The Headmaster's speech came and went swiftly, as did the rest of the day as herself and Weiss quietly ate the dinner that the school had provided them. The meals were fine, though if one were to ask Weiss, they'd likely get complaints about the lack of sauce on the her steak. Ruby, however, didn't so much care about the taste of the food, so much as how efficiently it'd fuel her body for the next few hours. The meal itself was simple, being mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli, and an 8 oz steak with a glass of water.
Obviously, they had to take off their helmets to eat, which didn't bother Weiss nearly as much as it did Ruby, what with her old sister being in the same room as them. The last thing she needed right now was to be singled out by Yang, be tormented just for being a clone again. She'd done just fine these past six years not being treated like or acknowledged as a clone, and she really didn't want word spreading across the entire campus that she wasn't born naturally like the rest of them, as that would doubtless create all sorts of headaches, pointless and unnecessary struggles, and would make simple things a real challenge.
Looking back at her actual sister, she nudged Weiss's shoulder, leaning a bit closer to speak with her.
"You need something Rubes?" Weiss answered in a hushed tone.
"Let's finish up in here as quickly as possible. Longer we're here, higher chances that Yang will ID me." Ruby said quietly, staying hunched over in attempt to make herself less visible. Weiss simply nodded, before returning to her food, giving her younger sister a small pat on the back and a sigh.
After dinner, while Weiss changed into more appropriate nighttime apparel, Ruby had just opted to roll out her mat and sleep in her armor. It wasn't abnormal for her to do this, what with the constant training in the Atlas mountains with Gaz, they often needed to set up camp for the night, with her trainer always being rather strict about never disarming oneself in a hostile environment. Normally, a ballroom would hardly classify as a "hostile environment," but it might as well have been one to Ruby, what with her sister only sleeping a few meters from her.
Sighing, Ruby laid out her sleeping bag in total silence, trying her best not to be noticed by that blonde bimbo she used to call her sister. After a few minutes, she'd fully set herself up, and laid out across her bag, letting her mind wander about what she'd do tomorrow, with the initiation and all.
She was already familiar with how Ozpin did his initiations every year, one of the small benefits of being one of her mother's clones and being privy to such knowledge. The whole "landing strategy" concept made Ruby groan whenever it came up, as she herself found such things unnecessarily flashy, impractical... granted, this was coming from someone trained as a soldier, not a huntress, so her views might've been a little skewed.
Nevertheless, she prepared for it, having stowed a jetpack with the rest of her weapons in her locker. She didn't have the luxury of being able to create glyphs like Weiss could, and had no other ways of slowing her descent, so having a jetpack was rather convenient for her. Besides that, she'd armed herself with twin XA-25s and a modified XA-22S, a more compact and advanced variant of the Army's standard XA-22 blaster rifle. With that she also carried various pieces of equipment that any elite soldier would be considered lucky to have in their possession, including a wrist-mounted flamethrower on her right wrist, micro-rockets on her left wrist, a monomolecular hidden blade, concealed in the underside of her gauntlets that she could draw out in a pinch. Various types of grenades, weapon modification tools, really just anything that she'd trained with and found to be effective that she could carry on her person without losing mobility. Whatever the headmaster could throw at her, she was completely prepared for it... well... for most situations she could imagine, at least.
With a content smile as she began to think about the mission, she was able to quickly find sleep on top of her sleeping bag after a loud yawn resounded from her lips, with her sister only arriving shortly after and laying down next to her, just as tired as the girl already laying down. Weiss however, opted to read a little bit from the book she'd brought with her from the mansion, laughing slightly at the humorous situations the main character found himself in. When Gaz told her she needed the book proofread, she didn't expect it to be able to actually make her laugh...
Not far away, Yang sat upright on her own sleeping bag, glaring spitefully towards the girl in black and red armor. She felt so stupid that she hadn't been able to connect the dots sooner, from the familiar visor design to the armor itself. Pure Astra City design, without a doubt. Finally seeing the girl's face during dinner, despite the girl in question trying her damned hardest not to get spotted, confirmed just what she thought.
