This is my new series I will be working on! It is shaping up to be much longer than Arc's Metalworks, and I'm very excited about it. This was partially inspired by a story called Game On but SoulfulBard I'll explain some important stuff after the chapter. Till then, Enjoy!
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Jaune opened the old, heavy door with a yawn. It was finally time for his favorite, and last, class of the day. Band. As soon as the old, mostly sound proof door opened, the cacophonous roar of some ungodly mixture of instruments as they warmed up and made sure they had all been assembled correctly, blasted his eardrums. Yet to him, it as if it was a warm welcome.
Some of the other students waved or smiled as they saw who had entered, others were busy with their own devices. Some ignored him. Such was band class though, one great big family formed through years of hard work, wrought with drama and infighting. He wouldn't have it any other way though.
Opening one of the lockers littering the wall, he shoved his backpack in there and pulled out his music folder, mallets, and drumsticks.
He closed the door to his little cubby with another yawn, struggling to stay awake. Having math after lunch was just a recipe for disaster. Luckily being in a classroom full loud horns was a perfect wake up call. As the door to his little cubby was closed, he was met by a pair of friendly green eyes looking back at him, a warm smile making him feel at ease.
"Hey Pyrrha." He offered.
Pyrrha just grinned, holding up a small little plastic container full of apple slices to him. "Some healthy fruit snacks to wake up?"
Eagerly he took one, chewing it happily. "You're the best."
Beaming, Pyrrha took one herself before depositing the container back in her own cubby next to his, withdrawing her own mallets and drumsticks and folder. "I know." She chirped happily.
Jaune could always count on Pyrrha to have some sort of snack if he needed one, even when he didn't. She always seemed to have food around her, a fact that made him overjoyed.
Knowing hunger can be distracting, and enjoying seeing Jaune smile, she found it no hassle to always just have simple snack on hand, plus she preferred eating in smaller meals rather than three big ones. Though Yang liked to tease that she took the phrase "The fastest way to a man's heart is his stomach" too seriously, she'd tirelessly deny it.
They both just laughed as they made their way to the back of the room to begin setting up the percussion section.
Across the room, Yang closed her own locker watching them. "He seriously has no clue. She seriously has no spine. This is maddening." She complained to her best friend Blake.
The raven haired girl just let out a simple. "Mmm." at her friend's usual complaint. She was still engrossed in her novel, determined to use every last second until class started to continue reading it.
Glancing over at her friend, Yang was mildly annoyed she wasn't being very fun today. "You have a lot of courage reading smut in the middle of class."
Blake's book snapped shut as she turned to Yang, who could have sword she heard a hiss. "It's not smut! It's just a romance novel!"
There was the fun. "Sure. That's just a romance novel, and Weiss's house is only a modest sized apartment." Yang remarked, rolling her eyes.
Across the room, said girl scoffed, having overheard the quip. Before she could set her friend straight, her other friend bounced into the room. "Weiss! Thank you for letting me borrow your notes." Ruby chirped happily, handing her back the notebook she had borrowed, surprisingly still in pristine condition. Better than it was usually returned.
"You can't properly practice for our next concert if you're trying to play catch up in history. It's the least I can do for the band." She offered, looking away.
Ruby pouted for just a moment, before grinning anyway and pulling her friend into a hug. "You're the best Weiss."
Weiss just rolled her eyes, before returning the hug for the briefest second.
"What? You're too old to hug your big sis too now? You can only hug your girlfriend?" Yang interrupted suddenly, wrapping Ruby in a bear-hug and spinning her around.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Ruby responded suddenly, pushing against her sister's shoulders. "And you're going to break my spine!" She snapped, flailing as she tried to free herself from her sister's monster grasp.
"Did someone mention breaking bones?" A new voice chimed in happily, as the doors exploded open as Nora marched in, grinning. "I'm in!"
Ren managed to catch the door handle just before it would have slammed against the frame. He quietly closed it. "Perhaps we should wait to see who we're attacking before we join in." He offered to Nora.
"But that's no fun. Besides, Ruby mentioned it! Any enemy of Ruby is an enemy of mine!" She said determinedly, glaring at Yang. "Xiao Long! It is on!"
