I stared in uncomfortable silence at my new bunkmates. Of all the ways I'd been expecting this day to go, it had succeeded in self-destructing spectacularly.

Getting into a food fight? Unexpected, but pretty enjoyable.

Finding out no progress has been made on getting me home? Disheartening, and utterly infuriating.

Learning that I could supposedly 'fix' it by potentially giving away an invaluable scientific marvel? Just one more twist of the screws.

Forcing me to room with four teenage girls?

There are easier and less painful ways to commit suicide.

And then there was right now: Being forced to explain to aforementioned girls how I was technically the reason why they hadn't had any hot water for the past week. While still covered in the remains of wasted foodstuffs.

"… Well?" Yang asked "We're waiting."

There were a couple of ways I could approach this. Some of them involved protesting my innocence and making an ass of myself. Others involved avoiding the subject altogether. Then there were the ones that had me not being a complete wimp, and just telling them what happened.

Given that I was going to be stuck in close proximity to them from here on, that was probably the smart option. Last thing I needed right now was to get us off on the bad foot again because I felt like lying. Plus, I still needed to 'settle in' again.

So I decided to rip the bandage off.

"… I was working on a side project." I answered "One that required I make use of the boiler."

My response seemed to take everyone by surprise.

"You're not going to bother lying?" Yang asked, clearly still angry but now confused as well.

"Nope, got bigger problems to worry about right now. I'd rather we just get this over with."

"Oh no, it's not going to be that easy." Yang said, quickly resettling on anger. "Do you have any idea-"

"-What it's like bathing in cold water?" I cut her off "Yes. I'm from a wasteland Yang. Hot running water is a rare commodity, especially if it's clean."

"…"

"I recognize that what I did had an unintended backlash on you girls. But by all standards, this was something small."

"So I'm just supposed to be not mad that you made it so we had no hot water for the past week?"

"No, that's acceptable. You're free to be mad at me since your grievance is real. But we've got bigger things to deal with right now, so we can either stand here arguing or get to taking care of them. I'm not doing both."

"But you don't get to decide that." Yang huffed angrily.

"Yeah, which is why I'm asking all of you: What do I have to do to keep things moving?"

Yang fell silent and glared at me for a moment. She then shifted her gaze up a small amount in thought. I noticed Ruby seemed to do it too. Blake just kept her nose dug into her book, as per usual, so she either didn't care or just wasn't going to show it. Weiss, however, just kept glaring at me.

"… Alright, I have to ask." Weiss said, joining the conversation "What exactly did you do to the water heater?"

"Like I said, I needed it for a side project. Normally I would've just rigged something up for it, but we were stuck on campus for the whole week. So rather than try and scrounge the necessary materials, I just made some alterations to the boiler and planned on undoing them."

"Then why was it off the entire week?"

"It took me a while to figure out how to rig it up right. Relax, nothing's broken."

Actually, things were. It'd taken me all week, tinkering and tweaking off and on to achieve the desired result. Unfortunately, I'd screwed up some measurements along the way and wound up with no way to reverse it. I'd fully intended to fix it, but had only discovered my error yesterday, and hadn't exactly had time to go scrounging for replacement parts. I'd figured I could probably put it off until sometime this week, but I guess that was out the window now too.

Ruby seemed to come to a realization, and hopped off of her bunk. She trotted over to Yang and whispered something into her ear.

Another wicked grin crossed Yang's face.

"… Dinner." Yang said.

"Pardon?" I asked.

Yang refocused her gaze intently on me. "Dinner. I want you to cook it."

"… Well, that's fairly-"

"For the rest of the week."

"… Seriously?"

"Or we could take your mask off." She countered.

"…" I shrugged "Alright, can't say it really qualifies as much of a punishment though."

"Sweet."

"If that's out of the way then, I think we've something more important to focus on."

"Quite." Weiss said.

I looked around the room that was to be my new temporary home. It hadn't changed much since I'd helped my teammates set it up a few months ago. Perhaps the only difference was that it was starting to look properly lived in now. Which begged the question: how the hell was this supposed to work?

"I guess to start: where the hell am I supposed to sleep now?" I asked, looking around the room.

"There really isn't that much room." Weiss noted.

"Why don't you just put your bed between ours?" Ruby asked, pointing to the large open space betwixt both sets of bunk beds.

"And deal with having to put my cot away every day?" I asked "Or having you all trip over me in the morning?"

"So… no?"

"…" I rubbed the brow of my gasmask with a finger "It's a kind thought Ruby, but no."

"Then where else are you supposed to sleep?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather be some place out of the way. Bad enough this is being forced to happen now without me getting in the way of you girls."

I continued looking around the room. Aside from the beds flanking either side of the window, there were a quartet of desks nestled into the opposing corners. There wasn't a great deal of room before, and there was going to be even less by the time I was done. But I did spy a place that didn't really take up much space. Even if it was a bit of an awkward spot.

"How about right here?" I asked walking over to the corner of the nearest desk, which was currently occupied by a mound of laundry

"But where are we supposed to put our laundry then?" Ruby asked

"Uh… the other side?" I asked, pointing to opposite side of the room, and an identical opening betwixt the beds and desks.

"Then why don't you sleep over there?"

"… I'm already going to be sleeping at the foot of somebody's bed, couldn't you just humor me?"

"Just bring your bed over here." Yang said, motioning to the empty space at the foot of her and Blake's bunks "We don't bite."

"…"

I gave an annoyed growl and half carried / half dragged my still folded cot to the opposing corner of the room. I snapped it open angrily and looked down at it.

"… This is gonna suck no matter where I sleep. I can already feel it."

"What? no it won't." Ruby said, in sing-song re-assurance "You're with us, it'll be fun."

"You've got a pretty screwy definition of 'fun'."

"It'll be like a giant sleep over."

"Riiight..." I looked down at my still mussed clothes, and only grew more annoyed "… I'm gonna go grab some different clothes."

I turned and walked to the door, then out of the room, then down the hall to my previous home. The door was locked when I got there, whether by Goodwitch or the Janitor, I didn't know. That didn't change that this was the room I was going to be keeping my stuff in, so that wasn't going to fly. It didn't take me long to pick the lock. I was just going to have to remember to lock it again on the way out.

