Ruby Rose was in a good mood today.

It was a mood that not even Monday could dampen. Her trip to Patch had done wonders for her mood and mental wellbeing. Even still, her mood wasn't fully related to that, or even because her birthday was coming up (though both of those things did help.) No, her spirits were lifted by the simple fact that it was finally time to start these students down the path towards true understanding of what a weapon could really do in the right hands.

It was time for Midterms.

Ruby Rose, of the Bloodstained Snow, The Crimson Death, The Red Queen, The Harvest, The Witchhunter, The Bloodied Sentinel, Centurion of Cherry, Petal Wake, Red Lightning, Queen of Slaughter, Macabre Artist, Gilded Guardian as well as countless other titles earned over the years, was bouncing with excitement. She even 'forgot' to put on some of her more extraneous armor panels this morning, and the ease and speed with which the slightly less weighted Ruby had darted and bounded around the classroom apparently bordered on terrifying if Cinder's face was anything to go by. She had even, strangely enough, had made a comment before class about how cheerful Ruby was acting, and Cinder didn't talk much before the third cup of coffee. Luckily, said third cup was downed by the time everyone showed up.

'Everyone' in this case being her lovely crew of midterm assistants currently milling about the classroom before the first bell. It was almost a tradition for Ruby to call up her various friends or enlist her family members, in response to the student's comments from the beginning-of-semester Boring vs. Impractical 'test.' Ren, Nora, Weiss, and Cinder with Penny and Velvet standing in for the currently indisposed Yang and Blake, all assisted in the setup of the classroom's temporary arena. For some reason, today was just full of weird little signals from all of them though. Not all the weirdness was bad necessarily, just… weird.

Weiss was the good kind of strange. She had been all sorts of excited this morning actually, so much so that she was awake to help Ruby with her normally pre-Weiss chores. Apparently, she enjoyed the coming midterm beatdowns just as much as Ruby did.

Speaking of the good doctor, Penny was... well she was always odd, unpredictable even. Even more so whenever Ruby mixed facts about the younger Penny from her childhood, with the respectable android doctor who stood before her now. The Penny she'd once known was long gone, and even with Atlas' best technology the dead stayed dead. The overall Penny of the woman had remained, but even back upon their first meeting Penelope was colder, more analytical. Long gone were the friendly 'Sal-u-tations!' and almost sarcastic salutes, replaced instead by a much more strict and measured speech. Deep down a lot of the old Penny still resided, she still loved hugs and was intensely loyal to her friends, but the self-doubt about her humanity had slipped away somehow.

Velvet had been a stroke of luck: Mercury had enlisted the out-of-practice Emerald to handle his own class's midterm without Yang, and CVFY was in town for lipstick of all things.

Ren and Nora, so inseparable they should just use a single name together—maybe NoRen… or Va-Lie-kyrie! Yeah, that's good, Valiekyrie—had entered Ruby's classroom all but fused together at the hips. Where normally Nora would be a poorly-insulated bundle of energy though, she seemed extremely contained, constrained even—also her hair was bright neon pink, oddly. Ren wasn't any more quiet than usual but that would be hard to pull off, even for him. Instead he spent most of the time before the students arrived watching Cinder with his mood somewhere between apologetic and wary.

Despite the oddness, Cinder's pre-class duties did include being available to answer questions and give advice to the students, and she fulfilled those duties with a disturbingly gracious smile.

The students joined Ren in the wary glances towards the normally glaring woman.

Today being the beginning of Midterms, several students oozed nerves and test anxiety. Some had been preparing for close to a month for the various tests, trials, labs, and presentations required by each class. Weapons and Combat Integration was one of the few regarded as a stress-release midterm by the students due to it's supposed lack of a standardised subject matter. Not that Ruby couldn't create a 'real' test if she wanted, but she preferred a more freeform style of teaching. Plus, grading written tests sucked.

As her first period took their seats, Ruby's fine assortment of volunteers began casually forming up just behind her desk, some standing straight-backed while others leaned against the wall, or each other in the case of Ren and Nora. Everyone but Cinder had been through this at least once before, but Ruby had made sure she knew what was planned. It was also the first time Velvet was participating directly, but she knew what to do from observing the rare occasions her teammates had.

