It was the morning after initiation. Weiss was dozing and thinking for the umpteenth time about why she had come to Beacon. She wanted to be useful, to uphold the family name and to prove to herself as well as others she was more than a spoilt, privileged brat. Her father had gone along with it. They had both agreed that she should not attend Atlas. He had already lost Winter to Ironwood and the military while although she admired Winter, she knew she needed to be in an environment where people did not think of her primarily as Winter's little sister. She also wanted to avoid turning into her father. She recognized that his single mindedness and toughness had their advantages, but he had veered into cruelty and ruthlessness. She had also hoped that she could make friends – both her mother and Klein had expressed concern that there was no one she could just have fun with.
She was deliberating whether it was time to get up when suddenly a whistle blew and a far too cheerful voice rang out "Good morning, Team RWBY."
She spluttered awake and stared with a look of horror at her teammate who was already dressed in her combat gear. Ruby said "I know classes do not start until tomorrow, but we should start as we mean to continue and do some cardio before breakfast"
Before Weiss could reply, Blake popped her head up and said, "I will be ready in twenty minutes, but please never use that whistle before 8 in the morning again without warning." Weiss was startled to see that Blake wore her bow in bed and double took at it.
There were noises from the remining bed where a fully dressed Yang was lying on top of her duvet. Yang groaned and said "You cannot be serious Ruby? It is still the middle of the night."
Ruby replied "Yang, please take off your aviators. It is 6.30 and it is a beautiful morning. Ok, let's all be ready to run at 7 and breakfast as a team at 8. Yang, you can wash your hair after breakfast."
Weiss thought about it and decided perhaps it was not a bad idea to start training early, although she would have liked to have been consulted about it in advance. She agreed with Blake that the whistle had to go.
Thinking about it, perhaps she had been luckier with her team than she had feared. When she had got back last night, Blake was already in bed reading a book. Ruby had been reading a weapons handbook and making notes. She and Blake had sort of cleared the air between each other. It had been not to after that fight and it had been exhilarating working as a team. She had recycled the formula she had used with Ruby that she could be a little difficult, but would try to be better. Blake had replied that she had a naturally sarcastic sense of humour, but her bark was worse than her bite and she would try to distinguish between Weiss and the SDC. She had then given an enigmatic half smile as if at some private joke.
She turned round and stared at Yang. She had been awoken at midnight when Yang arrived back from the bar accompanied by some members of the other teams on the landing. From the karaoke bits she had listened to before returning to the dorm, she had recognized the voices of Nora, Jaune, Lydia and Leslie joining in a chorus of "the Funky Wyvern." She presumed that Ren and Pyrrha had been the ones trying to hush them while Brede and Anne had been more tunefully, if not necessarily less antisocially, reprising "Let's call the whole thing Off" (or as Brede was pronouncing it "Awff"). They had been accompanied by Coco (who while merry was not singing) who had helped Yang into the room and had put her scroll on the chest of drawers nearest Yang's bed.
Yang was clearly a more sociable person than her sister and Blake. However, she seemed good natured, although Ruby had warned her and Blake not to touch the hair. While she had been more than a little inebriated last night, she seemed to be a happy drunk rather than mean or self-pitying. Certainly, she had not seemed in any worse condition than the other late returners. The initial signs were that she and Blake got on and that somehow their characters complemented each other.
If only she rather than Ruby had been team leader. Her father would be disappointed and would ask why a little girl had been preferred over her. Willow would at least hear her out and try and find useful lessons for her to learn. On the other hand, she could not moan to Willow and she would be scathing if she looked for excuses rather than reasons.
She tried to be fair to Ruby. Ruby was brave and determined. She had come up with a plan to take down the Nevermore using all four of their weapons and abilities despite having only watched Blake fight for a few minutes and seeing Weiss use the ice crystal function on Myrtenaster once. If Weiss had been team leader, she would have had no problem with delegating the devising of team attacks and weapons development and maintenance to Ruby and relying heavily for her on tactics generally.
On the other hand, she was two years younger than the rest of them and seemed young for her age. No one could be that enthusiastic about drinking milk and she seemed to have divided the world up into things she was interested in and things she was not and seemed to assume that people were fundamentally pleasant and kind. Being led by her was like a pack of wolves been led by a labrador puppy. Her bravery verged on being foolhardy, even Pyrrha had not charged the Death Stalker head on. Why on Remnant had she had decided to hitch a flight on a Nevermore and how on Remnant had she talked Weiss into thinking it was a good idea?
