Chapter 3: Ballroom Book Club
Ruby Rose - Afternoon - Auditorium - Beacon - Vale -
Beacon is for sure a pretty place. She would give it that without a doubt. Large, angled structures, and appealing color scheme of white, gray, and cyan. It even had pillars and columns. Talk about fancy.
Just from this auditorium that the orientation would be held in, a particularly useful fact she and Jaune had gleaned off of a nice, portly man that they had asked along the way, Beacon seemed like a different world from Patch, Signal, or any other place she had ever been to in her life.
Entering through a rather large doorway, Ruby felt her nerves start going haywire within a few steps into the large room. Mostly because it was packed with people.
Ruby did not like crowds. Crowds get to her like nothing else in this world. They got her nervous and they got her anxious, because anything could happen and crowds made it a guarantee that if it was something bad it would get worse.
Nevertheless she had pushed past it before and she would now.
"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" The familiar, familial voice rang out and she immediately decided that being with Yang would at least bring the likelihood of something bad happening between her and this crowd down to a minimum. She turned to Jaune.
"I'll see you later, okay? I've got to talk to my sister." She didn't wait for an answer and quickly made her way to her sister's side.
Yang grinned at her and greeted her with a hug. "How's it going little sister? How was your flight?" Ruby returned the hug before pulling away and shrugging.
"It was okay. Yours?" Yang's grin only seemed to brighten.
"Mine was actually pretty fun, I saw the news report on the dust robbery you stopped!" Ruby was actually curious about that.
"What did it say?" She asked.
"Only how a heroic citizen stepped in to stop the nefarious Roman Torchwick from causing further harm to a small dust shop. Apparently the owner was ambiguous about the 'hero's' identity because he said that he believed they would rather stay out of the spotlight." Yang explained.
"Bless that old man." Ruby sighed to herself holding a hand over her heart. She was so happy he knew her so well. Suddenly the cost of constantly buying ammunition for Crescent Rose felt way less steep.
"Oh come on! You don't want a little bit of fame, sis?" Yang laughed and nudged Ruby's ribs with her elbow. She quickly shoved her elder sister's arm away.
"Not really. You know how I get with stuff like that." She said and glanced around the room at the hundreds of fellow Beacon applicants. Yang's constant smile got a bit softer and she wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders.
"I know, Rubes. You're gonna have to get better about crowds and attention if you're gonna attend Beacon though."
"Yeah." Ruby sighed. "Wait, why would I need to get used to attention?"
"Uh, hello? You got in two years early. Not to mention you are the bee's knees sis. People are gonna notice." Ruby dropped her face into her hands.
"Ugh. Why can't I just have normal knees?"
Yang spent the entire next minute laughing and Ruby spent it pouting.
They were both interrupted by ear piercing ring of a microphone being turned on.
A man stood on the stage at the far end of the room. She recognized him in an instance. Professor Ozpin. The man that invited her to Beacon and had been a catalyst to changing her plans, even if temporarily.
The middle-aged looking mad had messy silver hair and brown eyes. He wore a black suit unzipped with a vest beneath and a green shirt under that. Along with his signature cane and mug, dark green pants and cowl, his outfit was simple but professional. But not to the point of looking unapproachable. He also wore a pair of black glasses. For some reason.
Flanking him was the huntress that had intervened during Torchwick's robbery. Glynda Goodwitch. Speaking of looking unapproachable. Glynda wears a long-sleeve white top and a black pencil skirt with black-brown stockings and black boots. She also wore glasses, but hers seemed useful. The most important feature to Ruby, however, was her very, very cool cape. Purple and jagged edged with her personal symbol printed on it. So cool.
The headmaster cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
"I'm going to keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far." Ruby almost felt like Ozpin was staring directly at her and speaking directly to her now. "It is up to you to take the first step."
With that the headmaster stepped to the side and Glynda stepped to the mic. You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed." Glynda also stepped away from the mic and the crowd in the ballroom quickly started dispersing.
Yang turned to her.
"Wierd. Did he seem kind of...off to you, Ruby?" Ruby let her eyes roam back over to Ozpin. He stared out into the room, seemingly focused on nothing in particular and his gaze nowhere near her. But still, she couldn't help but feel like he was looking right at her.
