Fox was blind. That wasn't a big problem most of the time. He had managed without sight for seven of his seventeen years, even passing the beacon Academy entrance exam. Which was how he'd ended up in his current situation: hurtling through the air, from the top of Beacon Cliff towards the Emerald Forest below. Somehow he would have to land in one piece, find a partner, and head for the temple at the northern end of the forest to retrieve a relic before returning to the cliff.

Fortunately, when Fox had lost his sight, his other senses had sharpened. Or he'd just learned to pay more attention to them. Also, he'd found or developed an ability to use what his remaining senses were telling him, to generate a fairly accurate three dimensional 'map' of the area around him. Like how now, in his mind, he could 'see' the canopy of the forest as he approached it. Whether his ears could hear the sound of rustling leaves over the noise of his passage through the air, or he had some kind of sixth sense, he didn't know. What he did know was that it was time to act.

Twisting his body as he fell, Fox reached out a grabbed a branch in the topmost part of a tree. The branch bent and quickly broke, absorbing some of his momentum before he let go of it. A couple of repetitions and Fox was dangling from the lower branches of another tree, with the forest floor an easy drop below him.

On the ground, Fox took a defensive stance, and listened. As he did so, the part of his mind that took care of rendering his 'map' went to work. Leaves rustling and branches moving in the breeze, the buzzing of insects and the calls of birds, were noted, then shifted out of conscious perception so he could focus on threats. There were trees in every direction. There was some undergrowth, but not as much as he'd feared. Beacon Cliff wasn't on the 'map'. There was nothing in his immediate vicinity that screamed 'threat'. Time to get moving.

From a pouch on his belt Fox produced a collapsible white cane. He didn't need it very often any more, at least not in areas he knew well, but here it would be very handy for testing the ground ahead of him, and it could do one thing that his heightened senses probably never would. Using both hands to hold the cane straight out in front of him, Fox pressed a button on the top of the handle.

"Two hundred thirty degrees. Southwest." an electronic voice intoned. Fox did a right face. "Three hundred twenty-five degrees. Northwest." A bit more. "Three hundred fifty degrees. North."

"Close enough," Fox decided, and started walking.

It didn't take Fox long to meet his new partner. They had been thrown into a relatively small area of the forest, after all. He became aware of someone approaching from his left as they pushed their way through the undergrowth.

"Hello," he called. "I hope you're not a Beowolf."

"Nope, just an Ursa," the stranger called back, in a clear, firm, yet warm, female voice. Fox could pick her out from the trees now, a smaller, moving shape on his map, heading for his position.

Fox chuckled. Whoever his new partner was, she was fast. She was almost to him already. "I'm Fox," he said, holding out a hand as she reached him.

"Coco," she replied. He hand that took his was soft and smooth, but the grip was as firm as his own. "You're the blind kid," Coco added matter-of-factly.

"And you're tall for a girl," Fox replied. She was, too. Fox thought she was as tall as he was, maybe even a bit taller, and he was six foot two.

"I am wearing three inch heels...in a forest," she confessed, sounding impish. Fox chuckled again, and found himself wishing he could see Coco, because she sounded lovely. She smelled nice, too. There was a trace of deodorant, and some kind of subtle perfume, but all they did was enhance Coco's own unique scent.

"A girl with inappropriate footwear, and a guy who can't see. We're a perfect team," Fox deadpanned.

Coco laughed. "You're all right, Fox," she allowed.

They didn't meet a single Grimm on the way to the temple. They heard a few, along with shouts, screams, gunshots, and a few explosions, but they never saw one. Coco was disappointed.

"This was entirely too easy," she complained as the two of them approached the temple.

"Well," Fox observed, " we still have to get back to the cliff. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Fox, we barely know each other, and you already want to have sex with me?" Coco asked, sounding incredulous.

Fox turned bright red and startled babbling incoherently. Coco spoke again, apologetically.

"Sorry, Fox, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I have an...uninhibited sense of humor. I was just making a joke about 'maybe we'll get lucky'. I'm sorry," Coco repeated.

Fox took a couple of deep breaths and felt calm return. He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Coco," Fox assured his partner as his blush slowly faded. "If we're going to be partners for the next four years I'm going to have to get used to your sense of humor eventually. Now's as good a time to start as any."

"You want to do it right now?" Coco demanded, her voice back in its 'mess with Fox's head' tone. Fox blushed again, but not as much.

