Chapter 10
Normally, the anxious atmosphere would have gotten to Ruby, but right now, she could only feel the weight of exhaustion. They had returned to the amphitheatre, and she could already see people beginning to congregate in groups.
Glancing to the side, she could see her friends looking as tired as her. They had staked out a spot near the wall so they could at least have some room to relax. Nora, Emerald, and Jaune had all sat down, Pyrrha was still standing tall, and Ren somehow seemed to be mostly unaffected by it all. Weiss was the worst though; she stood at almost full parade attention, her eyes narrow in focus as she scanned the crowd.
"Weiss, you should sit while you can," Ruby suggested, nervously twisting the fabric of her skirt. Weiss looked at her for a moment before obliging, albeit slowly. Even so, Ruby could see her staring through the crowd, analyzing them.
Pausing a moment, Ruby tried looking out at the crowd, straining to see what Weiss was seeing. All she could really see was weapons. A lot of them, but nothing particularly eye-catching. It was kind of a mess though, with so many people in groups.
Somehow, she doubted Weiss was looking at just the weapons. What could she be looking for? She seemed really...critical of people's skills, but she didn't see how you were supposed to get that from just looking at them. It had to be something else.
Maybe it was the people themselves? There were a lot of them, and just thinking about it made Ruby nervous. She felt a little more comfortable with friends near her, but even so, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be one of the people standing by themselves-
Suddenly it hit Ruby. "You're looking for another team member."
Weiss smiled slightly as Ruby blurted the words out. "That I am. There are seven of us here, but teams require four. We need at least one more person."
It suddenly occurred to Ruby that she might not end up on the same team as Weiss. Sure, getting teamed up with Nora or Ren wouldn't be bad, but what if she let Ozpin down? What if she couldn't push herself? "S...So who do you think will make which team?"
Weiss raised an eyebrow at the stutter, but didn't comment on it. "Well, I should hope I get a team. I would not be surprised if Pyrrha were given one though. That said...Jaune did show a little bit of potential."
Ruby sighed a little in relief. If Weiss and Pyrrha both became team leaders, she could join one of their teams. She didn't think either of them would object, after all they had been through. And no one else knew her, so…
"Even if we end up across different teams, I don't think there is any reason not to train together," Weiss pointed out. Ruby couldn't help but smile, even if it was a little unwarranted. "I already told you I would."
Weiss perked up a little, and began to stand up. Ruby leaned to peer through the crowd and shot to her feet when she saw Ozpin stepping onto the stage. It was time. Tension built in Ruby's chest as she strained to listen. Even as Ozpin approached the mic, the noise in the room dropped to absolute silence, allowing his cane to be the only sound.
"I must congratulate you all on passing the opening exam. Your individual performances have been logged and reviewed. From this, we have discerned who among you are fit to lead. Once your name has been called, you will report to the stage," Ozpin explained, his eyes narrowing as he lifted a Scroll.
Ruby watched as people were called. On the screen behind him, twenty-eight slots were displayed. The team leaders. One hundred and twelve students, in teams of four. Slowly, the slots were filled. Ruby had to admit, the people Ozpin chose certainly seemed like leaders. They were all proud, tall, and confident. Just how you envisioned them.
"Weiss Schnee."
Weiss' eyes widened slightly at the call of her name, but she recovered quickly. With only a minor nod to the team, she began quickly, but regally, making her way towards the stage, her composure allowing her passage through the crowd easily. There was a certain grace to it that made Ruby watch fixedly. Her steps were small, and measured, almost intentionally dainty.
She was so distracted that she almost missed the next name called. "Jaune Arc."
Ruby took a second to process the name, but it took Jaune even longer. He had paused mid-sentence, looking out at the crowd with a confused expression. Thankfully, he stopped short of asking what they were looking at when he realized what had just happened.
"Go get 'em tiger!" Nora cheered with a smile, breaking the silence. With a heavy hand, she shoved him forward. As he slowly walked forward, Ruby let out the breath she had been holding, relieved that the scene had been less than it could have been.