CT-01-00001, or, "Ruby Rose." She sneered in contempt, scoffing at the idea of that Number actually giving having a name, actually believing herself anyone here's equal, actually believing herself to be equal to any human or faunas. It was so stupid, that that girl was 1. alive, and 2. here, at BEACON, two years early no less! It was outrageous! She was just a number, not even an actual human being, good for no more than the most undignified roles within society.
"Hmph. They should consider themselves blessed that we're kind enough to let their kind lick the gum off our boots." Yang grumbled bitterly, before looking around the room, trying to redirect her focus elsewhere. After a few minutes of looking about, she sighed as she found no such thing, opting instead to lay back down and forget her so-called "sister's" existence as she'd fall asleep. She'd almost done so, when a small tap on her shoulder disturbed her progress towards sleep. With a groan, she turned over, finding a girl with amber eyes and a bow on her head looking directly into her eyes.
"Can I help you?" Yang inquired, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"I saw you staring hatefully at that girl in black Hoots Trooper armor, was wondering if you knew anything about her." She asked, sitting down beside Yang with crossed legs.
"Oh... Yeah, I know about that- wait..." Yang started, before abruptly pausing, and narrowing her eyes at the amber-eyed girl. Hate clones as she may, that army's existence was still top secret, and she wouldn't dare spill the beans about it for fear of her own life. The fact that this girl knew about Hoots Troopers was highly alarming, and she intended to look a little deeper into this. "What the hell do YOU know about Hoots Troopers?"
The girl froze up for a moment, before relaxing slightly and stammering out her modified answer. "I'd overheard some faunas talking about them. Something about a failed White Fang raid on a SDC facility, ran into a single Hoots Trooper, and said trooper killed nearly everyone. They described the armor, and that was what it looked like."
It was partially true, but the fact she'd left out was the small bit about herself being one of the few survivors, along with Adam... but this girl didn't need to know such details. Truth be told, that encounter with the Hoots Trooper still gave her nightmares. The way they fought, how they seemed to be able to perfectly predict everything they would do, the way they killed everything that stood before them so relentlessly, with no remorse... it was like they weren't even human, never a wasted movement, never a misplaced shot, never showing the slightest signs of slowing. She, Adam and Ilia had fought that Hoots Trooper tooth and nail, given all they had, and it wasn't even enough to make the Trooper's breath even slightly uneven by the time they'd exerted themselves so hard that they could hardly breathe.
They were the only survivors of twenty five, all some of the most elite the White Fang had to offer, cut down like cannon fodder when faced with this... this monster taken human form... the three of them had barely escaped with their lives, the mission a failure and the Hoots Trooper yet standing unscathed. The fact that Weiss Schnee and this new girl were were both equipped with their armor terrified her, if she were being completely honest.
Regaining her composure from momentarily losing herself in her own thoughts, she looked to the blonde girl, who was just rubbing her chin with a downward gaze. "Oh, I see... Yeah, I'd heard about those raids, but no details were ever made public save for the massacre of White Fang troops... anyways, what did you wanna know?"
"Who is that girl in black? I saw her earlier, but couldn't pick her out as anyone I could identify." Blake said, leaning in a little closer, catching the barely hidden sneer that the blonde girl showed at the mention of her.
"Bah, a pathetic whelp, shouldn't even be alive. A freakin' clone, not worth either of our time." Yang scoffed, waving the girl off, catching her off guard, before swiftly changing her tone to a far cheerier one. "Anyways, enough about that freak, I'm Yang!"
"Blake." She answered, looking back at the black-armored girl with newfound disgust. "What the hell is a CLONE doing at Beacon? If she's developed enough to be here, she should be working where she belongs, in a Brothel."
