Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.
The Beacon dining area was a grand hall, a truly magnificent sight to behold and evidence of the grandeur that Beacon's architects intended for the school from the ground up. Capable of seating and feeding several hundred students at once, with enormous pillars flanking the hallway it was perhaps one of the largest open air rooms at the entire academy. In testament to the skill of the building's planners the long side walls were constructed almost entirely of glass, with huge windows spanning the distance from the ground to the high vaulted ceiling. This was a space meant to remind the students at Beacon of the prestige of that establishment they were attending, and humble them in their life as servants of the public and defenders of humanity's well being.
"Buuuuuuuttt Weeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiss…." Ruby wailed loud enough to draw attention from many of the students enjoying their lunches in the grand hall.
"No Ruby," Weiss returned a large platter of still warm chocolate chip cookies to the cafeteria counter, "You are not loading up on sugar this late in the day. I do not want you keeping us up all night again."
"No, no, nononononono. I promise I'll be good. Really I will." Ruby watched in horror as Weiss handed the tray of cookies to Yang who placed them on a shelf out of Ruby's reach, "Traitor" Ruby threw at Yang as she crossed her arms and began to pout.
"Here Rubes," Yang handed Ruby a lunch tray with an extremely well balanced and nutritious meal heaped on it, lots of greens and bright colored vegetables alongside a reasonable portion of chicken and a few slices of buttered bread. Ruby looked at the plate, a mix of shock and disgust plastered across her face, as she tried to comprehend how this could be a delicious meal she glanced up to Weiss who smiled coyly at her and placed a few more celery sticks onto her own plate before strutting off towards their table. Ruby bowed her head in defeat and began to solemnly make her way there as well when a sudden weight on her lunch tray caught her attention.
As if by magic, two pristine chocolate chip cookies had found their way onto Ruby's plate, she looked around for the source of this wondrous miracle. Blake put a finger to her lips, shushing Ruby, and smiled at the sweet toothed brunette before making her way over to their table. Ruby mouthed a silent 'Thank You' in appreciation and glanced over at Weiss and Yang to make sure they were not looking before quickly devouring the cookies, emitting a pleasant hum as the chocolaty goodness graced her with it's presence. She then skipped over to the table, much more content now that she had her vice fulfilled and possibly even more pleased with how utterly sneaky she had been about it.
Most of Team JNPR was seated already, talking quietly about the day's classes and their prospects for that afternoon. Quiet was not something JNPR usually excelled at.
"Where's Nora?" Yang asked as she began shoveling her heaping salad into her seemingly endlessly hungry stomach.
"Unfortunately, she had to remain behind in Professor Port's class to explain why she had been launching small bits of paper at Cardin with doodles of her home running him through various windows around campus." The disappointment and embarrassment in Pyrrha's voice was clear.
"Nora is not one to let something drop." Ren replied in his usual calm. Ruby and Blake finished making there way to the table and Yang suspiciously eyed Ruby's suddenly cheerful face, her suspicions confirmed when Ruby self consciously wiped at her mouth. Ruby glanced up and caught Yang watching her, horror striking her as she realized what she had just done. Yang gave her a wink and returned her attention to Ren.
"Yeah, she's really not. She'll be fine though, Nora can take a lecturing from Port."
"Why is Nora getting lectured?" Ruby was suddenly worried the fiery redhead may have destroyed something again.
"She was just helping me out, but after this morning I think I'm pretty safe," Juane smiled as Ruby sat down with her team across from him.
"Oh, more Cardin stuff? Yeah I think he'll be a lot calmer from now on, you really showed him!" Ruby reached over the table as far as she could to high-five Jaune who laughed and reached most of the way across to smack her hand.
"So what are the big plans for the weekend? Anything huge going down?" Yang having been able to focus on her meal had now nearly finished, "Because I neeeed to unwind a little before midterm get here."
"Midterms are basically here already Yang. How could you possibly be so irresponsible. We should all be studying this weekend." Weiss spoke for the first time since denying Ruby her sweets.
"Oh lighten up Ice Queen, we need to get out a little, spend some time outside of this school. I'm thinking Junior's club, who's with me?" Yang had a mischievous look in her eye that reminded them all of a certain absent redhead.
"Umm, I do believe Jaune had some team training planned for us this weekend," Pyrrha looked hopefully to Jaune, begging him to catch this notion of hers at least and save them all from a weekend of guaranteed mayhem and wanton destruction. Jaune was busy though attempting to balance his spoon on the tip of his nose. Pyrrha sighed and delivered a light elbow to his side, knocking the spoon to the floor, "Isn't that right Jaune, we have some team training this weekend?" A smile from her led Jaune to glance over at Ren for help. Ren simply continued eating his salad, remaining stoically uninvolved.
