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The bustling crowds of Beacon academy are the last place that you want to be.

They push past you, talking and laughing with each other. You self consciously imagine that they're laughing at you, instead of what was probably a silly joke or story. The ground here looks nice, a lot nicer than the muddy floor of your small home town. Knowing yourself, the two of you are going to become very closely acquainted.

It's only by a stroke of intense luck, and maybe a tiny bit of skill, that you were even permitted to attend this academy. You don't work well in teams. You're more of a liability most of the time, following the orders of others closely and never letting your own voice be heard; which in situations that often rely on quick thinking, makes you a pain to work with.

Clutching your luggage tightly to your chest you weave through the crowds of students. You avoid eye contact by any means possible and quickly enter into the main building where the headmaster would hold his introductory speech for all the new students. You find a quiet corner to hold out in, you don't like large crowds of people, you never have.

The crowd soon filters in, packing the large hall wall to wall. You finally manage to peel your eyes away from the floor as the principal approaches the stage to begin his speech. You pay rapt attention as he speaks of strength and honour, and fighting the defend those who cannot defend themselves.

But you feel doubt in the back of your mind. You're strong, in some ways, you can handle yourself in a fight. But you still wouldn't dare make eye contact with another person, or even talk to them in some cases.

The students begin to pull apart and leave to find their (temporary) dorms, after all, tomorrow is the process that determines the teams that will stay together for their time at the academy.

You're dreading it.

---

The next morning you pull out your combat outfit. It's rather plain, apart from a deep blue scarf which you use as a mask to cover the lower half of your face. Your mother gave it to you as a gift, but it's now found an entirely new, unexpected purpose. You also tie an old piece of the scarf (torn away a year ago) around your right biceps. You don't like to go without the whole thing.

You feel a small surge of confidence fill you. Covering your face, even if it's only the bottom half, makes you feel much better. Almost as if you're a different person who doesn't have to worry about what people think. That when you remove it at the end of the day, you're also removing any embarrassing moments that happened with it.

Then there's your weapon, or weapons. You can't afford anything fancy like some of the other kids at this school. But your family has a little bit of a history of huntsmen, in fact when your great uncle found out about your training he immediately came to your town and handed you some family heirlooms, left untouched for a generation. And gave you some forceful training in how to handle them.

First is a rapier, well worn from countless battles. It's a long sword that curves slightly at the end. It provides superior reach and agility compared to a regular sword.

Next is your ranged weapon, as is tradition for a huntsman. These days most people like to combine their ranged and melee weapons together for easier use. But your training was different, instead you had two pistols. Your great uncle had taught you well on how to use both the sword and pistol in each hand. The second was a backup. (Although unknown to him, you had tried to dual wield them once. A mistake you wouldn't repeat again after a bloodied nose and a busted wrist.)

You place them in two holsters, one on your chest and one on your hip. That way, no matter what, there's always one at your fingertips. You tug down on the scarf to hide the one of your chest.

With the rapier and pistol, you could easily overwhelm a lesser opponent through sheer quantity of attack. Jab through their defence with the sword, and exploit their openings with the gun. Somehow you doubt that you'll be able to put these skills to use, from what little you've heard about the selection process for the teams.

And finally, just in case that your other backup weapons fail you, you also have a much newer short blade which you keep at the base of your back. So if you ever reach the event where you lose every other weapon on your person, you have one more to surprise the bastard giving you trouble.

Carefully packing away your other items in preparation for the dorm move, you steel yourself for the first impression you'll be giving to the other people in your class. You head out to the helipad and board the transport with several other people you've yet to speak to. You close your eyes and try to calm yourself down as you travel to the destination.

---

Several people mull around the top of the cliff, as the headmaster and a fellow teacher speak with each other for a moment. Some of the others give you weary glances, as you are the only one not to show his full face. You remain silent, not wishing to give off a poor impression.

Hey, those rocks look pretty nice down there.

Ozpin clears his throat, catching the attention of all present. You slink to the back of the group as everyone shuffles for position.

"Good morning students, today we will be determining the teams you will work with for the rest of your time here at Beacon. However, we will not do so in a manner you may expect. In order to encourage our students to work effectively in teams we do not allow them to pick their own partners."

That's fine by you. You've been left as the odd one out too many times now.

"I'd like everybody to line up in this order," Goodwitch says holding up the list. She rattles off a series of names and orders them to line up on a series of white platforms that face off the edge of the cliff. It looks like the rumours you heard were actually true.

"The rules are simple, the first person you make eye contact with is your partner. The two of you will venture through the forest and retrieve a pair of items for me from the centre. You will then return here.

"Be careful, while we choose these locations carefully to minimize risk there may still be threats lurking in the woods. Treat this as your first real exercise as a student here at Beacon," Ozpin warns.

Yay, eye contact. The one thing you physically CAN'T do.

