So, uh, I know I have a fic that's been dormant for like, 4 years, but let's hope this one pans out slightly better. No update schedule, just whenever I feel like updating. At least each chapter is designed to be a one-shot, yeah? I'll also indicate where in the timeline each chapter is located.
No FNDM wars beyond this point! Only friendship fluff, slight ship teasing, me possibly mangling the lore (please tell me if I get lore wrong because I am determined to be as canon compliant as possible) and my dumb, dumb headcanons! Besides, if you squint, a lot of ships are still sailing. Be warned, however: I like sailing multiple ships at a time…
-0-
Volume 1.5 (Monday): Everyone spends too much time on their scrolls
Set between volumes 1 and 2
Welcome to the beginning of the Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie group.
Ruby Rose started a call.
Ruby Rose ended a call.
Ruby Rose: oh jeez
Ruby Rose: misclick
Ruby Rose: ok, the Beacon app is a bit weird to use compared to RINE or InFighting but
Ruby Rose: the scroll-to-scroll connection is amazing, so short-burst communication should be fine even if the CCT is down
Ruby Rose: im also trying to figure out a way to extend the range in case we're out in the field but
Ruby Rose: prof greene was all no miss rose we cannot allow you to mess with the cct just so you have better reception atlas will literally start a war with vale
Ruby Rose: ooh look at me i teach stealth and security i know IT
Someone is typing…
Ruby Rose: wait, why am i the only one talking?
Ruby Rose: guys?
Ruby Rose: guys?
Someone is typing…
Ruby Rose: GUYS?
Yang Xiao Long: yo sis, chill.
Yang Xiao Long: you sent all those messages in like 30 seconds
Nora Valkyrie has changed her name to Queen Of The Castle!
Queen of the Castle: FINALLY
Queen of the Castle: Man, this interface is a mess. Anyway, HI, RUBY!
Ruby Rose: nora! wait, how do you change your name
Queen of the Castle has changed Ruby Rose's name to !
Queen of the Castle has changed the group's name to TEAM RRAYNNBW!
: uh
: what
: ohhh
: its all our names put together
: wait
: where is my name?
-0-
It was a good idea, Ruby insisted to nobody in particular, to start a new chat with this BeaconChat app, if only for a clean break from all the Blake drama. After the big mess at the docks, what with foiling Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, Ruby had hoped for a return to normalcy, or at least what passed for normalcy in their little group. Besides, Ren had offhandedly bemoaned at breakfast today that the current JNPR group chat had ballooned with over a hundred unread messages over the last two days, most of which was panicked Jaune and Nora messages informing the rest of the group that, no, Blake wasn't at library, or at the roof, or that sandwich shop in Vale that sold her favorite tuna sandwiches (Blake did like tuna a lot, Ruby had mused idly, once upon a time). It also didn't help that Pyrrha, bless her, was so blessedly… bad with scrolls and chat apps, and would accidentally send photos from her gallery, usually screencaps of the Mistralian cartoons she enjoyed watching when she wasn't being the hypercompetent athlete that she was. (Ren, Ruby noted, was looking noticeably annoyed as he recounted Pyrrha's… taste in entertainment.) The end result was a messy, disorganized chat that was half Jaune and Nora being, well, Jaune and Nora and half Pyrrha apologizing for accidentally starting a call or interrupting the current conversation with another screencap.
That had prompted Ruby to evaluate her own team's group chat, and to her horror, she did not like what she saw there. She had meant for the chat to be their official communications channel for inter-team messages, like that time she informed everyone that she finally a managed to reserve the training room for a session (no Yang, Ruby insisted, I didn't make Jaune fill out the paperwork this time and ask him to submit it for me, I don't abuse my bestie like that!) or when Ruby would call for a team meeting to discuss their cool new team attacks she had brainstormed during Leadership class. It didn't matter that she would spam all her ideas in the middle of said class, while everyone was doing their own thing, because you didn't stifle genius! And it wasn't her fault she and Jaune had an extra hour of Leadership class at the end of the week while everyone got to goof off!
Besides, Yang came up with the Bumblebee name (for her motorcycle, granted) so why was she complaining? It wasn't a bad team attack name!
