"Is something wrong, Qrow? You look nauseous."
Qrow blinked several times as he continued through the halls with Summer and Taiyang at either side. He looked down to his right to see Summer looking up at him with silver eyes full of concern.
"What? No, I… I dunno. Just first day nerves, I guess."
"He was like this all throughout first period, too. I don't blame him, though- history is really boring. I don't get why we're supposed to care, as huntsmen," Taiyang offered as he adjusted the collar of his uniform.
Qrow shook his head, and heaved a sigh. "It's not that, and we're supposed to care mostly so we know what we're walking into, when we end up on foreign soil. I'll be alright, alright? Probably should've eaten more this morning…"
Sudden movement in his periphery caused Qrow to tense as an object entered his field of vision from below. He looked down to see Summer offering him a chocolate bar along with a smile. His eyes traveled down her arm and to her back, where a massive and unfamiliar weapon was strapped in a long leather sheath. Qrow frowned slightly, and shook his head.
"Nah. Thanks, though."
"If you're sure. I'm always hungry, so I carry spares. Offer's still there, if you want it later," Summer teased as she stashed the candy back into her drawstring bag.
"Just don't get caught eating it in class," Tai warned. "I've heard rumors about this professor. Apparently, she takes discipline very seriously."
Summer yawned and rolled her eyes as they entered the room amid a throng of students. Unlike many of the other classrooms, the layout was far more open and rectangular in shape, with several rows of large slate-topped tables lacking chairs. Various tools hung on wall racks around the room, and each table featured rows of vices attached to the edges, electrical sockets hanging from spooled cords overhead, and several other features typical of a machine shop. Complex machines and workstations dotted the walls around the full length of the room, and the air smelled distinctly of smoke. Upon seeing the setup, Summer's tired expression lit up to one of joy, and she rushed forward to claim a table.
"This is so cool! It's so much bigger than the weapons lab at Signal!"
"You went to Signal?' Tai asked with a bit of surprise in his voice. "How'd we miss each other that entire time?"
Summer shrugged, and unslung her weapon from her back. She worked slowly to pull it from its sheath, and revealed an obsidian staff as thick as her arm with long, colorful tubes feeding in and out of the porous, metallic shaft. The winding hoses fed up to a large, white, spherical crystal ball at the top with some sort of metallic nozzle coming out of the end. At the opposite side of the shaft was a foot long conical spike of glittering white steel, painted to match the ball at the other end. The weapon made a surprisingly light thud as she set it upon the table, and Summer shrugged her shoulders.
"Dunno. It happens, I guess. The primary academies have a lot more students than the secondary ones, after all. Where'd you go to school, Qrow?"
Qrow licked his lips as he took his place at the end of the table next to Summer and Taiyang, and did a quick visual sweep of the room. A pit formed in his stomach as he watched student after student place their weapons upon the tables before them. Many of the implements were heavily customized, featured elaborate moving parts, small engines and gears, or were multi-functional works of death-dealing art in some way or another. The sinking feeling only intensified as Taiyang set down a golden trident in front of himself. The shaft had a set of three odd switches along it, and the tines were tipped with pyramidal spikes. Down at the back end, what appeared to be some sort of long rifle took up the bottom of the shaft.
"Well… Hearth, out in Mistral," Qrow lied as he looked back and forth between Summer and Tai's weapons and his mouth pulled down into a frown. Somehow, the sheathed weapon resting against his lower back seemed to feel heavier as the professor at the far end of the room finally stood from her seated position behind a large desk. Slowly, she began to walk the center aisle between tables, hands clasped behind her back.
"You are currently in Weapon Crafting and Upkeep, Period Two. If you are in the wrong location, take your leave now, and figure out where you're supposed to be. I don't have the time or inclination to deal with it later, nor is it my responsibility to make sure you end up in the right class at the right time. Being day one, I will be generous this once, and assist anyone in need of guidance. Take what little kindness you're offered in this room while you can get it. Anyone?"
The dark-skinned, middle-aged woman of medium height looked around the room through a pair of welding goggles, and surveyed the faces of her students with cold indifference. She let her gaze linger a moment longer on Summer's expression of discomfort, before snapping her head back to face forward as she continued to make her way down the aisle.
