It's finally time for this universe's JNPR and RWBY to talk.
Once the fights were over, the former diplomats were taken to one of the ship's medical bays. Their wounds were treated and dressed by the medics, and they were given beds to rest in. As soon as they were able to the "Birds" went to visit the new recruits.
Jaune and the others turned to face their visitors as they entered, they weren't sure how to feel about the visit. "What are you doing here?" Jaune asked them. He was worried that Chief Branwen had changed her mind about sparing them.
"We wanted to talk to you, I mean we did kind of save you guys." Owl responded, as she came to a stop in front of Jaune. He still couldn't believe that someone so dangerous, could sound as young as Owl did.
"So you want to brag about how you could have easy beaten us?" Jaune asked, assuming they would rub it in his face. He hope that wasn't what they intended, as he wouldn't be able to do much in response.
"No you ungrateful fuck, we just want to get to know you." Eagle snapped at him. She took a step closer to him, trying to scare him without resorting to threats or violence.
Jaune gulped in fear, then nodded. "Oh, well I guess that's okay." he said. It was quite a relief to find out that the "Birds" had no apparent ulterior motives.
"Good, now why don't you start by telling us more about yourselves?" Falcon suggested, trying to get the conversation moving forward.
"You already seem to know stuff about us, so what exactly do you want to know?" Jaune asked her, unsure of what he would actually tell them.
"We know your names, ages, and that you fought Grimm. So anything else is fine." Hawk said to him.
"Uh, I have seven sisters." Jaune told them, unable to think of anything else worth telling them.
"Is that really all you could think of?" Eagle asked, slightly disappointed by Jaune's answer.
"Well I don't know what else to say, you know all the interesting things about me." Jaune answered, concealing his annoyance at the dismissal of the only interesting thing he could think to mention.
"So, fighting Grimm and having sisters are the only interesting things about you?" Eagle asked, hoping he would find something else interesting to tell them about.
"I guess, I'm a pretty boring guy. The others are more interesting." Jaune said, just wanting to end the conversation.
"Okay then." Eagle said, as she turned to Pyrrha and moved closer. "Tell us about yourself." she told her.
Pyrrha nodded "Well, I was a model before I was dragged into all of this, my face is on cereal boxes." she told them. Pyrrha hoped that they wouldn't see her any differently, once they found out more about who she was.
"Oh, so that's why you look familiar." Eagle said. She thought she had seen Pyrrha before, but that was when she finally made the connection.
"You aren't the first to say that." Pyrrha responded. She was disheartened to hear that they recognized her, but she held out hope that they wouldn't care.
"Probably not, I imagine you get recognized a lot." Eagle said. Her opinion of Pyrrha was completely unaffected by the revelation, she was just another person in her opinion.
"Unfortunately, a lot of people just see me as the cereal girl, rather than the real me." Pyrrha told her, hoping to discourage anyone from treating her like everyone else did.
"You're in luck, the tribe won't care about who you used to be. To us, you're just Pyrrha." Eagle reassured her. She was pleased to hear that Pyrrha wasn't arrogant about her minor celebrity status, being on a cereal box was nothing to be proud of in her book.
"Thank you, I appreciate that. Oh, and sorry I went for your throat during our fight." Pyrrha responded. She could barely contain her joy, when she found out that she would be treated like an ordinary person again. She also felt really bad about the way she had attacker Eagle, especially once she got a better idea of her personality.
"Don't worry about it, we're cool as long as you don't try it again." Eagle said. Attempts on her life, were nothing new to her. So, she was no longer angry at Pyrrha for her previous actions.
"I hope I don't have to fight you again." Pyrrha told her. While training to fight the Grimm, Pyrrha had sparred with many people. But fighting Eagle was the only time she had ever felt overwhelmed by a human opponent. She was fairly certain that she wouldn't stand a chance against Eagle, if she wasn't holding back.
"Unless I end up training you, the only way we'll fight again is if you betray us." Eagle explained. Pyrrha was now a tribe member, so there was very little that would lead to another fight between the two of them
Pyrrha nodded "I won't betray you, you have my word." she said. Betraying the tribe was a thought Pyrrha wouldn't entertain, the repercussion of such an action were a terrifying prospect for her.
"I'll hold you to that, your life depends on it." Eagle told her. If anyone betrayed the tribe, Eagle would not hesitate to punish them and she wanted to make that clear to Pyrrha.
"I understand." Pyrrha responded. She was now well aware, that betraying Eagle's trust would be suicidal.
The "Birds" the turned their attention to Nora. "Your turn to tell us more about yourself." Eagle said.
