"... so in conclusion, that's why I think anthropomorphic talking turtles with ninja abilities are ridiculous," Ruby finished her thirty minute thesis.
The micro-expressions that fluttered across Weiss' face were hilarious. She was clearly trying not to laugh and in doing so ended up looking extra intense and serious, like she was seriously considering what Ruby was saying. Which was sweet. Ruby was trying to get her to laugh, but this was equally amusing.
"That does sound ridiculous," Weiss agreed super seriously.
The giggle just slipped out of Ruby, and when it did Weiss glared at her.
"What are you laughing at?" she demanded in her 'I'm a princess' tone. "I'm agreeing with you!"
"I know," Ruby chirped. "That's what's funny."
Weiss gave her a cute scowl that wrinkled her pointy nose. "I think it's time to get out of bed," she huffed.
"Why you being such a baby?" Ruby teased her, using Weiss' words from earlier.
"I'm-! You know what!..." Weiss grumbled, trailing off. A couple seconds later, Ruby let out a yelp as her palms and fingers were blasted with a shock of cold.
Dumb Ice Queen and her freezing aura.
"You are so-!" Ruby started. Then she scrunched up her nose and pushed her aura out from that small ball of energy in her heart, the powerful fragrance that came with it filling the air around her. When it stretched down to her fingertips she grabbed Weiss' hand again, just to make sure she knew Ruby had her aura on.
"Joke's on you, I like the smell of roses," Weiss taunted her with a smug grin.
"Well… that sucks," Ruby muttered. "How'm I supposed to get you back then?"
"Teehee!"
"Weiss, are you torturing our captain?" Blake called across the room.
"No!"
"Yeeees!" Ruby whined.
"C'mon, Weiss," Yang said. Ruby saw her sister roll over to look at them. "You can't do that on a weekday, we talked about this."
"Darn, it is a weekday, isn't it," Weiss said, still with that super evil, super pretty smirk.
"Smug and vindictive is a terrible look on you," Ruby lied to her partner.
"No it isn't," Weiss countered, still smug as heck.
Ruby pouted. "... I know."
The right corner of Weiss' lips gave a triumphant tug, then her aura flicked off again.
"I am going to go shower," Ruby declared, "and you can stay here and think about what you did."
"What's there to think about?"
"Th...j… You know," Ruby sputtered. "About how you feel nothing but shame and regret for your harmful actions!"
"Do I, though?" Weiss grinned.
"Hmph! You really are an Ice Queen."
That wiped the smile off Weiss' face. "You take that back!"
"Nu!"
"Rub—!"
Ruby slipped into her semblance and zipped from the bed into the bathroom, Weiss' yelling something behind her that she couldn't make out with the muffled distortion of the Rose Dimension.
The white sheen on everything from yesterday was gone. That was something.
Now that she had a moment alone again she had some time to think. Weiss was a lovely, comfy distraction, but the image of the screaming angry lady was still lurking in the back of Ruby's mind. Now she could think about it without the exhaustion and fear and confusion she was feeling yesterday.
Well, there was still plenty of confusion. But she was calm now and could think about things.
… Although she had no idea what more there was to think about. She liked her semblance-connection-to-Mom theory. It made sense, right? Weiss thought so, and she was pretty smart. The memories (and Ruby was 95% sure that's what they were) and the weird presence she felt and the discoloration of the Rose dimension…
It fit. For sure.
She had no idea who the scary lady was. What was her name?
… Salem.
That was it.
Despite how badly she'd freaked out and scared her team, Ruby was glad she'd drawn her nightmare last night. She wasn't sure she would be able to remember any of it if she hadn't put it to paper. The other memories had had people and emotions that she knew, that stuck with her, but Chained Lady in the cracked castle under a storming red sky in a legion of Grimm?
… Well, when she thought about it like that it sounded kinda memorable.
She showered, taking her time because it was nice and she felt like she'd earned it. Also, screw Weiss, she didn't need hot water! She probably wouldn't even notice if the water was freezing.
Stupid icy aura.
Just standing under the hot water felt good. She kinda spaced out for a while before even getting to shampoo. Her rose-scented one, of course. Weiss liked the smell, so…
Heehee! Ruby wasn't sure why that made her so happy, but it did. If Weiss liked roses then that was like a billion bonus points for Ruby, right? Ruby literally was roses!
She had no idea what she was supposed to do next with this weirdness, though. It felt like might-be-Mom was completely gone now. Was Ruby supposed to, like, meditate or something to try to contact her?
While Weiss had a point about not telling the guy that gave Ruby a free ride to the school that she's hearing voices and seeing things, Ruby still really wanted to talk to Professor Ozpin about this. He was all old and wise and wizardy. If there was anybody that would know something about this—especially if it really is some wonky semblance connection—then ol' Ozypozy would probably know.
But on the other hand… she really didn't want to get benched.
Or worse.
… Hm.
She washed up and hopped out of the shower when the water started getting cold if she didn't keep cranking the heat circle thingy. She dressed simply: black jeans (designer), black patterned t-shirt (designer), and a super nice, thin, red leather jacket (designer). All gifts of clothing that Weiss had showered her with.
'Is it still dressing simply if the outfit costs a bajillion lien?' Ruby asked herself as inspected herself in the mirror. Either way, she looked pretty freaking cool. She then made a point to bend the collar of her jacket in the wrong direction because she was pretty sure a certain someone would feel compelled to fix it...
When she turned to walk out of the closet her eyes fell on her small jewelry box. It was, like, a tenth the size of Weiss' so it was pretty funny to see the both of them next to each other, but it did have something that would look good with this…
She fished out her black choker and slipped it down her head and around her neck. One more glance in the mirror…
'Nice.'
She ran her fingers through her hair real quick to fix it up.
Weiss was sitting on the edge of her bed when Ruby walked back out and her eyes widened a bit when she looked up.
"You look nice," she said.
"Thanks," Ruby beamed.
Weiss stood and immediately moved in front of Ruby. She reached up and fixed the bent collar Ruby had planted, patting it in place.
Ruby couldn't stop herself from grinning.
"What?" Weiss demanded when she noticed.
"Nuthin'," Ruby shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.
"Why are you smirking at me like that?"