"Oh, and watch the landing."

The first platform releases, flinging one of the boys deep into the woods. It seems he wasn't aware as he screeches on take-off. The others brace themselves, as do you, spreading your legs out into a more stable stance so you can control your own take-off. As the person in the middle of the pack, you feel liable to run into someone very soon after landing.

Your stomach leaps into your mouth as the launch pad releases and flings you at a very high velocity into the air. Thankfully you manage to keep yourself straight, with the hang time you search for an appropriate spot to land. You find a clearing with few trees around it and try to steer yourself in the direction of it. In your peripheral vision you see the others scattering into the woods on their own.

Maybe it was time to use your semblance? With intense focus you channel your power as you rotate to fly feet first. With the ground approaching rapidly you push out your aura and form what is essentially a slide to smooth out your landing. It reduces your velocity enough to make contact with the ground with only a slight stumble on your part.

Your semblance is incredibly powerful. It allows you to manipulate the shape of our own aura. Depending on how focused you are, you could even use it to make an extra limb during a fight. However doing so weakens your defence significantly, as the concentration of aura protection around your body changes as you do so.

On the other hand, you could also concentrate your defence on certain parts of your body. Due to how the aura works, this obviously doesn't last forever. However it does make your defence more efficient and much harder to shatter with single attacks.

As you nod to yourself on a landing well done, you pull to meet the deep green eyes of a girl brushing the leaves from her blouse. You quickly look away, but the damage is done as she approaches you with a smile.

"Hello!"

You avert your gaze. She pouts.

"We're going to be team-mates! Right?"

You nod.

"I'm Lime, what's your name?"

You mumble it out, the sound barely reaching her ears.

"Oh, you don't like talking much huh?"

You shake your head.

"Can't say I've ever seen a shy huntsman before," she giggles. "C'mon pal, let's go find those items!"

You nod again and follow her deeper.

---

Eventually you find a set of ruins, with pedestals set up, each one holding a chess piece. You and Lime grab a matching pair. As some other pairs break through into the clearing too. As you leave the area, Lime takes the opportunity to ask about your weapons.

"So, what do you use?" she asks pointing to your rapier. She pulls out her own weapon, a large club. You thought that your weapon was simple, as far as you can tell she doesn't even have a gun.

You pull out the rapier and hold it in your palms, she whistles to herself. "That thing look like it's seen a lot of fighting, that's really awesome." You place it back and pull out one of your pistols.

"Keeping it simple huh? Can never go wrong with a sword and a gun. Wish I had one."

"M-maybe you can borrow mine sometime," you squeak out, the first time you've spoken since earlier.

"Aw really? Thanks pal!"

You reach under the scarf and pull out the other, handing it to her. "Wow, you have two? Ever thought about dual wielding?"

You nod, then shake your head. She laughs.

"No good right?" She inspects the gun closely, looking at every contour and angle, feeling the weight in her hand.

You hear a rustling from the bushes and stop dead in your tracks. Lime tosses the gun back which you place back into it's holster. She hefts up her mace as a wolf life Grimm leaps from the undergrowth with a snarl.

"I hope my gun envy didn't attract this thing!" Lime hollers as she leaps back from the pouncing attack.

Pulling out your other gun you fire some shots at the beast, it staggers back as the force of the rounds knock it off balance. With surprising speed you shoot forwards and thrust, slicing it through the skull like it was nothing. Lime stares in wonderment at your dispatching of the Grimm.

"You know what? I think we're gonna' be a great team!"

---

It turns out she was right.

You met your other team mates that day, Navy and Ivy. And while they took a while to adjust, Lime acted as your personal communicator for the first few weeks. Soon enough to felt comfortable enough around them to remove your mask without blushing madly and hiding your face in your hands.

Ivy was just as boisterous as her comrade in colour Lime. While Navy became the voice of reason among your team, his bespectacled face always hovering over to make sure the team was running smoothly. Soon enough they came to understand your quirks and issues, and were ever accommodating for them.

Team LINE quickly rose to the top of the class rankings. Lime was disappointed that your initial wasn't an M, but she wasn't the leader anyway. You told her to thank your great uncle for the E, which you yourself didn't know the meaning of.

---

Then one day, you met her.

The most beautiful woman you'd ever seen. Not that you'd seen a lot of them with how much you stared at the ground anyway. She had black hair and striking yellow eyes, and a face full of equal parts fury and solace. You spotted her reading a book beneath one of the many trees around the campus, and ever since you've been noticing her everywhere.

Lime noticed, unfortunately.

"Aw, does Mr. E have a crush? Never thought I'd see the day!" she declares in your dorm room. This caught the attention of Ivy. The terrible twosome give each other a Cheshire grin and quickly close in, taking spots at either side of you. Navy sighs from his bed across the way, knowing that the sleep he wanted was no longer forthcoming.

