Ruby POV
"Pencils down, class!" Professor Oobleck called, zipping back and forth across the room, making sure no one was trying to sneak in a few more words. I sighed and my head dropped to the desk.
"I bombed it." Yang said, grimacing. Dante nodded sullenly.
"Me too." Cali sat up, then stretched and yawned.
"You didn't finish?" We all shook our heads. She shrugged. "That sucks." Yang scowled.
"I should have taken Blake up on that offer to help me study." I laughed.
"You did, remember? But when I went to find you guys, you were making out in the library." Yang smiled a bit.
"Oh yeah. Got a lot of memorization done." Seeing our skeptical looks, she finished. "Of Blake's lips that is." We chuckled a bit.
"Alright class, as you know, that test concludes our Faunus History unit." A couple of hoots went up from some asshole in the back, and a few people laughed. Yang scowled and I patted her arm in an effort to placate her. Professor Oobleck frowned at the boy and continued. "Our next unit is Elven History." I shot Yang a surprised glance and she raised her eyebrows. Cali was sitting ramrod straight now, but Dante still looked bummed out about the test.
"This could be interesting." I mused. Yang nodded. The guy from before shouted out.
"You mean like, Santa elves or something?" Everyone ignored him this time, and Oobleck soon continued.
"I suppose now you're wondering something like: 'How can a fictitious species have a history?'" A few nods and murmurs. "Well, you see, that's the thing, class. . ." He paused dramatically, which must have been torture for him. "Elves were real." He let that sink in, but no one spoke or objected in any way. He smiled, confident he had our attention.
"There are currently two significantly intelligent species in all of Remnant, but for a long time, there were three. There were the Humans, the Faunus, and the Elves. The Elves were an elegant and regal species, known for their tall, slim stature, their pointed ears, technological advancements, and their skill with weapons handling and forging.
"The Elves were a reclusive, withdrawn folk, preferring to stick to their homes deep in the forests and rarely making appearances in human or Faunus inhabited regions. They were masters of stealth and magic, performing feats not seen before in all of time. Their incredible fighting prowess was enhanced by their uncanny ability to actually project their consciousness out of their bodies to see all of what was happening around them simultaneously."
Dante sat bolt upright, not unlike Cali, and started writing something down in her notebook.
"An interesting fact I found on Elves that I thought you might like is that every Elf is born with the ability to completely control any part of their body they so choose, and this would make them masterful actors and liars, probably enabling them to bluff their way through almost any situation they might find themselves in." He let that sink in. "Elves also found ways to push the body to the brink of impossibility, and then breach all known limits, sometimes even being able to defy physics in extreme cases. But despite their power and ability, they were a peaceful and friendly people, and that eventually led to their downfall."
As if on cue, the bell shrieked and Professor Oobleck disappeared through the doorway, probably to go refill his coffee. No one else moved for a long moment. Then slowly, we began to pack our materials and move on to our next classes. Dante left without a word, which was unusual, disappearing into the river of students and faculty as soon as we stepped out into the hallway.
I turned to Yang. "Wow, that was. . ." I shook my head, unable to find the right word to describe it. Yang smirked.
"I get that sometimes. Let's just say it was a thing, and move on with the conversation." I nodded.
"I think it would be cool to meet and talk to an Elf. Too bad they're gone."
"That's humans for ya." Cali said mournfully. I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. In our never-ending quest for survival, we tend justify the desecration and destruction of anyone and anything in the way." Yang fought a smile.
"Weiss words by Ruby Rose," She intoned solemnly. Then she cackled. "My lil sis, the philosopher. All I need now is a Plato cookies to give you for your poetic and astute observation." I ignored her horrible puns and looked at Cali.
"It would have been amazing to learn from them, don't you think?" She nodded.
"Definitely. They seemed cool." I briefly thought she seemed a bit distant, but then I dismissed it.
"And think about how advanced our technology could be with their help!" Yang nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, maybe we would have lightsabers and blasters by now!" I glared at her.
"Go to gym, Yang." She pouted.
"Fine. I try so hard to entertain you people, but none of you even so much as Padmé on the back for my efforts." Cali reached out and patted her twice on the back, causing Yang to smile and ruffle her hair.
"Thanks kid." Cali sulked as Yang jogged away, then discreetly fixed her hair.
"I'm only a year younger." She muttered. I smiled softly.
"She treats me like a five year old sometimes, so I know the feeling." I glanced over and found her staring at me.
"What?" She blinked and shook her head.
"Just thinking about Elves again." I sighed.
"It's too bad. If there was even one more out there somewhere, it'd be cool to talk to them." She studied me and nodded slowly. "What is it?" I asked.
"It would be nice." I sighed heavily and shook my head.
"But unfortunately they're gone." She glanced up at the clock.
"We'd better get to class."