"I'm not!"
"You are!"
"Nuh-uh!"
Weiss glared at her, so Ruby glared back.
"..."
"..."
"You're still doing it!"
"I'm not doing nuthin'!"
"I—Ugh!" Weiss sputtered, getting adorkably triggered by the double negative. "I'm showering and I hate you!" she huffed before storming into the bathroom. The door slammed shut, then opened again immediately. Weiss stuck her head back out and grumpily added, "That choker looks really good."
"Th—"
The door slammed shut again.
"...anks…" Ruby finished.
She still considered that a win.
"You two are pretty troll, you know that?" Yang said, hopping down from her bunk.
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, giving her sister a hug.
"How you feelin', Peanut? Sleep okay?"
"Ye. Feel pretty good, actually." Last night was absolutely miserable, but everything from this morning so far had been great.
"I bet," Yang grinned. "It's not every day one gets to cuddle with a princess." She waggled her eyebrows.
"Heehee," Ruby replied. "Just to be clear, she got in bed with me while I was asleep, so I didn't even know."
"Yeah, but then when you two idiots woke up you spent an hour and a half whispering about freaking turtle ninjas," Blake grumbled as she got out of bed.
"Um, it's ninja turtles, not turtle ninjas, okay miss?" Yang teased.
"Oh shut up." Blake came over to give them both a hug.
"Sorry," Ruby apologized. "Did we wake you up?"
"Nah, I'm just teasing."
"Om nom nom," Ruby heard Yang say. She couldn't see what exactly her sister was doing because she was sandwiched in a three person hug but it was probably dumb and goofy.
Sure enough, Blake pushed away and gave Yang a slap on the arm. "Stop in, you weirdo," she said in a bemused tone. She gave Ruby a rub on the shoulder before walking to the bathroom. "I'm gonna change real quick. I'm glad you're feeling better, Ruby."
"Thanks, you too," Ruby said reflexively. "Wait, I mean—"
Blake giggled as she walked away.
"Any more freaky nightmare vision memory whatevers?" Yang asked as she messaged the top of Ruby's head with her fingers, undoing all the super hard work Ruby had definitely done to fix it up.
"Nah," answered Ruby.
"Well that's good."
"Yah."
"Hmm," Yang hummed, sounding skeptical of Ruby's one word responses. Ruby just honestly wasn't sure what else she was supposed to say. "I'ma go change too, then we can run and grab some lunch before class, yeah?"
"Not breakfast?" Ruby blinked.
"Check the clock, doofus." Yang gave her hair one final tussle before heading into her bathroom after Blake.
After a few seconds of fumbling about to find her scroll (it was on the floor by her desk), Ruby found it was 1:07. So yeah, lunch.
That was okay. Breakfast was cooler, though, 'cause it meant pancakes and bacon and cookies.
Well, lunch could have cookies. But cookies at lunch was, like, a normal thing. Cookies at breakfast was a true display of her loyalty to cookies.
As she pondered these displays of devotion to cookies, she meandered over to her desk. The paper with her mad scrawlings from the night before sat on top of it, the angry lady glaring at her with those freaky red eyes.
Er, well, they didn't actually look that freaky on the paper. Her drawing skills were clearly not on Weiss' level, so Scary Dark Lady Salem looked goofy more than anything, but the picture on the page conjured the image in her head, and that…
That was freaky.
"Alrighty!" Yang trumpeted before she'd even pulled her bathroom door open. "Let's see what the cafeteria's got, yeah? I'm hawwwngry."
"How'd you get dressed before Blake?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, she's done, she'd just fuckin' with her bow," Yang answered, a funny look crossing her face.
Sure enough, Blake walked out a second later. She was wearing a plain black turtleneck and tight white leather pants that Ruby was 110% sure she could never pull off, but Blake had the legs for it. An actual simple outfit. Next to Yang's loud band t-shirt, red flannel overshirt, and jorts with frayed edges, it was easy to imagine that one of them was photoshopped into the scene because it was so weird for them to actually be next to each other.
"Shall we?" Blake asked.
"We're not waiting for—?" Ruby stopped as Yang raised her eyebrow. "Right," Ruby grinned. Weiss was gonna take a while.
They each grabbed their weapons and headed out, Ruby sending Weiss a text so she'd know where they were.
"Whadaya think Ozzily Pozzily's gonna have us do today?" Yang asked as they walked. "More dumb personality tests?"
"I thought that was a good exercise," Blake replied.
Yang immediately blanched. "Y-yeah! Me too! I just, you know, personality tests are usually dumb, so I was, like… But not this one! This one was good!"
Ruby had never seen her sister backpedal so fast. It was kinda cute.
"It'll probably be something about Huntsmaning," Ruby answered.
Yang let out a snort. "Ya think?"
"Huh?" She thought that had been a good answer!
"Ruby, we're in a Huntsman Academy. Literally every class is about Hunstmaning!"
"No, ya dumb blonde troll!" Ruby squeaked. "I mean, like, that actual job of Huntsmaning! You know, like what kinda jobs we get or how to get them or, like, Huntsman career advice or something. I'unno."
"Oh, right."
"The class is Huntsman 101," Blake pointed out.
"Yeah yeah," Yang agreed sheepishly.
"... Ya dumb blonde troll," Blake added with a grin.
"You know what!"
"What?"
Yang blinked for a second. "... I'm gonna… be quiet for a bit and stop voicing opinions."
"Since when can you do that?" Ruby blurted.
"Since I became a more quiet and thoughtful person."
"But you haven't done that yet."
Yang glared down at Ruby, then snaked an arm around her and squeezed, hard enough that Ruby let out an involuntary, "Oomph!"
"I said I'd be quiet. I never said I wouldn't squoze the jelly outta ya, so watch it."
Blake deployed another one of her powerful Anti-Yang Quip Jutsus to save Ruby. "Well you're still talking anyway, sooo…" she said.
Yang released Ruby with a grumpy huff.
The cafeteria had some mediocre burgers and waffle fries, plus the usual assortment of fruits. As they went through the line to grab stuff, Ruby started an extra plate and piled up a banana and some grapes and tangerines and apple slices for Weiss. No grapefruits today, though that was a smart decision as far as Ruby was concerned.