The closet hadn't changed much since I was last here. The only real change that'd transpired since I'd been here this morning was that someone was tinkering with the boiler again. Probably the hereto unknown Janitor, looking to fix the mess I'd made. I could tell because they'd been using actual tools and fresh materials. Everything else that was mine was still piled in the corner, where it was likely to stay. If it didn't, there'd be hell to pay.

I began digging through my personal effects, collecting anything I thought I might need. Which lead to a realization that I honestly hadn't considered until that moment.

I didn't have a backup outfit.

The only other set of clothes I had was shredded courtesy of Junior. The rest of it was armor or the set of nightwear I'd bought from Byz. I'd refrained from buying any more clothes yesterday just by virtue of everything else that was already on my plate. Which I was now regretting, because it meant I had nothing to wear aside from my sets of armor.

I was going to have to fix that.

But for right now I'd make do.

I collected my nightwear, along with some basic ingredients to make dinner with, and a few extra things. I gathered my items in my arms, then left and relocked the door behind me.

I returned to my teammates, and set the gathered items down on my cot.

"What's with the pajamas?" Yang asked, looking at the garments on my cot.

"They're the only other clothes I have at the moment. Besides my armor anyway."

"What happened to those other clothes you had?" Ruby asked.

"They uh… got covered in grime while I was messing with the boiler, had to chuck'em."

"Why not just wash them?"

"…Didn't have any hot water. Either way, I'm probably going to have to get some new clothes anyway."

"Oooh, shopping" Yang said, smirking "That'll be fun."

I laid out my odds and ends so I knew what I was going to be working with.

'… ok, time to rip this bandage off.'

I slid out of my uniform jacket and began unbuttoning my shirt.

"What are you doing?" Weiss snipped.

"Uh, getting changed." I said, stripping my shirt "Because I'm covered in food?"

"But why are you doing it…"

"Here?" I finished "Because I live here now, remember? Plus, you've already seen me in my underwear, so this shouldn't be that big of a deal. Hell, you've even seen me without my undershirt too… speaking of." I finished pulling off my shirt, then grabbed the hem of my undershirt and began working that off as well.

As soon as it was free and clear of my head, I found that my teammates were all staring at me. Each of their faces a touch flush to a degree of variance.

'Yep, this is going to be awkward.'

"… Y'know you don't have to stare, right?" I asked.

Immediately after I said that, the stares ceased, and they each averted their gaze to some extent. Which mostly amounted to them just turning their heads to not look at me. That didn't change hue their faces had contracted though.

"You're all going to need to get used to the idea of seeing me with less clothes on." I groused "I'm not going to run off to the closet each morning just so I don't offend you."

"That doesn't mean you can suddenly just start stripping!" Ruby said, having averted her gaze so thoroughly she'd taken to standing with her face in the corner of the room.

"…"

In defiance of sanity, and perhaps common sense, I began unbuckling my pants.

I'm pretty sure everyone's eyes collectively grew to the size of dinner plates. Even Ruby, who wasn't facing me. She just curled into a small ball on the floor and covered her ears.

"Stop!" Weiss screeched, covering her eyes with her forearm "You can't do that here!"

"Why not?" I asked "Again, you've already seen me in my underwear."

"That doesn't mean you can change them here!"

"… Who the hell said I was?" I kicked off my shoes, stepped out of my pants, and slid into the ones for my nightwear. "The hell do you think I am, some kind of pervert?"

Everyone slowly began to look at me again as I buttoned my shirt up, if anything their faces only grew more flushed.

"… Idiot!" Weiss said.

"Oh grow up." I growled "I'm not a creep, I'll change those after I'm showered."

"You didn't have to get changed here though!" Ruby said, finally coming out her corner "Couldn't you have waited until later?"

"Yea, I could've, but it's already going to be awkward enough having to deal with the four of you getting changed without worrying about myself."

The flush hue finally left their faces. Only to be replaced by a drained pale white. Even Blake, who was seemingly trying her best not to pay attention, grew pale by contrast.

"… Please tell me you all aren't now just realizing you're going to have to change around me?"

"… Nope." Ruby said, rapidly shaking her head "Nope, nope, nope, nope!"

"No you didn't realize or-"

"We are not doing that!" Weiss said, joining in chorus with Ruby.

"I never said I wanted you to. But as long as we're rooming together, we're going to have to get used to the concept."

"… Yea, no." Yang said, looking uncomfortable "We've got to figure something else out."

"Gladly" I continued, buttoning my night shirt. "I'm open to suggestions as long as I'm not the only person being forced to change."

Now properly re-dressed, my teammates stopped pretending I was some hideous creature that would blind them if they stared too long. Though their coloring was still a touch off I got the impression they were slightly less uncomfortable now.

"Just a reminder-" I said "I do have women companions back home, and for a long time they, myself, and my male companions all lived in what would proportionally be a room not too much larger than this one."

"That doesn't make it any less weird~." Ruby whined.

"You're also not the only people living co-ed in this building."

"But it's still weird~"

"…" I gave a defeated sigh "Yeah, ok, it is. But whining isn't going to change it."

"Why don't you talk to JNPR if it bothers you so much?" Blake asked, finally looking up from her book, annoyed. "They could probably tell you how to deal with it."

"That's probably not a bad idea." I agreed "If nothing else it'll help ease everyone into th-"

The door to the room blew open with the sound of splintering wood and snapping metal. I whipped around to my gathered effects and grabbed hold of the first thing I could.

"ALRIGHT, WHERE IS-"

I gripped the rim of my cast Iron skillet, twisted at the hip, and flung it towards the door.

The hollow cylinder of brittle black metal smacked Nora in the face rim-first. To my surprise, she not only stayed upright, but caught the dense cooking vessel before it hit the ground. She looked down at it, then back to the rest of us.

"Caught it!" She squawked with a smile.

"… Nora, what the hell are you doing?" I growled, overcoming my surprise.

"A-HA!" She boomed, pointing at me "There you are!"

Ignoring my question, Nora bounded into the room and focused her attention on me. My teammates wisely stepping out of her way as she drew closer.

"Don't even think about running this time, buster!"

"What?"

"You promised us answers, and I want'em!"

I caught on to what she was talking about. "… Really, you want to do this right now?"

"YES! I've been waiting all day to find out more!"

