I was aggravated. Like most things these days, my source of aggravation was one Ruby Rose. One Ruby Rose who was currently sitting on ground and shoving her face full of a rather...prodigious amount of cookies. It was almost awe-inspiring how quickly she could put them away. Normally the scene wouldn't bother me anymore, having been repeated more times than I could count, however…
"Dolt! This isn't the time, nor the place for that! You're the one that dragged us out here at this dust-forsaken hour in the first place, and I'm sure it wasn't just so we could watch you stuff yourself until you burst! Where did you even get those, anyway?" I asked in exasperation.
"Blake gave them to me," Ruby all but chirped. Wonderful. As if Ruby wasn't enough on her own. A Ruby hyped up on sugar was surely going to test my patience, especially so early in the morning. I'd almost be envious of her ability to be so perky after waking up if that section of my brain wasn't currently being taken up by being utterly annoyed by her.
"Where IS Blake, anyway?" I asked once I noticed our bow-haired compatriot was conspicuously absent.
"Well, I went to wake her up, but she wouldn't budge, so I threatened her with my trusty whistle! That got her moving! She even apologized to me for being so grouchy this morning by giving me this bag of cookies and promising to come down once she got ready, " Ruby belted out all at once. I don't think she even took a breath. A third presence made itself known as it tried to stifle its laughter.
"Sounds like you got played, sis. Nothing's capable of removing Blake from a warm bed on her day off except for pure force, " Yang interjected for the first time in the conversation. She seemed rather dead on her feet, Yang not being a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.
"Played? What do you mean, played?"
Unbelievable. She still didn't understand, despite having it almost spelled out for her. "Yang's saying that she distracted you with cookies so that you wouldn't drag her out with the rest of us, dunce! Why are we even out here, anyway?"
"But, but but she said-"
"Why. Are. We. Out. Here." I cut her off. I couldn't begrudge Blake for not being out here. I'd much rather be curled up in bed right now as well.
"Oh. Uh. Well, I thought we could, maybe, practice with our semblances?" Ruby finally managed to mumble out.
"I'm going back to bed," I deadpan at her. I already knew how my semblance worked. We all did. It was almost a requirement for getting into Beacon in the first place! Of all the inane things to wake us all up this early in the morning for. I turn around to head back to the dorms.
"Nononononono Weiss! Please just let me explain!"
Not like I had much of a choice. Ruby had latched onto my arm like a leech and wouldn't let go no matter what I did. "Alright fine! Just let me go, dolt!"
"Really? Okay, well, obviously we know how to use our semblances. After all, they're our semblances! If we don't know how they work, who does!"
"Your point, Ruby, " I say in exasperation. It is entirely too early for this.
"Oh. Well, um, I know everything about MY semblance, and I know a bit about Yang's since we grew up together and stuff, but I don't really know much about your glyphs other than they can make me even faster than normal! I don't really know much about Blake's semblance either, so I was thinking that maybe you guys were the same and decided to hold this session so we could all learn about each other's semblances together!"
"...and why are we out here so early?" I questioned cautiously.
"Because it's the only time the arena is empty, " a fourth voice joined in. Blake. It seems she decided to come down after all. Furthermore, Ruby's idea was surprisingly sound. It was almost easy to forget that she was the leader of team RWBY for a reason. Despite being a team for quite a while, they had never taken the time to just compare each others abilities. Damn. It looked like her bed would remain a distant memory.
"Oh? I was PAWS-itive you wouldn't make it down here, Blake, " Yang jumped in as her partner finally showed. I groaned. Good reason or not, it was entirely too early for Yang's awful puns.
"Blake! You showed up! I knew you would! See you two, Blake keeps her promises," Ruby all but beamed. "Anyways, now that we're all here, I thought I'd start, since my semblance is probably the most straight forward. I can go really really really really fast, though I can't really go that far with it yet. Here, I'll show you how far I can go! " Ruby said as she started bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was clearly ready to get the ball rolling. Despite that, she hadn't really said all that much about her semblance, and before I could get a word in edgewise, she was already off. I sighed. This was a good idea, as grudging as I was to admit it, but it wouldn't help anybody if Ruby just dashed off before answering any questions. Oh well. At least with Ruby, there was a decently reliable secondary source of information available.
"So Yang, anything you'd like to share about her semblance? Like how fast she can go, or how often she can use it, " Yang was grinning like the cat who caught the canary. It wasn't often that I asked her questions directly. That grin almost has me regretting asking questions. "How about weight? Could Ruby bring a person along with her?"
All of a sudden Yang went pale and the grin fell off of her face. It was rather startling. I don't think I had ever seen Yang without a grin on her face, other than the battle rage that came over her whenever something touched her hair. "Yang, what's wrong, " I ask as she clamps a hand rather hard down on my shoulder.
"Weiss, I know we don't always see eye-to-eye, but I'm telling you this as your teammate. Don't pursue this. Ruby's semblance is for her alone. Don't let her take you with her. You too, Blake, " Yang said with more seriousness than I had ever seen in her before.
"What do you mean? Why not?" I speak softly as if talking to a frightened animal. I had never seen Yang like this before. I had also never seen her at such a loss for words. She usually had a problem that was much the opposite.
"It...it...it's just horrible okay. I can't explain it. Just whatever you do, don't let her take you, " Yang shuddered one last time before walking off on her own.
"What do you think that was all about?" Blake chimed in. She appeared to be just as bewildered as I was.
"I have no idea, " I replied, "but I intend to find out."