Another chapter, this time lengthier and with more Weiss. Enjoy.
Weiss was upset.
She imagined her first day at Beacon somewhat differently. She expected people to pay more attention to the Schnee heiress and her perfect attire - though that might had been a little arrogant of her - and she certainly didn't expect some child to run into her luggage and then blow up. It just wasn't a situation she had thought to prepare for.
So, instead of handling the situation in some more dignified manner, she had yelled at the girl in the middle of the yard. And it was Jaune who had to step up and remind her what she was supposed to be doing. Though Weiss sure hated to admit it, her brother showed more courtesy in that particular situation than her, not to mention more common sense. If the rest of their stay in Beacon looked like that, then Father would surely pass the company to Jaune and he would have a rather good reason for doing so.
But no, Weiss wasn't stupid. She lost her composure for a moment, sure, but who wouldn't when dealing with such a dunce as that girl? That incident would not be repeated.
She was still a master of the game, or at the very least a better player than her brother. She just needed to start showing it.
After her little spat with the young girl, Weiss ordered her men to find some place to temporarily store the bags - it's not like she would be needing them any time soon - and set off towards the auditorium, marching as quickly as her heels allowed her. She prided herself on her punctuality and she really didn't want to be late for something the very first day.
After a few minutes she arrived at the auditorium. It was a large hall with a circular podium opposite to the exit. There were bleachers on the side, which made Weiss suspect that the place was used as a combat arena during the school year. Annoyingly, there were no seats of any kind on the ground level where all the students stood, but at least the room was large enough to fit all the people present without feeling too crowded.
And there were quite a few of those. Aspiring huntsmen and huntresses from all of Vale, as well as from other corners of Remnant judging from the variety of skin tones and clothing styles among the crowd members. There were dozens of them here, maybe over a hundred. Most of them would end up failing to pass the initiation or even just chickening out before it started. With ten new teams being formed every year, less than a half of the candidates would be staying at Beacon for the rest of the year. That list would include Weiss of course. And Jaune as well, unless he would get very unlucky during the initiation.
Weiss didn't personally know any of the people around her, but she could recognize some of them from the various tournaments she has watched as a form of preparation. Pyrrha Nikos was probably somewhere in that crowd - she did announce she would be attending Beacon this year - but there was no point seeking her out. She was a famous athlete, thus not somebody who could be easily bribed or impressed by Weiss' combat abilities. Should the suitable occasion arise, she would have a chat with Nikos. If not, then she would just leave the champion alone and hope that Jaune will hit on her and get slammed into a wall or something.
Instead, Weiss attempted to find some other formidable fighter among the wannabe students. There was maybe half a dozen participants from Vale regional tournament, such as Rosewell or Bronzewing to name just two, but none of them was of a really high caliber - the most successful combatants tended to stick to competitive fighting, as getting a huntsman training got a person disqualified from most official tournaments.
Ultimately, it wasn't any known fighter that caught Weiss' eye. There was a girl whom the heiress hadn't seen before, but whom she could immediately recognize as a strong fighter. She was tall, muscular and had ridiculously long, voluminous blond hair. Right now the girl was surrounded by several people, all their attention centered solely on the blonde - a situation Weiss found herself in multiple times in the past, except that girl was probably not being bothered due to being rich. If there were some gold diggers around there, it made more sense for them to focus on the Schnee heiress. More likely, the people around the girl recognized her as a strong fighter and were hoping to get on her team later on, or just to get some tips from her. Well, some of them could have been suitors - the blonde's figure was bound to attract some of those.
The heiress was afraid she would have to interrupt the ongoing conversation, but conveniently, the little crowd dispersed few moments later, blonde waving the others goodbye.
"Old friends?" Weiss asked, approaching the girl. Normally, she wouldn't speak to a stranger just like that, but she got the feeling that it wasn't a place for formal introductions. "Or have you already made some here in Beacon?"
"Nah, these are my old buddies from Signal." Luckily, the blonde indeed seemed to have no problem casually chatting with strangers. She has also apparently attended the Signal Academy, one of the best combat schools in all of Sanus. Both of these were good signs. "I'm Yang, by the way."
"Weiss Schnee. A pleasure to meet you." Weiss said, outstretching a hand towards the other girl.
If Yang recognized the Schnee name, she didn't let that show. She simply smiled and shook Weiss' hand, gripping it a bit too hard for her liking. Showing off your strength, or are you really unaware of it?