"Uhhh, yeah yeah, I had planned on us working with each other in pairs to increase our team work and plan out some combo attacks." Pyrrha smiled at the prospect of a weekend of training with her partner, not only had he come to her rescue and prevented Yang from dragging her somewhere, he had also given her a chance to be alone with him. "I thought it would be nice to practice with each other's partners, Nora and I can work together and Ren and Pyrrha can train some."
"Oh wow, Ren and Pyrrha as a team, they will be so good!" Ruby seemed excited at the prospect of such a powerful pairing and Pyrrha's face just fell, "Don't you think you'll be great together Pyrrha?"
Her plastered on smile returned, "Oh yes, together Ren and I would be quite formidable. I believe our fighting styles will compliment each other well." Ren nodded in agreement.
Yang didn't miss a step, "What about you Blake? Wanna have some partner time, out on the town?" Blake looked up from the book she had been reading until now.
"To Junior's club?" Yang nodded in excitement, "I don't know Yang, last time didn't exactly go well. Are you even allowed back there anymore?"
"What? Yeah of course I am, me and Junior are fine," Yang seemed a little dejected at the idea that Junior would ban her from the club, she mumbled off to her side, "I didn't even hurt the place that bad last time."
"Either way I am not up for another night with you. If Weiss is studying, you're out and about and JNPR is training I may actually be able to get some reading done," Blake sighed at Yang's desperation as she finally regretfully turned to Ruby.
"Rubes? I know the club isn't really your thing… but maybe we can just-". Yang is interrupted by a sharp cough from Weiss.
"She is already sneaking cookies, our glorious leader can't fall behind on her studies as well," Weiss shot the phrase at Yang as she delivered a withering glare to Ruby. Ruby crumpled under her partners icy gaze.
"I think I have to stay here this weekend Yang," Ruby fell to eating her salad in an attempt to pacify Weiss and lift that stare from her.
"I don't have to stay anywhere!" Nora came bounding up to the table, leaping into the air and landing cross legged at the head, resting her chin in her hands as she smiled at the gathered friends.
"Don't you have training though?" Yang shot an inquisitive glance at Pyrrha and Jaune who both shrank under the inspection of their fabrication.
"What? Do we have training? Again? Ugh Jaune, you are such a Grimm herder!" Nora's elation evaporated.
"Nora… language please," Ren seemed to barely register her arrival but corrected her all the same. Nora slapped a hand over her own mouth in surprise at herself.
"Sorry Ren," Nora calmed a little, and turned to Jaune, "but c'mon Jaune, do we really have to train all weekend? Can't I just have tonight off so I can go out with Yang? I promise I'll train all weekend." Nora pleaded with Jaune, looking to the rest of the group for support. Jaune caught in a strange place between letting Nora go out and still saving Pyrrha from not having an excuse to go out. He fumbled about, looking for a solution, his eyes finally rested on his constant source of strength, Ren.
"I suppose Pyrrha and I can train tonight and you and Nora can train tomorrow." Ren delivered dryly and Jaune breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh yeah, that's good. That way our team won't take up two training rooms at once. Good idea Ren." Jaune flashed a smile to the other boy, silently thanking him for his help, "Okay Nora, we'll train tomorrow."
"Yuh-es! This. Is. Happening," Nora jumped to her feet on the table and just started dancing there in the middle of the cafeteria.
"Mrs. Valkyrie, please get off the table," Professor Goodwitch walked past their table with the assumption her command would be followed. Nora leaped from the table to the ground by Yang and hugged her around the shoulders.
"Oh thank you Yang! We are gonna have so much fun!" Nora delivered a bone crushing hug to the tall blonde which she gave right back.
"Watch out Vale! The girls are goin' out." Yang lifted the smaller girl off the ground with a grin and then set her down so they could discuss the particulars of their upcoming evening. The two girls fell to chatting excitedly between themselves.
"Oh Oum, that's a terrible idea," Weiss sighed, "They're gonna cause more damage than a Grimm invasion."
"They better not! That bakery that sells the double chocolate chip cookies just opened and they have the best cookies," Ruby looked up from her barely touched salad in horror, "Yang, do not hurt my cookie store."
"It's okay Ruby, that's clear on the other side of Vale from where they're going. Jr's club is over in the industrial park by the bay." Blake put a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder which seemed to brighten the team leader's mood.