"When I said another day, I didn't mean tomorrow…" I turned to look at the kicked open door "If the rest of you are hiding out there, you'd better show yourselves."

There was no immediate response. But after a moment's hesitation, I did watch as Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren did indeed poke their heads around the corner of the door frame.

"Shame on you for letting Nora do this."

They all looked a little guilty. They quit hiding behind the door frame and joined everyone else in the room proper.

"Sorry Six." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Saying sorry isn't going to cut it this time. I honestly should be allowed to expect better from you, but I'm not. That's on top of the fact you should be hoping Nora didn't break our door."

The collective of team JNPR, with the exception of Ren, grimaced. Though he was probably just being less visible about it. As far as I was concerned though, they should feel bad. I could deal with most of the off the wall antics, but today had enough issues without them adding more onto it.

"…" I exhaled slowly through my nose "If you want to apologize, you can start by apologizing to my teammates for kicking down the door."

JNPR looked at me for a moment and then, to my surprise, Nora actually went over to Ruby and bowed a little in front of her.

"I'm sorry." She said, sounding deflated.

"Um, it's ok, really!" Ruby said, giving me a confused look.

I had no response to that, since I honestly hadn't been expecting her to do it in the first place.

"Ok… next, you can give me back my skillet."

Nora uncurled and walked back over to me. She held out the hunk of cast iron, and I took it from her. It didn't look like it'd been damaged any, which was plus. It would've been a bitch to try and replace it.

"… Thank you for catching it." I said.

Nora nodded soberly.

"Lastly, you can go check our door and make sure you didn't break it by kicking it in."

Without further instruction, Nora turned and walked over to the door to begin assessing the damage. It was actually a surprising sight, to see her doing anything without being over the top. It kind of made me feel like I was kicking a puppy.

"… Why're you wearing pajamas?" Jaune asked, pushing past his chastisement.

"Didn't have anything else to change into, and didn't want to be stuck wearing my uniform until I could clean it."

Which I made a mental note to do before tomorrow morning.

I set my skillet back down and took a moment to begin setting up my hotplate.

"… why is that in here?" Jaune continued, pointing at my cot.

"Because I'm being forced to room with everyone now."

"Really?" Jaune asked "How did that happen?"

"Goodwitch blames me for some things I may or may not have done."

"Like breaking the water heater." Yang said.

"… Is that why we've had no hot water?"

"Firstly, you can't prove anything." I said "Second, yeah probably."

"So now he's living with us." Ruby continued.

"That's going to be interesting." Pyrrha said "It took us sometime to figure out how to live in the same room. Nora and Ren had the least issue though."

"Considering they're practically joined at the hip, that's not much of a surprise." I said, setting my skillet onto the hot plate. "Though I suppose that'll be something we talk about as well."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, you're already here, we wanted to ask you some things anyway, and I've got to make dinner regardless, so why don't I tell you all some more about where I'm from?"

"Really!?" Nora asked excitedly, before quickly remembering she was supposed to be chastised and dropping it.

"… Yes, really. We've got to do this anyway, so might as well make it work for everyone. Plus, food's better with company anyway. Assuming of course, my teammates don't mind sharing dinner?"

I looked to my teammates, and was given some degree of universal agreement. They didn't seem to be averse to the prospect of having this talk over dinner. Despite her efforts to appear chaste, I could still see some of Nora's cheer return. That girl just couldn't help be happy, it kind of made me jealous. JNPR, with the exception of Nora, moved from their position and were ushered to sitting on the various chairs and beds of the room.

While my hot plate began rising to temperature, I started prepping my ingredients. After running as low as I had over the past week, I'd made sure to splurge just a bit. Food wasn't an issue here, so if I could afford it, why not?

"Alright, so who wants to go first?" I asked.

"We can, if you'd prefer." Pyrrha offered "You are providing us with dinner after all."

"That'd be mighty kind of you." I said, slicing up some fatty meat that was this world's closest substitute for Mole Rat belly. "Though considering I'm the one with the least issue regarding our current situation…"

I turned to look at Ruby, who did the same to me. I motioned for her to begin asking questions, assuming she'd be the one with the most of them.

She responded by shaking her head in the universal gesture of 'no'. By the swiftness and vigor of the motion, it was likely more in line with 'HELL no'. One would have to imagine she was too embarrassed to ask, given that kind of reaction.

"… Ruby, you are very blatantly the one with most issue in all of this." I said, dicing the meat "Either start asking questions, or I will, and will also do everything in my power to make it as embarrassing as possible."

Ruby blanched for a moment, likely realizing I would absolutely follow through on that threat. She then took a deep breath and looked squarely at team JNPR.

"So… how exactly do you guys… umm… 'live' together?" Ruby asked.

JNPR looked amongst themselves in confusion.

"I… don't think we follow." Pyrrha said.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"I mean… you're… living with boys." Ruby answered, whispering that last portion.

"Oh!... Well- um, it took some getting used to."

"For you anyway." Nora said, finally returning from the door "Me and Ren didn't have any problems with it."

"We've been living together a long time." Ren confirmed "You get used to it."

"Told you so." I said, maybe a touch smug "Is the door fixed?"

Nora nodded in response and took a seat next to Ren.

"I grew up with seven sisters." Jaune said, continuing the conversation "I had to learn to deal with it."

"Damn, seven sisters?" I asked "Your poor mother."

"Hey, what about me?"

"Did you have to raise eight children?"

Jaune opened his mouth to respond, then closed it and fell silent. Smart.

"I was the only one of us who had no experience rooming with anyone." Pyrrha confirmed "It took some time, but you get used to it."

"Ok… but how do you do… anything?" Ruby asked "How do you get dressed around each other, isn't it… weird?"

Unsurprisingly, JNPR's faces collectively got a touch flush, but they pushed past it better than my team had.

"It was at first. But we figured out a way around it."

"I learned to just keep my eyes closed." Jaune said.

"Well gee, isn't that the simplest answer?" I said, throwing the meat into the skillet. Eliciting the crackle and hiss of cold fat on hot metal.

"Ren and me just learned to get changed with our backs to each other." Nora said.

"Again, another simple solution."

"But what about when you get showered?" Ruby asked.

"… Really Ruby?" I asked, stirring the frying meat "That one seems pretty self-explanatory."

