Flann checked herself in the mirror again. She brushed hair aside and made sure her makeup was on point. Oscar drummed his fingers on his legs as he waited for her to finish. He watched the crowd pass around them.
"You look fine, Flann. We're just picking her up, not going to a big gala or something." Oscar finally said.
"But everything needs to be perfect!" Flann countered. "We're hosting Weiss Schnee. She's a big name now!"
"She's a person just like you and I."
"Where did Ruby go?" Flann asked, worriedly. "She's going to be late."
"She went to the gift shop. She'll be back soon." Oscar watched as the train started rolling in. Beside him, Flann got even more worried. He sighed, knowing that it would be fine.
The train rolled to a stop. A few moments later, people started streaming out. Oscar squinted, waiting for Weiss to come out. He watched as a woman with bright blonde hair stepped out of the train. She carried a yellow duffle bag on one shoulder and a white case in the other hand. She helped a white-haired woman with her luggage. Oscar grinned and waved Weiss over. He could see Weiss smile back and start to rush over.
"Oscar!" Weiss waved back at him.
"Still a hugger?" he joked when she approached. Weiss rolled her eyes and gave him a big hug.
"Only for friends."
"Weiss, this is my coworker and friend, Flann."
"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Schnee." Flann stuck out her hand. Weiss shook it.
"No need for formalities. A friend of Oscar is a friend of mine."
"Weiss! I said I'd be your bodyguard for the trip! Not your personal porter!" Yang appeared behind Weiss, carrying loads of matching white luggage.
"Sorry, Yang."
"Hi Yang. It's good to see you again," Oscar smiled.
"You too." Yang smiled back. "Oh, Oscar, I have something for you."
Before he could ask what it was, Yang reached out and punched him in the face. It wasn't hard in terms of what Yang could do, but it still sent him stumbling backwards. He put a hand on the injured cheek, activating his aura to quickly heal it. He gaped at her, shocked as to why she punched him.
"For the little prank you and Ruby pulled. Not. Cool."
"It was Ruby's prank…" he muttered.
"Huh?"
"Nothing!" he quickly replied.
"Well then," Weiss pulled the conversation back to a pleasant place. "Shall we get going? I would love to see Signal."
"Uh, well we're waiting for someone," Flann replied.
"Who?"
"Probably that." Yang pointed behind Oscar and Flann. A swirling vortex of red and rose petals was barreling towards them. Yang and Oscar stepped out of the way, knowing exactly what was going to happen. Even Weiss groaned in frustration, setting her bags down so that they wouldn't get damaged.
"Weeeeeiiiiissss!" The red vortex pushed Weiss back a few feet before stopping. Ruby clung to Weiss in a tight hug. "Aaaaaahhh! I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too, Ruby," Weiss smiled a little.
"Aaaah! I have so much I want to talk about!"
"Let's get to that later," Oscar cut in. He grabbed some of Weiss's luggage from Yang. "Flann and I need to head back to Signal before our break is over."
"Oh right! Weiss you'll love Signal! Both Yang and I went there!" Ruby jumped in excitement.
"There are some teachers that I'd like to say hi to." Yang slung her bag over her shoulder.
The group started walking towards the parking lot. Ruby excitedly started filling Weiss in on settling into Patch. Oscar and Yang had to stuff all of Weiss's luggage into Flann's car. It was moderately sized, but Weiss was always known to overpack. Oscar sat up front while the girls piled into the back. While Ruby excitedly talked to Weiss, Oscar decided to get some work done. He opened his scroll and started typing notes.
After a while of working, he felt a little hit on the back of his head. He turned around to Weiss rolling her eyes with a smile.
"Do you always work?" she asked with an amused tone.
"Most of the time, yeah." He closed his scroll to join the conversation.
"I was pretty surprised you became a teacher," she started. "I'm surprised you even wanted to continue being a huntsman after everything that happened."
"I admit, I'm still not fond of fighting, but at least with teaching I can help in a different way."
"You've grown up," she smiled.
"Stop treating me like a kid! I'm only four years younger than you!" Oscar groaned, turning back around to face forward. He could see Weiss stick her tongue out at him in the rearview mirror.
"Oscar's actually a really good teacher!" Ruby chirped. "He ran head first into a horde of beowolves to save one of his students. What was his name again?"
"Jett. I never thanked you for that," he sighed and turned to look at the silver-eyed huntress. "He used to be a troublemaker, but ever since you talked to him he's been genuinely trying his best. I think you left an impression and trust me, I'm thankful."
"Glad to be of service!" she grinned. Oscar couldn't help but smile back. He suddenly felt a little awkward by the smile and dropped it to turn around again.
"Hey Weiss, how are you doing in Atlas?" Oscar tried to change the subject. Weiss groaned and he knew he had made a slight mistake.
"It's been busy to say the least," she chose her words carefully. "Thanks to Winter and Ironwood we've partnered with Atlas to provided dust discounts to the students. It helps business tremendously."
"I'm surprised that Ironwood didn't do more," he commented.
"Well Atlas is still very much attached to Schnee Dust. My father even threatened to cut ties with Ironwood for even providing any support for me, but Ironwood threatened him right back. It was somewhat amusing."
"Ironwood's been a big help," Yang added. "He sends us his students for dust expeditions and even upgraded my arm for no charge!"
"I didn't even notice! It looks almost the same!" Ruby gasped.
