Soft
"How long until our first class?" Adam asked as if he were strolling through the quiet halls of Beacon, not slamming the armored, perpetually-squinting teammate of Cardin headfirst into a stone pillar on the outskirts of the campus. His aura shattered with a satisfying crack.
Cardin wasn't stupid, at least. Getting a text from the not-so-unknown overprotective sister of Ruby asking to meet up and 'work things out between our teams' had just resulted in him bringing along a couple teammates as backup. One now laid crumpled and unconscious at the base of a cracked pillar.
"Pretty sure we've long missed that one." Yang chuckled and threw aside the second teammate behind her. A scrawny boy with a mohawk. Frankly, he never stood a chance.
Cardin was left to stand his ground on the lonesome road back to Beacon proper. Pillars old enough to have already begun cracking and crumbling from disuse rose along both sides. They were far enough for no one to be able to hear any signs of battle. Or Cardin.
His aura was already crackling and faltering.
His two opponents were still going strong.
Adam looked away from Cardin's fallen backup. "If it helps, she wasn't lying, Cardin." In a blur, he'd leaped forward and lodged his boot squarely in Cardin's gut. He stumbled back, but kept his ground.
Unfortunately for him, this was exactly what let Yang rush in, one hook striking his wrist hard enough to send his mace flying, the second crashing into his jaw with enough force to put the shreds of his aura left out of its misery. Cardin crumpled, yet he didn't hit the ground. Having gotten behind him faster than he could see, Adam now held Cardin up.
"We are going to work out these issues our team's been having recently," Adam continued. Unlike his teammates, at least, Cardin could stay conscious after the shock of having his aura broken.
Yang patted Cardin down as he reeled until she found what she was looking for: his Scroll. She snorted. "No lock? Really?"
"Screw you—" An golden, aura-fueled punch into his stomach cut off Cardin's words with a roar of pain. His legs buckled, but Adam kept him standing.
"So, first off," Yang began as if that didn't just happen, "you aren't touching my little sister, alright? You don't talk to her. You don't look at her. You don't breathe her air," she recited. Adam had the faintest feeling this wasn't the first time she'd had to do this.
She made a couple faces of disdain or disgust as she skimmed through his photos, right until she found the one of Ruby she was looking for. Yang sighed and deleted it. "And if I ever even see you or one of your teammates near our windows again, you're going to wish you'd never been born, alright?" She crushed the Scroll in her hand and tossed it over her shoulder.
"You're screwing with the wrong person, Xiao Long!" A sharp knee in the side from Adam made him reconsider. "Alright, alright, fine! I'll leave the brat alone! Just... let me go!"
Yang clicked her tongue. "Yeaaaaah, that's the problem. It's too late for that: you just happened to screw up something kinda important to her."
That took a couple seconds for Cardin to consider. "... Is... is this about that security blanket of a cloak she's been dragging around? Are you serious?" Infuriated by the seemingly arbitrary, asinine reason, Cardin had the nerve to struggle. Someone with a broken aura, however, stood no chance at actually budging someone who had a Huntsman-level understanding of it.
The punch to his other side didn't help.
"I didn't say to talk, punk! Ruby's cloak just happened to be a gift from someone really important to both of us, and you ruined it. So, next time you look in the mirror, I want you to remember why you don't screw with my sis!" Yang pulled her fist back. Cardin flinched. Adam didn't budge.
It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't clean. It wasn't particularly honorable, either. Adam held Cardin up with his arms coiled up under his armpits, and Yang beat him like he was an overly dense punching bag. It was something he'd seen in dirty alleyways and gangs, between criminals and hoodlums. Brutal. Savage. Hateful.
But Cardin would never forget what happened this day, and that made it perfectly alright to Adam. Even if he had to ignore the pleading of his conscience carrying Blake's voice.
It was what he deserved.
A groan and shifting of armor was what broke up that unceremonious beating: the stronger of Cardin's teammates that he'd brought was rising. Yang rubbed her knuckles as she stepped back, eyes red, but anger satiated. Adam dropped Cardin like a sack of bricks, and he struck the ground about as hard as one.
