"Good morning." Ochre cheerfully greeted Team RWBY as they filed into the room. Ruby came in first, followed by Weiss, followed by Blake, with Yang being the last one in.
Ruby started rambling about the forest, and how pretty it was... and how red the leaves were...
Ochre didn't mean to be rude, but she found her thoughts drifting once again. When she returned to the present, there was a scroll shoved into her face. Ruby wouldn't stop talking, and Weiss and Blake had to come and restrain her. Ochre tentatively took the scroll into her hand, being careful not to drop it.
Ruby immediately told her to look through the photos, and Ochre was going to, but... She had no idea how to operate a scroll.
At first, she assumed that it was just like a mobile phone back home, and she started swiping her finger along the screen. A couple of weird things popped up, and Ochre started panicking. She almost dropped the scroll, which resulted in Weiss grabbing it and proceeding to get the photos up.
Blake who had watched the whole thing had to ask, "Ochre, do you not know how to use a scroll?" She was starting to get suspicious of the brunette. First no aura, and now no knowledge of how to operate a scroll? Something that should have been taught to her before she got into Beacon. Just who was this girl?
Said girl slowly nodded her head with a rather sheepish expression on her face. Blake had to think about it for a second.
Has no aura, so she wasn't trained to be a huntress... Some knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, suggesting that she was in fact taught to fight, but if not the to be a huntress, then what for? Self-defense maybe?
I need to look into her. If only to ease my mind about all this...
"Oh hey, Ochre?" Ruby asked. "Yes?" The brunette asked.
"I don't know how, but I can suddenly sense you."
This got everyone's attention, and Weiss and Blake immediately did a double take. They slightly flexed their auras, and sure enough, they could sense five people in the room instead of the usual four.
They looked to Ochre for an answer, only to see her smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world. She sat facing forward instead of towards the girls on her bed. Slightly lifting her legs as she kicked her legs to the song she was humming.
Yang immediately understood.
"You got your aura unlocked." She said aloud. Everyone stared at Ochre, who only nodded, her bright smile still on her lips.
Ruby started asking about the how or the who, Yang didn't bother asking, as Ruby did it for her. Weiss was waiting for Ruby to finish before speaking, and Blake was keeping her questions to herself.
Ochre did her best to answer their questions, and by the end, they were satisfied.
"The nurse says I'll be in the infirmary for another couple of weeks before going back to class. To me, that's a huge improvement over a month. It'll be another week after that until my arm's healed though..."
Suffice to say, the rest of the team was rather happy about this. Two less weeks of Ochre being hospitalized. And though Weiss tried to deny that she cared, by saying that it wouldn't look good to have one of their teammates out for so long, they all saw right through it.
The nurse came in to tell them that it was the patient's mealtime. Although they didn't like being interrupted, they left, albeit rather hesitantly.
Ochre smiled and waved to them. She would see them again soon enough.
Three weeks timeskip brought to you by Chibi Ochre braiding Weiss's hair.
Ochre's eyes snapped open as a whistle was blown in her ear. She bolted upright in her sleeping bag, clutching her ears.
"Ruby..." She said in a somewhat hurt voice. "If you keep this up, I'm going to go deaf." Ruby hastily apologized and put the whistle away.
Ochre rubbed her temples to make the headache go away. Nevertheless, she smiled. It was good to be back with the team again.
"The Vytal festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed.
"You're in a good mood." Ochre mused.
"Yeah Weiss. I've never seen you smile so much before. To be honest, its weirding me out.." Ruby trailed off.
"How could you not smile?" Weiss said. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world." She started to get excited. "There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" She finished.
Everyone gave her a weird look.
"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang deadpanned.
"Quiet you!" Weiss snapped back.
Yang sighed. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"
Ruby pinched her nose. "Yeah, they smell like fish."
"I've heard that the students from Vacuo are arriving by ship today. And as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss turned around, putting a hand over her chest, chin held high.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake informed them.
"Well, unless she wants to watch them fight, spying won't help much." Ochre said.
A store surrounded by police tape got their attention. They went to take a closer look.
