Ruby Rose's attention was pulled away from her scroll when a vaguely-familiar voice sounded out from the airship's PA system, synched up with various holographic images of Glynda Goodwitch. The hologram began to speak over the general din of conversation that continued as the airship made its descent onto Beacon's airfield, informing them of the facilities and where to head once they had landed. Only half paying attention to the recording Ruby stood as the airship made its descent, making contact with the airfield cleanly and opening its doors. She stood outside of the flow for a moment, scanning the crowd before noticing a lack of blonde. She then looked over to a certain corner and found him fast asleep, still huddled up in his corner. She debated for a half moment before sighing and breaking into the crowd of moving people, pushing through to the back and standing in front of him. Lightly kicking his shin, she took a step back when he jerked awake, a hand on his sword.
"Hey, they're offloading the airship." She told him, making a motion for him to follow. "Don't want to get left behind already." The blonde grumbled a bit before shaking himself awake, removing his hand from his sword. They walked for a moment in silence, exiting the airship before they began to speak, the crowd of people having already disappeared.
"So, I don't think I ever caught your name." He said, putting his hands in his pockets and tilting his head back to look up at the blue sky in an attempt to hide a light blush. She guessed it made sense, although they'd met twice already, neither of them knew the other's name. Ruby chuckled in slight embarrassment before answering with a flush of her own as she realized her blunder.
"Its Ruby, Ruby Rose. You?" He held out a hand.
"I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue." She chuckled again, fitting her hand within his.
"Sure it does." He rolled his eyes at her sarcastic remark and released her hand. Jaune leaned back a bit as they resumed walking in order to take a look at the rifle resting on her back.
It was almost as long as she was tall and clearly heavy- in spite of her ease at carrying it. To Jaune, the rifle seemed to be primarily made of a red material that he couldn't quite identify and was held diagonally over her back with a leather harness of some kind. Interestingly enough, it had two barrels rather than the standard one, and despite the receiver being where one might expect it to be, he could also see a bolt in the stock as well as another magazine fitted below it. Intrigued, Jaune thought for a moment before asking a question as he noticed that she was glancing at him, noticing his own stare.
"Your rifle, what caliber is it" He asked, gesturing to the gun that was almost the size of the girl wielding it. "Looks custom make, so it probably isn't just a standard round?" It was less of a statement and more of a question, Jaune's knowledge of weapons extending to basic firearm maintenance and to not put a 10mm round through a 9mm pistol or a .50 rifle round through a shotgun. Ruby seemed to perk up at the question however, and a smile spread across her face.
"Yep, I made her myself." She said proudly as she drew the rifle, beaming as a nearly manic energy entered her silver eyes. "The lower barrel fires .416 penetrators, while the upper fires .700 HP. I built the lower out of Atlesian alloys treated to handle high pressures while retaining a light weight without compromising durability, and although I do have to be careful with higher-pressure rounds Crimson Rose can endure it if she has to- but I always make sure to pay extra special attention to her afterwards. But since there's always a chance of failure when shooting them, so I try and limit their use." As she got further into her speech the energy in her eyes grew, the iris seeming to almost glow in the bright, midday light. "The headspacing was a bit difficult to fit, with the two ammo types differing in both overall length as well as caliber, not to mention that I had to work the pressure-blowback system in as well." Although he didn't know what a blowback system was, Jaune nodded in vague understanding before a thought occurred to him.
"Couldn't you use an ammo variable rifle instead?" Jaune could not be called the most mechanically inclined man, so he didn't understand how they worked but he had seen a few Hunters utilize them. He figured that something like that would have solved the problem of using two different calibers in one gun, but his idea was quickly shot down by Ruby as a grimace crossed her face.
"Have you seen those ammo-variable rifles?" She shuddered. "I'd have to create a barrel that constricts or expands at will, while also maintaining an optimal rifling pattern. The amount of maintenance on mechashift weapons is bad enough- you have to clean them after one or two deployments anyways, but the required maintenance is balanced out by the use you get out of them- but AV rifles have to be cleaned at least once a week! And don't even get me started on how difficult it is to change the headspacing and maintain its structural integrity!" For a few moments, she continued bashing mechashift weapons- focusing particularly on ammo variable rifles- while Jaune immediately losing what little understanding he had of the conversation. As Ruby noticed the blank look in his eyes, she cut herself off and buried her face into her scarf. "E-erm, I uh, I'm sorry!" She apologized frantically as she attempted to hide her red face with her scarf, "I get carried away, when talking about weapon, sometimes."
