Class continued for another hour and a half, with every team taking their own turns fighting. Pyrrha and Weiss against Ren and Nora was quite a spectacle to behold. While most wouldn't have put it past Pyrrha to win any match up she was a part of, many weren't giving Weiss the respect she deserved. She was no Pyrrha Nikos when it came to raw talent, but Weiss fought with a practiced grace and tenacity that overwhelmed both Nora and Ren. Violet had no doubt that she and Yang would have their work cut out for them if they went head to head with Siren in their doubles round.

Cardin and Russel managed to edge out both Dove and Sky. Cardin himself had improved drastically, only needing that extra push to get his fighting style on the right track. It seemed as if he'd been doing more training with his teammates as well, as they all appeared more competent than they were in weeks past. Violet cheered the loudest at the outcome, more than willing to encourage Cardin's continued growth.

Finally, class was dismissed. Team Siren wished them luck with their team training before heading off back to their own dorms, leaving Vibrant alone with Miss Goodwitch. Violet led them down to the arena floor where Glynda was, finishing up the grades for the last spar.

"So, Glynda. How are we gonna do this?" Violet asked, fingers laced behind her head.

Glynda didn't raise her eyes from the device she held, "It is a rather simple process. I will provide you with a number of opponents in various configurations, and you will decide how best to handle them as a team."

"And when you say 'opponents'...?"

"Atlesian tech training dummies. They are designed with simulations in mind, and as such are built with a far stronger material. They are programmed to sense impacts and deactivate on a well placed strike."

"We're just beating up robots?" Yang slumped, "Do we even need to use teamwork against them? Those things aren't very coordinated."

"A half-baked strategy will always fail if you have not put the time in to improve upon it. The difficulty is in your communication with each other, not with your opponents, Miss Xiao Long," Glynda finished up with the last class's final scores and changed to a different application. With a few quick keystrokes, a series of doors opened up beneath the stage. Half a dozen androids stepped out, colored to fit with Vale's aesthetic instead of Atlas's, though it was easy to tell exactly what they were.

The androids marched their way across to the arena floor and stepped up to take positions along one side. They were each outfitted with lightning dust rifles, guns that fired a small round, enough to give you a shock to know you'd been hit, but not enough to actually damage your aura.

"I trust your team has been thinking of potential combinations to practice. If not I could offer some suggestions," Glynda offered, stepping off to the side of the stage, out of the line of fire.

"We've thought of some!" Ruby chipped in excitedly. She eyed the gathered androids along with Violet, "There's too many for 'Smite', what do you think we should start with?"

Violet looked over the androids and smirked back at Ruby and Blake, "How about 'Ladybug'? Yang and I have already had gotten our warm up in, and it'll let me see how well you two work together."

"Okay!" Ruby moved into position with Blake and began describing the maneuver to her, a mixture of confusion tactics involving Blake setting up clones to focus on and Ruby moving in and out of combat with her speed.

They spent the next two hours running certain strategies through their paces and getting recommendations and tips from Glynda. Violet was happy with their performance for the most part. Her entire team trusted each other, and were quick to forgive any failed attempts. They weren't anywhere near seamless yet, but with a couple weeks of training under their belts, Violet could definitely see the more basic maneuvers being perfected.

"Alright, that's enough for one day," Glynda called out, looking over the four exhausted girls, "Miss Regalia, you still have your training with Qrow later this evening. I suggest you rest up while you can before then."

Violet wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded. Even reducing Zenith's weight as she did, it still regained it right before contact. Two hours of swinging it around had left her arms feeling numb. Blake was even worse off. She sat panting on the sidelines with Ruby while Violet and Yang ran their combination. It focused heavily on overwhelming an opponent with a series of fast-paced attacks. Violet had her work cut out for her trying to keep up with Yang.

"Okay," Violet breathed out heavily and returned Zenith to her back, "Showers and pizza, my treat… the pizzas, I mean. You can take your own showers," she turned from her team and gave Glynda a raised eyebrow, "Sure you don't want me to pick you up a slice?"