In any case, the decision to start the new group chat with team JNPR was prompted by just how… unprofessional their team communications looked. Her first message to the team RWBY chat was this excessively formal, properly worded message that she thought Weiss would have been proud of, but that idea was quickly disabused when Weiss composed a lengthy, nitpicky essay correcting all of Ruby's mistakes (what does felicitations even mean? Weiss had screamed in the chat) and Yang was all too eager to egg Weiss on. Blake, thankfully, had no comment, but had seen every single message without fail. Ruby noted that most times she was the first to see her messages – she just never replied unless prompted. And, Ruby admitted, her own messages… weren't the most professional after that disastrous first attempt…
Another reason Ruby wanted to let go of the old chats was because Weiss had… said some horrible things during the two days Blake was gone. Their app of choice didn't allow for messages to be deleted, so there was no way to get rid of the things that Weiss had said out of frustration, alternating between pleading at Blake to return and screaming at Blake for bringing them so much trouble (on a weekend, no less! Weiss fumed). Hell hath no fury like a Schnee scorned, Ruby learned that day. But the reality was while Ruby sympathized with Blake, the cat faunus also frustrated the leader to no end. Yang was panicking, something she rarely did (the last time she remembered Yang actually panicking was when she accidentally caused a Dust explosion in the workshop while tinkering with Crescent Rose, back at Signal), Weiss was fuming, Blake ran away, and the team was on the verge of breaking down as nobody really wanted to talk about the entire mess. Ruby wanted to tear her hair out with how frustrating it was, being unable to talk things out with anyone, but she had to remind herself that her team came first, and she couldn't afford to be petulant about this. Weiss, for all her iciness, was simply able to express her frustration at the whole situation in a way that she couldn't.
Even after the docks incident was resolved, Ruby knew everyone still had some level of resentment for Blake did, even after they had talked it out and apologized as a team. Ruby understood that – at some point, they just had to accept that mistakes was made and hope that time would be able to heal this wound. The problem was that the chat logs were an ever-present reminder of that, and Ruby just wanted a fresh start. She didn't need something that picked away at the scabs of the wound, or letting said wounds fester and rot as they danced around the point of infection.
As for JNPR? Well, they were dragged into the mess, even if they weren't present at the docks. Ruby initially didn't want to involve them in the search, believing that this was RWBY's problem, but Jaune just had a way of getting you to trust him, even if he looked unreliable in combat and was a complete klutz in everyday life. But as soon as he figured out at dinner the day Blake fled that Ruby was close to having a breakdown, he had called a team meeting in their dorms and dragged Ruby in with the promise of strawberries filched from the cafeteria (seven sisters, remember? Jaune would say, with that roguish grin of his that implied this wasn't the first time he had lured in a little girl who was having relationship problems… which, now that Ruby thought out loud, made Jaune look bad).
Once they had settled in team JNPR's dorm rooms (much more organized and well-kept compared to their dorm rooms, Ruby mused), Pyrrha, ever the doting mother, sat Ruby on her bed and held Ruby in her arms, stroking her head as she vented her frustrations over her team seemingly falling apart and just how selfish Blake was for running away, because they were a team, weren't they? Nora, in one of those rare moments where she willingly showed off her more sensitive side, sat next to Ruby and held her hand and rubbed her back with a circular motion, a trick Nora claimed Ren would use when they were kids to calm her down during stormy nights, when the lightning and the thunder proved too much even for her. Ren returned from the common room, having prepared Ruby some tea from his private stash, leaves he claimed he grew himself, useful for when he wanted to balance himself, whatever that meant. Jaune just leaned against the window, arms crossed, watching the scene like he wasn't involved in the entire thing, before finally offering the services of team JNPR to the cause. His team, ever loyal to him, agreed immediately.
(Much, much later, Ruby realized how jealous she was of how the team seemed to so easily gel, although Jaune would remind her of their own little crisis earlier in the semester, and how she had helped. Jaune figured he was just returning the favor. But that was a story for another time.)
That was probably the best thing to happen for team RWBY, because the sheer efficiency of team JNPR's search and locate tactics far outshone her team's. Jaune, apparently, was a master of hide and seek (seven sisters! seven!) and was fond of doing practice drills based on seeking out stray cats on campus for Nora to pet. (They were also fond of campus-wide games of tag, but that was neither here nor there.) Ren knew all the ideal locations for people to hide at Beacon, having spent a few nights mapping out the place for… ahem, reconnaissance. Nora… had enough energy to just interrogate everyone if they had seen the quiet book-loving girl with the comically oversized bow onher head. And Pyrrha? Part of the perks of being the best student in the year was that teachers trusted her more than most, a fact that she took advantage of to gain access to the CCT video logs in the teacher's lounge (because of course she was allowed in, Glynda Goodwitch was fond of her). Sure, Jaune had to sheepishly suggest it to her, and she was horrified at the idea of it, but Jaune, again, had a way of getting people to agree with his less-than-legal methods.
