Verde smiled, though she knew the two girls wouldn't able to see it in the blackness of the room. She herself could see very little, her eyes having difficulty adjusting. Just the same, she made her way towards the other bunk bed. This threw a wrench in her entire plan, but she couldn't say it was an unpleasant sort of disruption.
"You two might want to disengage," Verde said, plopping down on the bottom bunk opposite theirs, "before I ask to join."
She heard sounds of shuffling as the two untied the knot that their body parts had formed, so invested in one another that the separation was almost painful. They stayed close, their hands probably still interlaced. A high-pitched, excited giggle escaped one of the girls. Ruby, Verde thought. Even from the little Verde had heard her speak, she recognized the carefree innocence in the sound. She didn't seem worried about the discovery, a thought that reassured Verde.
"What," began the other, sharper voice, "are you doing here?"
"Well," the intruder answered, a laugh settling into her voice, "I came to apologize to Red here. Imagine my surprise."
Verde laughed for real when she heard the growl that came in response to her reasoning. There were a few inaudible murmurs, Ruby trying to comfort her lover. After a minute there was a deep breath and some more shuffling, then the lights came on.
Ruby was standing next to the light switch, a smile on her face. There were so many different emotions swimming in her eyes that Verde decided to smile back rather than try to analyze them. This girl was amicable, curious, energetic and kind. Verde knew she was right in her decision to apologize to this girl; she would be a quick, easy friend and, judging from earlier, a powerful ally.
"Ruby Rose," she announced, walking over to the girl in green and extending her hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Verde," she replied, forcing herself to be courteous and standing from the bed to shake the girl's hand. She looked over Ruby's shoulder at the white-haired girl still sitting there, taking deep breaths and staring death threats at Verde. "I think you might have to introduce me to the snow angel."
Ruby giggled. "I think you and Jaune would get along. He called her the same thing," she stated, turning to look at the other girl. "She's Weiss. Don't mind her grumpy attitude, she gets prickly when people interrupt us, not to mention her generally grouchy personality," she said, turning to stick her tongue out at Weiss.
"So, are you going to just hang out here all day?" Weiss inquired, her voice rough, angry, "or did you have some specific purpose to serve?"
"Oh!" Verde exclaimed, "that's right." She turned back to Ruby, smiling to herself at Weiss' hatred, and leaned in close for dramatic effect. "I'm sorry for attacking you earlier," she whispered seductively in the younger girl's ear.
She blushed furiously. "I-i-it's okay," she stammered, "it was fun. Which reminds me…" she trailed off.
"Hm?" Verde prompted, hoping that Ruby was considering her offer to join from earlier.
"Can I see?" she finished, pointing at Verde's left arm and shattering all her hopes.
"Oh, no," Weiss muttered, her eyes wide, looking almost…terrified, Verde thought.
She thought nothing of it and simply shrugged, pressing her fingers to the antlers. As the weapon took its form she handed it to Ruby, at the same time pulling an arrow so that she could look at those as well.
The girl took the weapon in her hands and stared at it in awe. She turned it this way and that, running her fingers over every single part of it. She checked the gears, triple-checked the machinery. Her eyes widened when she hit the button that retracted the bowstring, smiling wildly. She set the bow down, an action she almost seemed sad to perform, but looked at the arrow. Everything seemed like a typical arrow aside from the bullets surrounding the arrowhead, and the spring that made the arrowhead slam backwards to shoot them.
"What's its name?" Ruby inquired, not bothering to look up at Verde as she asked.
"Tainted Stag."
"Why?" she pressed, continuing to admire, passing her fingers over it as if it were a work of art to worship rather than a tool for slaughter.
"Hm," Verde considered, debating whether or not to tell her, "my family's crest are a pair of antlers, as you've surely noticed. That's where the stag comes from. The reason it's tainted, however…"
"Ruby," Weiss' voice interrupted, stern and commanding.
Both Verde and Ruby turned to look at her, wondering what she was about to say. She had no words, however. She simply looked at her girlfriend, willing her to understand what she was trying to say without having to vocalize. Ruby tilted her head sadly and nodded. Verde, having understood, laughed.
"Oh, thank you, miss Schnee, but it's fine," she announced. "It's tainted because I was adopted. My birth parents were killed by the Grimm. I was taken in by the pair of hunters that took it down. Thus, I took on their crest, but I am not one of them. Tainted, as it were. I also refused their family name, which is why I'm just Verde."
Ruby's mouth hung open, her eyes sad. Weiss' already sour expression had turned, if possible, even more sour. There was some degree of pity in her eyes, which Verde hated, so she gently walked up to her and patted her head. If it weren't for Ruby, and the appreciation Verde already had for the girl, she'd have just smacked Weiss and told her she didn't need her pity. After all, her parents raised her to be strong, potent and, ultimately, to please herself before others.
"Anyways," Verde said, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, right! This weapon. Did you make it yourself? It's amazing, the way it wraps around you. I mean, Crescent Rose is compact but like oh my god this is so awesome. It's so light, but it's also durable; just holding it, I feel how it was able to hold back Crescent Rose. How it can be converted to a staff in melee situations so you aren't at a huge disadvantage, the way the bowstring retracts. This is so cool, oh my god!" Ruby exclaimed, squealing like the teenage girl she is.
Verde smiled and took the weapon back from her, returning it to its original form around her arm. She set the arrow back into her quiver and stood, arms crossed, looking at Ruby. She bit her lip nervously, suddenly remembering that other thing that she had come here for.
"You okay?" Ruby asked, returning to the bed and lying down, her head in Weiss' lap. The other girl wrapped herself around her protectively, cradling her head and petting her hair contentedly.
"Uhm," Verde hesitated, wondering if she should go on. "You know I'm a spare, right?" she asked. When both girls looked at her with varying levels of confusion, she elaborated. "It's when the teams are all full, since someone transferred in mid-year and didn't get placed in one. I'm on reserve to find a team once there are spots, but for now…"
"For now, you need someone to do missions and to train with, even though you're uncoordinated and new," Weiss stated, expecting that to be the truth.
Verde nodded. "I attacked you earlier because I wanted to test Beacon's students. Like I said, my parents saved me from the Grimm. I looked up to them as the penultimate of what hunters could be, and they sent me here saying they couldn't teach me anything new. I didn't, I couldn't, believe that. That there were stronger people than them anywhere in the world."
Just then, the door to the room opened and Blake and Yang walked in. Yang looked outraged, but Verde simply tossed her her scroll and finished speaking.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, until I get my own,
I want to join team RWBY."