"So, you think you have a shot at joining Beacon? No offence, but you don't look the part in that dress of yours."
"I do feel fairly confident." Weiss replied. "And it's a combat skirt, thank you very much."
"Combat skirt? Heh, I think that's how my sister calls her dress as well."
"So you have a sister? One who knows more about fashion than you?" Weiss latched onto a generic topic and simultaneously making a harmless jab at the other girl. It seemed like a safe strategy.
"I have an excellent fashion sense." Yang said, pointing at her attire as to prove her statement. And indeed, her clothing looked pretty good, but just about anything would on that body of hers.
That would be the second time I thought about her this way. Am I losing my heterosexuality? Has spending time with Jaune made me like men less?
"But yeah, I have a younger sister. She should be somewhere around here in fact."
Somewhere around here? The only people in the hall, aside from the teachers watching over everything, were the prospective students and those couldn't be younger than seventeen. Did Yang have a twin sister that was, like, several minutes younger than her? Or maybe an adoptive sibling with a couple months of difference in terms of age? It would be a weird coincidence if Yang was in almost the exact same situation as Weiss, but that couldn't be ruled out.
Or perhaps... no, that couldn't be the case.
"Oh, here she is." Yang turned towards the entrance and waved at somebody. "Hi Ruby!"
No.
Upon hearing her older sister call out to her, the dark-haired girl ran up to her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Weiss, as if she was unsure whether or not it was safe to come closer.
"Oh, that is Weiss. Weiss, Ruby." Yang 'introduced' the two of them to each other. When she saw that Ruby was still anxious, she added: "Oh come on sis. You can't be that socially awkward."
"We have met each other beforehand." Weiss explained, forcing herself to be polite for once. She wouldn't let Ruby foil her plans, no matter how annoying she was.
"Yeah. We have..." Ruby suddenly expressed an unusual fascination with her shoes.
"Not a great first meeting, then?" Yang asked, a small, teasing smile on her face.
"She exploded at me." Weiss explained.
"Really? She doesn't get angry easily."
"No, I meant that literally. She exploded at me."
"It was an accident!" Ruby exclaimed, finally deciding to come up to Weiss and Yang.
"Yes, I know." Weiss replied, ignoring the wide eyed look the blonde was now giving them. "You didn't damage anything, so I suppose there is no real harm done. Really, I shouldn't have gotten so mad."
"So... can we be friends?" Ruby asked, her face turning hopeful all of the sudden.
Weiss was surprised at such a direct request, but she supposed it was convenient. Making 'friends' with Ruby would surely earn her some points with her older sister. Besides, if the girl was accepted into Beacon at such a young age, maybe she was worth something on her own. It was unlikely for her to be as experienced as the rest of the students, but perhaps she had some unusually powerful semblance, like shooting Grimm-killing lasers out of her eyes.
"Sure, why not." The look on the brunette's face was almost comical with how wide her grin was.
"Oh, are we going to go out shopping? Maybe we could paint nails and talk about cute boys?" Ruby asked, enthusiasm audible in her voice and visible on her face.
"Maybe later, once we are all past the initiation." Weiss replied politely, even though she already had second thoughts about whether dealing with this dolt was truly worth it.
"Well, looks like I was right!" Yang said. "All it took was leaving you alone for a moment and you already made a friend here!"
"That is not an excuse! You left me alone there, with no idea what to do or where to go!" Ruby retorted angrily.
"But you did alright, didn't you? You should be proud of yourself sis." As if to emphasize her point, Yang hugged Ruby closely, to which the brunette strongly, but ineffectually objected by trying to break out of the grip.
Now that the sisters were so close to each other - much to close for Ruby's liking - Weiss couldn't help but notice just how physically different the two of them were. Whereas Yang was tall, blond and very well-developed, Ruby was quite short, not particularly wide and had raven hair, save for the red tips. She knew asking about that was not the best strategy, but curiosity prevailed.
"I'm sorry, but you two don't look alike. At all. Are you..."
"We are half-sisters." Yang said, letting go of Ruby and allowing her to breathe freely. "And don't worry, people wonder that all the time."
So, they were partially related. That made sense, as half siblings often wouldn't bear any resemblance between each other.
"About that..." Ruby suddenly spoke, this time more meekly and looking at Weiss again.
"Have I been insensitive? My apologies."