"I don't know. To me it's almost like...he's not even really there." Yang looked up at Ozpin and studied him as well before shrugging.
"Hey! Ruby!" Ruby snapped out of her pondering and turned to see Jaune waving at her. Yang suddenly leaned in way too close to Ruby's face for comfort.
"Ruby, were you off meeting boys while we were apart and you didn't tell me?" Ruby groaned and buried her face in her hands once more.
"Damn it, Jaune." She muttered.
"Ruby! Language!"
Damn it, Yang.
That evening - Ballroom - Beacon - Vale -
Needless to say Yang and Jaune meeting was a complete nightmare. She was certain that over the entire time the three of them had been eating dinner not a single word that came out of Yang's mouth wasn't meant to tease her in some way. Jaune had been confused at first and probably a little intimidated from meeting Yang and seeing how she used him to mercilessly tease her younger sister but had quickly caught on and joined in lightly, here or there. Apparently he had a younger sibling or two of his own.
But you know, some things in life just had a way of working out. And Ruby had never believed in karma more than she did right now.
"I can't believe you're actually wearing a onesie." Yang laughed out, head propped up on an elbow as she lounged on her sleeping bag. Jaune cheeks colored a bit and he started pulling at his blue pyjamas. "Actually, you did blow chunks the entire flight from what Ruby said. Maybe I can believe it." Jaune groaned and flopped backwards on his own sleeping bag.
"Did you really have to mention that, Ruby?" He asked turning his head to her. Ruby glanced up from her diary for a moment.
"Did you have to make fun of me at dinner?" She deadpanned, returning to her writing.
"Yang started it. What are you writing anyway?" Jaune asked.
"I was writing about my day. A long time ago my uncle said that it would be good for me to reflect on things." She explained. Jaune just gave an understanding hum.
"And how was your first day, hm?" Yang asked. Ruby started lightly chewing on her tongue in thought.
Going into the day she had been expecting it to be awful. As much as she had complained to Qrow about being in the same year with Yang, the moment she had decided to come to Beacon with the intention of trying to make friends and be on a team her attitude changed on that subject. So when she found out that they would be on two separate flights to the school she was immediately nervous. Jaune had actually helped on that front a lot, even before they had been introduced. You can't do much worse than throwing up on some random kid and then puking for an entire half hour flight. Maybe that was another reason why she had helped out afterwards.
The situation with that Weiss girl had been less pleasant she supposed, but mostly for Jaune. She had just organized some dust the whole argument.
Dinner had been a bit annoying with all the teasing. But she had been living with her father and Yang for her entire life, so it didn't really bother her.
"It was better than I thought it would be, that's for sure." She summarized.
"Wish I could say the same. Between the throwing up and knocking people over, I'm just lucky today wasn't a complete disaster." Jaune complained.
"Oh yeah, you mentioned that. Guess you went one and one on friends and enemies today, huh Ruby?" Yang joked, nudging Ruby's leg with her toes. Ruby kicked at her sister's foot to knock it away but missed when Yang pulled it away quickly with a grin.
Ruby shrugged. "I don't know, she mostly seemed to have a problem with Jaune." Jaune was quick to defend himself.
"Hey, she was mad at that girl with the bow too." He pointed out and she had to agree. Jaune, Weiss had at least said something to the person who had knocked her over before she left. The bow wearing girl had only gotten a scathing glare.
"Who?" Yang asked. Right, Ruby had forgotten to mention bow girl when she had explained the situation at lunch.
"Just a black haired girl with a bow in her hair that said some stuff that the Weiss girl didn't like hearing." Ruby explained. Yang looked curious.
"So she sorta helped you guys out?" Yang asked. Ruby got a cautious look on her face before responding.
"I guess. Why?"
"Because I think I spotted her and found us something to pass the time." Yang hopped up to her feet and reached down grabbing a hold of Ruby's arm.
"I'm not sure if this is really a good time for this." Needless to say, Yang ignored her.
Ruby gave a roll of her eyes, but knew better than to struggle against her sister. Once Yang had her heart set on something, there wasn't a lot of arguing to be done.