Not wasting any more time, Ruby jumped right in. "Morning kiddos! I bet you've all heard from faculty and alumni that my class has a fun, easy midterm, right?" Ruby leaned back on her desk as she addressed the room. "No long written portions or multiple choice bubble filling. No recommended chapters to read, or notes to review. Just watching some fights and maybe playing with the dust mixer's settings a bit," her nonchalant tone was honest, but only by technicality.

"Well I can't say that's entirely untrue, but don't think that means I don't have anything for you all to do," Ruby smiled as she pushed herself off her desk and moved to the center of the amphitheater. "So far, we've gone over the theory of Integration. With a small amount of low-level practical application where an addition to your weapon might require practice to prevent injury," Ruby's shark-tooth grin began to peak from her otherwise calm features. "Theory is now almost entirely behind us. Of course, Turning your back on an opponent can leave you wide open. So today, prepare for the past to come back to bite you." Some of the quicker students started to realize just what was about to happen, and that level of comprehension was exactly what Ruby was really testing for.

"Thanks to your first assignment, I called up some old friends—" Ruby pointed a thumb back towards the assembled powerhouses. "—that you sorted… incorrectly. So now, with their help, you're all about to learn that any tool, with enough style, isn't Boring. Any weapon with enough familiarity isn't Impractical. Any weapon can be amazing, it just needs a little help," Ruby rubbed her hands together in excitement.

"Do I have any willing to volunteer for a quick spar against one if my lovely assistants?" Ruby asked with a sickeningly sweet smile. It wasn't broadcast, but any who stepped forward willingly were given glowing marks.

"No? No one wants to stand by their claim that Ashen Fate are, your words, 'Unimaginative dirty glass constructs'?" Cinder's muscles tensed a bit. Despite knowing about the comment from grading that specific student's answers earlier in the year.

"How about Myrtenaster being 'an over-engineered deathtrap with far too many functions for combat effectiveness'?" Weiss had been through this before, but Ruby could see her fingers twitching in patterns relating to her rapier's mechanisms.

Ruby read a few more out loud, and with each criticism, the students got more uncomfortable. Her team, however, only remained completely professional. Even if they all shifted in mildly threatening ways.

Finally, Ruby found the one she was building towards. "Ohh, very few people risk this one: 'Macabre Marionette can't possibly be an effective weapon with the danger posed by those wires to its wielder.' I think you'll go first for that one Princeton."

Ruby could hear the sweat pouring down the poor boy's face from here. Sure, it may have been a bit mean to call him out like that. If there was one weapon among this lot you didn't question, it was the one who's predecessor had kicked off the Fall of Beacon by killing its wielder. Not much had changed between Penny's Dance Macabre and Penelope's current Macabre Marionette, but there were now safeties in place. Ensuring no repeats of the grisly end of Penny Polendina.

Still, he approached the front of the classroom with an impressive amount of confidence. No doubt Princeton figured the easiest way past the obstacle of midterms was to prove his own point right and move on with his day. His demeanor through class had been one of least resistance, certainly. His twin sai were about as simple as weapons got, with each one held a small dust crystal on the pommel as their most complex element.

Penelope Polendina, inversely, had never been one for the easy road. Being a machine as complex as any squishy-guts person also helped paint an almost laughable contrast between the two combatants as they readied up.

"Since this is round one, I'll go over the basics with you all now. If you miss anything, my team is here to help." Ruby explained as she moved her desk as far back against the wall as it would go with the help of Nora. "First: Classic duel rules, fifteen aura points remaining or forfeit decides the match," she continued, turning back towards her class.

"Second: each and every member of team Privateers—the lack of a T is a stretch I'll admit, but I'm not changing it unless one of you makes me—can absolutely yeet any of you," Ruby held to let the word she had just ejaculated really hit home. The butchering was intentional, but she honestly wasn't entirely sure how the word was supposed to be used in the first place. A grin split her face as the students finally realized just what she had said. "We'll all be fighting with handicaps, but you're gonna have to figure out what they are on your own," Ruby teased in a sing-song voice.

"And finally third: this whole thing is because I want to see cool fights! Try your best: you pass the test!" Ruby twirled a bit before hopping into Weiss' lap atop the recently moved desk. "Have fun!"

Penelope Polendina and Princeton Pat. Two titans featuring fearsomely awesome alliteration, stared silently. According to Yang and Mercury, Princeton was rarely the one to make an opening move. He was, unfortunately, not gifted with the stillness that came with servos and motors. Plus, Penny's grade wasn't on the line.