"My name is Professor Calavera. You will refer to me by that title, at all times. Is that clear?"
The student body agreed, with a tense repetition of her name. Taiyang gave Summer an uneasy smile, and mouthed a quick 'told you'. She shot back a small nod, and immediately trained her attention back on the instructor.
"There is to be no horseplay in this weapons lab. On a first offense, all equipment privileges will be revoked, and you will be spending the semester keeping logs of other students' weapon maintenance, instead of performing your own. Huntsmen and huntresses face enough danger and adversity as it is- I will not tolerate any of you creating more for undue reasons. This lab is my sanctuary, and you will respect it. Where is your weapon, young man?" Professor Calavera finished as she stopped suddenly and looked across the table at Qrow.
Qrow grit his teeth, and looked down at the surface of the table. His heart pounded as he reached behind himself and drew a simple, unimpressive broadsword with a thick blade. The hilt was leather-wrapped and untarnished, as was the blade itself. Qrow felt every pair of eyes in the room upon him as he presented the obviously store-bought, unused blade, and his shoulders slumped in shame. Professor Calavera remained motionless as she looked down at the sword, and then back up at Qrow while he stammered an explanation.
"…was waiting for instruction, Professor Calavera. Didn't want to assume that we were supposed to… take it out, or…" Qrow let his sentence trail off, while feeling well and truly prepared to die of embarrassment on the spot.
The professor's mouth tugged into an amused smirk, and she brought her gloved hands forward to fold her arms across her chest. "Your only mistake was taking it out now, instead of simply answering the question. I did not tell anyone to get set up, or touch anything. Chin up, young man. You're the only one in the room who isn't currently a complete disappointment."
The rest of the class exchanged guilty looks and whispered complaints amongst themselves as they began to gather up their weapons. Qrow quickly took his own and sheathed it, as the instructor lingered at his team's table.
"Name."
"Qrow Branwen, Professor Calavera."
"Qrow Branwen. I see." Professor Calavera turned, and did another pass through the room with her eyes as she rotated in place. "All of you will henceforth follow Mr. Branwen's example, and do nothing upon entering the room until I tell you to do it. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor Calavera," the class said in chorus. Summer kept her eyes on the table before herself, and the girl's facial expression soon began to match Qrow's. Taiyang offered her his hand under the table, and she gave him a weak smile as she took it for comfort.
"Good. Now, if any of you feel the need to leave at any time, for any reason, secure your workstation and go. There will be no passes, sign-out sheets, or awkward hand-raising to ask to go to the bathroom. I don't particularly care when and where you relieve yourselves, so long as it isn't within my lab," Professor Calavera warned as she finally arrived at the opposite end of the room, near a whiteboard. Many students let out nervous, uneasy laughs, before falling back into total silence.
"Today, your task is simple. You have the remaining forty five minutes of class to diagram your weapon, compile a list of compulsory maintenance checks that you need to make before every hunt specific to your weapon, and write out a list of three goals for the first month of school. I want one optimization, one customization, and one upgrade explained in explicit detail, as well as a list of steps you intend to take to get your weapon there. Make sure your weapon has a name. If you don't love it enough to name it, you don't deserve it. Go," she finished while picking up a marker, and writing 45 minutes remain upon the board.
The majority of students, Summer and Taiyang included, scrambled to find a fresh page in their notebooks and begin writing. Many of them took their weapons back out and began to inspect them, while Qrow placed his heavily upon the table and then turned to walk toward the door. Summer shot him a quizzical look, and he avoided her eyes as he continued walking.
"Sorry. Bathroom."
Qrow made his way into the halls, and set out without a destination in mind.
Adam stared down at his notebook, and the messy scrawl within it. His eye flicked back to the textbook to the side of his notes, and then to his writing once again as he added another line. He shut his eye in frustration and took a deep breath, before opening it and looking down to the row below him. Most of the other students had already stopped writing, and one was asleep in his seat. Adam let out a frustrated huff, and allowed himself a quick glance at Robin's notebook, to his right. The other, bearded boy had only written a single line that consisted of two words.
We shouldn't.