Yang unceremoniously dropped Ruby, turning to Nora with a smirk. "Feeling tough today, Valkyrie?" As she dropped into a wrestler's stance.
In the back of the room, Jaune had stood up. "We should probably stop this..."
Pyrrha just grabbed his hand, holding him in place. "I don't think we could if we wanted to." She remarked, before blushing and dropping his hand, though Jaune had hardly noticed.
"What brutes." Weiss said with a scoff, flipping her hair over her shoulder, though her eyes remained glued to the pair, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Jaune! Sound the bell!" Nora ordered as she began to circle around Yang, grinning.
"I don't want any part of this!" He called out, crossing his arms.
"If you don't do it, you're next."
Jaune's face paled as a moment later he rang the gong.
Before either Yang or Nora could launch themselves at the other, the door opened and Professor Ozpin had walked in with a fresh cup of coffee, behind him his assistant Glynda cleared her throat.
Everyone froze, and in a minute's time everyone was seated in their proper seat, paying attention to the front obediently.
A small smile graced Ozpin's lips as he set his coffee down on his music stand. "I'm glad to see everyone is so lively today."
"Though I must remind everyone, fighting, whether friendly or not, is off limits on school grounds. If you feel the need to rough house, please take it somewhere else." Glynda scolded, making Nora and Yang flinch, before shooting a glance at each other and snickering. Everyone knew the two girls got along just fine, but also knew they liked to butt heads and never to get in-between them.
Ozpin looked over the class with a content smile. "Now then, we have an important announcement to make after class today. But for now, we'll start with our warm ups. #17 please."
Everyone settled into their places, flipping their books to the right warm-up they all practically knew by heart by now.
Yang, Pyrrha, and Jaune were all nestled in the percussion section along with a few others. Yang was at the Xylophone, pouting because she hated mallet instruments, but a drum set was hardly good at harmonizing to help everyone nail down their pitches. Jaune and Pyrrha, as usual, were sharing the large marimba in the back. Pyrrha was a sort of prodigy when it came to percussion instruments, and actually had attended a national competition for high school marimba players. When Jaune had joined, he had struggled a bit to keep up with the rather advanced band, but Pyrrha had taken him under her wing and gave him extra lessons on the mallets to help him catch up.
Just in front of them was Nora who was sitting in the trombone section, wielding the large instrument with ease.
In the row in front of her, Ruby sat on the far side with her alto saxophone. She was still a bit of a beginner when it came to the instrument, but she was a faster learned and had received help from her dad. Yang had suggested she joined band, in order to fit in a little more despite her unusual enrollment. That way, she'd at least find a family in the band.
A little further down the row sat Ren, adjusting the reed on his oboe. Ren was talented in both the Oboe and Bassoon naturally, a mystery to most people, yet envied. Music colleges craved Oboe and Bassoon players, the instrument proving a challenge to play well, and hardly the one with the most interest. Yet Ren seemed to manage just fine. Nora said it's cause he's just amazing, but others looked for a more helpful explanation.
In the front row, Blake and Weiss found themselves on opposite ends. Blake was patiently waiting to begin, her clarinet ready. Weiss, of course, had already memorized the warm-up but was still turning to the page anyway after Ozpin had insisted it was always helpful to have a reminder. Weiss still hardly looked at the page, she had it down to a perfect muscle memory on her flute after all.
Ozpin raised his hand as everyone blew the first note. He sighed, cutting them off with a flick of his wrist. "We're not here to play around. We do have a concert in a few weeks. While I certainly do wish this to be a class that you all look forward to, and you have fun here, but we must give it our all. So now then, again." He lectured as he motioned for them to begin again.
Satisfied with the opening note, he conducted them through the rest. Soon enough, the warm-ups had been stumbled through and they were moving on to their music.
"Now then, our first song." He started off. Instantly, all the percussionists dropped to the ground.
Nora looked back and snickered, seeing their defeated faces.
Yes, the band practice had a sort of hierarchy. When it came to review, the process was rather routine. It started off with the woodwinds, until they could play it comfortably, then the brass, then finally the percussion had their chance. Which meant a lot of downtime for the poor students stuck in the back of the class.
