This idea came to me out of the blue when I decided that I wanted to try my hand at a College AU. I thought about what activities I have done during my college career that would be unique to write about and immediately thought of Dagorhir. Now, for those who don't know, Dagorhir Battle Games is an organization of people who enjoy the various activities offered such as camping trips, full-contact simulated battles, and dressing up in garb. It's a ton of fun and I'd highly recommend it!
On to the Dag AU details. In this universe, Pyrrha is a freshman living at Beacon University alongside Ren, Nora, Blake, Yang, and Weiss (who is also her roommate). Jaune lives in Vale and commutes to Beacon, and has been with the Dag group for two years already. Ruby is a high school senior who joined up a few months ago. Doctor Oobleck is the head of the Beacon branch of the organization. I'll be adjusting their canon weapons to make them closer to legal Dag weapons (meaning that Ruby does not fight with a scythe, unfortunately). Also, it's a real-world AU with no Grimm, Faunus, etc. I hope you enjoy it!
Pyrrha had been waiting for over an hour for the perfect excuse to ditch her freshman orientation group. When her eyes fell on a gathering of people clad in medieval garb, she knew she had found it. She stole a glance at the orientation leader, who was talking to another bored-looking freshman, before turning and walking decisively toward the large lawn in front of the next building.
As she drew closer, she saw that the costumed people were fighting with large weapons that were probably made of cloth or foam. Some were fighting in pairs while a larger group was having a full-on battle in the middle of the lawn. The closest fighting pair consisted of a small brunette girl who was holding a giant two-handed sword, and a taller blond boy who held a smaller sword in one hand and a foam shield in the other. The girl wore a gray tunic, black leggings, and a red cloak while the boy wore brown slacks and a simple green tunic bordered with brown on the collar and sleeves.
The girl swung her sword at the shield, hitting it twice in rapid succession. "Red! Red!" she called.
The boy dropped his shield before raising his sword and lunging forward. The girl whacked his midsection and he fell heavily to the ground, letting out a dramatic groan. His friend laughed and started hitting his prone form.
"Hey!" the boy laughed, curling into a ball. "That's overkill! Barty! The Rose Knight is being mean to me!"
"Oh, suck it up!" a green haired man who was taking part in the battle called, not even looking over his shoulder.
Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at how close these people seemed. There was an air of casual camaraderie that many sports and clubs often lacked, at least in her experience.
When the boy was finally allowed to stand by his friend, he turned toward Pyrrha with a grin. "Hi. You interested in swinging some foam?"
"Yes. It looks fun," Pyrrha replied, feeling even more at ease when she heard the boy's friendly tone. "What are the rules?"
"Barty will explain," the girl chirped. "He's in charge, and he'll probably want you to sign a waiver first. I'll go get him!" She zipped over to the battle, waiting at the edge for it to finish.
"I'm Jaune, by the way," the boy said, holding out his hand. "My Dag name is Arc Angel."
"I'm Pyrrha." Pyrrha gave his hand a firm shake. "Is Dag the name of this LARP group, then?"
"Technically, we aren't a LARP group," Jaune explained. "LARPing is like tabletop roleplaying with reenacted battles. Dagorhir, which what this is called, is more of a sport."
At that moment, the green-haired man approached. Unlike his younger counterparts, he had a full costume with brown pants, a green tunic, and leather armor on his arms and chest. He also wore a large thermos on his belt that had various designs on it that looked Celtic in origin. He adjusted his glasses and smiled welcomingly. "Looks like we have some newcomers. Splendid!"
Pyrrha looked over her shoulder, realizing that she wasn't the only freshman to slip away from her group. Standing a few feet back were a dark-haired boy and a small ginger girl. They both smiled at her when she looked at them.
"Welcome!" the man continued. "If you wish to fight, I must ask that you each fill out a waiver. It won't take more than a minute. Then, I'll explain the rules and let you fight in pairs. After that, you can join our next game. My name is Doctor Oobleck. I'm a professor here, as well as the head of this particular branch of Dagorhir. On the field, I'm known as Lord Oobleck or Barty. As long as you keep those names here and out of the classroom, we will have no trouble. Any questions?"