"If anyone asks," Adam said as he rolled his shoulders, "you were attacked by a particularly fierce Ursa."
Yang waggled her hand in the universal 'meh' sign.
"Two Ursai," he corrected himself as Cardin groaned and slowly started to push himself up to his knees.
The blonde brawler glared down at him for a couple seconds, then snorted and smiled. It held little happiness. "Good talk, Cardin. I think we really worked out those issues! Here's to hoping we don't ever have to have this little chat again!" She raised her boot, content to leave him just as dazed or unconscious as his teammates.
"Enough."
Yang froze, her foot lingering just above Cardin's head. Adam twisted to face the source of the voice, hand already reaching for the hilt of his blade.
Yatsuhashi stood at the treeline, arms crossed and a stern gaze leveled at the two assailants. At his side stood Velvet, turned away and typing away at her Scroll, eyes refusing to meet their own.
"You two have done enough," the giant repeated.
Yang slowly backed up from Cardin, allowing him to get up and try to stumble away with his wounded team. Both Yang and Adam held too much pride to let the concern show on their faces. The former, however, only crossed her arms without saying a word, as if daring Yatsuhashi to do anything about what was already done.
"I suppose he's learned his lesson," Adam said.
Velvet snapped her Scroll shut hard enough for them all to hear a faint crack. " 'Learned his lesson'?" She whirled around to finally stare them down, eyes wide and just as incredulous as they were angry. "Is that seriously all you have to say for yourselves about this? You assaulted another student—no! You beat him! Like he was a wild animal and not a person! Have you both lost your minds?!" Velvet shouted.
"Look, lady, he crossed a line!" Yang snarled, eyes having not faded from red since she began her assault.
"A line he didn't even know about!"
"He knew enough," Adam interrupted. "Even so, it was the risk he took when he decided to harass Ruby. We're supposed to start sticking together, after all." A slim, vicious smirk spread across his face. "We're just protecting our team leader."
"What you're doing is using it as an excuse to harm and hurt other people."
Yang just raised an eyebrow, her scowl now just a condescending smile. That seemed to be the last straw for Velvet, who threw her arms up in frustration.
"Ugh, just... forget it! I don't understand why you're both looking so smug about this, because you're both going to wind up out of Beacon. If you ask me, people like you should best be in prison, not here."
While Adam remained unfazed, Yang's glare down at Velvet held nothing but contempt. Velvet managed to match it back at them, any anger she lacked instead replaced by plenty of frustration and offense.
But it was Yatsuhashi who broke the silence with a heavy sigh and the first words he'd spoken since Velvet started yelling: "They're not in trouble."
Another period of silence, but of an entirely different feeling. Yang was staring at Yatsuhashi in absolute surprise, shocked to the point of her eyes regaining their normal, amethyst coloring. Even Adam raised his brow, sensing a catch, but still caught off-guard. Were he not still going over those words in his head, however, Adam was rather certain that he would have been laughing at Velvet. If they were shocked, she looked like her entire world had been flipped upside-down: mouth agape, rage shattered entirely, and ears flopped down to the sides of her face, she looked positively cartoonish.
Velvet managed to find her voice.
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, no, you're not in trouble," Coco repeated to Weiss. "We even got you out of your classes for today. You're welcome, by the way."
Weiss sighed in relief and leaned against the wall next to Coco, resisting the urge to just slide down it altogether. With Fox checking up on Ruby, it had just left the two heiresses outside RWAY's dorm. "Did... did you catch them before they got to Cardin?"
"Hm?" Coco glanced up from her Velvet's brief, rather angry description of what had happened. "Oh, no, they ruined him. Two of his teammates, too." She looked back down at her Scroll as Weiss twisted to look at her.
Seeing no reaction other than the slight frown that Coco kept ever since she explained what was going on, Weiss crossed her arms and huffed. "This is very serious, you know: it's nothing to joke about!"
"I'm not joking, princess. They beat Cardin to a pulp, and we're not telling Ozpin a word."
"You can't... but they..." Weiss stumbled over her words before she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and cooled off. "Alright. Why?"