It wasn't necessarily from malicious intent that Ozpin had delegated the percussionists so much downtime, but rather it was the nature of band practice. Woodwinds and Brass required players to harmonize notes, while percussion needed only correct tempo, and to hit the correct spots, or keys, in order to play their part correctly. Plus, much of percussion was so sporadic, it was hard to practice on their own. A cymbal crash here, followed by 24 measures of rest until Jaune would have to play a few bars on the marimba was hardly something that was reasonable to hold up class to practice. No, they would have to learn as they went, with outside practice, careful counting, and the occasional actual stoppage of class when a particularly important or difficult part required attention.
So as Ozpin began to drill the woodwinds, Pyrrha shuffled over next to Jaune. She saw him staring at his sheet of music intently, drumming on his lap with his hands to make sure he could get the rhythm right. Watching him careful, she hummed in approval, noticing he was spot on. His practice must have been paying off finally.
Boy, did he practice. That was one of the many things Pyrrha admired about her friend. She knew how often he would spend an hour or two after school in the practice room, running over whatever piece of music he was struggling with. Often times she stayed to practice with him, helping with anything she had learned from her years of experience. He always asked if she was sure, feeling guilty about taking up her time but there was nothing Pyrrha would rather be doing.
Both Pyrrha and Jaune had transferred to Beacon High last year, their junior year. Pyrrha's parents, while incredibly doting and supportive of... well... anything she did, had found a better job opportunity in this city. They had felt bad about moving her away from her friends, but Pyrrha was determined to make sure her parents wouldn't pass on a good opportunity for her sake. Besides, she had felt a growing distance between herself and her old friends. As her latent ability to play instruments began to really show itself, jealousy had grown along with the admiration, making her feel more and more detached as they had stopped asking her to hang out with them, or practicing with her.
Jaune, as she had come to learn, had sort of had his hand forced. His large family had been living in a neighboring city, but his dad had landed an opportunity to work across country on the east coast. Which meant moving their whole family. Jaune hadn't wanted to give up living in Oregon, he had come to enjoy things here too much. Also, he had confided in her one late night when they had gone out to get some milkshakes, he had wanted some space. Having 7 sisters meant attention was always split, and that he knew it was a burden financially to support him as well. So he had taken his one chance. His oldest sister, Alice, had moved out and was staying in an apartment on her own. She was old enough to take care of him, and had quickly agreed after he had come to her in an honest talk. Pyrrha had come to known his older sister over the past year, and admired her, and the bond she shared with her brother.
Noticing Jaune had finished running through his music, he just closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.
Pyrrha scooted over, nudging his shoulder slightly. Without opening an eye, he leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder. Pyrrha was grateful that the marimba could hide her blush from the rest of the band, though Yang was snickering from across the room.
Words couldn't express how grateful Pyrrha was to have formed her friendship with Jaune. When people had learned of her past accomplishments in the world of music, many had reacted the usual way. Jealousy or admiration. Even some of her close friends now, such as Weiss had seen her for what she did, not who she was. Jaune, however, had only found it cool but treated her just like everyone else. She wasn't sure if it was a product of his low self esteem that made her seem like everyone else above him that let him look past her accomplishments without jealousy, or his usually humble nature. But she was grateful for it. When she had seen him desperately trying to do the scales on the marimba after school one day when she had come back for a binder she had left behind, she had seen for the first time how hard he worked. She would never forget that expression of frustration and determination as she watched him repeat the same scale over and over again.
In hindsight, her offer to teach him may have been a tad presumptuous, but she had meant it honestly. At first Jaune hadn't reacted well and they had even fought a bit. However, after an argument with Yang and Nora, who Pyrrha had both quickly bonded with as well, she had been surprised when he had come to her in an apology.
She had been shocked by the honesty he showed that night. It had been clear, he truly regretted being rude to her and that he had just wanted to prove he could do it on his own. However he hadn't made excuses, his first words to her had been an honest apology. But he knew she was just trying to help, and had humbled himself to ask for her help. It hard taken Pyrrha hardly a moment to decide to help the adorable clumsy blonde, and they had only grown closer since then. Perhaps not as close as she would have hoped, but the progress was promising to her at least.
Letting her eyes slide shut, she leaned her head on Jaune's, while she kept her ears open for the sound of the teacher's instructions.