Jaune was quick to shuffle along behind them, she guessed not wanting to be left alone. The three of them started moving towards one of the walls of the large room and Ruby quickly caught sight of their destination.
There she was, seated with her back against the wall. The first things that Ruby noticed about her the second time around was that she was still wearing her bow, even at night. The second was, again, her eyes. They gave off an intriguing glow with the flickering light of the girl's candle reflecting brightly off of them. The candle was currently in use to assist the girl in her reading.
The second thing she noticed was the girl's clothing. How was it that the amber eyed girl managed to make Ruby feel underdressed when everyone in the room was in their sleepwear? The black color themed girl may seem mysterious and reserved, but she certainly isn't shy about her body and, in Ruby's opinion, for good reason.
They had approached to such proximity to the girl that they took the girl's eyes from the book. The three of them stopped, apparently Yang though that this is the appropriate distance for starting conversation.
"Hello!" Her sister sang out, with no regard to the rest of the room. "I believe you three know each other?"
Amber eyes studied all of them for a silent second. "You're the ones who knocked over the Schnee girl's luggage, right?"
"Ah, yeah. That was uh...that was me." Jaune responded awkwardly. He seemed nervous again, maybe he wasn't very good at introductions.
"Right." Amber eyes said. She sounded like this was the most boring conversation she had ever found herself in.
"Well, I'm Jaune Arc." He looked like he wanted to say something else, probably that 'ladies love it' bit, but seemed to decide against it last second. Smart.
Yang nudged her sister's side.
"Oh, I'm Ruby."
"Blake." Things got quiet after that short introduction.
"Well I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister!" Unsurprising that Yang was the one to break the silence, she couldn't stand it. "I like your bow!" Blake gave Yang a look that can only be described as the act of asking the question 'Really?', but without saying a word or moving your body in anyway.
"Ok." Blake had the decency to respond despite looking like it was the last thing she wanted to do.
"It goes really well with your..pyjamas." Yang tried again. The second hand embarrassment was palpable.
"Thanks." Blake replied dryly.
"Nice night, huh" Yang forced a cheesy smile with her words. Seems desperation kicked in, Ruby couldn't remember her sister ever saying anything lamer in her life. Blake spoke up again.
"Yes, it's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book." Blake leveled Yang with a stare and Yang stared back. "That I will continue to read." Yang still stared "As soon as you leave." Blake finalized. Yang looked away and her smile dropped.
"Ok, nevermind. This girl's a lost cause." Yang muttered under her breath. Ruby wasn't sure about that, but wasn't going to disagree with leaving. This was awkward enough as is.
"Well, what's it about?" Jaune spoke up in a rush, spitting out the sentence out so fast it was hard to hear what he said. Blake sighed, having already brought her attention back to her book, and set her deadly gaze on Jaune now.
"What?" She asked, exasperated.
"The book, what's it about?" Jaune nervously tried again. Blake appeared caught off guard by the question, but answered anyway.
"It's about a man with two souls, both fighting for control over his body." Jaune seemed overjoyed that he got an answer that didn't make Blake sound irritated to answer.
"That sounds pretty cool. Y'know I was never really into books, more of a comics kinda guy. My mom would always read to me and my sisters though. We'd all huddle up next to the fireplace and she would read all the classics from before the kingdoms." Jaune rambled. Ruby smirked a little. She had only known Jaune for a few hours, but somehow that sounded exactly like him. It did seem to gain Blake's interest for the first time tonight though.
"You're talking about the old Grimm Fairy Tales, the one's that people used to recreate and pass around by hand to promote positivity and keep away the grimm?" Blake asked, more emotion in her voice than Ruby had heard yet. Jaune nodded emphatically.
"Yup, those stories always had the heroes that fought for what was good and who always saved the day. Those were the stories that made me want to be a huntsman." Jaune said with a smile.
"Why's that? Want to save the princess from the evil turtle grimm and live happily ever after?" Blake questioned with humor in her voice. Ruby and Yang both couldn't help laughing a little at that. Jaune blushed a bit and rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Well a guy can dream, right? I just always wanted to be someone that people could believe in, I guess." Jaune said. Ruby thought back to her conversation with her uncle the other night. How going solo didn't mean not having friends. Jaune, she decided, is a good guy and would make a good friend too.
