While Ruby and Reno had gone to the gun shop, the remaining 10 students had continued on their way to the supply shop that Nora had had in mind. WBY and JNPR decided that they would also get bunkbed supplies, since they had also done bunkbeds, as that would help prevent any possible injuries from a bed falling on someone. Nora dramatically poses outside the store, appropriately called Crafty Supplies.
"And here we are! The one stop shop for all your crafts and pranks!" Nora says, grinning widely. Zack's eyes light up a bit at the idea of pranks.
"Well since we ARE here to not only get supplies and to make friendships... We should split up to make things efficient," Weiss says.
"That would be the best plan. I think it would also be a good to pair people who aren't on the same team. Also, just so that everyone isn't gathering supplies for the bunkbeds, we assign two people of each team, into getting bunkbed supplies?" Jaune says, surprising a few people with his idea.
"What a wonderful idea Jaune. I'll be one for JNPR," Pyrrha says with a smile.
"Obviously Cloud you have to get supplies since it's your bed. But that means either myself or Aerith will get supplies," Zack says.
"I don't mind helping in gathering the supplies Zack," Aerith says with a smile.
"Ren? Nora? Either of you want to gather supplies or shall I do it?" Jaune asks his teammates.
"I'M GOING WITH THE CUTE WOLF FAUNUS!" Nora shouts.
"Just don't try to steal Zack from Aerith.." Cloud sweatdrops.
"Cloud! How dare you assume that I could ever love someone other than Aerith or even think about cheating on my precious flower girl!" Zack says, being dramatic.
"And that's assuming I'm a homewrecker, which I'm not. Besides, I know a fellow prankster when I see one!" Nora says.
"Oh..." Cloud says, his cheeks flushing slightly. His intentions were well placed but... not necessary it would appear.
"ANYWAYS," Weiss says, loudly. "I will go for Team RWBY since Ruby isn't here."
"And I'll help as well. I'll go with Aerith.. If you're alright with it?" Blake says. Aerith nods, confirming that it was alright with her.
"May I go with you Pyrrha?" Cloud asks, doing his best to hide his blush and avoiding the knowing look Zack was sending him.
"Of course Cloud!" Pyrrha says with a smile. She was quite glad actually that Cloud asked her.
"So which one of you will be with me?" Weiss asks, looking at the two males, her hands on her hips. The two males look at each other for a moment, both silently agreeing that it should be Jaune. Ren would rather go with Yang as Yang seemed similar to Nora and he did NOT want to interact with Weiss on his own for too long. Jaune wanted to go with Weiss anyways as he did have a thing for the Schnee heiress. The blonde swordsman also wanted to make things up to Weiss.
"I will go with you Weiss," Jaune says. He offers a pleasant smile to the Ice Queen, surprising a few that he didn't try to flirt Weiss up.
"Alright! Remember you will need screws, connecting plates and probably a drill! Now let's split!" Zack says, grinning widely. He heads off with Nora into the store, the hyperactive pair going to look at all of the possible pranking ideas. AB, JW and CP go off to find the needed materials while RY go off to just wander the store.
~ Zack and Nora ~
Nora leads Zack to the more prankster part of the store, which happened to be in the back of the store. Zack made a mental note to bring Reno here, knowing that the redhead would love to get his hands on this. Zack looks at Nora.
"You would probably like Reno too. He's a prankster just like me. In fact, Reno and I often got up to a lot of mischief together shortly after knowing each other," Zack comments as he looks at a shelf of normal gag materials.
"Yes! My prankster pegging skills are on top of my game! Oooo we should form a secret pranking club, where people can only join by invitation!" Nora exclaims. Zack smirks.
"I like that! We could probably also get Yang in on that then too" Zack says thoughtfully.
"Yes! Can we form a name with Z, R, N and Y?" Nora asks.
"Er... I can't think of anything... Last names would be F, V, S and X which doesn't help either..." Zack pouts.
"Actually, if we use V instead of N for me... We could be the Survey Group, but spelled ZRVY!" Nora says.
"Genius! Nora, you are a genius," Zack says, holding his hand up for a high-five. He gets a very solid and powerful high-five from the hammer wielding female. Zack felt another connection made in his mind and couldn't wait to
"Watch out Beacon! Here comes ZRVY!" Nora says, grinning widely.
~ Aerith and Blake ~
Aerith and Blake decided to go left to search for the needed supplies. Neither of them knew the layout that well and it seemed like that only Nora seemed to know where everything was. The two walk in a comfortable silence, searching for the supplies before Aerith decides to break it by stopping Blake for a moment.
"Blake, I don't mean to be rude, but you always seem tense around Zack.. Is there a problem?" Aerith asks, her voice gentle. Blake's eyes widen for a moment.
"Er, what do you mean? I'm not tense around him.." Blake lies, not wanting Aerith to find out she was a faunus. However, a thought came across her mind - Aerith was dating Zack who was a faunus...