(Every now and then, Ruby would worry about Jaune's tendency towards criminal acts, what with all the barely legal things he pulled during the Search for Blake, as well as… later revelations. Again, a story for another time.)
Their exhaustive search was what pushed team RWBY to search Vale, with team JNPR offering to assist, seeing as they were under house arrest due to the whole Blake fleeing the school thing. Ruby had declined the offer, believing it was their responsibility, but that timely distraction by Nora in the cafeteria convinced her otherwise, plus with Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha, they could cover more ground in Vale...
Another silver lining in this whole mess was that team JNPR proved fantastic as student therapists and soundboards. During their excursion to Vale, Pyrrha and Jaune apparently ran into Weiss when RWBY split and had managed to calm Weiss down enough to stop being angry at Blake, even if, Ruby suspected, much of it was Jaune intentionally annoying Weiss with his cheesy one-liners while Pyrrha giggled at his corny lines like she wasn't the Goddess of Victory. Eventually, the two-man act broke Weiss' guard down and got Weiss to share her version of the story, leaving out Blake's faunus identity since that was her secret to tell. Instead, Weiss had shared her own insecurities about people seeing her only as the Schnee heiress, and how Blake had unintentionally set her off because she felt Blake judged her just like the rest.
(Weiss thought she was being subtle about the whole White Fang thing and how Blake and her disagreed about it, but Pyrrha had privately confided to Ruby, much, much later, the knowing looks Jaune and her shared when Weiss started talking about the dust robberies against the also didn't miss Pyrrha's sympathetic, knowing look as she recounted Weiss' loneliness or the way Jaune's eyes shone in soft, gentle affection at recalling Weiss' rarely-seen vulnerable side. Ruby recognized it – Yang often had the same look for her, especially when they were younger and only had each other to lean on, emotionally. )
Ren, meanwhile, had gotten to Yang, who had left Weiss to stew in her own anger and frustration and was wandering the streets of Vale aimlessly. Ren claimed it was his semblance, which dampened people's emotions, but Ruby noted the way Ren would favor his left side, as if he didn't want to apply pressure on his right leg. And while Ruby didn't judge men who used make-up, she was pretty sure Ren was using Nora's stuff (shouldn't Aura fix that? Ruby asked herself, before recalling, right, Yang).
It was the little things, the subtle assistance their sister team had rendered unto team RWBY, that convinced Ruby this entire thing was a good idea. When she consulted Yang and Weiss about confessing to team JNPR about their circumstances, both agreed that it was the least they could do considering all they had done for them for the last two days. Weiss even went one step further and suggested a sleepover, something that filled Ruby with hope for the Ice Queen hopefully thawing out a little. Weiss also convinced Blake that it was a good idea to reveal her secret to their sister team, explaining her own encounter with the blonde noodle and his invincible partner. If they were done keeping secrets from each other, Weiss had argued, then their sister team deserved the same respect. Ruby almost swooned at the show of respect Weiss displayed towards team JNPR.
Blake, after hearing Weiss' story, agreed as well, noting that Pyrrha and Jaune had also been frantically messaging her during the two days she had disappeared, a revelation that shocked Yang (you're friends with Vomit Boy and Cereal Girl? Yang had exclaimed, to which Blake, annoyed, shot back that, contrary to her expectations, she was perfectly capable of talking to other people). Truthfully, Blake admitted, what made her realize how dumb she was being was the worry that everyone else had shown when she disappeared, from the messages in their personal group chat, to the frantic messages Pyrrha had left in their… private… chat and Jaune's clumsy attempts to trick Blake into revealing where she was (he isn't that subtle, even if he's crafty, Blake huffed). She appreciated their concern, but even more than that, appreciated that they were giving her space – once they cottoned on that Blake wasn't interested in talking just yet, the two had backed off. A lesson she wished a certain monkey faunus was around to learn. Seriously, who spent two days hanging around someone who refused to talk?