Still...glancing up at the board, she couldn't help but feel a heavy anxiety setting over her. Jaune had been picked as a leader...and there weren't many spots left. Privately, she wondered if she had let Ozpin down somehow. If she wasn't picked, was that a sign that she had displeased him? Would he drop her entirely?
Those thoughts only cemented as the last spot filled up, and she wasn't called. Setting her jaw, she mechanically clapped as her worries played over each other like the waves, each disorienting her thoughts until she found herself sitting by the wall, letting the scenes play out in front of her eyes.
"Are you okay Ruby?"
"Huh? What?" Ruby startled at Pyrrha's concerned voice. "Sorry, I spaced."
"That is alright. You just looked really worried about something."
"I just...hey wait a second. You weren't picked?" Ruby blurted out. As she stared, she realized what it sounded like she was saying. "Oh sorry! I didn't mean to-"
"It is okay Ruby," Pyrrha assured with a kind smile. "I suppose Ozpin simply decided my skills were better elsewhere. Do not worry Ruby, I am fine."
Looking at Pyrrha's broad smile, she could believe it. In fact she seemed almost...relieved? Ruby shook her head; she couldn't tell. Still, that at least was reassuring. Even the Mistrali champion had been declined for leadership.
Though it did make her wonder what exactly they were looking for in leaders, and how they had decided on them so quickly.
The room they were led to appeared to be a classroom, temporarily cleared to allow for them to have some space and privacy. Ozpin calmly stepped to the side, allowing the leaders to trickle into the room. "Please, sit wherever. It will only take a moment to explain the proceedings."
Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly as she glanced back at Ozpin. She somehow doubted that an entire team-building system could be that simple, but perhaps they had narrowed in on some tried and true method.
She noted a couple of the other leaders were congregating close together, talking lightly as they sat down. Some sat in the rows, but she kept walking, moving to sit herself in the shaded windowsill. She didn't want anyone looking over her shoulder when she made her selections.
Even so, she didn't move to stop Jaune as he sat down by the wall a few feet from her. He likely already knew her choices, not that it mattered too much. Besides, she didn't have him pegged for a manipulative type.
A small tap of Ozpin's cane was all it took to get their attention. "Now that you have been selected as team leaders, it comes time to select your teams. No doubt, many of you have asked yourselves questions about how it works, or how to be close to your friends."
"The teams will be built in rounds. One pick at a time. The round will last until the last person has selected their choice, so there is no rush. In the event of two students selecting the same student, that students' Scrolls will be sent a notification, alerting them to the tie. They will then settle the tie themselves."
"As a final note before I leave you to your selection, these teams, while not permanent, are not a light choice. Any and all transfers or issues with lineups that occur over your enrollment will be noted. That is all," Ozpin declared with finality. With a small nod, he stepped back out of the room, closing the doors behind him.
"Kinda serious, don't you think?" Jaune asked, trying to laugh away the nervous air.
"He's just trying to ensure everyone puts as much thought and weight into this as they should," Weiss affirmed, flicking through the list. This had been one of the formats she had expected, and she had to give points to Ozpin for picking one of the most logical ones. Whipping out her Scroll, she began the process.
Without a doubt, she grabbed Pyrrha first. After a brief moment, she glanced at Jaune's Scroll. She didn't want to actively step on his toes, but she wasn't going to settle for less than the best. Nora, Ren, and Emerald were all skilled, and nice enough, but if she wanted to push herself to the best, she needed another level entirely.
To her relief, he grabbed Emerald first. An odd choice, she had to admit, but not a bad one. Smiling to himself, he glanced up at her. "Who are you picking?"
Weiss said nothing, instead tilting the screen of her Scroll so he could see. To his credit, Jaune didn't seem perturbed, simply nodding approvingly. "Good choice."
"We should discuss choices while the others pick," Weiss advised, before holding up her hand to silence Jaune. "Don't use names. Just images."
Jaune cocked his head, confused. Weiss nodded her head towards the room, and Jaune seemed to realize what she was alluding to. Tapping a few buttons, he tilted the screen, showing a small group.
Nora, Ren, Ruby.