"Actually-" Pyrrha said, face growing in shade to match her hair "We never found a good solution to that one."

"… Really? You never tried, I don't know, taking your clothes to the showers with you?"

"And sleep in wet clothes?" Nora asked "No thank you."

"... Well then." I turned to look at my teammates "Looks like the only way to make this work is to shut up and be mature. Sorry girls."

My teammates collectively grimaced, even Blake, who still had her nose buried in that book of hers.

Despite that riveting piece of information JNPR had given us, I continued work on dinner. Having now rendered some fat from the meat, I pulled it from the skillet and set it aside. Throwing in some potatoes to begin simmering in the residual grease.

"… Well, assuming that's out of the way, I guess that makes it my turn to talk?"

I got a collective of nods, the most vigorous of which still came from Nora.

"Alright then, while I wait for the potatoes to finish, where would you like to start?"

Nora shrugged "Don't know, got any ideas?"

"… Really? You kick down my- our door demanding answers when you don't even have questions in the first place?"

Nora gave another chastised look and bowed her head slightly.

"… Alright, I'll figure something out then."

I sat there for a moment and thought about where I should start from. There was so much to cover, but not a lot of places I could pick up from that would be readily understandable without contextual information. I could tell them about the NCR, Legion, and Vegas, but that would require background information regarding the region. I could tell them about the Brotherhood, or about some of the pre-war tech floating around. But given the way most of it was developed, and all the tangential disciplines that may or may not exist here as well, that could take forever. I could tell them about Supermutants and Ghouls, but that was a touch narrow for the moment, and require explanations such as the FEV and radiation…

"… Alright, let's try and get some of your basic wasteland survival knowledge out of the way."

"Aww~" Nora whined "But I wanted to talk about the giant blue lady and the melty cheese man!"

A small chuckle escaped me before I could stop it "Next I see them; I'll be sure to tell them that."

"… Is it going to be boring?"

I shrugged "Maybe, I honestly hope none of you ever have to apply this knowledge yourselves. But I'd still rather cover it than not. Both for the sake of doing my civic duty as a wastelander and helping provide further context about the Mojave."

"You make it sound like we wouldn't understand it." Weiss broke in, sounding slightly miffed.

"Do you know how to counter the effects of ionizing radiation, or how to treat prolonged exposure to it?"

"… Continue."

I nodded and settled in for what would likely be a lengthy conversation.

"Alright, so, when we talked yesterday, I briefly talked about nuclear power and how it both revolutionized and set the world on fire."

Another round of bobbing heads confirmed it.

"Well, the thing about nuclear power is that, at least on a surface level, it's a clean source of energy. It doesn't give off your standard pollutants like smoke or ash, if you know what you're doing. But it does ultimately have its own hazardous wastes. Typically in the form of ionizing radiation, and depleted uranium or plutonium."

"Your-aim-ium?" Ruby whispered.

"Your-ani-um and ploo-toe-ni-um." I corrected, enunciating "The two most common metals that make nuclear fission possible."

"Metal?... Fission?"

"..."

I rubbed my mask in slight exasperation, this conversation had just started and we were already stumbling over rabbit holes.

"Unless you want a chemistry lesson, I'm going to skip all of that for now." I continued "All you need to know is that Uranium and Plutonium, when refined, are extremely dangerous materials which are used to fuel what is known as a nuclear fission reaction."

Everyone stayed quiet, so I continued.

"A fission reaction occurs when the nucleus of an atom splits, generating large amounts of heat and radiation. The resultant debris of the split flies into neighboring molecules, resulting in more heat, radiation, splitting, debris, and more or less a repeat of that ad nauseum until a control is applied or no more fissile material remains."

Blank stares.

"This process/reaction is used to boil water and power massive turbines to generate untold amounts of electricity, powering entire cities. The trade-off being that, once the material is used up, it is still extremely dangerous to anyone who stands near it unprotected, causing sever mutation and death to anyone unprepared. This is due to the intense gamma radiation ripping through cell walls and damaging the DNA of any biological creature that has the misfortune of being exposed to it. The resultant mutations from being exposed can range from benign to fatal, as it's impossible to tell in what way the DNA will be damaged and change because of it. A typical mutation will just cause the subject's damaged cells to rapidly sub divide in an uncontrolled fashion, leading to the development of both tumors and cancer if left untreated. This is assuming of course that the subject is not inherently suffering from any degree of radiation sickness, which would otherwise immediately-"

"Stop!" Ruby shouted, clutching her head "You're giving me a headache!"

I looked around and took note that everyone had been staring blankly at me for the entirety of my explanation. Which likely meant that had about as much understanding as did with everything else I'd told them. Figures, nuclear physics by necessity needs to be an exact science.

"Alright, where'd I lose you?" I asked.

"… The beginning" Ruby answered sheepishly.

"Really?... Damn, hoped there'd be more cross over than that…" I thought about it for a moment. "Alright, I'll start over and try to go slower, if there's anything you don't understand, speak up, ok?"

Ruby, and everyone else, collectively nodded.

"Alright, from the top: The reaction of nuclear fission is the process of splitting the atoms of unstable isotopes-"

Ruby raised her hand.

"…Yes?" I asked

"What's an atom?" She asked "Or eye-so-topes?"

"…ok, um, well Atoms are infinitesimally small particulates that make up everything, from the flowers and trees to the birds and the bees."

"Even me?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, even you, your sister, your father, and Snowflake over there." I said, motioning to Weiss

"Wow."

"These atoms are themselves composed of even smaller particles called protons and electrons, consisting of positive and negative charges respectively."

Ruby, and everyone else began to look confused.

"I won't go any smaller than that, so don't worry. I only mention them since they're effectively what causes the reaction to occur in the first place. You see all elements, meaning things like iron, oxygen, carbon and so on, have specific atomic structures to them. Each consisting of their own quantities of protons and electrons. With any variations from their otherwise 'standard' form being considered specific 'isotopes'. Carrying their own specific properties."

Everyone still looked confused, but willfully trying to follow.

"… Imagine elements as types of cookies, with different ways to make those cookies being the isotopes."

"OH!" Ruby gasped "Ok!"

"Now, what's important about these various isotopes changes depending on the context in which you're planning to use them. But in the case of nuclear fission, there's only one job looking to be done: Produce large amounts of heat."

