Coffee Break
The second time Team RWAY stood in Ozpin's office was decidedly less awkward. That wasn't to say it wasn't at all: Weiss once more stood a slight, but clear distance away from the trio, having refused to say much more than a single syllable to them for the past day. Ruby fidgeted in place, looking from the headmaster who sat alone at his desk to her teammate. She hadn't been faring too well with the cold shoulder Weiss was giving them all. She thought things were getting better!
Ozpin took a long sip from his mug. "I've decided upon a suitable punishment." It was stating the obvious: it wasn't as if they would've been brought up for any other reason. "It is readily apparent that what the four of you lack are visions of the future. Example students, if you would."
Ruby crossed her arms. "Uh, my Uncle Qrow? Mom?"
"Our dad?" Yang added with a little disgruntlement.
Ozpin smiled knowingly. "If you knew how many times your parents' team found themselves here, I don't think you would agree."
Both opened their mouths to protest... but a little more thought on Qrow and Taiyang had them rethink that.
"Still, there is a reason why I randomize the placement of my students, even knowing that it can result in a team that has more than a few kinks to work out. It is because Huntresses and Huntsmen both must be capable of working with one another, no matter their faults. After all, to work alone is common, yes, but working with other Hunters, military personnel, even the very people you stand to protect is not uncommon. As such, would you not agree it is best to work out those kinks now rather than having a police officer without his aura be the one who mistakenly shuns a sibling and, to use more modern parlance, 'gets jumped' for it?"
Ruby raised her hand.
"Rhetorical question."
Ruby lowered her hand.
"... But, that being said, most students at least have the foundation of teamwork set in place by their combat schools. Combat schools only one of you has even attended to completion. In fact, I get the distinct feeling that all of you have a rather strong tendency to work alone." Adam kept his smugness to himself on being rather certain that he did not. "Or at least, certainly not with equals." Ozpin's eyes focusing on him at that left said smugness in Adam replaced with unease.
"It's a rather unique situation. As such, it requires a unique punishment." He tapped his desk, bringing up a hologram of a tiara. "Glynda, bring them in."
Now, all of them were fidgeting, albeit for different reasons. Thoughts ran wild on exactly what kind of punishment even required more than one person to execute, let alone one that would be considered unique.
Then, the elevator doors opened.
Adam's eyes widened. "You!"
It wasn't long after he had made the choice to abandon the White Fang for Blake. In what would wind up the final time he'd see her for some time, Blake had oh-so-casually dropped the fact that he should likely mask his horns. Not for his sake, of course. For their sake: heavens knew all it would take is one jab for him to wind up in prison and someone else to wind up six feet under. At the time, so desperate to keep Blake with him, he had agreed.
By the time he'd even reached the store, the weight of the stupidity of the situation was starting to weigh on him. Anger at how much he'd thrown away, yet how many challenges remained in his way, was bubbling to the forefront of his mind at all times.
And so he made his way down the shelves of hats, barely noticing how quickly the shop cleared out as he stalked through it like a predator searching for its prey. His eyes suddenly caught on a black hat that quickly gained his fancy. With a hum of interest, he picked it up. Soft, indented crown, thin rim... Adam quite liked the trilby.
"Nnno. Try again." Which was why he was particularly agitated when a dainty, gloved hand snatched it just out of his own. Adam whirled around to face the person who would dare disrespect him in such a manner, teeth bared and anger practically corporeal around him.
"Is that how you thank the person who just saved your life? Rude." The girl was unfazed: some tall human who almost met him at eye level, and one who must have frequented this shop a lot considering her cocoa-and-black designer clothes with a militaristic bent to them. Combined with her beret and the aviator sunglasses she was staring impassively at him over, if she weren't so agitating, Adam might have considered her stylish.
But she was, so she wasn't.
"Oh. It's you." The same woman stood before him now with three others at her sides and Glynda behind her.
"You know Coco Adel?" Ruby asked, eyes practically sparkling.
Adam snorted. "We've met. Once. Not a charming first impression."
"Actually, I saved his life," Coco countered.
"An Adel saves your life and you act in such a boorish manner?" Weiss scoffed at Adam's rudeness, leaving him both increasingly confused and agitated at the circumstances.
"You never exactly told me how you did so," Adam half-growled at Coco.