Leaning against the back of the piano, Yang stared at the duo resting behind the marimba with a mild sigh. She really hadn't seen to people grow so close so quickly before. They were practically attached at the hip, dating in every sense of the word except literally. It drove her mad, but after a meeting with their circle of friends, they had decided to let them come to it on their own terms. Meddling was bad, after the great Jaune-Weiss Fiasco of 2015, they knew Jaune had learned a lesson. The healthiest relationship Arkos, as she called them, could get into would be one where they both overcame their respective issues on their own. Otherwise things could get messy, and while Yang could enjoy drama from time to time, she did not want it in her group of friends who she considered family. No, she wouldn't stand for that again. The pain she had seen Pyrrha in when Jaune went after Weiss, the poor misunderstandings and naivety that Jaune had suffered from when he had stuck with his crush too long, and the coldness, and anger Weiss had shown to Jaune, in part due to his own excessive persistence, and in part due to her own baggage, had nearly torn their freshly formed circle of friends apart.
People had chosen sides, words had been thrown around in anger that should have never been said, and a lot of hard lessons had to have been learned. Yang knew they had grown stronger, and closer together, because of it. But that period of time had been miserable for many of them, that Yang took it upon herself to ensure that she didn't need to see her friends in such pain again. Especially when she had seen her sister upset because two of her best friends were so at odds with each other. By now even Jaune and Weiss had moved past it to become friends by this point.
Yang was the oldest in the group, and thus it was her job to take care of them, or so she had convinced herself. Though, after another glance at the pair, she wasn't how long she could last before she locked them in the drum closet until they made out and hooked up.
Her eyes shifted over to her sister, who seemed to be playing her little heart out on the saxophone. Since her last year, she had moved up to the first chair. A fact that certainly had caused a bit of drama in of itself, but it had sorted itself out when they saw how hard she worked.
Her best friend seemed to be doing just fine, even a little bored seemingly as they played. Blake was always quick to pick up whatever song they were playing. She might not have been a prodigy like Pyrrha was, but she certainly was one of the strongest musicians in the class. One would have thought that she came from a musical background, but that couldn't have been the furthest from the truth. Blake shook her head sadly as she remembered the hell Blake had gone through a few years ago. It was awful how a few bad decisions and poor friends could drag such a nice girl through the mud. Then again, on the other hand it wasn't like "proper" friends and family always did wonders for you either.
Yang had to admit that for all the arrogance and pride Weiss liked to show, she certainly could back it up with her musical talents. Her flute playing was by far the prettiest in the class, and her singing ended with her facing constant requests to quit band and join choir. Weiss refused, on the grounds that she enjoyed playing the flute and wasn't interested in whatever selection of songs the teacher happened to have chosen, but Yang knew it was cause she didn't want to be separated from her group of friends. Even if she was too stubborn to admit it at times.
"Percussion!" Ozpin called out. Immediately Jaune and Pyrrha popped up like gophers from behind the marimba, Jaune moving over to the marimba while Pyrrha took the timpani's for this particular piece. At first, their combined appearance had caused quite a few snickers and rumors flying around the band room. Over a year later though, and everyone had accepted them being around each other and normal, and only Nora was still snickering.
Yang grinned in Nora's direction as she took her own position at the snare drum, ready to play. It wasn't like Nora was much different from Pyrrha, she was practically attached to Ren. Even if they weren't "together together." As she had put it. They weren't in denial as much as their friends were, Nora saying since they had grown up together in foster homes they were practical siblings and it'd be "Weird" right? No one bought that argument, but they couldn't exactly argue against it either.
Staring at Ozpin intently, she followed Ozpin's count as they began playing.
Without interruption they had finished playing through the song, causing some of the woodwinds to look back in surprise. It wasn't often that Percussion had their stuff together on the first try when it wasn't an important moment. Percussionists certainly had a reputation for being a bit aloof that wasn't entirely undeserved.
Ozpin nodded. "Very good. Now this time, let's play it without gradually increasing the tempo by 20."
All the percussionists stared at him blankly. "We sped up?"
He nodded. "20 clicks that time."
"You always speed up." Nora helpfully added.
Jaune frowned. "I didn't notice we sped up." He muttered to Pyrrha.
She just smiled sheepishly. "I did a bit." It wasn't like she could control the tempo though, that was more of Yang's job on the snare.
