Chapter 4 – Lol Don't Name It Something to Do With Friday (Plz No Friday)

Author's Note:

Useless statistics: Chapter finished November 1, 2015. Published November 2, 2015. Total word count: 12191. Body word count: 11179 (92%). Writing Time: 16h29m. Chapter Rating: T+ for emotional violence and weird medical people.

Sweet, sweet, really horribly bad facepalm-worthy irony. Yes, this is just going to be their first Friday. Please feel free to donate your flaming messages for the horrible naming. I wish that I could intersperse some plot between heaps of random details, but I can't do much plot-related yet. Sorry, but I have to save it. That's the plan. I guess the middle section of the chapter is a plot, but not at all one of the main plots.

I had three days eaten by family stuff, and I spent three more reading and such, then there was a heck of a lot of academic stuff, so this was a bit longer break than others. Whatever; it's what you get.


"Good morning, Weiss," Ruby chirped. "Remember, today class starts at nine again!"

"Four more minutes...?" the heiress groaned.

"Nope! If you wait four more minutes, you'll be late for class!"

"You said that yesterday. Ca-*yawn*-an't trick me again." Wait... Am I seriously not raging at everything near me? But I hate being woken up, and I hate these people! An heiress needs her beauty sleep, no ifs, ands, or buts.

"Okay, I give up," the leader conceded. "... I hope you wake up on your own before you have to go to class!" she taunted.

"I can wake up on my own," Weiss harrumphed. She checked that Mr. Fluffschnee was safely under her pillow, then crawled out of bed. "See? I'm up."

"Silly Weiss; that wasn't on your own. You were already awake because of me! Try harder next time!"

The heiress gave her leader a withering glare... or, what she hoped was one. But Ruby just looked perplexed, so Weiss figured she still needed some more time to function properly. Being incapable of intimidating small children just would not do. "Okay, fine. I'll go shower. Go have breakfast or something." She shooed the red-themed girl away.

The heiress was pleasantly surprised to see that her roommates had continued the trend of swapping out their shower products, but when she turned the water on she realized something: Shower racks were invented for a reason. She'd need to get one, since it had apparently evaded her thought before coming to school, and she was sure nobody else would have the faintest desire to improve their quality of life. I wonder if they'll even help clean. I don't really know much about that because that was the servants' job, but I'll probably be stuck with it now. She brought a water-logged palm to her face in despair. And laundry... I doubt Ruby will ever change her sheets because of that terrible contraption attached to her bed. How repulsive! After that pleasant line of thought, Weiss managed to steer her mind away from sanitizing her fairly new abode and toward sanitizing her person.

Miss Schnee didn't know much about world records, but she thought that she may be able to earn one for "cleanest person to ever set foot out of a shower" after her irritation-fueled vigorous scrubbing. "Well, now for breakfast," she said to herself as she set down her SDC-logo hair dryer and secured her hair in a trademark side-ponytail. The white-haired girl remembered to grab her scroll, then headed off to the dining hall.


"Good morning, Weiss," Blake called from the bench table occupied by most of teams RWBY and JNPR. Shortly after, the rest of her companions turned and waved.

Does Blake have eyes in the back of her head? She's sitting facing the opposite direction! Maybe she's just a ninja. ...That's actually fairly plausible. She shook her head. Whatever. Food.

Just as she had surmised the previous day, this morning held the entire variety of usual options. She grabbed waffles and blueberries this time, but still took yogurt and milk like before.

The conversation had reached a natural lull as the heiress arrived at the table, so she decided to introduce a very important topic. "Ruby, Blake, Yang, you do know that I will not tolerate living in a pig sty, correct?" Hopefully that tone of voice wasn't too accusatory.

"What's this all about, Weiss?" Ruby countered with narrowed eyes. "I'm not throwing things around the room or anything."

"Right, but dust and all sorts of grime build up over time," Weiss lectured. "We have to clean sometime, and I refuse to do it all myself. All I'm asking for is your occasional help."

Nora interjected a dismayed, "Aw... Cleaning is no fun. Messes are way better..."

But luckily, the RWBY members seemed to be a bit understanding. "Okay!" "Of course." "Sure, Weissy."

The team leader pounded a fist on the table. "I officially declare that Team RWBY's first rule is that we will clean!"

"I thought," pointed out Blake, raising an index finger, "that Rule Number One of Team RWBY was that we had to be friends."

"Oh, yeah! Of course! Umm... Rule Number Ten of Team RWBY is that we have to clean!"

"Why are we skipping two through nine, Rubes?" the older sister asked.

"Umm... There are probably a bunch of rules that already exist that we just haven't said yet! I'm saving room!"

Weiss thought her leader was crazy. "Well why wouldn't cleaning be rule number two, and then we can add those forgotten ones as you think of them?"

Ruby stood on her bench seat and raised a triumphant fist. "Because Rule Number Two is that I can put the rules in whatever order I want! No resisting! Okay, so Rule One is we have to be friends! Rule Two is I put the rules in the order I want! Rule Ten is we clean... stuff...! Stuff!"

At least that was progress, as nonsensical as the decisions were. But... "Isn't that a little vague, Ruby? We need a schedule," the heiress insisted. "How about every Friday directly after classes finish everyone cleans the room?"

Jaune groaned from the opposite side of the table, "Jeez, that's a lot of cleaning..."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "That's way too much! We'll never have any time for team stuff!"

"How about once a month?" Yang suggested. Weiss wrinkled her nose, so the blonde waved her hands in front of her and shook her head, switching her idea to, "Okay, maybe every other week. That sound good?"

Weiss sighed but nodded, and Blake shrugged. Ruby, still standing on the bench, announced, "Okay! It's yumanumilus(1)! Rule Ten is that we will clean our room every other Saturday!"

"I said Friday," Weiss objected.

"Nope! Saturday! Fridays are much too valuable! Yang taught me that important lesson long, long ago!"

"Fine."

"Uh, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha," Jaune started. "Y'know, maybe we ought to have some rules like that, too. It could be useful."

"I think we should have the same cleaning times as them," Pyrrha suggested, gesturing toward Team RWBY. "That way, we won't distract one another from that duty if any of us want to get together for studying. And we would be able to remind one another so it would be much more difficult to forget."

"Okay!" Jaune announced, standing on his bench. But he wasn't very stable and had to step back onto the floor. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Okay, so the joint JNPR and RWBY cleaning day will be every other Saturday!" The enthusiasm was much weaker than Ruby's, but he was successful in getting the point across.

"Now that that's settled, maybe we should eat," the black-haired acquaintance noted. "We have half an hour until class."

Everyone jumped in their seats a bit and unceremoniously shoveled sustenance down their throats. Except Weiss. She ate properly, of course. Neanderthals.


"My lovely students," Professor Port said, "today, your fine instructor will be telling you all about the most common form of Grimm: The beowolf."

Weiss's notebook was open and her pencil's tip quivered just above the paper, ready to jot down any noteworthy words as soon as possible. The rest of her team also seemed to be paying some attention.

