13 Ch 12: First Night in Beacon (1)

The day passed quickly, and that night all the new students gathered in the ballroom to sleep with their sleeping bags laid out haphazardly.

Having set up his and his sisters' sleeping bags for the night, Ray grabbed his bag and went to the boy's locker room to change into his sleepwear. As he entered, he saw Jaune pulling out a baby-blue rabbit onesie to wear.

"Oh, no. You are not wearing that." Ray protested, snatching the onesie out of Jaune's hands and stuffing it back in his bag.

"What? They're comfortable." Jaune asked, starting to pull them out again.

"And they'll just get you bullied and tormented for, oh, I don't know, your entire time at Beacon!" Ray protested. "Here! Wear this." Ray tossed him the pair of grey flannel pants with prints of a black and white corgi on them that he had been planning to wear and took out red basketball shorts with black piping for himself instead.

Jaune examined the new sleepwear Ray had given him, "I guess these do look a bit less… Umm…"

"Weird? Ridiculous? Pathetic?" Ray threw out a few choice words of his own.

"Juvenile?" Another boy called out from behind Ray.

"Yeah, that…" Jaune admitted defeatedly with a sigh.

Ray turned to face the boy who had spoken. He was an effeminate young man, about 5'9", with distinctly Asian features. His skin was a pale white, his phoenix eyes sakura-pink, and his black hair hung loosely just above his shoulders with a single streak of magenta down the left side except for a low ponytail in the back that reached down to the middle of his back. He also had yet to change into his sleepwear and was currently wearing a dark-green, long-sleeved tailcoat diagonally buttoned with black sections, gold trimming, and pink cuffs with red on the inside. The black areas went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar around his neck and waist. Underneath this, he wore a black long-sleeved shirt and light-tan pants with black shoes.

"I'm Lie Ren. Family name Lie, given name Ren, so please call me Ren. Nice to meet you." Ren held out his hand to Ray.

"Rajeev Rose. But you can call me Ray." Ray said, smiling. Ray could feel the confidence and gentleness contained within the stable grip as he shook Ren's hand.

"Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you too." Jaune said, also shaking Ren's hand. "Oh, by the way, Ray. I forgot to ask you earlier today." Jaune turned back to Ray, "Rajeev is an unusual name. Where does it come from?"

"It comes from one of the lost languages from before the four kingdoms were founded." Ray answered.

"It means 'Blue Lotus', doesn't it?" Ren asked, pulling out a dark-green sleeping kimono for himself to change into.

"Yeah, it does. That's where my emblem comes from." Ray pointed at his emblem on the back of the jacket he had just taken off. The three boys continued chatting as they proceed to change into their sleepwear while getting to know each other.

As the three exited the locker room, Ray asked Ren, "So, did you come to Beacon alone, or together with someone?"

Ren smiled, "Well, I do have my friend-" he started to say.

"NORA!" A short, bubbly girl suddenly jumped out at them, screaming. The girl was about 5'1", had jade-green eyes, shoulder-length, wavy, orange hair, and white skin. Her tomboyish looks matched well with her vibrant and outgoing personality. She was already in her pj's, a pair of pink shorts with white thunderbolts and a dark-grey t-shirt with the word "boop" across the chest in white block print and the second 'o' replaced with her emblem, a hammer with a thunderbolt going through it in a pink circle.

"Haha. I take it this is your friend, Nora." Ray laughed at Nora's over-abundance of energy even right before bed.

"Yes, yes, it is." Ren confirmed with a nod and a wry smile.

"Nora Valkyrie's the name! Breaking legs is the game! Nice to meet you." Nora grabbed Jaune's hand and shook him so hard his entire body was lifted off the ground and shaken like a ragdoll.

Nora moved on from shaking Jaune out to grab Ray's hand, "Ren and I have been together foreeevvver! Well, not together, together, hehe. We just came to Beacon together and…" Nora's rambling trailed off as she tried to shake Ray like she had Jaune but was unable to. Instead, Ray seemed to be keeping up with her. Having finally met someone who could match her in strength, Nora increased the power in her grip and shook harder, a competitive grin growing on her face. A similar grin was growing on Ray's face. As their handshaking competition escalated, both their arms disappeared in a blur, and they started to generate a strong wind that caused Ren's hair to flutter and pushed Jaune back a step.

"Nora…" Ren said wryly.

"Yes, Ren?" Nora immediately released Ray's hand and turned to look at him, beaming. Ren could only shake his head in exasperation. On the other hand, Ray burst out laughing as he watched Ren instantly rein in the wild child, finding her antics and their byplay hilarious.

"HA HA HA! Aren't you a happy-go-lucky girl. Good for you staying relaxed under pressure. Your team will be lucky to have someone as strong and sunny as you on their missions." Nora had a massive grin on her face, and Ren smiled appreciatively at Ray hearing this.

"Alright, I better get back to Ruby and Yang." Ray said as he started to walk away. "It was nice to meet you, Ren, Nora. See y'all around." Ray gave them a small wave over his shoulder without turning around as he left.

"Ruby and Yang?" Ren asked Jaune.

"His sisters." Jaune clarified.

['Y'all'?] Nora wondered to herself, a pondering look on her face. None of them paid much attention to Ray's retreating back.

######

Ruby and Yang had already finished changing and returned to where Ray had laid out their sleeping bags. Yang was wearing an orange tank-top with her emblem emblazoned on the front and black gym shorts. Ruby was wearing a black tank-top with the head of a beowolf in a heart-shaped design on the chest and long white sweatpants decorated with pink roses. She also had a black eye-mask with red Grimm eyes pushed up on her forehead.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang joked, collapsing down on Ray's sleeping bag next to Ruby, who was lying down on her stomach on top of her own sleeping bag, writing in a notebook.

"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby replied, without looking up as she continued to write in her notebook.

"I know I do. Puuurrrrrr." Yang trilled, watching several muscular, shirtless guys flexing and showing off. [Now where is my hot, little brother?] Yang pondered to herself. Those boys unable to hold her attention for long, [Ah, there he is.]

Yang's eyes, and those of nearly every other girl in the room, were drawn towards Ray's figure as he maneuvered his way through the mess of sleeping bags. He may have looked more lean than muscular with his clothes on, but in only his basketball shorts, his adonis body was now on full display. His entire body was decked out in tightly honed muscles, flexing and bending, stretching and contracting as he walked. His body was a sculpted masterpiece of controlled power that could cause any adolescent girl to drool. A work of art with only a single blemish, the scars that marred his back.

Frightened gasps followed behind him as those Ray passed got a clear view of the four long gnarled gashes that marred almost his entire back, stretching from his right shoulder blade to just above his left hip. The whitening of the scars and the twisted stretch-marks around them revealed that it was a very old injury that he must have gotten when he was very young. However, in its age, it told a hair-raising story of how severe the wound must have been for the marks to still remain vivid after so many years. The sight awakened the maternal instincts of many of the girls who saw it even as the gruesome sight frightened them. They wanted to cuddle and comfort this gorgeous man who must have suffered so.