"I will be quite alright, Miss Regalia," Glynda shook her head, "Qrow will message you when he's ready. I believe he's eager to continue making strides in your development."

Violet wasn't sure what to make of that. She assumed Glynda would have known about her request to help track down Roman, 'Did we get denied?' That was troubling, to say the least. The longer it took for their side mission to begin, the more time Cinder and her cronies would have to prepare, 'I'll have to 'make strides' in my training, I suppose. It might run a few risks, but that's preferable to risking my team.'

Violet gave a half salute as Glynda left. The other three were already shuffling off to the locker rooms and their attached showers. Violet joined them, more than ready to rid herself of the sweat that had built up over the course of training. Thankfully, they'd all long since realized it was a good idea to keep a spare change of clothes in their lockers.

Violet wore a simple pink long sleeve shirt and white jeans out of the locker room to find the others similarly dressed in street clothes. Among them, Violet was the only one that still carried her weapon.

"Are you really going to bring that down into Vale?" Yang cocked an eyebrow at the massive greatsword.

"Better safe than sorry. I doubt Amber expected to get attacked, either," Violet shrugged, "It might be better if we all kept them close at hand from now on."

Blake was the first to agree and fetch her own weapon. Violet hardly blamed her with the looming threat of Adam being out there somewhere. Both Ruby and Yang seemed uncomfortable about the proposal, but followed Blake's lead. They returned fully armed, weapons in tow.

Violet nodded her approval and began leading them to where the bullheads were docked. It was still early in the evening, half past five with the sun still far from the Vale horizon. The four boarded and were swiftly transported down, left free to roam the city streets.

"Alright, ladies," Violet spread her hands wide, "We have an hour or so to kill. Where to, Yang?"

Yang and Ruby exchanged glances and a shrug, "Best place in town is Rosso's."

Ruby nodded agreement, "Yeah. Uncle Qrow would bring some home after long trips."

"Rosso's it is, then," Violet gestured for the two girls to lead and fell into place next to Blake. While she was trying to hide it, the faunus's eyes were on a constant pivot. Her ears twitched at each passing car, every loud shout.

Violet bumped into her and spoke quietly, not wanting to put the two sisters on edge the same way Blake already was, "Hey, we'll be alright. If this 'Adam' guy shows up, I'll freeze him in ice a mile thick."

"I think maidens would be more known about if that were possible, Violet," Blake replied tightly. Her eyes continued to roam, but she did spare a glance for her team leader, "It's fine. I've spent a long time looking over my shoulder."

Violet sighed, "If it makes you feel better, then I won't stop you. Just let me know if you see him, alright? I don't need you slipping off because you're worried he'll hurt one of us. Your safety is just as important to me, dark past or no dark past. Don't ever think you aren't worth protecting."

Blake skipped a step, eyes moving to stare into Violet's, "I… That's…" the faunus shook her head, exasperated, "You always know what to say."

"Promise me, Blake. Promise me you won't run off like that."

Blake sighed, "I promise I won't run off to protect all of you."

"Because we would chase you down anyway," Violet nodded, accepting Blake's promise, "Come hell or high water, it's better to stand together."

Violet could see Blake's expression soften. A smile tugged at her lips, her eyes staring into Violet's.

"Oh, jeez," Yang called out from a little ways ahead, "I didn't know Ruby and I would be chapperoning!"

Violet broke away an extra step from Blake with a small laugh. The faunus's cheeks reddened and her eyes turned to glare at Yang, "That's strike two, Xiao Long. You don't want to know what happens on strike three."

"Oooooh~" Yang held her hands to her face in mock panic, "Ruby! Please protect me from the vicious kitty cat!"

Blake narrowed her eyes in a pretend glower. It was easy enough to tell the difference as her ears didn't flatten as they would when Blake was actually angry. She crossed her arms for good measure, whispering under her breath, "Just you wait, Yang. We'll see how funny it is when you find someone."

Violet gave a quiet laugh and kept her voice down, "I don't think she'd mind, honestly. Yang has no shame."