"Now, as you all know, beowolves resemble the common canis lupus, the wolf. As the resemblance would suggest, this form of Grimm is a carnivorous quadruped, although Grimm do not actually eat in order to survive. Beowolves are also capable of standing on their hind limbs for short periods of time in order to swipe with their forepaws. But to continue the analogy, beowolves are indeed pack hunters like regular wolves, rarely prowling alone. They have excellent primary senses, although Grimm also share a sixth sense: They can smell negative emotions. Yes, fear, despair, anger, jealousy, and hatred all attract our foes, which is why emotional control is a vital aspect of your career as a hunter... or huntress. *Click-click, eyebrow wiggle.*"

Weiss rolled her eyes and allowed her nearly-smoking pencil to clatter to the desk. Oh, come on. You're probably sixty; give it up, old man. You're not going to net a relationship with a teenager or young adult. I may like your information, but you are seriously messed up.

She was forced to pick up the writing implement as the teacher continued. "Beowolves are not as heavily armored as many other forms of Grimm, such as the boarbatusk, but they are armored, nevertheless. Most have several spikes on their rear knees, on the outsides of their front arms, and on the backs of their necks, and as such, these are not excellent targets. The skull is also heavily reinforced. However, these foul beasts are vulnerable on the fronts of their necks, on most of their rear limbs, and all over the cores of their bodies. The primary danger in going after these targets is a counterattack. Many weapons do not have a sufficiently long reach to cleave a beowolf while keeping its owner out of reach of the beast's claws. Hunter organizations recommend waiting for this type of beast to attack first, then parry and counterattack. But if your weapon has a long reach, by all means, take them out without taking the risk."

"Um, I have a question," said Jaune, raising his hand.

"Good, good. What is your question, Sir Arc?" the plump red man responded. Weiss gritted her teeth – the boy didn't deserve such a title.

"Well, it doesn't really apply to me because I just have a sword and it's not really all that impressive..." the blonde rambled.

"Carry on, my wayward son," requested the professor. "Just ask your question."

"O-oh, right. Why not just shoot it before it gets to us?"

"My dear boy, you seem to be rather short-sighted. There is not always the option. Of course anyone with a gun can simply pick off Grimm from a safe distance, but issues arise when there are too many all at once, giving them time to close in, or they set up an ambush. Why in fact, one time as a dashing young huntsman, who turned the heads of all the huntresses around him, I was out on patrol and was ambushed by a group of twenty of the beasts, although at first there were only six. This fearless young, handsome man was undeterred by the sudden appearance of the foul beasts. I hefted my weapon and hewed three in twain with a single slash. The rest backed away a wee bit, and I stared the leader directly in the eyes. It was so scared that its knees knocked and its eyes watered(2). Ha-ha! I confidently strolled up to it and we shook hands like true gentlemen, announcing our consent to conduct a proper, clean fight. But a gentleman it was not; I was a young fool. A very smart fool, but a fool nonetheless. My foe pulled a cheap stunt, clawing at me with its second forepaw as soon as we began the handshake, chipping – very slightly, of course – at my magnificent, powerful Aura. But I had some tricks up my wide, ornate sleeves as well. I grasped the creature with both hands, one on its throat and one at its waist, and pulled the unworthy adversary apart with nothing but my sheer might. With the disappointingly quick duel complete, the other fourteen popped out of the shadows, eager to meet their demise just as their fallen alpha had seconds before. Although I was momentarily surprised at the appearance of so many more Grimm, there was not a milligram of fear within me. They all went to the grave in the most appropriate way imaginable; that is, by the cold bite of my glorious steel. 'Twas a simple task; in fact, I received not a single additional scratch during that battle.

"I returned to town with a brilliant smile and an air of superiority. Ah! In fact, I had broken the record for most beowolves slain in a single encounter for the decade(3)! After a prudent young woman carefully bandaged my single wound, the neighborhood carried me in their arms to the pub to celebrate. Why, there was such a commotion that nobody within a mile got a wink of sleep that night. Everyone came to applaud my heroism. I even managed to arrange a whole thirty-eight dates in those few hours! Ladies, I highly recommend considering the impressive feats of yours truly the next time you are looking for quality company of the male variety.

"Moving on, there was another time when..."

Weiss stopped listening. The professor's first story on the first day was very interesting and even taught a few lessons, but it was clear that this story had very little basis in truth. All the first story today taught was that A.) This man had a crazy imagination and loved to lie; and B.) She was not in the least interested in such a pervert.

Apparently, the rest of her team had similar ideas, as glances were shared among them. Weiss pulled out her textbook, and the rest of the team scooted their chairs closer to see. The heiress flipped to the chapter about beowolves and the four read for the remainder of the lecture. The professor was so engrossed in his next story that he didn't even notice.

"Awwww, that's the bell. We didn't quite get to cover everything today, so prepare for part two, including the live demo, next week(4)! Class dismissed!"


"Ha... ooooooooh..." drooled Ruby, who had an entire tray full of strawberries spread on a base layer of cookies. "Ooh so good so good! Get in my belly, little red ones!"

This odd distraction took Weiss's mind even further from World History, which she had mostly ignored. Something about angry animals and angry humans and a push for war. It wouldn't be important. The heiress leaned to her right to ask Yang, "Why is she talking to her food like it's a friend or a small child?"

"Oh, that?" Yang said. "That's completely normal Ruby behavior. Strawberries and cookies are her favorites. Don't expect her to do anything else until she's done eating."

"That's... awfully immature," Weiss added in her disappointed complaining voice rather than her scolding complaining voice. She decided to just drop the issue like Yang suggested, and instead picked up a spoon and dug into her chowder.

Most of the meal was carried out in the absence of conversation. They were, after all, still mostly strangers, and school topics hadn't really gotten anywhere yet. As Weiss set her spoon down in her finished bowl, plenty of other students were also finishing their meals and taking their trays to the dish return. One such student caught Weiss's attention: Velvet. Cardin Winchester was pulling on her ears to screams of, "Ow! That hurts! Please, stop?"

Now that was interesting. The little animal girl was finally getting what she deserved. Weiss laughed quietly behind a raised hand.

"I told you they were real," laughed Cardin.

"What a freak," added Russel. The heiress agreed, and continued her giggling.

The rest of RWBY and JNPR must have seen the scene as well, but nobody was laughing. Why not? They actually looked rather... annoyed. "Atrocious," spat Pyrrha. "I can't stand people like him."

Uh... what? The heiress abruptly cut off her laughter. It wouldn't do to get on her most promising ally's bad side. As she looked up, she saw her black-haired teammate glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "He's not the only one," she said.

"It must be hard to be a faunus," mused Yang.

Well... sh**. Everyone else likes the beasts for some inexplicable reason. What is good about such vile, lowly creatures? But, maybe it would be best for the team if I just played along... A Schnee is likable, not hated. The heiress abruptly rose, taking her tray away as well. "Our individual classes start soon, so we'd better get going," she announced, hopefully wiping the previous topic out of everyone's minds. Whether it worked or not, the girl left too quickly for the rest of them to react, picking up her notebooks from Room 413 and her weapon from the locker room. To Swordplay class.


Weiss stood across from Cardin Winchester with Myrtenaster drawn. Oh, she was going to enjoy this. ...How did she get into this in the first place? That's a funny question. You see...

On her way back from her Dust class, Weiss spotted Cardin and Jaune in the dorm hall. They were walking together and chatting, but Jaune looked rather nervous and the other boy looked somewhat smug. They arrived at a stairwell before the elevator arrived at Weiss's location, and as Jaune stepped through the door, Cardin pushed a button on Jaune's shield, causing it to expand and stop him in his tracks. He fell flat on his back... and saw Weiss in the distance.