She then remembered a throw away comment last night from Ruby which she had only half taken in. She had been sleepy at that stage as it had been an exhausting couple of days. She had not slept that well in the ballroom and fighting a Death Stalker and a Nevermore had been emotionally as well as physically draining. "Ruby, did you say something last night about bunk beds"
Ruby cheerfully replied "Oh, so you were still awake. It is cramped in here with your cases, Yang's hair care products and Blake's books and I will need some space for my tools as well. I think it would work best if we converted the beds into bunk beds. It should only take me a couple of hours after breakfast, provided I have a little help from one of you."
Yang reacted surprisingly quickly saying "Bags I be on top of Blake." She then burst into a sustained fit of the giggles. Blake, having seen the look of panic on Weiss's face, said in a deadpan tone "Well it does sound efficient"
Weiss accepted her fate and said, "I will help you Ruby, if only to make certain it is safe."
Yang did try and reassure Weiss, "Don't worry, anyone who can build Crescent Rose can do a bunk bed. She takes after dad on the DIY side." She thought about it a moment and then said, "Actually I trust her more than dad."
She found her scroll and asked them "What did I do last night which means Glynda wants to see me at 2 this afternoon?" The other three denied any knowledge as they had left the bar long before her.
Weiss suggested she ask Team LLAC and Team JNPR as they had returned at the same time as Yang.
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In Team Juniper's room, Pyrrha and Ren had agreed to have an early breakfast. Their respective partners were not in a good state although Ren was confident that in three hours Nora would be raring to go and be seeking savoury pancakes. He reassured Pyrrha that there was nothing left in Jaune's stomach and that the way that they had left him meant that there was little to no risk of him choking even if Ren was wrong.
Ren said "It was an entertaining evening and they both enjoyed themselves at the time. I suspect that may have been the first time Jaune had drunk alcohol in large quantities."
Pyrrha replied "I understand now why Coco and the other second years confiscated the scrolls at the door of the bar and returned them to us only when we left. She told me last night that Jaune's and Nora's scrolls were being looked after by the nondescript winter holiday bunny."
Ren checked his scroll, "I believe she was referring to her teammate Velvet. I suspect that this is a joke Coco can make, but the rest of should not join in. Team CFVY has sent you and me a message saying that Nora and Jaune can collect their scrolls from Team CFVY's dorm this morning."
They left the dorm and were surprised to see team Lilac walking out of their own door in full combat gear and a panicked Yang rushing out of her door shouting "What did I do last night?."
Lydia was the first to reply, "Nothing to be worried about and certainly nothing more than us."
Ren produced his scroll and showed Yang the group performance in the corridor of the Funky Wyvern. "I will be deleting this after I have shown it to Nora and Jaune, but I can assure you that this was as bad as you got."
Pyrrha looked at Team Lilac and said "You are looking remarkably healthy this morning. Are you all keeping pictures in the belfry?"
Corkran replied "If only. I think we had the advantage of mixed our drinking with dancing and singing and so probably only drank seventy per cent of what some others consumed. Lydia assures me that dancing burns the alcohol off and who am I to doubt the word of a lady. We also did not participate in the tequila shots with the enthusiasm of your teammates. In this regard, Miss Nikos, while I have always recognized quaffing as a method of limiting the alcohol intake, this is normally done with beer rather than tequila. I am also sure the Aspidistra in the bar did not appreciate being watered with tequila."
Pyrrha blushed at this and muttered "I'm sorry."
Brede said to Yang "I can assure you that nothing happened last night which you need to feel embarrassed about."
Anne deadpanned "Apart from snogging Jaune and Cardin of course." She then winked at Yang.
After a momentary reaction of horror from Yang, she realized that this had been a joke. "Ha, bloody ha."
Team Lilac moved off with Corkran saying "We would love to stay and chat, but we have to be in the combat gym in ten minutes, before we can tackle the silly sausages." Lydia responded to this by playfully hitting him.
Lydia stayed behind for a moment and whispered to Ren "In the unlikely event your teammate remembers, do tell him that I do not hold his invitation against him."
After they left, Yang asked Ren to show her the clip again and asked, "Why were those two singing show tunes?" before returning to her dorm.
Ren and Pyrrha exchanged glances and decided it was safest to simply ignore the last few remarks and went for breakfast. Sometimes it was hard remaining the only sane people in the asylum.
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Cardin had woken early this morning and had quickly roused his new team. He was determined to lead them well and to get them into the Vytal festival this year. Realistically he did not expect to win, but to get into the tournament itself would be an achievement which would be valued by his family. He had been appalled when he realized Pyrrha Nikos had chosen to come to Beacon and the highlights he had watched indicated that Nora Valkyrie was not that far behind her. Sky Lark had mentioned that her and Lie Ren had won the Mistral combat schools doubles tournament and the way he dealt with the snake indicated that he was towards the top of the year in skill. He was mystified by their leader who had not landed a blow and had been responsible for the Death Stalker even being there. What a lucky illegitimate child.