Despite the rapidity of Barty's speech, no one had any questions.
After the obligatory signing of the waivers, they started to learn the rules. When fighting, one is supposed to use their weapons to kill their opponent. A kill is accomplished by either hitting two limbs or landing one blow anywhere in the bathing suit area between the chest and hips. If an arm gets hit, that person has to drop any weapon or shield in that hand and put it behind their back. If a leg gets hit, the person has to go down on one knee. Depending on the game being played, a person can potentially respawn after being killed.
"Now, since you're beginners, you start with blue weapons. Those are your basic, one-handed weapons. Jaune's sword is an example of a blue." Barty pointed toward Jaune, who held up his sword. The blade was made of firm foam and covered in cloth. The hilt was made with a PVC pipe covered in black tape with a foam hilt. "You can use any of the blue weapons and shields in the loaner pile over there."
The ginger girl, who introduced herself as Nora, eagerly raised her hand. "Ooh! Does a giant hammer or maul count as a blue?"
"No, that would be a red," Barty replied, pointing to the brunette girl's two-handed sword. "You won't be using those for a few weeks. If you stick with Dag, you will graduate to yellow and green weapons, and then eventually red and black ones."
Yellow weapons were projectiles and green weapons were "stabby" weapons. Both were padded with soft furniture foam or Nerf balls. Red and black weapons were much larger and hurt significantly more when someone was hit with them.
After covering the basics, Barty allowed them to pair up. Nora paired with her dark-haired friend, whose name was Ren. Jaune volunteered to partner with Pyrrha. The brunette girl, who had introduced herself as Ruby (Dag name: The Rose Knight) went to fight with another member.
Jaune put his shield down and got into a battle stance that Pyrrha tried to imitate. "Okay, come at me," he instructed.
Pyrrha looked for an opening before lunging forward, swinging at his side. He retaliated by going for her arm, just barely missing. She jumped back before moving in again, this time swinging at his left leg. By sheer luck, she hit it. When the blond went down on one knee, she thought her next hit would be an easy one, but he managed to put up a fight, spinning himself around with his right leg and swinging his sword whenever she came too close. Finally, she ran around behind him, managing to catch him off balance and get a hit at his back.
"How was that?" she asked as he stood.
"Not bad," Jaune replied. "Your movements were too wild, though. You need to learn to do short, quick movements, or you leave yourself open for too long, like when you went for my arm." He demonstrated by stepping forward and swinging his sword with only a flick of his wrist. "It takes a bit of practice."
After a few more rounds, Pyrrha felt that her moves were a bit more contained. She won one of the fights while Jaune won the others. One thing that became clear was that her opponent wasn't holding back or trying to be gentle with his hits on account of her being a girl. She definitely appreciated that.
Eventually, she switched off and did a few rounds with Ren, who seemed almost too scared to hit her. She could hear loud sounds of impact behind her, where Nora and Jaune were fighting. At one point, she heard him say: "Holy crap, you're fierce!" The small ginger giggled in response.
Barty walked over just as Pyrrha defeated Ren once again. "Good, good. How would you like to try some games now?"
Jaune walked over, rubbing his arm where Nora had hit him. "How about Orc Pit?"
"Just what I was thinking. Everyone get in a circle!" Barty called.
"That sounds way better than those stupid icebreakers they were trying to make us do," Nora snorted as she walked toward the gathering circle. "Hey, Pyrrha? Did you have to do Pterodactyl yet?"
Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "You mean the one where we screech at the person next to us and try to make them laugh? Sadly, yes."
Jaune winced. "That just sounds painful. I'm glad I commute."
"Oh, you're a student?" Pyrrha's face lit up.
"Yep," Jaune said. "I live in town and decided to cut down on the student loans by going here. Besides, it means I don't have to find a new Dag group."
"He's been doing this since two years ago," Ruby explained. "I just started last year."
Once the group was in a circle, Barty quickly explained the rules of Orc Pit. He would tap two people to fight in the middle of the circle. The winner was replaced with a new person each round. Also, if someone wandered too close to the circle, surrounding members could kill them.