"Hey, Weiss! A little help, please?" begged the blonde buffoon.

The heiress sighed. Cardin had been a moron since she first met him. He was disruptive during the team declaration ceremony... He had broken her ceiling... He bullied everyone around him... Actually, he mostly bullied wimps who deserved it, namely, the rabbit girl and the flirtatious loser who was now begging for her help. But still, there was no need to go around causing unneeded trouble. She made up her mind.

Weiss walked up to the two as the bully kicked his prey in the shins repeatedly. "Cardin Winchester, you have been nothing but a nuisance every second I've experienced your presence. Behave yourself or I'll make you."

"Ooh, princess wants to save her boyfriend?" taunted the brick-head.

"No," Weiss retorted, with not a hint of redness in her face to imply that she was lying. "He can have an absolutely miserable life for all I care. This is for my sanity; I will not allow your" – she jabbed a finger in the predator's face – "antics to continue."

"Make me," Cardin jeered. "That's right; you can't. You're so weak that you need to defend yourself with your words instead of your actions."

"Hmph. Hardly. You're such a hypocrite(5). Your only option is to taunt me. You're nothing."

"Ha! Doubtful. Can you put your money where your mouth is?"

"Of course I can, but there's no way I'd waste a single Lien on a fool like you. Let's go to the practice arenas right this instant, unless you're a coward. And Jaune, this doesn't concern you. Scram." The heiress shooed the boy away, who had managed to collapse his shield and stand up by that time. She strutted toward the locker rooms to retrieve Myrtenaster.

And that's how Miss Schnee ended up standing across from one of the biggest bullies in the school with her weapon drawn. "You're going to learn more today than you have in all your previous schooling, if you even had any," she taunted.

"Bring it!" the boy responded as he hefted his giant mace over his head and charged.

"Sloppy strike," she lectured as she easily sidestepped a hard downward strike. "You need to predict where your opponent is going." To emphasize her point, she slashed horizontally at her opponent, who hopped backward, but she anticipated the motion and shifted the halfhearted swipe into a thrust, easily making contact with the bully's breastplate.

"You're gonna pay for that paint scratch!" He lunged in again, this time sweeping horizontally with his weapon so Weiss couldn't step to the side.

She didn't need to. "Hm. Predictable." The heiress jumped up onto a glyph as the strike passed under her. Then she frontflipped off of it, allowing her body's torque to power a vertical slash at the back of her opponent's head.

Cardin stumbled forward and turned around, but not before Weiss landed another slash, this time on one of his sides. A quick glance at the display screen at the side of the room revealed that his Aura was currently in the low green.

The Winchester boy gritted his teeth and stepped in for another downward smash. Weiss stepped to the side and parried the weapon, scooping the mace's head forward by tugging under its head with her blade. Cardin fell off balance, giving Weiss the opportunity to clothesline him on Myrtenaster's edge. To preserve his neck, he rotated backward and fell on his posterior. The heiress followed up with another slash at his neck, and now his Aura was well into the yellow, nearly thirty percent.

Some opponents would have backflipped off of the floor to get out of this situation, but Cardin was not nearly nimble enough. The dead-weight did what he did best: groveling in the dirt. However, he wasn't totally helpless. Weiss's next slash was deflected with a hefty swipe from Cardin's mace, sending her stumbling away about a meter. The bully had enough space to slowly rise to his feet.

"Oh-ho. You're in for it now..."

The white-haired girl rolled her eyes. Sure she was "in for it". Because his other attacks were so successful...

Cardin rushed toward her with his mace held low – probably in preparation for an upward swing. That wasn't a terribly powerful strike since it had to work against gravity. Weiss faked a yawn and gestured in front of herself with Myrtenaster, forming a barrier glyph. The brute bounced off of it and stumbled back, and this opportunity was not passed up: Weiss, with her eyes still closed from her fake yawn, lunged forward with Myrtenaster, impaling the bully on her weapon. Or, he would have been impaled, if his Aura wasn't completely depleted with that strike. The heiress kept her arm relaxed in anticipation of this result and easily stopped her weapon from flinging itself out of her grasp.

"Tell me again the next time you want a good lesson," Weiss lazily announced as she leaned Myrtenaster against her shoulder and walked away.

She heard some shuffling behind her, but assumed it was nothing. That was a mistake. Her spine was met with a very hard whack from Cardin's mace, knocking her to the ground and lowering her Aura to seventy percent, and she couldn't help the scream of pain. "Don't you know when to stop?" she shouted, rolling out of the way of a smash aimed at her chest. "I won; you lost! You don't even have Aura left!" He smashed the floor where she had been half a second earlier. Apparently, there wasn't a single gram of logic in him.

The next time Cardin's weapon came down, Weiss blocked it with a glyph. Only most of the energy was taken out of the strike, however, and the mace continued through the splintered barrier to lodge itself in the girl's gut.

"What's wrong, little princess? Too much pain to take?" the bully jeered as he twisted the head of his weapon in her gut, causing Weiss to shriek in pain(6). "I'll tell you what: We'll make a deal: You stay out of my business for the rest of your miserable life, and I allow you to continue that life for a while longer."

"N-nev-AUGH!-never!"

The brunette continued his deadly massage, undeterred. Now he decided that he may as well yawn as if he was bored with the situation.

The heiress feebly reached out for her weapon, which had come out of her grasp when her tormentor landed his . His eyes were closed... He wouldn't see... Just a couple more inches...

Yes! Weiss's fingers closed around Myrtenaster's hilt. Her body obeyed her attempt to lift it when Cardin was between the two extremes of his weapon's rotation, and she desperately slashed across the enemy's unarmored stomach. The relief was instant: Cardin's eyes widened. He swore and stepped back, grasping at his now-severed skin, and his weapon was pulled along with him. The heiress took a raspy breath in, then stood as quickly as possible. She lunged in and whacked Cardin in the right temple with Myrtenaster's pommel, knocking him unconscious.

The heiress stumbled to a wall and slumped down against it. "S**t. Now what?"

The practice arenas were open daily from seven in the morning until midnight, but there were no designated supervisors; nobody to see what happened; nobody to help Weiss back to her room or get Cardin medical attention. Weiss unbuttoned her uniform jacket and lifted the shirt underneath, finding that yes, her previously immaculate skin was now covered in all different colors of bruises, even through her Aura, which the wall display said was still at thirty-five percent. Walking hurt; if it didn't, she wouldn't have slumped against the wall in the first place.

Who can help, who can help? ...The only option is my fr... teammates. Weiss opened her Scroll – it informed her that the time was 3:35 pm – went to the contacts tab, and dialed the first number she came across. I suppose it's useful that they pre-programmed our team's numbers into our Scrolls. I certainly wouldn't have gone to the trouble otherwise.

"Weiss?" came a voice.

The heiress grimaced and attempted to put a bit of cheerfulness into her voice so it wouldn't be so obvious. "Ruby, could you get Yang and Blake and come to the practice arenas?"

"...This is Blake."

"Right, alphabetic order." I was hoping for Ruby... And yeah, that didn't even sound like Ruby in the first place. "Um, yeah, I need you three over here."

"What's the big deal?"

"It's, uh, it's a surprise! Just... hurry." Weiss turned away from her scroll and coughed a couple of times.

