Significant Changes: This chapter contains one old scene that has been fixed up a bit. It also contains one completely new scene. Plenty of new content will be coming in the following chapters, hope you like it.

Original chapter length: 1,620
Revisited chapter length: 2,177

"Regular dialogue" [Faunus speech only]

Chapter 20

The adjustment wasn't just hard for Ace, wasn't any easier on Yang either. Their room seemed cold and lifeless, lacking any of the comforts of home.

After an entire day stuck in assessment meetings, she felt more than a little crabby. She flopped down onto her bed, groaning when her head hit the pillow. The rectangular room housed eight hunters. The beds were carved into the walls. Four on one side, four on the other, a slender twin mattress and pillow were the only issued comforts. Beside each sleeping space a square nook protected their personal belongings.

The only allotted common area rested in the middle of the room. A few sofa's sat back to back, a television was mounted in the far corner, and a table stood in the center. Four chairs gathered around it. There was a singular desk against each wall, but for all of that, the space was lonesome.

"Well, this place isn't anything like Beacon, I'll say that much." Yang observed.

"Did you expect it to be?" Weiss asked as continued to acclimate to her own small space.

"Yeah, kind of…" Yang muttered, ducking low to put away some of her things that were still laying on her bed. "Don't you think it's kind of..." She trailed off, looking around again. "I dunno, sterile in here?"

"I'd call it functional." Weiss said after a moment's consideration. "Though I think after ours shifts we'll be too exhausted to care."

"There's that I guess." Yang said, rubbing a sore spot on the top of her head. The ill-begotten alcove wasn't made for tall people in mind. "They could have made the beds bigger, though. I feel bad for Yatsuhashi, the guy's going to be crammed in his bunk like a sardine. Me too, for that matter." She would have to be careful when sitting up so as not to smash her head on the brick above.

All of her roommates faced the same problem, though, so she couldn't complain too much. She had claimed the top bunk to save Weiss the hassle. It was a fruitless effort. Upon inspection, Yang realized that almost all of the problems that came from the top bunk also occurred down below. "I did think it would be a little more like Beacon, at least. More homey, or something."

"Well, you'll have to amend your expectations quickly then."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"It isn't like we'll be living here all the time. We do have a home to go back to." Weiss told her, looking around a little more. The space was a little cold, perhaps, but at least it was tidy. "To be honest, this is actually better than I thought it would be."

"You must have had pretty low standards from the start, then." Yang grumbled as she found a new issue. Getting up and down with the provided ladder wasn't an easy task for a person as large as herself.

"I chose not to set my expectations too high. If beacon taught me anything, Yang, it was that I shouldn't look down my nose at something until I've acclimated accordingly."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Yang sighed. "It's not like back then, though." Another drastic change, was that they'd be rooming with several men. Weiss claimed she didn't care, but Yang thought it prudent to ask again. "So, you're sure about this whole three dudes in the room, thing?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Weiss asked her.

"Cause, dudes…" Yang shot back. "There's not a whole lot of privacy."

"The bathrooms and housing were co-ed at Beacon too."

"Not the showers."

"Did you even read the pamphlet they gave you? The showers aren't co-ed here, either." Weiss told her. "Just because I grew used to a team of women doesn't mean I can't adapt."

"Alrighty then…" Yang trailed off in disbelief.

At this Weiss merely rolled her eyes, sighing at length. "Fox is blind, Jaune is completely harmless, and as for Yatsuhashi?" Weiss shook her head, a soft laugh escaping her lips. "He has more decorum than to be peeping at anything he shouldn't be. As I told you before, I don't mind sharing a room with men who conduct themselves properly. If I did, I wouldn't have even become a huntress in the first place."

"Uh-uh, and as for the suction cups you're sticking on our area?" Yang asked, but Weiss ignored her.

Instead, she finished her project, attaching two bars that stuck outward to the cups. She then tied clothesline around that, draping a dark blue sheet over her finished work. "There, see?" Weiss replied simply. "A privacy screen. Just pull this suction cup here, and put it on the side with the other one to open the area back up when it isn't in use."