He had decided after watching the coverage of Team RWBY taking on the Nevermore that realistically there were only two places up for grabs. The fact that they had instinctively combined their respective strengths to launch a team attack which dealt with the threat suggested that they had a lot of natural talent and a tactical nous which put them ahead of the field. He had spoken to Yang last night who had said that she and Ruby were sisters, but that they had not met their teammates before arriving at Beacon. He would liked to have spoken more with her, but Dove's shouts of "Get in there, son" had drawn the attention of his cousin and her teammates. They had come over and suggested that Yang join them in a group song at the karaoke.
What made it worse was that his cousin and her teammate had also performed well yesterday. If he had thought about it, he should have grandstanded in the same way as she and that Lynx Faunus partner of hers had when they had gone looking for Grimm. When he learnt that they had ended up partnering with a member of the Atlas nobility he had decided he should assume that fourth choice was the best his team could realistically hope for. He and Lydia cancelled each other out as far as influence in Vale went and the combination of an Atlas aristocrat and a wiseass Faunus hit too many buttons to avoid the networks promising megabucks to Ozpin and Goodwitch for letting them into the tournament.
He stopped himself there – he was sounding too much like his father who blamed anyone but himself for his lack of success. Being honest Lydia was talented and even though he was confident that he was better than her, he would have to bring his A game in any fight. The Faunus was probably better than her and definitely better than at least one member of Cardin's team. The Atlas aristocrat and the blonde with the jutting jaw had not had that much of a challenge yesterday, but had done what they needed to do efficiently and seemed to be at least as good as Dove.
What had really annoyed him last night was that team LILAC seemed to be already gelling as a team. The teasing had been good natured and even the Vale pleb (and Cardin could tell that she was one of the servant class) and the Atlas aristo had decided to amuse themselves by their differences rather than resent or despise the other. Another thing which rankled with Cardin was that Team Lilac had greeted Cardin and his team on their way to the combat gym. Apparently Corkran had booked a slot before dinner last night as he wanted his team to get used to working with each other. Cardin had tried to book a slot first thing this morning and had been told that there were none available until the evening. He hated the thought that another team leader was thinking of things before he was.
While there were a few other teams who were contenders, those were the only three who he thought were potentially superior to his. Henry and June had ended up on different teams and while no one was useless, at least two of their respective team members seemed to be in the bottom quarter of competence.
He needed to decide what he could do to make his team the best he could. He decided that he would have to have one-to-one session with Russell and Sky later today and then decide how to take things forward. Both Sky Lark and Russell Thrush seemed to be angry about something and he needed to work out what it was for them. This may be to the good; an angry person was often a motivated person and it may be that this could bind the team. He would also need to speak to Dove. They had been friends from childhood, but there had been too many incidents like last night and the mess at Pharos. He had become uncomfortably aware that Dove lacked subtlety and too often acted without thinking. He seemed to simply want to be a younger version of his father, including the faults. He would then use the evening session in the combat gym to gauge how good Russell and Sky were at combat.
Anyway, first it was time for Team Cardinal's Cardin approved cardio workout with accompanying cadences. A family friend had just left Beacon and had passed on his team's rhymes. Cardin felt that his team should make their own up in due course and some of the rhymes were a little close to the knuckle for his taste. For the moment it seemed to be working, they were on their fifth circuit of the grounds and his team had got used to the chants. He sang out "I don't know, but I've been told" His team answered with "Glynda's got a wicked stick" when they turned a corner and ran into Goodwitch and Ozpin.
On the plus side, Ozpin clearly found it hilarious. Glynda clearly did not.
"Ah, the classics" said Ozpin. "remind me how that verse continues"
Cardin raced in before any of the others might answer honestly and stated with "she's a really Good Witch." OK, not great, and adding an extra syllable to good was a bit forced. However, better than silence and certainly better than referring to her as a crazy female dog who they thought was hot.
Ozpin frowned "That is not the line I remember, but I will take your word for it, Mr. Winchester. It is commendable that you are up and about so early."
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Jaune woke up at ten when the sound of drilling and sawing impinged on his consciousness. He groaned, he was not feeling at its brightest and he could have done without this noise. He could also have done without the weird dream where Ozpin had appointed him the leader of his team. He then remembered that that had really happened.
He heard the door of the dorm open and opened his eyes to see Pyrrha entering the room. She looked at him with concerned and asked "Jaune, are you as well as can reasonably be expected? Ren has volunteered to make pancakes for you and Nora if you feel up to them."
Jaune said, "It appears aura helps with hangovers as I am feeling better than I deserve. Not great, but I have the will to live. Pancakes sounds good to me. What is that noise?"
Pyrrha explained, "Ruby has decided that Team RWBY should have bunk beds and is converting the existing beds this morning. She apologized for the noise. She said it won't take long and had assumed that everyone was awake. She has offered to build them for us if we want as an apology. I told her that I would ask you, but that I thought that we were fine as we were."