"Ruby and Yang, Weiss wants us over at the practice arenas," Weiss made out from the other end of the line. Then the voice got closer again. "*Sigh.* Weiss, this better be good. We're on our way. Which room?"

"Um..." She looked at the door, finding a plaque next to it that labeled the room as 'ARENA 4'. "Met me in arena four." The heiress hung up.

It would probably be seven minutes or so, since the training arena building was along the south end of campus while the dorms were at the north. Just a while longer...

The white-haired girl's scroll buzzed – it was an incoming call.

"Hi, Weiss! I love surprises! Ooh, can you give me a hint?" Ruby rambled.

"No. Just... use your legs, not your mouth. Bye."

Just before she hit the the 'end call' button, she heard a different voice yell, "That's what he said!"(8)

Facepalm.

The heiress focused on her breathing for a while. It felt like way too long, but she finally heard the front door of the building squeak open – they should probably oil the hinges – and feet patter toward her. Then she saw bodies on the other side of the window next to the door to her arena, and the door swung open. And eager Ruby was the first inside the room, glancing around hastily, but the girl's face quickly lost its enthusiasm.

"Weiiiiiss! What happened?" she shouted as she zipped across the room with her Semblance. Blake and Yang made their way into the room as well.

"Cardin... was picking fights with everyone. Well, people weaker than him. I couldn't stand it, so I picked a fight *cough* with him. It *cough* was really easy, but he *cough* he backstabbed me when I was leaving. He had me down but... *cough* I escaped and knocked him out. He wouldn't stop *cough*. The idiot needs to learn his place."

Her ...friends. Her friends gave her sympathetic looks. "So," Yang spoke, "what about him?" She pointed toward the unconscious Cardin.

Ruby's face twisted into a mischievous grin. "Let's draw on his face and leave him to rot! Ooh, that sounds like a Nora idea; I'm learning fast."

"I don't think it would work out well if we left him," Blake said. "He'll just wake up and go complain to the teachers."

"Yeah, that's true," Yang said. "I guess we could go find Goodwitch."

Ruby was looking pityingly at Weiss, but she noticed the three sets of eyes on her and looked around. "Me? Ugh. Sometimes it sucks being fast." Zip.

"Oookay, Weissy!" Yang sang. "Up you go!" She yanked Weiss to her feet by her arms and hefted the girl onto her back, causing Weiss to let out an Eep! of both surprise and pain.

"Put me down! I'm bruised all over!"

"Heh heh heh. Sorry."

The pain was relieved, but Weiss wobbled a bit on her feet. She grabbed onto her friends' shoulders and they began walking out of the room. But... it wasn't nearly as easy as the heiress thought. "Darn it, can't you two be a little shorter? This is stretching out my shoulders and my stomach."

The two readjusted, bending their knees, but that only lasted a short while as well. "Weiss, this isn't really working," Yang said. "I know! Hang onto our arms." The blonde immediately grabbed Weiss's hand with her own, causing the heiress to squirm and try to pull away, but the former gripped harder and hooked her forearm under Weiss's elbow. It actually was rather helpful. The only strain was upward on Weiss's shoulders now, since her arms weren't pulled above her shoulders to stretch out her abdomen. Blake tentatively latched on as well, and the three hobbled out of the building.

"Oh," said Weiss. "Where are we going?"

"Um, there's a hospital on campus, isn't there?" Yang said hopefully.

"Hopefully." "I think so."

"Heh, just pulling your leg. I know where it is since I plan on sending plenty of other students there and I wanted to know where to send them their nice reassuring pity cards. It's in the administrative tower."

"How generous of you," Blake dryly commented.

...Silence.

"So, Weiss, isn't it cathartic to beat up thugs like that?" asked Yang.

"It- Well- Maybe a little. Until he went against the rules of a duel. Scum."

"Well everything turned out alright, right?" Yang said, attempting to cheer up the heiress. "You've got your Aura to heal you; you won't even miss out on anything!"

"What a wonderful first week..." Weiss mumbled.

Soon, they were met with Ruby running toward them from the opposite direction with a flustered Professor Goodwitch in tow barely keeping up. She always seems mad about something. "Hey guys! Are you doing okay, Weiss?" shouted Ruby.

"Just peachy!" Yang yelled back, answering for the heiress.

Once the groups were withing talking distance, Goodwitch addressed them. "Miss Schnee, from what Ruby has told me, you should be able to just rest it off in your room, but do check in with a nurse first. I'm going to retrieve... the other." The assistant headmaster continued onward, and Ruby ran circles around her team.

"To the hospital!" Ruby commanded. "Oh, by the way, I thunk up Team RWBY's Rule Number Three. It's 'always duel with supervision'!"

Weiss sighed. "Yes, Ruby. I didn't think it would be necessary..."

"Fine with me," said Yang.

Blake nodded.


The cheerful, chubby lady wearing hospital scrubs had a name tag labeled "Dr. Tangerina". Weiss smiled weakly up at the overly happy woman.

"Come with me!" the lady shrieked. Great; she had that kind of voice.

She led Team RWBY to a small examination room and gestured for Weiss to sit down. Yang and Blake released her, and she slumped into position on the specially designed chair.

"Now shoo!" Tangerina screamed. "Patient privacy policies and all that jazz." Her teammates slunk out of the room, probably to sit in some chairs in a waiting area. "Okay, little miss, what's your problem?"

"What's your problem?" the heiress retorted. Didn't the stupid nurse know who she was? She should show a bit of respect!

"Don't make this any harder than it needs to be, little lady," said the fat nurse or doctor or whatever she was.

Weiss cracked a grin. "Okay, big lady, I'll make this nice and easy for you. An idiot hit me in the back with his mace when our duel was already over and then he twisted the weapon into my gut. I don't exactly feel the best right now."

"Strip!"

"Excuse me!?"

"Just your shirt is fine. I need to examine the wounds."

Weiss rolled her eyes and did as told. ...The stupid uniform had way too many layers, though, and the idiot nurse's staring sure didn't make her very comfortable.

"Oh, wow, you have really small boobies," said the nurse. "You're a bit on the thin side, too. Maybe you ought to go to the cafeteria a bit more often. It makes you really happy when you're nice and plump; I know from experience!"

"Don't you have a job to do?!" the heiress scolded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, indeed!" Tangerina responded. "Oh, well, there aren't any obvious ruptures, but you mentioned being hit in the back, so we'll need to do an x-ray and an MRI. Not! My Semblance is seeing inside of things. Isn't that cool? Aren't you impressed? It's a rather handy thing to have in this field; I can see all kinds of things."

Weiss facepalmed. She uneasily wondered what the nurse was looking at right now... "So why did you make me take my clothes off?"

"Oh, that. It helps a little; it's harder to look through clothes as well, although not impossible. Well, your bones are fine. Your organs are okay, too, although the intestine has a tiny little rupture and there's a bit of internal bleeding. You can just go home and rest up; your Aura will take care of you just fine."

Weiss slipped her not-so-protective layers back on and went to stand up. She pushed against her seat, but promptly stopped – the motion was working her abdominal muscles too much. The doctor reached in to help, but Weiss put a halt to that as quickly as possible. "Hands off!"

The white-haired girl settled for rocking back and forth to slowly walk her body toward the edge of the seat, and finally slipped off into a standing position. The girl had to reach out to the chair to keep her balance, however. She leaned a hand against the wall and slowly shuffled out of the room.

