Welcome back to Haven, guys... even though right now the story's at Beacon. Anyway, a couple things to note: I changed the spelling of some characters' names (Rain to Rayne, Sky to Skye, that sort of thing) because of obvious reasons. Another is that I'm sorry about the continuity errors between Part 1 and the show, but please give me a break about that. But anyway, at the end of this, I'll be giving you a little bit of Haven news.
I do not own RWBY, and this is a fan project strictly for honing my craft and having fun.

"So you're not a goth," Storm said, checking if he was understanding this right.

"I'm not a goth; I just like the color black," Ember replied.

They—Storm, Azura, Feather, Crystal, Cirocco, Rayne, and Ember—were gathered around a table outside in a park in Vale, with SAFR on one side and CCRE on the other. They had just been talking, and they had somehow gotten onto the topic of whether or not Ember was a Goth. "So, I was wrong," Storm said, regretfully.

"Don't worry, Storm; you weren't the only one fooled," Crystal said. Feather nodded as well.

"I've no idea what that is," Azura said.

"It's okay, I don't either," Crystal said.

"Wow," Rayne said. "You may have just insulted the entire goth subculture."

"That's an achievement," Storm added.

"I don't know why that doesn't get me dates when I do that," Cirocco said. "You two say something that no one wants to admit, and you get great dates to the dance. Yet when I do that, I get Azura."

Azura pulled out her pistol and put it down on the table. "Keep talking."

Storm tried scooting away from Azura without being too obvious about it. If Rusti didn't get there with the food soon, there'd be six people sitting at this table instead of seven.

Now that he thought about it, why did Ember and Rayne get off so easily for attacking their teammates? If he was in charge of Haven, he might have arrested the pair of them, even if they were trying to warn the staff about something. Why then did Headmaster Forester let them off without even a slap on the wrist? Then again, they might have gotten slapped there, and he just didn't know about it, but he was getting too literal.

Then, Rusti showed up with plastic bags that had Styrofoam boxes bulging in them. "Guess what, guys. Takeout," Rusti said as put the bags on the table.

"Great!" Crystal said.

"About time," Cirocco added.

He handed out boxes with their initials on them to Storm, Azura, Feather, Crystal, and Cirocco. "I got each of you a different dish."

"Neat-o," Storm said.

Rusti stared up at the sky contemplatively. "Do people still say that?"

"I do, and that's enough for me."

Rusti was probably about to reply when Rayne asked, "Where's the food for Ember and I?"

Rusti grimaced. "I honestly forgot you two were around." Well that was rude. "But I got two meals for myself." Storm stared questioningly at Rusti. "Losing makes me hungry."

"Wait, you lost?" Cirocco said, surprised.

"Yep, to team CFVY," Storm said, and sighed. "It was brutal." He looked at Azura. "And it was not helped by you deciding to fight Velvet hand-to-hand."

"She was annoying!" Azura said both angrily and defensively. "It was either fists or the sword, and I'm not so good with the sword." Her hand neared the pistol on the table.

Storm backed away so much, he bumped into Feather. "Okay, okay. Just don't shoot me."

Azura nodded and put her pistol away.

Storm was concerned for Feather though. While some people might not have picked up on it, just by looking at Feather's aura he could tell that she had taken losing hard. That hadn't been the only thing she'd taken hard—after getting hit with that big guy's sword so many times, her defensive aura had been depleted more than he had ever seen it. He hoped she was okay.

Rusti had just sat, giving Rayne and Ember one of his boxes, to eat when Cirocco opened his box. He grimaced, and closed it back up. "What is it?" Rusti asked. Cirocco spun the box around, and showed everyone. Inside were ribs with barbecue sauce and a bag of potato chips. "So?"

"I'm a vegetarian!" Cirocco said. Ooh.

"Huh. I wouldn't have thought that."

Cirocco looked at Rusti like he said that Cirocco was a girl. "Seek the truth, speak the truth." Storm believed that was the Atlas motto, or someone's motto—maybe it was just Cirocco's. It sounded like a motto. "I know that it's been proven that animals have souls, and I don't want to eat anything that had a soul."

"Ugh," sounded Rusti, frustrated. "Is anyone else dissatisfied with their lunch?"

"Um," Feather said. "I originally was not going to say anything but…" She gestured to her salad. "I do not have any meat. And um…" She held up a bag of sunflower seeds.

"I thought you were the vegetarian!" Rusti said.

Feather looked at him curiously. "What gave you that impression?"

"Um, you know. You're a… bird."

"Wow, way to bring the racism on that one," Rayne said.