Luckily, there were also some double chocolate chip cookies at the end of the line, so the meal was saved.
They sat down at their usual table, Weiss' seat in the booth empty save for the plate of fruit in front of it, and got to eating. Weiss walked into the cafeteria a couple minutes later along with Team JNPR, looking like she was discussing something serious with Pyrrha. When Ruby waved at her and pointed at the plate next to her, Weiss broke off from the group to come over, leaving them to get their own food.
"Aw, thank you," Weiss said when she got there. "Was there no—"
"No grapefruit," Ruby informed her, trying to look apologetic.
"Darn."
"Hey, we match!" Ruby exclaimed once she registered Weiss' outfit.
She'd put on white jeans, a blue frilly blouse, and a white denim jacket with those fancy three-quarters sleeves with folded ends and a little buttoned bit.
Weiss gave her a pleased smile that told Ruby the matching look was very much intentional.
"But wait, the pattern's off," Blake noted. "It should be, like, white shirt, white jeans, blue jacket."
"Blue jacket?" Weiss said, using her 'incredulous rich girl' voice and expression and playing it up. "Do I look like some sort of pagan to you?" She slid into the booth next to Ruby and pulled her plate over.
"Mehbe," Yang said around a mouthful of burger.
"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" asked Weiss with a challenging glare.
Yang shrugged and gulped down her food. "I'unno, I'm still a lil fuzzy on what a pagan is. It's like a religious vegan or something, right?"
"I—what?"
"What were you and Pyrrha talking about?" Ruby asked to avoid another 'Weiss and Yang argue about words' fiasco. "It looked pretty serious."
"Ah. She agrees with you, Ruby, that the rapier puts me at a disadvantage. She was trying to convince me to consider switching to a saber or falchion."
"Oh, yeah?" Ruby perked up. She thought Weiss' biggest equipment issue was her lack of GUN, but the rapier was also probably not the best. Maybe if the advice was coming from Pyrrha, Weiss might take it seriously?
"Yeah," Weiss sighed. "My sister uses a saber. If I was going to switch to anything, it would be that. Similar reach to the rapier and the most transferable in terms of skills, but… I don't know. I like Myrtenaster. And I like fighting with it. It feels… natural."
Ruby gave her a pat on the back. "I know what you mean. If you like it, stick with it. Besides, literally everybody in the world that uses anything other than a scythe is fighting with a suboptimal weapon anyway, so even Pyrrha can't judge you!"
Weiss quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Look!" Ruby pointed at her sister. "Yang even just uses her fists! Like a caveman!"
"Hey!"
"Even cavemen had clubs," Blake teased from behind the waffle fry she was nibbling on.
"I will—!" Yang planted an elbow loudly on the table and pointed a declarative finger at the ceiling. "Unarmed fighting is the purest and most reliable form of combat! When all you dumb losers get your dumb swords or dumb farm tool knocked out of your hands, you're hopeless! But me? That can't happen to me. You can't get your hands knocked out of your hands."
"You could get your arms chopped off," Blake pointed out.
"Pfft, as if. Besides, you wouldn't be able to hold a sword then either."
"That… is fair."
"You can hold it between your teeth!" Ruby chirped.
"What the Grimm happened to the this conversation," Weiss grumbled to herself.
Team JNPR joined them, settling into the booth next to them.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha sing-songed.
"Hiya!" Ruby replied.
"Heyyy, Weiss," Jaune said super awkwardly.
Weiss gave him a lukewarm smile back.
"Are you guys ready for today?" he asked as he plopped down. "I'm so not ready for today."
"How could you possibly even know if you're ready or not?" Weiss asked haughtily, apparently ready and waiting for an excuse to give him a verbal slapdown. "You don't even know what we're doing."
"Exactly!" Jaune said with an arm flail. "Last week was already hard enough with its super intrusive personality quiz!"
"Some of those scenarios were pretty tricky," Blake agreed.
"No," Ren started, "he means—"
"I know, right?!" Jaune said. "How am I supposed to pick one favorite band? Who picks just one band?!"
Pyrrha was clearly trying very hard not to laugh at him, but Yang made no such effort to hold it in.
"Jaune?" she said after she caught her breath.
"Yeah?"
"You're an idiot."
"Tsk! Whatever, man. It's a hard question."
They chatted and ate until it was 15 minutes before class started, at which point Weiss started getting antsy (for no reason, really, the classroom was less than 10 minutes away). Then they all walked there together.
When they arrived, Team CRDL was already there, lounging around, and Team KORL got there a little bit after.
Professor Ozpin got there exactly as the clock hit 2, which was pretty impressive. Ruby wondered if he'd been waiting outside the door to get the timing perfect so he'd look cooler. She would do something like that.
"Good afternoon, class," he announced himself while walking to the lectern. "Don't get too settled, we'll be going out into the field today."
"Woohoo!" Ruby cheered, along with most everyone else.
"We'll be going through the basics of a Hunt contract, how you get them and accept them in Vale, and then we'll split into teams with a professor and each go complete a green tier Hunt."
Ruby's legs started bouncing up and down in anticipation. She hadn't been expecting to go on a Hunt today. This was awesome!
"If you would all please go to the the Beacon Hub on your scrolls, you'll need to download the Contracts Board app."
It took a couple minutes and some IT work before everyone had the app set up.
"Now log in with your student IDs and you should all be able to see the current list of jobs for Huntsman that are available in Vale," Professor Ozpin directed.
On the app, there were boxes with filled with words and numbers, and scrolling down showed more. These looked like the Hunts. There were also tabs at the bottom that read Green, Yellow, Red, and Black. Ruby looked more closely at the top contract on the Green tab.
Contractor: Saffron Hills Police Department
Hunt Type: Investigation, Extermination
Posted: 2 days ago
Start Date: Immediately
Location: Saffron Hills (address)
Payment: L3,600 one-time | non-negotiable, CHF | full post-paid
Details: Small Grimm have been spotted in a Saffron Hills neighborhood and been (...)
Contact 1: Officer Gibbly, SHPD - LtBGibbly
Contact 2: Heather Mayfeld, resident - HettyMayfay
Claimed by: n/a [CLAIM]
"What does all this mean?" Nora asked.