"Honestly, all of you. Shouldn't you be more worried about school than where you're going dancing or whether or not you can get more cookies?" Weiss was obviously irritated by their demeanor, she crossed her arms and attempted to lecture at the entire group all at once, "Professor Port is giving us another history test next week on Oum knows what else, Professor Goodwitch is stepping up the pace of the sparring rounds, have any of you been able to keep up with Dr. Oobleck's lectures and take all the notes? Not to mention Ozpin is sending all the teams out on another expedition mission in a little while. And all of that just before midterms come up."
The group was silent for a moment, casting quick sideways glances at each other. No one seemed willing to break the silence and be the first to broach Weiss's prickly exterior.
"Weiss, I'm sure that everyone is doing their best to be ready. But we have to relax sometimes or we will all be worse than useless," the concern in Pyrrha's voice was evident and her words were sincere, not betraying a single note of falsehood.
"Yeah Weiss, we're not taking it easy. We are all gonna train this weekend, we're just gonna have some fun too," Jaune flashed his best winning smile, hoping it would do better this time than when he had Weiss slam the door in his face after serenading her with his beautiful guitar playing. Weiss did not seem overly convinced.
"I will come study with you tonight Weiss, okay?" Ruby was cheerful now, trying her best to help her friend relax, "We're supposed to be the best teammates ever right?" Ruby held both hands up in thumbs up, her grin stretched from ear to ear.
"Okay, okay. I guess I'm just stressing out about school too much. You know how my Dad is, he's been riding me really hard lately." Weiss relaxed a little, letting the tension in her arms ease so that she was holding her right elbow with her left hand, rubbing it slowly, trying to calm herself down.
"Well don't you worry about him, we're all gonna do great!" Ruby's confidence was now getting the better of her as she seemed to be showing excitement for studying, "Plus I don't know why you're worried about the expedition mission, I loved going out with Oobleck last time. Just hopefully this time something actually happens- oh my Oum- what if we get really exciting missions and save the city or something? We'll have so many stories before we even graduate! I wonder if we are going out with a Professor again? I bet it would be awesome to go adventuring with Professor Port, he already has so many stories. But what if we got stuck with Professor Goodwitch, she's a really strong fighter and she helped me get into Beacon ahead of time but I don't know if she's very good company for a camping trip like that."
"Ruby stop!" Weiss nearly yelled at her to get a word in inchwise with the excitable girl, she took a second to compose herself as the rest of the group laughed, "Thank you Ruby, you're help means a great deal. I have every confidence in our team." The heiress smiled at her leader, showing that she was recovering from her apprehensions.
"Wooooo. Team RWBY is the best!" Ruby put a foot up on the lunch bench and struck a heroic pose, she looked over to Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren, "Sorry guys," back to the sky, "Team RWBY is the best team!" with that she leaped off the bench and turned to Weiss, "This calls for celebratory cookies," and in a flash of rose petals she was gone, her cloak making a soft wooshing noise as she vanished from sight. Weiss sighed good naturedly and sat down to the rest of her lunch. Pyrrha tried to stifle a giggle at their antics.
"Well she has enthusiasm, you have to give her that." Pyrrha's eyes twinkled with merriment.
"Yeah, she's just so confident all the time. How does she keep that up?" Jaune looked over to where Ruby was now excitedly piling a fresh batch of cookies from the lunch counter onto her tray.
"It's just how she's always been. No matter how much we try to calm her down or how bad one of us messes up. I think the only time I've ever seen her actually nervous was when she had to wear heels to the dance." Yang broke from her conversation with Nora, a note of pride in her voice.
The bell rang out signalling the end of their lunch period and the requisite return to classes for the afternoon. The group got up and began clearing their area of lunch trays and food remnants. Ruby returned, carrying a tray piled high with cookies.
"Whuh? Huh? No! It's over… but..?" She looked down at the pile of cookies, still warm from the school's ovens, "Oh well" She set the tray down and began shoveling the cookies into her mouth, one after the other, faster than it seemed she should be able to chew but there was always room for another as she just kept going. "I'll keff upf wiff yuh n a munute," she struggled to articulate through the wall of dough and chocolaty goodness quickly forming a solid mass in her mouth and continued shoveling them down. Most of the group laughed and Weiss only pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Our fearless leader," Blake ruffled Ruby's hair as they walked past.
A/N - So definitely a shorter chapter here, there are a few of those at the start to establish some things and get the story going. Establishing things like how boring their mission with Professor, sorry Dr. Oobleck was or how the worst thing that happened at the dance was Ruby in heels. I hope you enjoyed it all the same, please let me know what you thought.
Thanks so much for reading there will be two more chapters up over the weekend.
-Zach