"Woah!" Yang cries, caught off guard by your swing. During training, you've been learning how to switch between short sword and great sword, flipping Synstylae between the two modes mid swing. What was once a normal swing from a sword turned into a heavy sweep as the blade lengthened and caught gravity. It was much less effort to swing the short version, but the extra length and heavy tip created a powerful pendulum when lengthened, adding some useful techniques to your arsenal.
Yang jumps back after barely deflecting your sword. She rubs her wrist under her gauntlet and says, "Owwwww, that one stings! You got me good there!" Shaking it off, she squares back up into a fighting pose. "That's the first one that really caught me off guard; you might just catch up to Jaune yet!"
"Sweet!" you say, excited to know that your sword was the problem. Now that it was a bit more diversified and sized for someone… your size, you feel that you're already leagues better than before. If you just under Jaune before, you feel like you could take him now!
You think, as Yang proves that you're still green by slipping past your offense and socking you in the face.
Stunned, you stumble back and lose sight of what's real. Man, even with Aura, nose blows really knock you for a loop. Trying to avoid another blow, you awkwardly swing your sword in the vague direction of the yellow blur, hoping to stall. Yang bats away your blade, knocking it out of your hands like swatting a fly.
"Ok, Superchamp, I think you're about done for today." Yang pats you on the back rather painfully, though the shock knocks you back to your senses.
Shaking your head, you refocus on Yang and nod. "Yeah, that's a good idea."
Blake hops into the ring and grabs your sword. Handing it to you, she says, "You did look a lot more natural fighting like that. Those upgrades seem to be doing the job quite well."
"Really!?" Ruby loudly emotes, flitting into the ring alongside you. "I thought you looked better, but I thought it might just be Yang toying with you!"
Ouch…
"I mean, I WAS," Yang throws out like it was a nonevent.
Ouch…
"But he was a lot LESS sucky than before."
"You can phrase that better, you know. Like, at all better," Blake says, betrayed by her smirk. "You can at least TRY to say he almost had you." You feel your cheeks turn red, embarrassed by being so outclassed by Yang.
"Not my style, BB."
"I definitely felt better," you say, nursing your nose along with your pride. "Up until, well, when you punched me in the face."
"That's how training goes!" Yang cheers. "It's the threat of face punching that gets you stronger, so you AVOID face punching!"
"Such a brilliant teacher you found," Blake says, snickering. She places a hand in your shoulder, not helping the blush on your face. You're still thankful that she's keeping your secret and not telling anyone about you being a Faunus; though, even if you appreciate that, that means you're not good enough at hiding it, plus you'll probably need to tell your friends eventually. It's kinda wrong to keep a secret like that, especially if you know they're good people.
Whereas racism is usually ingrained or learned via ignorance, Ruby and Yang don't seem to be affected by it. Neither had seemed to meet too many Faunus before Beacon, but they hold no prejudice, even though most of their exposure had to come from hearing about the White Fang. You'll tell them one day, but Weiss is still… less than enthusiastic about Faunus. You've still barely seen her, but you don't have a high opinion just yet.
Now that you were done training, there wasn't much day left. You'd gone though class, gotten an upgrade, gotten dinner, and gotten your ass kicked (though you were making progress!), but you didn't really feel like turning in for the night, considering it was still pretty early on a Friday. To be honest, you were kind of bored already; you've already been living on your own for several weeks, and while you definitely appreciate having your room to yourself, some forced interaction with humans isn't a bad thing. You didn't feel like going back to your room and pissing around until you decided to pass out.
Wondering what to do with your life, you shower and dry your hair. Ensuring that your beanie sufficiently covers your ears, you decide to grab a drink. As you wander to the fridge in the common room kitchen, you're surprised to nearly bump into… you look down and see the top of Weiss' head. This is a rather awkward introduction, as she abruptly stops before her face meets your chest before near-shouting, "Excuse me! Watch where you're going!" and stepping back.
"S-sorry," you stumble, taken off guard.
"If you keep being mean, this will be a double feature!" Yang cries from around the corner.
You allow Weiss to pass by you and peek around the wall to see Yang, as well as Blake and Ruby shacking up in the common room. They've all taken their seats around a decently sized tv, which was connected to a beefy looking laptop. Yang was lying down taking up a short couch, Ruby was in a one person chair with her legs kicked up, and Blake was sitting like a proper human being on a large couch.
Blake sees you staring at the scene before you and answers, "Movie night. Ruby's idea."
"Yup!" Ruby raises a bottle of juice in triumph before downing it. She has several more lining her side of the central table.
"We're TRYING to team build with Weiss by forcing her to watch a movie with us," Yang says. "It's the only thing we've had success with thus far, and just barely."
"It had to be less than two hours, not include violence, and be something she might actually enjoy."
"Well that knocks out most of the fun ones," you joke. Wait, is that true? What were movies like here? You've only watched a fraction of the content of Remnant on account of being here less that a few weeks.