(Much, much later, Blake would admit that she was being hard on Sun, but that was probably the moment she decided that she wasn't romantically interested in stubborn people who wouldn't take no for an answer and wouldn't give her space to herself. Too many bad memories in the past.
Sun was still a good friend, though. That much she would give him.)
The official decision to form the chat came after they had been assigned their punishment. After both teams were reprimanded by Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch, RWBY for, well, the docks thing, and JNPR for the accidental fight Nora started in the cafeteria, suspiciously around the same time the rest of team RWBY snuck out to Vale to look for Blake, the two teams were told they would be spending a week in detention, which was code for unpaid labor for the teachers. That meant that the two teams, who had spent a fair amount of time doing things together anyway, would be doing a lot of cleaning messy cafeterias, acting as unofficial teaching assistants, helping out with Ozpin's (Glynda's) paperwork, and everything else under the sun. Ruby and Jaune were meant to be the liaisons between the teaching staff and the teams, and they had decided, for expediency, to consolidate all communications into one chat. And, well, if they used the chat to vent about how unfair their teachers were being, there was no harm done, right?
Right?
-0-
Welcome to TEAM RRAYNNBW!
Jaune Arc: sorry abt that, didnt realize goodwitch noticed we were slacking off.
Pyrrha Nikos: Is that why she split us up into groups? I'm not sure about the logic of making me do paperwork with Weiss and Blake, honestly…
Pyrrha Nikos: No offense, you two.
Blake Belladonna: none taken pyr
Yang Xiao Long: still weird to find out u n cereal girl are good friends
Blake Belladonna: why, you jelly? 😊
Lie Ren: Pyrhha Nikos She DID complain that everyone spends too much time on their scrolls chatting, instead of talking to each other.
Queen of the Castle: What an old person thing to say. Get with the program, grandma! Jaune Arc Glynda's a grandma, right?
Jaune Arc: :shrug:
Yang Xiao Long: ok how
Yang Xiao Long: juane how tf do u change names? or use d emojis? nora wouldnt teach me
Jaune Arc: yang I am literally 5 ft away from you we can talk in person
Jaune Arc: just as soon as this stupid bush cooperates w me
Yang Xiao Long: today i learned jaune is good at trimming bushes
Weiss Schnee: Yang, that's gross.
Yang Xiao Long: whats gross is nora not showin me how to change names on this stupid app
Queen of the Castle: You're just jealous I'm better at technology at you.
Yang Xiao Long: shut it! and whats w the proper typing and grammer n stuff
Weiss Schnee: Grammar.
Yang Xiao Long: shut it ice queen im too mad to type properly
Someone is typing…
: !
: !
: hbvjhsdbfewnrvqb3rufbwerfq
Jaune Arc: ruby stop typing in your scroll and get back to fixing the bots
Jaune Arc: we don't want prof goodwitch to take our scrolls away
Jaune Arc: or remove our beacon app privileges
Someone is typing…
Lie Ren: Guys,
Lie Ren: Ruby won't stop bugging Nora about the name thing and I can tell Nora's about to do something either monumentally stupid or monumentally stressful. Or both.
Lie Ren: And now Ruby is chasing Nora with her semblance.
Lie Ren uploaded a photo to the chat!
Weiss Schnee: Oh my Brothers please don't make us clean up all those petals. Ren, please reign in those two!
Yang Xiao Long: chill ice queen the petals disappear after a while
Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!
Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!
Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!
Yang Xiao Long: wot
Yang Xiao Long: didnt know u were into cartoons cereal girl
Lie Ren: Dust-damned meebs…
Pyrrha Nikos: I'm sorry! Misclick!
Blake Belladonna: nice screencaps Pyrrha Nikos ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) rei is best girl doe
Lie Ren: Your obsession with lowbrow Mistralian cartoons disgust me.
: stop chatting ren n HELP ME CATCH NORA
Queen of the Castle changed Ruby Rose's name to StrawberrySlowCake!
Queen of the Castle: You're too slow!
StrawberrySlowCake: noraaaaa
Jaune Arc: guys
Jaune Arc: we need to focus
Jaune Arc has changed StrawberrySlowCake's name to RedLikeStrawberries!
Jaune Arc: gna mute and keep nora from doing stuff here for a bit as well
Queen of the Castle is muted for twenty-four hours!