"Good luck growing your assets! Goodbye!" Tangerina shrieked after her.

Facepalm.

"Hey, guys," Weiss heard Ruby say from down the hall, "I heard a door and some voices, so maybe someone's done with their appointment! It's probably Weiss!" Sure enough, the pseudo-redhead zipped around the corner and immediately hugged Weiss.

"Ow! Get off! Don't hug me! I am not huggable(9)!"

"Ehehe... Sorry; forgot about your stomach. Need some help?"

Weiss sighed and leaned against Ruby's arm as the two hobbled toward the rest of the team. Yang rounded the corner and latched on as well.

"What's the time?" Weiss asked.

"There are clocks in hospitals, right?" Yang returned.

Well... Yes, I suppose there are, but no way am I admitting it. There was a clock in plain sight on one of the walls, and the device was kind enough to inform Weiss that it was currently 4:17. She blinked a few times, but it still said 4:17. Oh, right, they use two sets of twelve hours in Vale. Atlas's twenty-four hour system is much less confusing.(10)

"Good point, Weiss," Yang continued. "We have plenty of time to head into town, or go spar in one of the arenas, or I wouldn't mind killing some Grimm in the forest. Oh, that reminds me: Goodwitch will want me for ursa cleanup anyway. So... maybe we'll just stick around Beacon for now."

The four arrived on the ground level and headed out the door. They were approached by Goodwitch, who was levitating Cardin's unconscious form behind her. Her Semblance is definitely telekinesis.

The professor looked rather grumpy about the situation she was cleaning up, but once she saw Team RWBY she put on a fake smile and spoke. "Good afternoon, girls. Miss Xiao Long, you are relieved of your detention duties; please help keep an eye on Miss Schnee. I will drop by later this evening for a full report of this... event."

Yang's free shoulder slumped down with a heavy sigh. "Yes, professor..." Goodwitch continued on her way. "Well, I guess I won't have my fun time tonight."

"I don't think we should go walking around Vale or even the campus," Ruby added.

"Ugh. I almost didn't think of that. Thanks a lot, Ruby."

"That's what adorable little sisters are for!"


"Oh, Dust, watch your hands! That doesn't feel the best, you know!"

"Stop complaining, Weiss. We have to get you onto your bed. Unless you meant you want to be touched where it does feel the best." *Eyebrow wiggle.*

"Shut up and leave me alone, Yang!"

"I don't think so! Glynda said that I have to watch you very carefully for the rest of the day. So sit down and be eye candy; I'll go grab a chair quick."

Blake elbowed the blonde in the side. "Just... stop. Let's get her on the bed."

As the team rolled the heiress onto her mattress, Weiss grumbled, "At least it's close to floor level..." The hands released her, and... "Oum. It hurts so much now."

"That tends to happen when the adrenaline wears off and you start trying to relax," said Blake.

Ruby burst into the conversation: "Okay, let's derail this conversation! Now it's my turn to talk! Let's do!... stuff. Um, what do we even need to do?"

"We've finished the readings for Grimm Studies and World History," the black-haired girl noted.

"We probably shouldn't just leave Weiss alone..." Yang added.

"That would be appreciated. I'd probably starve to death."

"Um... Team rules?" Ruby wondered. "Nah; we have enough of those for now. Wait! I could declare that Fridays are a day of fun and relaxation, to be filled with team games! Yang, you packed the Z-Station(11), right?"

"Yup!" her sister replied. "I think it's still in a box somewhere though."

The team, minus Weiss, scoured the room for any sign of boxes and gaming consoles.

"I found- nope, that's just an empty box," said Blake.

"Oh, that's where my rock collection went!" Ruby announced.

What the heck? "Seriously, Ruby? Why would you bring rocks to school? Why would you have a pile of rocks in the first place?" the heiress jeered from her spot on the bed. "Ow." Lesson learned: Don't pick up your head and try to point at people with a stomach injury.

"Hey! A girl can have whichever hobbies she wants! And actually, this rock reminds me of mom..." Weiss didn't want to pick up her head to look at it, but a couple seconds later a white and red marbled rock was shoved into her face.

"Okay, okay. That's nice. Now get it out of my face."

"Found it!" Yang shouted, holding up a grey plastic box with a bunch of wires sticking out of it. "Oh, right. Dad sent a TV too. Once we find that, let's set this all up on my desk. We all know I'm not going to use it anyway."

Weiss's eyebrows furrowed. "I do not want a bunch of failures on my team!"

"Relax, princess. I'm fine with doing homework, but I'll probably just use somebody else's desk. Actually... we can use the bookshelf under the window instead. That way it's in the middle of the room."

"Found it, sis!" The leader made some shuffling sounds, probably a result of reaching inside the box, followed by a dull thud as the object was likely unceremoniously dropped on the bookshelf. Clicks could be heard between series of sounds of plastic scraping on wood and plastic and whispers of, "This one here... That one there..."

"Okay, I think that's all the cords. Let's turn 'er on!" said Yang. After a short pause, the girl began chuckling.

"Oh..." said Ruby. "What's the Wi-Fi password? They set that up ahead of time for our Scrolls."

"Give me that," said Blake.

Ruby read off the characters: "B-three-A-C-O-N-umm the weird number symbol thingy. Really!? That's stupid. It's just like Beacon."

"Hey, I didn't invent it," the black-haired girl shrugged. "It works, see?"

"Gimme that!" Yang said. "Ugh. We have to go through all the settings and stuff. This might take a while."

"I'm going to read for a bit," Blake said.

The heiress heard the rapid clack of buttons, a person sliding onto the bed across the room, and footsteps coming toward her... "Don't you dare jump on me, Ruby!"

"Why would I do that?" Ruby grumpily said as she sat down next to Weiss. "So, what kinds of games do you play, Weiss?"

"And what makes you think I would want to play a game?"

"You-"

"I don't have time for such frivolous things. There's always something more important to do."

"That's not true. We're all caught up on schoolwork and there's an entire weekend open. It'll be fun!"

"But that's such a childish activity!"

"Actually, there are a lot of games designed for teenagers and adults... And everyone has the right to be a kid whenever they want!"

Weiss sighed. "Okay, just once. Then I can prove how useless your idea was."

"Yay, Weiss!" The leader bounced to her feet and reached out, but, "-Oop, probably shouldn't hug you. Sorry. Oh, but you probably want to sit up so you can see."

The heiress rolled her eyes. "I've been staring at the very interesting underside of your bed for this entire conversation; of course it would be nice to sit up. Why did you three just throw me onto the bed in a heap in the first place?"

"S-sorry!" Ruby squeaked. "Okay, I'll help you up."

"I don't need any help!" The somewhat injured girl braced her palms on the mattress and pushed a bit, but winced and had to give up. "Okay, fine," she grumbled.

Ruby placed one hand behind Weiss's shoulders and the other on her far elbow and lifted. The heiress was easily adjusted to a sitting position. Weiss tried to scoot back to rest against the headboard, but her muscles were not cooperating too well, so Ruby adjusted her grip, holding around Weiss's back and under her armpits with one hand and reaching for the legs with her other hand. "Hey! Watch your hands!"

"Sorry! But it's the only way."

"*Sigh.* Fine." After a few seconds of struggling, Weiss was now turned to lean against the footboard so she could see the rest of the room. As expected, Yang was currently pressing buttons that changed some words on the TV screen and Blake was reading on her own bed.