Blake took Violet's word for it and gave up on her glower with a shake of her head, returning to keeping an eye on their surroundings, if a bit more relaxed than earlier. Every now and then her eyes would fall back on Violet and stay there for a second too long before darting away.

"So, what's Menagerie like? I've heard it's very tropical, but you can't exactly trust Atlas as a source of information when it comes to the faunus," Violet asked, sparring an eye to their surroundings as well. The streets were still rather full with citizens, many of which gave the group of girls a wide berth at the sight of their weapons. The street lights were beginning to come on, washing the shadows out with a dull glow that wasn't quite necessary yet.

"Kuo Kuana is… nice, if you don't mind large crowds. The portion of Menagerie that the faunus settled on is rather tropical, but beyond that, the land is nothing but hard packed desert and dangerous creatures."

"Like the grimm?"

"No. There are hardly any grimm on Menagerie. It's filled with mostly large predators, and a thousand different venomous insects and reptiles that could kill you with a single bite."

'Was the God of Light dabbling in Destruction? What's up with that?' Violet frowned, 'I might do something about that before long.' She didn't really see any negative in helping to fix up Menagerie and make the rest of it habitable. It would have to be over the course of a few years, perhaps, otherwise 'god's hand' would be visibly at work, but better that than left as it was indefinitely.

"Anything you could keep as a pet?" Violet joked with a smirk.

"When I was little, one of the guards did try raising a dune panther, buuut it turned on him after it reached adulthood. Another three guards died trying to take it down. There's laws about keeping anything in the city as a pet, mostly to keep them away from everyone else. The guard had to get written permission from my father to even try with the panther."

"That's awful. Did your dad get a lot of backlash from it?"

"Some," Blake shrugged, "But everyone knew what he was trying to do. If we could tame the desert then it would let us branch out further and free up space."

"That's too bad. I bet riding around on a dune panther would be fun."

Blake laughed, "Don't let the name fool you. They resemble cats, but they're twice the size of regular panthers and have thick scales instead of fur. They blend in with their environment like chameleons and won't hesitate to attack anything smaller than them."

"... Nevermind then," Violet shivered, "That sounds more like the stuff of nightmares."

"Faunus closer to the frontier use them as warnings to their children when they misbehave. 'If you don't finish your dinner, then a dune panther will see how small you are and have you for dinner instead'."

"That's terrible!" Ruby gasped, having fallen further back with Yang while the two spoke.

Blake smiled, "Did your dad never use the grimm to scare you?"

Yang laughed, "That wouldn't have worked on Ruby. She's always been pretty gung-ho when it came to killing grimm. Besides, after that whole incident in the woods," she gave Violet a meaningful glance, "he thought Ruby would be terrified of them."

"Pfft," Ruby waved her hand limply, "I don't even remember that."

Violet thought back to that tiny scream she'd heard all those years ago, and the way Ruby had shivered, hidden beneath her hood in the cart for the rest of the way home. She let out a sigh, "I'm glad you don't, Ruby."

Yang nodded in agreement, then turned back to face the way they were heading. "Almost there!" she pointed a little ways up the street to the front of a restaurant with a brightly lit neon sign, announcing itself as Rosso's. Each 'O' was a pizza with a single slice starting to get pulled out.

"At least we couldn't have missed it," Blake replied simply.

The group of girls made their way to the diner. The front of the building mainly consisted of one long window, with the door set on the far left. The red brick work was cracked in places, showing its age in comparison to the buildings surrounding it. They stepped into the brightly lit interior, a din of voices washing over them the instant the door opened.

The entranceway was mostly blocked from view, but Violet had seen a few empty tables through the window out front. A waitress stood behind a small podium at the end of the entrance walkway, dressed nicely with a clipboard held against her chest. Violet's eyes narrowed as she caught on to the 'No Faunus Allowed' sign behind her.

The waitress's eyes paused on Blake's ears before she could begin greeting them. She coughed into her hand instead, eyeing the weapons they carried. Violet stretched and left one hand behind her head, near Zenith's hilt.