"I knew ordering you that subscription to Hunter's Weekly was a bad idea." Yang said with a smirk. "No telling what cracked out ideas you got from those things."

"Any worse than Ruby's schemes?" Weiss retorted as she sat down in the open chair nearest her bed.

"No..." Yang said as she scanned the room. "I guess not." It was still pretty lifeless in her opinion. Then again, it wasn't as if they could add too many personal touches. Other teams would end up using the space. They had to keep it tidy. "It's weird, I thought that orders around here would be more organized. Instead, the guy at orientation said that we get messages on our scrolls."

"Is that some sort of a problem?" Weiss asked.

Yang just shrugged thoughtfully. "The way you described it, I thought it would be more…well, strict."

"We slay Grimm for a living." Weiss pointed out. "So long as we keep the outside area clear from Grimm, our position here is more just for show than anything else. We keep the bandits away, and the crime down. Most of our work comes in the form of community services, but I think that's just to boost the morale of the people."

"Probably." Yang said, though she still wasn't fond of it. "We do have police radios though, and given our field training we know basic medicine. Wouldn't be surprised if we end up as backup." She shoved it out of her mind. "I'd rather sling slop in the kitchen, or babysit a few rookies...but can't have it all, right?"

"I suppose not." Weiss agreed. "Well now that I'm settled in, I'm going to explore the facilities. Do you want to come with me?"

"Na." Yang said, grabbing her scroll. "Think I'm going to call Ruby, and check in."

Weiss paused, studying the blonde before nodding. "Suit yourself, but come down to the cafeteria later. We really should eat with our new team."

"It's that cut and dry for you, huh?" Yang bit out. "So easily replaceable…"

"Don't be a blockhead." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes. "That isn't what I meant and you know it. These are our friends, too. Don't forget that."

"I'm not. I just… You know."

"Indeed." Weiss replied coolly for a lack of anything comforting to say. She knew that Yang wasn't in the mood to be coddled. "I'll be expecting you at supper. If you don't come down to eat, I'll drag you down…"

Yang came down to join Weiss for dinner reluctantly. Some of their roommates hadn't escaped their orientation briefings yet. Even so, there were two familiar faces sitting at the table. Coco busied herself with buttering a steaming dinner roll. Velvet seemed plenty pleased with her salad. Weiss sat down to dig into her meal without complaint.

"What's got you looking so sour?" Weiss asked, feeling a small heat that could only come from Yang's semblance.

"It's Saturday..."

"So?"

"I usually take Ace to the park on Saturday." Yang explained, a frown on her face as she sighed. "Ruby said that ace noticed I wasn't there to take her. She was mewling at the windows for hours looking for me." Refusing to focus too much on the negative she cut into the square cut of fish on her face. She regretted putting it into her mouth almost instantly."Yep, just as I thought. The food tastes like crap." Yang said when the single bite of the fish left something to be desired. "Bake probably wouldn't eat this junk." She observed distastefully as she left her utensils off to the side.

"You'll get used to it." Weiss replied, continuing to slice into her meal. "We've had worse MRE's on the road."

"You say that, but I don't even know what this red canned stuff on the side is…" Yang said, jiggling the sludge back and forth.

Crystal blue eyes narrowed as Weiss gave Yang a dry look. "Those are pickled beets, you dunce."

"Yeah, well couldn't prove it by me. It looks like someone beat the shit out of it…"

Coco merely chuckled when Yang grimaced. "Visiting huntsmen have come from the north. They rotate dishes a lot around here to help people feel more at home."

"Either that or scare them away from Vale as fast as possible." Yang shot back, stabbing her fish and offering it to Coco. "You want it, it's yours."

"Atlesian cuisine takes some getting used to." Coco told Yang with a mild shrug, taking the allotment of fish. "Here, try this. You'll probably like it better." She passed Yang a large bowl of vegetable soup for her trouble.