Nora nodded and sighed "I've lived with Ren since we were kids, we both lost our parents when we were really young." she said. It was hard for Nora to talk about her childhood, but she also felt it was important for people to know about it.
"Sorry to hear that, losing a parent is awful." Falcon said. She was well aware of how bad losing a parent feels, having lost both her mother and her father.
Nora looked up at her "Have you ever lost a close family member?" she asked. She hoped that Falcon had, mainly because it would give her someone else she could relate to.
Falcon sighed "Yes and I'm not the only one. I've lost my parents and my sister, Owl lost her mother, Kite lost her parents, and so did Vulture." she explained. Eagle and Hawk were the only "Birds" with two living parents. Falcon's mother had dissipated under mysterious circumstances, and her father had been killed hours before her sister was also killed. Owl had lost her mother when she was very young, and could barely remember having a female parent. Kite's parents had been killed in a mining accident, and Vulture's parents had been murdered by Roman Torchwick.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. It really sucks losing anyone." Nora said. She was surprised to find that for of the "Birds" had also lost at least one parent, she suddenly found them a lot more relatable.
The "Birds" all nodded. "Having the tribe makes it easier to cope, it's our family now." Falcon said. She considered the tribe members to be more of a family to her, than her biological brother was.
"Will the tribe accept us as family?" Nora asked. If she would be welcomed as a family member, then she certainly wouldn't regret becoming part of the tribe.
"I'm fairly certain you will be accepted, the tribe accepts just about anyone." Falcon said. The tribe was made up of people from all across the galaxy, from every level of society and with very varied backgrounds.
"Yeah, you'll find out when you meet Emerald and Neon." Eagle added. Initially Emerald and Neon were hated, but they had quickly been accepted after aiding the tribe in one of it's most desperate moments.
"How come?" Nora asked. She was aware that the tribe was made of of all kinds of people, but there must have been something special about the people that were mentioned by name.
"Well, Emerald killed Falcon's sister and Neon used to spy on us for someone we're trying to avoid." Eagle explained. Given how much they had changed from when they had first joined the tribe, Eagle wouldn't have believed what they had done in the past if she hadn't witnessed it herself.
"Wait, one of the tribe members killed your sister?" Nora asked Falcon. She couldn't believe that the tribe had let Emerald live, let alone recruited her.
Falcon nodded "Yes, but there's more to it than Emerald just killing my sister. Nobody could hold it against her, once we found out more about her." she answered. The events that led up to Emerald killing Falcon's sister, were horrific and it would have been cruel to not forgive Emerald for her actions.
"Okay, well thanks for telling me. It makes me feel much safer." Nora responded. If Emerald could be accepted, then she was fairly certain that she and her friends would also be accepted.
"Good, because we won't harm you as long as you don't do anything stupid." Falcon told her. The tribe wasn't in the habit of harming its own members, unless they truly deserved it.
At last, the "Birds" moved on to Ren. "So, is there anything you want to tell us?" Eagle asked him
"I believe Nora has already handled that for me." Ren said. Ren had been orphaned on the same day he had met Nora, and they had been together ever since. So, there was nothing he could add, on that front.
"Right, well we're sorry about your parents." Eagle told him. Given how many of them had lost parents, the "Birds" were able to truly sympathize with both Ren and Nora.
"Thank you, it's kind of you to say." Ren responded. Unlike Jaune, he did not believe that the tribe was inherently bad. However, he did not expect the level of kindness and respect he was receiving from them.
"Don't mention it." Eagle replied.
"Alright, then allow me to thank you for going easy on us. We would have been executed had it not been for your actions." Ren said. The four new recruits were completely outclassed by the "Birds" and they would have been slaughtered if their opponents hadn't held back. So, Ren would be eternally grateful for what the "Birds" did for them.
"You're welcome, we couldn't just let you die." Hawk told him. The "Birds" were notorious for their killing abilities, but they were fully capable of being merciful.
"Why is that?" Ren asked. He was unsure as to why the "Birds" had bothered to spare them.
"We don't approve of what Mistral did to you, and we didn't want your potential to go to waste." Hawk said. They saw killing the diplomats as needless, and would only have killed them if they had been ordered to do so.
"Did you discuss that before you fought us?" Ren asked.
"No, but we were all of the same opinion." Hawk responded. They didn't need to discuss what they would do during the fights, as they all thought in very similar ways.
"Would you have killed us if Chief Branwen ordered you to?" Ren asked. He was certain that they would have, but he wanted to check.
The "Birds" nodded and Hawk said "Yes, we wouldn't have hesitated. But the Chief chose to be merciful, and you should all be thankful for that." They saw no point in lying about what could have happened.
