"When you suggested camping, I figured it meant we'd actually be somewhat far away from the house," Sun said to Jaune, watching as he pitched the first of three tents on the front lawn. Though the sun was far from setting yet, Arc wanted to have everything prepared nice and early.

"Hey, Ozpin gave us our boundaries," Jaune replied, hammering down a stake, "Gotta stay in the force field Semblance restriction boundary thingy he told us about. And besides, do you really want to stay out in those woods where murderers are living?"

"Jaune, I really doubt there's killers lurking out there. This isn't some slasher film scenario."

"…You'd be surprised about the truth, Sun."

"Salutations, most excellent friends of mine!" Virulet could feel his digital stomach churning as he strolled over to greet Penny's friends, "Did someone say murderers?"

Jaune and Sun looked at each other, and then at the robot. "Seriously, Penny. You have to stop playing those violent games. They don't seem to be very good for your mental health."

"My mentality is quite perfect, thank you very much," Virulet answered, "Could you two lovely, oh-so perfect individuals explain to me your plans for this here evening?"

"…Camping," Sun said with raised eyebrow. Penny was acting weirder than usual today. And that was saying something.

"Ah, I see, yes…" Virulet could feel the gears turning as a diabolical scheme came to mind, "And you will be out here alone tonight, surrounded by infinite darkness and horrors of the night?"

Jaune nodded slowly. "Not really how I'd describe it personally, but I guess so."

"Ah, excellent! Then I may consider joining you in this experience! It sounds quite joyously terrific! Oh yes indeed, mwah-ha-ha!"

"Uh, yeah…" Jaune and Sun figured it was just best to pretend their odd visitor wasn't even there, and maybe they would just leave on their own. Their strategy seemed to work, as Virulet cackled to himself while he walked away. "Should we maybe call tell someone about how weird Penny's acting, Sun?"

"I have enough things to worry about right now than that. If I mess things up with Blake tonight, I don't know how things will be between us afterwards."

"You'll do fine, man. Heh, never thought I'd be the one giving you a pep talk. Cool guy like you taking advice from, well, someone like me. You know?"

"…Can you just finish pitching the tent?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just have to ruin it for me, don't ya…"

As of late, Mercury Black was the walking incarnation of clinical depression. To see a 5-Star Man such as himself reduced to merely a shell of his former arrogant glory was one thing, but for him to be this far gone was almost tragic in a way. Emerald's devious trick at the mall had left him shattered both his masculinity and body shattered, and now he had spent the last two days moping around in the same stained t-shirt and boxers.

Plopped down on the couch, he mindlessly surfed the television channels over and over. What point was there anymore if he couldn't even bag one single broad? His own system had failed him multiple times, and pretty much every female in the house either had something against him or was uninterested in touching pelvises.

Merc let out a yawn and scratched his crotch, unaware of a pair of big ears hanging over him from above. He only snapped out of his daze when one of his dirty magazines dropped into his lap, and was surprised to see who had delivered it to him.

"Special delivery!" Velvet beamed, twiddling her fingers nervously.

"…What's this about?" Merc turned back to the television, completely uninterested in the porn.

"You looked so down lately, and I figured these would cheer you right up!"

"Didn't ask for your pity."

"Oh… Well, okay then," Scarlatina's ears dropped sadly. She was just about to give up until she decided to just ask Black the question she had been debating to ask him in the first place. "So anyways… I heard that, well, some of the gang is camping outdoors tonight. Going to be cooking marshmallows and s'mores and everything. It sounds really fun and well, would you maybe… Would you want to-

"Pass," Merc interrupted her before she could even finish, "Not in the mood. Just leave me be."

"…Can I watch some television with you then?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because you seem so down in the dumps!" Velvet hopped over the couch and onto the floor, getting comfortable, "I know you get a lot of flak from the others here - and from what I've heard some of it is possibly well-deserved – But that doesn't mean you should have to sit all alone and sad."