"Which you said was to boil… water?" Jaune asked.

"I'll get back to it soon." I answered "… The thing about the metals I mentioned, Plutonium and Uranium, is that when they're properly purified they become incredibly unstable. They pick up more electrons than they need through their purification, or 'enrichment' as it's called. As a result, they become chemically imbalanced, and want to shed those electrons as fast as possible."

"Why just the electrons?" Weiss asked.

"Because they're the parts of the atom that aren't already bonded to anything. If they were, they'd be bound together with protons to form completely stable particles called Neutrons."

Weiss nodded, though I don't know if she had fully grasped it. In all fairness, it fell back on me if the explanation wasn't good enough.

"The Neutrons are what makes up the core of the atom for the most part, but that's not really important for this topic. At least not what I'm trying to readily explain… Anyway, the electrons that aren't bound into neutrons, or readily canceled out, don't want to be left hanging on their own. In fact, they absolutely hate it, and will wreak havoc until they're properly bound. Which is where the process of nuclear fission finally comes into play…"

I stopped talking for a moment to flip the potatoes and throw some other vegetative odds and ends in the pan.

"… Nuclear fission is the process of splitting the nucleus or 'center' of an atom." I continued "Those loose electrons will break stable atoms so they can properly bond up with anything that will take them. The process isn't clean though. By breaking the nucleus, more electrons are released to do the same to other surrounding atoms. Breaking their nuclei and repeating the process ad nauseum until something forcefully stops it. This process isn't without cost either. Every time the nucleus of an atom is split, a small amount of heat is released in addition to those electrons. But it's an infinitesimally small amount. One could split in each of you right now and you'd never know. But even a small amount of heat becomes noticeable when repeated millions of times in less than a second."

"… How noticeable?" Yang asked.

"… Have you ever wondered what it would be like to not be connected to your shadow?"

That got a confused look from everyone.

"Um… no?" Yang said.

"Well, an unrestrained nuclear fission reaction can help you discover what that's like, regardless of desire. The heat is so intense it'll burn your body away in under a second, and leave behind a 'shadow' of where you'd been standing. The 'shadow' being the residual carbon gunk that the reaction couldn't burn away, as you're effectively standing in the light of a newborn star."

Confusion turned to horror once more.

"And that is part of the danger of a nuclear bomb, that and the unrestrained shockwave that can level entire cities. Everything you were, gone, with less than a shadow to show you ever existed. All because a couple errant particles were feeling frisky."

"Wow…" Yang said, a touch grave "Talk about a nasty split."

"…" I couldn't help but glare at Yang. "Do not make light of it, Yang, people are dead because of it."

Yang quirked an eyebrow at me.

"… That doesn't count."

"Your world managed to turn something like… that into an energy source?" Ren asked.

"Dunno, did you guys figure out how to turn multicolored crystals into an energy source?"

Ren remained impassive.

"The short answer is yes." I continued "But it's not as though we did it overnight, and it was always dangerous if handled improperly. However, there is a major difference between making a nuclear bomb, and making a nuclear reactor."

"Does any of this actually lead back to radiation?" Weiss said.

"Keep being impatient, and you may never know."

"…"

"I tried giving you the short version, and wound up confusing you. So now you're getting the long version, with a higher probability of understanding. Take it or leave it."

Weiss glared at me a moment longer, then huffed and gestured for me to continue.

"Thank you." I nodded, stirring my skillet "Now, A reactor differs from a bomb in that a reactor controls the rate at which the fission reaction occurs. Don't ask how, it'll just take more time. All you need to know is it slows the reaction exponentially. Turning an explosion comparable to the birth of a small star into something slightly more manageable. As stated before, this reaction is used to heat and boil water, making steam. Which, at high enough pressure, is used to power different apparatuses for generating electricity."

"… So your world basically figured out how to make stars, just to power your toasters?" Jaune asked.

I chuckled, thinking back on the irony of that statement. "Yes and no. Fission isn't the process by which stars are made, that's nuclear fusion. The combining of atoms rather than splitting. Though supposedly there had been a group developing something similar, I've never seen it myself."

"Whoa."

"Yeah. But, as I said, there was a caveat to all of that power. It also produced extremely dangerous waste material."

"Which is what radiation is?" Weiss asked.

"Again, yes and no. Radiation is only half of the waste produced and is itself just a technical term, indicating the transfer of energy between molecules. It's not inherently bad either. Most radiation is what's known as non-ionizing radiation, and is what's put out by the sun. Everything from the UV rays that feed plants, to the visible color spectrum that paints the world, and the heat that helps shift the world between summer and winter."

"And sun burn!" Ruby said, remembering.

"Yep." I nodded "The radiation produced by a fission reaction, however, is what's known as ionizing radiation. While a fusion reaction like the sun's isn't inherently dangerous given normal conditions, a fission reaction is. Like I said before, a fission reaction splits loose all kinds of electrons while its transpiring. And not all of those electrons are going to be bonded by the time all the material is used up. As a result, they become ionizing radiation, which exists in a number of different forms with varying degrees of danger."

"Isn't it all supposed to be dangerous?" Pyrrha asked.

"I never said it wasn't, just that there are degrees of danger…"

I stopped for a moment of try and think of a way to explain it. I knew enough of the basics, but something told me I was ever so slightly off in my explanation. I wanted to avoid slipping any further off if possible.

"… Imagine all objects, including people like you and me, are like sieves." I explained "With the distance between the atoms and molecules that make us up being how fine the mesh making up the 'sieve' is."

Pyrrha nodded.

"Ok, Radiation varies in that not all of it can pass through matter at the same rate. Like sieves, we can block out certain kinds of radiation with the right materials. But that doesn't change the fact that there will always be some form of radiation that will pass through regardless."

"So… we're immune to some types of radiation?" Jaune asked.

"No. Just because you can block it doesn't make you immune." I continued "For example, one of the weakest forms of ionizing radiation, Alpha particles, is so incredibly large that it be stopped almost anything, even sheets of paper. As a result, your skin can stop it with ease… However. This doesn't not mean you are immune to them. If, by some freak accident, you were to ingest or inhale something which emits alpha particles, they would bypass that protection altogether. Once inside of you, they'd wreak havoc on you in slow and painful fashion. Leading to a slow and excruciating death, unless you received proper treatment, and even then, odds can be slim."