"No! Everything's fine. I was just wondering..."
Weiss looked at the girl questioningly.
"What is the deal between you and Jaune?"
Weiss' eyes narrowed.
"Of course. I should have expected it. What exactly did my brother tell you about me?" The heiress realized she wasn't being polite anymore, but she stopped caring a second earlier.
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Yang asked in confusion, but Weiss just kept her stare fixed at Ruby.
"Nothing, really." The brunette responded after a moment of tense silence. "Just that you two don't get along that well."
Of course. Weiss should had seen that coming. She had left the girl alone with Jaune, who, unlike his sister apparently, could see the potential benefits of associating with someone who could well be the youngest Beacon student ever. He had probably already told Ruby some things about Weiss - maybe it really wasn't much, but surely enough to make the girl distrustful.
"Listen to me carefully." Weiss said, her voice coming out far colder than she indented. "Jaune is a shameless, power-hungry knave who cares about nothing but his selfish ambitions. He would gladly have me thrown off into the street so that I couldn't stand in his way and you can be damn sure he will throw you under the bus at the nearest opportunity."
"But... he doesn't seem like it." Ruby responded meekly, only angering Weiss more.
"Of course he doesn't! He would be a fool if he was so open about it. He will manipulate you, tell you all the lies, half-lies and convenient truths so that you trust him. Don't fall for it."
"Why do you hate him so much?" Ruby was clearly taken aback by Weiss' tirade. "Is that because you are not..."
Not real siblings. Of course, that would be one of the first things Jaune would tell somebody in order to discredit her. He liked painting this sort of narrative. Weiss wasn't averse to him for any legitimate reasons, she was just an evil adoptive sister. And of course it would work on someone who had already seen her at her worst. That bastard.
Ruby must have sensed Weiss' anger - she backed away slightly, as if she was expecting the heiress to jump at her. Yang also tensed visibly and she seemed ready to jump between the two other girls at any moment. Like Weiss was a Beowolf preparing an attack.
So much for making a good first impression. Even if Weiss apologized immediately, there was no returning to a safe topic after something like that. Not without some major awkwardness anyways.
"I'm sorry, I think I saw my friend over there." Weiss said, turning her head in the random direction. "I'll leave you for now, is that alright?"
Ruby opened her mouth as though to say something, but then she closed it again and simply nodded. Without saying another word, Weiss turned around and walked deeper into the crowd, leaving disheartened Ruby and confused Yang behind her.
She wondered if Jaune knew what he was doing when he turned Ruby against Weiss like that. Could he have known that the girl had a sister in Beacon? No, not before talking to Ruby about that at least. He probably just found the young girl a valuable ally on her own and he might have hoped that she would spread some unfavorable rumors about the Schnee heiress.
It was an obvious move to make, really. Weiss cursed herself for not thinking of something like that earlier. She really needed to step up her game.
It wasn't a time for that, though, as soon after Weiss finished talking with the sister, the headmaster finally stepped on the podium and approached the microphone. He was a tall man dressed in a suit. His hair was completely grey and he wore glasses over his eyes, but he didn't appear senile – he stood upright and expressed a sort of confidence that suggested he retained his combat prowess even at his age.
All of this fit what Weiss heard about Professor Ozpin. He was, according to all reliable accounts, one of the strongest huntsmen alive and had decades of experience fighting Grimm, as well as other threats to Remnant's safety. There were rumors that the other three headmasters were largely following Ozpin's advice, acknowledging his hard-earned expertise.
His speech, however, proved itself quite underwhelming. Weiss was hoping to hear some sort of objective information that would help her later on or even a general advice, but instead she had to stand through a rather cryptic speech about knowledge and search for direction, and how the former would help with the latter. After the headmaster finished and the deputy head – Ms. Goodwitch, if she recalled correctly – dismissed everyone, Weiss found herself disappointed and somewhat irritated at having been made to go to the hall and spend several minutes standing just for that. Still, she memorized the speech in case it contained some useful knowledge after all, like it tended to happen in fairy tales and stories in general.
As people started to chat between each other, Weiss headed towards the exit. If she wanted to chat somebody up, she was better off doing it somewhere quieter. She didn't want to have to outshout everyone else while paying her interlocutor a compliment.