"Time," called the squat, portly professor standing before the whiteboard at the bottom of the lecture hall. He wore thick glasses and sported a comb-over of thinning blonde hair with silvery tips. The board behind him read Professor Scotch, History, along with an assignment to Read pages 1-20 and explain why we should study the history of Remnant. The professor cleared his throat and clasped his hands together, before giving the crowd of students a nod.
"Now, turn and talk to the students next to you about your answers. Explain how your opinion fits in with the interviews of historians you just read, and make a case as though the people around you have never heard of a history class before. You have ten minutes to share with at least two other people. Get up and walk around, if you would like to speak to someone elsewhere in the room."
Adam moved to rise, only to feel a heavy hand on either shoulder guiding him back down to his seat. Jay Winchester chuckled heavily, and gave Adam a knowing smirk.
"Not so fast. You'd really go and wander the room before sharing with your friends? Looks to me like you have a lot to say, half-breed."
Adam looked down at his notebook once again, and the two full pages of sloppy handwriting within it before he turned to look at Jay's. The other, royal blue notebook had nearly a page filled with looping, elegant script, and Adam could tell from reading the first line that the boy had put some modicum of effort into the assignment. Seeing the text gave him pause, and he turned his back on Robin to face Jay fully. The blonde put up a cautionary hand, before leaning back in his seat and resting his arms along the banister behind himself.
"Give me the short version."
"…right," Adam replied with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I suppose it really just boils down to… seeing not just the events, but the people involved, and how they're affected. Knowing a list of battles and dates doesn't benefit anyone. Knowing how those battles affected groups of people at a certain time helps prevent disasters and injustices from repeating."
"Injustices against the faunus, you mean," Robin added as he hopped up onto the countertop and planted his rear firmly atop Adam's notebook. "Why else would you care?"
Adam felt a familiar anger grip his chest as he watched the paper beneath the redheaded Winchester crumple and fold. Jay smirked slightly at the sight, and Adam took a calming breath.
"Is that what I said? It applies to all people, both human and faunus. Some of the things that happened to human settlements during the war are just as inexcusable," Adam insisted.
Jay chuckled softly to himself, and cracked his neck. "Alright, so you're not completely clueless, little bull. That's not a bad perspective to have… for the most part. I wrote down something close, but it's more to gain an advantage through knowing the mistakes of others."
Robin snorted, and shook his head. "Come on, who cares about the mistakes of others? We're not retarded, so we won't make them by default. This entire class is a waste of time. Just an endless list of dead assholes and their equally dead victims. Leave it to the animal to dramatize every little battle and how much it matters to the ones who lost."
Adam opened his mouth with less than kind words at the tip of his tongue, but paused as Jay beat him to the punch.
"Robin, come on- he may be a little excessive, but you can't just write it all off as a blanket statement. We're going to need to know at least some of this, given our positions after Beacon. You know how many press conferences and meetings involving historical perspectives we're going to have to endure?"
Robin made a noise of disgust as he slipped off the counter, ripping a page of Adam's assignment in the process. He leaned back against the wood and folded his arms with a look of indignation as Adam clenched his fist.
"Ugh, don't remind me."
Adam tried desperately to calm himself by letting his thoughts drift to his team, as he shifted in his seat. He settled on picturing Kali's face, and gradually brought his breathing back under control. "Your… positions after Beacon?"
Robin grinned, and for once, looked proud rather than malicious. "You haven't heard of Winchester Military Technologies? Our family's the number one provider of arms and tech to the Atlesian military, and Jay and I are set to inherit the company from our dear old dad after we graduate. We're going to be on top, not just in Mantle, but in the world. Take it from me- you're gonna want to be on our good side."
Jay frowned slightly, and leaned forward while cupping his hands between his knees. "…not quite on top, I wouldn't say. The Schnee Dust Company still has greater influence worldwide… but we've got plans to fix that, eventually."
Adam listened carefully as the brothers spoke, and ran his teeth over his bottom lip. "…plans? To dethrone the Schnees?"
Robin nodded, and brought Adam's notebook around to read from it as he spoke. "Something like that, sure. Over time, our name will be bigger than theirs. Trust us, on that one. Dad said he's got a plan in place, and that it'll involve the two of us."