Barty wandered around the circle and Pyrrha felt a tap on her back, signaling her to enter the pit. She waited, feeling a little nervous at all of the eyes on her. Her opponent ended up being a brown-haired girl with a blue sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left. The girl watched her for a moment before jumping forward and swinging with her sword. Pyrrha jumped back, trying to block with her single sword and making a mental note to grab a shield once she was out of the pit. The girl tried to stab with her dagger and Pyrrha moved back further, only to feel a firm tap to her back. She looked over her shoulder to see Ruby flashing an apologetic grin while brandishing her red sword.
The brown-haired girl withdrew and Barty tapped in Ren, who approached Pyrrha, holding out his weapon. He hadn't fought with Jaune, and Pyrrha quickly noticed that he didn't have the same closed stance. Quickly, she darted forward and jabbed at his left arm, which he immediately put behind his back. For a few seconds, they circled each other before he suddenly lunged and swung at her right leg. She dropped down, bending her left knee while trying to cross the sword across her vulnerable side.
For a few minutes, they were at an impasse, with Ren lurching forward and Pyrrha blocking at intervals. Finally, she guessed that the others grew bored because she saw Barty run around the edge of the circle, tapping everyone's backs. In an instant, the Orc Pit turned into a free-for-all. Another player was quick to kill Pyrrha, who stood up, unsure of what to do.
Jaune noticed her confusion and pointed toward a tree. "Respawn point over there. Put your sword over your head to show you're dead."
Pyrrha did as she was told and walked over to the tree. After tapping it with her sword, she grabbed a small shield from the nearby pile and ran back into the fray. She immediately decided that she liked full battles much more than the one-on-one fights they had been doing. There were people everywhere, and she found it easier to make kills when they were partially distracted with other opponents. She certainly was killed a fair number of times, but she couldn't have cared less. This was the most fun she'd had in ages!
She had been a part of her high school's track team as well as the women's basketball team. Both had been a lot of fun, and she had made a great many friends over the years, but there had always been that undertone of competitiveness. There was always that disappointment when she didn't perform as well as she should have. This, on the other hand, was purely fun. There was no sense of failure when she was killed. There was just a good-natured laugh before respawning and running right back into the battle.
Just as she was starting to get tired, Barty called for a water break. She walked over to the respawning tree before realizing that she didn't have a water bottle.
She felt a tap on her arm and turned to see the brown-haired girl holding out a plastic bottle. "Here. Barty always brings a pack of them to practice."
"Thank you!" Pyrrha gratefully took the bottle and easily emptied a third of it in a few gulps.
"I'm Velvet, by the way," the girl continued. "My Dag name is Hyzenthlay."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Pyrrha." She took a smaller sip. "So, do you practice here every week?"
Velvet nodded. "Yes, we have an official practice each Saturday. Sometimes, a few of us will come up here during the week for smaller sparring matches. If you check out our group's forum, we post regularly when we're going to have impromptu meetings or weapon building sessions."
"Oh! I can make my own weapon?" Pyrrha was liking this organization more and more.
"It's actually encouraged." Jaune walked over, holding his own water bottle. "The loaner weapons can get pretty beat up when a bunch of newbies use them. I made this blue a few months after I joined and the shield just last month."
"You used a boogie board to make your shield, right?" Velvet asked.
"Yep!" Jaune patted the shield fondly. "All I had to do was attach straps to the back and duct tape on the cloth covering." The shield was covered with what looked like an old white sheet that was painted with two golden arcs, one on top of the other.
"Is that your house crest?" Pyrrha asked, pointing at the symbol.
Jaune nodded. "Yeah. Arc Angel has a crest and a whole backstory if you're ever bored enough to listen to it."
Feeling bold, Pyrrha said: "Well, there's a Starbucks on campus that accepts the school's meal plan. Perhaps, if you're not busy when this practice is over…"
Jaune blinked a few times. "I…really?" He quickly shook himself. "I mean yeah! Awesome! Um, practice ends at like five, right?"
Velvet nodded, barely hiding an amused smile. "Yes, that's right. Another half hour."
