Bonding by Combat:

Well it only took the first days' worth of classes for there to be an obnoxious amount of team drama, at least so far as my own and Ruby's teams are concerned. After catching about maybe 5 hours of sleep last night, all four of us wound up sharing the same first class of the day, studying the Grimm with none other than Professor Port. Even though we were all obviously still tired from yesterday, we still made it there on time, which is nearly more than Team RWBY could say. They barely arrived in time for class, which I think was a factor in Weiss' poor mood later on during Port's lecture.

It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes into his lecture when Ruby started goofing off with some not-so-flattering drawings of Port, and since I had nothing better to do as he was going on about some of his adventures in his youth and not saying anything important, I enjoyed the distraction. Weiss wasn't having any of it though, and so before even Lux could raise his hand to try and show off his skills against a Boarbatusk the professor brought out, Weiss volunteered instead. If the death glares she was giving Ruby earlier weren't proof enough of the icy relationship those two have had since day one here, then her openly disregarding Ruby's advice before and during the fight would tell you everything you had to know about those two. I would've probably gotten myself involved in trying to mediate whatever bad blood those two had if it wasn't for the drama that happened just after class between the Lux and me.

As we left the lecture hall, I said – without thinking – that Professor Port really lacked a lot of showmanship when it came to telling his tales in an educational setting. I don't know how in the name of the gods I didn't notice it before, but Lux clearly idolizes Port. From everything he knows about the Grimm coming from Port's guides and stories to the way his combat uniform positively screams inspiration from the professor's earlier Huntsman years, it was obvious he'd been trying to emulate Port's larger-than-life persona on the path to becoming a Huntsman himself. I suppose I was just too busy with the whole 'fighting for my life and becoming team leader' thing to notice yesterday. Lux therefore didn't take too kindly to my critique, even though I just sort of spouted it out after comparing Port to theatre back home. I tried to make up for the slip by pointing out Port made up for his lacking showmanship in heart, but Lux didn't really seem to care. Things up until then had been lukewarm between Aurora and I and the brothers, but I guess critiquing their shared childhood idol didn't buy us any respect at that point.

I will admit I didn't exactly help defuse the situation as it went on, however. When Lux started making fun of our heritage and accused us of never having to truly fight for anything important in Mistral, that's when our infighting really began. I bit back that the two of them wouldn't know the fine elements of art if it hit them in the face and I could easily take out someone as careless in combat as Lux any day of the week, Tenebris not-so-subtly implied he was gonna punch me in the face… it only went downhill from there. It was only by Aurora's mediation that we managed to get something productive done today, turning the argument into a sort of trial by ordeal on both sides of the argument.

Since the twins seemed convinced Aurora and I were too pampered to handle ourselves in a fight other than in one against the Grimm, we set out to prove we were more than qualified to be called their equals. Seeing as they came from Vacuo, we arranged for a sort of tournament to be held so that we could either make or break our claims in front of a crowd while we fought it out. What a crowd it was, too. Not only was Team RWBY and JNPR there – even though they seemed more nervous we were about to legitimately harm one another than excited to see us spar – but a solid few dozen other students came alongside Professor Goodwitch to see who would win. I think I even saw Lien changing hands in a few bets on who'd win each round of the miniature tournament. Goodwitch was too busy monitoring our Aura meters before giving us the go-ahead to notice, at any rate.

Round one was Aurora versus Tenebris, and boy was I surprised to see just how durable the guy's armor really was. For the longest time it seemed like Aurora's agility and inability to be slowed down by Tenebris' attacks would win her the match, but her gunfire did little more than scratch his armor. So with no other option, she had to engage Tenebris in melee combat, and since she had her cables capable of functioning effectively as extra limbs in combat, I thought she'd probably find a way to still win. Boy was I wrong. Tenebris refused to budge from where he stood, and before she could even try to fling him into the air for a heavy strike he broke her Aura with a single slamming of Boomstick into her chest followed by a point-blank rocket blast. Tenebris seemed to not really have much of an issue with her after the round was over since she fought well, but at the time I was too busy wondering how I was gonna beat him and Lux to notice his change in tune.

