Chapter 5
"Oh my gosh, you were so cool! That spider was gonna get you, then you made two cannons and you went all 'fire in the hole' and it was so awesome!" Ruby gushed as she hopped up and down in the dinner line, between me and Blake. "You can make guns with that stuff?! That's so awesome!"
Weiss groaned from in front of Ruby, and I just chuckled nervously, rolling the tray in my hands as Ruby. As we moved towards the serving area, Ruby noticed Liya behind me, and started badgering her about her weapon.
"Yours was super cool too! A big rifle and a buster sword! Where does the barrel go when it folds? Where does the blade go? Oh, is it cross paneling where they fold in to form the edge, or is the blade a solid piece?" the weapons nut babbled. I had to hide my laughter from Liya's overwhelmed and nervous expression. Though she still wore the face mask, making me wonder how she was going to eat.
"Still, that was seriously impressive, you two," Pyrrha said as she peered from around Jaune's shoulder. "Grimm like Mozzies or Arachnids are nearly impossible to take on solo."
"Well, they weren't exactly that big," I said, chuckling. "Liya and I could handle ones their size pretty easily..."
"Don't be so modest, Mister Onissa." I turned to see Ozpin walking by with a smile. "Miss Nikos is right. Creatures such as those are not to be underestimated, so take your praise well, and use this as a step in the right direction."
"The headmaster makes a good point," Blake said, looking at me from her scroll, presumably reading. Recognize this as being competent."
I nodded absentmindedly, but I was focused on Ozpin's words. "Step in the right direction," he'd told me. It was a warning just as much as it was a welcome to me. As the headmaster left to speak with some other students, the line moved up and we were finally able to get food. The first food items I grabbed from the buffet table were a medium rare sirloin, cream cheese and corn, a bunch of fried potato cubes, and some greens. Weiss's face scrunched up in disgust as I lathered the whole plate with gravy.
As the ten of us sat together, Liya cleared her throat as she pulled off her mask. "So, any idea on how classes will be?" she asked, ignoring Ruby and Jaune staring at the gash on her face.
"I expect a strict schedule with no room for slacking off, an intense yet variable curriculum that is unexpected and intolerable to any sort of shenanigans, and some of the best professors on Vale," Weiss said as she cut into her grilled salmon, which Blake was sneaking peeks at despite having three on her plate alongside various other seafood items.
"Pfffft, or it could be super chill and let us work at our own pace," Yang said, mouth full of chicken leg, much to Weiss's further increasing disgust.
"To be honest, it could go either way," Jaune said, setting down his half eaten sandwich. "No way to really predict classes when we haven't been in one yet."
"Well said," Pyrrha said warmly to Jaune, and I smiled. Arkos was looking good to sail, and it was all thanks to me being here.
"Forget about classes, how did you get pancakes?" Ruby cried as she looked at Nora. The hammer girl was eating a stack of at least a dozen pancakes drowning in syrup. Looking back at the buffet table, I couldn't see any pancakes.
"Don't ask," Ren said, who was enjoying a simple salad. "I find it best to just not ask questions."
"Awww, you do care," Nora cooed, poking an unresponsive Ren in the cheek repeatedly. As we chatted, I felt myself slowly fitting in as Weiss and Yang exchanged argumentative topics, with the rest of us simply watching. Liya seemed to fit in as well, smiling as she ate.
An hour later, all students received an itinerary for Beacon campus, class schedules, and a list of extracurricular activities. Then Professor Goodwitch and a few of the staff led all us first year students to our dorms.
"This will be your dorm room," Glynda said as she led Liya and me to our room. It was now late at night, having come back from dinner. The room was about as big as I imagined in the show. On either side of the window was a single bed, as well as a desk and dresser for each of us. The walls had bookshelves with various studying materials, a closet, and our very own bathroom. Other than that, it was a pretty spacious bedroom.
"And here are your school uniforms," Glynda said, opening the closet and revealing four sets of uniforms, two male and two female. "Classes start at 9 in the morning, on the dot. Absences and tardies will not be well received on your first day."
"Yes, ma'am," Liya and I said, and Glynda wished us good night. Liya volunteered to shower first as I unpacked. I didn't have too much to bring in the first place, I decided to get started on my next order of business.
Art for my story.
Blake had mentioned how my story lacked good visualization for the readers and I was either going to have to work harder on my descriptive skills, or just draw out what the readers wanted to see. And draw, I did.