Princeton moved first then, understandably. A quick, testing strike with his offhand. His form was tight, and his footwork was controlled if a bit lacking in creativity.

Penny, limiting herself to only two blades for the sake of fairness, deflected the probing attack with calculated precision. Not so much as a millimeter of movement was wasted as she immediately ducked beneath Princeton's now extended arm with a spin, hooking her own arm into the crook of his elbow as she went.

To his credit, Princeton didn't give ground so easily. Opting to rotate—twirl was the wrong word for how he handled his weapons—his main hand sai so that the ice Dust on its hilt extended away from his arm. Using the momentum gained from Penny's grapple, he swung his whole body around the fulcrum of his elbow and jabbed at what normally would be the location of a person's kidney Dust-first. A small chunk of ice formed on the right side of her abdomen.

Being made of metal had certain advantages, like not having to worry about a punch to the kidneys. Taking the hit without so much as a grimace, Penny's aura absorbed the impact and was reduced on the scoreboard appropriately. In return she swept at Princeton's leg, forcing him to either hastily reposition or find out just how hard Penny's alloys were.

Like someone who paid attention in Yang's classes, he chose to break away entirely instead of trying to remain balanced by using his opponent as a point of contact.

Unfortunately, he had failed to account for exactly the aspect of the weapon he had criticized and found his left arm wrapped in nearly-invisible metal wire now taut from the newly created distance.

Evidently, Princeton didn't find the prospect of losing a hand to the 'design flaw' he'd criticised very appealing. "I forfeit!" he blurted out in panic.

As the wire became completely slack and unwound itself from his elbow, Princeton fell back and checked to ensure no harm had pierced his aura. It was still measured as full, and should have been completely capable of withstanding a single garrote to the arm for several minutes if need be.

Maybe a phobia. Ruby made sure that information was in his faculty notes in case another similar situation arose in another class.

"Awww… I really wanted to see Penelope break out her semblance, you guys would love it!" Ruby beamed excitedly. "Any questions from the peanut gallery about what just happened? No? Oh well, time for the next round then. Any volunteers?"

Ruby wasn't sure if the crickets in she heard were imaginary, or Penelope was just practicing for a recital.

"Still no takers? Fine," Ruby said with some sarcastic disappointment as she reached around Weiss to find the stack of soon-to-be victims. "Uhhh, Ren, you pick!" Holding out a fan of papers face-down, Ruby closed her eyes and hoped he chose one of the fun pairings.

Today was not a day of fair fights. At least not in Ruby's classroom.

As Carnelian took his seat, and Cinder strode gracefully back to her desk, Ruby looked between the final two matchups for the period in her hands. Weiss, resting her chin on Ruby's left shoulder—her right taken up by Nora just wanting to feel included—was 'assisting' Ruby's decision making.

Ruby didn't feel particularly assisted, but Weiss smelled nice today so she let it slide.

"That's hardly a fair match up, even ignoring the skill difference," Weiss said, her attention on Fusson Ona Dorned's sheet. He had made the unfortunate mistake of underestimating Crescent Rose, and had yet to pay dearly for it. But Ruby was trying her best to be fair about her selection process, mostly using her supposedly-neutral assistants to choose from a shuffled pile. Somewhat fortunately for Fuzz, Ruby decided he was less interesting than the other dueling pair. Making the choice known, the combatants rose and made their way into the ring. Her daughter against one of the most widely proficient fighters of a generation, Velvet Scarlatina.

Much like Weiss, Velvet's semblance was one that just hadn't really needed to push its original boundaries to be amazing. Instead, she'd put all of her focus into being able to replicate and modify all the fighting styles she knew without the implicit use of her—normally passive—semblance of copying fighting styles seamlessly. In short, Velvet Scarlatina was a true-blue Weapon Master. Normally 'unarmed' she was adept at grapples and hand-to-hand, but add in her ability to pick up any combination of weapons or weaponizable items, and Velvet quickly become a veritable storm of death and pain. It was for this reason, even assuming equal skill and experience, that Jei's match up against her would still be incredibly lopsided.