"Yang! Don't speed up. I can't play that fast." Ruby whined, earning some murmurs of approval from the group.
"Sorry!" Yang offered with a grin. It hadn't been intentional, but when you're repeating the same pattern over and over again, it's sort of just a thing that happens.
"You did well to play that fast though, Jaune! You were right on the tempo we were going." Pyrrha praised, causing her friend to beam happily.
Yang just rolled her eyes at Pyrrha never missing a chance to bolster Jaune's confidence. Not that she would lie to him to do so, but she put Bob Ross to shame some days with her positivity.
"Now then." Ozpin said, starting to conduct again.
Soon enough the class was winding down, their practice going relatively smoothly.
Ozpin got a dangerous glint in his eye, causing the front row to shift nervously. "Now then, for our last run through let's have some fun shall we? We'll let percussion choose whatever tempo they like."
The room fell dead silent, save for the odd note that rang out as Jaune's mallet slipped from his shocked hand onto the marimba.
"Sir? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Weiss asked after moment, regaining her composure.
Yang just started cackling in the back of the room. "Oh fu- heck yeah!" She cheered out, crackling her knuckles as she began to drum on her leg very quickly, getting her rhythm down.
Ozpin just smiled. "Now, while this is for fun and no one needs to worry about missing some notes, I do ask that percussion keeps it reasonable. We do have some first year students in this band who are not as experienced." He explained, glancing at a few of the terrified saxophone and clarinet players.
A pout from Ruby caused Yang to sigh. "Okay, okay." She turned away. "Dangling a carrot in front of me then telling me only to take a bite." She muttered mostly to herself. Though, a breath later and she was facing forward again, grinning eagerly.
Ozpin just smiled at her. "Count it off, if you would Ms. Xiao Long."
A few students glanced back, seeing all the percussionists, lean forward with a dangerous glint in their eyes.
Yang tapped the edge of the snare drum, probably 40 beats faster than the song usually called for. Right before the final four taps of the countdown she merely said. "Strap in."
The resulting song was certainly an experience. It was chaotic, volume dynamics had completely been ignored, and a music stand had actually been knocked over by an over eager Nora who was having too much fun with her trombone.
By the end of the song, the whole class was laughing hard. It had started out nerve-wracking, a little difficult, but by the end, after a myriad of missed notes, solos that had been reduced to a few seconds, and a booming laugh breaking out from a tuba player, the tension had been dissolved and everyone was smiling.
The song came a cacophonous conclusion, and even Ozpin was laughing. Jaune had stumbled backwards, leaning against the wall as he clutched his stomach laughing. Pyrrha had wandered over, initially to check on him, but ended up leaning against him as she laughed herself. Yang just threw her hands up triumphantly as she grinned. Nora was cheering, Ren was just silently chuckling. Ruby was a bit flustered, having ended up over her head and totally blown her solo, but she was laughing herself. Blake was snickering, having managed to play at the higher tempo, but had found the whole ordeal fun.
Even Weiss had cracked a smile, able to just have fun after the tempo had gotten too fast for her to properly play. It was rare, but a sort of catharsis.
Now that everyone had loosened up, and class was reaching it's end Ozpin just patiently waited for the laughter to die down. "Now then, about the announcement I have to make." He said after a moment, causing everyone to freeze in place.
Very rarely did he give announcements, and usually they were rather important.
"As you may well know, last year our school faced some issues. Our budget had been cut, I had to take a year's absence, and one of our other instructors had quit. Meaning a certain program had to have been dropped for that year regrettably."
Most of the class stared at him in interested confusion, but Yang slammed her hand down on the snare, leaning over it. "You're not serious!" She rushed out, practically vibrating with anticipation.
Ozpin merely smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. "Yes Ms. Xiao Long. I'm afraid I am. Yes, this year marks the return of our indoor drumline program."
The room exploded into conversation. Yang flat out yelled in joy. Jaune and Pyrrha stared at each other, both grinning. They were so going to audition for it. Ruby looked back at her sister eagerly. She had been afraid she wouldn't have had a chance to join one in high school. Ren just sighed as he began packing up his oboe, even before Nora had appeared next to him, already rambling about how they were going to audition together. It seemed he would have a lot of work ahead of him, not that he was against the idea. It would be fun after all. Blake and Weiss however were merely excited for their friends. They weren't particularly fond of percussion themselves.