"Maybe I could help, after we graduate?" Adam offered before he could stop himself. "The Schnee family is… I would give anything to see them knocked down a peg, or preferably, wiped off the board entirely. If you really think you can pull it off, then let's make a deal. You stop harassing me, and I'll take part in your scheme."
The brothers exchanged a look as neither said a word. Robin seemed amused, while Jay's expression was more thoughtful. The blonde ran a hand along his chin, and shook his head.
"…I don't think it's the kind of plan you could help with, but I'm not going to say 'no', outright. If you're so invested, then perhaps we'll keep you in mind, depending on how our time here goes."
Robin cracked his knuckles, and tossed Adam's notebook back on the counter before returning to his seat. "Either way… if you think this is harassment, then you've got another thing coming. We're being positively friendly, right now. Most other faunus, we would've shoved in a locker in the hallway. Only reason I didn't is because Jay seems to have taken a liking to you."
"A liking is a little far, Rob. Consider it… giving him a chance," Jay clarified as he folded his arms. Adam merely grabbed for his notebook, and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in the one untorn page as he worked to ignore them both.
"And, time," Professor Scotch called. "Would anyone like to share their perspective with the class?"
Adam shrank back in his seat, and raised a brow as he saw a confident hand raise from his right side. He checked Robin's notebook once again to see the same two words, and then merely shook his head as he braced himself for the embarrassment of the answer to come.
"Yes? You, sir! What's your name?" Professor Scotch questioned as he pointed directly at Robin. The boy rose proudly, and offered the class a confident smile as he put a single hand up to his chest in a dignified motion.
"Robin Winchester. I think studying history has value because by knowing how events of the past unfolded, and keeping track of the time period and people affected, we can learn valuable lessons about their impact on the world. Too many people and groups in Remnant have been subjected to injustices that we can't afford to repeat, and by studying the lead up and aftermath, we can work to prevent exactly that."
All color drained from Adam's face as he looked up at Robin. The Winchester boy spared him a quick glance and a cocky smirk, as Professor Scotch nodded.
"Well done, Mr. Winchester. Incredibly well done, in fact. You have insight beyond your years! It's very important that we, as a collective society, learn to apprec-"
Adam slumped in his chair and stopped focusing on the professor's words. He didn't bother to react as Robin lightly punched his shoulder and let out a cocky laugh while retaking his seat.
"Maybe you've got potential to be useful after all. Thanks for the assist, half-breed."
Adam made no effort to reply, and pulled his textbook into his lap to try to read ahead as he blocked out the rest of the class. He found himself rereading the same page repeatedly and absorbing nothing at all, until dismissal.
Qrow stood near a large glass window inlaid within the wall of a corridor several turns away from his class, watching nothing in particular. The hall was silent bar the muffled sound of footsteps being absorbed by carpet as students made their way to and from the bathrooms every few minutes. With an annoyed groan, Qrow took out his scroll and flipped it open. The plastic clamshell case snapped back to reveal a small, backlit screen on the upper half, and a series of raised buttons labeled with numbers and letters upon the lower. He tapped out a quick text to his sister, and finished with a sigh.
Can you talk?
After minutes of waiting while staring at the screen, Qrow mumbled to himself and stuffed his scroll back into his pocket, only for Taiyang to appear at his side.
"…hey, man. It's been over half an hour. You alright? It's about your weapon, isn't it?"
Qrow shook his head, and placed his hands in his pockets as he turned back to the window. "Did Summer send you?"
Taiyang crossed his arms as he followed Qrow's gaze out into the courtyard. "No, actually. She insisted that you were probably just 'taking a monster dump'. Her words, not mine. I think she likes her weapon a little too much, and can't really focus on anything else right now."
Qrow shook his head as he chuckled, despite his sour mood. "She's certainly… unpredictable, to say the least. Looking at her, I was expecting a sweet, innocent little cheerleader type. Instead, it looks like I got a more vulgar version of my sister with better fashion sense."
Taiyang scratched at the side of his face, and looked over to Qrow to gauge his reaction. "Ha, yeah… um, about your sister…"
Qrow's lip twitched in annoyance. "Yes, she's single, and I don't care. Just keep it to a minimum around me."
"What? No, that isn't… I mean…" Taiyang trailed off as his cheeks began to burn. "I wanted to talk about how we got off on the wrong foot, and how she's been subtly trying to fix things. I'd rather not have bad blood between teammates, you know?"
