Chapter sixty-six

Desert Eccentricities

Journal entry #232

"The more I learn about the culture and people in my time here, the more eccentric they seem. Team STNE doesn't seem to find the things that the people do strange, which makes sense because they're all born and raised Vacuoans. They have a sizeable herd of domestic camels that are used as pack animals for tribes that don't have vehicles, as racers for leisure, and some are raised for their meat. Eclipse alluded to the Vacuoan burial custom at one point but I haven't had a chance to follow up. I wonder what they meant."

Team RWBY talked softly as they settled into their Vacuoan dorm room. For everyone except Blake, learning to get and stay in the hammocks yielded quite interesting results.

Yang muttered a series of curses under her breath as she tried to get stable in the hammock that she claimed for herself next to Weiss's. She had nearly landed face-first on the stone floor of the cave when she just plopped into it. But the brawler eventually settled in and stayed there since then, content to gently sway back and forth.

Other than Blake, Ruby was the most graceful when it came to getting into the hammock. She sat on the edge of the hanging bed and slowly scooted backward until she was in the middle and then proceeded to lay down.

Weiss… well Weiss was quite unlike her normal self since no matter what she did she could not stay in the hammock normally. It took Blake dropping what she was doing and physically holding it before Weiss was able to get into it.

"Weiss, are you ok? You're normally far more graceful than that." Blake tried to hide her chuckling as she looked towards her adopted sister.

"I can hear you, ya know. And I'm fine… I've just never had to deal with one of these infernal things before," Weiss grumbled.

"It helps if you did what Red did. Put your butt on the edge of it and then scoot backward." Team RWBY's heads collectively turned to see yet another old 'friend' standing there.

Roman Torchwick smirked as he sauntered into their room. He looked very different from the last time that Team RWBY saw him. His orange hair was no longer styled and instead was just flat. A scar ran below his left eye across his lip and onto his jaw. He was missing his left pinkie as his hand was clad in a neatly tailored neatly tailored glove which accommodated for the missing digit. Speaking of his eyes, his right eye was cloudy and dull, and if that didn't speak of him being blind on that side, then the jagged and ugly scar that ran across it did.

The formerly well-dressed conman and thief was wearing a simple t-shirt and pants along with a set of boots just like almost everyone else did.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked as he found himself a spot on one of the dressers.

"Honestly? At this point not really. I mean we've already run into Neo, but I was surprised to see how different she looked and I'm feeling the same way seeing you," Ruby told him and Torchwick shrugged.

"What can I say? It's been a rough two and half years for me since I've been here, Red. But then again, I'm not the only one who's had rough times."

The former conman hopped off the dresser. "Well, I came to see if your team got settled in and it seems like you all have. C'mon, I'll lead you to the dining hall. Blondie, I like your silver, by the way."

"You mean my prosthetic arm, yeah?" Yang asked as she raised her right arm and he nodded. "Well, I guess I'll take the compliment."

Torchwick just grunted and moved to the curtain. "You four coming or not?"

Team RWBY looked at each other and collectively shrugged before they got up and followed their former enemy out of their dorm room. Unlike Team NIYT, Torchwick actually waited for them to join him before he started to walk through the dimly lit caves.

"So, how did you even end up here? The last news that we heard about you was that you were getting transported to Atlas. How did you go from Atlesian prisoner to Vacuoan Huntsman?" Blake asked softly, curiosity creeping into her voice.

"Honestly kid, it's through sheer dumb luck that I'm here right now. Neo always had a place to return to but I'm a drifter. She just got attached to me enough that she didn't want to leave me to rot. After our getaway vehicle was shot down by the Atlesians, we ended up having to hoof it across half the damn continent of Sanus. Both of us nearly died at least a dozen times and both of us picked up scars from it. I guess that it wasn't our turn to experience The Twilight. Thank goodness, I'm still too young for that."