Soon enough, she exited the hall and walked onto the corridor. She was yet to decide where exactly she would be spending the rest of the day – there was nothing else planned for the prospective students until the evening. Perhaps she should just walk around the campus memorizing the terrain and chat up to anyone who seemed worthy of her attention? That sounded like a pretty good….
"I'm sorry, could you help me out?" Weiss heard a voice calling from behind her. A deep, male voice. Upon turning around, she saw a young man, probably another student, walking towards her.
The guy was tall, lean and well-built, though she couldn't call him muscular. His hair was black save for a single pink streak and his eyes had an unusual shade of magenta. A sense of confidence seemed to radiate from him as he walked towards Weiss – not the same kind Yang emanated, but more… subdued. As if he simply felt no fear or nervousness whatsoever and thus didn't overcompensate for them by inviting challenge. Weiss could bet he was one of the stronger people there, though obviously she wasn't able to tell how strong he was exactly without actually seeing him fight.
"What is the matter?" Weiss replied. She found the man in front of her interesting enough to talk to, though if his question was just a set up for some lame pick-up line, she would turn around and leave immediately, maybe freeze the guy to the ground so that he couldn't follow her.
"I am looking for my friend here. I was wondering if you have seen her?"
Her? Well, that definitely wasn't a pick up line. If his first step to flirting was mentioning another woman, then he was almost as bad at this as Jaune. Almost.
"Well what did she look like?" Weiss asked.
"Ginger hair, dressed in white and pink. Not very tall, about your height." Well, that was another sign he wasn't trying to seduce her. Still, he could be useful for other purposes than that.
"I'm afraid I haven't seen her." The heiress responded. "I could help you look for her though."
"No, that's my problem to…"
"I insist." Weiss interrupted. "It is not like I have anything better to do now that the speech is over."
"Well… you have my thanks then." He said and then outstretched his hand. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? Lie Ren, though I usually go by my second name."
"Weiss Schnee." The heiress said while shaking Ren's hand. There was a small shift on his face, but it wasn't any negative emotion, just a sign that he recognized the name and possibly connected it to her appearance and demeanor. That was to be expected. "And I feel it is my duty to help fellow students in need."
"We are not students just yet, you know?" Ren said, as he began walking down the corridor.
"Are you afraid you won't pass the initiation then?" Weiss asked, following close behind him. She was looking around, trying to spot any red-haired girl, but mentally remained focused solely on the conversation.
"Not really." He shrugged. "I am fairly good at killing Grimm and so is Nora. I think we will pass without much trouble."
This sentence confirmed Weiss' initial impression of the man. Strong and confident, as a huntsmen should always be.
"So, you are saying your partner is as strong as you?" Weiss said, sneaking in a compliment.
"Stronger, really. She is a great fighter and I'm sure she will make a great huntress. She is just a little…"
Ren never got to finish this sentence, as suddenly, a person stepped in their way. A girl around their age, dressed in a white and pink outfit, with relatively short, orange hair, just like Ren had described. Aside from those features, the girl had turquoise eyes and a fit figure, including visibly muscled arms. In each of her hands she held an ice-cream on a stick.
"Hi Renny!" She said in a high-pitched, nasal voice that somehow managed to annoy Weiss by itself. "Guess what? There is an ice cream stand on the other side of the campus. Here, I brought you some." She then stretched out one of her hands, presenting Ren with a treat.
"Nora, that is nice of you, but I was just talking to Weiss." Ren said, gesturing over to the person in question.
Weiss was prepared to politely introduce herself, no matter the irritation, but Nora didn't even give her the slightest opportunity to do so, as she immediately spoke again.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know you found yourself a friend already. You are always so moody and withdrawn." She then turned her attention over to Weiss and without drawing another breath, she resumed speaking. "Hi, I'm Nora. You are Weiss, yes? That makes me think, do you want some ice cream too? I can bring you some if you want."
Normally, Weiss would politely refuse such an offer from somebody who wasn't her servant, but truth be told, she really didn't want to deal with that girl right now.
"If you could…" She didn't have to finish that sentence, as Nora disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared half a minute ago. It almost didn't seem like she was moving, but instead teleported leaving a gush of wind behind.
Well… that was a thing.
"That was Nora." Ren said, somewhat redundantly. "I am sorry if she gets on your nerves."
"Not really." Weiss lied. "She seems like a nice person. Are you two… together?"
Ren shook his head. "No, no in that way. But we have been friends for a very long time."
