Preparing for the Dance

"I can't believe this!"

Ruby barely glanced up at Weiss's exclamation.

"What is it now?"

The team had hoped Weiss would stop being quite so highly-strung with her sister visiting.

This was not the case.

"We've been put in charge of organising the Beacon Dance," Weiss answered.

"I thought that was the responsibility of the upper years," Yang commented while Ruby paled and went silent.

"Usually it would be, but Ozpin wants it properly inclusive for all students. Including the Grimm, so it's down to us, those with Grimm on the teams."

"Noooo," wailed Ruby. "I wasn't even planning on attending, and now I have to help organise it? What did I do to deserve this?"

"You got in early," Weiss replied without hesitation. "Normally I'd be thrilled about getting to help organise it (" "Of course you would," Yang muttered to herself "), but with my sister visiting it takes up too much of the time I could be taking with her."

Yang shrugged. "It isn't as though you couldn't have used the CCT to talk with her while she was in Atlas," she pointed out. "What do you spend all that time talking about anyway?"

"It's mostly about my time here," Weiss answered reluctantly. "Things like having Drei on the team, or the incident at the docks."

"She works closely with Ironwood, doesn't she?"

"So?"

"Did either of you get the impression Ironwood wasn't exactly on board with what Ozpins doing?"

Rubys contribution to the conversation left them hesitating.

"She couldn't be using her own sister to dig for information on Ozpin, could she?"

"She might," Weiss allowed. "My sister is loyal to the general, and puts a great deal of trust in him. If it wasn't for the faith Ironwood has in Ozpin she would have protested my joining Beacon. I had considered Haven or Shade," Weiss admitted, "but Winter convinced me to attend Beacon instead. If Ironwood is starting to doubt Ozpins motives or actions she would be willing to use any means possible to learn about Ozpin."

"And you're okay with this?"

"I'm not saying that," Weiss snapped, before slowing. "I'm just saying that I can understand what she's doing. And being able to spend time with me and still work for the general would... appeal to her sense of duty."

"Are you going to confront her?"

Weiss hesitated. "No," she finally decided. "I'll inform her that my work on the dance will limit how much time I can spend talking with her, and that she didn't need to try and trick me into giving anything away about Ozpin. I'll also tell her that I trust his judgement. In most things at least," she added, looking pointedly at Ruby.

"Hey! When have I ever done a bad job as leader?"

"I didn't say that, just that I'd have done a better job as leader."

"What about team URBN," Yang pointed out, to keep the argument going, Zwei and Drei sitting with her, tongues lolling out in their own approximations of laughter.

"Exactly," Weiss agreed, not noticing Yangs motives. "How can you say that putting an Ursa in charge of a Grimm-hunting team."

In the end there wasn't time after their 'discussion' ended for Weiss to visit her sister, and so she put it off to the next day.

[]

"Does anyone have any idea what we need to do to organise a dance?"

Rens shrug told him all he needed from him, while the Nevermore just tilted its head, as if questioning what a dance was.

"Ooh, music! A snack buffet! Large bowls of punch, pancakes!"

"I hardly think that pancakes are a suitable food for the school dance, Nora," Ren told her in a much calmer voice than she'd been using.

"At least she hasn't suggested pre-spiked punch," Jaune commented, remembering what his sisters had told him about school dances, often while dragging him into practising dancing with them.

"That's an idea!"

"Nora, no."

[]

"We'll need to set aside somewhere quiet in the hall, in case it gets too loud," Blake suggested.

Her team leader opened an eye to look at her in a disbelieving manner.

"I... hardly think the Grimm will need that," Pyrrha said. "Given how there haven't been any problems so far..."

"We'll all have to attend and you want to be able to slip away if you need to," Russel realised.

Blake blushed, refusing to admit anything.

"Have we ever exposed one of our Grimm to non-stop music? And with team ANVL involved, there's no way Nora will fail to put in some kind of loud, discordant mess. If anything will set off one of them, that will."

"You do realise we aren't the only ones organising the event. How do you intend to get this past them?"

Blake didn't have an answer.

[]

"Why do we have to help organise a dance?"

"Maybe if you didn't partner with a Seer-"

Cardins glare silenced his teammate.

"Do either of you have any suggestions?"

"Shouldn't that be the three of us? I mean, it's all about making sure the Grimm can participate, so the Seers opinion is more important than what we think."

"You mean the member of this team who can't speak?"