Prospective choices, not set ones. Weiss tilted hers, showing a slightly different order. Ruby, Nora, Ren.
"Sounds like we'll have to work it out," Jaune noted with a smile.
"Not necessarily. The two of them work better as a team, and I'm already fairly certain that I'm getting some strong teammates. I have to leave some for you," Weiss noted with a light chuckle.
To her surprise, Jaune laughed along. It had been a while since she'd been able to share a joke. "I suppose that's true. Who else do you have in mind?"
"Not sure yet. I'm going to spend my rounds looking through the lists," Weiss explained off-handedly, beginning to scroll. All the time in the CCT was paying off, and she tabbed through pages quickly, trying to gauge the pool she was pulling from.
Several of the students already had ear-marking in terms of pre-claims, or interesting, existing connections. Even before she had selected Ruby and Pyrrha, they had been marked in her Scroll, along with the others in the forest group. It only made sense; it was a psychological edge to try and steer people away from nabbing from established groups.
Even so, it did make her job a little bit more difficult. All in all, it was already a tangled web of weighted values and connections. It kind of reminded her off the stocks back at home.
Every stock has a price, but there is more to it. Linked companies will rise and fall, together. It's a complex web, and it's up to us to try and uphold that web, her father had said. Even now, she could hear the unspoken implication: by any means necessary.
Shaking the thought from her mind, she instead began looking through the students. It would be for the best to earmark a few before the final rounds were-
A sidebar opened up, and she could see Pyrrha's file image had loaded into the second slot, her own face occupying the first. Looking up, she could see some students celebrating, while others sighed or even cursed. The first round was closing.
"Nice," Jaune muttered with a smile. Seems he got Emerald. A small note popped up on her own Scroll, from Ruby nonetheless. I'm waiting with Nora until Ren is assigned. Hope you don't mind?
Weiss simply sent an affirmative.
In the meanwhile, she began sifting through the list of students. There were large amounts with marks indicating preference or associations. For now, she was looking through the unmarked ones.
Most of them seemed to either be independent applicants, and a few foreigners. Though technically she supposed she was in the latter category as well. Briefly, she paused, a thought striking her. Between Pyrrha, Ruby, and her, they covered three of the major continents. They all knew a fair amount about training in their respective homelands, but there was always the last one: Vacuo. Perhaps there was something to be gained by having people from all the different regions?
Weiss decided to entertain the thought for a moment, filtering to the list of Vacuon students. There were a few in groups, but a large amount of either pairs or solos. Glancing up, she could even see a couple of them here.
Returning her focus to the Scroll, she began looking through the students. Most of them were pretty standard; talented and skilled, certainly, but with a notable lack of anything that caught her eye. It was hard to explain just what she was looking for, but she had some standards in mind.
Tell me Weiss, why do we deal with Ironwood? He's brash, and sometimes antagonistic to us.
He's driven, and motivated. He's more likely to do something than anyone else, she had replied. Despite the unpleasant feeling it left, that's what she was looking for.
Finally, someone caught her eyes. Alabaster Mazarine. As she went through his page, a few things caught her eye. Firstly, his scores seemed average, if a little low in some places. Academically, they seemed to do quite well, though a list of absences explained why they weren't higher. To Weiss' surprise, they had a few awards and recognitions to their name, some of which she had seen on the others, but overall, told her this was someone who was trying.
She could see why someone glancing would dismiss them. The scores by themselves weren't great, but considering how often this person had been absent, Weiss could say she was surprised they were as high as they were. Most notably though, several of the recommendations came from outside the Academy, added atop the surprisingly earnest ones from their professors.
Her finger hovered over the selection, and she briefly pondered it. Ozpin had stressed that their selections would bear weight, and she believed him. However...should Alabaster not work out, she was sure she could come up with a compelling argument to allow them to shift up the teams. After all, if Alabaster's absences turned out to be laziness, it wouldn't be productive for the whole team. Ozpin would have to recognize that.
Besides, you can't have a perfect team, no matter how hard you try, Weiss reminded herself, before smiling slightly. But you can build one.
She made her selection.