Taking out spare paper, a ruler, and a pencil, I got to work on the first things on my mind. The ships. In my web-story, the human kingdom had the numbers, and was more or less medieval with their technology, around the 14th Century. So I spent about ten minutes on a basic draft for medieval based sailing ships. Mostly longboats or cogs. The Faunus kingdom would be a bit more advanced yet outnumbered. They'd have fully rigged ships like schooners, sloops, galleons, frigates, and ships of the line. About twenty minutes had passed as I drew up a ship of the line. Specifically something like the Endeavour or the Dauntless from Pirates of the Caribbean.
"I wonder if they have something like Deviantart here, cuz I don't feel like posting drawings in the middle of my story..." I thought to myself. I got on my scroll and got to searching, locating a site called "Create n Share", a pretty popular site that was active, full of all sorts of art for clothing, original characters, worlds, and more. Making an account for later, I went back to drawing.
"Yo."
I turned to see Liya in a bathrobe, drying her hair out. "Whatcha up to?"
"Oh...just a personal project of mine. You finished?" I asked. Liya nodded, and I set aside my artwork and scroll for later, planning to get back to it when I was done showering.
When I was done, I came back dressed in sleepwear to see Liya looking through my papers. She'd changed from the bathrobe to her own sleepwear, a pair of gray sweatpants and a loose white top. "This all looks pretty cool. Though, what's the point of using only sails?" she asked.
"Uhh, what?" I asked as I came over. "This is all art for a world with no Dust or Grimm."
"Sounds like some fanfiction shit," Liya said, setting down the art and going to her bed on the other side of the room. "Ships back then used Dust and wind. Never saw so many sails on a single boat before."
"Not wrong...more or less an original web-story. No Grimm, just Faunus and humans fighting," I said. "It's been doing pretty well, actually."
"I bet. Lemme guess, it's either a story where humans have Faunus slaves and it's all gruesome. Or Faunus kicking human's asses unconditionally," Liya said as she got her own scroll and began to use it.
"Well...neither is a good guy, both do pretty bad things," I awkwardly explained. "Was more or less gonna end either peace between both or the extinction of everyone. Super dark."
"Wow, bet that kind of story wins all sorts of awards," Liya muttered as she lay in bed. I did the same, turning off the lights and cozying up to my new bed, exhausted and comfortable as I closed my eyes.
When I woke up, it was 7:20 in the morning. Liya was still asleep in her bed, blankets a mess all over her. Picking up my charged scroll, I went online to see how my story was doing. Immediately, I was hit by several reviews, mostly about some dislike about slavery and human treatment of Faunus, as well as lots of controversy about opinions on the matter. Luckily, many people liked how the story was going, and that the dark elements provided immense realism of how dark humans can be. After about ten minutes of going through feedback, I managed to come across a particular review.
"Your depiction of humans in the story is a bit over the top, but you showed conflict in that kingdom. Very few stories depict sympathetic humans clashing with those who choose to oppress Faunus, and for that I applaud you. You have also set the right tempo of the story, showing both sides of the kingdom and keeping the turn to potential war very vague for the sake of buildup, which not many stories have. Your dialogue is great but in my personal opinion, there isn't much in terms of relationship and character building or development. Plus your character transitions may or may not require a bit more work, but overall I'm very interested in how these kingdoms behave and what direction they will go in the future."
The username who submitted the review was labeled "NinjaCat10490", and I snorted. I didn't need any detective skills to figure out who this was. I decided to reply with a little statement of my own. "Thank you NinjaCat10490. This is my first story here and despite me having planned it out for a while, it still makes me nervous to post. It's reviews like yours and many more that drive me forward in writing, with intent to improve and create a story that will let the readers hopefully enjoy or learn from my story."
Once I submitted my reply, I got to preparing for class, brushing my teeth and changing my clothes. Heading to the cafeteria for breakfast, I grabbed a few hash browns, some biscuits & gravy, and scrambled eggs on a tray, bringing it back to my room so Liya and I could eat together.
It was 7:50 when I got back, and Liya was already awake, just buttoning up her school blazer and grabbing her ribbon tie. She wasn't wearing a skirt, however, and I could see silk pale thighs for a split second before I was shaken out of my surprise by an annoyed throat clearing up. "Do you mind?" she asked, not amused.
"Sorry," I said, and ducked out of the room before she could throw something at me. I waited outside in the hallway for five minutes before she opened the door for me to come in with the food, fully dressed.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"It's fine. Accidents happen," Liya said tiredly before she brightened up at what I was holding. "Ooh, I didn't think we'd be able to bring breakfast to our rooms."