Yang shrugs. "That's what I said. Blake suggested a Mayonaka flick and Ruby chose her favorite by him."
"Ah," you say, having zero idea who that is but pretending you do anyway. You stare at the tv, hoping that that somehow elucidates anything about anything.
Noticing you staring, Blake asks, "So what were you doing before our favorite teammate almost ran into you?"
"Oh, just grabbing a soda."
A smile stretches across Ruby's face as she looks over at you. "You wanna watch a movie with us? This one is my favorite one!"
Not wanting to reveal that you were a young single man with no plans on a Friday night, you add a bit of hesitation. "Uh… I was going to work on something, but I guess I can just wait on it. Sure!" You secretly thank god(s? Gods. There were/are two? This is confusing still) that circumstances lined up so well. "I guess I'll just grab a drink."
Blake scoots over on the bigger couch and pats next to her, despite there being quite a bit of extra room. "Here, you can sit next to me. Otherwise, Weiss will complain that you're too close to her the entire time." She nods at yet another small couch opposite Yang pointed at the tv. "We'll save the throne for the Ice Queen," she laughs, making sure to not be too loud lest Weiss hear her.
As if on cue, Weiss walks around the corner, holding a large glass bottle of coffee and an absolutely unnecessarily expensive looking blanket. Like, you understand she's rich, but it's embroidered, lacy, and looks like it's 50% silk or something. As you grab a soda, she gracefully sets herself up on her couch, sitting in a stiff and proper position before unfurling her blanket and meticulously adjusting her pillows. You would wonder what was up with her being so… formal, but the only thing you DO know about her is that she's richer than god(s? Dammit…).
You sit down next to Blake, nervously edging away from the cute girl that knew your secret before she actively scoots a bit closer. Getting the impression that she knew you had an interest in her, she giggles and smiles at you in a very teasing way. On one hand, you do like that she's this comfortable with you, but on the other, it's pretty embarrassing to know that she's aware of EVERYTHING you're hiding. Your courage accepts the invitation and you allow Blake to move over a bit until you balance out the couch a bit, leaving decent room between you and her.
Looking over at a clearly unhappy Weiss, you realize this is the first time you've really seen her outside of class. She's always been absent for most of your escapades with RWBY, and the most you've seen on her personality was her bratty, know-it-all self in class. The fact that she got angry at you for her almost walking into you… You don't have much reason to like her. You've heard plenty of stories about Weiss from her teammates, and they only have a slightly better impression.
Though Weiss looks at you sitting next to Blake with no small amount of annoyance, she relaxes and instructs, "Start the movie already."
You can FEEL Yang make a snide comment, and then you actually hear her whisper said snide comment with your Faunus ears, too low for Weiss to hear. The blonde hits play followed by the lights, sending the room into darkness and the pure movie viewing experience. Weiss' sour mood instantly starts to soften as the movie begins with panning scenes of gorgeously animated environments.
Starting to feel a weird sense of nostalgia, you watch the Mayonaka film recommended by Ruby and Blake. Something about the very soft, homely aesthetic of everything was soothing and familiar, the whimsy reminding you of… well, you feel it reminds you of other movies you've seen but can't quite remember. Anyway, a high quality of animation mixed with fun character designs and gorgeous backgrounds combined to provide an excellent evening of relaxation following your long day of school and training.
Much to your surprise, the Ice Queen in Weiss starts to melt maybe about fifteen minutes into the movie once she sees two young children playing with a large weird bear thing. Her stiff sitting posture fades to her casually reclining in her couch as she watches every scene without words. Though you don't really like Weiss yet, you like that she's at least not bad all the time. You do hope you'll warm up to her, though she needs to warm up herself.
Meanwhile, you enjoy sitting next to Blake, who isn't too shy about shifting around to suit herself. Many a time her legs or hands touch yours, and every time it happens, she gives you a cute smile before she returns to the movie. Sadly, you aren't adept enough at social cues from friendly women to know if she's actively flirting or just being nice. Best not to press your luck.
The night passes with you learning that Weiss has an obsession over cute things. Though you and everyone enjoyed the movie, and Ruby suggested it, an accidental peek at Weiss' scroll as the credits were rolling let you know that she had ordered a large plushie. You wonder if she has a collection of cute stuffed animals; that seems like a very rich girl thing to do. You also feel bad about it, but you figure that there was no thought on her purchase; Weiss was rich, so she had no worries spending whatever on imports. Meanwhile, you have like, three good shirts.
Regardless, you see a good side of Weiss for once. You see her happily chat with her teammates and join in yourself, something that had yet to happen as far as you were aware. Hopefully, this was a sign of things to come, as you really want Blake to get along with her; you've come to understand that there's some friction between them due to Faunus and the company Weiss' dad runs.
Eventually, you wave to the now fully formed and functional RWBY. You return to your room and sort of collapse, seeing as you've had a pretty full day. You look forward to not having to wake up.
