Professor Ozpin knows that the students always question why he pairs Dr. Oobleck with the first years to shadow. Granted, Dr. Oobleck is an excellent huntsman in his own right, and has a mind sharper than most, but those aren't the reasons why. Ever since Professor Ozpin first assigned Dr. Oobleck with a rotation of first years, he's noticed something. Every time the well caffeinated doctor takes out a group of first years who show great promise, he asks the members of the team "Why did you decide to become a huntsman?" Every team. Team FACE. Team HDHR. Team RDAR. Team MJMS. And Team STRQ. Of those teams, there is only one person that Dr. Oobleck didn't ask. Out of twenty students to pass through that particular training, only one who Dr. Oobleck did not feel the need to ask the ever pressing question of why. Professor Ozpin asked him why he hadn't the night they returned.
"Professor Ozpin," Doctor Oobleck said, his speech slow for once. "What do you imagine their responses to that question was?"
Professor Ozpin paused, swirled his coffee, and shrugged. "I must admit that I'm not sure."
"The first I asked said they were searching for thrill and adventure; to escape the little island they'd grown up on. If they could help people while doing so, it was a win win. The second said that they'd seen too much of the bad in the world and that they wanted to do some good in it, and protect the ones that they love. The third said they wanted to leave this world a better place than that which they'd found it for those to come," Doctor Oobleck said.
Ozpin waited, knowing that Oobleck would continue on his own after a moment or two.
"As to why I didn't ask the fourth." Oobleck drank some coffee. "I've always been able to tell their answer by body language and attitude. There's nothing else that they'd rather be."
Ozpin walks up to Oobleck, the aftermath of the Grim breaking through to Vale still fresh, and pauses. Ozpin sighs slightly before saying, "You didn't ask her did you?"
He doesn't need to specify. After all, many first years may have passed through these halls since Team STRQ, but Oobleck hadn't felt the need, or seen the reason to not ask any of those students why they wanted to become huntsmen and huntresses. Not until team RWBY. It's funny that he wouldn't ask Ruby that question considering that he hadn't asked—
"Of course I didn't," Oobleck says, interrupting Ozpin's thoughts. "She carries the same body language and the same attitude." Oobleck drinks some coffee. "There's nothing else she'd rather be."
Ozpin watches as Oobleck walks away, and hopes that Ruby doesn't end up with a fate as bad as—
Ozpin's thoughts are again interrupted as his scroll begins to ring. He glances at the caller and opens the phone. "Qrow."
AN/ Hey all, so I've really, really, really gotten hooked into RWBY lately and had this pop into my head as I was re-watching the series for the third time within a month (I have no life. Almost literally. Work, sleep, drink, [inset random oddball activity here] and that's it.). I don't know why, but that just seems like something Dr. Oobleck would do. He's asking because he likes to gain knowledge, but I'd like to think that those teams which show the be, somehow, brighter than the rest are the ones that would really make him curious. Anyway, I left it intentionally vague as to who was who while talking about team STRQ for a reason. That being I want readers to kinda pick and choose who would give what answer on their own. That being said, I did have an order in mind that I'll explain below (If you don't wanna ruin whatever image/idea/theory you came up with while reading, then this is where you'd stop.)
Ok, so when talking about STRQ, the order is as follows.
First person is Tai.
Second person is Raven.
Third person is Summer.
Not asked is Qrow.
Tai, I think it pretty self-explanatory. I imagine that Yang gets an even half of personality from both her parents, so I can see Tai being a bit of a thrill seeker as a kid. This one is probably the most obvious since I kinda rewrote what Yang said for Tai.
Raven's talking more about with her time with the bandits. While there, I think she saw a lot of suffering while there and I think that she was a bit more like Blake when she was a kid. Quiet, passionate, and really wanting to do the right thing. I think she wanted to stop others from experiencing what she'd seen (not necessarily felt, as I don't know that much about how the tribe would have treated the kid birds, but it may not have been too good either. We just don't know.). As to protecting those she cares about, it's shown when her and Qrow are talking that she cares about those that she considers family. And I like to think she cares a lot about her brother in particular (I do have a brother and know that while I will slap him upside the head for being an idiot in a minute, I'd do anything to help him within a second.).
Summer…we know next to nothing about her. But, judging by what we see from Ruby and what we do know, I'd imagine she'd want to do well and help others. And that would be her main motivation. She wants to leave behind a world that is safer for everyone. As to why she's the one who was asked rather than Qrow…well…part of that is because we know so little about her. There's no real feeling of who she was. It was actually a rather difficult choice to make between her and Qrow.
Qrow. I will start this by saying I love this sassy, badass, alcoholic. Qrow has the most screen time of anyone in team STRQ, next most being Tai. Honestly, I can imagine Qrow having been very similar to how Ruby is when he was her/Yang's age (I'm not joining a side as to the battle between whether or not Tai or Qrow is Ruby's father, it's not my place to try and convince anyone one way or the other. (though before people start saying anything within this story or note is alluding to choosing one side or the other, I'm just going to point out that a lot of people take after family members who aren't necessarily their parents. I, for one, am a lot like my uncle, and I know he's definitely not my dad, so yeah, anyway.)). Qrow just seems like the kind of character who, as a kid, would have looked at being a hunter and just known that's what he wanted to be, regardless of the reason. Which is why Oobleck didn't ask him, and why I imagine Oobleck didn't ask Ruby.
Wow…this note is longer than the story…he he…sorry 'bout that….Cookie?