If Merc was in his usual state of mind, he would be taking full advantage of the situation right now. This Velvet girl was good looking and all, but it had to be too good to be true. This was probably another trick, like the one she had pulled the other night to turn off his music. Emerald probably put her up to this again. Still, he'd play along. He didn't really mind the company anyways.

"…I control the remote though."

"Works for me," Velvet smiled, "I'm not too particular about what to watch."

"Whatever," Shifting himself into a more upright position, Merc accidentally bumped the back of Velvet's head with his foot. She flinched from the surprisingly hard feeling of his toes, and she realized that something was off. Now that she thought about it, she had never seen him wearing anything other than pants before…

"Sorry 'bout that," Merc apologized quickly and offhandedly. It seemed to Velvet that he wanted to ignore what had just happened.

"No, no… It's okay."

But Velvet knew that was false. Something was definitely not okay.

As the sun drew closer to the horizon, those partaking in the miniature camping trip were getting themselves ready for the night in nature. Jaune and Sun had already moved their sleeping bags out into their tents, and Adam had forcibly put himself into the equation by taking claim of the third tent all for himself. The poor, socially inept guy couldn't tell when he was unwanted, and kept insisting that friends should stick together (actually thinking that they all considered him a pal).The Lieutenant offered to share the tent with him (in a completely non-sexual way, he very poorly tried to clarify), but was ousted by a certain robotic individual. This left only Blake and Pyrrha still getting ready, but the two girls were busy taking their time with something else.

"I don't know about this," Blake said from behind a closed door to Pyrrha, "This isn't exactly my style…"

"I am sure it looks well on you!" Pyrrha encouraged the cat, "I bet you Sun will enjoy such a striking change in appearance."

After a few moments, the door to Blake's room opened to reveal the Faunus in a very different set of clothes. The red, white, and blue flannel shirt complemented by faded blue jeans made Blake look like a whole other person. She tugged at the similarly colored bow in her hair, still iffy about her new outfit. "I feel like a farmer, Pyrrha."

"But it suits the occasion!" Pyrrha exclaimed, doing a small spin to show off her own similar outfit, "And look! We even match!"

"I don't think that's necessarily a good thing…"

"Hey-ooo!"

"Oh no," Blake groaned as Yang and Weiss approached them. She could already see them snickering at her new country-bumpkin look.

"And who may you be?" Weiss tried her best not to chuckle, "You remind me of someone I know, but there's no way it could be her."

"You think you could go milk me some cows, farmgirl?" Yang said, giving Blake a nice encouraging spank that pushed her to her limit.

"That's it! I'm changing!" Blake dashed back into the room and slammed the door.

"Oh, come on Blake!" Weiss sighed, wrapping her knuckles on the door, "Yang and I were just joking. You look very nice."

"…Fine." Opening the door slightly, Blake stuck her head out, "This is still really embarrassing though."

"What is there to be embarrassed about?" Pyrrha shrugged, "Looking your best is not a crime, especially if it's for someone you care about. Sun will surely appreciate it."

"And if that doesn't work out, you've still got your milk maid job to fall back on! It might take you a while to moo-ve on, but I bet you'll-

"Not helping, Yang."

"But you get it, right? Cows go moo and- Look, if I sense a pun, I'm not gonna waste it."

"And that's where the problem lies," Blake sighed, stepping back into the hallway and looking at Pyrrha, "Guess it's time to get this over with."

"There's no need to be so nervous about this!" Pyrrha assured her, "Everything will go fine."

"And what if it doesn't?"

"I'm sure it will."

"Nothing goes over smoothly here, Pyrrha. Ever."

"She's not wrong," Weiss agreed, "And I've heard Adam is joining you all as well. It's a recipe for disaster."

"Make sure you take a fire extinguisher with you," Yang said, "Don't need to burn the whole forest around us down."

"I…" Pyrrha tried to think of a comeback, but they had her beat. Still, no matter what could possibly happen outside tonight, she was going to make sure Sun and Blake came out of it closer than ever.

As long as neither of them got set ablaze. Burning alive sounded quite painful, now that she thought about it.