RedLikeStrawberries: ha! revenge is sweet
Jaune Arc: look, i'll show everyone how to mess around with the settings later, let's just finish our stuff before prof goodwitch gets mad
Yang Xiao Long: how the fuck did u do that to nora?
Jaune Arc: me n ruby r admins
Jaune Arc: also, language, ruby is here
RedLikeStrawberries: hey!
Yang Xiao Long: yeah yeah but since when are you… knowledgeable abt this stuff? ur vomit boy! u cant be competent!
Yang Xiao Long: no offense VB :P
RedLikeStrawberries: jaune was the one who told me to try out the beacon chat app
RedLikeStrawberries: apparently he knows the people who made it
Jaune Arc: i am literally looking at you as you type Yang why are you askin in chat
RedLikeStrawberries: jaune's sister Sapphron has this gf who's, like, this scroll whiz iirc
Pyrrha Nikos: Wow, I've never heard about this before, Jaune Arc. How does Ruby know?
RedLikeStrawberries: :shrug: we talk abt stuff. we're besties!
RedLikeStrawberries: don't worry Weiss Schnee ur my bff thats totally different
Blake Belladonna: i have to admit, this story sounds interesting.
Yang Xiao Long: blake belladonna why have you never shown this level of interest in anything we've talked about before
Blake Belladonna: I pay attention! just bc i don't say anything doesnt mean i ignore you guys! i just like staying in the background and taking notes!
Lie Ren: You realize you sounded like a stalker there, right?
Lie Ren: Oh, and Nora knocked herself out. Be right back.
Yang Xiao Long: blake we will have a long talk abt all the stuff you havent mentioned to us when you get back
Jaune Arc: guys
Jaune Arc: guys
Jaune Arc: fine ill tell you all a story
Pyrrha Nikos: Please do.
Weiss Schnee: Pyrrha Nikos we still have work to do!
Jaune Arc: ahem
Jaune Arc: so saph's gf, now wife, her name's terra
Jaune Arc: real comms genius, she and her friends designed this app with some friends back when they were teens and sold the rights to beacon apparently.
Jaune Arc: when sapphron and terra first met terra designed some neat apps for their scrolls to talk secretly. i only discovered em by accident and saph swore me to secrecy, then she'd drag me to dates with terra to third wheel so our parents wouldnt suspect anything. terra taught me some stuff too. she took all that experience and turned it into BeaconChat. terra even made me test some features.
RedLikeStrawberries: because, and i quote, "we need to idiot proof this"
Jaune Arc: and me idiot-proofing for her is why i was the only witness when they got married and eloped to Argus
Blake Belladonna: the more I learn about you the more your everything makes sense ㅇㅅㅇ
Jaune Arc: the heck does that mean?
Pyrrha Nikos: Don't be mean, Blake! Oh, and would you kindly pass me that stack of papers?
RedLikeStrawberries: ok storytime is over, me ren n nora almost done here. we're heading back to the dorms.
Yang Xiao Long: me and VB were done like 5 mins ago. im makin him teach me this dumb app.
Yang Xiao Long: also arent you forgetting sth
RedLikeStrawberries: o right! don't forget we're doing the sleepover tonight! Everyone we convene in one hour at team RWBY's dorm! Don't be late! Don't forget the food assigned to you!
Weiss Schnee: I'll clean our room then.
Yang Xiao Long has changed her name to SunnyLittleDragon!
SunnyLittleDragon: finally ! thanks Jaune Arc
Jaune Arc: yang i swear to the brothers we are literally face to face right now
SunnyLittleDragon has changed Jaune Arc's name to Vomit Boy!
SunnyLittleDragon has changed Weiss Schnee's name to Snow Angel!
Snow Angel: hey!
SunnyLittleDragon has changed Blake Belladonna's name to Big Kitty Goth GF!
Big Kitty Goth GF: srsly, yang?
SunnyLittleDragon: eh, we're telling em anyway, right?
Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, but
Big Kitty Goth GF: nvm orz do what u want im done here anw. ozpin's paperwork is messy af
Snow Angel: I'm done as well. Thankfully, Professor Goodwitch is much more organized. See you all later?
Big Kitty Goth GF: you are literally in front of me Weiss [edited]
Big Kitty Goth GF: oh nice, you can edit messages here.
SunnyLittleDragon has changed Pyrrha Nikos' name to Cereal Girl!
Cereal Girl: oh?
Cereal Girl: I have to admit, having a conversation on our scrolls while also talking in person and finishing paperwork is a very… novel experience.
