

"Hey," the redhead pointed her fork at him. "That's just you, dude, not me."

Carmina then poked it into a particularly large piece of cake and shoved it into her mouth, but some of it got lodged in her throat as she swallowed it. Beating on her chest she coughed, "B-be right back, Imma get something to flush this down." Standing up she once again left the table and began to head for the punch bowl.

Clean-up was sent over to scrounge up the cake and dispose of it later. The students thought that was a huge waste of cake back there. Damn that pink-haired girl of Jackson's.

The music seemed to fade away and stop as Yang went up to the microphone. The glass-headed half of the DJ pair nodded his head at her, and then she took a deep breath. "Is everyone having a good time?" she grinned, and everyone seemed to shout back resounding woo-hoos, yesses, and yaaaahs at her.

"Well then," she began, "Give a damn loud round of applause for a performance that is simply stellar—literally! Ladies and gents, give it up for Team STAR!!!"

And so the applauce came forth from the crowd as the team got up on the stage with their instruments. Now this party is formally cranking up.

The guitarist let out the umpteenth huff. He looked back towards his teammates. "Well, that's our cue.", he said as he put a hand in the air. Soon, Shiro, Kuro, and Reinard's hands were piling up on his hand. They grinned towards each other.

"To STARdom! Hoorah!"

---

The Stage

The lights on the stage went out for a moment. Team STAR - no, Band STAR, now holding their own instruments, bathed in the darkness enveloping the stage.

Suddenly, as a riff played by Aka-Inu with his Black Burial - now the safety switch completely on, since he didn't want to shoot any Dust rounds during concerts, the light gradually came back on. The riff increased in volume, then shifted.

As the lights now shone on the band, the audience could see Aka-Inu, Shiro, and Kuro jumped while holding their instrument, meanwhile Reinard raised both hands and slammed down his drumsticks hard on the cymbals, as they proceed to play the intro melody to their first song, a cover of Goya No Machiawase - meaning "The Midnight Appointment" - by a Vacuan band named Hello Sleepwalkers. They danced around the stage, showing of their energy, while playing their instruments expertly. As the melody was nearing its end, Aka-Inu stepped towards the mike and sang the lyrics.

Dangan kometa shoujuu wo boku wa katate ni motteiru
Furueta kimi no iru basho e ashi wo hayame mukatteiru

Then, Shiro joined in as the backing vocalist.

(TIC TOC hari wo TIC TOC to)
Aseru kokoro wo sekashita dake
(TIC TOC hari wo TIC TOC to)
Todomaru kehai mo naku susunde yuku

They played an interlude melody with the same arrangement as the intro, before singing the next piece.

Dare no ondo mo nai heya de
Hiekitta te wo nobashiteru
Fusaida boku no iru basho wa
Dare ni mo wakaranai

Back to Aka-Inu and Shiro's duet.

(TIC TOC hari wa TIC TOC to)
Owari to hajimari no sakaime
(TIC TOC hari wa TIC TOC to)
Subete kasanatta

Aka-Inu's brief riff preceded the chorus.

(Heikou shite boku wa matteita!)
Usugurai heya hitorikiri
(Heikou shite boku wa matteita!)
DOOR wo keyaburu sono oto wo!
(Heikou shite boku ga matteita!)
Usugurai heya hitorikiri
(Heikou shite boku ga matteita!)
Mou osoreru koto wa nai yo!

Shiro and Kuro's dance began to get wilder, as the beat picked up with the chorus. After the chorus, the brothers decided to let loose with their movements, since Shiro no longer had any part to sing.

Dangan kometa shoujuu wo motte
Kataku tozasareta DOOR wo keyabutta
Suitsuita juukou ga hanete
Kinou no boku wo tsuranuita!

Oyasumi sono zetsubou wo uketotte
Ashita e no boku wa aruki hajimeta!

Mata konya machiawaseyou~

Then they played the same melody like the intro. Aka-Inu joined the brothers in letting loose. Reinard was busy head-banging while beating his drums and cymbals. Then, they closed the song with another riff, and with the final beat of Reinard's cymbals, the song ended, as the band members stroke their pose - the same pose they always did after every performance. Right arm extended upwards, with their index fingers pointing at the sky.

The lights dimmed as the din from the cymbals grew dimmer.

Mentari was surprised. She hadn't expected to hear a vocal song considering the DJ's she was notified to be playing, much less rock music. It was intriguing to say the least, and she chided herself for forgetting that this was a school activity. There weren't going to be any business partners that she had to meet. All she had to do was have fun, mingle with her colleagues. Who knows, maybe she'll make a new friend that she didn't know already.

So, closing her Scroll, the girl took a deep breath and entered the hall. It was just as she expected after the song had finished; a large crowd had gathered in front of the stage, the band playing taking a quick break before they began their second song. It wasn't a scene she was familiar with, the music usually coming from off the scenes, a small strings group playing soothing tunes as society's elites spoke about economy and politics. Mentari didn't expect that Weiss, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, would be the one to hold such a party.

This didn't change the fact that Mentari wanted to be part of the mosh pit. She walked over to the snack bar, intent on trying to hold a normal conversation to begin the night...

Savannah Montaigne

It had been nearly a week since the Atlesian girl had left her homeland. After a long trip via sea, she arrived late at night two days prior. Her processing to get into Beacon finished last night, and it was today that the girl had learned her first day at Beacon would be.. a dance.

Summarily, the girl scrambled.

With so little time to prepare, and knowing absolutely no one, a date was out of the question- though she wouldn't likely have gone with anyone, anyway. However, even without a date to go with, she'd find her third day in Vale filled with shopping. Relying solely on her own wits and the opines of shopkeepers, she was able to blow a couple hundred- probably closer to a thousand Lien on stuff for the dance- A long, flowy brown and white dress to complement her hair, falling to near the ankles and held up by thin straps criss-crossing her shoulders; silver jewelry in the form of bracelets, small earrings with emeralds, yet foregoing a necklace. Her honey-colored hair was left neat as always, but for the occasion was done up behind her head in a messy bun, a few fringes of hair falling to frame her face. She opted not to use makeup, primarily because she had absolutely no idea how to do so, sans lipstick- which she did use, in a light pink color. And by the time she had finished buying the items, bringing them to the room she used in place of one for a team's room, she had to put them on to prepare for the dance.

And so, the Atlesian girl arrived quietly at the ball, stepping into the room quietly and looking around. She quietly moved out of the action quickly, noting that there was a concert going on now, and instead going to do something she had been wanting to do for the past few hours- eat.

"Savannah?"

Another surprise, Mentari was wrong about not meeting former acquaintances having to do with trade. Much less someone from Atlas. And yet there she was, one of Atlas' high-class girls, someone she had been introduced to so many years ago. She hadn't met her since then, and didn't even know much about her; not enough to make a clear statement.

---

Clover Nocciola

The band's performance was certainly lively. Clover couldn't help but feel adrenaline rushing through him as the crowd got pumped out along with the musicians, and after it was over, he was slightly tired, but happy nonetheless. This didn't stop him from squeezing his way out of the crowd however, not intent on going for a round two in such a tight environment.

Oh... Wasn't I supposed to meet with Mister Staal tonight?...

But he hadn't found the person in question ever since the ball had started. Looking left and right, the maid sighed through his nose.

Could he be late?...