The color drained from Jaune as I continued explaining the dangers of the weakest form of ionizing radiation. "O-oh."

"Relax, I'm not expecting you to suddenly start eating radioactive waste, so you should be fine. Besides, there're still more powerful forms of radiation anyway. Such as Beta particles and X-rays."

"You mean the things they use to take pictures of peoples bones?" Ruby asked.

"That's the one… Wait, you know what X-rays are?"

"Uh, yeah?" She said shrugging "Doesn't everyone?"

"But… but that's the radiation I'm talking about! How do you not know about the rest of them?"

Ruby looked to think on it for a moment, then gave the universal shrug for 'I don't know'.

"…" I was going to have to be keeping a closer eye out than I thought. If these people were screwing with something they scarcely understood, they were in greater danger than they thought. "… Moving on, aside from things such as X-rays and Beta particles, one of the most pervasive and dangerous forms of radiation is Gamma radiation."

The vegetables were looking about ready, so I threw the meat back in.

"Gamma radiation, in continuing with the 'sieve' analogy, is the most 'fine grained' of the radiation types, alongside X-rays. Able to pass through anything but the densest of materials. Unlike alpha particles through, they can't irradiate anything they come into contact with."

"Then what makes them so dangerous?" Ren asked.

"Aside from being able to rip through anything softer than stone and steel?"

"…"

"Right, well aside from that they don't play nice with the cells of biological organisms like you and me. In what can only be called the 'best case' they'll destroy the cells outright, which is bad enough on its own. In worse cases though, they'll damage the cells and leave them to function that way."

"How is that so dangerous?"

"Have you ever seen someone build something using broken tools and shoddy materials?" I asked "The end result is it typically comes crashing in eventually. Now imagine you're the thing being built."

Ren seemed to understand what I was saying, and nodded.

"The damaged cells, if left alone, will continue to subdivide." I elaborated for everyone else's benefit. "Developing into tumors, cancers, and other nasty ailments. In the worst cases the radiation will screw with your DNA and cause you to mutate."

"DNA?" Ruby asked.

"Deoxyribonucleic Acid." I explained "A series of four proteins chained together in various simple series to produce complex helix shaped chains of proteins that designates how your body grows. From how tall you'll be, to the pigment of your skin, and the metallic hue of your eyes."

Ruby's eyes widened, and I saw her reach a hand closer to them. Like she was just realizing for the first time that there was a specific reason she was the way she was. "Whoa~"

"DNA varies from person to person, with parents recombining theirs to produce the variations in their children. That's a science all its own though, and I'm not getting into it. The point is Gamma radiation likes to screw with it."

"You said it… mutates?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, as the radiation passes through, it warps the proteins such that they no longer resemble what they originally did. Which, trust me, is not a good thing. Your body already has a set blueprint for itself. When something goes and changes the plans for it drastically, the results are typically disastrous."

"… So radiation's bad." Nora affirmed, finally speaking up.

"Again, Ionizing radiation's bad." I clarified "And even then, that's only if you're not being careful."

"And your world used things like that as a weapon?" Ruby asked.

"Still does in some cases. It teaches you to be very careful while stalking around old ruins. There's only one type of radiation more dangerous than gamma and X-ray that I can think of. But it's only exists during the immediate reaction, so it's not worth immediate mention."

Both Team JNPR and my teammates seemed to be taking in what I said, it was a lot to be sure, so I couldn't expect it to be easy for them.

"… If it makes you guys feel any better, we did learn ways to work around most of it." I continued "And there have been cases where the mutations weren't inherently bad."

"It's… still a lot to take in though." Pyrrha said, confirming what I'd been thinking.

"I'm sure it is, but if it makes you guys feel any better, you've already been living with it without even knowing."

"… Really?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." I pointed upwards "The sun is producing both kinds of radiation after all, and while most of it is blocked by the atmosphere, some of it does still get through. How do you think you get sunburn?"

"Oh…"

I thought about it for a moment, and then asked a question myself. "… You guys do get sunburn, right?"

"Um- yeah, we do." Yang answered.

"…Interesting."

"What is?"

"You get sunburn."

Yang's face wrinkled in confusion. "Duh, and?"

"Shouldn't your aura protect you from it?"

A ripple spread over my gathered friends as that question settled on them. The tables had turned, and it was time for them to educate me on something.

"To a degree, yes." Weiss explained "Aura will protect you from the elements. But prolonged exposure can still have an effect."

"Very interesting. So you won't immediately cook or freeze to death, but you'll still be dealing with some of the after effects."

"That's… correct."

"In which case, you'd likely be able to avoid the immediate effects of radiation poisoning, only to run into them later…"

I thought on it for a moment. Running with sunburn as an example, this left me with a metric to help quantify Aura's usefulness regarding radiation.

"… How long does it take sunburn to heal?" I asked "With aura I mean, without it I can say from experience it can take upwards two weeks in the worst cases."

"How do you know that?" Yang asked.

In response, I pulled down the collar of my nightshirt slightly, revealing my pale-but-rosy skin. "I'm pale as a sheet of paper and burn like it too. Trust me, I know."

"Riiight~…"

"… I'd say it varies." Weiss answered "A mild case that might take a day or two to heal without aura might only take a few hours. A severe case like that though?... maybe a week?"

"You don't sound too sure."

"Aura varies between people." Weiss snipped "I have no way to be 'accurate'."

"Right… the point I'm trying to make is that aura might have some natural properties for removing or healing radiation. Sunburn is your body's cells killing themselves off to prevent them from causing damage. Likewise, because you can still get burned, it would mean you don't have any innate protection against it either. But without anyway to really test it, I can't clarify anything."

"Meaning?" Weiss asked.

"Meaning, if you find yourself in an irradiated area, get the hell out of it, ASAP."

"… Not to be rude, Six, but how would we know if we were?"

I went to speak but stopped, I really didn't have much of an answer for that. I knew how I would know, but that didn't necessarily extend to them.

"Well… If you're with me I can let you know." I explained, motioning to my pip-boy "My pip-boy was designed with the idea in mind that the user would have to survive in an irradiated wasteland. To go with that, they included something called a Geiger counter. A device that measures both the intensity of radioactive material in the area, and how irradiated I, the user, have become. If it starts making a ticking noise, you should watch out."