"Blake, you can tell me anything, I promise," Aerith says, taking Blake's hand gently, her bright green eyes gazing warmly into Blake's yellow eyes. Blake gives in and sighs softly.
"Just don't tell anyone else yet... Though I suppose Zack already knows.." Blake says. "I'm also a faunus.. But I'm a cat faunus so I'm a little uneasy around Zack since he's a wolf faunus.. Ya know, instincts?"
"Oh! That's it? Thank goodness! I thought Zack may have done something stupid while I wasn't looking," Aerith says. "It's alright Blake. You should only fear Zack if you manage to truly piss him off by threatening my life."
"That's.. actually reassuring. I would never want to harm you. You're too sweet Aerith," Blake says, relaxing upon hearing Aerith's words.
"Thank you Blake," Aerith says, smiling. Her eyes go to the bow. "Are you hiding ears with your bow?"
"Yeah.. I assume you'd want to see them now that you know?" Blake asks. Aerith gives her a pleading look and Blake sighs before removing the ribbon and revealing her cat ears.
"Oh my goodness! You're so adorable!" Aerith squeals at seeing the cat ears, causing the cat faunus to chuckle. Blake wraps her ears back up before anyone else sees her ears.
"Thanks... I guess?" Blake says, an actual smile gracing her lips.
"You're welcome. Now Blake, if you ever need someone to lean on or need help with the whole faunus thing.. Team ZARC has its arms wide open to you."
"Really? You mean it?"
"Of course! We have our own faunus, don't we?"
"Right..." Blake says. She pauses before hugging Aerith. "Thank you," she whispers. Aerith hugs back.
"You're welcome Blake," Aerith says. The two girls pull back and smile at each other before heading off to find the supplies.
~ Jaune and Weiss ~
Jaune and Weiss went to the right to search for the materials. It was an awkward silence as either searched the various aisles. Jaune was trying to figure out how to talk to Weiss so that she didn't think he was flirting with her. Weiss was quiet as she had hoped that Jaune wouldn't have been the one to go with her, having a feeling he would try to flirt her up. However, as much as she knew she would regret talking to Jaune, she couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"That's it. This silence is awkward. Why did you volunteer to go with me Jaune? Just to flirt with me?" Weiss says, finally breaking the silence. Her icy glare was fixed on Jaune.
"No! I swear it wasn't to just flirt with you!" Jaune says, putting his hands up in a submissive manner. "I just want to get to know you better.. I realize I might have gotten off on the wrong foot with you and I figured, what better way than to restart by taking this time alone to actually get to know you?"
"Oh... I see. I'm sorry Jaune. I honestly thought you just wanted to flirt with me like you did earlier today before initiation.." Weiss says, honestly surprised once more by him. "I suppose we could try to get to know each other. But whatever you do, don't EVER call me Snow Angel or Ice Queen again."
"Deal," Jaune says, glad that Weiss was willing to move past that whole ordeal. He knew that she wasn't as cold as she made herself to be. "So what made you want to become a Huntress, and why Beacon?"
"Well, my older sister Winter became one at Atlas. Because she's in the military, the title of heiress fell to me. To prove myself worthy of such a title, I wanted to become a Huntress. And what better academy than Beacon?" Weiss says, continuing the search for supplies. She held herself with pride as she walked next to Jaune. "What about you Jaune? You don't exactly seem the type to be a Hunter."
"Well my great-great-grandfather fought in the Great War and was a hero. I wanted to be a hero much like him and all of his descendants. I also want to prove that I can do this," Jaune says.
"Interesting.. Very admirable I must say," Weiss compliments. "Don't ever let any of my teammates know I said this but... You've got a mind for tactics, even if you seem behind everyone else. I think you could be a great leader Jaune. Don't let me down, especially since I was not made leader," she says, glancing at the blonde. Jaune was shocked at hearing Weiss compliment him, not just once, but twice! Sure Weiss seemed to be upset that she wasn't team leader but the fact that she was encouraging him, still on their second day, first day as teams, was music to his ears! With a determined look in his blue eyes, the sole son of the Arc family decides from this day on he was going to prove that he was worthy of his title and make not only his team proud, but Weiss proud.
~ Cloud and Pyrrha ~
Cloud and Pyrrha went into the middle to find the supplies. It only took them a few tries to find all of the supplies. The two gathered the correct amount of parts each would need: one drill, sixteen connecting plates and a package of screws.
"Well, that was easy! Looks like we got lucky, didn't we Cloud?" Pyrrha says, looking at her companion.
"Yeah, I was expecting to be the unlucky one," Cloud says, nodding in agreement. "You would think they would label the aisles."
"Well, I think they purposely didn't label the aisles as a play on words. Crafty supplies... Crafty setup.." Pyrrha says.
"That... Actually makes sense. You're smart Pyrrha," Cloud says. Pyrrha blushed at Cloud's compliment.
"Oh uh thank you Cloud. You seem really close with your team.. Were you all friends?"