Ozpin gave her a smile and addressed the class, "Are you all in? Yes? Good. Now what you're seeing is the mobile app for our Contracts Board. You may have seen the big screens out in front of Beacon Tower that looked similar to this?"
Pretty much everybody nodded. Ruby had seen it when they went for their Hunt eval in Professor Ozpin's office.
"We used to have to go there to see and claim Hunts for our teams. It made Beacon very busy and full of licensed Huntsmen. Now the miracle of scroll technology lets us access the Board from anywhere with an internet connection."
He turned around and grabbed a marker to start writing on the whiteboard. "Each contract listing shows you a variety of information. The first is the contractor, the person or organization that posted the contract. The most common contractors you'll see are police departments or the VCC, the Vale City Council. For this first contract, the contractor is the Saffron Hills Police Department. They usually post contracts on behalf of citizens that call in to report Grimm activity."
"There are Grimm in Saffron Hills?" Cardin wondered aloud.
"There are Grimm everywhere, Mister Winchester," Ozpin answered. "Many are small and can be handled by the police, even, and those in the city that need Huntsman attention are usually taken care of quickly."
"Oh."
"The next field is the Hunt type," he continued. "There are Investigations, Exterminations, Escorts, Scoutings, and Protections. Investigations are fairly uncommon, as most Grimm tend to make themselves known. Not all, but most. An Investigation contract involves trying to find a Grimm or potential Grimm."
"So there might not be a Grimm involved?" Orianna asked. "People might just suspect there's a Grimm in their area?"
The professor nodded. "That could happen," he said. "Very rarely, though.
"Exterminations are fairly common, and pretty straightforward. We know there's Grimm in an area and want them removed, so we send in Huntsmen and Huntresses to clear them out."
"Heck yeah!" Yang cheered.
"Exterminations aren't the most common?" Weiss asked.
That was a good question. Ruby had assumed they were too.
"They are not," Ozpin answered. "The most common are Protection and Escort contracts. Often they come together. The concept of Escorts you should all be familiar with from our training Hunts last weekend. Real Escort missions are more involved. You'll have to travel with a large group of people, usually over multiple days. Typically to an outlying village or, often, to Jessamine or Patch. Those are usually trade caravans.
"Protection contracts follow a similar vein. They involve going to an area out in the wilderness and protecting civilians from Grimm while they're there."
"What are people doing just chilling out in the wild?" Karn asked.
"Most often, mining or logging. Metal and Dust mines beyond the protection of the city walls need protection from Grimm. Teams might go out on a Protection contract at a mine or other such work camp for a month or more, then leave when another team accepts the contract and comes to replace them. Teams often cycle in and out of contracts like this, as they don't want to live out there for terribly long periods of time, but these contracts tend to pay well."
"What happens if a team wants to leave and there isn't one that wants to replace them?" Jaune asked.
Professor Ozpin nodded like he'd expected the question. "Depends. The company there will typically try to convince the current team to stay, usually offering a bonus. If the team still wants to leave, the operation usually shuts down for the time, and they negotiate an Escort contract to get the workers back to civilization."
"The companies are okay with losing that labor?" Weiss asked.
She got a bemused raised eyebrow from the professor. "Most of them, yes, or at least they accept it. They value the lives of their employees more than their profit margins. When they don't, and try to stay without Huntsman protection, you can get events like the massacre at the Schnee mine in the Hasco Region of Vacuo."
Ruby saw Weiss swallow hard and look down at her hands.
"Lastly, there are Scouting missions. These are the least common, though they used to not be. These involve a Huntsman team going out to an area specified by the contractor and checking it for Grimm presence and possibly other things."
"Like what?" one of the guys from Team CRDL asked. Ruby wasn't familiar enough with their voices besides Cardin to recognize who.
"Prospecting for Dust, metals, or minerals, mapping the area for a settlement, sometimes more obscure things. Often, these contracts provide a specialist that will come to do that part—a geologist, cartographer, agricultural engineer, et cetera—and then it will be very similar to an Escort mission like last weekend's, where you only have to bring one or two people along with you."
"That sounds kinda fun," Ruby remarked. Just heading out into the wilds to chart it out for future civilization?
Cool.
"It could be, yes," Ozpin agreed. "Huntsmen and Huntresses that like these contracts might also get training in prospecting or even geography degrees to make them better suited for them and to eliminate the need to put a civilian in danger.
"Now, the next field is just when the contract was posted. Pretty simple. Here in Vale we tend to not let a contract go unaddressed for more than three days. The start date is when the contractor needs someone out there. This one needs to be addressed ASAP. Most Investigation contracts are. Others typically have a date, such as when a caravan is looking to leave the city or when a work camp needs to have a team replace the one that's leaving them.
"Location is equally as obvious. This one is in Safron Hills, and the hyperlink there will show you a more detailed street address for you to go to.
"This next field, payment, is the one that will have the most varying information, and is the most important to your livelihood, so pay close attention."
Everyone noticeably sat up straighter, except Weiss, who was already as attentive as could be.
"First is the amount of the proposed offer. This contract is a one-time payment of 3,600 lien. One-time payments are typical of Investigation and most Scouting contracts. For others you'll see daily or weekly payments, and you may see a one-time amount and a recurring payment amount. Next you'll see whether or not the payment amount is negotiable and whether it is being paid by the CHF."
"The what?" Yang asked.
Professor Ozpin stopped his writing on the board to turn to the class. "The CHF is the Communal Hunstman Fund. It is managed by the Vale City Council and is paid for with tax lien and donations. It is for paying for Huntsman fees for people that would otherwise not be able to pay Huntsmen for their services."
"I would still help people if they couldn't pay money," Ruby blurted. Everyone turned to look at her and she shrank back a bit. "... Just saying."
Ozpin smiled at her. "I know. Most Huntsmen and Huntresses would. This fund was actually set up for them, not the civilians hiring them. Decades ago there was a massive issue of Huntsmen working pro bono and going hungry themselves. The CHF was established here and in Mantle and Vacuo to make sure that Huntsmen could make a living with their profession."
"Atlas doesn't have one?" Blake asked.
It was Weiss who answered. "The military pays all Huntsmen in Atlas," she said. "Both a salary and their contract fees."
