For a class full of teenagers the room was surprisingly silent; in fact the loudest thing as of that moment was the teacher, though he certainly seemed to be making enough noise to cover for every aspiring Huntsman and Huntress in there.

"YES, THAT'S HOW A HUNTSMAN DOES THINGS!" He continued to cheer, apparently finding nothing wrong with the sight of a fifteen year old girl suplexing a 120kg Grimm, nor the ornate cracked bone mask held against her chest.

"Um..." Ruby didn't want to be the one to bring up the proverbial Grimm in the room (Nor, for that matter, the literal one) but as she stood there, red-lined mask as large as her torso clutched to her chest and a massive crater in the floor, she couldn't help but try and think of something to say. "...I'm sorry about your floor?" She tried, though somehow it didn't seem quite enough.

"PAH!" The older man waved off the apology, moustache twitching erratically as he jumped forward. "THE RISKS OF A HUNTSMAN'S PROFESSION, MY DEAR! AS YOU CAN ALL SEE HERE MS. ROSE TRULY IS THE EPITOME OF WHAT YOU SHOULD ALL AIM TO BE! WHY, SHE HIT THAT BOARBATUSK SO HARD SHE KNOCKED THE BEAST'S FACE CLEAN OFF!"

The reminder of black, inky smoke wafting off of a broken animal form made her cringe even as she blushed awkwardly under the professor's over exorbitant praise. "I just did what anyone else would've done..." She tried to justify, knowing even as the words came out that they were quite false.

"EVEN NOW SHE CONTINUED TO BE SELF-DEPRE-!" The bell rang before the older man could continue to lavish her with praise and immediately the atmosphere lightened, eager faces turning to the door yet unmoving. "OH, UH... You're all free to leave!" For once Port's voice didn't boom with the force of a thousand hammers and the students hastily gathered their gear, dashing to be the first out of the room.

'So much for not standing out...' Ruby's blush deepened as she noticed the myriad of looks shot her way as the other Huntsmen and Huntresses began to leave and was so engrossed in her self-pity that when a heavy arm fell around her shoulders she wasn't prepared. The Boarbatusk mask fell to the floor with a crack and she spun, lips pursed in terror as she looked up into the gleeful yet tense face of her professor.

"Ms. Rose!" He began, thankfully deciding to modulate his tone a little better than his usual fare. "Truly astounding work today! I haven't seen such fantastic techniques from so young a student before since, well... Ever! Save once, of course, but that was before Beacon removed the mirrors from the dormitories!"

"T-Thanks, professor." She squirmed, glancing around for help and finding only the stunned gazes of her teammates still affixed to her. "It was nothing! May I be excused?"

"Of course, of course! I just had one question; how did you manage to keep that Boarbatusk's mask from disappearing?"

Open curiosity was etched across what little of his face she could glean beneath his thick brow and moustache and hastily she searched for an excuse. "I... Used my Semblance! Yeah, when I touch things while I'm using it sometimes they... Don't disappear!" Nervously she cast her silver gaze to the floor and away from the blank face above her. "Yeah, that's it."

"I see." With a ponderous tone the professor released her, sending her stumbling with a strong pat on the back and a riotous laugh. "Well, what an interesting Semblance! Excellent work Ms. Rose! Now of course you may keep it if you so wish, but I was wondering if, well...!" For once the shameless professor's face twisted nervously and even beneath the thick silver-white hair that eclipsed his features she could see the embarrassment in his posture, fingers twiddling more alike a schoolgirl than a fifty-plus veteran Huntsman. "...What were you planning on doing with your spoils, exactly?"

"Keep it!" Ruby nudged at the bone-white Grimm mask with her foot as though it were diseased, pushing it between them and stepping away. "It's all yours professor!"