Jaune just shook his head, beginning to stammer himself as he tried to pick the conversation back up. "No- I uhm, think it was pretty cool! I didn't really understand most of it though..." He admitted, scratching the back of his head, looking for a way to continue the conversation when he remembered the sword on his hip. He unclipped Crocea Mors from his belt and expanded the sheath, transforming it into a shield and drawing the sword. "I uhm, I've got this here, Crocea Mors!" He noticed her eyes examining the weapon, and tilted it slightly to give her a better view.
When he had first gotten ahold of it, the blade was a dull grey, covered in grime and scratches with the edge similarly dull and nicked- although that had been remedied by a few hours with a whet stone, restoring the blade to a reasonable sharpness while a simple polish allowed the blade to regain its original shine- while the worn blue leather wrapping around the handle faded and fraying at the edges. Spots of rust had even begun appearing on the pommel and guard. The sheath's magclamps could hardly support its own weight, let alone the sword's, and the shield itself would barely open halfway, requiring Jaune's intervention to properly expand as its panels were sealed shut with age and disuse. When he had managed to pry it open, the paint was faded and spotted with rust with the Arc family insignia painted onto its center nearly unidentifiable. He was doubtful that it could even really function as a shield, being flat as a board and only large enough to cover his chest.
Since then, he had replaced the guard with an alloy that was lighter, resulting in it becoming wider than it originally was in order to maintain the balance. The pommel retained its simple steel construction, although he had gotten a new one. He'd paid a smith to overhaul the shield and was surprised when he'd received a shield that was wider, thicker and heavier. The smith had apparently identified the metal of the shield as a rare alloy crafted in the early days of the Great War- its manufacture process long-since lost- and as such had forged it with a high-grade Atlesian Steel, which was known to be the base. Other metals had been alloyed into the shield as well. The result was a shield that Jaune felt comfortable taking an armor piercing round on.
"It's a bit of an heirloom," Jaune told Ruby, "my great-great-grandfather used it in the Great War." Her eyes widened slightly and she whistled, distracted by the concept of a new weapon to examine, her eyes stopping on the small nicks along the blade before commenting.
"A real Gen One... Usually you see those in museums, not on battlefields." He scratched the back of his head with a chuckle.
"Usually, yeah. But it's been passed down in my family for quite some time, so I saw no reason to stop the tradition."
Ruby was about to respond when a pair of large, wooden doors came into view.
"Ah, I guess this is our stop..." She muttered, a chuckle escaping the blonde. She laid a hand on one door while he placed his on the other, pushing both entrances open simultaneously.
What they walked into was a large group of oddly shadowed people, almost all of them appearing faceless save for a handful of others. Among them, a girl with fiery red hair, a boy with black standing next to a ginger-haired girl, and girl in white, with hair to match. They gave each other a nod and separated, going to find open places to stand closer to the stage, within hearing distance, at least.
As if waiting for them to arrive, Ozpin almost immediately began to give a speech, his voice amplified by the microphone in front of him while his cane stood unsupported behind him. In his hand he held a mug filled with something that he periodically sipped out of, even between words of his speech.
"Today, all of you have come to this fine institution for one reason or another. To learn to fight and kill Grimm so that those that cannot may live on, or perhaps to protect and heal those who have been left behind in the Grimm's wake. But in the end, all have come in order to learn. You seek knowledge, in hopes that it can further you and your cause, or perhaps because you believe it the key to all." Ozpin paused, the silence punctuated by a small sip. "For those unfortunate few, you will soon learn that knowledge can only take you so far, and that once it fails you shall be left alone, standing amidst a sea of troubles. I only hope that you reach that point here, within these walls. That is all." Silence reigned as Ozpin stepped back, retrieved his cane and left the stage as his deputy, Goodwitch, took the microphone.