"Ah."
"Indeed," Professor Ozpin said. "Now contracts paid for by the CHF are usually non-negotiable or post-negotiable, especially Green and Yellow tier ones, as the VCC has to manage the fund to make sure there is enough lien available throughout the year."
"Aren't you on the Council, Professor?" Pyrrha asked.
"I am. And I am always pushing to increase the budget of the CHF, and if you ever feel you deserve or need more compensation after a non-negotiable, CHF paid Hunt, you can of course come to me. Now, next is when payment will be delivered. This one is full post-paid, meaning you will receive all 3,600 lien after the contract is completed. You will also see pre-paid, and possibly a pre-and-post-paid split telling you how much you'll get before and after the contract is completed. On daily payments you'll simply see 'daily', and for weekly payment structures it will tell you what day of the week you'll get paid. If you have the situation I mentioned earlier of a one-time and a recurring payment, it read pre-paid and then either 'daily' or the day of the week for your weekly payments."
"Is this 3,600 lien per person?" Weiss asked. "Or for the whole team?"
"Everyone on the contract, Weiss. This is a Green contract, likely completed within a few hours and at very little risk. Were an entire team to work this contract, which is usually not done for Green contracts, it would still be 900 lien for a few hours work. By most standards, that is a good rate."
Weiss blinked at him and Ruby had to bite back a laugh.
"If making money was your goal, Miss Schnee, it would have been smarter to stay home," the professor said with a pointed look.
"It's not!" Weiss shot back immediately. "It's just… I thought… nevermind." Cheeks pink, Weiss glared down at her notebook in front of her. Ruby gave her a nudge with her elbow to make sure she was okay, and Weiss turned to briefly give her a look Ruby couldn't decipher before looking back down.
"Next, the details field is just the information you need to know for the Hunt. Always read it carefully before accepting any contract. The contacts listed after that are the people you should call to get started on the contract. This first one listed will be the police officer in charge of the contract as the SFPD are the ones that posted it. The second one here is described in the details. She is the one that called the police to report the Grimm activity.
"Last, the claimed field shows if any Huntsman are already working that contract. If there are, the contract will be greyed out and listed below all the unclaimed contracts."
He cleared his throat and walked back to his lectern, looking at all the students with those 'I know everything you're thinking and everything you'll ever do' eyes. "Now let's discuss the tiers of Hunts. Green Hunts are low threat level, completable by one professional Huntsman. Until the end of your first year here, these are all you'll be allowed to do without a professor with you. Yellow Hunts are more difficult and risky, usually doable by a pair of professionals. They typically involve some medium or large Grimm in decent numbers. Red Hunts are dangerous. You will need a whole team with you at least and should expect a heavy fight. Most Red Hunts are Exterminations, while a few are Protection or Escort missions in areas we know there's heavy Grimm presence. And lastly, Black Hunts."
There was a heavy pause after this that added a scary amount of gravity to the lesson.
"... Sounds spooky," Jaune remarked, filling the silence.
"They are, Mister Arc," Ozpin said solemnly. "Black Hunts are direct Grimm threats to the kingdom at large. They are Hunts that require multiple Huntsman teams and even military and police support to handle. They usually involve ancient or extremely strong Grimm, powerful enough that they are often given individual names. If there is a Black Hunt threat, you will likely be called in by my personally and organized for a plan of action along with every other team joining the fight. Fortunately, Black Hunts are rare. The last one in Vale was over a decade ago. Does anybody know what that was?"
Oh! Ruby knew this! Mom and Dad talked about it 'cause they'd been there!
Her hand shot in the air. "Oooh! Was that the pride of lion Grimm that attacked Jessamine?!"
"Ooooh," Yang said.
Ozpin nodded. "It was. Fourteen years ago an ancient Nemean, or lion Grimm—" he gestured at Ruby "—and its pride awoke in the jungles of southern Sanus and destroyed a settlement on Vale's southern border before moving on Jessamine. The Huntsmen of Jessamine were able to hold it off long enough for reinforcements to arrive."
"Heehee, our parents were da reinforcements," Ruby whispered to her sister.
"Badasses," she agreed.
Professor Ozpin quirked an eyebrow at them. "Black Hunts should not be glorified. You should not want them to happen. They are not hero moments. Even with 18 professional Huntsmen and military and city defense support, 4 Huntsmen died in the fight, dozens of soldiers, and not to mention the almost 200 civilians in Canopy that died before anyone even knew enough to mount a defense."
Ruby deflated.
"If you're lucky, a Black Hunt will not happen until you're licensed and with several years of professional experience under your belt. But be aware, they do tend to happen every few years. The last one in Vale was 14 years ago, but the most recent was one in Atlas 3 years ago."
Weiss stiffened at that, her eyes going wide, and Ruby remembered the connection she must have just made: Winter's team.
Ozpin continued, not noticing. "Grimm from ancient times that either hid or were trapped by people make their way out into the world again to wreak havoc."
"Trapped?" Cardin said. "Why not just kill them?"
That made Professor Ozpin chuckle. "The Huntsmen of many hundreds of years ago, if you could even call them Huntsmen, were not nearly as skilled, trained, and equipped as we are today, Mister Winchester. They also weren't experienced or familiar with aura and semblances and Grimm, as they had all just recently appeared."
'Wait, what?'
"We didn't always have semblances?" Ruby asked. That was news to her.
"No, w—"
"And Grimm?" Yang added.
"No," Professor Ozpin said again. "They were both first noted in Remnant about 2500 years ago."
'Oh… huh?'
"Getting back on track, though," the professor pushed forward, "It is important that you all keep in mind how these contracts are tiered. The rank of the contract is decided by the contract giver, and they might not be correct. Government contractors like the police departments and city council may misclassify a Hunt on accident, but some individuals may choose to post a Hunt at a lower tier to get away with paying a lower fee if they think less Huntsmen would be able to take care of the problem. Be mindful of this, not because of the cheated pay, but because of the added danger. If you go as a pair into a Yellow tier Extermination, there's a possibility you'll encounter a Red contract's worth of Grimm. Again, this is rare and most of the time when it happens it is a mistake from lack of information, but always be mindful when you read the details of a Hunt and when speaking to the contractors."