"So, it's that black haired girl right?" Lime prods.

"Hm, be a bit more descriptive?" Ivy responds.

"You know the one, she's always nose deep in a book out in the plaza. She wears a big black bow and has yellow eyes."

"Oh! I know the one, I think her name's Blake."

"Yeah, yeah! That's the one."

"Hm, you've set yourself a high mark there mister!" Ivy teases. It's well known throughout the campus that she's a beauty, but also real cold. In fact, she didn't get along that well with her team at first.

The two make eye contact and grin to each other, "So you know what that means?" Lime begins.

"That means, that as your team-mates, we have to help you!" Ivy continues, twiddling a finger through her black hair.

You have a bad feeling about this. Navy gives you a pitying look from across the room.

---

Step one; introducing yourself to her. Step one according to the green girls anyway.

But you know yourself better than anybody else, and trying to talk to a girl you're attracted to is a no-go. You're so shy that even your great uncle E. had trouble getting his training through to you. But Ivy and Lime had insisted, and even come up with a silly scheme to try and get the both of you to meet each other.

So that's why you're sat in the plaza with a book in your hands. In the vein hope that Blake would come and willingly sit next to you.

"T-there's no way that'll work," you whispered to them outside the door to the dorm. "She could just... sit somewhere else," you mumbled.

"Trust me on this E." Lime asked, "Tomorrow, it's the club fair, it's going to be packed! So that means that sitting room is at a premium."

"Yeah, so get out there. Show some interest in that book, and she'll think that it's a nice place to sit and read with a fellow bookworm."

"And what if she stays in her dorm instead?" you ask.

"There's no harm in trying," Lime concluded, clapping her hands together.

So here you are. As she predicted, the plaza is packed with people recruiting for various clubs and activities. You've carefully selected a bench far enough away to be tolerable for reading, but close enough to her usual haunt that she has to come this way.

Speak of the devil, you can see her now. She seems taken aback by the sudden presence of stalls and people in her usually quiet spot. She looks around, you quickly look down before she notices you staring and begin to read the book you were given. Seems like a sappy romance novel to you.

You see a pair of leggings walk past your eyes, and feel the presence of somebody else sitting on the bench.

What are the odds? You can't believe it.

You sneak a glance over and notice her opening her own book. Wait, is that... the same one you have? You check the back cover, "Ninjas of Love" you whisper to yourself. The yellow eyed girl looks over for a second and spots you staring at the cover. She begins to blush slightly, her back straightening.

Well, now what?

A fatal flaw has occurred in Lime's plan, you! There's no way in hell you can talk to an attractive girl on your own! You can barely order food without Navy repeating your order for you! As a result of this problem, you bury yourself in the book as an awkward silence settles over the two of you, at least until you reach chapter 6.

"What the hell," you whisper to yourself, "Why did she give me this?" You close the book and place it down, an intense blush igniting your cheeks. Now you understand why Blake was acting this way earlier. You watch a few people pass by before remembering that Blake is sat right next to you.

It seems your whispering has caught her attention, she looks at you with some curiosity as you desperately evade eye contact. "Not a fan?" she states; less of a question and more of an accusation.

"U-uhm," you mumble. The brief outrage you felt at the book's contents falling away as you're placed under the scrutiny of your one sided crush.

"Are you a big reader too?" she asks. Almost as if attempting to defuse the tension let up by her last sentence.

You shake your head, "M-my friend r-recommended it to me."

"It is... a bit low brow. I don't think a boy would enjoy it that much."

"W-well Lime is like that..." you mumble.

"I'm Blake," she says with a nod.

"I'm E- E-"

"E?"

"W-well I have a full name," you cough out nervously, "But everyone c-calls me E. N-nice to meet you."

She smiles, a little bit, at your terrible introduction.

"Nice to meet you too. You know I could give you some proper recommendations for things to read."

You nod, still looking away from her eyes. You shuffle uncomfortably.

"Do I make you nervous?" she asks.

"W-well not you specifically. Heh, this is... what I'm like."

"Never thought I'd meet a shy huntsman."

"Lime said that too," you smile.

"I think I've heard of you, you're in LINE. You guys are pretty good."

You nod again. She thinks for a moment, "I wonder what you're like in the field."

"W-well we'll have an opportunity to watch each other soon..."

"True. Here."

She hands you a piece of paper, "My scroll number. If you want some real books to read, feel free to message me."

You stare at the number for several seconds in disbelief, just like that? As you look up to try and thank her, you notice that she's already gone.

---

Ivy and Lime shake each other giddy from behind their hiding spot. Before squealing to each other. "I can't believe he did it!" Ivy whispers.

"I know! We're gonna' give him such a teasing later!"

---

From behind another bush Ruby Rose tilts her head in confusion. Who was that boy? Did Blake make a new friend?