The next morning, the four of us dress and go down to breakfast. The dining hall is fairly crowded, considering that it's only eight in the morning. We get our food, pancakes and bacon, and find a table near the door. As I sit down, I wave to the girl with the sunglasses from last night. She's sitting at a table nearby with a Faunus girl with rabbit ears. " So," Jett starts, taking a bite of his pancakes, " Silber and I are gonna check out the town today, what are you two doing?"
Nash is the first to answer, " I was going to go find where all my classes are, so I'm not completely confused come Monday."
Marcus swallows the chunk of pancakes he just shoved in his mouth, " I wanted to go check out campus with some of my friends. It'd be nice to know what my home for the next four years has to offer."
" Keep an eye out for all the coffee shops for me, Weiss said it's the best way to wake up for early classes." I say, placing a bit of pancake in my mouth.
" Will do." The two boys say at the same time. They look at each other and yell "Jinx!" Then they both burst into laughter.
After breakfast, we put our dishes on a nearby cart and leave the dining hall.
Jett and I part ways with Marcus and Nash and head out to the bus stop. Upon getting on the bus, we find a seat in the back and ride in peaceful silence to our destination. Thirty minutes later, we hop off in town and walk the remaining way to Jett's friend's.
The building is an old brick store deep in an alleyway with a forgery attached to the back. A chimney puffs out smoke every few seconds and I can hear the sizzling of charcoal fueling a fire. Jett holds the door open for me, the bell above chiming as it swings open. We step in and Jett leads me over to a counter where he rings a service bell. We hear a rustling in the back, then the wooden door that leads to, what I assume is, the storage room swings open with a creak. A girl with bright purple hair and a white apron comes into view, an oily rag in her hands.
" Hiya, welcome to Moriko's Blacksmith, how can I help you?" The girl looks up and, upon seeing Jett, squeals. " Jett!" She drops the rag and hugs Jett.
" Hi, Moriko." Jett says, hugging the girl. " How are you?"
" Much better now!" The girl laughs and releases Jett, leaning back. " Who's this?" She looks at me, seemingly just now noticing me.
" Silber Schnee." I tell her, reaching out a hand.
" Moriko Fericast." She shakes my hand.
" Silber here is my partner while I'm at Beacon." Jett explains. " We were actually hoping you could make him a weapon."
Moriko's eyes light up. " Ooh, a weapon? What kind?"
" We don't really know. Currently he has a sword but, seeing as we almost died during initiation," He glances at me, " I don't think that's really for him."
" You know, changing weapons this late is kind of strange." She tells me, " Usually, if you change weapons it's before you move to an academy, it's usually during your first year of combat school, for that matter." I look down. " But I guess that's not my place to judge. I just make the weapons, hm?" I look back up at her. " Now, what are you good at? Combat wise I mean."
I take a second to think. Just because I can fight as a Cure doesn't mean I'm just as good without my powers. Being a Cure enhances my abilities, it doesn't really transfer over. " I guess I'm pretty good at range." I tell her. " But I don't really like the idea of a bow and arrow, I've never shot one and I feel like it'd be kind of slow." Moriko nods, writing something on her notepad.
" What about dust, I assume you know how to use it?" I nod. " What does your sword use at the moment?"
" It doesn't." I tell her.
" It doesn't? As in it doesn't use dust?" I nod. " Okay." She trails off, writing in her notes again. " I think I have something in mind." She puts down her pen and pad. " Follow me." Jett and I follow her outside. The backyard isn't very large, but it has a training dummy and a shooting range. " Take this, and," She hands me a wooden bow staff, " Attack that dummy." She points to the training dummy.
I nod, holding the bow staff in an attack stance. " HA!" I swing, spinning on my heel. I hit the training dummy with the staff. There's a loud snap and half the staff flies in the opposite direction. I stare at the broken staff.
" Hm." I hear Moriko behind me. " So, make it out of metal." She mutters to herself.
" I'm so sorry!" I apologize.
Moriko laughs. " Don't be, I have tons of those. They're primarily for training purposes. If one snaps, I just use it for fire wood. So no worries." She retrieves the half that flew away and walks up to me. " Besides, I think I know what kind of weapon you need."
After we leave Moriko's we head out to a local cafe for lunch. " So, Moriko said your weapon should be ready by Monday evening. Are you excited?" Jett asks. We just sat down, having placed our orders.
" Of course." I tell him, " But I'd be more excited if she told me what exactly she was making."
" What ever it is, I know you'll love it. Everything Moriko makes is awesome." Jett beams.
" Did she make your weapon?" I ask.
" Yep. It was her gift to me when I first enrolled at combat school." We look up as the waitress brings our food over. She places it on the table, smiles, and walks off to the next table.
" How did you two meet? If you don't mind me asking." I take a bite of my sandwich.
Jett laughs, swallowing the food he has in his mouth. " Not at all. Our parents were friends when we were born. Best friends ever since. Moriko and I were always together. Our moms always joked that we would end up married at some point." He laughs again. " But we never really liked each other like that. We're completely happy being just friends."
" That's kind of cool, I guess. Weiss and I grew up home schooled for most our lives. We went to combat school, of course, but the years before that were spent with tutors and coaches. We never really had time to make friends, let alone the ability to go out and do so." I take another bite of my sandwich, swallowing it before I continue. " I guess we were each others best friends. We know each other better than anyone else." I laugh. " Up until we were ten, we shared a room because we were too scared to sleep alone. I suppose I got lucky, some people have annoying twins, but I got Weiss. As cold as she is to new people, she's actually a really sweet person." I smile. " It killed me when she left to Beacon before me. I mean, I had some stuff I had to take care of before I could enroll, but I always regretted not being able to join the academy with her." I place the crust of my sandwich back on the plate and take a sip of my drink.
" Sounds like you had a hard childhood. But think of it this way, if you had joined the academy with Weiss, then we would have never become partners." Jett laughs, " You'd still probably be using a sword you have no idea how to wield."
" Shoosh you." I fling a grape at him, which he promptly catches in his mouth.
" Thanks," He says chewing, " Hey, we're friends now, you know that right?" I fake shock.
" Really?" I ask in awe. " You mean you aren't just the creepy stalker that keeps following me around?"
" Nope!" He beams proudly. " Besides, you like me following you around."
" Except that time you followed me into the bathroom on the ship."
" I had to pee too! We didn't even know each other then, why would I want to follow you?"
" Because I'm smexy."