There was a heavy silence that settled onto the room. Everyone understood what the consequences were when he talked about going into a Red contract with only two people.
He cleared his throat. "Now, onto cheerier topics, I need a team leader to volunteer to demonstrate claiming a contract."
"Ooh, me!" Ruby cheered, jumping halfway out of her chair to raise her hand as high as possible.
Professor Ozpin gave her a warm smile. "Alright, Ruby. Go ahead and choose from either the first three or last two Green contracts on the board right now."
"How 'bout this first one?" Ruby asked her team.
They all shrugged and nodded agreeably.
"Do I click 'Claim'?" Ruby asked the professor. He nodded, so she mashed her hardlight screen with her thumb.
A box popped up with two different buttons on it, one saying 'CLAIM FOR SELF' and one saying 'CLAIM FOR TEAM'.
"Uh, claim for team?" she asked.
"Yes," Ozpin answered. "So what Ruby is seeing is a prompt for who you want to claim the contract for. If you claim for self, you will just put your name on the contract. If you claim for team, you'll put the names of all your teammates that aren't currently assigned to a contract."
"Can we all claim for our teams?" Ren asked. "Or just the team leader?"
"You all can. It used to just be team leaders, but… that got annoying and restrictive." Professor Ozpin smiled ruefully to himself like he was remembering something funny. Now, if you were to claim a hunt for yourself, your teammates will be able to add themselves to that contract. This way you can split your team in two to do two separate Hunts."
"Does that happen often?" Pyrrha asked.
"For experienced graduates, it can, specifically for Green and Yellow contracts. Also note that once you've claimed a contract, you can invite other Huntsmen and Huntresses to join you. You can use this if your teammates don't feel like scrolling through the contracts to find it or, more importantly, to bring in someone from outside your team, if you'd like to work with each other."
"So we can invite Pyrrha to come with us on any Hunt?" Weiss asked with a grin.
"Assuming she isn't already working on a contract and wants to work with you, sure."
Pyrrha gave a sheepish smile and scratched her head. She was probably realizing there was a concern with her getting spammed with requests to go help other teams because she was… well, Pyrrha.
Although Ruby felt like when it came to killing Grimm, she was just as good. Or at least close?
"Go ahead and claim that contract for your team, Ruby," the professor told her. "Cardin, Jaune, Karn, you as well. Go ahead and claim a contract for number two, three, six, or seven."
"What about four and five?" Jaune asked.
"They're too far for us to feasibly go out and do this afternoon," Ozpin answered. "Let me know once you've all claimed a contract."
After the other three captains consulted with their teams for a bit, Jaune fretting and sweating a little longer than everyone else, everyone gave the headmaster a thumbs up.
"Alright, now before we leave, some safety rules. First and foremost, listen to the professor that is accompanying you. Unequivocally. Second, there is currently a dangerous criminal in Vale City."
He tapped a couple buttons on his scroll and a moment later everyone else's dinged. The message was a picture of a man with long, wavy grey hair and one of those short stubbly beards that was considered super attractive that Ruby never understood. (Smooth skin was so much prettier.) He had what looked like a track suit on and a pistol tucked into the waistband. There was a name underneath the image.
"Marcus Black," the professor announced. "He is armed and, as I mentioned, extremely dangerous. He has made a profession out of killing Huntsmen and high profile targets for money."
"A-a Huntsmen assassin?" Pyrrha exclaimed before Ruby could say anything. "That's a thing?"
"Not a regular one. Black has had more success than most due to his semblance. He is able to nullify aura in an area around him."
"What?" a bunch of people practically shouted.
"That's cheating!" Yang added.
"So you should understand when I tell you that if you see this man, immediately go to your professor, tell them, and do absolutely everything they say without hesitation. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir," everyone said in unison.
Ruby gulped. "Would he attack us?" The dude wasn't a Grimm, right? He wasn't just drawn to aura and didn't just indiscriminately attack random people around him, right? If he was an assassin that meant that he'd only attack people that had hits out on 'em or whatever, right?
Who would put a hit out on a kid?
"We don't know why he's here," Ozpin stated flatly. "But you must be prepared for the worst. Always have your aura up, always be mindful of your surroundings, and always listen to your professor."
This was his third time saying that in, like, ten seconds, but it made Ruby scared rather than annoyed.
"Do these things and you'll be fine," he continued. "Your professors are all familiar with Black and his methods and will keep you safe. Now, come. You'll each be with the professor that accompanied you last weekend. They're waiting out in the plaza."
As they filed out, each team huddled up in little groups, Ruby looked at hers. Blake looked spooked, Weiss looked worried, and Yang looked angry.
"So… this is freaky, right?" Weiss whispered. "Like it's abnormal for a professor to warn his students about an international assassin that might potentially murder them while they're out on a field trip, right? I know I've been homeschooled all my life, but…"
"Don't worry, princess," Yang declared, her eyebrows knit together. "That grey-haired, decrepit fuck comes anywhere near us, I can just put a hole in his chest, easy peasy."
"Pretty sure that's the exact opposite of what we were just told to do," Weiss told her.
"Nuh uh."
"It is, quite literally, the exact opposite."
"Meh."
Consciously or not, the other three had slowed down, giving them a bit of separation from the professor and other teams that were now rounding a corner.
"Yang, if he's good enough that Professor Ozpin is concerned about him being in the city, then—"
"What's he gonna do, Weiss? There'll be four of us and a professor! We c—"
"Yang!"
"Guys, shut up!" Ruby interjected. If she let this go on, Weiss and Yang would just keep going in increasingly heated circles. "Yang, no trying to fight the assassin, that's an order."
"You're taking Weiss' side?!" Yang hissed. "She gives you cuddles one time and sud—"
"Shut up, Yang," Weiss snapped.
"I'm not taking Weiss' side," Ruby said with a glare at her sister. "I'm taking Professor Ozpin's."
"But that's Weiss' side!"
"Yeah, well it should be everyone's. He's smarter than us. Now hurry up, we're falling behind."
Ruby started aggressively power walking, her teammates matching pace to keep up.
When she slipped through one of the big double doors that Ren was holding open for them, Ruby let out an awed, "Whoooooa."