"Partially because he kinda had it coming. Partially because he'd been pulling that kind of stuff with Velvet and she really isn't as good at hiding it as she thinks she is. Mostly, though, it's because it's a step in the right direction. Obviously, it goes without saying to never do this again, but you're at least all coming together over something." Her gaze once more found Weiss, and as Coco looked her over, she got the strangest feeling that she wasn't too happy about something. "Most of you, anyway."
Weiss crinkled her nose in agitation. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Coco sighed, closed her Scroll and kicked off of the wall she was leaning on. "What I'm saying, Weiss, is that I'm pretty disappointed in you."
It took a couple seconds for those words to truly click with Weiss, leaving her staring at Coco with a growing mix of confusion until, all at once, her frustration burst forward. "... No. No! That's not even fair! I did nothing, here!"
"Yep. That's kinda the problem. You didn't even try."
Weiss balled her hands into fists, her cheeks red with growing rage. This was outrageous: those two brutes were going to get all but a slap on the wrist, but she was going to get the lecture? She didn't care whether or not Coco Adel was a fashion heiress or that she was two years her elder, she was going to give that woman a piece of her mind! She opened her mouth to speak—or, more likely, shout.
Coco put a finger to Weiss' lips. "Hey, hey, hey, before you sound off, let me explain, alright?"
She stared at Coco in a mix of indigence and offense, but settled down all the same.
"Leader, partner, teammate, whatever: your job first and foremost is always to stick with them, no matter what. You had three choices there: keep your leader some company, stop the dynamic duo over there from screwing everything up... or helping them."
The younger heiress' nose crinkled again. "And just why would I ever help them? If anything, I should've informed the proper authorities immediately!"
"They're your team, kid. Unless they're doing something really crazy, you've gotta stick with them, not rat them out." Coco peered over her sunglasses at Weiss, then the door to their dorm. "At least help them."
Weiss looked away, her cheeks growing pink with embarrassment. Coco had her there. Whatever clumsy reassurance she could've given to Ruby would've probably been better than nothing. She was starting to get a feel for Ruby, anyway: her just showing up probably would've lifted her spirits. Heavens knew why she was latching onto her that much.
"When it comes down to it, if someone on your team goes out and does something reckless—even if they're obviously asking for what's coming to them—you either stop them or help bail them out. Chances are, whatever it is they're doing? Gonna be a lot easier and a lot less deadly with the rest of the team on their side. It's ride or die, Weiss."
Weiss blinked owlishly. "... 'Ride or die'?" she sounded out.
Coco sighed. "Nevermind. Look, point is: doing nothing's about the worst thing you can do. When you're fighting as a team, even if someone screws up, are you going to really sit there and let the enemy take them down? Even if it's a really dumb screw up?"
"Of course not!"
"Well, there you go. It's not too different from that: you just chew them out after the fact. It probably doesn't feel like it now, but come a year or two down the line, that team of yours is going to feel like family. There's nothing worse than having that, and then feeling like you did nothing when you lose someone. Trust me." Coco's Scroll vibrated, and with a sigh she opened and flicked to it.
"Oh, good, another update from Velvet." She scrolled down... and scrolled... and scrolled. "Hoo boy."
Weiss slipped over to her side to peer at what looked like a veritable wall of text.
"Looks like Velvet got the news about us not throwing you to the hounds."
Velvet didn't stand through even half of Yatsuhashi's explanation before she stormed off, leaving Yang, Adam and her partner in the dust. Normally, something like that wouldn't have bothered Adam. Yet, the look she gave the two, not even a glare as much as just a glance full of disgust... it was more of a barb than he wanted to admit.
Adam sighed and glanced to Yang. "I'll make sure she isn't just going to grab the nearest authority." It was, frankly, a pathetic excuse: there was no way that she wasn't told about what possibly was going to happen, Coco clearly ran a tight ship and if Velvet didn't tell anyone beforehand, she likely wasn't going to snitch now. But he wasn't going to stay long enough to have that picked apart. Adam jogged off in pursuit of Velvet.