"Hi, we'd like to get a table," Violet said sweetly, eyes going to the small name tag on her chest, "That won't be a problem, will it Afina?"

"Um…" Afina nervously glanced at Blake again, then scanned the crowd for other employees. She was young, barely a year or two older than any of them, and likely had nothing to do with the sign, "I… I think we're full right now-" at Violet's glare she stammered, "B-But let me go find a m-manager and see what we can do!"

Blake had noticed the sign as well by then, as did Ruby and Yang.

"What the hell!?" Yang stared aghast at the sign, then back to Blake, "I swear they didn't have that the last time we were here, Blake."

Blake shifted uncomfortably, ears flattening on her head, "Maybe we should just leave…?"

"As if," Violet practically snarled, "We're going to get to the bottom of this.".

The waitress returned with an older man, in his late fifties, brown hair dusted with grey. He looked across the group with a bored expression, eyes pausing on Blake for a few seconds longer than the others. His gaze then settled on Violet at the front.

"I'm sorry, but due to the recent crime spree linked to the White Fang, our restaurant will no longer be serving faunus. If you want, I can recommend another establishment a few streets over that doesn't mind fleas?"

"How dare y-" Yang began, but was cut off as Violet raised a hand. Her fingers trembled for a second, but then relaxed as she maintained her composure.

"Let me get this straight…" Violet's voice was dangerously low, "You're afraid that any faunus you let into your restaurant could be a White Fang member, and in order to avoid that, you're banning all faunus?"

"That's right. The laws allow us to refuse service to anyone we choose. We chose faunus."

"And you're going to stick to that, going so far as to deny four huntresses? The exact people that you would need to save you if your restaurant was attacked by the White Fang?"

The manager frowned, seeming to understand what Violet was implying, "It's your duty to protect the citizens."

Violet scoffed, "It's my duty to protect what I want to protect. There's no law saying that I can't 'refuse service' either," she stared into the manager's eyes, "The way I see it, you have two choices. Leave your signs up while drawing the ire of the White Fang, and get no protection from anyone at Beacon... or take it down, and you can have us on speed dial."

A hint of uncertainty passed behind the manager's eyes, but he stood firm, "Are you saying you could convince everyone to leave us to the mercy of the White Fang?" his voice was full of doubt.

Violet stepped closer, lowering her hand from where it had been resting near her hilt and grabbed the edge of the wooden podium. Amethyst flames ignited where her hand touched, slowly rippling out and blackening the wood beneath it. Her eyes glared into the manager's, "I can be very persuasive."

The manager and waitress both took a step back, uncertainty shifting to fear. Violet withdrew her hand and extinguished the flames, then purposefully held the same hand out to the manager, "Do we have a deal?"

The manager spent a few moments looking between the burn marks and Violet's outstretched hand before he finally turned around and ripped the sign off the wall. He held out his own hand and shook Violet's roughly, eyeing the scorch marks, "Leave your number on the bill and the sign stays down."

"Of course," Violet smiled, "I never go back on a promise."

The manager gestured for the waitress to lead them to a table, where they were quickly seated next to the window near the front. Violet was forced to lean Zenith up against the side of their booth, since sitting with it on was nearly impossible. The waitress stayed an extra foot away from the table, hands shaking as she held a pen overtop the clipboard.

"W-would you like anything to d-drink?" Afina stammered. Her gaze repeatedly flickered back to Violet's hands, though she tried to hide it.

Violet gave her a sad smile, "You have nothing to worry about, Afina. I know you aren't to blame," Violet turned to the rest of her team, "I'll take some water. What do you guys want?"

The rest of her team shared a glance, but ordered, also looking mildly uncomfortable with the situation. Blake gave Violet a very disapproving stare as she ordered her drink. Once the waitress hurriedly left, three sets of eyes focused on their team leader.

"Not cool, Vi. Not cool."

"What were you thinking?" Blake added on immediately after Yang, voice lowering, "You shouldn't be abusing your power like that. What if someone had seen!?"