Ren nodded "I am grateful and I'm sure the others feel the same. Clearly the tribe values or lives more than Mistral did." he said. Mistral had sent them to away, knowing they were probably going to die. But the tribe had given them an opportunity to survive, and had been merciful to them.
It was then time for the recruits to ask their own questions. "Did you get into the tribe the same way we did?" Jaune asked.
The "Birds" all shook their heads. "No, we got in easily." Falcon said. The Chief had welcomed them all into the tribe, it had been much easier for them than it was for the four newest recruits.
"That's not fair." Jaune complained. He could have died trying to join the tribe, but others had just been aloud in.
"Don't complain, you're lucky to be here." Eagle told him. Jaune was genuinely lucky to be there, given what almost happened to him.
"Sorry. How come you wear masks?" Jaune asked. He knew arguing probably wasn't a good idea, so he stopped. He was also curious about why the "Birds" dressed the way they did.
"There are a few reasons. But we mainly do it for aesthetic purposes, and to hide our identities from people outside of the tribe." Hawk explained. The masks were an incredibly important part of being one of them.
"Why do you need to hide your identities?" Pyrrha asked. It was odd to hear that the six deadliest individuals in the galaxy, felt the need to hide their faces.
"There are a lot of people looking for us, so we want to make it hard for them to find us." Hawk said. Together, they had an unbelievable number of people hunting them, ranging from possessive family members to vengeful terrorists. So, making themselves hard to identify, was highly important.
"Can you remove them now, since we're part of the tribe?" Pyrrha asked. She was curious to see, what the six women actually looked like. Her mind was full of images, of what they might be hiding under their masks.
The "Birds" looked to each other for a moment, the turned back to the new recruits. "Not yet, we don't know how trustworthy you are." Hawk responded. There was a chance that the new recruits would betray their trust, so the "Birds" weren't ready to risk it.
"You think we'd turn on you?" Nora asked. She was disappointing, but understood why they wouldn't trust her yet.
"Not necessarily, we just don't trust you enough to reveal ourselves yet." Hawk responded. There was no guarantee that anything bad would happen if they revealed their identities, but they still wanted to hold off on doing it.
"Does anyone know who you really are?" Ren asked. The higher ranking members of the tribe were pretty much guaranteed to know, but Ren wondered if regular tribe members were trusted with the information.
The "Birds" all nodded. "A lot of people in the tribe know, but that's because they worked it out or because we trust them." Eagle told him. There identities weren't common knowledge within the tribe, but they were certainly weren't unknown
"How can we earn your trust?" Ren then asked. His interactions with them, made him want their trust.
"Prove your usefulness to the tribe and don't betray us, that's all you have to do." Eagle said. It was the same for every other member of the tribe.
"Does that mean we have to accompany you on missions?" Jaune asked. He really hoped the answer would be no.
"It does, but first we need to properly evaluate your abilities to see what you'd be best at." Falcon told him. The tribe liked to know what people were good at, so they could be put in the correct role.
"So, we might not have to go on raids?" Jaune questioned. Again, he hoped the answer would be no.
"Well, you may not have to board an enemy ship or station, but you'll most likely have a combat role." Falcon answered. The tribe was large and there were many different roles, but almost every fought at some point.
"Okay, that makes me feel slightly better." Jaune responded. He wasn't entirely happy, but he was glad that he wouldn't necessarily have to kill anyone.
"What, do you have a problem with killing people?" Eagle asked. It was clear that Jaune did have a problem with killing, but Eagle wanted him to admit it.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Jaune responded. As far as he was concerned, killing people was always wrong.
"Well Jaune, the people we kill deserve what they get." Eagle told him. She truly believed in what she was saying, since the people they killed were mainly terrorists, slavers and Faunus haters.
"Nobody deserves to be killed." Jaune snapped. He strongly disagreed with Eagle.
Eagle laughed "Oh Jaune, you really have a lot to learn." she said. She hoped that he would eventually come around to her way of thinking, he needed to if he was going to be useful to the tribe.
"What's funny about killing people?" Jaune asked. It was no laughing matter, in his opinion.
Eagle stopped laughing "Nothing, but you need to understand that sometimes people need to die." she told him. It was one of the foundations on which the tribe was built, and it was a belief that all tribe members needed to hold.
Jaune sighed "I don't think I can do that, killing people is wrong." he responded. He would have to completely change his personal philosophy in order to accept what Eagle was telling him.
Eagle shook her head "You'll learn eventually. Anyway, training starts tomorrow so you should all sleep." she said. With that, the "Birds" left the new recruits alone. The next day was going to be a hell of a shock for them.
Well, it's going to be interesting, slowly warping the minds of team JNPR.