Coco peered over her glasses as if Adam were daft. "By saving you from being the laughingstock of Vale, of course." She smirked upon seeing the homburg hat Adam wore. "I see you took my advice, though."
"You took my other choice."
"Oh, did I? Man, I am just too good to people..."
Ozpin cleared his throat, bringing all eyes back on him. "To return to the point, students, I'm sure you are all well aware of who Team CFVY is."
"Not particularly," Adam replied.
"Uh, have you been living under a rock, or something?" Yang asked. "They were pretty big news in the last Vytal Tournament."
"I was raised outside of the kingdoms." Considering the fact that the only thing he'd considered the Vytal Tournament to be before coming here was a target, Adam decided it was best to... fib on that one.
Ruby and Weiss whirled on him, and Adam realized with growing dismay he was likely about to be on the receiving end of not one but two, as Yang would call them, 'geekouts'.
To his surprise, however, Ozpin actually held a hand up to stop them.
"Team CFVY here are quite the local celebrities, you see, but I will leave the introductions to them." Ozpin sipped from his mug. "They will also be your example students. Think of them as... chaperones, like the Huntsman or Huntress you will take your first mission with, next semester. Guidance counselors. Your new 'older siblings', even."
Every sentence left all but Ruby's expressions growing more and more downtrodden. Even Adam was left rubbing his temples. He expected some level of humiliation just from being in this school in the first place, but to this extent? He was certain he would have the definition of 'demeaning' engraved onto his aura. Or his grave.
"Starting today, you will be assigned to them for a minimum of one hour at the end of each of your school days. They will be charged with getting the four of you in shape to be a true team. As such, to better harness your potential, they also have the ability to punish you with my position." The girls went pale. Adam's eye twitched. "And, if they deem you truly unfit at the end of your punishment period, the ability to decide whether or not it is wise to keep you in Beacon."
Adam was rather sure he spotted the exact moment the girls' souls threatened to escape from their bodies. Beyond the utter humiliation, at least, Adam did not find that as terrible. At worst, it would be awkward explaining it to Blake... were she to ever answer her Scroll, that is. That did not make this any less infuriating.
"Well, with that said," Ozpin continued as if three of the four members of RWAY weren't still reeling, "I believe your first session should be starting just about now." He smiled as Glynda had to shepherd the four into the elevators, three barely recognizing their surroundings, the last stewing in enough anger to barely catch that they were being dismissed at all. Team CFVY stepped into the second, not even fazed by their new charges' emotions.
Ozpin once more found himself sighing as the doors closed. It was a risky move: were they to fail, he would lose so much, not to mention having Qrow and Taiyang setting off to give him an early grave. Still, he believed in them. They had potential. This entire experiment to convert Her own tools had potential.
All they had to do was try not to kill one another again. Simple, right?
Right?
"Alright, maggots!" Scowling, Coco marched between both teams as they stood in the courtyard just outside Ozpin's tower. "You heard the headmaster: we're here to whip you four into shape! Headmaster Ozpin may have been so kind as to tell you my name, but he did not tell you just who I am! I am Coco Adel, heiress to the Adel fashion family and, if you so happen to live in a cave, first freshman second-place winner of the Vytal Tournament in twenty-five years! Unfortunately for you piles of garbage, this is not the Vytal Tournament and silver doesn't mean shit!"
Her ranting was doing a good job on the three girls, leaving them rigid and at attention, still reeling from the bombs Ozpin had dropped on them... even if Yang's red eyes showed her disdain for this. Adam, frankly, was wondering if it was too late to escape and pass off his disappearance to the White Fang as an injury. Besides, the fact that the only other faunus—a brown-haired rabbit girl who couldn't keep her eyes on them for more than a second or two—was rather clearly trying to stifle laughter didn't bode well.
"When I am done with you, you will be the best damn Huntress team in Beacon other than us or you could kiss that future goodbye! I have your lives as Huntresses in my hands, ladies, and it would be best for you to remember that! Am I understood!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Ruby and Weiss shouted, the former snapping a salute. Yang had substantially more trouble humiliating herself like that.
"Fully," Adam said through gritted teeth. Just let the human have their fun, strike them when they least expect it. He'd dealt with people like this enough times to know what to do.