"Who could have aside from them?" Violet pointed out, "The entire entryway is blocked off from the rest of the restaurant by that wall."

"They might tell other people!"

Violet waved them off, "Most people will think it was a semblance or some kind of dust manipulation. I didn't exactly go overboard with it."

"You did more than enough," Blake fixed her with a frown, "I appreciate how much you care for faunus, Violet, I really do… but threatening people is going too far."

"Oh come on," Violet looked at each in turn, sensing the disapproval behind their eyes, "That was the only way for him to see reason! The White Fang specifically targets businesses that don't serve faunus. He was making himself a bigger target!"

"Is that why you did it, though?" there was doubt in Blake's voice.

"Well…" Violet shrugged dejectedly, "I couldn't stand the idea of you being upset…"

"I keep telling you I'm used to it, Violet," Blake replied, gently placing a hand on her arm, "You don't have to defend me from everything little thing. Especially if it means hurting other people to do it."

"I wouldn't have actually hurt anyone," Violet balked, eyes widening.

"The waitress didn't seem to think so," Yang muttered, watching as Afina returned with a small tray topped with four drinks. She carefully set the tray down on the table and handed out each glass, preferring to stand closer to Ruby than Violet.

Violet sighed, "Afina," and waited for the girl to meet her eyes, "I'm sorry about my behavior before. Please believe me when I say you have nothing to worry about. I was a little angry because of the sign… but I would never resort to hurting other people. I didn't mean to scare you as much as I did."

Afina kept her eyes locked on Violet's, able to both see and hear the sincerity in her voice. The tension left her shoulders, and her stance shifted into one that was more relaxed, "How did you do that with the flames?"

The other three shot Violet a warning glare, but she simply brushed them off, "Just a semblance. It won't hurt you," Violet held her hand out, palm upward, "Want to see?"

Afina had been holding the tray to her chest like a shield, but at Violet's offer, her curiosity got the better of her. Tentatively, one hand reached out to rest atop Violet's.

Ever so slowly, the amethyst flames lit up, tickling the underside of Afina's hand, but otherwise doing nothing to harm her. Her eyes widened in surprise, "It's… not even hot."

Violet allowed them to once again extinguish and smiled, "Of course not. Why would they be?"

"But the podium…"

"Was just a podium, not a person."

Afina gave a small smile, comforted by Violet's attempts to make amends, "... Are you ready to order?"

Violet laughed and glanced about the table, seeing that none of the others had even bothered to open up their menus yet, "I think we'll be a bit longer. Thank you, Afina."

"You're welcome," she gave a small nod to the group, "I'll be back in a few!", then returned to the podium. Once there, Violet could see her brushing a hand over the black mark that marred its surface, the quirk of a smile on her face.

Ruby stared wide-eyed at Violet, "Why didn't you say you could do that? This changes everything!"

'Because I made it up on the spot?' Violet gave a small frown, "What does that change, exactly?"

"Our team attacks!" Ruby rolled her eyes, "We don't need Blake for 'Cheshire', you can do that with anybody!"

Violet held a hand to her chin in thought, "I guess you're right."

Ruby leaned forward with a sudden intensity and whispered, "Can you set Crescent Rose on fire without burning it?"

For her answer, Violet picked up one of the knives on the table and lit the blade in amethyst flames before handing it to the young reaper, who accepted it carefully. Ruby timidly edged her finger closer to the flames, feeling for any heat, but found none. Violet grabbed a napkin and pushed it closer to her, "Touch the knife to it."

Ruby did so, and the napkin burst into flame. Violet hurriedly put it out and used some of her water to help wipe away the ashes that had been left behind. Yang's and Blake's eyes darted around the nearby tables, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind. The fire had been small, all things considered. The smell of burnt napkin was overwhelmed by the smell of pizza that already permeated the air.

"You can decide what gets affected?" Yang whispered in awe, staring at where the napkin had been previously, "I thought it only worked on grimm?"

"That's all I used it on before," Violet confirmed, "A little training with Qrow helped figure a few more things out."