Torchwick's mention of the term got him four raised eyebrows and two confused looks from Yang and Ruby. "As far as I know, The Twilight is the Vacuoan afterlife. According to Neo, The Twilight is a cold, dark, gentle paradise where Vacuo's warriors may rest and enjoy their eternal reward."

The short explanation took them into the dining hall where Neo was waiting for them. "Hey there, squirt," Torchwick said as he patted her head.

The dining hall was in a cave that was large lengthwise but just as narrow as the rest of the cave systems. Instead of traditional seating, people were seated on cushions around small tables. There were large tables on the wall closest to Team RWBY that had large bowls where the food was located.

Students and professors intermingled with each other freely. RWBY could see Professor Song sitting at a table with Vacuoan students, Vice-Headmistress Ebony was arm-wrestling with two Mistralian students at once while they saw a small crowd of Atlesian students sitting on the floor listening to Vice-Headmaster Theodore as he presumably told a story based on his hand movements.

The four Academy Heads were at their own table and based on what they saw, Sunstone was the only one who looked totally at ease with the somewhat chaotic scene going on around them.

Neo's cheeks puffed outward before she lightly punched Torchwick's arm. [Hey there, scoundrel. Looks like you brought team RWBY! Yay!] illusionary writing appeared above her head and she smiled widely before she looked at Ruby. [Is it ok if I grab your hand?]

Ruby slowly looked at Blake, who gave a small smile, and then the redhead nodded. Neo gently grabbed the taller girl's hand and led her over to where the food was set up in the same large bowls.

The group saw many foods that seemed to be local to the desert. Neo and Torchwick pointed them out as the six of them went down the line. They saw cactus leaves and berries, breadfruit, flatbread, bat stew, camel steaks, among other things. Neo squealed in delight and even Torchwick smiled a bit when they got to the end of the line. [Yay! They have mole crab burgers and ragoon.]

Neo activated her Semblance as she 'spoke' and her eyes lit up with excitement. The young woman grabbed two burgers while Torchwick grabbed a steak and a sizeable portion of the ragoon as well.

"Having trouble picking what you want?" Ilia asked as she came up to the six.

"It's a bit… exotic compared to what I'm used to too," Weiss admitted, which got small nods from her teammates.

"Well, that's what we're here for. C'mon, I'll show you what I like and we can go from there." Ilia led the four back to the start of the buffet line while Neo and Torchwick went to go sit down.

While Ilia was helping RWBY navigate Vacuoan cuisine, Pyrrha was doing the same thing for her team using Amber's advice and memories to help. Team JPNR had met team NIYT while Torchwick was getting RWBY.

Once the eight of them had picked out food, they went to sit down with the others. Torchwick had moved a few empty tables together and the three members of NIYT had taken their seats and waited for the eight transfer students to sit down before they started to eat.

The three teams just blended together with no regard for who sat next to who. The only small exception was that Blake and Ruby who sat together and held hands.

Sunstone felt a little bit of joy as she looked at James's slightly miffed expression. Seeing the man who prided himself on being organized and orderly to an almost crazy degree try to take in the chaotic scene was rather entertaining. The General's eye was subtly twitching from the organized chaos.

He wasn't the only one who seemed… put off by the noise and chaos. It seems Ozpin had channeled just a bit of Aura into his hand based on the four small gashes that had been dug into the stone table they were sitting at.

Leonardo just seemed to tune the noise out completely which made sense because of his Semblance which allowed him to completely silence any noise except those that he chose to hear.

Eventually, Sunstone stood up on the table and the native Vacuoans fell silent, which in turn prompted the exchange students to quiet down as well. The Headmistress's voice carried despite the length of the room.

"I'd just like to welcome all of the students and professors from Vale, Mistral, and Atlas. It is an honor to host you all and I hope you're all enjoying our hospitality. I have a feeling that this year will one of the most interesting since I've been at Shade Academy. I want each and every single one of you to give it your all. Don't hold back beyond what you need to, I can assure you that my students will not. Will you?"

"No Ma'am!" her students called out in response to her question.

That satisfied her and she sat back down with a wide smile on her face.