"What happened here?" Ruby asked the two police officers that were stationed there.
"Robbery." The first one answered. "Second dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walked towards the other officer.
"They left all the money again." The second officer told the first.
"It doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much dust?"
"You uh, thinkin' the White Fang?"
"Yeah I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." The girls turned to head back to the docks.
Weiss hmphed. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."
"What's your problem?" Blake turned to Weiss, voice becoming somewhat hostile.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang are hardly psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus."
"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth." Weiss said, voice rising in volume.
Blake sighed and looked down, almost ashamed. "Then they're very misguided. But it still doesn't explain why they would rob a dust store."
"What about Roman Torchwick?" Ruby suggested.
Ochre added her input. "Yeah, when I got to the scene, it looked like he was stealing dust. Right?" She asked Ruby for assurance. Though she didn't need it.
"Yep. He was stealing dust that night. This could've been him too." She glanced back at the crime scene.
Weiss crossed her arms "Well it doesn't change that the faunus of the White Fang are scum." She spat out hatefully.
"Not all of them..." Ochre whispered to herself. Blake looked at her in surprise, before turning back to Weiss.
"Those faunus only know how to lie cheat and steal."
"That's not necessarily true." Yang said.
Somewhere behind them, a sailor called, "Hey! Stop that faunus!" They saw a blond monkey-tailed faunus running across a ship. He jumped on the railing.
"Thanks for the ride guys!" He yelled to the two sailors before jumping off the boat. He landed on the docks and kept running.
"You no-good stow-away!" One of the sailors called after him. He turned around and yelled back, "Hey, a "no-good" stow-away would have been caught. I'm a great stow-away." He peeled open a banana, and hung himself from a lamppost by his tail.
One of the police officers they heard earlier threw a rock at the faunus, demanding he get down. The faunus' reply was to throw a banana peel in the guy's face and run off. As he ran by the four girls, he winked at Blake. Ochre glared at him until he left.
"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." Yang told the white-haired girl.
"Quick we must observe him!" Weiss said before running off. Yang started running after her, and Ruby soon followed.
Blake hesitated for a moment, still surprised that the other faunus winked at her. She was snapped out of her stupor by Ochre pinching the bridge of her nose, and muttering, "Horrible timing Sun..."
Blake looked at her, suddenly realizing the implications.
"You know him?" Blake asked in confusion and surprise.
Ochre looked at her, as if not realizing she was there. Her eyes were wide, and she chuckled nervously before saying, "Nope! Never seen him before in my life!" She grabbed Blake's wrist and started running.
"Now, let's go before the rest of the team gets too far ahead of us." With any luck, this whole ordeal will take her mind off of what I just said. Ochre thought. It was all she could do to hope.
The blond faunus turned the corner with the police still on his tail. Weiss and Ruby were the first to turn the corner, but they were going too fast, as Weiss crashed into something.
Weiss got up, to see the faunus jump too high up for the police.
"No! he got away!" She cried, before remembering the girl she had bumped into.
"Salutations!" The mysterious girl said. "Um..hello." Ruby said uncertaintly.
"Are you okay?" Yang asked.
"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking." She answered, still lying on the ground.
The girls looked at each other with odd expressions on their faces.
"Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked hesitantly.
The strange girl narrowed her eyes, as if contemplating it. "Yes." She said happily after a moment. She pushed herself up, and the girls backed off. Except for Ochre, and of course, Blake noticed this.
"My name is Penny." The strange girl said getting everyone's attention once more. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" She said happily.
"Hi Penny I'm Ruby." She started off.
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked. Blake hit her, and she said her name. Ochre rolled her eyes before introducing herself as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny repeated.
Weiss gave her an odd look. "You already said that."
Penny thought about that for a second. "So I did." She answered happily. Ochre couldn't help but crack a smile. But she noticed Blake eyeing her suspiciously. That girl's waay too perceptive for her own good. Ochre internally sighed.
"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss told Penny. The rest of them turned around as Ruby called back, "Take care friend."
Suddenly Penny was in front of her. "What did you call me?" She asked in wonder.