"You're a saucy wench, aren't you?" he accused.

"You know it, partner," Coco cackled. "Now," she said, much more seriously, "lets grab an artifact, shall we?"

They didn't see any Grimm on the way back, either.

At the post-initiation ceremony that night, Fox and Coco found themselves teamed up with a pair named Velvet and Yatsuhashi. Velvet was a girl, a full head shorter than Fox, slender, quiet, and apparently shy. She was polite, and had an accent Fox didn't recognize, and that was all he knew about her at the moment. Yatsuhashi, in contrast, was enormous. A ceiling scraping seven feet tall, with a deep baritone voice, he was either made of muscles, or really fat, or wearing bulky clothing, if the amount of space he took up was any indication.

The newly formed Team CVFY, which Professor Ozpin, Beacon's headmaster, pronounced 'coffee', had retired to their assigned room, and were dealing with the space that would be their home away from home for the rest of their time at Beacon.

"Okay," Coco was saying. Ozpin had made her team leader; so far, all Fox could say was that, while brash, she wasn't bossy. "We have four beds, and a limited amount of floor space. Does anyone object to bunk beds?"

"I have no problem with bunk beds," Yatsuhashi rumbled. "I'm just worried they won't be long enough for me."

"I had bunk beds at home," Velvet chimed in. "I like them."

"I guess that settles it," Fox opined. "Bunk beds it is."

"It settles one thing, Fox," Coco corrected. Fox tensed. Coco had that tone in her voice again. "Now we have to decide who's going to be on top; you boys or us girls."

Practicality and modesty won the day. Coco and Velvet would bunk on one side of the room, with Velvet taking the top bunk. Fox and Yatsuhashi would be on the other side, Yatsuhashi preferring the bottom bunk. His concern that the bed would be too short was well founded. The mattress turned out to be exactly seven feet long, bearable in a pinch, but a little too snug for everyday use. Fortunately the student guidebook said there were extension kits for the bed frames and longer mattresses for those who needed them.

A grid of holes set into the ceiling showed that the designers of the room had anticipated the other problem that faced Team CFVY. Using a kit stowed in one of the room's closets, they were able to rig a hospital-style privacy curtain around each set of bunks, so girls and boys could get dressed or change clothes without embarrassment.

"Okay," Coco said, dragging the curtain for the girls' bunks back all the way out before stowing it. "That takes care of that." She stifled a yawn. "Is there anything else we need to do before we turn in? I don't know about you guys but I'm tired, and we have an early day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Just one thing," Fox said. "Would you all mind if I touch your faces?"

"You want to do what?" Yatsuhashi asked, more puzzled than anything else.

"I want to touch your faces, and maybe your shoulders and arms, if you don't mind," Fox repeated. "I know it sounds odd, but it's the only way I can 'see' what you guys look like." He demonstrated by placing his fingertips on his own face and tracing his features with them.

"That seems straightforward enough," Coco said. "I'll go first." Her voice lacked any hint of mischief, much to Fox's relief. Coco moved to stand in front of him. Fox put his hands out until he found her arms. With a light touch he traced them down to Coco's hands, then back up to her shoulders. He followed those to her neck, and that up to her ears. From there, Fox went slower. He found that Coco was wearing a hat. With her consent he removed it and ran his fingers through her hair. He traced her eyebrows and the bridge of her nose. Very lightly, he felt her (closed) eyes and the line of her mouth. He finished by bringing the index finger of each hand down her jaw to her chin.

"Thank you, Coco, I appreciate it," he said.

"So what do you think?" she asked, a mere hint of teasing in her voice.

"You're very pretty," Fox replied honestly.

He was sure he could feel the heat of Coco's answering blush.

Yatsuhashi went next. He was definitely not fat, if the muscles of his arms and shoulders were any indication.

Velvet brought up the rear. Fox could feel her blushing, when he ran his fingertips across her cheekbones. Velvet gave him the only other surprise of the night, when he ran his fingers through her hair and found a second set of ears on the top of her head. He felt around their bases, then gently drew them up between his thumbs and forefingers. They were slender, furry, and almost a foot long!

"Do you have rabbit ears, Velvet?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "I'm a Faunus. That isn't a problem, is it?"

"No, not all," Fox assured her. Disdain for the Faunus was all too common amongst Humans, but it was a bias Fox didn't subscribe to. "I actually think you're cute."

Fox swore he heard Yatsuhashi growl.