"For the remainder of today, the Forge, gym and sparring rings are open to all who would attend. Tonight you shall sleep in the Great Hall, and in the morning you will face Initiation. Good Luck." As the blonde woman finished her speech she left the stage, the other professors behind her following without a word.
'What is with Beacon and short speeches?' Ruby wondered, consulting her scroll to find the Forge. Thankfully, it was only a few corridors down from the auditorium. As Ruby exited the auditorium through a side door, she noticed a few of the boys leaving in the direction of the gym, Jaune among them. Her head tilted in curiosity but she brushed it off. Where Jaune went in his free time and what he did wasn't her business.
And if she tensed when she noticed the bubbly ginger and her quiet companion following her to the Forge, well that was her business.
It was hardly twenty minutes later and Ruby felt like she knew all too much about these two.
His name was Lie, but he preferred Ren. She was called Nora and had way too much excitement for how steady her hands were as she cleaned and maintained the internals of her weapon. Ren carefully cleaned the individual parts of his own weapons while Nora explained how the two had been travelling together for some time now, Ren chiming in whenever her tales got too fanciful for reality.
When she took a closer look at how dirty their weapons were, Ren explained that it'd been sometime since they could sit down and give their weapons proper care, hence their presence at the Forge. Nora's explosive-hammer Magnhild was surprisingly robust for a weapon with two forms that were so wildly different, and although Ruby could tell it had seen use the internals were well taken care of. Ren's dual pistols were in a similar state, although there was more Dust residue and grime than Nora's physical damage to the internals. At most, he spent a few minutes with a whet stone on the blades to correct the edge.
Magnhild was obviously much more complex, although the repairs were carried out with the delicate use of a soldering iron and tools similar to a watch-makers, although made for heavier work. But that didn't stop Nora from talking animatedly, somehow conveying the motion of an explosion with her hands without actually using her hands or taking her eyes off her weapon.
"So, what weapon do you use?!" The bubbly ginger asked, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at Crimson Rose as her own hands stilled. Ruby relaxed slightly and moved some of her own tools out of the way so she could show her baby off better.
"This is Crimson Rose. I crafted her at Signal. She's chambered in .416 and .700 HP." She said, gesturing to each barrel while mentioning its respective caliber. "There isn't really anything special about her, besides the obvious. No interesting mechashift or wild transformation."
Normally this is where Ruby would descend into a rant about how great her baby was, but between how she embarrassed herself earlier with her tirade against AV Rifles and how Ruby's soul panged in anguish as she said that there was 'nothing special' about her baby she didn't have it in her. Besides, she couldn't imagine that this bubbly girl would be interested how her baby was a recoil-operated semi-automatic that utilized pressure blowback to assist in cycling the action, nor how difficult it was to get a bolt-carrier group machined that would eject the shell straight downwards after being fired as well as building a pressure-blow-back system that wouldn't self-detonate if filled up with just a little too much unburnt Dust. Wasn't like it was difficult, or anything, perfecting a system deemed 'useless' decades ago.
Stupid Signal forge master.
While Ruby grumbled under her breath, Nora's interest dimmed a bit, but was rekindled immediately. Meanwhile, Ren remained impassive- something Ruby appreciated.
"Ooh, fancy. What kind of ammo do you normally put through it?" Ruby blinked, mildly surprised by the girl's enthusiasm even after she had found out that Crimson Rose doesn't have any super-special function to it.
"Er, usually just standard rounds. But otherwise it's usually Burn Dust or Gravity Dust rounds when I need a bit extra punch." Ruby cleared the chambers of Crescent Rose one more time just to be safe before allowing Nora to examine it. Luckily the rifle wasn't in a disassembled state- yet- because then Ruby wouldn't have allowed the excitable girl anywhere near her baby without properly reassembling it.
Nora took the weapon in her hands carefully- demonstrating perfect firearm safety- and examined the weapon. She noted the location of both bolts, how the .416 ejection port was ambidextrous, the shell leaving the weapon from just ahead of the magazine, where the cartridge would be seated when loaded and just behind what looked to be a monopod. Although the receiver in the stock- a single shot rotating bolt with an attached box magazine- was left handed. That was all Nora could really glean from it, her understanding of firearms beyond 'things that go boom' being limited, although she did know more than the average person in regards to them she could hardly claim to be an expert.