"Wow, you're really light, Weiss," Ruby commented. "Maybe you should actually eat something at meals."

"Oh, shut up! The stupid nurse tried to tell me to get fat, too. I'm just naturally small."

"Like me! Oh, I reminded myself... We should probably eat. It's just after five."

The Ice Queen glared at Ruby, who got the message. She wasn't moving.

"Right. Okay, guys, I'm going to see what they have for supper; I'll be right back!" Zoom.

Weiss's other teammates were still in their own little worlds, and she was stranded here with... nothing. Actually, her feet were touching a lump. A very familiar lump. Mr. Fluffschnee! The girl reached under the sheets and moved the small object next to her left side – that way, if Ruby tried to sit next to her again, she wouldn't end up on top of him. Saved you! Sorry for making you suffocate, little guy(12). She stroked his soft head a few times, but pulled her hand back out before anyone noticed... hopefully. A quick glance around the room reassured her.

So school is going surprisingly well and I've met a few people. Ruby is annoying, but I think she really does have good intentions. Her sister, though, is a little boisterous. I mean, she's a pretty good fighter and is nice when she needs to be, but her personality and clothing style and such... she just rubs me the wrong way. *Cough.* No! Must resist her influence! Then there's Blake. Anti-Schnee. I don't know what her problem is, but at least she's usually out of the way. But that's kind of creepy that she always wears that stupid bow; isn't she, like, my age?

It would have been nice to get on Pyrrha's team, but I guess I can't change that now. And I'm having second thoughts... she stood up for the rabbit-spawn girl at lunch. Who seriously cares about the stupid beast people? All they do is cause trouble... like mother. *Sigh.* The white-haired girl wiped a lonely tear off of her cheek. It's in the past. A Schnee is strong.

Then there's stupid Jaune. Such a wimp and a klutz; who would ever like him? I don't understand what he thinks he's trying to achieve by flirting with me. Nora... There's absolutely no way I'd live with her. She's a nut. But at least there's Ren to keep her in line.

The stupid team that lives above us... They're all scum. Just as low as faunus in my books. And their idiot leader is why I'm sitting here with nothing to do in the first place. A cheater, sore loser, bully... I doubt there's a single redeeming quality. I'd love for him to be expelled, or even put in prison.

The professors are "out there"... The flirty old man who tells irrelevant stories and the hyperactive history enthusiast are the worst. I suppose Mrs. Goodwitch is a pretty good professor. She tries to keep all the lunatics in order, and isn't half bad at officiating for the dueling class. Well, I guess anyone could do that really. And the headmaster is so kind! He's the father I never had.

A couple students are "out there" in a different way. I think it was Team GAZE or something like that. The one is probably a registered psychopath, but that's hardly an excuse for a girl to kiss another girl in public. Those feelings we get are just stupid distractions. It's common sense that I'll marry a worthy man once I'm forced to take over the company. Well... if I ever find one. All those stupid suitors were terrible. Maybe... no.

I wonder when Ruby will get back. The other two teammates were still doing their own things, so Weiss shifted around a little and decided to check on her stomach. A gentle poke still hurt a lot... Hopefully it would get better soon. The stupid Tangerina lady had better not be wrong.

There was a knock on the door which Yang answered after setting down her controller. "Oh, Professor Goodwitch," the blonde said into the doorway. "Come in; Weiss is right over there." The brawler pointed at Weiss's bed.

As Goodwitch walked toward Weiss, Yang sat down in Weiss's chair and Blake gently closed her book. "Alright," the assistant headmaster said, "I think it would be easiest if you just listed off the five W's." Weiss's confusion must have shown. "Right, you didn't go to public school... Ahem! Who, what, when, where, why. ...And how. Don't ask."

So everyone wanted to listen. Great...

Actually, she heard the pounding of feet approach their room, and Ruby popped back into the room. She was about to say something, but sat down in her own chair next to Yang after seeing the situation. Yes, everyone wanted to listen.

The heiress almost gulped, but recovered quickly and cleared her throat instead. "Okay. Well it was Cardin, obviously. He's been a pest to everyone and everything, and when I brought it up he challenged me. It was decided we would duel." She thought a moment. "Who... what... where... Well, he challenged me at the dorm and then we went to the arenas, but you already knew that and I don't think that's even all that useful. Why do we need all these W's?"

"Just... Continue your story, please, Miss Schnee."

"When... It was after class got out at fifteen o' clock. How... that doesn't really make sense. Okay, anyway, we went to the arenas and dueled and I won. Got him all the way to zero percent. But the slime wouldn't stay down; when I started walking away, he came after me again and hit me in the back with his stupid lump of metal. I obviously wasn't expecting him to descend to that level of filth so I wasn't prepared and fell over. I dropped my weapon, and he didn't care. The duel was over, but he kept trying to hit me, and eventually... he pinned me down with his mace. Then he... kept... grinding it into me." The girl paused for a moment, but nobody interrupted. "I didn't have a choice. Once I finally got to Myrtenaster, I sliced at him with her. Then I had the chance to escape. After that, the hospital and then here. What exactly did you want to know?"

"Well," said Goodwitch, "Mr. Winchester had a slightly different story. Are you positive that the duel was over before his attack?"

"Yes! I'm not that stupid to turn away from my active opponent. I've had years of-"

The professor held out a hand to cut off Weiss. "That's enough. Seventeen is a little young, but you're almost adults. You will be adults by the time you graduate. And I expect your behavior to reflect that. While Mr. Winchester's behavior was a bit extreme, you, Miss Schnee, did not need to challenge another student to a duel. It would be better to simply inform a faculty member of the issue. If you do feel the need to duel another student outside of class times, please have supervision. That being said, please inform us of any further incidents, and I hope you recover swiftly. Thank you, girls. If there are no questions, I'll be on my way."

Was there much else to say? The heiress settled for, "I hope he is properly punished for this."

"Of course. Have a good evening." The assistant headmaster parted from the room.

Silence had a very short reign which was interrupted by a red-haired team leader. "They have pizza tonight, and not much else."

"Pizza?" Weiss asked.

"You haven't had pizza before?!" Yang shouted, clearly shocked. "You've been missing out, Princess!"

Ruby continued the explanation. "It's round and has a doughy crust, then there's sauce and cheese and all types of toppings and they cook it. It's really, really good!"

The heiress chuckled primly. "That's too good. I can't believe you actually believed me! Of course I've had pizza; everyone has pizza. I'll just have cheese. Two slices should be fine."

"Bo-ring!" taunted Yang. "I like everything on mine."

"What do you want to drink?" Ruby asked.

"Lemonade, of course!" interrupted Yang.

The blonde received a slap on the shoulder from her sister. "Not you!"

"Just skim milk, please. And if they have any salads or-"

"Nope, they just have pizza. Okay, guys, let's go."

Three quarters of Team RWBY walked out of the room, leaving Weiss alone.


The heiress was really not accustomed to being bored. The only thing that allowed her to keep her sanity for the ten minutes it took for her fr-teammates to get pizza was Mr. Fluffschnee. However, he was promptly slipped back under the sheets as soon as she heard two sets of feet(13) outside the door. Ruby was the first to enter, carrying her own plate of pizza with one hand, leaving the second free to open doors and use Scrolls. Next was Yang, who dumped a plate with two slices of cheese pizza next to Weiss and took her own stack of pizza to a chair. Blake had a plate of pizza and a plate with four glasses on it. She came by Weiss, allowing her to take her milk, then stopped by Yang and Ruby, who had lemonade and strawberry milk, respectively. The black-haired girl had warm tea for herself.