'A lie, but I'll work it out with him tonight and no one will know the difference.'

"Be more careful!" Blake hissed quietly, eyes still scanning those nearby, "Save it for your training with Qrow. There's too many people around us."

"Nobody noticed," Violet chided affectionately, "but," she raised her hands when Blake looked like she wanted to argue further, "You're right. Now isn't the time."

Blake gave a self-satisfied nod then turned to Ruby, "So what's this 'Cheshire' team attack you mentioned? Neither of you brought it up during the class with Glynda."

Ruby leaned across the table, voice low, "It's one of the secret attacks we came up with. You would draw in a group of grimm, then escape with your semblance and Violet would do her 'thing' when they attacked it. Now it doesn't matter who's the bait, though."

"Glad I was consulted on it," Blake replied flatly.

"We were going to wait until after we finished with team tactics and Violet finished with her own training before we brought them up."

"Hey, if Blake doesn't wanna do it, I'm game," Yang offered up, "I'm pretty much on fire when I activate my semblance anyway."

"I didn't say I wouldn't do it," Blake balked quickly.

"Okay ladies," Violet raised her hands between them with a smile, "No fighting over who gets to be set on fire. I'm hot enough for both of you."

Yang grinned while Blake rolled her eyes. Ruby muttered something under her breath. Violet caught the jist of it, 'like having two sisters', and laughed.

Conversation died down for a minute while they each finally took the time to choose out their orders. Violet told them to get whatever they wanted as a reward for training so hard. It didn't take Violet very long to choose out what she wanted for herself. Her mind had already been made up since combat class.

While waiting for the others to finish picking out their orders, Violet couldn't help but notice Afina welcoming in another patron. It was the grey that tipped her off first, as Mercury stepped into view. Violet averted her eyes back to her team while the assassin's gaze roamed across the restaurant.

With a nod of his head to indicate where he wanted to sit, Afina led Mercury over to the booth directly behind team Vibrant's. He sat a foot away from Violet, backs turned towards each other, with only cushions and wood separating them. Zenith rested against the side of the booth between both.

"I'll take a water for now," Mercury stated mildly. Violet could hear him picking up his menu, the laminated pages turning as he looked through it, "I might take a minute to order though."

"Not a problem!" Afina smiled, "I'll be back in a few!" she then stepped a few feet to her right, so that she was now in front of Vibrant's table, "Are you all ready to order yet?"

Violet shared a look with the other three, confirming that they were all ready, then started it off by ordering for herself. Ruby and Yang chipped in next, both requesting meat lover's, while Blake asked for a plain cheese pizza with anchovies. Violet couldn't help but snicker at that, earning herself a light backhand to the shoulder.

Afina left with their orders, leaving the four alone again aside from the new eavesdropper. Thankfully, the others noticed the addition of another person much closer than most and had the sensibility not to talk about secret matters any more.

"I don't think Oobleck is going to let you two get away with slacking again," Violet warned, deciding to change the subject to something school related; a natural topic for huntresses in training, "I'm glad you did so well though, Little Red."

Ruby squirmed under the attention, "I didn't do it all myself."

Violet waved it off, "Ninety percent is close enough. I didn't lose sleep over it."

"Why are you so good at history in the first place, Vi?" Yang asked, slumping her head on her hand, "It's so boring."

'I could teach you a few things about real boredom,' Violet smiled, "I had good tutors. It's important to understand the mistakes that other people have made so that you don't make the same ones in the future."

"Like what?" Yang scoffed, "It isn't as if I'm going to end up like General Lagune."

Violet decided to take a risk with Mercury sitting behind her, "Ah, but you don't have to be in that specific circumstance to learn the real lesson behind Lagune's story."

Yang frowned, "And what's that?"

"To not fall prey to your own arrogance. Lagune believed his assault was destined for success, and we all know how that panned out. In the end, many of his officers were executed, and Lagune himself will be remembered throughout history as a failure."

"Serves him right," Blake glowered darkly, "The things his men did to the faunus they captured… They're lucky they were only executed."