Interesting. Weiss could swear there was something romantic going on between the two, but she wasn't going to push the topic.
"So, in the meantime, why won't we find some place to sit down." Weiss offered and found herself surprised when Ren shook his head once more.
"I don't see any seat nearby. Besides, I don't think we will be waiting that long."
"I'm sorry, but why would you…" Weiss started, but before she could finish her question an ice cream was shoved in her face. She instinctively took a step back and, upon gaining a better perspective, she saw Nora standing before her with an aforementioned ice cream in her hand.
What? How did she manage to arrange it so quickly? Even if she really had some super-speed sort of semblance, it would still take her more than half a minute to make a purchase.
"Here you go!" Nora said cheerfully, waiting for Weiss to accept the gift. The heiress slowly took the ice cream out of the redhead's hand, though she felt far too awkward to start eating it at the moment.
Nora didn't seem to notice how uneasy Weiss was, and if she did, she certainly didn't care very much, as she stuffed the other ice cream into Ren's hand and resumed speaking just a second later.
"So, friends, what are we going to do this lovely day?" She asked, and then immediately followed that by answering her own question. "Oh, I know! How about we go hunting for the Grimm in the forest? It's going to be so much fun!"
Weiss stared at the girl for a second. This suggestion was, frankly, devoid of any kind of sanity. It was not only dangerous - because who knew what kind of Grimm they would encounter - but also ran counter to the very reason they were at Beacon right now. They needed to perform their best during the initiation and losing energy and ammunition to some random Grimm was detrimental to that.
The heiress looked at Ren, hoping that he would point out one of these problems. Instead, to her horror, the man shrugged, as if he was indifferent to the idea.
"We might as well. What will you say to that, Weiss?"
The girl in question found it hard to find a suitable answer. Which one of the many reasons for not wanting to participate in this hunt was she supposed to give? Or should she make up some excuse these two would understand despite their apparent insanity?
"Oh, you are scared, aren't you?" Nora asked and, without giving Weiss time to answer, she pulled the two other students into a collective hug. "Don't worry, we can protect you and we will. We are buddies after all, right?"
No. Weiss had just changed her mind – dealing with Ren and Nora wasn't worth it after all, no matter how strong or attractive they were.
"Actually, I think I need to repair my weapon." Weiss went with the first plausible-sounding excuse she could think of. "I won't be able to join you today. Maybe some other time."
"Oh, that's a shame." Nora expressed her disappointment while loosening her grip on Weiss. "Well, if you ever want to hang out, just tell us!"
"I sure will." Weiss lied and, with some effort, pried herself off from Nora's embrace. She then hurryingly walked away, murmuring something incoherent in response to Ren's 'Goodbye'. She just wanted to get as far away from this duo as possible.
After she had gained some distance from her new friends, she threw an ice cream into a garbage bin. She did not really like the stuff and she was worried, rationally or not, that eating something given to her by Nora was hazardous. The girl did seem like she was high on some sort of drug, though it might well have been her natural state as well.
Was Beacon some kind of madhouse? Or had Weiss' bad luck manifested by having her run into people like this? In any case, she would probably spend the next several hours training alone. In some safe, Grimm-free manner that is.
She had just about enough socializing for one day.
/-/
Weiss was walking towards the ballroom which, for this night, was supposed to serve as a bedroom of sorts for the prospective students. She had spent the rest of the day in the shooting gallery and barely bothered to talk to anyone while there. It was probably a bad move from a tactical standpoint, but she just couldn't bring herself to care very much.
She had been in Beacon for just a couple of hours and she was already extremely frustrated. The prospective students there were all either annoying or had someone annoying glued to them. If there was someone who would make a good partner, Weiss hadn't met them yet. She just hoped that Jaune was having at least as much trouble as she did.
After a while, she reached her destination. There were already several students present in the hall, some already dressed in pajamas, others not. There were no beds around, so presumably the students were supposed to sleep in the bedding they brought with themselves or on the floor. Weiss, of course, had a sleeping bag of the highest quality with her, though the conditions still irritated her a little bit.
Another problem was how there were no changing rooms in sight, which meant that the students were expected to change their clothing in the main room. Perhaps that was another sort of test – after all, from what Weiss knew, the teams were not segregated by gender and its members were expected to sleep in the same rooms. Huntsmen were supposed to trust each other at all times, so while it was inconvenient, it made some amount of sense.
