So far, the first week back at Beacon hadn't left much room for training, not when it had been spent by every student studying for the first essay of the term. It had left almost everyone, as Lily had put it, 'mentally exhausted'. Everyone, of course, except for Astra, who was still full of energy and burning with frustration that she hadn't been able to fight anyone (or anything) yet.
Of course, she wasn't about to push that on her tired friends. She'd just have to try her best to be patient and wait for them to feel up to it. However, it didn't stop her from wishing that they could at least discuss Luna's still-secret plans for the team.
She set her plate of beef mince and mashed potato down on the table and tried not to sigh dramatically as she sat down.
Lily sat across from her, peering dubiously at her plate. "You know, you really should include more vegetables in your diet."
Astra poked her tongue out at her. "I don't need veggies, plant girl," She retorted, "I'm already big and strong." Vegetables were so bland, and besides, potato was a vegetable, technically. She didn't need all that green stuff!
Cobalt, sitting beside Lily, leaned over to Astra with a twinkle in his eye. "You know," He commented, "I heard that carrots and other plants are sources of estrogen. If you stop eating them, your levels might drop."
Astra gasped. "No!" That last thing she needed was to lose her beautiful voice, when she'd worked so hard to perfect it. She urgently reached out across the table to Lily's plate. "Give me your carrots."
Lily whacked her hands away and flicked a pea at Cobalt. "Don't lie to her," She scolded. "Carrots have a hormone that mimics estrogen. And even if it was true, a lack of them wouldn't drop her levels." She gave Astra a slightly scathing look. "I honestly would've expected you to know that."
Astra frowned. To be fair, she'd started HRT almost ten years ago, and it was only fair that an eight-year-old wouldn't be able to remember all the nitty-gritty scientific details. And she also wasn't sure that learning about estrogen-mimicking plants was part of the process.
Cobalt waved his hands in defense. "Hey, you want her to eat her vegetables, don't you?"
"Oh, leave her alone," Luna admonished lightly, "I'm sure her vitamin levels are fine."
Astra hugged her arm and gazed at her fondly. "This is why you're my favourite."
In response, Luna kissed the top of her head, and Astra tried her best not to freeze. This was the third time Luna had kissed her in some way, and she still wasn't used to it. She didn't dislike it by any means, but this kind of physical affection was still new to her, and she never knew how to respond to it. Was she supposed to do it back? Thank her? The only way she could ever respond was for her brain to completely stop functioning until something else happened.
Thankfully, she was saved by Team SCY approaching their table. Astra had never been more relieved to see Storm Hunter.
"Hey," Storm chirped, "Mind if we sit with you guys?"
Cobalt's face lit up, and Astra wondered if that was how she looked when talking to Luna. "Of course!"
As Yarrow and Cherry sat beside Astra, Storm, of course, sat by Cobalt, planting a kiss on his cheek as he did. Astra started enviously as Cobalt just casually blushed and grinned. They'd been dating for a week, and yet they were already as close as if they'd been doing it for months. It didn't feel fair. If she wasn't so bad at knowing how relationships were supposed to work, maybe she and Luna could've progressed in the relationship much sooner.
"So, what are you guys up to?" Storm's question broke Astra out of her thoughts.
Lily shrugged. "Nothing much. Talking about vegetables."
"Actually," Luna pulled out her notebook and placed it on the table, pushing her plate aside. "I wanted to start sharing my ideas for our training with you guys, now that we're almost done with that essay."
Astra shoved her negative thoughts away and let herself perk up. "Really? You're gonna share your secrets?"
"Finally," Cobalt grinned, "You've been keeping this from us for ages."
"Only because we didn't really have time until now," Luna assured him, "But next week, we should be able to get enough time to ourselves to start trying things out and working on what I've planned." She opened the notebook to a page full of messy sketches and notes. "First of all, our weapons."
Lily leaned forward. "What about them?"
Luna put her hands together. "Okay, first of all, I just want to state that I think your weapons are all very cool. However," She hesitated, "I think they could use some improvements."
Cobalt lifted his eyebrows. "Oh?"
Astra tried not to feel offended. She was extremely proud of her own weapon, but she also had faith in her leader and girlfriend.
"I already adjusted mine over the holidays," Luna tapped her finger on a rough sketch of Striking Shadow. "It was already good for close combat, but I realized that longer-ranged attacks could be unpredictable."
"And you've fixed that?" Lily asked.
"Hopefully," Luna replied, "I asked my parents for advice, and Blake suggested adding something to connect both ends of the spear, like a ribbon or chain. It'll be easier to show you later, but I can essentially shoot one end out now, while still having it attached to the other."
"Like a grappling hook!" The outburst came from Cherry, who sat back when all eyes turned on her. "Sorry," She chuckled sheepishly. "I'm uh, a pretty big fan of multi-use weapons."
Luna smiled at her. "Could be good to get your input on my other ideas, then."
In the past week, Cherry had already gained Astra's approval. Though quiet, she wasn't especially shy, and despite her polite and calm mannerisms, Astra had heard her come out with a sneakily-concealed roast once or twice. She also found it rather ironic that a faunus had replaced Rowan and Birch, and hoped that Storm and Yarrow weren't treating her with any insensitivity.
She hadn't noticed Cherry express any discomfort around either of her teammates though, and she even seemed to get along especially well with Yarrow. It was a good sign that Storm and Yarrow had both definitely improved since their first days at Beacon. Cobalt really had been a good influence.