Violet laughed, "Another lesson to take from it. Karma always comes knocking in the end. They would have been better off cutting their losses."

"I guess I see your point," Yang replied, "Doesn't stop it from being boring, though."

Violet conceded with a small smile, "I won't force you to like it. You still need to pass the class."

Yang waved her hand dismissively, "You think I could show my face at home if I failed a class? Dad's a teacher too, you know."

"You've mentioned it," Violet nodded, "What exactly does he teach?"

"Home Ec."

Violet had to stifle a laugh, 'The T in team STRQ, most badass of all teams to ever graduate Beacon... teaches Home Ec!?' The sisters both caught on to Violet's demeanor from the way her chest twitched and how she held her hand over her mouth.

"Hey, he still kicks butt!" Ruby insisted fiercely, giving Violet a glower.

Violet waved her hand, managing to suppress the laughter that still threatened to bubble out, "No, no. I just wasn't expecting that. He did seem pretty laid back when we called him. I'd like to meet him for real some time."

"I'll set you up with a spar," Yang said flatly, eyes still narrowed, "Bet he could teach you a thing or two."

"No, Yang, really. That's not necessary," Violet smiled apologetically, "I was expecting you to say he was the combat instructor or something."

Ruby expression grew somber, "Dad doesn't like to fight anymore… Not after… Mom."

"Say no more," Violet placed a hand overtop the young huntress's, "I get it. I would still love to meet him."

Ruby smiled, "Maybe next Sunday! I bet Dad would like that, too."

Yang looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded, "I could spare a Sunday to go see the old man. You in, Blake?"

Blake appeared uncertain for a moment, but eventually nodded, "That sounds fun. I've never been to Patch."

"It's a cozy little town," Yang confirmed, "Not much happens there, honestly. We get the occasional grimm or three, but for the most part it's really peaceful. A lot of hunters move there to retire on their own patch of land. It's where the island gets its name, or so I've heard."

"It gets more than the occasional grimm," Ruby corrected, "but with some many retired hunters around, they don't tend to be an issue in town."

"That sounds promising," Violet smiled.

The conversation died out as Afina returned with their orders, both arms carrying two circular trays apiece. She gently lowered them down on to the table and slid them into place, "Can I get you anything else?"

"We should be good, thanks," Yang replied, eyes only on her own pizza that had been stacked high with toppings. It appeared the manager had been more than generous. Blake's order had even come with an extra box, filled to the brim with more sardines and a written apology.

Violet doubted its sincerity, but welcomed it all the same. She continued appearing as nonchalant as possible while they ate, but kept her attention focused as well as she could on Mercury behind her. Afina returned with his water and he once again declined to order, saying that he was having difficulty deciding. Afina offered up a few suggestions, but Mercury turned them all down.

'Should I be more direct to try and scare him off?' Violet pondered her options as she ate, finally deciding that simply talking to him might spook him. She turned to the side, feet out into the aisle next to Zenith, "The bacon and pepp is pretty good."

"Is it?" Mercury turned to the side as well, "I was thinking about getting the meat lover's, but after seeing your teammates'... That's a bit more than I could handle."

"Nobody to bring leftovers home to?" Violet put on a fake pout, "A guy like you has to have at least a couple girls on his heels."

Mercury laughed, "You offering?"

Violet smiled, "Sorry, someone's already staked their claim."

"Pity," Mercury held his hand out, "Name's Mercury. My team and I are here early for the Vytal Festival. Our grades were good enough so they let us come here instead of taking another boring mission."

"Oh!" Ruby piped up, "Where are you from?"

"Mistral," Mercury replied simply, "It isn't nearly as nice as Vale. Hence why we wanted to get here so soon."

"Makes sense," Yang replied proudly, "I've heard my uncle saying crime is pretty rampant in Mistral."

"He's right about that. There's more thieves and scoundrels than honest businessmen."

'Takes one to know one,' Violet's scroll buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to check who was messaging her.

"Meet in ten," Qrow's message was displayed across the screen. Violet pretended to sigh, but was secretly thankful for the excuse to leave.