For all of her anger and speed, she hadn't gotten particularly far from them. Velvet was barely in Beacon proper, instead curled up just under a bridge near the third year dorms, typing away at her Scroll. With a river rushing below and the bridge blocking most sight, Adam wouldn't have even noticed her were it not for her ear just barely drooping out from behind her secluded hiding spot.
Velvet made no attempt to move as he got closer. It wasn't as though he hid his footsteps on the grass approaching her, and Velvet's ear even twitched as he approached, but she didn't move. Didn't even look up.
"Velvet," Adam said. Perhaps she was just too absorbed in whatever she was typing.
She looked up at him, then back to her Scroll without a word. The disdain in her eyes had remained, joined only by frustration. The barb managed to press deeper.
"This is not nearly as bad as you're making it out to be."
No response. The barb sank deeper.
"This wasn't about stopping him from attacking others. It was for Ruby's sake."
No response. The barbs multiplied.
Adam sneered. "It was what Cardin deserved in the first place. Did you expect me to take no action while she got hurt?"
Velvet was on her feet and in his face in an instant. "It's not about what anyone deserves! We're not animals, Adam: we can't just solve our problems with violence. You didn't stand up for her at all: you abandoned Ruby just to serve your own needs!"
"Foolishness! I gave her the strength to get Cardin off of her!"
"Wrong." She jabbed his chest. "You sent her off at him like an attack dog, and guess what? The situation escalated. When coincidentally no one ever mentions a word of him getting attacked and no teachers or guards so much as glance in your direction, do you think that's somehow going to make him think that he shouldn't just find another target, instead?" When Adam said nothing, Velvet stomped past him up the riverbank and back towards the bridge. "It's not like you'd listen, anyway. We've been over this. You've gotten what you wanted," she said with a voice bearing only a weary acceptance of it.
And that was the last straw. Adam clenched his fist. "Well what would you do, then? Lay there and take it?!" he shouted. "How do you manage to act so above it all? How can you just take their hate without so much as glaring in their direction when you've got all the power in the world to do more!"
Velvet glanced back. "See? I already told you why I don't strike back."
"No." Adam stalked back towards her. "Not why. How."
She blinked, brow raised in thought and surprise both. Briefly torn between just leaving and staying to talk, her eyes darted from him to the bridge before she sighed and crossed her arms. "It's because... well, I've seen what happens when you go down that path. All I have to do is think back to it and remember how it's just not worth it. I was..." One of her ears drooped down. "I was born in Menagerie. Not the mainland, though: one of the colonies all the way on Anima. Its name was Hopeloa. At first, everything was great: we were too far from Mistral's border to encounter too many humans, there were mountains to the north and shallow seas to the south... it was a lot like a little Vale, actually.
"And then we struck gold. Gold and Dust, anyway. Too much for one town to take over. So, humans came flooding in all the way down to where we were, setting up shop left and right, and Mistrali humans were never too happy about the faunus ever leaving Menagerie in the first place, let alone colonists. They wanted a big, unfair cut of all the resources and land. We refused—I mean, who wouldn't? At the time, we had the White Fang to protect us... and they did!"
Velvet turned to face him, and for just a moment, Adam could see the spark in her eyes. The fire of the oppressed wanting their rightful place in the world, struggling yet shining bright. "They healed our sick, built houses, kept out the raiders and bandits and Grimm, everything! But then..." That fire flickered and died out. "Then they started getting angrier. Crueler. They stopped defending us, and went out to 'directly' fix the problem by raiding the other villages back."
She squeezed her arms tighter to her chest. "They kept it small enough where no one outside really knew, but it was a war. Mistral brought bigger and bigger armies to respond, and the White Fang just kept stretching out further and further in their attacks. A human settlement raided became one destroyed, became a fort ransacked, became raids on Mistral's borders. They got so focused on Mistral for attacking us that they forgot about those raiders and bandits and Grimm. They might've been winning, even, but it didn't matter: one day, while they were so busy attacking the 'threats to our town', a wave of bandits came by, then Grimm... and that was it. The town was gone. Just like that.