SunnyLittleDragon: you get amused by the weirdest things p-money
Cereal Girl: I'm… afraid I don't understand the name…
Queen of the Castle is now unmuted!
RedLikeStrawberries: nora how the FUCK
SunnyLittleDragon: LANGUAGE!
RedLikeStrawberries: YOU WERE SWEARING EARLIER TOO YANG
RedLikeStrawberries: YOU ARENT MY MOM
SunnyLittleDragon: I MAY AS WELL BE
Queen of the Castle: I'M FREE! FREE!
-0-
Okay, so the chat idea immediately derailed itself, Ruby conceded. Plans, unfortunately, never survived first contact with the enemy. What was meant to be official comms and maybe an excuse for everyone to just chat had turned into a chaotic mess, which was fine, Ruby felt. With their schedules and their lifestyles, it was hard finding time to just sit down and talk. Glynda certainly grouched about how they spent so much time on their scrolls, but without it, Ruby doubted they'd even be having their conversations or properly plan out their sleepover, aka Blake's Coming Out Party (not that kind of Coming Out, although based on Blake's taste in…filth… that she had a lot of explaining to do about her literary preferences. Not that there was anything wrong with that!)
In any case, Ruby thought, they had a sleepover to get ready for. Why did it take so long for an hour to pass…
-0-
RedLikeStrawberries: Vomit Boy where are you guys?
Cereal Girl: hang on we're getting the snacks, plus me n ren cooked some stuff -Jaune
Cereal Girl: I'm sorry… Nora did something to Jaune's scroll, I panicked a bit, and, well…
Big Kitty Goth GF: i thought you had mastered your semblance already?
Cereal Girl: In combat, yes, but, well, Nora had Jaune's scroll, Jaune had his arms wrapped Nora's, um,
Lie Ren: Needless to say, it was a bit… chaotic.
Lie Ren: Thank you for watching over Nora, by the by.
Snow Angel: Will she… will she be okay like this?
-0-
In a corner of team RWBY's dorm room, Ruby observed, Nora Valkyrie was curled up on the floor, grumbling to herself.
-0-
Cereal Girl: She will be fine.
Lie Ren: The threat of no breakfast is a dangerous ploy, one Jaune and I rarely use.
Cereal Girl: Please don't worry, Snow Angel. She just has… pent-up energy?
Lie Ren: Detention is making her cranky. She's been wanting to do some weapon tests with Magnhild.
Big Kitty Goth GF: I
Big Kitty Goth GF: im sorry ren
Big Kitty Goth GF: its my fault
-0-
Ruby glanced at Blake, who was sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her knees as she huddled to herself and tried to make herself as small as possible.
-0-
Cereal Girl: It's fine, Blake.
Cereal Girl: We're your friends.
Cereal Girl: Besides, we still haven't finished writing the fic
Big Kitty Goth GF: PYRRHA
SunnyLittleDragon: fic?
Lie Ren: Meebs, I swear…
SunnyLittleDragon: the heck's a meeb
-0-
That got Blake to laugh. Ruby, noticing Blake shift her posture to something more comfortable, sighed in relief. Maybe the Coming Out Party would turn out alright, after all.
Well, the serious stuff could wait, since Jaune had brought the snacks and now Nora was screaming like some noise-based Grimm, excited because Ren also cooked her pancakes and–
-0-
RedLikeStrawberries has changed the group's name to Team RRAYNNBW (Keeping Quiet Edition)!
Snow Angel: So why exactly are we chatting instead of, you know, talking in person? Can't we just moderate our voices?
RedLikeStrawberries: to spite goodwitch, duh
SunnyLittleDragon: yeah, snow angel, get w the program
Snow Angel: dont call me that
Lie Ren: Ladies.
Cereal Girl: The point of using our scrolls is to talk instead of, um, making too much noise and shouting over each other, especially considering the noise complaints we have already received.
RedLikeStrawberries: Plus, we were already warned by Goodwitch.
Lie Ren: It was a very harrowing experience, seeing Ms. Goodwitch levitate your beds to get our attention and interrogate us.
Lie Ren: How exactly do they remain stable? She asks very insightful questions.
Snow Angel: That doesn't matter right now!
Snow Angel: Jaune, please pass me the chips.
SunnyLittleDragon: wait, ms? goodwitch is single?