Pyrrha and Emerald's Scrolls went off first. Ruby glanced over the warrior's shoulder, seeing the Schnee logo, along with several others. She wasn't surprised; Pyrrha was a well known fighter, not to mention quite powerful.
Through the auditorium, she could hear people cheering, or talking with friends. It was a sudden shift, and one that passed into silence as soon as it had come as thought and debate took place.
It had occupied her thoughts so much she had jumped a mile when her own Scroll went off almost immediately after the previous round had ended. Flicking it out, she felt her heart stop and jump at the same time, halting her breathing as she saw the Schnee snowflake.
A broad smile quickly made its way onto her face as she stood, only for Nora to do the same. "You get picked too?"
"Yep. Looks like Jaune's calling." Nora turned her Scroll so she could see the crescents printed across it. They took half a step when Nora paused, looking back to Ren, a hard to read expression on her face.
Ruby flicked her eyes between them, trying to read the situation. They might end up on different teams, she realized after a moment. Part of her wanted to just move along, and let it be their problem so she wouldn't have to deal with any potential emotions. But she could never do that.
With a smile, she walked over to Nora, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We can wait to see how the third round turns out before we get going. I'll stick with you!"
Flashing her best smile, Ruby hoped it was enough. Nora smiled slightly and nodded. With a sigh, she sat back down, leaning back on her hands. "Alright. Sounds like a plan!"
"Nora, you don't have to worry about me," Ren insisted with a small smile.
"Are you silly? I'm not going anywhere until I can meet your team leader and personally ensure they treat you right," she joked with a boisterous laugh.
Ruby smiled and chuckled, operating her Scroll with one hand as she listened to the two banter. I'm waiting with Nora until Ren is assigned. Hope you don't mind?
In a flash, Weiss had sent a simple Affirmative. Ruby smiled slightly; she supposed that was enough of an answer. Tucking the Scroll away, she looked back up, and glanced around.
There was a tense atmosphere in the auditorium, even more so than when it started. It was the last round, and everyone was waiting to get picked. She could tell that much.
Part of her wanted to see what teams formed, and what kind of combinations they had. It was going to be so cool!
"Ah, that will be the last round," Ren observed, pulling out his Scroll. He briefly tapped through it, then turned it around to reveal the crescents. Nora launched herself in celebration, tackling the thin boy.
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Nora shouted, celebrating. It was only when Ren groaned from the weight of Nora's armour that she sat up, letting him free. She chuckled nervously. "Well uh, we should get going then, yeah?"
Ruby blinked for a moment. Nora's whole personality had turned on a lien, but she wasn't going to point that out. Instead, she stood up, stretching slightly as she did so. "Come on, let's go!"
Walking in front of the other two, Ruby led them through the crowd. It was a practiced skill really. Bumping into people meant having to apologize, or possibly having to talk to them. Asking people to move was a task in and of itself.
Stepping up onto the stage was harder though, since nearly everyone was filtering down the same hallway. Dozens of Scrolls illuminated it with the bluish hue as they followed the instructions on the screen to the designated room. Glancing at Nora's, it seemed they were headed to almost the same place.
There was a surprising lack of talking as everyone headed to the dorms. Perhaps they were tired, or nervous, but Ruby didn't know. It was just a relief when they arrived, and people started peeling away into the rooms. Sometimes, there was celebration when the door opened, and displays of enthusiasm that crowded the hallway slightly more, but other times, it was just a quiet entry.
The crowd was rapidly thinning, and soon they were part of a thin trickle nearing the bend of the hallway. Fortunately, it seemed their rooms were just ahead. Glancing up, Ruby spotted the number on the door, smiling as she put a half skip in her step.
"Looks like we're just across the way from each other!" Nora pointed out, jerking her thumb at the door on the opposite side.
"That's great! It'll be easy to practice together!" Ruby agreed, glancing at the door. "I should probably head inside...I've already made Weiss wait long enough."
"Go on ahead. We have to get our stuff and unpack anyway," Nora dismissed.
Ruby smiled and waved to the pair before turning to face her own door. With a deep breath, she reached out to seize the handle.
Here we go, she said to herself. Time to prove myself.
