Author's Note: Something fun and short for me to whip up when I'm having trouble with Vigilante or Premium Well. Team RWBY plays D&D.

Gather the Party

"You actually got Blake to agree to this?"

"You really have no idea how much of an adorable nerd she is, do you?" Weiss could hear Yang chuckle to her sister from the other side of the stacks, the book-laden shelves doing little to muffle the blonde's piercing voice. The heiress sighed, burying herself deeper into the textbooks. She'd come here specifically to avoid the others. She might have a week left before the paper was due, but knowing the others' study habits, she expected she'd have plenty to do next week pushing the sisters to finish their own work.

"You're sure this is really a good idea?"

"I'm all for it. Just might be difficult to rope Weiss into something like this."

Weiss sighed. The last time she had heard this conversation, their attempt to 'rope' her in, had been right after the food fight. That time, she'd ended up puzzling her way through that ridiculous tabletop war game. The units hadn't even made any sense. Vacuo had never had a cavalry, at least not of warhorses, and definitely not during the same era as Mistral's robotic advances.

… that trap card Yang had played was completely overpowered.

Fine. If they wanted to try to get her into another game, if they were going to interrupt her studying, the least she could do was head them off.

"Rope me into something like what, exactly?"

Ruby and Yang froze as they rounded the corner, looking over to find a particularly cross heiress glaring at them from one of the work tables, a small mountain of books placed meticulously within reach.

"Oh, hey ... Weiss. Fancy finding you here." Ruby's awkwardness kicked into high gear

"In the library, where I said I would be? Yes, it is highly unlikely."

"No. Just … in this particular section. Economic treatises all of a sudden?"

"Good luck." Grinning, Yang waved a goodbye, slipping away and leaving her sister at Weiss' mercy.

"It's quiet." Weiss closed the reference book, making sure to mark the page for her citation. "Now, what did you want?"

"Well, I thought that maybe, we could … if you want, of course … play this game I just got."

"What is it this time?" Hopefully it would be another war game. She should be able to commit suicide fairly quickly – bow out and get back to her essay.

"Dungeons and Dragons?"

Ugh. Exactly what she needed. Another of those long-running games where she couldn't sneak away after getting herself or her armies killed, captured, beaten, or out-bet. Why couldn't Ruby just want to play cards?

"Exactly why are we doing this?"

"It's a team building exerci-"

"No."

"… chance to bond?"

Weiss didn't even bother to refute that one, just raised an eyebrow and waited. She could easily outwait her. Ruby squirmed under her gaze, uncomfortable under her partner's scrutiny.

"I … I know you didn't have a lot of 'fun' time growing up, so I thought that maybe I could, you know …."

"Make it up to me?"

"Was it a dumb idea?"

It's annoying, and poorly timed, is what it is. Still, she meant well.

"No, Ruby, it wasn't." "But I'm fine, and honestly, this isn't the kind of thing I find fun."

"But, the new version just came out, and I … wanted to play it with … you." Ruby blinked, her eyes wider and more dejected than Weiss had ever seen them. She fought the urge to growl. That look should be illegal. At least banned on school grounds. "Could we try it, please?"

"… fine." It was amazing how guilty her girlfriend could make her feel, even over something as silly and pointless as a roleplaying game. But if it made the younger girl happy, she could survive one game. She let Ruby bounce several times before holding up her hand. "But, one game only. If I stop, no badgering me into playing again."

"Sure!" Ruby burst into a grin, rummaging in her bag for the game's handbook. "Don't worry Weiss, I'll make sure you love it. It'll be great. We got Pyrrha to run the game for us, and Yang got Blake to play, so we can all play as a team!"

That was something. Pyrrha running the game would probably keep things from devolving into the Rose Sister Competitions.

"Since this is your first time playing, Weiss, I can roll a character for yo-"

"I'll make my own."

"You sure? It can take some getting used to."

"Since it's new, there probably isn't a mountain of source material. I'm sure I can handle making a highly effective character."

"It's not really about that. Just kinda … make someone who you want to play."

"When I play, I play to win."

"You don't really win at D&D, Weiss."

Weiss shrugged, and added Ruby's game book to the stack in front of her.

When the time for the game rolled around, Weiss was confident she understood most of the rules. The advantage mechanic seemed a little limited, but it did seem to make things simplistic.

The others were already in the library, gathered around one of the larger tables.

"Would it be alright if Jaune played too? Ruby said you only agreed to one session, and three players can make for a fairly small group."

Weiss caught the glances her teammates threw at her. Pyrrha's feelings for Jaune were an open secret – the only one oblivious was Jaune himself, and unfortunately, he had managed to develop a crush on Weiss. His attempts to ask her out had become more and more frequent, and infinitely more annoying. She had considered admitting that she was seeing someone, but that would only lead to more questions. Who was she dating? How long had she been dating them? Did she see it going anywhere? Frankly, her love life wasn't any of his business. She had hoped that after the dance, things would die down.

Apparently, that wasn't the case. They already had Sun sneaking through their window uninvited. She was hoping Jaune wouldn't think to try it, although the fall after she threw him out shouldn't hurt him too terribly. Any trained hunter could cushion a fall from that height.

Weiss made sure to smile when she looked at Pyrrha. Little sense in showing her annoyance now. Especially since it was just the one game; when she left, Jaune would be able to fill in her spot. "That sounds fine to me. I'm sure he can make himself useful."

Quietly sidestepping the awkwardness, Weiss followed the others' example as they pulled out their character sheets, and took the dice Ruby passed her. Yang had chosen a fighter, a tall, imposing human named Tesni, with a massive broadsword slung across her back. Ruby filled the required healing position with a halfling cleric by the name of Rowan. Blake was playing a wood elf rogue named Ciara, muttering something about preferring older editions. Apparently those versions actually had her beloved ninjas. Weiss' sorceress rounded out the group nicely, giving them an edge in magic that the other three lacked. That just left Jaune.

"I," he started, whipping his guitar out from behind his back and strumming slightly off-key, as always. "Am Johann Frederick the Second. A Bard."

Weiss took a second to blink, already feeling the beginning of a headache. This was going to be a long night.

"Yang?" Weiss muttered under her breath.

"Yeah?"

"I still don't understand how someone singing in the corner actually helps us accomplish anything."

"It relies on certain items. His power is directly derived from his collection of spoons."