"But what if we're not with you?" Yang asked.

"Then you're probably going to have to watch out for the signs of radiation sickness. Such as Vomiting blood, Diarrhea, Weakness, fatigue, fever, disorientation, or sudden and excessive hair loss."

Yang gave me a perturbed look.

"I'm not expecting any of you to hang around some place long enough to contract some of those symptoms anyway, so don't worry. Besides, I don't even know if Remnant has any radioactive sites like that, so I wouldn't worry too much. Aside from that, and like I said before, we figured out ways to treat and prevent radiation sickness in my world anyway. So I'm pretty sure I can help you if you do get sick."

"Do you mind- um- sharing how to avoid getting sick?" Jaune asked "You know, just in case?"

"Depends, do have the means to craft the medications needed?"

"Um… no?"

"Damn right you don't, believe me I've been having a hell of a time trying to recreate some of them with what I can find here on Remnant… Still though, if you're worried that you've contracted radiation sickness, I suggest ingesting some iodine at your earliest convenience, it'll at least slow the sickness down until you can find someone to help treat it."

"O-ok."

I nodded and checked on the food, it was looking just about done. "Aside from that, I had mentioned that some organisms mutated by the radiation of my world weren't inherently worse for it. They've summarily evolved or changed such that they will actually suck the radiation out of you. And help kill off any of the damaged cells in the process."

"Well, isn't that useful." Yang said snidely.

"Totally, if I had some on hand, I'd have thrown them in with dinner to show you… You got any plates?"

Seeing that food was ready, my teammates quickly gathered some dinnerware and cutlery as I began to serve everyone. "Nothing fancy this time." I said "Just an old standby for when I was traveling."

"It smells delicious." Pyrrha complimented.

"Can we have some?" Nora asked.

"I don't know, do you think you deserve some?" I asked.

Nora didn't respond, and instead just looked sadly at the floor.

"… The correct answer was yes." I said, loading up some plates for JNPR as well "There's no such thing as 'deserving' to eat with your friends."

That elicited smiles from JNPR, and Nora especially. Though I was still leery regarding Nora after yesterday, I was going to try and avoid holding it against her. Her antics couldn't be allowed to continue growing in the fashion they were, but far be it for me to squash the girl.

I handed off everyone's plates of food and settled back onto my cot.

"That just about covers radiation in a nutshell, I think." I finished "I'm sure I'm missing some things, or could go further in depth, but as far as you should all be concerned that's about everything."

"Why does it need to be so confusing?" Ruby asked, taking a bite of her food.

"Were you expecting one of the fundamental laws of the universe to be simple?"

"… yes."

"Well they're not, so don't go assuming. Aside from all that though, it leads into a lot of the various monsters and dangers about where I'm from, including the situations that led to Lily and Raul's conditions."

"… Who?" Nora asked.

"… Giant blue lady and melty cheese man."

"Oh~"

"Please try and remember their names, we'll touch on their situations another time."

"I have a question" Pyrrha said, motioning her hand "If radiation is just about the bonding and evening out of all these tiny particles, and the war happened so long ago, why are they still dangerous?"

"Fallout." I answered "When the explosions initially occurred, they launched the radioactive material high into the atmosphere, and it's taken hundreds of years for most of it to settle back to non-lethal levels. The only truly dangerous places remaining are the ones that were bombed most heavily. That, and the reactions take a long time to finish playing out."

Pyrrha nodded and continued eating.

"Any other questions?" I asked.

"How are you planning to eat dinner?" Yang asked, smirking.

"… I'm not." I answered "Especially not now."

"But aren't you hungry?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe" I shrugged "But it won't be the first night I've gone without eating. I'll ask again, questions?"

"… I don't think so." Ruby answered.

"Alright, if you think of any, don't be afraid to ask."

"… Do you have any?" Ruby asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know everything about Remnant either, can we help?"

I thought about it for a moment, there was a lot I still didn't know. While I could get answers by just testing things as they came, there was an alternative. I could just ask the people who were now aware of my situation for answers. Which, by contrast, was the simpler answer.

I gave it a moment's thought, and there was at least one thing that sprang to mind.

"… I suppose I have one or two."

"Well… go ahead and ask."

"Alright… For starters, I guess I should ask what the hell a semblance is. I know it's related to aura in some way, but so far the specifics have been kind of... fuzzy."

"They are and it is." Weiss clarified, parroting me. Cheeky.

"A semblance is a part of your aura that is specific to you." Pyrrha explained "In simple terms, it's a special ability granted to you while your aura is active."

"… How 'special' are we talking?" I asked.

"Well~" Yang said playfully "My semblance lets me absorb damage and then dish it back out. You've seen it yourself."

I thought back on the times when I'd sparred with Yang. When her hair had gone up in a wreath of flames and her eyes started glowing red.

"… Well that explains a lot." I said.

"Mine lets me zoom around at high speeds." Ruby added.

"… So your semblance… it's basically a superpower?" I asked.

"That's a bit… crude." Pyrrha said, grimacing "But, if you want to think of it that way, yes."

"That… is complete Brahmin shit."

Everyone looked at me in confusion.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I believe you after everything I've seen, but I still think it's a load of crap."

"This coming from the guy whose world figured out how to make stars." Weiss grumbled.

I glared at snowflake for a moment, then back to Pyrrha. "… How do I unlock it?"

"… I'm sorry, but that's not something I can tell you."

"What, why?"

"Because it's not as simple as unlocking your aura was." Ruby explained "Unlocking your semblance is different from training with aura. You find it in a different way."

"Ok… like how?"

Ruby shrugged "Don't know, for me it happened while I was training."

"Same" Yang said, smirking "It was all fun and games until dad was stuck in a tree."

I wasn't surprised by the fact Yang had punched someone into a tree.

"For others, it's necessity." Ren said "The right stress at the right time makes all the difference."

'Gee, don't I know it.'

"Or you just find it one day." Nora chirped "I found mine while getting struck by lightning."

Everyone in the Room except Ren stared at Nora in concern.

"… It was a crazy day." Nora smiled.

"I know what those feel like." I said "… So I'm just going to randomly manifest super powers at some point then?"

"Assuming your soul works the same as ours, yes." Pyrrha said, reassuring.