Jei, to her credit, had access to quite the personal armory. Slaying Grimm using Schnee-summoned pieces of other Grimm would have been amazing enough on its own, but no child of Ruby's was going to go Hunting with such makeshift weaponry as a skull-plate shield and a large tooth for a dagger. Across several months, Ruby had crafted a set of hilts, handles, and settings to enable her little girl to summon nearly any of her grisly trophies and swiftly weaponize it. Despite her access to nearly any weapon imaginable, Jei still preferred her more rugged—and decidedly un-Ruby'd—Tooth and Nail; a literal King Taijitu fang partnered with a cestus-like hoof, sharpened to a cutting edge.

Even if Velvet hadn't been using her camera for this bout, the ability to simply steal one of Jei's own weapons and turn it against her was a massive hurdle. Unfortunately for Jei, this was a weapons class primarily. A well-equipped Scarlatina was a terrifying Scarlatina. Fairness had gone out the window when Jei's test had come back reading 'Hardlight Dust constructs at that scale are too complex to maintain for any reasonable usage.'

As the pair stood in starting positions. The dwindling time in the period ticked away—really there was more than a half-hour left due to the extended testing periods—and the need to move and fight built up bit-by-bit.

"Ready?... Go!"

Immediately, Velvet materialized a gauntlet over her left hand, firing a grappling line into the ceiling and hauling her entire body into the air. Soaring all the way up to the ceiling herself, she 'landed' upside down, before pushing off and creating the beginnings of what Ruby thought was a sabre.

Seeing the incoming attack, Jei formed a series of gravity glyphs but didn't activate them. Instead she began moving erratically while summoning a selection of Grimm pieces. The mane of a dunecharger, a horse-like grimm known for their electrical attacks and sandstorm-like stampedes. A nevermore talon, curved and sharp. Both had been successfully secured to a physical polearm before Velvet struck. What looked like a hide of quillringer's spines—a nasty hedgehog grimm who's barbs were infamous for not letting go until the grimm itself was destroyed—were flung away mid-formation and dissipated before they made contact with anything.

The impact was minor, relatively speaking. Only breaking a few arena tiles and sending Jei skidding back instead of flying. But the onslaught was only just beginning. To make up for the loss of range, Velvet brought out twin kama pistols—Emerald's Jasmine and Rajah—and began to take wide, arcing swings which utilized the chains and added intense kinetic energy to each landed blow.

Jei's focus on her glyphs wavered, a few changing sizes and dimming slightly before solidifying again. Several activated at once, catching the Dust constructs mid swing and simultaneously flinging their summoner into a horizontal 'dive'—electrically-charged spear first. It was a strategy often utilized by Weiss to add incredible power behind the piercing point of her rapier. Unfortunately for Jei, Velvet was quite well-versed in not getting stabbed.

Dematerialising her now-stuck weapons, Velvet dropped to her back. Reaching up just before Jei passed overhead, Velvet grabbed hold of Jei's belt and hauled the both of them off-course from the next glyph, flipping the flying girl from parallel with the ground to perpendicular. Jei's aura plummeted to just above the danger line as she was driven into the floor.

Groaning as she attempted to stand, her aura flickering but not broken quite yet. Jei's summons vaporized and remaining glyphs fizzled out. "Owww… owowowow," Jei said, staggering as she recovered. "I don't want to know what that feels like without aura. I give," raising both hands Jei found and unscathed Velvet snapping a picture of her when she could finally focus her eyes.

"No hard feelings, Jade, you did pretty well," Velvet offered a handshake along with the compliment. "Just so you know, I helped your mom with that maneuver back in school," with a wink, Velvet returned to the small collection of chairs that had been slowly acquired during the period from various surrounding classrooms.

There were few things that made Ruby happier than seeing cool weapons. Her family, awesome fights, and her friends all ranked among them. She also enjoyed showing students just how much left to learn there was, and in this case a few of her favorite things just happened to line up all at once. "Fuzz. You're the last one. Hope you're ready," Ruby sing-songed as she skipped into the combat space.

Her steps fell a little lighter, and her smile shone a little brighter.

Ruby Rose was in a very good mood today.

A/N:

My first (and second) fight scenes! those were oddly hard to start on, I hope they turned out satisfying.

Chapters 1-6 have been condensed into only 1-3, with a single added paragraph to better denote a passage of time (Jaune meeting Cinder in her cabin, and the Beacon Tour have a year gap or so)

Big thanks to WhatOtherPlanet and de_timber for their help

Please leave feedback, because you love me.
and because I love you: you're rocking that look today, keep up the good work.