"I dunno, but she got admitted two years early... and actually IS fifteen years old." Yang answered, getting a dumbfounded look from Blake, who couldn't believe the latter part of what she'd heard.
"FIFTEEN!." Blake whisper-shouted. "Five is considered old for a clone, most die before their fourth birthday like they should! And how the heck did she get into BEACON two years early, a clone no less doing such!"
"I dunno. She used to be my adoptive sister, but when her mother died six years ago, we cast her out and Astra City stated that they'd disintegrated her. Somehow, seems she cheated death." Yang grumbled angrily, before looking over at the girl in question, who was seemingly asleep, but she couldn't tell because of the mask. Sighing, she looked back over to that Blake girl, only to notice she'd disappeared.
Yawning loudly, she then turned in for the night, not bothering to worry about whatever happened to that girl, instead simply opting for laying right the hell back down, and falling into a deep, loud slumber...
The next morning was mostly uneventful for Ruby and Weiss, doing their regular morning routines before heading down and arming themselves for the initiation at the locker room. Sighing as she saw her sister pass her, having overheard her little conversation with Blake last night. She seriously hoped that Ozpin would deem such a breach of secrecy worthy of being silenced, and she seriously couldn't fathom spending the next four years with that brainless bimbo who hated her for existing, not that she would be any threat to her in single combat. It wouldn't be a mistake to say that their hatred was mutual.
As soon as she was out of earshot, she turned to face Weiss after slapping on her jetpack, patting her on the shoulder to get her attention. "So, seems the bimbo ID'd me."
"Ah, dammit... you gonna need any help with her?" Weiss groaned with an exasperated sigh.
"If she gets physical? No, she wouldn't even be close to a challenge in combat. Socially? Most likely, yes, I will need some assistance."
That same moment that Ruby sighed, somewhat defeated, a better known figure had stopped beside Weiss, quietly unlocking her locker and bringing out her sword and shield, inspecting them quickly before sheathing said weapons. Immediately knowing who she was, Ruby cracked her neck back and forth, snapping her fingers and pointing to the girl behind her sister, using the cracking of her neck to mask her snap. Weiss turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin, having not noticed Pyrrha before, making Ruby drag a hand down her own mask at her elder sister's less-professionally-trained reaction. The girl merely played it off clearing her throat, whilst lightly slapping Ruby's shoulder.
"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought into who's team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself." Weiss said cooly, extending her right hand to greet the Mistrali Champion while using her left to remove her helmet. The girl met her hand, shaking it firmly.
"I'm not quite sure." Pyrrha replied, her voice sounding somewhat meeker than what Ruby had imagined it to sound like. "Didn't really put much thought into it, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."
"Well, I was thinking You, Ruby and I could be on a team together, after all, I'm fairly sure that you and her are the two deadliest students of this year." Ruby simply nodded with a thumbs up behind her older sister.
"That sounds grand, and with such a bold claim as that, I'd be honored if you, Ruby, would spar with me at a later date, perhaps?" Pyrrha said, laughing a little as she did.
"The honor would be all mine, Champion." Ruby said without much emotion, having most of her reply present in the nod of her head.
"Great!" Weiss exclaimed, not noticing the blonde boy walk up between them and rest his hand on her locker.
"Y'know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." He tried to say smoothly in his attempted cooler voice. Weiss brought her now free hand to her temple and sighed, as Ruby pointed finger guns at her own head, a gesture that surprisingly flew right over the older boy's head.
"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" Pyrrha interjected, only to get pushed aside by the boy in favor of a pathetic attempt to look cool in front of Weiss.
"Yeah, yeah- So, Weiss! couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day!" The boy, Jaune, tried to flex, causing Ruby to nearly burst out in laughter at the lack there-of in any actual muscle.
"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Weiss droned, snapping her helmet back on.
"Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearin' rumors teams!" He exclaimed, looking directly into Weiss's visor now. "Was thinkin' you and me would make a good one, Whaddya say?"