"Excellent! I shall have it on the wall immediately!" Professor Port straightened, shaking with untamed energy as he grabbed the spoil from its place on the floor. "And if being a Huntress doesn't work out I'm sure you could make a fortune selling the remains of your adversaries!" He paused. "Not that it will, of course! Imagine, a person of such high caliber failing to become a Huntress!"

As the rotund Huntsman boomed out a barking laugh Ruby nervously shifted away, feet scuffing against the scattered debris left over from her makeshift wrestling move even as she inched towards the door. "Thanks Professor Port! Anyway, I've gotta, uh..."

"We've got classes!" With a bright grin Yang threw an arm around her shoulder, dragging the bright red teen into a hug as she backed out of the room. Whatever response the no doubt vocal man may have had was drowned out by the older girl's arm locked in place around her shoulders and Ruby whined as the blonde came to a halt, sparing one final enthusiastic wave for the equally enthusiastic teacher before he fell out of sight. "Alright, what was that?"

Ruby stumbled forward as her sister released her, blinking up at her in forced confusion. "What was what?"

Yang raised an eyebrow in disbelief and she flinched as she glanced around, sparing barely a second to be surprised when her other two teammates failed to appear. 'Guess they're not too bothered at least.' Inwardly she sighed in relief, staring up into the lilac gaze of her bemused sibling. "Ruby," Yang started, tilting her head as she observed her. "You suplexed a Boarbatusk; call me crazy but I'm pretty sure that's not something you could do before arriving at Beacon."

"I-"For a moment she considered how best to lie to her, however it passed all too quickly and as it did so the realization struck that she was considering lying to her own sister over her abilities because, what, she was afraid? Considering the monumental changes in their relationship lately wasn't that kind of hypocritical? "-It's something to do with my Semblance, I think." She finally confessed, shrugging half-heartedly.

"Huh." Yang's lips quirked into a curious smile. "I thought your Semblance was just speed?"

"I thought so too! But then I woke up one day and it was all 'Level Up' and 'Skill Points' and 'Titles' and every time I got into a fight or did certain things I'd get, like, ridiculously stronger!" She huffed, glancing away in thought. "Before I knew it I was moving even faster than normal and noticing things I'd never noticed before."

""Noticing things", eh?" Yang leered, ignoring the younger girl's stuttering protest in favour of leaning in and bracing her arm beside her blushing face. "That explains a lot, though. I thought I spotted you eyeing Jauney-boy and Blake earlier, I was just a little worried I might'a had some competition."

The blushing girl pointedly pushed Jaune's affections out of her mind as she denied the accusation. "O-Of course not, and besides that we really shouldn't be doing this out in the open!"

"I did say "Just a little"." Yang reminded her teasingly, nonetheless pulling away. "Who could compete with this after all?" With a smirk she flexed, pouting as she shot her sister a wink.

"Yaaaaaang." Ruby cringed. "Stop it!"

"Okay, okay!" Leather creaked as her hands came to rest on her hips and Yang smiled at her sister, beaming with a kind of nervous cheer that she found usually belied some hidden question. "So, this ability thing, you didn't go off and start hunting Grimm without your team just to try and get stronger, did you? No 'hidden quests' or 'objectives'-"

Quickly the younger girl shook her head, suddenly recognizing the dangerous gleam in the blonde's eye. "No! No, it just started happening all at once and there wasn't even any warning! It's not like there was a tutorial or anything."

"Huh." Yang considered that for a moment with all of the care it afforded. "Well, okay then. Let me know if anything else happens with your Semblance, 'kay?"

Ruby blinked. "Okay. Wait, you're not... Mad? That I didn't tell you anything about this or that I didn't ask you about it?"

"Ruby, I get it. You didn't really have any idea what was going on and everything sort of came on at once, right? I mean there was the robbery then Beacon, new teams, class, sorting out our rooms, us... Huh." Once more she considered the circumstances, brow furrowing as she raised a finger to her chin. "Now that I think on it, a lot has happened over the past few days, hasn't it? I guess that's what uncle Qrow meant when he said that the life of a Huntsman is always moving."