Coco halted in front of Yang and Adam. A twist of her heel had her glaring over her glasses at them both. "I don't believe I heard you!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Yang did a surprisingly good job of shouting through gritted teeth.
Coco stepped so that only Adam was in her sight. Her eyes bored into his. "Well?!" she barked.
Adam shifted his jaw, and his plan flew out of the window. "I answered. Or are you shouting because your hearing is shoddy?" Adam said with a faint sneer. Ruby and Yang snickered.
"Oooh, we've got a smart-ass! All of you but the princess, twenty push-ups, now!" Ruby squeaked and was on the floor in an instant. Yang shifted her jaw and reluctantly followed.
Adam didn't move. "Excuse you?"
"I guess either it's your ears or your head that's screwed up, because Ozpin made it very clear that we can punish you, so get down on the ground, punk!"
The rabbit girl behind them finally broke into giggles as another one of CFVY—a Vacuan, scarred man with simple clothing, fiery-red hair and damaged, empty eyes—laid a hand on Coco's shoulder. "I... don't think he meant we could punish them like that," he said.
Adam and Coco glared daggers at one another, air practically combusting between them before Coco... laughed. Like a storm dissipating with only a breeze, the aura of threat and power vanished in an instant. She waved the man off and cocked her hips to one side.
"You're just mad you didn't get to be the drill sergeant, Fox. Alright, alright, get up, you're fine!" Coco stepped back with her team, a warm smile replacing the vicious scowl she had before.
"Wait, wait, wait, was all that just a joke?" Yang asked as she got up. Coco's grin answered that question for her. Grinning back, she held her fist out.
Coco fist-bumped her. "Alright, but really, don't get too comfy. Here's how this is gonna work: we don't actually have anything planned. We... well, let's just say we got in a situation like yours once, and instead of giving us a punishment then, Headmaster Ozpin waited two years to call it in. We found out yesterday. He does that. You're lucky. So, we're going to just split this up, one-on-one, and try to figure out what's going on. Sound good? And don't worry, we won't be speaking a word to anyone outside our own team of... 'guidance counselors'."
"S-so, uh..." Ruby cleared her throat.
Coco raised an eyebrow and rolled her hand. "Come on, spit it out."
"Do I go with you? Leader and leader?" She couldn't hide how hopeful she was about it.
"Nope!" Coco jabbed her thumb towards Weiss. "She is."
Ruby looked like a kicked puppy. Weiss' jaw dropped.
"You're with Fox."
"Aw..." Ruby managed to look even more heartbroken.
"... Thank you for the vote of confidence," Fox said with a cocked eyebrow.
Ruby's mouth opened and closed like a fish before she jumped forward, words flying faster than frankly any of them could understand in a desperate attempt to save face.
"Blondie, you're with Yatsuhashi." She waved back to the absolutely massive man who towered over even Adam. By almost a foot.
He bared a frightful resemblance to his lieutenant, Adam thought, especially in terms of height. Were it not for his size, though, he'd have been completely unassuming: simple tunic, earthen colors of clothing, only a bronze shoulder pad for armor. Stoic. Practically Yang's opposite. Much like how this serious-looking 'Fox' was Ruby's opposite, and their boisterous, annoying, grating leader was... actually relatively fitting for Weiss, but still.
None of that mattered, though, because—
"By process of elimination, you, Mr. Doom N' Gloom, are with Velvet."
He had a fellow faunus. Thank God. He needed a reprieve from this madness. Adam even managed a smile and nod when Velvet waved to him. He'd take what he could get.
"And don't get any ideas."
Aaand his smile was gone. Adam rolled his eyes.
"Alright, everyone, I'll see you in... I don't know, an hour or something. Weiss, with me! Might as well multitask and get some shopping in while we're out." Coco turned and strode off deeper into Beacon, Weiss barely even sparing them all a glance before following behind like a puppy.
"W-well, uh... see you guys later, I guess?" Ruby said to the rest before glancing over her shoulder and noticing that Fox was already wandering off. "Hey, wait for me!" She darted off in a rush of flower petals.
Yang looked Yatsuhashi over. "... Wanna head to the gym?"
"Agreeable."
And then there were only two.