"Whoever told you that," came an oddly accented and cultured voice, and they turned to see the Seers orb-like head filled with a strange, swirling gas upon which was the vague impression of a face.

"You mean you could always speak if you wanted? And understand us? And that-that thing you did when I was sleeping, why did you do that?"

Even with the poor visibility of the face its smile was obvious. "Of course. And it was amusing."

"You mean it was all a prank?"

"One that can be played on everyone else if we work together..."

And so the teams discussion on organising the dance was derailed.

[]

"A question," Salem began, facing Ozma in his office.

"Wondering why we have the dance," he suggested.

"Not at all, you will recall I was a princess. I was quite pleased to hear that you were honouring the custom. No, my question is about who you have selected to organise the dance."

Ozma raised an eyebrow. "You have a problem with me trying to open it to your students?"

"If you want to make sure the Grimm feel welcome, why did you go to students with only a few months experience with non-hostile Grimm rather than an expert, like me. Or even Tyrian, if you had to," she added as an afterthought.

Tyrian, professor Callows now she reminded herself with a mental chuckle, did have his strong points, but even for her his unending devotion and declarations of her divinity could get... grating.

There was more than one reason she had him on nearly constant missions.

"I... didn't think you would approve," Ozma admitted.

"Why would I protest a dance, especially one that welcomes the students I brought?"

"Then if you are still willing to help with the organisation, I would be happy to accept your assistance."

As the discussion on what they had to do to keep the Grimm happy while attending the dance, Salem couldn't help but think about the way Ozma had apparently forgotten about her noble origins.

It wasn't the first time he had demonstrated a lack of knowledge about their shared past that left her an advantage.

At first she just thought it was her, failing to remember things properly after her dip in the pool, but for him to forget something so key to how they met...

Something was very wrong here.

[]

"He's not just going ahead with that ridiculous dance, but getting the Grimm involved as well?"

Ironwood could hardly believe what he'd heard Ozpin was doing now.

He had found it hard to believe the tradition of the school dance in Atlas, continuing even through the Colour Revolution. It was one of the first things he discontinued upon being selected as headmaster.

What was the point of having a dance at a school where they trained Huntsmen and Huntresses to kill Grimm?

It was just one of those indicators of a lack of discipline among their defenders of the future.

His early years as headmaster had been all about instilling discipline in his students, preventing all the outbursts of the teenagers under his care rather than encouraging the kind of chaos he saw everywhere in Beacon.

"You have to admit, barring a group of students from a social event could be used to paint him in a negative light, sir," Winter pointed out.

"Only if he gives the press reason," Ironwood asserted.

Winter couldn't help frowning. In her experience the press didn't need a reason to attack a prominent figure.

Of course, that experience was tainted by her fathers business strategies, so it was possible Ironwood was correct in this.

He did have more experience as a public figure in his own right after all.

"In any case, while the event is still being organised you won't be able to get anything about Ozpin from your sister?"

"No, sir," she answered immediately. "Between studying and her role in the preparations her schedule is already full." She hesitated.

"What is it, Winter?"

"She did mention I could have just asked her about Ozpin directly rather than asking about her time here to find out indirectly."

"Would she have told you?"

"Weiss could do many things, but not lie to me. If she says she would have told me straight if I'd just asked, she would. And I could have spent more time just talking to her as her sister..."

She wasn't sure that Ironwood understood what it meant to her, getting to spend time with her sister without worrying about their father. After all she had never heard the general speak about having any family.


AN: Nothing too much happens until the dance that isn't related to Torchwick, who isn't exactly active at this point, so there isn't too much to cover until then. As such, this ended up pretty much filler and setting up later events. As such, have an omake, to see what Cinder is up to!


Omake

Cinder had more than enough reason to doubt what Mercury told her, but his latest piece of advice seemed to actually be valid.

While Qrows presence had prevented her from heading into Vale, meaning she was no doubt being watched even on the grounds, listening to Mercury had left her with nobody paying attention to her.

And all it needed was for her to buy a dog.

Having done so she was able to walk around the entire campus without anyone batting an eye.

There were occaissional problems, she admitted, such as now with a familiar girl in red hooded cape taking her Beowolf for a walk.

At the first sighting between the canines, they were pulling towards each other, growling.

"I'm so sorry," the girl called, "he's not normally like this."

"It's alright," Cinder told her, trying to avoid an excessive scene.


AN: Yes, I did reverse the chibi scene.