Round two was me versus Lux, which I admit made him look quite a bit out of his element. Usually Lux had the advantage of facing foes that didn't know where he was, were too far away to do anything, or didn't know how to deflect bullets like I do, but in the close-quarters sparring ring we were holding the tournament, he was thoroughly outclassed. It was a complete role reversal from the previous round, with him being the one incapable of landing a hit on me, and even if he lined up a good shot I was always able to deflect or dodge it in time. Once I noticed he was afraid to try and make use of his bayonet since he lacked close-quarters combat skills, I went in for the decisive strike and sent his Aura quickly into the red. Granted, his Semblance made getting to him a hassle, but it wasn't any kind of gap a swift dash towards him from the walls couldn't close. I found out later today that Lux would've been fine with calling the tournament right then and there – we'd proved our mettle in his eyes in the opening two fights – but I was too wrapped up in my own head to notice the offer and the crowd seemed too amped up to let us call it quits, so we ended up continuing anyway.

The final round was – of course – me versus Tenebris, and it must have been the most exciting match I've had against anyone other than Aurora in the past few months. I already knew that Tenebris' armor seemed to have no weak spot to bullets, so it followed that my arrows wouldn't do a damn thing either, but what I didn't know until soon into the match was that there was still a chance to break through his defenses. Between every shot (or swing) from his rocket launcher, I went in to strike at his armor before creating another gap between us. It took a while and neither of us were getting anywhere, but my brains overcame his brawn in the end. Even though his armor was nigh-impervious to bullets, I figured out the armor's joints are where I could cause some damage. So, with that in mind I vaulted over him and leapt off his back, lined up an explosive arrow at where some armor plates met on his back, let it loose, and watched his Aura plummet into the red. It all happened so quickly I don't think anyone other than Aurora and Lux noticed exactly what I did, but the people in the crowd either cheered or booed all the same, and Lien started subtly changing hands as I helped Tenebris up and he clapped me on the back in congratulations.

After we finally settled down from the adrenaline high and we finished talking to our friends from the Emerald Forest, Lux conceded on both his and his brother's behalf that while we might've grown up in a cushy city setting, that doesn't mean we didn't prove ourselves in our matches. Since we still had plenty of time left in the day, Aurora made sure we took advantage of their end of the bargain when we were setting up the tournament. As it turns out, even though they were very apprehensive at first about entertaining our love of theatre and music as their end of our trials by ordeal, the two of them have some remarkable potential in the fine arts. Even if we seem to only be able to coax them into singing in front of us and Team RWBY and JNPR right now, I like to think that given time they're gonna end up just as entranced by a love of music as Aurora and I are already. If nothing else, it was a fun surprise to see that the two guys from Vacuo have some hidden talent and appreciation for the finer things in life. Well, other than Tenebris' preexisting love of food, but I like to think theatre and music rank higher on the list of fine arts than cooking, at least unless Pigsy is involved. Gods forbid Tenebris and him ever meet – he'd likely never let the poor pig-eared Pigsy go if he was treated to even a single meal from the master chef back home.

In a way, our earlier argument was a blessing. Even though they've only opened up and been really friendly towards me and Aurora for the past few hours, I can't imagine spending the rest of my time here at Beacon without having those two on my growing list of close friends. Lux in particular really did change for the better, I think. Despite being as obnoxiously reckless in our fight today as he was back in the Emerald Forest, he does seem to be self-aware and kind enough to know when he's in the wrong. Him making a point of it to apologize to me and compliment me on my skill would've been enough to convince me of that, coming from him, but hearing him promise to try and reel in his over-the-top tendencies in combat for me was just icing on the cake. I'll probably have to see it to believe it, but it does warm my heart in a weird way to see he's trying to change a little bit. It's probably just the part of me that looks out for everyone's well-being that's giving me the butterflies when he said that though – or at least, I hope so.

At any rate, having them on the same page as me and Aurora makes me look forward to seeing what tomorrow will bring us, so long as I manage to put down this damned journal tonight before it hits some unholy hour.


Forever Fall:

Over the past few days, I've discovered Jaune Arc is without a doubt one interesting oddity of a Huntsman in training. While he's never excelled in combat, he has the heart of a lion when it comes to protecting people, and our field trip to Forever Fall proved that to me.