Velvet wasn't entirely fond of that: she'd been given a brief rundown on why they were here in the first place, and rumors of the tall and brooding man practically radiating a distinct mix of anger and disdain even in the halls were not flattering. Rumors of being a criminal, dark pasts, murders, who knows what.
Adam glanced over to her, and to her surprise, there was... none of that. Sure, he didn't look happy, but it was like walking outside expecting a thunderstorm and just getting a drizzle.
He actually smiled. "If I'm going to torment you with the tales of insanity from my team, we should consider somewhere more peaceful." Adam started walking off. "Come, I heard there were gardens near the Forever Fall."
Stunned and confused, Velvet took a second before following behind.
"Alright, what's the problem?" Coco picked a dress from a rack, glancing at Weiss from a mirror ahead. She couldn't help but notice how Weiss relaxed when she was away from her own team. Shoulders not as rigid. A bounce in her step. That was already worrying.
Weiss rolled her eyes as she looked over a beret. The shop was empty besides them and a starstruck attendant unlikely to speak a word. It was one of the Adels' own shops, after all. They could speak freely. "I believe I would have far better luck explaining what isn't a problem with those reprobates than what is not."
"Well, give it a try, anyway. This hour isn't about to spend itself, you know. Here," Weiss turned as Coco handed her a set of clothes. "Try this one."
"If you insist, thank you..." She smiled slightly to her and with a thankful nod, took them into a changing room. Coco marked that down in her mind. She was happier, but still pretty restrained. Interesting. "It's insanity in there like you would never believe! Our leader is a child who either doesn't take something seriously or can't reign in the troublemakers of our team, her sister just enables her time and time again, and..." From the changing room, Weiss growled. "Adam is his own list of problems."
She all but flung open the door. "I might be biting my tongue around them to be a good partner, but whatever Ozpin saw to make Ruby the leader over me, I certainly haven't seen any of it, myself." Dressed in a flowing, white evening gown that faded to a translucent, icy-blue at its ends, an aspect shared by her bolero jacket, Weiss looked more like a princess than a Huntress.
"But at least she could make it somewhere in this world, unlike the two barbarians who got me in this situation to begin with. How they even got into Beacon astounds me."
Coco shrugged. "Ozpin moves in mysterious ways." She wiggled her fingers for dramatic effect, and Weiss stifled something between a scoff and a giggle. "That being said, I trust our headmaster. He's wiser than I thought he was when I started... mostly because he doesn't judge books on their cover. There's more to anyone than what meets the eye. By the way, no." She handed another outfit off to Weiss. "Try this one."
Having actually taken a bit of a liking to the current outfit, Weiss blinked in surprise, but nodded and stepped back inside.
"Let's get in deep, then. What's with Ruby?"
"I can't control anything!" Ruby not so much plopped down as melted onto the bench Fox was sitting on. Secluded, open and staring out upon the Emerald Forest used for initiation, Fox personally came here quite often to think. Hopefully, it was what Ruby needed, too.
"I mean, the headmaster put me as the leader of a team with my big sister, some guy four years older than me and... Weiss! The only reason they even have to listen to me is that Ozpin said I'm the big leader, and I don't think anyone's gonna buy that for too long." She sighed. "All it even takes is for them to just... go off on their own, and what can I even say to stop them? Why bother if they're just gonna do it anyway?"
She slid onto the ground. "If I can't even stop them from beating each other up, how am I supposed to lead a team in a fight?" Ruby whimpered.
Fox waited to see if Ruby was going to keep going. Nothing. He cleared his throat. "Maybe... focus a little less on leading?"
Ruby looked up, silver eyes sparkling. "Does Ozpin accept resignations?"
"Not exactly. You should remember that you aren't alone. You just have to... work with your team as leader. After all, your sibling seemed rather happy to help keep control in her own special... dangerous way."
"Are you sure she didn't just want to punch Adam in the face?"
Lying down on a different kind of bench, Yang groaned as Yatsuhashi placed another set of weights on her bar. "Are we really going here? He was an ass, I hit him, we made up, we're cool now, alright?" She shifted in place and grabbed the barbell.
Yatsuhashi crossed his arms and stepped away, refusing to spot. "Just rudeness, then?" Even without emotion, his tone did not exactly leave him sounding trusting of Yang's opinion.