"Yeah well the paint job is my doing. But it's got tons of cool upgrades."
"Let me guess, it's also a gun?" he asked sarcastically.
"I mean, it's always had that feature."
"What can it do now?!" Ruby excitedly asked her sister. She seemed really eager to see a new weapon.
"Well I now have a vibrate function." Oscar could see Weiss bury her head into the palm of her hands in complete frustration and disappointment. Ruby didn't quite get it at first, but seeing Weiss's reaction made her realize what she meant.
"Why?!" Oscar was the first to shout. Ruby tried her best to still seem impressed, but she was visibly freaking out. Yang started laughing.
"I'm just joking!"
"Get better jokes, Yang." Weiss groaned.
"You should have seen Weiss's face when I pulled that joke on her. Her face turned completely red and she looked really flustered." Weiss stuck her tongue out at Yang who returned the action. Ruby and Oscar exchanged a knowing glance.
"So… uh you two seem really close," Ruby spoke up with a smug little grin on her face. She pulled the two of them out of their little game.
"Yeah, but not as close as you and Oscar have been," Yang retorted.
"What do you mean?"
"Really? I'm surprised that you two ar-"
"Hey look! We're at Signal!" Oscar cheered. He desperately did not want this conversation to continue. Especially not with Flann in the car. It would only add more oil to the fire. A fire, he might add, that had spiraled out of control long ago.
Flann parked her car in the teacher's lot and everybody hurried out. Oscar started a little tour, which quickly was taken over by Ruby and Yang. They excitedly pointed to things that they remembered from their days at Signal. Oscar took this time to split away from the group and return to his classroom.
When the bell rang, he watched as his students filtered in. He began writing some of the day's lesson points on the board so he would have something to do as he waited. His students excitedly chatted about too many different topics. Quite a few were bragging about having seen Weiss in the halls. Oscar eventually had to quiet the class down and begin the lesson.
"Uh… Mr. Pine?" a student raised their hand. Oscar balanced the textbook on his arm as he pointed to the student. "I think there's someone looking for you."
The student pointed to the door. In the door's window, Ruby's face was smushed against the glass. The entire class's attention was now on the huntress. She noticed Oscar staring at her with an annoyed face. She awkwardly smiled and disappeared from the window. Outside, he could hear Weiss and Yang call after her. Oscar sighed and set down the textbook. He went to the door and swung it open. Ruby stood next to Weiss and Yang as if she had been just passing by.
"Oh hey Oscar! I forgot this was your classroom!" Ruby said, in a very fake tone. He had known she wasn't a great actor, but this wasn't even trying.
"If you wanted to observe my class, all you had to do was ask." He crossed his arms.
"We don't want to bother you," Yang said.
"That sounds fun!" Ruby said at the same time. The two sisters looked at each other. A devious smile crept onto Yang's face.
"Actually, you're right. We want Weiss to get the full Signal experience."
"Uh, no! We still have a lot in the school to see," Ruby retracted her previous statement. Weiss sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.
"They're playing some sort of mind game right now. I'd love to observe your class, Oscar." He beckoned them in.
"Class, this is Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao-Long, and Ruby Rose," Oscar announced. "They're three highly capable huntresses that will be observing our class today. Please be on your best behavior."
The three girls sat in the free seats in the back of the classroom. He resumed his lesson. He talked to his students about grimm. As per the usual life of a teacher, nobody seemed that interested in the lesson. Those that took notes were writing too much to truly pay attention. He could even see a few heads nodding asleep. Ruby in the back seemed the most interested, despite already having seen and easily defeating most of the grimm he talked about. Realizing he was at the end of the chapter, he decided to let his students have some time. He closed the textbook.
"Alright. Break into groups and complete pages thirty to thirty-six in your grimm identification packets. Any work not completed in class must be completed for homework."
He could see his students' faces immediately begin to light up and look around at their friends. Oscar went to the back of the classroom where his friends were. He sat down at a free desk near them.
"I can give you guys a packet if you're bored," he joked.
"Oh please, we've dealt with grimm way worse than what you're teaching them," Weiss scoffed. "Why don't you tell them about some of the bad grimm you've dealt with. It'll help them prepare more."
"That's true, but this is more of an introductory course. They'll learn more about physiology and powerful grimm when they go to an academy. Besides, I hope they never have to deal with what we had to."
"But it's still so cool to learn about new grimm!" Ruby grinned. All three of them looked at her. "What?"
"No, it's nothing," he shook his head. "You're still enthusiastic about grimm as ever, I see."
"Oh come on. Beowolves, Ursa, even Death Stalkers, they're no match for us!" Yang flexed. The group burst into laughter.
Oscar looked around his class, already seeing hands in the air. He felt disappointed being pulled from the girls. He looked back over to them to see Yang talking about some powerful grimm she's fought.
"It looks like work calls." Oscar stood up. "It's just going to be like this for a while. If you want to go back to your tour, don't wait up for me."
"Hm… Oh! Dad might be free right now! We should go visit him!" Ruby suggested.
"Sounds good," Yang agreed. Oscar bid them goodbye and returned to attending to his students. Before he could reach the first group, he felt someone hugging him from behind.
"Good luck!" It was Ruby's voice. "I'll see you later, Oscar!"
He didn't have time to see her. He only saw the trail of rose petals that floated out his door. Oscar smiled to himself a little. He grabbed a little petal from the air and held it in his hand for a moment. He wondered if it would disappear as she had.