Then the doors to the Forge opened, revealing a- to Ruby, at the very least- familiar head of blonde-white gradient hair that was heavy with water, it owner clad in his slightly-dirty white-gold armor with a sword buckled onto his hip, his knife nowhere to be seen.
Jaune wiped the few droplets of water that leaked onto his forehead from his hair away, giving his head a light shake to clear it from his face.
Beacon's showers were amazing, better than any he had used in an inn. The pressure was great and the water got so hot. Jaune sighed in relief as he rolled his shoulders. He had taken a bath in the stream that morning, but nothing beat a hot shower; even more so after spending as long as he had on the road. As he walked down the the Forge, he began to think of his newest- friend? Was she a friend? Maybe acquaintance. Either way, he began to think about Ruby and started to wonder. She looked young, younger than the average, at least. Most Hunters stopped looking their age in their late twenties, early thirties, so it was much easier to tell a young Hunter from an older Hunter. But Ruby just looked young; like, she should still be in Combat School young.
He brushed it off. They all had circumstances, he knew that just as well as anyone else.
He rolled his shoulder, the joint clicking and whirring.
Jaune finally came across the large double doors that each had a hammer and anvil embossed upon them, denoting this as the Forge. He twisted the handle and pushed one open, revealing three occupants, all of which he knew. Before he could call out Nora's eyes lit up and she stood in her seat, drawing Ruby's attention.
"Jauney!" She called, waving animatedly- while Jaune didn't fail to notice how Ren stiffened- even as Ren and Ruby continued their work, although the latter did spare him a wave as he passed by.
Jaune gave a wave in return to Ruby and Nora's, retrieving a whet stone and oil from a cabinet. He sat down next to Ruby and poured the oil out onto the stone. As he set to sharpening it, Nora glanced at Crocea Mors before examining the shield.
"Ooh, is that new?" Jaune, stopped his motions for a moment before answering.
"Oh, er, no. It's an heirloom. I had it fixed up a bit, though." He stopped his work for a moment to hand the expanded sheath over to the girl who examined it closely, starting with he sharpened edges and probably looking for some special transformation switch or hidden gimmick aside from the collapsing function- a function which she triggered only to drop the item in surprise with a surprised squawk. Their interaction and Jaune's chuckle drew Ruby's attention to them.
"You guys know each other?" She asked, her hands stilling as she pulled a cloth through one of Crimson Rose's barrels.
"Eh- oh, yeah, we met a few years back." Jaune said, surprised by Ruby's interjection before thinking for a moment, deciding on a simple explanation. "My family and I were traveling through Mistral and we were all staying at the same inn, a few years back." Ruby looked to the other two, and while Nora was still engrossed with Jaune's shield Ren nodded.
"Yes, we met each other then." Jaune ignored how Ruby looked to him for further explanation and continued his work, honing the edge of his sword.
Crocea Mors was a good blade. She didn't chip, nick or crack easily. The only time he had done damage that couldn't be solved by a few hours with a whet stone was when he had broken the tip off- but that had been fixed by a skilled smith that owed him a favor.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ruby remove the second firing pin from Crimson Rose and glanced over to see her cleaning small spots of grime and Dust residue from the bolt. A wide assortment of cleaning items was lined up in front of her. Jaune recognized some of the tools as general use things from the Forge while others were obviously more specialized, and likely purchased by Ruby herself. Things like lubricants and solvents as well as different cloths, and although he didn't stop his own work he did steal glances at her while she worked.
While Jaune rarely had the chance to fire a gun, he had done so a few times. He understood their utility even if only as an intimidation tool and had looked into getting one. Unfortunately the only ones he could ever afford on his limited budget were cheap handguns that- while they were fine for self defense against someone without an aura- would hardly be considered an annoyance to Grimm or other Hunters. So he was very much interested in the workings of a more advanced firearm like Crimson Rose, even if he couldn't quite understand what all the bits and pieces were for. One of the things he noticed was that she seemed to use different cleaning supplies and lubricants for the .700 and .416 receivers.