Although he'd been sort of scarce in the days leading up to the field trip, I don't think he was hanging out with that brute Cardin because he had any kind of friendship with him. In fact, Jaune even told me a little while ago that Cardin browbeat him into doing all kinds of assignments for him as a sort of payback for what my team, or more specifically, what one of our team ended up doing to him a while back. Tenebris and him had sparred awhile back as a display of how to incorporate checking your Aura in the middle of combat so you don't end up getting yourself killed, and the bully ended up getting wrecked by Tenebris in minutes. Since he knew he wasn't anywhere close to a match for any of our team, the slimy son of a snake decided to pick on the most defenseless of our circle of friends – Jaune.

Not that it was a surprise or anything – Cardin's had a track record of picking on those either too weak or too unsuspecting to fight back. Case in point being him pulling on poor Velvet's bunny ears just to laugh at her and prove they're real, or calling me and Lux names in the halls whenever he catches either one of us away from everyone else. If it wasn't for Lux stopping me from starting a fight with Cardin I guarantee I would've knocked a few teeth out of the bastard's arrogant smile for calling me 'kitten' like I was a damned animal for sticking up for Velvet. At least Cardin had enough brain cells to leave her alone once Aurora invited her over to share breakfast with the rest of us, since he's too much of a coward to pick on anyone other than those he thinks he can brute force his way through.

Anyway, back to Jaune. A while after we were done collecting the sap we were there for – and done convincing Tenebris not to eat it all like Nora did with hers – Cardin's goons came running out of the forest shouting that Cardin and Jaune were being attacked by an Ursa, and that Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss had gone to help. By the time we arrived at the scene, Jaune had already dispatched the beast and saved Cardin, getting the bastard off his case for the foreseeable future. When we got back to the school that night and I was wandering around looking for a quiet space to write in while the twins were wrestling over some nonsense, I found Jaune on the rooftop training with Pyrrha. Even though I never got the full story from either of them as to what exactly happened before me and my team arrived on the scene, I did get to learn Jaune's trying to hone his skills in combat a lot more.

Since he's a friend and there were still a few hours left before it got too late, I tried to help tutor him with the tips and tricks I'd picked up in my training. It… didn't work out well. Jaune's style of swordplay is absolutely incompatible with my skillset's ability to teach. As it turns out, my techniques with a katana-bow don't exactly translate all that well to Jaune's sword and shield style of combat, but we still got something productive done tonight. Pyrrha may be able to teach him the fundamentals of combat in a way he understands, but I gave him a tool just as valuable in my eyes tonight. Seeing as he'd been stressed out of his mind for a myriad of reasons for a while now, I decided to teach him how to meditate. I told him to meditate, or at least take a step back when things seemed insurmountable, and even though we only had a little while to meditate together before things got awkward with Pyrrha hovering over us, I think Jaune was telling the truth when he told me that he was gonna make the most of my advice.

I never thought I'd meet a Huntsman in training that would be so inept at combat in their first few days at Beacon but still come across as endearing enough to me for me to try and help them out with some life advice, and yet here I am, writing away about the loveable goofball training with Pyrrha in front of me. Even though I'm starting to miss home more and more now that I'm here, I think that with the Aurora and the circle of friends I have here with me, that homesickness is gonna hit way less hard than it could.


Authors Note: Hooray for Opal and Aurora earning two new friends (and more later on)! I figured it'd be for the best that Iridescence also have a problem with their team like RWBY did, and I think with half of them being from Vacuo and the other half being from Mistral, their super opposed upbringings would be the big point of contention between the two of them. Was the reason for the conflict petty? Maybe. But so was Weiss' reaction to Ruby just trying to be a nice person, so I suppose the equally overblown teenage reactions of Iridescence are fitting. Besides, it was a blast to imagine what a mock tournament between Iridescence's team members would be like.

Also, you may be wondering why I bothered with Forever Fall when everything seemed to just float by without much weight, right? Well, I didn't wanna omit Forever Fall because it was a good opportunity for Opal and Jaune to have their relationship established. Since I love Jaune too much for his small arc to be skipped over entirely, I tried to condense the happenings of those 4 episodes, and I think I succeeded. So far as Opal is concerned, she's only as well informed as the rest of the gang as to what happened in Forever Fall – which is to say, not at all informed, so I think her recollection of the events there in her journal was reasonable.