"yeah. I've known Zack the longest. And because of Zack, I met Reno and Aerith. I will warn you ahead of time... Zack and Reno can be trouble but Aerith does her best to tame the two of them."
"Noted. And bless Aerith's soul for dealing with those two. Though I worry about how things will go with Nora thrown in there.."
"One word: Mayhem. If you don't mind me asking... Why do people seem to be obsessed with you?" Cloud asks, tilting his spiky head at the Grecian themed warrior. Pyrrha sighed softly.
"I'm known as the Invincible Girl for having won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row," Pyrrha explained.
"Huh. Impressive. I wonder how you would do against Zack. He's by far the best fighter of our team," Cloud says. When Cloud didn't fanboy over this fact, Pyrrha felt happiness bubble up inside her. She starts to hold onto the hope she had from earlier that day; the hope she had being that she could make a meaningful relationship with Cloud, whether it be just friendship or possibly something more.
"Maybe Professor Goodwitch will let us spar in our combat class tomorrow," Pyrrha says. After a moment, she looks at Cloud, this time, catching his brilliant blue eyes. "Cloud, what was the reason you stepped in earlier? I thought it was because you knew who I was.."
"Uh to be honest... Most of it was because you looked really uncomfortable and I wanted to make it less awkward for you.." Cloud says, rubbing the back of his neck, his face heating up as he didn't reveal the second reason. His eyes didn't break contact yet.
"And the other part..?" Pyrrha pressed. Her curiosity was getting the better of her.
"Uuhh... The other part is because you're pretty and I wanted to get to know you.." Cloud says, his eyes breaking contact when he finished, his face heating up almost as red as Pyrrha's hair. Pyrrha felt her own cheeks up.
"Oh! That's a pleasant surprise," Pyrrha says. Cloud glanced up.
"You're not annoyed with me? For stepping in just because you're pretty..?" Cloud asks, confused.
"No! Not at all! I find it flattering!" Pyrrha says. Cloud relaxed and smiles.
"So friends at least?" Cloud asks.
"Definitely," the red-haired huntress confirms. The two share a smile and make their way towards the counter, chatting in a more comfortable tone.
~ Ren and Yang ~
Ren and Yang just start wandering the store, looking around. Well, Yang was more so looking at Ren with interesting, trying to figure out how to get the quiet boy, who reminded her of her own partner, to speak up. Ren knew that Yang was trying to figure him out, just like Nora used to do when he and Nora were younger. His magenta eyes meet Yang's lilac ones.
"You know.. You and Blake are similar to me and Nora," Ren says.
"Whoa! I was just thinking something similar!" Yang says. A mischievous grin appears on her lips. "Wanna go spy on Jaune and Weiss and also Pyrrha and Cloud?" she asks.
"Mmm... Maybe another time. I don't think too much can be inferred at this point," Ren points out, causing Yang to pout.
"Dammit! I was hoping to find out some juicy information!" Yang whined lightly. Ren rolls his eyes at the blonde brawler's childish behavior.
"You and Ruby are half-sisters.. Correct?" Ren asks.
"Yup! Same dad. Though speaking of my little sister... I think she might have a crush on Reno.." Yang says, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
"I did find that a little suspicious that she wanted to go with Reno alone, even if it IS a gun shop. I can tell that Ruby is a weapon enthusiast but she doesn't seem like the type to go to a weapon shop alone with a guy," Ren points out.
"Oh yeah, knowing Rubes, if she didn't like Reno in that manner, she probably would have asked me to tag along. I'm totally going to mess with her by flirting Reno up," Yang says, satisfied with her new plan.
"Are you sure that's a good idea Yang?" Ren asks, arching a black eyebrow.
"Of course it's a good idea! My baby sister is finally seeing romance options instead of just her weapons! Did I expect her to go for Reno? Nope!"
"True.. I would have expected her to go for Cloud or Jaune, that is after finding out that Zack is taken."
"Oh yeah. I was betting on Cloud after seeing that Zack was taken. But surprise~ She went for the teasing redhead!" Yang says, making jazz hands. Ren chuckled. Normally he wouldn't talk about this kind of thing but even he had to admit that it was quite weird to see someone fall in love with someone so quickly. Not even Nora's crush on him was that quick.
"Should be interesting to see if it lasts at all," Ren says. He noticed Yang smirking at him. "What?"
"Definitely did not peg you as a gossiper or the type of guy that was curious about other's relationships."
"To be honest, I'm not. It just struck me as odd is all," Ren shrugs. He then looks towards the back of the store. "I just got a bad feeling and something tells me Nora and Zack are up to something..."
"I wonder what it is!"
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough knowing Nora..." Ren says. After wandering the store some more, making conversation with Yang here and there, the two head towards the entrance when they noticed that the six gathering supplies had assembled there. The duo head over and soon enough were joined by Zack and Nora. Shortly after exiting the store, the now ten met up with Ruby and Reno.