"Of course, the return of drumline means the return of our color guard of well."
This piqued both of their interest however. Weiss had to admit, the flashy dancing and the chance to elegantly enthrall an audience certainly appealed to her. Blake was a little more hesitant, but Yang had already crossed the room and thrown an arm around her shoulder, practically begging her to do it.
Blake just rolled her eyes and agreed to audition with a smile. It could be fun after all, and she wanted to be with her friends as much as she could during her senior year.
Ozpin just stepped off the platform, knowing that control of the class had been lost, even from his grip. He smiled apologetically at Glynda, who just sighed, having had more to say but knowing it was a lost cause. Simply walking over to the whiteboard near the front, in bold letters he wrote down a message before leaving to head to his office.
Auditions are next Wednesday after school.
He knew they would get the message sooner or later.
"Class dismissed. Clean up the room before you leave." Glynda called out at a reasonable volume, but her voice cut through the chaos like a knife. Everyone had paused their conversations to let out a unanimous. "Yes Ms. Goodwitch." Before returning to what they were doing. They had learned their lesson before about ignoring her.
The clean up that day had been a bit more chaotic for sure, but it had gotten done. Pyrrha finished putting the protective covers over the large timpani drums, rolling them back into the corner. Turning, she saw the the marimbas and xylophones had already been neatly stowed away. What she hadn't expected to see was Jaune sitting on the ground, his head in his hands. She bit her lip, she already knew what he was thinking. She had seen how eager he had been to hear about drumline, but knew how much he doubted himself when it came to percussion.
Gently moving over, she crouched down next to him, just waiting for a moment. She knew he would speak up when he was ready.
"Think I can do it?" He spoke up after a moment, having felt Pyrrha gently lean against him.
Pyrrha hummed for a moment, thinking. "Well I believe you can, but you knew I would say that. It's because I know how hard you work at this. Plus, you're not alone. All of us are with you." She offered, smiling over at him.
Looking up, Jaune just stared at her before a grin crept across his face.
Pyrrha was about to continue when she saw a strange mix of emotions cross his face. "Jaune?"
The blonde looked away from her, his hand's suddenly drumming on his legs nervously. "It's just... been... a while since I was last on a drumline."
Pyrrha froze, alarms going off in her head. "You were in a drumline before?" She asked, confused. She hadn't heard of that before.
Jaune shrugged nervously. "It was just a youth one in my middle school. Mostly for fun, only going to a local competition for fun." He said after a brief pause. "I wanted to be like my grandpa. So it was the closest I could come to being a drummer at the time."
Pyrrha stared at him, not saying anything. It was true she hadn't heard much about his middle school. She knew he hadn't exactly been too popular back then or had too many friends, so he usually only talked about the present. Still, when she had helped him with percussion in the beginning he had never mentioned it before.
Before she could decide if she wanted to press the issue any further, Ruby had popped up, kicking Jaune's shoe.
"You okay?" She asked, tilting her head, obviously concerned.
Jaune just looked up at her, that strange expression still on his face before a smile crept on it. "Yeah! I'm great!" He said, forcing himself to stand up suddenly. Almost solely out of habit, he moved over to the piano.
Immediately people flocked to the piano. Hardly an unusual sight after a class for them. Immediately he began to play a simple rendition of one of the popular songs on the radio.
Yang was leaning over the back of the piano, her sister at her side. Yang knew Jaune to be many things. Clumsy, determined, caring, a bit of a goof, romantically oblivious, but talented was usually not one word she'd use to describe him. But on the piano, he certainly had skill. It wasn't really due to a natural ability, but rather all the Arc children had been given a rule when they were kids to play a musical instrument for at least 3 years, he had explained. Afterwards, if they were unhappy with it they could give it up, no complaints. But his parents insisted the process of learning an instrument was good for both his mental growth, and for forming healthy habits.
Jaune had fallen in love with it, though it certainly always seemed to be a battle to improve. He couldn't admit it, but he loved how his playing would make others smile. It started out with his sisters, many of whom could play as well, but when he played correctly others would laugh. Then his few friends in the past enjoyed it as well. Finally, when he had transferred to beacon, he found it rang true and his first conversation with Pyrrha had been around the piano, even before she had offered to help him. Jaune knew if he could make his friends smile, any burden that came with learning the piano could be shouldered.