She scoffed and started lifting, anyway. She had aura: she didn't care. After a few repetitions though, Yatsuhashi's constant, stern stare got the best of her. Resisting the urge to just chuck the bar in annoyance, she racked it and sat up.
"Look, she's my little sister! She's fifteen, what do you want me to do? Just let everyone pick on her?"
"Would you have attacked freshmen two years younger than you if she had come to Beacon at the normal time?"
Yang scowled. "She'd be older, then! She could..." She sighed. "She could handle herself, by then."
"She can handle herself now."
"Yeah, no."
Yatsuhashi raised an eyebrow. "Ozpin believes so."
"Well, then Ozpin's a—" Yatsuhashi raised the other eyebrow, and Yang grimaced. "... Guy who doesn't know Rubes like I do."
"Which is why I believe you know she can make it as leader. She just needs help."
Yang glanced away, knowing full well that if Yatsuhashi looked into her eyes, he'd see just how quickly he'd won that argument. "Well, fine, whatever, but even if Ruby's handled, that won't make the other two any easier. Weiss is a bona fide ice queen, and even if Adam isn't as rough around the edges, he's still a—"
"Shortsighted, arrogant, brooding, careless, know-it-all brute so focused on looking 'cool' and leading from the back that he'd gladly stomp on everyone else if it got him even a single step up!" Weiss threw open the changing room's door yet again with a huff, many an outfit having already been tried by both. Some set aside, some put back.
Coco raised an eyebrow and didn't bother to mask her smirk. Sitting atop the armrest of a chair with one leg crossed over the other, she chuckled. "Well, that just about summarizes what you've been ranting about for the past three outfits. Hey, I think this one fits you."
Coco held up a simple, white overcoat. Flowery, rose-like designs in sky-blue flowed around its sleeves and the bottom of the coat both. The color scheme might've been inverted, but the similarities to Adam's own attire did not pass Weiss by.
She scoffed and crossed her arms. "I am nothing like him!"
"Know-it-all, keeps trying to lead, arrogant..." Each word seemed to leave Weiss with a deeper snarl. Finally, Coco stood up and raised her hands in defeat, leaving the outfit behind. "Alright, alright, I'll drop it... but, I think I finally got the problem." She walked with Weiss towards a mirror.
A departure from Weiss' usual fashion, the thin, gray, tight-fitting sweater she wore was more like a dress, a pale-blue waist cincher breaking up the colorless plane. Weiss nervously adjusted the beret of the same color under Coco's appraising gaze.
Finally, Coco nodded, took off her sunglasses, and slid them onto Weiss, instead. "You're way too much like me."
Weiss blinked, a hint of a smile growing. "Really?"
Coco smirked. "Bad news, kid: that wasn't a compliment. I was a real pain in my teammates' asses. Seriously." She retrieved her wallet from her purse. "Go ahead and tell me if any of this sounds familiar: thinks she's way too good for everybody even though she seriously went and joined a Huntress Academy, daddy problems, nose held high, based basically her whole life off of being a heiress instead of a soldier, spoiled, treated her teammates like trash, clashed with basically everyone on campus..."
She flicked a photo over to Weiss. It was half of a standard picture taken when teams were formed. The only two there were a displeased-looking Fox and Coco. At least, Weiss thought it might've been Coco: her hair tied back in a ponytail, a frilled, lengthy, mocha-brown dress and numerous bangles and necklaces... Were it not for the golden handcannon holstered at her waist, Weiss would've thought first-year Coco was returning from a prom, not a potentially-deadly initiation.
"Yeah, see? That face, right there? Shocked, confused and kind of disturbed? That's why I'm here: so you aren't like that every time you think back to now." Coco threw an arm around Weiss' shoulders. "The good news is that you aren't the leader, so you don't need to worry about it as much as I did... but the difference between leader and teammate's kinda blurry in the first place. Why do you think Ozpin draws his team leaders out of a hat?"
That snapped Weiss out of it, leaving her appalled, offended and with her mouth agape. "He what?"