Outside, arranged in a little semicircle in the plaza's roundabout were four big… vans? Armoured trucks? They were big, chunky white vehicles with 'Vale Huntsman Response Team' painted on the sides in blue. There were pretty normal doors next to the driver and passenger seats and the back looked like it might open up like a ramp? Which was SO FREAKING COOL! On top of that It had six wheels, two pairs in the back and one up front. They were really wide—to the point Ruby was tempted to press X to doubt they'd even fit in a lane—and really long. They definitely wouldn't fit in a parking spot. Each had a professor chillin' in front of them. Professor Goodwitch waved Team RWBY over to her when she spotted them.
"Wait a second," Jaune was saying as they passed by him, "we're in Professor Ozpin's class today and he's the only professor not going on a Hunt?"
The headmaster in question gave a sly grin. "It's wonderful what you can get away with when you're the boss, isn't it." He backed up a step and raised his voice so everyone could hear. "These ATVs are available to you during your time here at Beacon, students. Should you ever need one to go on your Hunts, you can check them out from the garage. Get familiar with them and take care of them. When we do your driving course this fall, you'll learn to operate them."
At this point, nobody was listening to him because everyone was bouncing around their tanks. Ruby zipped over theirs to the driver door and yanked—
"It's locked!" she cried, dismayed.
"Ruby Rose, get back over here and wait for your headmaster to finish speaking before hooliganning about!" Professor Goodwitch's imperious voice called from the other side of their tank. It made Ruby feel like a little kid again.
She zipped back over.
Yang waggled a finger. "Stop hooliganning about, young missy!" she said with a goofy accent, making Ruby giggle.
Professor Goodwitch narrowed her eyes at Yang. "Detention," she stated flatly.
Yang paled. "What?! No! I was just kidding!"
"Turn around and listen or you'll get another."
"It's alright, Glynda," Professor Ozpin laughed. "They're just excited, and it's understandable. One last quick note for all of you, then you can play: pay attention on this Hunt. Take note when your mentor gives you advice. And, of course, enjoy yourselves. Practice the three Ls: listen, learn, laugh. Good hunting."
"Wooooo!" Nora cheered.
"Yeah, see, Professor?" Yang said. "Listen, learn, laugh. You gotta learn to laugh."
"Yaaang…" Blake sighed.
Professor Goodwitch gave Yang another level stare. "Detention."
"Wh—come on!"
"You know, for someone that talks so much about how I should lighten up, you can't seem to take a joke, Miss Xiao Long."
"I… wait, so I don't have detention?" Yang blinked.
The professor rolled her eyes. "No. I don't think any of us have ever actually assigned detention." She started marching around to the driver's seat and Ruby bounced along behind her as Yang breathed a sigh of relief. "That's not an invitation to misbehave, though!" Professor Goodwitch called over her shoulder.
"Can I drive the tank?" Ruby asked as she bunny hopped at the professor's heels.
"Not this time. I'll be driving."
"Awwww."
"You will all learn to drive this and other vehicles this fall, Ruby. Now—"
"What other kinds of vehicles?" gasped Ruby.
"Standard cars, of course, then Honeybadgers, Wildcats, and Chariots, I bel—"
"WE'RE GONNA GET TO FLY CHARIOTS?!" Ruby shrieked.
Professor Goodwitch hung her head and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, which seemed like a really weird reaction to the coolest news ever!
Beacon was the best.
"Miss Rose, I understand that you are very excited and I am being patient… but I do not enjoy being interrupted nor having my eardrums blown out."
"Right, sorry," Ruby apologized, taking a step back. She swallowed, took a moment, then in her very quietest whisper-scream, reiterated, "We're gonna get to fly Chariots?!"
The professor gave her a very unimpressed look.
Weiss' voice came behind Ruby, "Chariots? Really? That's…"
"Awesome?" Yang suggested.
After a moment of consideration, Weiss nodded. "I suppose that fits."
"This model of ATV is called an Armadillo," the professor said. "Come."
She pulled out a little electric key and clicked a button on it. There was an audible *ssshhhk!* sound from the Armadillo (hehehe) as the doors unlocked. There was a loud whirring sound that announced the back door lowering.
"This is SO COOL!" Ruby cheered. She yanked the driver side door open.
Inside, it was a little lamer than she'd been expecting. There were some blinking lights but not a lot, there were some dials and levers but not a lot, there were some buttons and doodads, but not a lot. The steering wheel was bigger than usual—at least, bigger than the one in Dad's truck that was embodied most of Ruby's experience with steering wheels. There was a touchscreen in the center like a dashboard, which was pretty neat. The seats were thin to make room for a walkway down the middle that led to the back.
She hopped up and settled into the driver's seat, gripping the wheel and giving it a few jerks from side.
"The pedal feels like it's really far away," she remarked as she reached to poke it with her toes.
When Professor Goodwitch made a weird choking sound, Ruby looked over to find her covering her mouth with a hand. It… looked like…
"Are you laughing at me?"
The professor lowered her hand to show a completely blank face. "No. I would never."
"She was totally laughing at me!" Ruby told her team.
"So rude," Yang lamented, shaking her head. "Really unprofessional for a teacher, honestly."
"I've changed my mind. Detention for all of you." She talked over Yang and Ruby as they started protesting. "Now, let's go through introducing this big block of metal, yes? Hop out for a moment, Ruby."
Begrudgingly, Ruby followed orders.
"Firstly, notice the obscenely large, wide tires," Professor Goodwitch said in her lecture voice. "They are… well, I have no idea what they're called, but they're very good for off roading. They can clear ditches and roll over rocks and foliage much better than the average car. You can also raise the body of the truck from the axles to get even better off roading."
"Like a monster truck?" Yang asked.
"I… suppose?" the professor said, blinking. "Possibly. I'm not overly familiar with monster trucks."
"See, Yang, even Professor Goodwitch thinks they're lame," Ruby nudged.
"They're not lame!"
"Super lame. They're just trucks but fat."
"Not fat, ripped!"
"Guys!" Weiss interrupted.
When they looked at Weiss, she jerked her head towards the professor, who had taken her glasses off and was pinching the bridge of her nose.
"... Sorry," Ruby said again.
