Chapter one: Baseline
Beacon, for those new to Vale, perches on the cliffs in the town's extreme eastern edge. The vantage point this offers is such that on a clear day it allows a keen eyed observer, of which Beacon has many, to see clean across the city and across the harbour to Signal academy on the island outside the city's coastal boundary. This view, while impressive, is only had by those students lucky enough to have dorms or classrooms on the western side of Beacon's main building. To the south a student able to see over the assorted plaza's and arches of the campus might catch glimpses of the emerald forest. To the north is an easy view of Forever Fall. But that odd corner; the one that faced south-west with all the blasted masonry and obstruction making the western view unachievable, the place where three out of eighty two possible four person rooms had nothing but a view of the bloody agricultural districts.
It was at this point that Weiss Schnee realized she'd been cursing the view out loud. The tirade came to a mumbling end. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Ruby wasn't on her bed or at the desk. This was exactly the sort of thing the younger girl would have latched onto as an excuse to start some asinine conversation.
Weiss sighed and leaned on the window sill.
"I agree, the view's awful." The jolt Weiss felt threatened to rip her skin right off. She spun in the other direction and saw Blake reclining on her bed reading a book. Weiss goggled at her in the embarrassed way some people do with the mouth closed firmly against the possibility of saying something really stupid until the pulse slowed down again. For her own part, Blake went on reading the book.
The Faunus girl was not wearing her bow or the false human ears. Weiss reflected that it was not unheard of for those without Blake's iron self-control to fail in the charade of passing for human by means of some line approximating "why certainly my fellow definitely-human-person." The only exception to this rule was Penny who could say that sort of thing and not be any weirder, than was usual for her. Then again, the whole business with the tournament had more or less explained that. It was dreadful what happened to poor Roman Torchwick. No matter how evil you are, it had been agreed, you don't have that coming to you.
"Going to stand there all day?" Blake asked as she stood. Weiss reassumed her usual well drilled posture with a movement like a puppet being drawn up on strings. She tried to hide her embarrassment by looking out the window again. Now Blake was standing by her, leaning on the window frame, her easy posture padded by the now twice-repaired curtains. The tournament's aftermath really had been rowdy.
Weiss glanced over at Blake. The dark haired Faunus girl was holding her book casually as she looked out the window on the definitely-not-pastoral agricultural vistas.
"'Ninja's of Love 2: Shinobi in service to Eros'?" Weiss asked, her face losing the mask of calm it had reset to.
Blake moved too fast the eye to track. The book collided with corner opposite Blake's bed and fell behind a desk.
"You saw nothing." Blake said in a tone which lacked her usual conviction. They stared at one another for a moment. The door swung to as Ruby manipulated the handle with her foot. She and her older sister, Yang, maneuvered through the door carrying what turned out to be two large trunks, in Ruby's case, the term war-chest was more readily applied than with Yang's.
As the two pairs took a moment to register one another, a series of glances were exchanged in a rather hurried fashion. Weiss ended up with her left eyebrow raised in a way that made her scar tweak the whole side of her face. Blake couldn't help thinking the effect was eerie, but it was quickly supplanted by surprise at the fact that Weiss had an amused-smirk with options on a slight leer in her facial repertoire. Ruby seemed about to ask a question when Yang broke the silence.
"Did something funny happen while we were out?"
"Not nearly as funny as the sight of you two carrying in those crates." Blake replied. Her face lost the worried expression she had unconsciously adopted in the face of Weiss' leer.
"Hey!" Ruby started "This isn't some crate! It's a High-Durability Express-mail-compliant Light-weight Lock-box!"
"Doesn't that spell…" Weiss began and failed to notice Blake's relieved expression as the shorter girl's attention was diverted elsewhere. Yang meanwhile seemed to be casting her keener eyes around the room, searching for something. She pulled her trunk to the end of the bunk she shared with Blake and started fishing through her drawers.
"So what are you two doing?" Blake asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"We're getting packed up. Classes end at the end of the week so we're getting ready to spend the holidays at uncle Qrow's place." Ruby replied. She glanced down and saw that Weiss was still examining her trunk. "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" She cried and dove for Weiss before the trap was done springing. A cattle prod flicked out from concealment and almost, but not quite, caught Weiss across the midsection. The two of them lay in a heap for a moment until Weiss got her breath back enough to shout.
"What is wrong with you!? Why would you put a cattle prod in your trunk like that you dunce!"
"You're going away for the holidays?" asked Blake, her ears drooping. Yang looked up with her mouth part way open like a response was forming. Upon seeing Blake's poorly hidden dismay, Yang abruptly rethought the next thing she said.
"Oh, yeah. Well I think Weiss is staying too and it won't be more than a couple weeks in any case." Yang stepped over her open trunk and gathered Blake into a hug. "And besides" she whispered "if Weiss is bad company you can always fish your book out from behind the desk when she's out of the room." Blake tensed and squirmed out of Yang's arms; she was horrified at how observant Yang could be at times. Turning back to Ruby and Weiss, she saw that her other roommates had descended into their usual pastime. Weiss was trying not to be too argumentative and Ruby was trying to make a pass at the whole leadering business.
And that was it, more or less. Blake tied on her bow and brushed her hair so that nobody could see where her fake human ears weren't. Weiss gave up trying to figure out why Ruby's lockbox was more of a gun box, or more accurately a Box-Gun as the second booby trap illustrated. Yang rolled her eyes and stepped in before failing to mediate and in so doing restarted an argument that was nearly over anyways. Team RWBY collectively poured out of their room, simultaneously rousing team JNPR from their own and together the students of the north-east and south-west side of the awkward elbow joint of the south wing made their way north to the dining hall and Sunday brunch where Nora pestered Ren, Pyrrah quietly discussed something with Jaune, and Ruby chattered with Yang about seeing their uncle, all while Blake and Weiss sat in a pool of silence which was only broken occasionally by some loud comment from Nora.