RedLikeStrawberries: :gasp: weiss is eating chips?
Snow Angel: Why is that weird? What do you think I eat?
RedLikeStrawberries: i dunno, fish eggs or sth
Cereal Girl: Yang, why are you so surprised?
SunnyLittleDragon: but… shes so… no way in hell someone as hot as her doesn't have a partner…
Snow Angel: There were rumors that General Ironwood and her were an item once, but…
Snow Angel: JAUNE NOT THESE CHIPS
Snow Angel: ALSO USE YOUR DUST-DAMNED SCROLL INSTEAD OF LEANING OVER PYRRHA'S SHOULDER TO CHECK HERS
Snow Angel: ALSO ALSO STOP WHISPERING TO EACH OTHER LIKE CHILDREN
Snow Angel: YES I KNOW IM SHAKING YES I KNOW YOUR SCROLL IS MALFUNCTIONING
Snow Angel: STOP
Snow Angel: GIGGLING
-0-
Was it really a surprise, Ruby wondered, when Blake and Yang threw their pillows at Yang?
-0-
SunnyLittleDragon: anw. general who?
Big Kitty Goth GF: Atlas Academy Headmaster.
Snow Angel: How do you know that?
Big Kitty Goth GF: it isnt exactly a big secret if you know to look up stuff online
Snow Angel: In any case, I wouldn't believe the rumors. My sister tells me that General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch are both too focused on, in her words, dealing with unruly children.
SunnyLittleDragon: fjfnewjfnewnfhrnf
SunnyLittleDragon: sadfdafdsasad
SunnyLittleDragon: I have peered into my future, and the sheer terror will drive me to the bottle.
RedLikeStrawberries: YANG
RedLikeStrawberries: stop hyperventilating
RedLikeStrawberries: just bc your worried you'll turn out like goodwitch doesn't give you the right to scream into your pillow
Lie Ren: Will she be…
RedLikeStrawberries: oh
RedLikeStrawberries: she'll be fine
Lie Ren: She's crying.
RedLikeStrawberries: she's just insecure bc she doesn't really have a love life
Big Kitty Goth GF: …really? Yang's single?
RedLikeStrawberries: and ready to mingle if her dating profile on a certain website is to be trusted
SunnyLittleDragon: RUBY
SunnyLittleDragon: also whats the matter blakey, interested? 😉
-0-
Ruby glanced at Weiss, who rolled her eyes as they observed Yang's incredibly, incredibly awkward winking and Blake's equally awkward smile as she brushed the hair behind her ears.
-0-
Vomit Boy: guys i think we're getting sidetracked
Snow Angel: at least you finally fixed your scroll
Vomit Boy: sorry
Vomit Boy: still not sure how nora shorted it out
Vomit Boy: could have sworn she didn't have lightning dust on her
Lie Ren: It is incredibly difficult to keep Nora pacified while also typing on my scroll, so I must ask you all to tell us why you called for this meeting already.
RedLikeStrawberries: oh right
RedLikeStrawberries: ok
RedLikeStrawberries: so
RedLikeStrawberries: this is a long story
RedLikeStrawberries: promise not to freak out or make too much noise
Cereal Girl: We're all ears, Ruby.
-0-
Ruby let out a huge sigh before glancing at her teammates and friends, who had settled into their pajamas (Yang, as always, was outraged by Jaune's onesie and entranced by Blake's yukata. Ruby never minded the onesie, and privately thought it cute, almost as cute as Blake's sleepwear) and laid out all the snacks on the floor between the two bunk beds.
Ren and Nora took up positions by the window and the bookshelves. Ren leaned back against the shelves, careful not to disturb any of Blake's… literature or Weiss' textbooks. Nora snuggled next to Ren, all but forcing Ren's left arm around her shoulders so she could nuzzle her head against Ren's chin and touch his nose with her fingers, a soft boop escaping her lips. If Ren wanted to escape, Ruby mused, he wasn't exactly doing a good job resisting Nora's grappling techniques. Instead, he was typing something on his scroll.
Pyrrha and Jaune had their backs against the door, and were sat opposite Ren and Nora, between the two bunk beds. Weiss now sat next to them on the floor, having dropped down from her bed. Ruby noted, with a not inconsiderable amount of glee, that Weiss was leaning over, on her knees, trying to get the chips she wanted, but the two giants next to her were making it difficult to reach the chips on Jaune's side. Weiss had to squeeze past the partners, as Jaune was too busy teaching Pyrrha how to use her scroll and the BeaconChat app.