"Well, isn't that just simultaneously amazing and a complete pain in the ass."

"Yeah, it is." Jaune answered "But at least you're not alone, I haven't found my semblance yet either."

"AW DAMMIT, now I'm in the same corner as Jaune!"

"Hey!"

I put my head in my hands and took a deep breath. Today had just gotten far longer than I'd thought it'd be.

"… Screw it, I need a drink."

I reached back amongst my supplies and procured a recycled screw top glass jar. I'd torn the label off of it so that I could better see the otherwise clear liquid sitting in it. I gave it a quick shake, just to watch the bubbles it produced from the small amount of head space.

"What's that?" Jaune asked.

"Dinner."

I set the jar down on the edge of my cot and retrieved a small metal pipe I'd procured and cleaned for this purpose. Granted it was procured from the boiler system, which might've explained some things, but I'd cleaned it and was reasonably sure it was safe to use.

I grasped my jar and removed the lid. I set my makeshift straw into the jar and reached for the front of my gas mask. Just in front of the filter, is a small spiked tipped screw meant to help keep the assembly in place. It was also, by what was likely a design flaw, located at the thinnest portion of the mask's construction.

So, in defiance of common sense, I put a hole in my gas mask so I could drink through a straw.

I fed the straw into the hole, then the straw to my mouth. With a pull, I began siphoning the clear liquid from the jar. It hit my tongue like fire and sent my whole mouth numb with warmth, same as it traveled down my throat.

That was some damn good liquor.

Four months of work and tinkering well spent.

I continued siphoning the moonshine from the jar as my friends watched in confusion.

"… Ok, seriously, what is that?" Yang asked.

"…"

I took another long pull from the straw, then dipped it from my mask and held the jar out for someone to take. To my surprise, Ruby was the one to grab it first. She examined the jar and its contents for a moment, before smelling it cautiously.

She made retching sound and nearly spilled my drink.

"Hey, Watch it!" I barked.

"It smells worse than uncle Qrow's flask!" Ruby gagged.

Yang took the jar from her sister and cautiously looked at it. She too, took a quick whiff and grimaced.

"… You made alcohol?" She asked "How?"

"…"

A look of understanding passed over her. "Is that why you broke the boiler!?"

"If you're not going to drink, pass it back." I answered.

Everyone began glaring at me.

"… Please?"

"… You broke the water heater…" Weiss began fuming "… To make moonshine!?"

"… I get the sense you're a little mad." I answered.

Weiss, glaring daggers at me, clasped the jar and began walking to the window.

I was up from my cot in a flash, I moved so quick, I honestly don't even remember doing it. All I know is I was in front of Weiss before she could blink.

"Don't even think about it." I growled, taking the jar back and turning to everyone else "If we're going to have a problem, I suggest you make it known now."

"You can't seriously expect us to let you keep that." Weiss said.

"I spent weeks growing yeast cultures to produce the most alcohol, choosing the appropriate materials to brew, fermenting it, and then figuring out how to bash a water heater into a makeshift distillery. You don't have to drink it, but you're only dumping it over my corpse."

I spoke with every ounce of heat I could muster, and it showed. Weiss visibly looked taken aback.

"Questions?" I asked, probably seeming more on edge than I was.

"… Are you sure it's even safe to drink?" Weiss asked.

I gave her a hard glare. I walked back over to my supplies and retrieved the lighter from my items. I flipped the cap open with a *thunk*, lit it, and placed the flame over the mouth of the jar. The vapors of the 'shine caught immediately, and went up in a pale, ghostly blue flame. Eliciting a howling wail as the flames struggled to escape containment. The jar's contents disappeared in less than a few seconds. Leaving behind a heated jar and the smell of burnt liquor.

"Burned a clean blue." I growled "It's safe."

My friends looked quizzically at the jar. Then to me.

I looked down at the jar and realized my mistake.

"… dammit."

…

I had more jars of shine I could get if I wanted. But after the first jar burnt up, I decided to let it go for the night. Instead, I just ruminated with my friends until the time came for us all to pack it in for the night. It took a minute for us to figure out how everyone was getting changed, but it eventually settled on me staring at the wall. Not because they told me to, but because I generally couldn't care less.

Once everything was settled, we were all sitting on our respective beds. The girls dressed in everything from nightgowns to loose-fitting sweat clothes. We were having one last pow-wow.

"So I guess this is going to be the new norm." Ruby said, wearing baggy pink pants and a black tank top.

"Yep." I confirmed "For better or worse."

"At least we get free dinner for the next week." Yang smirked, garbed in black shorts and an amber tank top.

"Can you do something other than meat and potatoes?" Weiss asked, dressed in a pale blue night gown with her hair down from its usual pony tail.

"If I feel like it, maybe I'll make some Desert Salad if I'm feeling so inclined. Or some Zion Fish Stew."

I tucked my box of supplies under my cot, and got ready to lay down.

"… Are you seriously planning to sleep with that thing on?" Weiss asked.

"What thing?" I asked in turn.

Rather than respond, Weiss just tapped at her own head.

"… you mean my gas mask?" I asked "Because, yes, I am. I always sleep with it on."

"… Really?"

"Yes." I said, shaking my head in annoyance "Just let it go, you'll see my face when I decide to show it."

"Why sleep with it on?" Yang asked "You expecting to get attacked in your sleep or something?"

"The goggles have night-vision built in, and it wouldn't be the first time… speaking of-"

I reached into the box and pulled out my sawed-off shotgun. I broke it at the breech and checked that it was still loaded with bean bag rounds.

This earned a deadpan look from my teammates.

"Just in case." I assured brightly, sliding the gun under my pillow.

"Why do you still have that?" Ruby groaned.

"They never took it away, just like they never bothered to check and see if I had alcohol."

"… Alright, I've had enough for one night." Weiss huffed, climbing into her bed. "Wake me up when he's not here anymore."

"Good luck with that." I said, smirking "Goodnight, ladies."

Yang and Ruby returned the gesture and climbed into their own beds. The lights went out, and the only remaining glow came From Blake's bunk. Where the faunus in question laid, nose still buried in her book and wearing a black gown closer in line to robe.

I rolled over in my cot, pulling my blanket over me. I set my alarm, and drifted off. Pulling my first afternoon with my 'new' roommates to a close.