"Did anyone remember napkins?" Weiss asked.

"Yup! I usually need about four for myself..." the team leader answered. She pulled a giant wad of the objects out of her uniform pocket – which hadn't looked any thicker than the other pocket and didn't seem to change size upon release of its stash – and distributed them to the team. The room was quiet for a while as everyone ate and drank.

"Okay, Weiss, ready to get your butt handed to you?" Yang asked, followed by an unrestrained belch.

The white-haired girl finished her mouthful then answered. "I'm still eating, Xiao Long."

"Wow, you're still working on two pieces and I'm done with six. Step up your game!"

"Mmh nm um nung," said Ruby. The younger girl swallowed and then tried again. "I'm still eating, and I only had three pieces. You must get it from dad."

"Well then why can you eat an entire plate of cookies in under thirty seconds, Rubes?"

"Cookies are different! Maybe I got that from mom... Hey! I'm still eating! Stop distracting me!"

As Weiss attempted to finish her meal somewhat quickly without looking like a pig like Yang, the brawler put a disc into the console and navigated through some menus.

Everyone, except Yang, finished at around the same time. "I'll take the dishes back!" Ruby announced. There was no time for protesting... and why would anyone protest anyway? Zip. Zup. Zoom. And then there were three.

"Okay, let's get this over with," huffed Weiss. "What do I need to do?"

"Take this." The temporary cripple was handed a controller.

"Um," Weiss started, a bit flustered by her lack of knowledge. "What do I do with this? Andohmygosh, shouldn't I wash my hands first?!"

Yang shook her head. "Monty, you're a sorry specimen. Just lick off your fingers; it's fine. And here, like this." The video game master turned the controller around and patted it into Weiss's hands. "And one for you, Blake."

The black-haired girl set down her book and caught the flying plastic projectile easily. "I've never played before, either..." she whispered.

"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll be a natural, Blakey!" reassured Yang.

"Hey! What about me?" accused Weiss.

"Nah, you're a lost cause, Princess."

"Then why did you make me join in the first place?!"

"It's funny when you're mad or incompetent, and both is even better," the blonde somehow got out through her Cheshire grin.

"I'm done."

"But you haven't even started yet!" Yang pressed a few buttons. "This is Grimm Eclipse Twenty-Four B. It's a really great series, and this is the newest edition. The A edition is for little kids, and the B versions are a bit better. Ruby and I got partway through already, but we're nice enough to start over with the team. Okay, so some earlier editions had just a few characters to choose from, but all modern versions have character customization." Yang moved a cursor on the screen to 'Start', then 'Story Mode', then 'New Game'. "Okay, I'll make my character first. So you can choose if it's a boy or a girl" – Yang chose a boy – "and faunus or human" – she picked a human – "and then customize their looks."

As the game guru moved sliders all over the place to mold a really tall, really muscular, really good-looking but gruff guy, Weiss had a question. "Why would someone make a faunus? There couldn't possibly be any advantages, could there?"

"Actually, they get night vision and some people like the ears and tails and stuff," the mentor answered. "But humans get bonuses to buying and selling. It's a trade-off."

"How would night vision work? It's not like you're the character."

"It just doesn't dim the screen as much in dark places. Simple."

"Oh. Why can you make a boy character if you're a girl?"

"Some people like to make characters like themselves, but some people like to make their character look like someone famous, and others want to make eye candy. I mean, you have to stare at your character the whole time you play, so may as well make a stud, right?"

Weiss sighed in annoyance and blushed a bit.

"And then weapons and name, then a quick personality quiz that determines your Semblance." Yang chose a gigantic sword, named her character 'UberHotMasta24-7-365', and got the Semblance called 'Rage', which looked like it represented Yang's real one. "Okay, Weiss, you're next."

"O...kay." The TV displayed a fresh, unmodified, generic character. "How do I...?"

"This here is how you change the selection, and then you confirm with this button or go back with that one."

"Right..." The heiress chose a girl, human of course, and made her as fancy as possible. "Wait, what? Why the Dust is there a butt slider?"

"Don't you worry, the designers thought of everything. Just slide that one all the way to the left; you're a tight-a**."

"I'M DONE. TAKE YOUR STUPID CONTROLLER." Weiss threw the aforementioned object at Yang, who grinned as she caught it and gently handed it back to the heiress. The blonde wouldn't take no for an answer and showed this by pinning the white-haired girl's hands to the controller.

Weiss sighed angrily and continued the customization. She was pleasantly surprised to see that Dust Rapiers were an option, and chose that. When she got to the name, Yang ripped the controller out of her hands and punched in 'Ice Queen W'. As hard as she tried to go back and change it, the blonde would re-input the name and continue to the next screen. The heiress eventually gave up and just did the quiz thing, which gave her a 'Control' Semblance, which apparently gave her limited telekinesis and mind control. How would that work in a game? No idea. "Okay, fine. My character is done."

Ruby burst back into the room at that moment. "Okay, team! The dishes are all gone and I am ready to kick some butt!"

"Weiss and I already made our characters," the game guru informed her sister. "You can be next."

"Oh, sure! I should probably make it different from my previous one." Weiss was disappointed to see Ruby choose an extremely short bat faunus girl and squee in delight at its supposed cuteness. The character got a pink, black, white, and yellow marbled outfit; short lime green hair; and a gun-spear a bit like Pyrrha's. "This is one of the best weapons in the game, suckers!" she teased.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that?" Weiss sulked.

The character was named 'Fruit Salad 123' and Ruby answered the personality quiz quite unlike what Weiss knew to be her real behavior, earning her a 'Teleportation' Semblance.

"Hey, no fair! I didn't know you could mess with it to get different results!" the heiress complained.

"It's all part of the game," sang Yang. "Now Blake has to make a character."

The black-haired girl seemed to have paid attention to the other three and didn't require any special assistance from the two experienced team members. She selected a female cat faunus with a black tail but not ears, but dressed it in white and gave it light brown hair. It looked a bit like its creator, but the clothing seemed chosen to make the character different. Besides, Blake didn't have a tail or anything like that. Next was the weapon – a wakizashi(14) on a chain tether – and the name, 'Risen Shadow'. She got a 'Stealth' Semblance, which apparently provided limited invisibility and made the character fairly quiet.

"Great choices, Blake," encouraged Ruby. "Okay, let's get started!"


"Ah, it's attacking me!"

"So get out of the way...?" Yang replied.

"How?"

"The joystick, Weiss. Isn't it obvious?"

"Ah, right. Okay, safe. But how do I get rid of it?"

"The Grimm? Hit it. Duh."

"Which button is that again?"

"The one on the right, Weiss. Jeesh, I thought you were good at learning."

"Oh my Oum oh my Oum oh my Oum the ursa is after me it's hitting me ah nooooo no I'm dying help help help help!" Weiss panicked.

Her teammates didn't arrive in time, and her character died. "Don't worry, Ice Queen," Yang said, "we'll bring your corpse back to the respawn point. Easy." UberHotMasta24-7-365 headed over toward Weiss's avatar.