"Me?" Ruby asked nervously as Penny towered over her. "I-don't know, I-what-I-um..."
"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.
Ochre snickered. "Reading into things much?"
Ruby glanced to the rest of the girls who were waving their hands to say "No". Ochre just gave her a faintly amused smile. Either Ruby didn't know how to read body language, or she just ignored everyone, because she said "ya. sure. Why not?"
Everyone except Ochre collapse, while said girl couldn't help but start laughing when a gong rang.
"Sensational!" Penny joyfully yelled. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"
"Was this what is was like when you met me." Ruby asked Weiss.
"No, she seems 'far' more coordinated." Weiss whispered back.
Yang asked Penny, "So, what are you doing in Vale?"
"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny told her.
Weiss looked at her incredulously. "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"
Penny turned to her, smiling. "I am combat ready." She said with a salute.
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss deadpanned.
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake pointed out.
"It's a combat skirt." Weiss defended. Ruby slid up to her, and they high-fived.
Ochre couldn't help it anymore, she just couldn't. She burst out laughing.
Everyone ignored her.
"Wait." Weiss suddenly said, walking up to penny and grabbing her shoulders.
"If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion?"
She sounded like she was going to say something worse, but Blake glaring at her must've scared her into submission.
"Who?" Penny asked confusedly.
"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss told her, holding up a very badly drawn picture of the faunus.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake asked angrily.
"Huh?" Weiss seemed confused.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate." Blake angrily told her.
"She never called him a degenerate..." Ochre said absentmindedly.
"You're defending her now?!" Blake angrily asked Ochre.
"I'm not defending anyone." The brunette put her hands up. "I'm stating a fact."
Blake turned away from her, sparing her one last glare.
"The point is, Weiss, he's a person!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trashcan, or this lampost as a lamp post?"
"STOP IT!" Blake yelled.
"Stop what?" Weiss asked innocently. "Clearly he broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang."
Blake clenched her fist. "Ugh You ignorant little brat!" Blake spat out. She turned and walked a few feet, before Weiss called, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate." She walked after Blake.
"You are a judgmental little girl!" Blake angrily said.
"What in the world makes you say that?" Weiss asked, outraged.
"The mere fact that you would sort that faunus boy with the terrorist group, solely because of his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be." Blake answered.
"So, you admit it. The White Fang's 'is' just a radical terrorist group."
"That's NOT what I meant and You know it!"
They were back at the dorm. Yang, Ruby, and Ochre looked on helplessly as Blake and Weiss continued arguing.
Ochre didn't even bother to interfere. And her somewhat calm demeanor was enough to tell Yang as much too. This was something that the two had to work out by themselves.
"I don't see why this is causing such a problem!"
"That is the problem!" Blake loudly said to the heiress.
"You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, right?" Weiss said. "Y'know, there's probably a good reason why they hate humanity..."
Blake turned to Ochre, who had just spoken. She had a rather sad look on her face.
Weiss mostly ignored her. "The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil." She stated, albeit with the slightest bit of uncertainty..
"There's no such thing as pure evil." Blake said. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you that force the White Fang to take such desperate measures."
"People like me?" Weiss asked, outraged.
"You're discriminatory!" Blake clarified.
"I'm a victim." Weiss yelled.
She backed up a bit, turning to the window. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang so much? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus?" She leaned on the windowsill.
"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in, actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted on it's back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car full of dust, stolen" At this, Blake looked a little guilty.
"Every day, my father would come home furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." Her fists clenched, and she slammed the windowsill.
Ruby walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"No!" Weiss pushed her away. "Oh, here it comes..." Ochre whispered to Yang. The blond stiffened, and payed more attention to the conversation.
"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake loudly said with tears in her eyes.
Everything froze until she realized what she said.
"I-I..." Blake's eyes widened in shock. Then she took off.
Ochre lunged for the door, but was too late.
"Shit.." She muttered too quietly for anyone to hear. "I'm going after her." She declared, before also taking off.
Weiss, Ruby, and Yang just stood in the room, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
It was going to be a long night...