"Y-Yeah." Ruby chuckled, blushing as she looked away into the empty hallway. "I mean even Jaune and Blake have hidden depths to 'em; I get that she's a Faunus and all but when we were talking she even said couples like us weren't that strange." She paused. "Actually, I wonder if she meant the whole faunus thing now? Nah, if she meant that then she wouldn't have been... So..." Trailing off, she slowly turned to look up at her still sister, swallowing sharply at the intense stare levelled her way. "Yang...?"

-X- -X-

Blake Belladonna would freely admit that she felt a little guilty. She was trying to be a good teammate and become a great Huntress, but, well... She just couldn't connect with her teammates.

She could tolerate Jaune of course, the boy was so nervous and shy that he was almost as quiet as she was, and Ruby had immediately managed to get past her defences; heck, even Yang seemed to respect her personal space somewhat. Put them together however and then things changed.

Across the cafeteria Pyrrha and Weiss quietly ate their meal, undeterred as Ren and Nora boisterously (Well, maybe more Nora) chattered on. It was enough to make her envious.

They weren't the worst team though, no, that honour belonged to the team of boys sneering at the few unique students passing by. Cardin Winchester and his team of misfits didn't dare act up though, they knew now how some of said students would react and even their arrogant pride couldn't push them to make that kind of mistake again.

Unbidden a smile dragged at her lips and hastily she shook her head, scowling at the light flutter she felt at the thought. Beacon had proven that it wasn't quite as bad as she had feared and while her team wasn't exactly ideal...

Images flitted through her mind of powerful Ursa falling to the forest floor, a silver-eyed smile offered her way and three simultaneous uncaring faces watching on as her bow flew to the wind and she felt that same flutter her once more. Her team had its hang-ups, but... Maybe it wasn't so bad.

A thud sounded to her right and Blake tilted her head, stoic as ever as she took in Yang's narrow eyed stare, hands criss-crossed beneath her chin as she studied the black-haired teen. "...Hi?" She tried after a moment of the girl's silent staring, flinching when her eyes only narrowed further. "Did you need something?"

Another few seconds passed before, suddenly, Yang slammed her hands down onto the table. "So Blake," She started, smile a little too wide as she met the girl's wide amber eyes. "How did you and Ruby meet, exactly?"

Blake blinked, shrugging half-heartedly at the strange question. "In the forest. During the initiation?" The statement felt almost like a question and she wondered for just the briefest of seconds if maybe she had misjudged the blonde. Absently she felt her ears twitch and she forcibly suppressed the sigh that threatened to escape. "Yang, is there something wrong?"

Yang stared her down, lilac gaze piercing her with its intensity. Still, she'd faced far worse than Yang Xiao-long and she didn't so much as flinch as she met the glare head-on. "What has Ruby told you about her and I?"

And just like that her resolve faltered. "Told me...? Nothing! Just that you're sisters and that you... Care about... Each other." Despite her willingness to accept the two she still couldn't quite say the words out loud and inside she scolded herself, awkwardness prevailing even as a swell of relief surged forth. "It's none of my business." She finished.

Another moment of silence and the blonde hummed, grinning stiffly. "So you two are friends, right? I mean, you're partners so that's kinda obvious but you're also friend-friends, right?"

"Of course!" Once upon a time she might have wondered at the distaste that arose at the sheer concept of not being Ruby's friend, but when she thought back on all of Adam's double-talk and the agendas of the people that had surrounded her all her life it was easy enough to realize just why she wanted such a friend so much.

Just like that Yang's expression eased into something decidedly more friendly, a warm lilt returning to the brawler's voice that she hadn't noticed was missing. "Then thanks, Blake."

"You're welcome?"

As the blonde stood, casually stepping away and walking back out of the room, Blake decided then and there that she had been totally right in her earlier conceptions.

Her team was a pain in the ass.