"Okay, you two," Rusti gestured to Cirocco and Feather, "switch." They passed their boxes to each other, and seemed more satisfied.

Deciding now was a good time to find out about what Rusti had gotten them; Storm as well as Crystal and Azura opened their boxes. Storm was not happy about finding a gyro in his box. While he had eaten this sort of thing before, he wasn't so sure about the sauce. Apparently, Crystal was also unhappy. "What is this? Crystal said, gesturing to her meal.

Rusti stood up and looked at it from across the table. "That's a cheese steak sandwich," he said.

"Well, I don't know who you take me for, but I am Crystal Taryn, daughter of the noble Taryn Estate, and I will not eat this disgusting thing."

"I'll have it," Storm said.

"And what do you have?" Crystal asked.

"A gyro."

"Oh, I'll take that." They switched, and Storm noticed that the sandwich also came with curly fries. He was okay with curly fries, but not overly enthusiastic.

Feather asked him, "Do you mind trading your fries for chips?"

"Sure," Storm said, and they carefully moved his curly fries to Feather's box, and Storm took the bag of chips.

"What about you, Azura?" Rusti said. "Have you got a complaint?"

"I eat what I'm given," Azura said, and took a big bite out of the cheeseburger in her hands. That made Storm feel a little bad for being ungrateful about his food.

He decided to apologize to Rusti, as tough as that was. "I'm sorry about that, Rusti. But next time, I'll get the food."

"Thanks," Rusti said.

Storm paused for a moment, and after offering a silent prayer, he dug into his food. He had to say this about takeout: it tasted pretty good.

"Also, all of you owe me money now," Rusti said. "Except Azura who doesn't have money."

Azura nodded gratefully, but Rayne decided to say, "Yeah. Being your partner is enough."

Storm, as well as Cirocco and Crystal, laughed at that. Feather even smiled a little. "Ha, ha, so funny," Rusti said sarcastically.

After they were done eating—and Storm was done eating long before most everyone else was done, being beaten by only Azura and Rayne—Crystal said, "Well, we'd better get to the arena. Our match is starting soon."

"Who are you fighting?" Storm asked.

"Team SNOW from Atlas."

He hadn't heard of them, but that was no surprise. "Good luck."

"Thanks." And team CCRE walked away back to Beacon.

Rusti decided then to take their side of the table, and ask, "So, anyone want to go see the match?"

"Not into sports," Azura said.

"Same," Storm said.

"I am the same," Feather said.

"Then what do you want to…" Rusti trailed off. "Watch out. Blue haired chick coming right at us, and I'm gonna ask her out." He looked at Storm. "Now you're going to see a master at work."

Storm turned around, curious. Who he saw made him shocked at Rusti. "That's no chick; that's my cousin Skye!"

He looked back at Rusti, and Rusti asked, "Is she single?"

He was about to answer that he didn't keep up in his extended family's personal lives, but somehow, Skye was already there to answer them. "I'm engaged," Skye said, holding out her white gloved hand to show a diamond ring on her finger. She was always this fast and forward.

Smiling, Storm replied, "Congrats, Skye." Then he thought of something. "It isn't…"

"No, I'm not getting married to a her; I'm getting married to a him—I'm over that phase." Storm breathed a sigh of relief. "So, how are you?"

"I'm okay." Realizing she didn't know anyone at the table other than himself, Storm introduced his team. "Skye, meet Feather, Azura, and Rusti; my teammates."

"A pleasure," Skye said, putting her hand forward for someone to shake. Only Rusti shook her hand, which kinda creeped him out.

"Rusti, there's something you should know," Storm said. "Skye is twenty three."

"Hey! It's rude to tell someone a woman's age, and to ask it."

"Yeah, but Rusti was going to ask you out." Skye laughed, and Rusti lowered his head. It was not his day it seemed.

"I'm sorry, Rusti," Skye said. "Perhaps I can make it up to you some time."

"Maybe," Rusti said. He almost thought Rusti sounded depressed.

"Storm, I'd like to talk to you as soon as you're ready."

"Alright." And with a goodbye, Skye walked away. Now what to do?

Okay, so I've written a lot of Part 2 already, because I just couldn't wait for Volume 3 to end, and I can easily adjust things if it doesn't work out. Part of the reason why I'm posting these chapters now instead of later is that my original deadline for this story has already passed (it couldn't be helped because of Volume 3 getting released a lot farther back, and I didn't want massive continuity errors like Part 1), and I want to post this as soon as possible. In any case, I will be releasing more chapters next week, after Volume 3 is over, and once I finish Part 2, I will be posting chapters very rapidly (multiple chapters per day) because I don't want to drag posting this stuff longer than I have to.