As he played, the usual crowd continued to flock around him, some even singing the words. Pyrrha took her usual spot, sitting on the bench next to him, occasionally picking at some notes to harmonize. Blake leaned against the side of the piano as she read, enjoying the atmosphere. Ren and Nora showed up happily, as Nora rested her hands on Jaune's shoulders and leaned against him. Even Weiss had floated around them, hanging out a bit awkwardly until Ruby had pulled her into a conversation.
A wrong note caused the song to crash to a halt as he fumbled for a moment, Yang and Nora snickering at his mistake. Jaune began to be a little flustered until he Pyrrha reassuringly nudge his leg with hers, offering her a warm smile as she started up again, getting back on track.
Yang burst out laughing as she saw Nora standing behind the oblivious duo, her arms out stretched as they hovered on either side of their heads twitching like she just wanted to mash them together. She was mouthing "kiss kiss kiss" silently, until Ren snickered and gently lowered her arms.
Eventually, Yang couldn't sit still anymore and moved over to the drum set in the corner next to the piano, picking up the sticks.
"Play something faster." She ordered Jaune, as she spun her stick impatiently.
Jaune shrugged, before falling back to one of the songs he had down perfectly from years of practice.
"Ooo! This'll be the day! I know this too!" Ruby exclaimed as she vanished suddenly, reappearing a moment later with her saxophone. Soon enough, Ruby, Yang, and Jaune were preforming the song as a trio, while some of the others sang.
Across the room, Ozpin was leaning against the door frame, sipping from his drink with a content smile.
"You would think they would want to be quiet after so long of playing music." Glynda had half-heartedly complained.
"They're just kids having fun. Band is a sort of safe haven for all different kinds of people, they can express themselves here in ways they can't in the rest of the school. This is important to them, and that's why I have a feeling this year's drumline will be something to remember."
Glynda raised an eyebrow. "Your instinct is usually right. Who did you get to be the drumline instructor anyway?"
Ozpin just took a sip from his mug. "One of our old friends."
As the song wound down, some of the band members still loitering about burst out into applause at the impromptu performance.
They continued to chat and laugh, having a good time as they traded expectations and excitement for the upcoming drumline auditions. None of them were aware yet just how crazy the rest of their senior year would be, or how glad they would be to be able to face it together.
XxXxXxXxX
Thank you for reading! :D So far I'm planning on this being my next major series. It's touching home a bit writing this, as I was in band my senior year.
Few important notes. One, there is some terminology from band thrown in here, so I hope it won't be too difficult to read. I'll try to explain any concepts I think are important.
Two, The rules of how things work may differ just a bit compared to actual band and drumline. I'm a bit rusty on details, and I want more freedom to include events I want to so the competitions will run for a longer period of time, with quite a few possible events. I know Indoor percussion tends to be around a 3 to 4 month endeavor but I'm stretching it a bit cause I can.
Third, some elements from the show will be tweaked ever so slightly. I know the Jaune/Weiss conflict in the show was much more tame, and not as dramatic but since this takes place in our world, I'm saying it had ended up a little more dramatic. Part of the benefits of the world of RWBY is that it's pretty easy to bond when you're fighting for your life. In our world in a normal highschool setting, you don't get that level of connection so it would bubble out as typical drama. That said, I'm not going to make it too extreme and I moved them past it more to the relationship they seemed to have in volume 3. I'll explain more into the backstory gradually.
Fourth, I know this is a little clunky. I'm going for a massive story, so I have quite a bit of backstory to set up to explain how everyone grew up. Not going to dump it all in the first few chapters, though Arkos got quite the focus in this one. I will be trying to focus on all 8 characters pretty evenly, though Arkos will likely get the spotlight quite a bit cause I'm me. The writing will get better as I fall into a more natural groove with this story and I can focus more on the events rather than explaining everything that needs to be explained. Put simply though, they're all seniors at a highschool, including Ruby who skipped freshman and sophmore years, due to reasons I'll explain in the future.
I really hope you enjoy this, as I'm looking forward to writing it.