"Well… you did come all the way out here to check on me, and you've been less of a tool lately, so I guess we're good, at the moment," Qrow offered.
Taiyang shook his head, unimpressed. "See, you say that, but you still kinda look like you want to punch me. Unless that's just your default state, and it's not directed at me in particular."
"Bingo," Qrow confirmed. "Honestly, I wasn't even really that annoyed with you the first time we clashed. That was just a symptom of all the shit going on otherwise."
"So, what shit's going on now?" Taiyang questioned. "Is it just about your weapon, o-"
"Can you shut up about my weapon, already?" Qrow interrupted. "The one in that room isn't mine, obviously, and I don't want to talk about why I have that thing. Leave it alone."
"Okay," Taiyang replied as he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm just asking because people off our team are going to bring it up, and it'll be easier to defend you if I kn-"
"My weapon got…" Qrow paused, as he tried to come up with something believable. "…confiscated, last year at Hearth, alright? I added some unsafe mods after the professor told me not to, and he took it away from me when another student got injured by them. After the end of the semester, he refused to give it back, and it was either come to Beacon without a weapon, or pick up something cheap and figure it out later," he finished with a heavy sigh. Qrow tried his best to look upset to sell the story, and found it rather easy to do so as Arowana's parting words lingered in his mind.
"Oh. That… sucks," Taiyang said with a shiver. "I can't even imagine losing mine. Maybe we can help you remake it? Without the mods, I mean."
Qrow cast his eyes out to the courtyard one last time, before turning and beginning to walk back in the direction of the classroom. "Yeah. Maybe. Let's head back, before you get noticed."
"Probably a good idea. We've only got like ten minutes left, before we leave for third period," Tai warned. "I don't know how Professor Calavera is going to react when you come back in."
"Yeah, well, that sounds like a 'me' problem. I'm only going back now to cover your ass," Qrow explained as he took his scroll out once again. No reply had come from Raven.
"You don't have to deal with everything alone, Qrow," Taiyang replied. "You've got a team, and we're willing to help. Let's make an excuse, so you don't get your ass torn apart."
Qrow muttered to himself as he approached the door to the weapons lab once again. One of the overhead lights in the hallway fizzled and popped as he passed beneath it, and Taiyang jumped in surprise. Qrow ignored him, and opened the door to the room before making his way back to their table with Taiyang in tow.
Summer looked up from her meticulously detailed diagram as she caught sight of Qrow, and offered him a knowing smile. "Did you wash your hands?"
"No," Qrow shot back as he took his place next to her, in front of his sword. He made a show of wiping his hands all over the shoulders of her uniform, and Summer giggled and squirmed to try to avoid his touch.
"Gross!"
Professor Calavera turned around and fixed her attention on their table, her expression unreadable and her welding goggles firmly in place as ever. Qrow immediately dropped his hands back down to his sides and Summer closed her mouth. Despite their efforts, Qrow could feel the professor's eyes boring through the lenses and straight into him before she turned back to the table she had been previously observing.
"Be careful, you two," Taiyang chided in a low voice. "Flirt in the halls, or literally any other class, alright?"
Summer scoffed, as Qrow grumbled and took out his notebook. "If rubbing dirty hands on a girl is your idea of flirting, you're gonna need some serious help with your game."
"Pff. My skills with the ladies are just fine," Taiyang countered.
"Let's see if your skills at diagramming and following directions are anything even close to adequate," Professor Calavera said as she approached the table and looked over the spread of weapons and papers. She inclined her chin upwards slightly as she looked over Taiyang's trident, and then turned her attention to him.
"…name?"
"Taiyang Xiao Long," the boy replied automatically as he offered his paper assignment. The professor took it, and tucked it beneath her arm with the other papers she had already collected.
"And the name of your weapon?" Professor Calavera inquired as she put her other hand upon the table and leaned over the shaft.
Taiyang blushed slightly, and laughed to himself. "It's… um… Reel Talk. The tips of the tines are on wires and can shoot out, and the levers on the shaft can… reel them back in, after hooking a target. It's… yeah. I'm dumb. Sorry."