"That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a those fairy tales." Blake said, looking off towards a dark corner in the room and Jaune looked a little lost, like he didn't know what to say to that.
Uncle Qrow flashed through Ruby's mind. A man who worked harder than anyone she knew, a huntsman who was off doing dangerous missions outside the safety of the Kingdoms more often than he was home, doing things that he refused to talk about to Ruby even if he was allowed to. And even when he was home, he would get up every morning and teach the next generation. She felt like she needed to say something.
"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better." She spoke up. The three others in the conversation turned their attention to her. Jaune and Yang grinned at her, while Blake just gave a small smile. Yang threw her arms around her younger sister.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you." The blonde practically shouted while squeezing her tightly.
"Cut it out." Ruby groaned while shoving her hand in Yang's face, trying to push her face as far away from her own as possible which just served to get Yang laughing. Jaune and Blake looked at each other and shared a small laugh themselves.
"Well, Ruby, Yang, Jaune, it was nice to meet you all." Blake started. She would be quickly interrupted though.
"Can you all keep it down? This area is intended for people to find sleep, not socialize. Loudly." A female voice cut in. Neither Ruby nor Jaune needed to look to know who it was, but did anyway. Weiss, if she remembered correctly, was closing in and didn't look happy. Just like when they approached Blake, two things stood out to her.
First is that, once again, she felt underdressed in what was essentially a slumber party. Second, the blue eyed girl was somehow less intimidating with her hair down. Ruby thought she liked it better than the ponytail, not to say that said hairstyle was bad at all.
Weiss narrowed her eyes upon realizing just who it was that had been making all the noise, but set her gaze on Jaune before speaking.
"Why am I not surprised that you're the one making all this noise." The snow haired girl questioned Jaune with a bit of venom on her tongue. Just like when they ran into her earlier, Jaune had no idea what to do with the angry girl.
"If I'm not mistaken, aren't you the one making noise now." Blake rebuked in defense of the blonde boy and and Ruby swore she heard Weiss' teeth grind. For a girl who had been saying everything short of, 'Go away.' seconds before, Blake was quick to make someone out to be rude. Not that Ruby didn't appreciate the sentiment and from what she could tell, Jaune was thankful as well.
Still, Weiss wasn't exactly out of line with her interruption. Even Ruby was feeling tired and looking around at the disgruntled faces around them, so were some others. Antagonizing Jaune and further extending the conversation really wasn't necessary though, so Blake had a point. Weiss ears colored red from anger and she directed her glare towards Blake, and Blake glared back, snapping her book shut and looked like she was ready to get to her feet if necessary.
"I think," Ruby interjected swiftly, getting the two girls to turn away from each other. "that Weiss had the right idea and that the last thing we all need is to be staying up all night." Thankfully, Yang caught on to Ruby's attempt to diffuse the situation.
"Yeah, long day tomorrow. Orientation and all that." Yang chimed in. Blake seemed to calm down with the two girls interjection; Weiss didn't look any less angry. but relented and started walking off without a word. Ruby watched her go and evidently Weiss could feel it, as she found Ruby's eyes, just like earlier.
Weiss averted her eyes exhaled, walking down the room until she reached her own sleeping arrangement.
"So I guess, good night?" Yang asked. Blake grabbed her candle and brought it to her lips and blew it out.
"Good night."
Okay, this chapter was kind of a hassle for me. Not sure why. Glad I got it out though but if there is anything you notice that puts you off in any way feel free to let me know.
Little Changes for this chapter: As mentioned, Yang and Ruby took separate flights. Jaune hangs out with our favorite half sisters for a lot more of the day and Jaune chimes in on the Blake conversation. Also, Weiss seems like she doesn't have all that much against Ruby in comparison to her beef with Jaune and Blake.
Thanks bundles to TheLatiKing and KHARAKI TAKAN for the reviews and thanks to all of you who favorited and followed. I appreciate every single one. Next update could take a couple of days, but I'll get it out there! Have a nice weekend folks.