"As long as we clean up and return the plates and trays and stuff back," I said. "Anyways, I was wondering if you'd be down for sparring after classes...if we're able to."
"Sure. Homework first though, I spent way too many nights cramming on assignments during bedtime back at the old school," Liya mumbled as she dug into her own plate, mixing eggs and gravy while eating the biscuits separately. "Ohh...that's the stuff," she moaned as she stuffed her face.
I was a bit neater, piling hash browns on top of eggs and eating those together while saving the biscuits for last. "Yeah, I haven't really had stuff like this before," I said.
"What stuff have you eaten before?" Liya asked as she wiped her mouth clean of any gravy. "I used to only eat an apple and a piece of bread and butter for breakfast. Maybe a sausage link if I'm lucky."
"Oh, uhh..." I said, a bit taken aback before blurting something out. "Mostly grilled fish. Easy to catch and cheap."
Liya stopped eating and looked up at me, and I sighed. "It's the cat thing isn't it?" I laughed when Liya looked away awkwardly. "Don't worry about it, it's pretty common where I come from."
"Sorry. The whole race thing is a bit much nowadays," Liya said. I nodded, and we finished our breakfast in silence. When we were done, Liya offered to take the empty dishes back. "You brought them here, it's only fair I take them back."
"Wait," I said, and I held out Liya's face mask which was set on her desk from last night. "Were you planning on wearing this or-"
"Oh yeah. Sorry if that's weird. Just my thing, you know?" Liya said as she fastened it to her face before heading out. Looking up at the clock, I saw it was 8:10. After cleaning up the room and grabbing our notebooks and pencil cases, I headed out of the room at 8:20 when Liya got back.
"First class of the day is Port," I said while handing the itinerary to Liya, as well as her notebooks and pencil case. "We should probably go now, so we can find the class early instead of panicking to find it at the last second."
"Yeah," Liya said as the two of us headed down the hall towards the main campus. "By the way, what's your online web-story called? Might check it out."
"Oh, it's called Condemned. My username is AssaultTrooper101," I said. Liya raised an eyebrow and I shook my head, not bothering to answer any questions about my choice of username. Liya got on her scroll and looked it up, coming across the incomplete story with over a hundred comments on it. "Oh hey, it's a pretty big story. Are sure you wrote this?" Liya asked.
"Oh, ye of little faith," I said jokingly, and Liya rolled her eyes before deciding to read it, there being quite a few chapters published already. We walked around for a half hour, searching for the classes we needed before finally coming across our homeroom class, Port's Grimm Studies.
"We're here," I said, seeing the open door and walking inside. Several other teams, including Team CRDL, were seated in the semi-circle style lecture room with notebooks and pencils out and ready. Professor Port was at his desk, presumably waiting for class to start, with the caged Grimm waiting quietly in the corner. We picked a table near the back and started unpacking. A few minutes later, teams RWBY and JNPR rushed in at the very last minute.
As Port began his class after the bell, I started doodling on a notebook page, specifically my draft for the human soldiers for my story. I decided a mix of Samurai and Knight armor would work, the overlapping armored plates for the shoulders and thighs, with the sleek braces and chestplate of the European knight. The helmet would've been a kettle helm with side plates and a face mask, and-
"First day of class, and you're doodling?" Liya hissed in annoyance.
"I can hear just fine," I whispered back, pointing to my Faunus ears. "And so far, he's just telling some childhood story rather than actual material. Real quick, what do you think of this?" I leaned my notebook towards Liya.
"I dunno, looks alright," she whispered before looking back to the front. I just kept on doodling, hearing Port's speech in the back of my head before I eventually heard an "I do!" from the front of the class. As expected, Weiss stormed out of the class before coming back a few minutes later in her snow white combat attire. Port released the Grimm and the battle began, Weiss sending various attacks and being deflected by the large boar based Grimm. Ruby shouted commentary, and Weiss shouted back, and within a few minutes the beast was dead. Like in the show, Weiss stormed out with a sour look. "Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked, confused as the rest of team RWBY headed out as well.
Sighing, I packed up my things and headed to Jaune before whispering to Liya. "Meet me in the next class, I gotta do something."
"Uhh, OK," Liya said before she headed out of the room with everyone else. Brushing my uniform shoulders, I headed over to team JNPR where they were just leaving.
"Hey," I said, and Jaune turned to see me and smiled. "Oh, hey dude. Haven't seen you since yesterday."
"Yeah, hectic things and whatnot happening lately. Listen man...about Weiss," I said. "You know how she's a Schnee, right?'