"Just… get in," Professor Goodwitch sighed. "We can talk about the Armadillo on the way."
Ruby jumped back up to the driver's seat and settled i—
"You're not driving!"
"Eep!"
She rolled out of the seat and clambered into the one on the passenger side.
To avoid the terrible wrath of their grumpypants professor, the rest of her team decided to walk around to get in the back.
"Whoooa," Yang exclaimed, her voice echoing through the metal passageway behind Ruby.
Naturally, Ruby had to dash back there to see what was so cool.
The back of the truck was divided into two sections. The one closer to the front had two seats against the wall, basically facing the opposite direction of the driver and passenger seats, and there were three seats along each side wall. Between the two sets of seats facing each other was a rectangular table… chest… display? It had a big screen on the top and hinges on the side to show that it opened up, as well as some drawers and cabinets on the sides. Along one side wall was a whiteboard that gave huge classroom vibes, but directly opposite it was a series of racks holding electronics like earpieces and sensor-rod looking things, empty holsters that Ruby guessed were for Dust, and first aid kits.
The back section was wide and empty and could have fit Yang's motorcycle (technically Dad's 'cause Yang technically wasn't old enough to drive it yet, hehe) or maybe even a small car. Up against one wall was a tall, thin container that had the words 'CAMPING GEAR' printed in big bold letters in the middle.
"This thing is as big as my bedroom!" Ruby joked as she took it all in. Weiss gave her a quizzical look, which made Ruby wonder how big Weiss' bedroom was.
Castle sized, obviously, but… Ruby had no idea how big that actually was.
"This is… wow," Yang said.
When she looked to see Blake's reaction, Ruby noticed her eyes were distant, not really taking anything in. Had Blake even said anything in the last… while?
"Blake, whatchu thinking about?" she asked to stir her teammate.
"... Hm? What?" she replied, rousing.
"You okay? You've been quiet."
Blake got all self consciously fidgety. "Y-yeah, just… worried."
"Worried you might explode from coolness overload from this mega awesome war truck?"
A breathy laugh came out of Blake and seemed to bring some life back to her expression. "What? No, I meant the assassin."
"Oh. Yeah. Well, don't worry about that! There's no way he's here for us. We're just a buncha dumb kids."
"... Yeah."
"Who are you calling dumb?" Weiss challenged in a very Weissy voice.
Ruby ignored her and waved Blake over. "Come check out this… tv table!"
"Display table," Professor Goodwitch corrected as she entered behind Ruby. "But yes, do come here. Ruby, your scroll?"
"Huh? Oh."
Ruby unclipped her scroll from her belt and put it in her professor's outstretched hand. She took it and placed it in a divot beside the screen. There was a quiet 'bleep!', then Ruby's home scroll screen appeared on the table, fully displaying her wallpaper of Zwei with Dad's sandal in his mouth wagging his tail at the camera.
"Awww," Weiss and the professor both said together, then blinked at each other in surprise.
"That's our happy lil' dummy," Yang said.
"Dog," Blake grumped, narrowing her eyes like the absolute cutie on the screen was somehow suspect.
"You, uh, more of a cat person?" Yang asked with a grin.
"I hate you."
"Why is he eating a shoe?" Weiss asked.
"He's a dog, Weiss," Ruby answered. "He sticks more random crap in his mouth than Yang."
"Hey!"
"Girls, please," the professor sighed again. When they all fell silent and looked at her, she continued. "You'll be able to use your scrolls here, and it has a built in database of maps, huntsmen dossiers, regional political, cultural, and socio-economic profiles, and other relevant info about the cities and towns you may visit, as well as some other data you may find useful on your Hunts." To demonstrate, she clicked a button in the corner and Ruby's scroll image shrunk and pushed to the side, replaced by an interface with a bunch of tabs and folders and whatnot that looked very intimidating to Ruby.
"I do love me some polisocio—OW!"Yang was abruptly cut off as Weiss stomped on her foot.
When the professor glared at them, Weiss looked completely innocent with her hands clasped in front of her and Yang looked like she wanted to throw said innocent girl out the back ramp they'd come in on.
"This seems like an incredible resource," Weiss remarked.
"Mm. The screen is also wet erase, so feel free to write on it with the markers clipped next to the whiteboard."
She pressed a few buttons and then a keyboard appeared on the screen under an admin password prompt. Before Ruby even had the time to contemplate whether or not she was supposed to look away, Miss Goodwitch's lightning fast fingers had already typed something in and hit enter. Eight big boxes appeared, two at each corner of the screen, each with the word 'SCAN' written inside them.
"Now, girls, please place your hands down to scan your hand and fingerprints into the system," they were instructed.
"OoooOOOoooh," Ruby cooed.
THIS WAS SO COOL!
!
She smacked her hands down in her boxes as her teammates did the same.
"This is dope," Yang said.
"Heck yeah it is!" Ruby agreed.
When all four of them were in prime hand scanning position, the professor pushed a button and there was a 'weewooweewoo' noise from the table, then a happy 'ding!'
"Can we use the super awesome spy table now?" Ruby asked, hopping up and down a little.
"... Yes, you can now use the… super awesome spy table," Professor Goodwitch confirmed.
"Wooh—!"
"Now let's go to your contract," she said, bulldozing through Ruby's cheer as she brought Ruby's scroll back up on screen and opened the Contracts Board app. She navigated to the Hunt Ruby had claimed and hit the address button. A GPS map with a path highlighted leading from them to… somewhere that Ruby guessed was Saffron Hills popped up. "And we'll send that to the front," she pressed a couple buttons on the side of the screen, "and now we can have our directions to go."
"Woohoo!" Ruby cheered again, wheeling on her heel to run back to the fr—
"Hngh!" she croaked as the clasp of her cloak bit into her neck, refusing to budge. She turned…
Miss Goodwitch had grabbed her hood!
'More like Professor Jerkwitch,' she muttered in her head.
"Before we go, let's go over your Hunt, shall we?"
Ruby pouted. She really wanted to zoom around in their giant tank.
"Miss Team Leader, why don't you read out the details of your contract for us?" the professor said, giving Ruby a dry look while she brought up the details page on the big screen.
Accepting defeat, Ruby took a deep breath and started.
"Ahem!"