As Nora was satisfied with his shield and resumed her own work Jaune took the hybrid sheath/shield back and disengaged the locks that held the plates in place. Originally doing so would require three grown men using crowbars (and the rust that had caked the internals meant they needed five) but in doing an overhaul the smith had also expedited the process with a new type of locking mechanism, providing a special set of tools to disengage the locks; although it still required a liberal application of force to remove the plates themselves Jaune could do it himself. As he took it apart Jaune carefully examined each removed plate for any sign of damage or metal fatigue. Satisfied, Jaune placed the last onto the table and looked at the frame of the weapon.
Much to his surprise, upon seeing the deconstructed item Jaune had learned that Crocea Mors' expansion relied on a combination of magnetism and mechanical force with an electromagnet pushing the plates out from the center and locking them in place. The motion was guided by thin but durable rods that kept the plates from shooting off-course; built in as well was a set of gears that would activate and collapse the shield using the guide rods to pull the plates in. Although the face of the shield was now much heavier after the overhaul Crocea Mors' mechanisms were still up to the task.
There was some more sporadic conversation among them, but they all fell into a relaxed silence surprisingly quickly. As Jaune continued his work on Crocea Mors- sighing as he noticed a nick in the blade he hadn't earlier- Ruby finished cleaning her gun shortly before Ren did, the two reassembling their weapons and finishing close to each other. Nora completed the required maintenance on her hammer and reconstructed the internals before locking the outer shell into place as well. The last few rasps of a whetstone on steel echoed throughout the room and they were all finished with what maintenance they had to complete. A few more minutes were spent cleaning their respective work spaces up before they set out together, Jaune helping Ruby pack her veritable mountain of supplies back into the tool-box she had with her.
"Oh, oh, so Jauney, what have you been up to?" Was Nora's first question as they exited the Forge. Jaune, ready for any kind of barrage of questions from the bubbly ginger, was quick to respond as they made their way through Beacon's halls.
"I've been travelling across Anima, helping the villages that can't afford an official Huntsman," he said, "though usually I get favors or services instead of Lien in exchange."
"I've been travelling across Anima, helping the villages that can't afford an official Huntsman, though usually I get favors or services instead of Lien in exchange." Ruby nodded, examining his armor.
It was scuffed and dirty in some places, although it was clearly well-maintained there were signs where the armor had been dented or punctured and then mended, paint covering the scarred metal. Other places were pitted where heat or some kind of acid had warped it and some kind of repair had been made. Thinking back to how long he spent on his sword with the whetstone, Ruby figured that his armor probably required a similar level of maintenance. Now that she had a moment too look closer and that the boy was free of dirt and dust, she could see that the bracer around his forearm and- to a lesser extent- his unarmored metallic bicep were in a similar condition with signs of repair and maintenance clear under the paint that attempted to cover it up.
Before Ruby had an opportunity to ask any questions, they arrived at the Great Hall.
Alright, so, confession time.
This chapter was originally planned to be between 2-3k words and would encapsulate both initiation and introductions, as well as weapon specifics. But as you can all see it's over 4k words and we haven't even gotten into Initiation. Seems I've been doing more underestimating than I thought. So I'm going to use this moment to ask all of you a question.
As I'm sure you can tell, Yang hasn't made an appearance yet, and that's for a reason. She isn't at Beacon. Is she dead? No. Am I telling you where she is? Also no. But there is a reason for it, and I want to hear your guys' opinion on this 'cause I don't really have anyone else to ask that cares enough to give me a good answer.
Should I create an OC (I don't like doing this, it requires I come up with a name, personality, weapon, team name, etc. All that fun stuff.)?
Should I use an existing character from another academy like Haven or Shade?
Or should I just retcon Yang's non-attendance like good ol' CRWBY would do?
At this point I can change a character's role in the story fairly easily and since I haven't explicitly stated what Yang is doing, we could just pretend that she was there the whole time.
As an aside, why do I always seem to do my posting between 1:00 and 4:00 in the morning?
Stay sane y'all.
~MindsandMirrors