"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" Pyrrha tried again, only to get interrupted by the boy.
"Y'don't say- Well, hot stuff, play your cards right, and MAYBE you could join up with the winning team! You too, uh... Red?" Jaune tried, not knowing Ruby's name. Weiss quickly sped between him and Pyrrha, pushing him away a bit.
"Woah woah woah wait! Jaune, it's Jaune, isn't it?" Weiss started. "Have you the slightest clue who you're talking to?"
"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel." Jaune stated, leaning in slightly with a corny nickname.
"This," Weiss started, "is Pyrrha."
"Hello again!" Pyrrha said, seemingly enough more cheerful than before.
"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum Academy!"
"Never heard of it." The boy said, an oblivious look dominating his face.
Weiss sneered slightly, before scoffing and continuing. "She's won the Mistral Seasonal Tournaments, four years in a row! A new record!"
"The what?"
Growling now angrily, Weiss flailed her arms up and down rapidly in anger while explaining to him in the dumbest way she possibly could. "She's on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"
With a loud, overly dramatic gasp, Jaune's eyes lit up as he pointed at her excitedly. "That's You!? They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"
"Yeah, it was kinda cool..." Pyrrha sighed, Ruby noting that she sounded dejected to be recognized. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."
"SO! After all that, do you really, TRULY think you've any right to ask HER to be on your team?" Weiss questioned, getting Ruby to snicker a little bit, something Weiss picked up on. "What's so funny?"
"Heheh... S.O., hehe..." Ruby giggled out, getting Weiss to almost break composure at their little inside joke.
"Ga- Ruby, Not Now!"
"I guess not... sorry." Jaune said in a saddened tone, though lifted his head when Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder and complimented him.
"Actually, I think you'd make a great leader, Jaune!" She encouraged.
"D'oh, Stop it!"
"Yeah, seriously, stop. This kind of behavior shouldn't be encouraged!" Weiss tried to reason, only to be promptly ignored by the boy and approached once more.
Ruby, for the most part, ceased listening to the conversation, in preference to simply ready herself with a few stretches before the initiation. She didn't know why, but but something in her just screamed that something was gonna hit the fan today... not in a literal way, at least she hoped. One literal time was already too much...
Hoots Trooper parties could go from werf to not-werf real fast, in her experience.
Eventually, she was taken out of her small stupor as the boy got flung into the back of a locker, arms flailing, and got pinned there by his hoodie via the spear that Pyrrha had thrown his way, quickly followed by an "I'm Sorry!" from Pyrrha. Ruby, unlike Weiss, just laughed at the absurdity of the situation, Walking with Weiss right past the boy, not sparing him a second glance...
Ruby didn't listen to the instructors as they rattled on about what they'd do, having already known everything about the initiation she needed to know. The cliffside, she could however give credit, was rather scenic, nice to look at the region from. The Emerald Forest spread out far and wide before them like a vast, open field of green and gold, beautiful in it's own way as the wind rustled her canopy ever so gently, swaying back and forth in imperfect unison. It drew a small smile to her face behind her visage of death, before looking to the boy beside her, on the adjacent pad. Jaune was evidently nervous as people started getting launched into the air, though Ruby could honestly care less. Truth be told, she more so expected to see a stain with a mess of blonde hair wherever he landed as opposed to an actual, full person, but she didn't voice that.
Looking to her left, she saw Yang glaring daggers at her, before rolling her eyes and ignoring the bimbo. Looking back at Jaune, She groaned as his questioning of the obvious grew more and more annoying. Clearing her throat, she looked over to him, interrupting him mid-sentence, just as Yang was launched through the skies...
"Time to Nut Up, or Shut Up!" Ruby interrupted him loudly, just before she herself was sent sailing through the skies, crying out in joy as she felt herself flying...
For the one Reviewer who was wondering what phase Ruby's helmet is, it's 1.5