Weiss didn't have much of a problem with that. She wasn't ashamed of her body, even though she wished she her breasts were a little bit more developed. In any case, she didn't show any embarrassment as she changed into her sleeping dress.
More students were entering the ballroom with each minute, but Weiss wasn't interested in talking with any of them. She was tired and really just wanted to sleep. She would need it before the initiation, so it wasn't a bad strategy on her part. She found herself a nice, quiet corner, stretched her bedroll there and jumped into it.
However, she found herself unable to sleep just like that. She wasn't as tired physically as she was mentally and the scenarios of how things could go wrong the following day kept going through her head. She didn't know much about how the initiation would look like - it was said to be different each year - so she couldn't really calm her nerves in a logical manner. She had felt fairly confident before, but lying there she realized that there was no guarantee that her skills would be sufficient. For all she knew, the headmaster could just order the initiates to fight each other and Weiss would be set against someone who countered her style perfectly. Or, perhaps, the teams and leaders were actually selected randomly and she would end up with Ruby as her leader for the next four years.
If that happened, Weiss would seriously consider quitting.
After about half an hour of stifling, Weiss heard somebody walk up to her.
"I'm sorry, are you feeling well? You look anxious." A female voice said, causing Weiss to mentally smack herself. Was she really so nervous that somebody decided to check if she was alright? The people who saw her probably thought it was merely because she was scared of what the next day would bring. That wasn't exactly a stellar reputation she was building.
Weiss scrambled from her sleeping bag, deciding that it was worth the effort. She saw a tall girl in a pajama, with red hair – not orange like Nora's but crimson red – and green eyes which were now looking down on the heiress with visible concern.
"I am alright. I have trouble sleeping sometimes." Weiss said. "Sorry for making you concerned."
"That's fine. I was just looking for a spot to sleep anyway. Mind if I lie down around here?"
Weiss nodded and watched the girl put down her own sleep sack and stretch it on the floor. Afterwards she lied down and covered herself, but she would still look at Weiss at moments with those emerald eyes of hers.
Wait…
Did Pyrrha Nikos just chat up to her? Yes, it appeared so. It was sort of hard to recognize the champion in that clothing, as opposed to the golden armor she wore into battle, but it was her. Very long red hair, emerald-green eyes and an athletic build. Miss Nikos at her finest.
And Weiss had as good as ignored her. She had given Nikos a copout answer and made no effort to continue the conversation. Maybe Weiss was an idiot after all, or maybe it was tiredness kicking in. Either way, it stood to reason that she should say something.
"The initiation is tomorrow. Are you feeling confident?" It wasn't the most elegant way to start a conversation, but Weiss couldn't come up with anything better at the moment.
"I would say yes. I don't know what we will be facing, but I am reasonably prepared." Putting it mildly. If Pyrrha Nikos proved herself unable to pass the entrance exam, it would mean that it was way too hard for any prospective students to complete. She was the heir of a cup, no question about that.
That was why forming a positive relationship with her was so crucial. Even if they didn't end up on the same team, it would be good not to make an enemy out of the strongest person in the school.
"I think myself good enough as well." Weiss said, trying to sound casual. "I'm Weiss, by the way."
Still somewhat awkward. Get a hold of yourself, Weiss.
Pyrrha didn't seem as if she associated the name with the Schnee family. She was likely just feigning obliviousness for the sake of being polite. After all, if she didn't knew who Weiss was, why would she had approached her like that? Out of concern for a random student and a potential rival? Yeah, right.
"It's Pyrrha. Nice to meet you Weiss." The redhead responded, and seemed like she wanted to add something, but then her eyes focused on something behind Weiss. The heiress turned her head, hoping to see what was that about.
By now, the hall was full of students of both genders. A group of male ones was trying to show off their muscles by going about shirtless, which Weiss found somewhat silly. They were huntsmen, they relied on aura for their strength, not muscles. And if they wanted to impress some girls, then they were doing poorly due to looking rather childish.
…Weiss did appreciate the sight though. No reason not to.
Pyrrha didn't seem interested in the main group, instead focusing on a lone, blonde… ugh, and there was the wannabe usurper.
Of course Jaune would be there, the ballroom was where all the students would sleep. Like many of his peers he was dressed only in long pants – a shame he hadn't brought his onesie with him - but he wasn't trying to show himself off from the looks of it. In fact, he looked a bit sullen as he put his sleeping bag down.