"My parents and I were some of the few survivors, and we had to go back to the continent. I don't even know if the White Fang cared enough to notice. Do you get it, Adam? What's the point of even going off and attacking all those threats if you just abandon what you're defending in the first place?"
Adam ignored the sick feeling in his gut and looked away.
"It would've been better if they'd just stayed there to protect us. The town next to ours... well, they took that first deal. They're around. Hopeloa isn't. Thata's how I get through it: I just remember which town made it. Maybe being like them is better than being Hopeloa. At least you survive."
An awkward silence settled between them. Adam's question was answered in spades, and it wasn't leaving him with much he could truly say in response. Slowly but surely, though, one thing pushed its way to the forefront of his mind.
"Menagerie has no allies... but you have your team. They don't look like the type that'd sit by and watch this kind of thing happen for three years. Why haven't they tried to help you?"
Velvet shifted her jaw, and now it was her turn to find her surroundings so interesting. "Well..."
"If this were two years ago, I would have crushed Cardin like an aluminum can," Yatsuhashi stated as simply as if saying the sun would rise the next day. Yang had expected some kind of stern lecture or to stew in uncomfortable, guilty silence like he was her dad or something on the way back to Beacon. Instead, he'd been quiet, leaving it just at a 'never do this again'. It was Yang who had cracked and asked how they could just let Velvet get bullied.
Yang blinked. "Wait, really? You? The peaceful giant?"
A rumbling chuckle came from the massive warrior. "I wasn't always that way. I'm the record holder for most freshman fights. On and off the arena."
Her jaw dropped. "You're lying."
"Not at all. It was only after my partner happened to help me out that I realized that, instead of rushing in headstrong, I should sit back. Meditate. Think. I heard about what had happened in the cafeteria: you did well there. The aftermath, though, needed work."
"If you knew what happened there, then you would've known how important—"
Yatsuhashi held a hand up. "I was the one who suggested we cover for you. I understand. But take this from my experience: it's best to approach with a cooler head."
Yang took a moment to think about it, then sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Alright, alright, one more try. Call me curious, though: how'd Velvet get you to calm down like that? Or was it Fox?"
Yatsuhashi stopped.
With Fox slipping out of Ruby's room and rocking his hand in the universal 'so-so' sign, Coco took that as her time to leave.
"Well, guess that means it's up to you now, kid." With a big smile, she threw an arm around Weiss' shoulder and thumbed off towards the door. "You're her teammate, you'll be fine. Just head in there and... I don't know, does what comes naturally!"
Weiss forced out a chuckle and slipped from Coco's arm. "I... I will certainly try?"
"Pssh, trying's for losers. You just go in there and do it. You'll be fine, I promise! But before I leave..." Coco peered down at the shorter heiress over her glasses, her smile disappearing. "Seriously, Weiss, it's better to keep close to your team. You never know just how long you're gonna have them around." Grinning again, she crossed her arms just as Fox left back for their own dorms.
"Still, you might all be a little rough around the edges, but by the end of whatever Oz has planned, you guys will be the next CFYN, trust me!" A sharp inhale from Fox was the only sign something was off.
Weiss had just knitted her brow and begun to speak, when Coco waved it off with a chuckle sounding just a hint too controlled. "CFVY, my bad. Slip of the tongue, old habit."
"Team... 'Caffeine'?"
"It's nothing, really. Just remember what I said, alright, Ice Queen?" With a whistle for Fox to follow, she strode down the hall, around a corner and out of sight. Controlled, quick step and a smile just a little too wide: if Weiss hadn't been to her fair share of banquets and dances, she almost might've thought she was genuine. Still, a Team 'Caffeine'...
Weiss pursed her lips as it hit her, and she looked back to where Coco had rushed away from. Suddenly, her advice made a lot more sense.
"I'm kind of new here, actually," Velvet admitted. "I'm replacing one of Team CFVN's members, Nel Ciel, after she... passed away on a training mission." With a helpless shrug and shift of her ears, she looked off towards Beacon.