"Do you still use the same weapon you designed in combat school?" Cobalt asked her. "With the hard light dust?"
Cherry nodded. "I've made a few improvements, but it's still the same concept," She grinned. "I'd be happy to personally show you next time we have a sparring match."
Cobalt smirked. "You're on."
Realizing Luna was patiently waiting to continue, Astra nudged her. "So, what did you come up with for the rest of us?"
Shooting her a grateful smile, Luna turned back to the page. "For you, while you do have long-range options when you bring your Semblance into the picture, I think more could be done with your weapon."
Astra thought about it. It did sound useful, that was for sure. "What did you have in mind?"
"That's up to you, but I was thinking some kind of projectile that could be added into the head of the hammer," Luna replied, paging through her notes. "A gun of some sort, maybe a grenade launcher, I dunno."
Cherry looked thoughtfully at Astra. "If I can ask, what does your Semblance do?"
"I can create balls of light," Astra turned her hand over and showed her. "They can do damage if I throw them with enough speed and force, which my hammer helps with."
Cherry inspected the ball of glowing white light. "Is that as big as they get?"
Astra shook her head. "I can make them bigger, but it uses up more aura."
"Hm," Cherry rubbed her chin, brown eyes deep in thought. "How about a dust cannon then? Something bigger and heavier, to deal more damage in situations where you don't want to spend too much aura on larger use of your Semblance."
Astra started at her, the image unfolding in her mind. "Like, one I set up to sit on the ground?" Excitement sparked inside her. "That sounds awesome." Okay, so maybe weapon improvement really was a good idea.
Yarrow was staring at Cherry too. "You came up with that on the spot?" His green eyes were wide with awe. "Gods, you're smart."
Cherry blushed deeply. "Oh, well…it was just the first thing that came to my head, really."
"Give yourself more credit!" Yarrow insisted. "I never could've come up with that so quickly."
Cherry chuckled. "Oh, well…thanks, Yarrow. That's sweet of you."
Astra glanced between them as they gazed at each other like moonstruck rabbits. Ooohhh. No wonder they got along so well.
"Yarrow's right," Cobalt added, "That was pretty impressive."
Astra nodded enthusiastically. "And I'm definitely using it," She affirmed, nudging Luna. "Write it down."
Luna glared playfully at her. "Hey, manners, sweetheart."
Astra sighed with mock annoyance. "Write it down, please."
Luna smiled satisfyingly and scribbled a new note on the page, before flipping to a new one, filled with scribbles of what looked like a longer, sturdier version of Stoneheart. "Now, Cobalt, there wasn't much I could think of to do with yours without scrapping and replace the entire thing, but I think you could stand to re-enforce it a bit more."
Cobalt looked confused. "But I can already do that with my Semblance anytime," he pointed out. "Even by turning it into other kinds of weapons. What's the point of making it longer permanently?"
"Because you can't always use your Semblance," Luna pointed out. "Even if you've got plenty of aura, you can't guarantee that you'll be somewhere where plenty of rocks are available." She smirked. "For example, what do you expect to do in a desert? You can try to control the sand, but it won't be good for re-enforcement."
Cobalt sighed. "Okay, you make a good point. I guess making it more of a sword than a dagger could help."
Luna looked satisfied. "Good. Now, you," She pointed her pencil across the table at Lily. "Are already perfect in terms of your weapon. Good for combat, good for long-range, not too much where you can really improve in those fields."
Lily lifted an eyebrow. "So, no homework for me then?"
"I didn't say that," Luna replied, slight smugness in her tone. "Your weapon is great, but I think you should start carrying around seeds, for the same reason Cobalt should re-enforce his weapon."
Lily nodded slowly. "So that I can use them to grow plants in situations where there are none. Makes sense."
Astra pictured a bunch of villains looking as if they'd cornered Lily, only for her to throw a bunch of seeds in their faces and grown them to restrain them. She giggled.
"Actually, on that note," Cherry piped up, "I think Cobalt should do the same." As all eyes turned on her again, she added, "With pebbles, not seeds."
Cobalt looked interested. "Yeah?"
"I read a book once, where one character used small pebbles like bullets," Cherry explained. "If you could learn to use your Semblance with that kind of accuracy from a long distance, it could be pretty useful."
Cobalt smiled. "Hey yeah, that actually sounds pretty cool."
Luna nodded approvingly. "You really are smart, Cherry."
Cherry blushed again, though not as much as she had when Yarrow had praised her. "Thanks," She replied. "I'm really glad I could help out."
Yarrow leaned his head on his arms and gazed up at her. "We're lucky to have her." He commented to Luna, though he was looking straight at Cherry the whole time.
There was the blush from earlier, spreading across Cherry's face in an instant, the moment her teammate spoke. For a moment, Astra found it amusingly adorable, until she realized that, yet again, here was another budding couple that was probably going to progress fast than she and Luna were.
As plans for weapons continued, she only half-paid attention. The other half of her mind was stuck on her shortcomings as a romantic partner, how maybe they'd be further along by now if she'd just realized Luna's feelings sooner, or if she didn't freeze every time Luna kissed her, when it wasn't even on the lips. When that happened, she didn't know what she'd do. And yet, how was she supposed to tell Luna that she didn't want to yet? She'd sound unreasonable.
She sighed, quietly enough that nobody heard. Relationships were hard.