"If it makes you feel any better, the visitors from Atlas say the same about Vale's regional food." Velvet went on to say. "It isn't something they're well accustomed to."

"Really? I never heard Weiss complain." Yang said, taking a spoonful of the soup into her mouth. "Huh, not bad. Well, at least the soup isn't horrible…"

"I've never complained because I was raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. My diet spanned the globe." Weiss told her. "I knew what to expect when I came to Vale."

"Right, so why the fish exactly?" Yang asked, grabbing a dinner roll and ripping it open to sop in the broth. "That thing didn't come from anywhere around here. I know that much. It tasted oily."

"It's an atlesian salmon." Velvet told her. "Some people call it a delicacy. I don't care much for it either."

"The truth is, Atlas isn't hospitable to a wide variety of livestock." Weiss went on to say. "Beef, pork, and chicken come at a high price. Fresh fruits and vegetables also don't come cheaply. The rich import their goods at a premium so that they can show off their status."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Yang replied while poking at her soup. "Your dad does seem to like the limelight."

"Anything for good publicity." Weiss agreed. "Besides, if I were to complain about the quality of my meals, I'd have to do it constantly. I was raised with a five star chief on call during every hour, of every day. Nothing compares to having a chief that knows exactly what I want, and precisely how I wanted it to be prepared. Even then, it wasn't until Beacon that I was able to eat fresh fruit at a mere whim."

"No fresh fruit… like at all?"

"Well, there are berries in the north." Velvet interjected. "Most produce tends to be rare, though."

"Our household kept fruit rarely, when the shipments came in on time." Weiss told her. "My father would import all of his quality goods. The Grimm and White Fang made matters difficult on more than one occasion. It wasn't just dust that they'd steal. Our family's supply orders would often go missing. He'd be in a very foul moos when they did."

Yang let out a small sigh, her spoon poking at a floating carrot. "Food is one of life's simplest joys. If I couldn't have fresh fruit, I'd go crazy…"

"We have a few that are native to Atlas, but there's only so much you can grow in a cold climate." Weiss nodded. "It's the same with meat. Fish and oxen prices change depending on the year. Bad weather and Grimm infestations can change migration patterns. Commoners don't always have the luxury to eat fresh food whenever they please."

"Then what do they eat?" Yang asked her.

"Plenty." Weiss told her. "Now eat your soup before it grows cold."

"It changes based on the season." Coco said with a soft laugh watching as Yang did as Weiss told her. "Curing and canning is pretty popular. Foods keep longer that way, but there's always plenty to eat. You just have to get creative."

"Sounds like I'd go nuts." Yang murmured. "Oh man, what I wouldn't give for a beef burger right about now."

"It isn't so bad." Velvet replied, nibbling on a bright red radish. "Usually commoners eat fish if they can afford it, but beans are plenty nutritious if they can't. Canned food tends to be cheaper than fresh, and Coco's right. It keeps better too. Soups, stews, and oats round out a poor family's diet. Nothing goes to waste in Atlas, even the wealthy find a use for everything."

"Well, when I lived at the mansion, we had no choice but to use everything at our disposal." Weiss told them while looking down at her own meal. The fish brought back fond memories. "A good cook leaves nothing to waste, mind you. Some of his stocks were the talk of our galas, although my favorite soup came from a can, believe it or not."

"You ate canned soup?" Coco rose an eyebrow, fixing her gaze on the shortest among them. "Can't believe daddy Schnee was too fond of that."

"He had no idea. He would have be put into a fit of rage if he had known about it. Our butler used to give me commoners food when my father wasn't looking. This included a soup brand right of the supermarket shelves." A scroll buzzed loudly against the table, the four women looking down at the blinking screen as Weiss picked it up. "Ah, it seems Pyrrha and Jaune have finally finished their introductory meetings."

"Finally, saved by the scroll." Yang said standing from her seat. "I'm going to go meet up with them. Catch you guys back at the room."

"Yang, for the love of god, just eat your soup…"