"I don't even bother telling them: I don't want to just make myself a burden right after I got here, let alone drag them into my problems." As Adam mulled that over, her Scroll buzzed, and she flicked it open to check what alerted her.
"Oh! I need to get to the next class! I'll see you in the afternoon, Adam!" She took off up the hill and across the bridge, her anger seemingly having gone with the wind.
She leaned over the railing. "I'm still mad at you, by the way!"
Or not.
Though Adam managed a smirk and roll of his eyes, his walk back to Beacon proper was a silent one. His hands in his pockets, eyes watching the ground, weapon stowed under his arm and his mind turning over what Velvet had said.
He had plenty to think about.
Weiss took a deep breath. "Ruby, I can understand the kind of pain that you are going through, and as your loyal teammate, I simply wish to inform you that if you require anyone to talk to, I shall hold no qualms with conversing with you. After all, we are friends, correct?" Yes, there we are! Perfect!
She scanned over her written proclamation one more time, safe and assured that her fourth revision really helped make it more personal. And she thought having no experience would stop her, ha! All she needed to do now was... actually tell Ruby. Which meant she'd have to unlock the door and walk in. Where Ruby would be there, probably sad or crying or distraught.
Weiss gulped. She went over it! Her revision was perfect, after all! It'd definitely help put her in a better mood to know she was there. She raised her Scroll to the door, unlocked it, and reached for the handle.
"What are you doing?" Adam asked from only a foot behind her.
With a yelp of shock, Weiss tried to jump forward and away from him, only to open the door and tumble right through it face-first to the floor. Cheeks red with rage and embarrassment, Weiss pushed herself up onto her knees and glared over her shoulder at Adam. Seeing the self-satisfied, smug smirk on his face nearly had her jumping up to give him a stern lecture about personal space and sneaking up on people, but a quiet snickering from the corner of the room reminded her just why she'd come here in the first place.
"Uh, are you okay, down there?" Ruby managed through giggles, sitting with her knees to her chest atop her bed. Even from here, Weiss could see the faint redness still in her eyes. Her cloak laid folded in her lap.
Her mouth opened and closed for a bit as she tried to form a response. That must've looked even sillier to Ruby, for stifled giggles turned to laughter. Even Adam masked a chuckle behind a cough.
"You know, I'm beginning to grow a little concerned with half of the laughs of this team coming at my expense," Weiss said with a huff and roll of her eyes as she stood up. She'd just brushed herself off when Yang barged in clean past both her and Adam, disregarding their noises of complaint.
"Hey, I've got a brilliant idea! Technically, CFVY got us out of our classes today because of a supposed sickness that has Ruby down and we're taking care of her, but instead of just moping around here, why don't we hit up the arcade instead!" Yang called up to Ruby and, for a moment, her eyes lit up. Just as swiftly though, it faded, and she glanced away.
"Oh, it's fine, guys, really! I wouldn't want to drag the mood down, or anything..." Ruby tried to wave it off with a forced smile.
"You'd do nothing of the sort!" Weiss protested. "In fact, I think I would not mind coming along with you both," she added with a confident smile and crossed arms.
Ruby gasped and leaned forward, any former qualms gone in a flash. "You would?! You turned us down, like, the last three times!"
"What can I say, I've had a change of heart." Her attempts to remain cool and collected were squandered when a sudden breeze whipped through the room and Weiss suddenly found herself with Ruby latched onto her.
"Ooooh, I'm gonna show you all the cool games, I promise!"
Weiss let out an awkward chuckle and tried to wriggle away, but her brave attempts were, ultimately, futile. She bit back the urge to tell Ruby to stop: she might've just gotten... really cuddly when recovering. "I... hope so?"
Click
That didn't stop her from glaring over Ruby's shoulder at Yang snapping a picture of her.
"What about you, Adam? Are you coming with, too? Or are you too cool for games?" Yang taunted with a playful smirk.
Adam shook his head and took a seat on his bed. "I've got a lot to think about. I'll call if I change my mind, though." A faint, tired smile assured them he was telling the truth.
"You're no fun, you know that?" Yang jabbed, but there was no true malice behind it. "Come on, Rubes! Before Ice Queen here changes her mind."