Yang, having recovered from her embarrassment, was now lying prone on the top bunk of her and Blake's bed, looking down on everyone with a pensive look on her face. Blake, meanwhile, sat gingerly on the bottom bed, her hands on her lap, waiting for the right time to talk. Her bow twitched, slightly (another thing that Ruby probably should have noticed earlier). Yang, noticing her hesitation, peered down from her bed before repositioning herself. Her upper body was now hanging from her bed, and she was bent over to rub Blake's shoulders. (Ruby did her best not to pay attention to the way Jaune, Weiss, Nora and Pyrrha flushed at Yang's rather provocative display from their vantage point. At least Ren could keep up a poker face. Stupid Yang probably didn't even realize what she was showing off.)
Ruby felt a curious warmth, akin to the feeling of her Aura being unlocked, bubble up inside her as she observed how, with their positioning on the beds and the floor, team RWBY and JNPR could, if they wanted, reach out and hold each other's hands to form a closed circle It was a curious sensation, and she felt a powerful burst of heat and warmth envelop her body as she looked upon her teammates (and friends, a part of her whispered, proudly). And to think that Yang was worried she wasn't going to make any friends in Beacon!
Well, things were quieter now, Ruby realized, shaking herself from her reverie. Glynda was probably back to her own quarters now, and Ruby hoped the other people on their floor finally returned to their beds after the chaotic mass of screaming that was team RWBY's dorm a few minutes ago. Satisfied that everyone was now ready, she nodded to Weiss and Blake. Ruby let out a small grin as she watched Blake's face tighten with determination, while Weiss, doing her best to maintain her composure, while struggling to secure her chips, let out a small sigh. (She also noted the comforting looks Pyrrha and Jaune sent her way, but they weren't important now. Perhaps for another story.)
Weiss, as always, was the first to break the ice.
"Are you familiar with the White Fang?"
And then their scrolls rang out with notifications.
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Lie Ren: I just realized.
Lie Ren: I never did get a nickname in this chat.
Queen of the Castle changed Lie Ren's name to Party Pooper!
Queen of the Castle: That's what you are, Ren!
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So, as per tradition for me, a long-ass author's note for the first chapter:
This fic is kind of an experiment. The concept I had for this was simple: a series of group chats featuring the main cast of characters, keeping closely with canon while filling in the gaps in time between volumes and episodes, focused primarily in silly interactions and antics between the main eight. This doesn't mean that other members of the cast will be involved, but there will be at least one or two people from team RWBY + JNPR involved in each 'skit'.
Group chat fics aren't exactly new or original, but my idea was that all (well, most) dialogue would be conducted in the chats themselves, and the prose bits in between chat sections would focus on one character's perspective at a time as well as offer transitions from one conversation to another. There's going to be a lot of implied dialogue during prose sections, as well as conversations happening off-screen during chat sections, as well as many instances where people are chatting while in the same room or in close vicinity, because I like imagining these dumb teenagers sitting on a room, all huddled around their scrolls, laughing at some in-joke while, say, Qrow and Maria look at them confused about why they aren't talking to each other. That's why I wrote the first chapter in this way, to really emphasize how the dynamic will work, and future chapters will vary widely in how often prose sections would appear vis-à-vis chat sections. Also, other chapters will feature multiple different group chats, as friendships form and common interests are found.
Each chapter is designed to be standalone, but will flow into each other, and there will be constant references to previous as well as future chapters. I do intend to take the group chat concept to later volumes, and in the outlines I have for the story I have chunks of the stories plotted to be set around volumes 1-3, volume 5-6, and volume 7 during the Atlas montage. Yes, this means Pyrrha will die, as per canon. Yes, it will be addressed. Yes, I will do my best to still do lighthearted and fluffy friendship interactions even as we reach the later volumes. And yes, they will form a new group chat once the two teams reunite at the end of Volume 5. Fs in the chat for Pyrrha.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy my dumb, dumb headcanons about these characters and how they interact with each other. Like next chapter, which is Pyrrha and Blake focused and will feature erotic fanfic, Mistralian cartoons, the Remnant equivalent of weebs (meebs), and Pyrrha mistakenly(?) believing that Blake's type is blonde, dumb, and loyal to a fault.