Coco burst into laughter that only got louder at Weiss' confusion. "Oh my god, you are just too easy! I'm joking, I'm joking... but it is the reason he keeps us like this for four years based off of just a couple hours of experience. We've got leaders because the world's got leaders, and sometimes, no matter how arbitrary and stupid it might feel, you've gotta listen to them. Well, unless you can find a loophole, but that's beside the point." She smirked. "Check it: if you think all this arguing about who listens to who is bad now, imagine if you didn't even have someone who called themselves leader?"
Weiss paled, and her eyes widened. "We would tear each other apart."
"And it'd happen pretty fast." She patted her shoulder. "Truth is, you'll all have your time to lead one day, which means that just buddying up to your leader isn't going to cut it. It's not like being an employee where you can keep climbing the ranks by sucking up to the higher-ups: if you're gonna be a good teammate for one, it's gotta be for everyone else, too."
Weiss stared into the mirror, mulling over Coco's words. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried, but all she got back instead were snarky comments and snipes. What was so wrong with simply leaving them to squabble amongst themselves and focus on her own work? Well, besides the fact that such a thing was an impossibility, considering how now their problems could get her thrown out of the Academy she'd sacrificed so much—even nearly costing her an eye—to attend.
She supposed that made it rather obvious what she needed to do: she had to actually... try to befriend them again. Or at least get close enough for one of them to listen to her.
Weiss groaned. "But they're just so... them."
"Yeaaah, I never said it'd be easy." Coco flashed a more sympathetic smile her way. "But, it's not like you haven't been so 'you'. Just chill a bit, let your hair down. Everyone's got their reasons, you'll figure theirs out eventually..." She hummed to herself.
"That wasn't all metaphorical, by the way: this outfit would work way better if you let your hair down." Coco motioned to Weiss' hairpin, but she shied away.
"Sorry, I... would rather not."
Coco waved it off. "Alright, alright, fair enough. Still, don't worry, kid. I've got faith in your team."
"They're going to kill each other and we're gonna get the blame for it," Coco muttered through a fake smile to her teammates as she waved the three girls of RWAY off in Beacon's courtyard. She and Weiss had spent far more than an hour with their chosen(by Coco) partner, and the sun was already beginning to set.
"They need a lot of work," Yatsuhashi agreed. He was the only who spent the hour and little more: it wasn't as if he disliked Yang, it was just that she was a little too fiery for his tastes. They would've been great friends if he was still a first-year though, he had to admit.
Fox crossed his arms. "I don't believe they're that bad. We weren't too dissimilar when we started off." All the way down to the leader having a tough time wrangling everyone else together, as he learned in day-by-day detail from Ruby.
"Important difference, Fox," Coco said, "You guys weren't all assholes, too."
Fox loudly cleared his throat and nodded up to their giant friend. Yatsuhashi rolled his eyes, even though he smiled.
Coco had to stifle a laugh. "Alright, point: Yatsu could've given that Yang girl a run for her money back in those days."
" 'Run for her money'?" Fox repeated, incredulous. "I don't believe even she is going to scratch at Yatsuhashi's freshman record for fights."
"It could've been higher," Yatsuhashi admitted. "Nel held me back a lot."
The group shared a light chuckle at that, though Coco's came off as more forced than she'd have liked to admit.
"I hope I haven't missed too much," said Velvet as she jogged over to the rest of her team.
"Well, well, nice of you to join us!" Coco crossed her arms, a playful smirk on her face. "Spit it: what kinda shadow is our resident emo casting on the team, because I'm pretty sure he's the other half of the real problem, here."
"More like three quarters of it," Fox muttered under his breath, getting a chortle from Yatsuhashi.
Velvet, though, looked conflicted. Her eyes darted to and fro. "Well, um, about that... I'm not entirely sure what to say. He was... different... from what I've heard."
Coco arched an eyebrow. "He didn't try to smooth talk you, did he? Prodigy team or not, I'll kick his ass: just say the word." She adjusted her purse.
Velvet frantically waved the thought off, blushing. "No, no, it wasn't that! I just... don't get it, that's all." She shrugged. "He was a nice guy."
The rest of Velvet's team stared at her as if she had grown a second head. Finally, Coco peered down over her sunglasses.
"Bullshit. Tell me everything."
A/N: Indeed, as you can see, Team CFVY have been boosted up a year. They are now third years and upperclassmen, having even been in the Vytal Festival once before. A slight change, but one I wanted to make to give better explanation for how strong they are.