"Yeah, I'm up for Starbucks," Jaune continued, seeming to regain his composure. "I'm flattered that you'd skip doing more of those amazing icebreakers to hang out with me."
Pyrrha chuckled. "One day, I may get over the fact that I gave up my chance to act like a sailboat in front of a group of strangers."
"Wait, seriously?!" Jaune burst out laughing. "They're not making you do that!"
"I wish I was kidding," Pyrrha sighed.
"Sailboat, huh?" Velvet asked. "I had to go through that last year. Have you had to play Pterodactyl yet?"
"I can't believe this!" Jaune declared.
After a few more battles, practice was over and the group went their separate ways. Pyrrha, Jaune, and a few others helped Barty load the loaner weapons into his car. The professor smiled at Pyrrha as he closed the trunk. "Hope to see you and the others next week. We're always looking for new members."
"I certainly plan on it," Pyrrha promised, shaking his hand before walking off with Jaune toward the Starbucks that was on campus.
"I don't have a change of clothes on me, so I hope you don't mind being seen with the dorky guy in the tunic," Jaune warned, tucking his shield under his arm.
"I'm sure a tunic isn't the weirdest thing I'll see people wearing while here," Pyrrha said. "Want me to hold something?"
"Nah, I'm fine," Jaune replied. "And yeah, I guess a tunic's pretty tame compared to what some of the students wear. There's actually a furry who lives on campus. I don't know who he is, but he'll just walk around in a full-body fox costume on weekends when the weather's cool. It's bizarre, but you gotta respect him for not caring what people think."
People fighting in medieval garb and others walking around dressed as humanoid animals? College was certainly shaping up to be far more interesting than high school had ever been. "Maybe I'll run into him at some point," Pyrrha mused. "So, tell me about your Arc Angel character."
"Well," Jaune began. "Arc Angel isn't a name he chose, but one that people started calling him when he became a rogue mercenary. He comes from a noble family, which was slaughtered during a drow invasion. All he managed to salvage was his father's shield."
He continued to talk until they got to Starbucks, where Pyrrha bought both of them lattes with her student meal plan. They sat outside on one of the benches and sipped their drinks as he continued to explain his character's backstory.
"So, after killing the drow clan that killed his family, he decided to move on to battle the undead forces to the east." He paused to take another sip. "I'm not boring you, am I?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "Not at all. I like fantasy novels, so this kind of thing is interesting for me. I'm not sure what my character's going to be quite yet."
"You'll figure it out. Most people don't settle on a name until after a few practices, anyway."
"Maybe I'll have a better idea once I know what weapon I prefer. Those javelins looked like fun."
"Ooh, javies!" Jaune shook his head fondly. "You're not a true Dag member until you've been hit in the face by at least three of those."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
"Why, yes. I'll have you know that, over the years, I have become a member at least twenty times over." His blue eyes glittered.
Pyrrha laughed. "I'll keep that in mind when updating my resume."
The two talked for another hour before Pyrrha reluctantly brought up the fact that she still had barely unpacked her bags and Jaune admitted that he was fifteen minutes late for dinner at his house. He asked to exchange phone numbers, and Pyrrha was all too happy to comply.
"I'll have to show you this awesome coffee shop in town," he said as he took his phone back. "I'll be buying next time."
"That sounds grand." Pyrrha double checked to make sure the number was saved in her phone. "Well, good luck with your classes on Monday."
Jaune grimaced. "Good luck to you too. Core classes…ugh! Try to avoid those icebreakers."
The two parted ways and Pyrrha walked back to her dorm, a smile on her face. The first day of college had gone much better than expected. Not only had she found a fun, inclusive organization, but she had made her first friend. She looked at her phone, already wondering when would be an okay time to call him the following day.
When she got to her room and set up her laptop, she realized that Velvet hadn't given her the URL for the Dag forum. She immediately opened up her phone. This was as good of an excuse as any.
They ended up texting back and forth until two o'clock in the morning.
Yeah, you guys will likely be seeing more AU fics from me, since the canon-verse has decided to make our babies suffer. A lot of this one is based on personal experience (including the freshman icebreakers, unfortunately). I definitely plan on writing more oneshots in this AU, so stay tuned. Peace out!