Weiss wondered how had he spent his day from the speech onwards and whether he did better than her. He could had hardly done worse, unless he tried his luck with seduction that is, but she hoped her brother hadn't managed to gain too much of an advantage on the first day.
It appeared as though Pyrrha recognized Jaune, judging from how firmly her stare was fixed on him.
"That is my dear brother Jaune. We came to Beacon together." Weiss informed Pyrrha, causing her to blink and turn towards the heiress again.
"Oh, sorry. He is just…" Pyrrha sounded as though she was trying to avoid talking about something. Weiss raised her eyebrow at that.
"It's nothing. Sorry." The redhead sighed. "So, are you two going to try and get into one team?"
No, at least Weiss wouldn't. It was an interesting prospect – if she was made a leader of such a team, she would likely get a lot of opportunities to outshine Jaune later on. The same went the other way, however, and Weiss couldn't rule out her brother being chosen as a team leader over her. She didn't want to put everything on one card. And besides, having to deal with Jaune on daily basis would be a bother in and of itself.
"I do not think so. I would rather meet some new people while here and not have to deal with him of all people."
"I would gladly make some new friends as well." Pyrrha said quietly, pushing it a little. As a famous athlete she was very unlikely to suffer from loneliness, so she wouldn't be fooling anyone with lines such as that.
"Why are you talking about him like that though?" Pyrrha asked, presumably talking about Jaune. Weiss was prepared to list all of her brother's worst qualities, but she luckily bit her tongue in time.
Do not explode again. Not at her.
"Me and Jaune have our disagreements." Weiss said, making a serious understatement. "It's not something I would like to talk about."
"Of course. Sorry for asking."
"No hard feelings." Weiss dug herself back into a sleeping bag, reasoning that there was no need for further conversation by now. Pyrrha had basically said that she wanted the two of them to be friends. "Well, thanks for checking on me, Wake me up, if you get up sooner than me. I like being up early."
"Good night then." Pyrrha said nodding. She then lied down on her side, confirming that she didn't feel a need to talk anymore.
Weiss mentally congratulated herself. It appeared as she finally managed to have a normal conversation with somebody who was both sane and competent. If she kept that up from now on, she would probably be able to completely outshine Jaune in no time.
Weiss looked at her adopted brother again. He was now lying in his bedroll as well, either sleeping already or trying to fall asleep. She liked him better this way, when he was not constantly eyeing his surroundings for threats and forming gods knew what schemes in his head.
Maybe Weiss was being too harsh on him. He probably had good intentions in trying to take over the company, but good intentions meant little in the grand scheme of things. Not only was Jaune hardly competent enough to run a global company, he was just too… compliant. He always wanted their father's attention more than either of his sisters and Weiss could definitely see him replicating him in how he ran a business. And if he somehow wouldn't follow Jacques' footsteps right away, then he would eventually give in to the pressure of the environment, that environment being a bunch of snobs concerned only with profit and prestige.
That's why she needed to win. She was fine with Jaune being a successful huntsman, but him taking over the Schnee Dust Company would undoubtedly be a bad thing for Remnant. Weiss couldn't and wouldn't let that happen, not as long as she had something to say on the matter.
And with that thought in mind, Weiss felt into slumber.
Now, before someone points out that Weiss here is much more rude and obstinate than in canon – yes, I know. And no, I am not writing her like that because I dislike her. I just figured she would be likely to act like this given the circumstances.
Because let's face it, Weiss is entitled as hell. It took her quite a while to get over Ruby being chosen as a team leader instead of her and it wasn't like Ruby trying to rub it in her face or anything. Weiss was angry because someone took something that she perceived as hers. Here, someone really IS trying to take something from Weiss and, from her perspective at least, is going to use it in all the wrong ways if he succeeds. That is bound to make her grumpy.
I already had one review that pointed out that, canonically, Weiss only wants to take over the company to make it better and shouldn't be fighting with Jaune over it. I have to say, it seems like a pretty idealized picture of Weiss. It assumes that she has no selfish reasons to want the SDC in her hands and that she would have no problems trusting another person with it, as long as they are not Whitley. It is not a portrayal I find accurate and certainly not one I find useful for my purposes.
Anyways, I cannot give you the exact date for when the next chapter will be published. I know I am going to post chapters to the other stories first, but those are already partially written, so maybe I will manage to do everything in a reasonable timespan.