Qrow brought a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes, as Summer covered her mouth and snorted with laughter. Professor Calavera's expression remained entirely neutral as she gave Taiyang a long, calculating stare, and then turned her attention to Summer. She held out her hand, and Summer passed over her diagram and checklist as well.
"Name?"
"Summer Rose, Professor Calavera! And this is Pearl Phoenix! She's my precious daughter," Summer said with pride as she gestured to her weapon with jazz hands.
Professor Calavera kept her gaze on Summer's face for a moment, before she looked down and set the pile of papers on the edge of the table. She removed her protective gloves, and cracked her fingers with a satisfying pop. The skin beneath was scarred and leathery, with a particularly nasty gash along her right palm. She slowly ran her left hand along the shaft of the weapon and up to the orb at the top, where she let her palm rest along the curve.
"A long mace with an attached flamethrower. Quite an… unusual, yet inspired design."
"It has a spike on the other end, too! Sometimes, a girl just feels like stabbing something, you know?" Summer explained with a cheery grin. Professor Calavera slipped her gloves back on, and looked up at Qrow as she gathered her papers.
"I know that feeling very well. Mr. Branwen?"
Qrow made an effort to swallow the lump in his throat, with little success. "This… isn't really my weapon, Professor Calavera. There's no name, I have no attachment to it, and there's no plan. I have to figure something out, and… I'm sorry. I should have taken care of it before coming to Beacon."
Professor Calavera picked up the sword, and turned it over in her hands while examining the edge of the blade. "I certainly hope you will, young man. This is the blade of a roadside vendor. Mass produced, badly tempered, and lacking any personality whatsoever. It's barely fit for a child's first hunting sword, let alone for slaying more than a few grimm, at best. A stand-in after an unexpected loss, I would wager."
"Correct," Qrow agreed. "I'll have it sorted out this week."
"You'll have it sorted out today," Professor Calavera corrected. "I'll be seeing you at lunch, Mr. Branwen. Given that you have yet to produce any of the items I've asked for, I can only assume you were doing something much more important than the assigned work out in the halls. Am I wrong?"
Qrow had the decency to look down and avoid the professor's eyes as he watched her place the blade back onto the table. "I… had some personal business to take care of, that couldn't wait. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be prepared to make up for lost time," Professor Calavera replied with a wave of her hand. "You're an adult now, so you make your own decisions. Just keep in mind that I have strict deadlines, and if something cannot be completed in class, it will be completed before sundown that day. I don't do 'homework', and honestly, neither should you. Your spare time should be spent fostering bonds with your team, or killing grimm. More often than not, killing grimm is the correct option, out of the two. That's a lesson all of you should take to heart."
"Yes, ma'am," Qrow said with a sigh. The professor said nothing more, and walked off to the other side of the room.
"…harsh, especially on day one," Summer commented in a low voice. "Um… we'll save you a seat at the STRQ table, in case you get out of here early?"
"I somehow doubt I will," Qrow grumbled as he placed his sword back into its sheath. "I've got no idea how I'm going to diagram this stupid thing, or make a plan."
Taiyang began to make progress on breaking down and storing his own weapon as he eyed the wall clock. "Well, she's gotta help you out, right? I mean, she's got a reputation for being harsh, but people also come out of Beacon saying she's one of the best professors at the school. Keep an open mind, and if it does end up being as bad as it looks… we'll find a way to cheer you up tonight."
Summer picked up Pearl Phoenix and slipped it into its case, before patting Qrow upon the back. "Yeah. We'll have your back, no matter what happens. See you fourth period?"
"Assuming she doesn't hold me for that, too," Qrow said with a scowl as he watched Summer and Tai exit the room. Qrow lingered for a moment to watch Professor Calavera take a seat behind her desk once again, before shaking his head and turning to leave.
Author's Note:
And now, some character arcs have really begun. I have no idea how long 'Volume 1' is going to run, but I do have the main sequence of events mapped out. I also have a working class schedule for STRQ, OKRA, Jay, Robin, and one other student yet to be introduced, which I may post in an author's note if anyone wants it. It took ages to balance out for interaction potential, but it was worth it in the end and will help a lot for classroom scenes going forward. Volume 1 will have a lot of them, but there will be quite a bit of other stuff, too.
-RD