Ren POV
"Finally, it's lunch time!" Nora sang happily as she skipped along ahead of me. "C'mon Ren!" Her smile was infectious and soon I found myself smiling back. There was no way anyone could be within a ten yard radius of Nora that could be grumpy for more than a few minutes in her presence.
I waved her on ahead. "I'll be there soon, I have to stop by the bathroom first." Nora occupied my thoughts as I washed my hands. I wonder if she waited or if she really did just run on ahead. I couldn't decide which one I preferred.
I'd always been close to Nora, she'd been my best friend since we'd met as children one day in a park as we waited for our parents to come get us from school. I closed my eyes and savored the memory, recalling her mud stained pink dress, the big satin bow on the small of her back, and her telling me none too politely:
"I don't wanna be the princess! Princesses are dumb!" I'd been immediately bewildered by this strange, loud, orange-haired girl with the big bow.
"You don't. . .wanna be the princess?" This had shocked me, seeing as every other girl in our class wanted to be the princess waiting on her valiant knight to come save her from the evil dragon. She'd shaken her head vehemently, folding her arms and adamantly refusing. "Why not?"
She'd puffed out a little exasperated sigh and explained slowly. "Well, the princess doesn't get to do anything. She just waits for the knight to come save her. If it was me stuck in the tower, I'd kill the dragon and run." She'd puffed out her chest and I'd been impressed.
"Alright, but then who'll be the princess?" She'd paused, thinking about it for a moment, then waved the question away.
"Why does there need to be a princess? Who needs 'em? We could be a team of hunters on our way to slay a vicious Nevermore." I'd nodded slowly, beginning to understand her game.
"So instead of a knight, I'm a hunter and instead of a princess, you're a huntress, and we're going to fight a Nevermore instead of a dragon?" She'd grinned at me and nodded, giving me a big thumbs up.
"Yeah!" I'd broken into a wide smile, enchanted by the idea of joining forces with this peculiar girl to take down a Nevermore. I stuck out my hand.
"I'm Lie Ren, but everybody just calls me Ren." She'd taken my hand and pumped it up and down, squeezing hard enough to make me wince.
"Nora. Nora Valkyrie."
It was the start of a friendship that would last a long time.
I stepped out into the hallway and continued on my way to the dining hall, pulling up short as I saw Nora down the hall, leaning against the wall. She wasn't alone.
There was a dark haired guy standing with his hands in his pockets, talking to her. She stood up straight and folded her arms.
"No." The word was clear, and though she didn't raise her voice, he flinched. "I'm interested in someone else, sorry." I started forward again and he started gesturing with her hands, trying to get his point across.
"-m serious! I really want to get to know you, so please go out with me!" She shook her head and stepped away, seeing me coming down the hallway toward them. He lunged and grabbed her wrist, startling her and spurring me faster towards them. "Just give me a chance!" He pleaded, even as Nora's fingers curled into a fist. I arrived and clamped a hand on his shoulder, wrenching him away from her just in time to save his teeth from Nora's decidedly vicious right hook.
He glared at me.
"The fuck do you want? We're in the middle of something." I shook my head.
"You were at the end of something," I corrected drily. "And that something was going to be your chewing career until I intervened on your behalf. As of now, it's the end of your conversation. She said she wasn't interested." Nora sneered at him.
"Yeah, take a hint, dude." I shot her a look.
"Let me handle this." She pouted at me. The guy grimaced and shook my hand off his shoulder.
"Whatever, you're not even that hot anyway, I just heard you were easy." I grabbed Nora's arm just in time to interrupt her lunge at him. He squealed like a little girl and scrambled away.
"Nora!" She ignored me, dragging me down the hallway after him. I got in front of her and pushed against her shoulders desperately. "Nora, calm down," I said soothingly. "He's a gutless idiot, don't let him goad you."
"Asshole." She whispered, sniffling slightly. I was surprised to see that she was crying. I wiped at her tears with my thumb.
"Hey," I said softly, pulling her into a hug. "Don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Do people. . .really say that about me?" I tilted her chin up and caught her eye.
"They'd better not, otherwise they'll have to deal with me and the rest of our friends. And he was wrong, you are not only hot, you're beyond that, Nora." She nodded slowly, calming down a bit. She looked at me shyly.
"R-really?" I'll admit I was a bit nonplussed by this self-conscious side of Nora that I'd never seen before, so I'd spoken my mind before filtering. But it was too late to back out now. I squared my shoulders, looked her dead in the eyes, and nodded.
"Yes." She froze, then treated me to her dazzling smile and leaned into my chest, her fingers clutching at my blazer. For a long, breathless moment we stood, our bodies pressed together, then we separated.
"Thanks Ren." She said. I smiled at her.
"No problem, I mean, what are friends for?"
Eh. I don't really like this one much. Well, I'm probably going to take a break from writing now, I've been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. My aunt died a couple weeks ago and it kind of hit me hard, so I ask for your patience as I work through this. Thank you for understanding.
TWAD #9: RvB 12 Comes out in 23 days. I can't wait.