She paused and continued, "Ruby asked if she could have a word with you after lunch. She wants to bounce some ideas off you on team leading."
Jaune gulped, he had been so busy panicking about the fact that he was the leader, he had not had time to worry about what the job actually involved.
Nora appeared out of the bathroom and said "Good morning Jaune. Ren, when will the pancakes be ready? Do we have bacon as well? You can hold the sausages."
There was a knock on the door and Coco Adel and the rabbit Faunus who had been taking photographs were there. They both looked remarkably chipper this morning. Coco said "We were passing by and thought that we should return your and Nora's scrolls in person. I suspect that you check yours now as last year I had quite a lot of calendar invites for the leadership training sessions. They tend to concentrate them at the start of the term and then move to once a week for the first term. You do definitely have one this afternoon as me and Tom Piper have been asked to assist Glynda and Ozpin with the first session."
Jaune felt relieved, at least he would not totally be thrown in at the deep end. He was still mystified as to how he could be expected to lead three fighters who were clearly better trained than he was and was not even certain what he was meant to do as Team leader. He did recall that last night Pyrrha had insisted that she had no problem with not leading the team and had pointed out that he had come up with the strategy which had defeated the Death Stalker. Se had said something which had sounded wise at the time which said that both her and Nora were too used to fighting from the front to be a good leader. He would have to ask her to repeat that as his imposter syndrome had well and truly settled in again.
"Thanks Coco. I am trying to convince myself that under the shades your eyes are as bloodshot as mine."
Coco laughed, "I'm not certain if that is possible. Anyway, I have had an extra year's practice at pacing myself and Velvet is great at preparing pick me ups. See you later, sausage."
She and Velvet departed laughing.
Jaune asked, "What is it with the sausage references today?".
Ren and Pyrrha exchanged glances, both rather hoping that the other would explain. Nora filled the gap and said, "You were talking to Lydia last night and for some reason she told you not to be a silly sausage. The rest of her team thought it was funny and repeated the phrase given any excuse."
Jaune's memory began to play catch up from last night and he groaned as he remembered himself indicating his interest to Lydia. Perhaps Nora was being tactful or perhaps she had not heard the earlier part of the conversation. The last few days had proved to him that his father's advice on romance was perhaps flawed.
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Ruby had finished the bunk bed conversion. She had made the main parts in the workshops immediately after breakfast and the girls had helped lift the Bedson top of each other. Blake had then disappeared saying that she had to meet some people, but promised to be back by twelve. Yang was playing a computer game and Weiss was inspecting Ruby's workmanship.
She had enjoyed the conversion- it was practical, she knew what she was doing and it was clear that it had been successful. However, that meant she could no longer delay thinking about her responsibilities as team leader. She was rather daunted by them. She was conscious that she was two years younger than the rest of them and that made it difficult to feel comfortable giving them orders. While Yang loved her and would never do anything to hurt her, she was too used to being the big sister. For the moment, it felt like she was indulging Ruby, but would step in if she got over enthusiastic.
Blake was reserved and stylish. She was polite and had apologized for the little girl remark in the ballroom. She seemed content not to be leader, but did not appear to be someone who wanted to be led. She supposed that this was what her dad had meant when he referred to colleagues as being semi-detached. Still she and Yang seemed to get on well together and seemed to enjoy teasing each other.
Weiss puzzled her. She could not predict when she was going to be on the receiving end of mean Weiss or helpful Weiss. She had been the first person to react when Ruby got into trouble, but she seemed to be permanently biting her tongue. Still Ruby now knew what Qrow meant about the disadvantages that Mistral tournament fighters and privately trained fighters had when attending academies. He had explained that they are too used to fighting one opponent at a time and to an opponent who played by the rules. Weiss had been great against the Nevermore and the Death Stalker when the ice crystal attacks has temporarily immobilized both Grimm. However, she had not understood that against a pack of Beowulf you had to keep moving and could not afford to take them on one at a time. Uncle Qrow had also said that they found it difficult to work in teams as all their training focused on fighting by themselves.
She was glad that they had a leadership training course starting this afternoon. She wished that she could talk to her mother about leading a team. Any team with Dad and Uncle Qrow on it must have been a handful and apparently Yang's mother had been a more difficult character than either of them.
She checked her scroll. There was a message from dad congratulating her on being admitted to Beacon early and that he would be dropping by late this afternoon to drop off her tools and more clothing. He said to let him know if there was anything in particular she wanted him to bring along or leave behind. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was either taking it a lot better than she had feared he would or at least had decided that he would make the best of it. She wondered if she could get him to talk about how her mother had been as a leader and how she had dealt with the different personalities on the team.