Giggling at Weiss' huff, Ruby turned back to look at her bed. "Let me..." Her smile wavered. "Let me hang the cloak up, first." She was quick about it: a little hop to grab the cape, then she was over to their closet in a rush of rose petals. She muttered something beneath her breath, carefully slipped her cloak onto a hook, and trio were gone before Adam could say much else. Off to have their fun.
With Ruby gone, he could let his false smile drop. The two girls hadn't heard Ruby, but he had.
"Sorry, Mom... see you later."
The last gift from her mother. The last scrap of her, all but destroyed by Cardin. If he focused enough, he could see where the very edges of the tear glowed a faint white, only visible due to the shade of the closet.
Adam clenched his fist. Even those remnants of fury left the red along his outfit glowing a dim red, coursing with his aura. He let that anger fade. He wouldn't lie back and simply allow this, but aggression, perhaps, wasn't the answer.
Reaching back with his foot, he hooked the travel bag he'd originally brought with him and dragged it out. He rifled through it until he found his secret stash of Lien procured from questionable means. It wasn't much, but it was enough for what he'd need. He had lien, a needle and anywhere between two and eight hours, depending on how seriously they were taking this 'arcade' day.
He knew what he had to do.
In the end, as he closed the door to the closet, he decided he'd join the girls. It had barely taken any time at all.
Adam awoke the next morning to a scream. He allowed himself an uncharacteristic smile as he heard the room erupting into chaos and confused shouts, then promptly wiped it from his face and sat up with a scowl.
"And just what are you all shouting about?" he growled. "It's the crack of dawn!"
Ruby was bouncing in place in the middle of the room, zipping to and fro so quickly that it was hard to make out much of anything at all amidst the rose petals. "Well-I-wanted-to-check-on-my-cape-before-it-was-really-broken-and-empty-or-something-but-then-I-opened-the-closet-and-it-was-just-lying-on-the-floor-so-I-picked-it-up-and-look!" Before Adam could even figure out half of what her rapid-fire speech was meant to be, Ruby had shoved her cloak in his face.
Her perfectly whole cloak. The massive tear had been turned to merely a red 'scar' stitched across it. One so hard to see that you really wouldn't spot it on first glance. Not unless you were already looking, anyway.
Adam blinked and wiped at an eye, leaning in for a closer look, but Ruby was already gone again, having scrambled up the bunk bed to show Yang. Soon, even she was excitedly chattering with her.
Weiss, however, the last to rise, pulled out her earplugs and seemed rather... skeptical. She watched the two sisters with a curious smile, but the faintest knit of her brow and narrow of her eyes gave away her true thoughts.
"How exactly did that happen?" She affixed her stare on Adam.
He, however, only shrugged. "I was with you three almost the entire time. Besides, auraweaving takes far more time than what I would have had here, even if I did just have some spare sewing equipment just lying around." Sometimes, the best thing about knowing the most of a subject was that you could lie through your teeth about it, and it'd simply be accepted.
Even so, Weiss didn't look convinced. "So it stitched itself back together?"
Adam waved it off. "Aura from particularly strong users has been reported to be able to repair the clothing even without the user's assistance." Of course, that was for scratches and minor holes, not massive tears like that one.
The Schnee tossed her long hair aside and was ready to continue her little interrogation when Yang hopped down from her bunk, a wild grin on her face.
"Who cares! It's called 'not looking a gift horse in the mouth', Weiss: I'm not questioning anything here... and also, I'm way too awake to go back to sleep, now. Come on, Rubes, let's see if it's too early for breakfast!" The two zipped past them to quickly throw something on over their pajamas, leaving only Weiss and Adam alone.
Adam expected the Schnee to revive the little argument, but instead, she smiled. "I can still see the spool of thread under your bed."
He could mask his slight gasp, but not the widening of his eyes. It was only a split-second later that he recalled he'd thrown the spool into his bag after he was done. A split-second too late. She'd noticed. She'd tricked him.
Weiss' smile grew wider and all the more knowing. "Just as I thought."
"You're just a big softie, inside."