"Yeah, pffft. Of course I do," Jaune said, snorting. "Who doesn't?"
"You didn't even know Pyrrha's champion status before initiation," I said. Jaune's face fell, practically conceding the point. "Thing is, big family, big responsibilities, she's an heiress, don't hold any of that salty behavior against her, OK?"
"Why not? She's being pretty mean to my friend. Her own team leader," Jaune said, a bit miffed as he remembered how Weiss was before initiation happened. Guess the chances of Jaune ignoring Pyrrha to pine for Weiss has officially dropped.
"Trust me, there's a reason why she's so cold. I can tell," I said as Nora strolled past, humming. "Just give it some time, Weiss will warm up eventually, OK? In the meantime, how have you been doing?"
Jaune and I walked by a distraught Ruby, and we paused our conversation to check in with her. She was clearly on the verge of tears as she looked away from Weiss disappearing down the hallway. "Hey..." Jaune said awkwardly. "You OK?"
"I'm fine," Ruby sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Just...feeling a bit under the weather but I'll be OK."
"Ruby. You're very clearly about to cry," Jaune said, stepping in before I could. "I don't think you're OK."
"I'm just-" Ruby said, cutting herself off before her voice raised too much. "I'm the team leader. Weiss may not think I deserve it, but I'll show her that I can do it without her calling me a child or useless or..."
"Miss Rose."
The three of us turned to see Ozpin standing there, a meter away from us. What was it with him showing up out of nowhere?
"Mister Arc, Mister Onissa," he greeted us as well. "I heard your...altercation with Miss Schnee, and I have to say that I'm rather disappointed."
"So you think she's right? It was a mistake to make me the leader?" Ruby asked.
"Headmaster-" Jaune spoke up, ready to defend his friend before he was cut off by a hand raised by Ozpin. He smiled at Jaune and me before looking at Ruby. "Miss Rose, I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment as leader to be one of them. Do you know why?" he asked.
"Uhh...why?" Ruby asked.
"Mister Arc, would you say I made you leader of team JNPR because you showed leadership qualities in initiation?" Ozpin asked.
"Uhh...I was thinking you made me leader because it's the only way that the name would work," Jaune said awkwardly, and Ozpin chuckled lightheartedly.
"Well, while that is definitely a plus; no. I made you the leader of your team because you showed potential. Because you showed the mind of a tactician against the enemy, and because you knew to rely on others when the time called for it," Ozpin explained to the blonde knight. Turning to face Ruby, he nodded. "The same goes for you, Miss Rose. Your performance utilizing your partner's glyphs, your sister's strength, and Miss Belladonna's weapon shows you have a brilliant mind. And I made you the team leader because you must develop the leadership skills you have."
"So...because we can do better?" Jaune said.
"Precisely," Ozpin said kindly. "The two of you aren't here just to lead, but to learn. Build bonds with your teammates, gain their trust while giving them yours. Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. Not a badge you alone wear, but one you wear upon your teammates as well. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?"
"Leaders have to work harder than the rest of the team because the leader holds responsibility over their teammates as well. In combat and elsewhere," I chimed in.
"Correct, Mister Onissa," Ozpin said. "Leadership is a daunting responsibility, and I suggest the two of you take the time to reflect on that. After classes, I suggest team building exercises to help all of you build up what is truly important."
"Umm...the magic of friendship?" Jaune asked. Ozpin smiled, slightly amused as I looked away, trying not to start humming the My Little Pony theme song for the hell of it. "In a way, yes. I believe it is time for your next class, the three of you."
"Oh, right! Thanks, headmaster!" Jaune said before bolting after his team. Ruby squeaked and rushed down the hall, leaving me and Ozpin in the hallway.
"Umm...what about me and Liya? The two of us aren't exactly a team..." I said.
"The two of you are equals. Your job is not too different from earning the respect of your followers. As a pair, you are responsible for watching over each other, and that has just as much impact as leading a team. And in a world such as this, life will test you, to try and take what is yours. Cherish what you have, as you may never know when you lose it," Ozpin said before walking away, leaving me to head to my next class.
That's the Ozpin I know. Cryptic...and confusing... Hmmm. Sighing, I walked down the hall, stuck with my thoughts raging about what Ozpin had planned, what he would do now that I was here, and how I could possibly predict what would go down.
"Hey," Liya said, having been waiting at the end of the hall. "You OK?"
"Yeah...yeah I'm fine," I said. "Umm, do you have anything to do later on?
"Nope. Why, wanna do something?" Liya asked, walking alongside me.
"Yeah. Wanna train?"