"Gotta go, ladies. Let's get this packed up," Violet gave Afina a polite wave to get her attention before turning back to Mercury, "It was nice meeting you, Merc. I hope we'll have a longer chat next time."

"Looking forward to it," Mercury smiled to the group before turning back around. He picked his menu back up and muttered to himself, "Maybe I will get the meat lover's…"

Violet requested some take out boxes, which Afina was quick to fetch. They loaded up their food. With Mercury there, Violet made sure to hand her receipt, scroll number included, directly to Afina along with a substantial tip and a promise of repeat business, 'If only to make sure they're keeping up on their side of the bargain.'

The girls left with a skip in their step, and Violet with an eye over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Vi. That was almost worth losing."

"Yeah! Thanks Violet!"

"Thank you, Violet."

"Guys," Violet turned back to them and shook her head, "There's no need for that, seriously. You having a good time was thanks enough."

"Awwww, just what I'd expect out of Auntie Vi."

"Yaaang," Violet rolled her eyes, "You're going to make me regret ever making that stupid joke, aren't you?"

"You do act like a doting parent sometimes," Blake added.

'Well, you're not too far off in the grand scheme of things,' Violet smirked, "You'd all be lost without me."

"Hey! Give us some credit!"

"Fine, fine," Violet held her hands up, "Without me, you all would have ended up with Weiss on your team instead, and Ruby would be the team leader."

"Like that would ever happen," Ruby scoffed, "I'm two years younger. Why would I be the leader?"

"To match the team name, obviously. You, Weiss, Blake, and Yang would make team RWBY."

Ruby frowned, "The entire team named after me? That's way too much pressure."

"Nah," Violet patted her on the back, "You would have been fine."

"Ruby can hardly lead Zwei on a walk," Yang laughed, "But I would have still rooted for ya, sis."

"I can't imagine being on a team with Weiss," Blake's eyebrows were knit together in a frown, "That sounds like a literal nightmare."

"I guess we'll never know how it would have gone," Violet sighed, "Instead, we ended up with the best team I could have ever asked for."

"You got that right!" Yang cheered, "We're going to have to train extra hard to make sure you can beat Pyrrha in the final round of the tournament."

"That confident, eh? You never know how strong some of the people from the other schools might be. I wouldn't put it past them to have a few strong contenders as well."

"We'll knock 'em down a peg or two."

"Or three!" Ruby chipped in.

Their conversation continued, all the way from the bullhead to the platform on top of Beacon where Violet excused herself to go meet up with Qrow. Violet found the older huntsman waiting at the edge of the cliff, looking down on the forest beneath as Violet walked up.

"Hungry?"

"Huh?" Qrow turned around to see Violet standing nearby and holding out the pizza box.

"Heard you liked Rosso's, so I thought I'd offer," Violet continued, gesturing for Qrow to take the box off her hands. He complied and popped the top open, pulling out one of the slices before taking a bite.

"So," Qrow chipmunked the bite he had taken, "Good news and bad news. Good news is, you can help me go after Torchwick. Bad news is, it's only after Oz thinks you've improved enough to take care of yourself."

Violet nodded, though her agitation was apparent, "That's fair enough, I guess. Is there some 'standard' set for when that might be? The longer we wait, the closer Amber gets to letting the maiden's power transfer." 'And the closer our teams get to trying to find Roman for themselves. Delaying a week was all I thought Blake could handle before she would end up fixating on the White Fang again. Recruiting Siren definitely helped as well.'

"I know," Qrow replied sullenly, "but orders are orders."

"Well, in that case," Violet stepped up to the edge of the cliff and glanced back at Qrow, "Shall we get started?"

Not wanting to waste a moment that could otherwise be spent 'proving herself', Violet fell off into the trees below.

A muttered curse following after.

Gosh, it is hard to hold back sometimes. This chapter was wildly different before I had to stop myself and backpedal on what I was writing. Deleted about a thousand words, but I think this will end up being a much better direction in the long run.

Thanks for reading,

- Sybaen