Ruby's nearly rainbow character was completely surrounded by a horde of thirty or more Grimm, but was killing them rapidly without being scratched. The player was cackling maniacally. "This is so fun! Wow, maybe I should've chosen this awesome weapon on my first character!"

Blake, too, was somehow holding her own. Risen Shadow did sort of what one would expect – the avatar popped out of nowhere, murdered a couple of Grimm, and then got out of the way by disappearing for a while.

"Oh, come on! How is it fair that Blake is so good at this?" the heiress whined. Her character was dumped off at the resurrection area. "Okay, let's try again... Ooh, wonder what this button does?"

That particular button was the Semblance button. Since her character was in the middle of a plain grassy field with no enemies – the Grimm in that area had already been cleared out by the group – the Semblance had nothing to do except bash some rocks into each other. "Is that the telekinesis?"

"I'd say so," Yang replied. "C'mon, let's get back to the others."


"MUAHAHAHAHA! COWER BEFORE YOUR MASTER, PITIFUL GRIMM! YOUR LIVES ARE FORFEIT!" Ice Queen W was flinging beowolves and ursai at each other with her Semblance, and had an enthralled King Taijitu (the game taught Weiss that that was the name of the two-headed snake Grimm) which was crushing everything around it.

"Wow! Go, Weiss!" encouraged the team leader.

"I can't believe they allow something so powerful to be in this game," Blake remarked.

However, the heiress was too enraptured in her minions' battles to watch her avatar. Ice Queen W was surrounded by ursai and beowolves, and her Aura was steadily dropping.

"Might want to pay attention to your character instead of your targets," Yang casually commented.

"Ah! No! Attack! Attack! Attack!"

"Um, Weiss?" probed Ruby. "That's the jump button. You want the one on the right."

"Dust. … … … …I'm dead! How could you three abandon me like that?!"

"Y'know, just needed to teach you a lesson or two," Yang answered.

"I will have my revenge, you Grimm scum!"


"Guys, it's past eleven. Maybe we should go to bed?" suggested Blake.

"No! Just one more level!"

"W-weiss, I think you might be getting a little bit too much into it..." Ruby warned.

The argument was ended when everyone's view of the now-dark television was cut off by a Yang Xiao Long holding the business end of a power cord. "Yeah, maybe we could stop for now." The heiress was enraged, but before she could do anything much, the blonde added, "It auto-saves. Everything will be there if you ever decide to play this 'trash' again."

To prepare for bed, Blake helped Weiss off of the latter's bed, and the heiress found that she could walk around a bit without any support. "I think I'm getting a little better," she remarked, prodding her stomach gently.

"Of course you're getting better; this is the first time you've played," said Yang.

"No, I mean my injury."

"Oh."

The four emptied their bladders, cleaned their faces, brushed their teeth, and changed into pajamas. "You know," said Weiss as Ruby helped her into bed, "that was a lot better than I expected it to be. You're lucky that I'm even admitting it."

"Thanks. Goodnight, team." "I'm going to turn the lights off now." "See you in the morning!"

Goodnight, Mr. Fluffschnee.


Weiss rolled over and opened her eyes, only to see a beam of sunlight shining directly at her retinas. But wait... She rolled over, and it didn't hurt! "Good morning, team! I think it's all healed!"

However, she was apparently the first one to wake up. She was met with a, "Thatsh nyshe... Five more minutes..." from above, a sleepy groan from the opposite side of the room, and a snore from the upper side of the other end of the room.

Today was going to be a great day.


Author's Notes:

(1) yumanumilus: Unanimous. Unofficial Ruby vocab skills.

(2) "its knees knocked and its eyes watered": No, not possible. Just Portly tales. Grimm don't have emotion according to my headcanon, but that doesn't have a good place to be said in this diatribe.

(3) Port didn't break any records. He's full of s***; just ignore most of what he says in his stories. It wasn't twenty, and twenty wasn't a new record anyway.

(4) "prepare for part two next week": No, I'm probably not going to actually write that. You'll get a study session or something of the sort that briefly goes over headcanon about the Grimm, though, and there will be a few more class sessions, just not all the lectures and not before there's something more interesting in between.

(5) "You're such a hypocrite": Of course, Weiss is, too. Shh, don't tell her – she might get mad. And a mad Weiss is actually not scary; it's rather cute. Meh. I'm disproving myself. But... you don't actually have a way to tell Weiss anyway.

(6) Okay, maybe I am rather sadistic... This scene is being fairly entertaining to write. And that's not even the way I originally planned for it to go. Hopefully you squirmed in your seats a bit(7).

(7) That's a bit presumptuous. Perhaps you aren't sitting in a seat.

(8) I seriously do not plan this stuff. I wanted Weiss to yell at Ruby for taking effort away from walking in order to talk, and that's what came out. Couldn't help the decent setup for Yang.

(9) Stop lying, Weiss. You're huggable, but you just don't know it at this point in the story.

(10) (a) As far as I know, Atlas is more arctic and more militant than the other kingdoms, and I figured the latter warrants military time. I personally use 24-hour time on anything I can change.

(b) Weiss was only confused because she's a bit delirious at the moment. She's smart enough that it normally isn't an issue.

(c) 3 pm is when their last class ends for the day (9-10, 11-12, lunch time, 1-2-3 covers their four classes), then she walked back to the dorm and challenged Cardin (+5-10 minutes), retrieved her weapon and went to the arena (+10-15 minutes), fought (+5 minutes), called and got help (+10-15 minutes), hobbled to the admin tower (+30? minutes), and was "examined" (+5 minutes or so). The average total of those is 1 hour 12.5 minutes, so 4:17 is reasonable – I decided on that exact number because that's the time when I wrote the line. You're welcome for overthinking everything. I also tried sitting on my bed and getting off a couple times to decide whether it would disturb Weiss's injury.

(11) We like to avoid Earth brands here on Remnant, and we also like to be as unbiased as possible in doing so. I know Remnant has at least television, which was seen in one of the first episodes, and I'll just assume that there's a decent bit of other tech as well. It just isn't used much in canon since it hardly does anything for plot.

(12) If you haven't figured it out, Mr. Fluffschnee is actually not alive. Weiss is just applying her very limited imagination.

(13) heard two sets of feet: Remember, RWBY has two loud people, a princess, and a ninja. Heard.

(14) wakizashi: Medium-length Japanese-style sword. Shorter than a katana. It felt like more of Blake's style.

?

Profit

^ See what I did there?

Darn. I really didn't want Weiss to do anything that would remotely seem like she supported Jaune, but there it is. You're welcome if you ship that, I suppose, but if you do ship that, I don't know what you're doing here unless you're waiting for the actual plot.

Oh! According to V3E1, 20% Aura is where the red starts. Fun fact.

Chapter Synopsis: What do you expect? It's Friday. They have the main classes again and then head into the weekend. Unexpected violence; pizza; luring Ms. Prim & Proper into playing video games.

Changes Synopsis: Once again, nothing to put here. Some things are pre-Jaunedice, but that's about all there is that relates to canon.

Edits: November 28, 2015: Changed a bunch of stuff in the game scene to conform to the TV's location in V3Chp4.

Next update: May as well continue the tradition of saying that I have no clue, but if I write as much as I hope to, it'll be under a week. However, there's plenty of real life anticipated, so it'll probably be a bit over a week again. Result: 10 days. Guesstopher was correct. (Christopher, Guesstopher... Meh.)