Hello, everyone! Happy Dragon Tuesday. Things have been busy for me between preparing for my upcoming trip, cranking away at my backlog, and starting a backlog for the fanfiction blog I hope to start soon. Busy, busy, busy.

Enjoy!

The first team lesson was held at the beginning of the freshmen's fourth week at Beacon Dragonry. The dragonets were about a yard in length (two feet without the tail) and a foot in height at the shoulder. Twiggy was less than two feet long, including the tail, and a little over six inches tall at the shoulder. When the lesson began, she was snuggled contentedly against Titan's side, mostly hidden under his large, gold-orange wing. Pit was nearly three feet long without the tail and over one and a half feet tall.

"Now that everyone has had sufficient time to bond individually with their partners, it is time to move on to bonding with the rest of your team. Teamwork is one of the most important things one can learn at Beacon," Doctor Oobleck began. "Teamwork between you and your dragon, teamwork between you and your teammates, and yes, teamwork between you and other dragons."

He zipped over to Team SSSN and picked up Zircon, who let out a squeak of terror. "Easy now, little fellow. Filling out nicely, are we?" He looked at the students. "Picture, if you will, a battle with a Grimm horde. Mister Ayana and Mister Vasilias are riding their dragons into the fray when suddenly, a flock of Nevermores comes up behind them and knocks them and their dragons to the ground. Mister Ayana ends up closest to Nymph while Mister Vasilias is by Zircon. Do you think they have time to reach their own dragons with the Grimm approaching? No!"

He placed Zircon back in Sage's lap and zoomed to the other side of the room. "Trust between a Rider and all dragons must be fostered. That is what we will focus on today. I want every team to pair up and exchange dragons. Give them the basic commands you've been learning. Ask your teammate about their dragon's temperament. Get to know your teammate's dragon. Begin."

"Dibs on Weiss and Specter!" Ruby declared with a bright smile.

"Very well," Weiss murmured, snapping her fingers at Specter to get his attention and leading him to an empty part of the classroom. She watched Ruby pick up Storm and skip over. "You know, if you carried her less, she might be able to develop more of a sense of independence."

Ruby paused, frowning. "I mean…she won't be this small for much longer. I'd might as well enjoy this while I can." She set Storm down. "Okay, so from what I've seen of Specter, he's a bit of a drama king and reacts to quick, firm commands. Am I right?"

"Yes," Weiss replied, her brows going up slightly. Hm. It seems that she's been paying attention to him beyond the fact that he's a rare, pretty dragon. "Storm, from what I've seen, is incredibly attached to you and responds to a quieter voice. She also howls when upset."

Ruby winced. She had gone out with Scarlet and Nora again a few days ago. According to Yang, Storm had spent nearly a half hour howling. She hadn't stopped until Weiss let her sleep on one of Ruby's old pillow cases. "Sorry."

Weiss shrugged. "She's getting better about it. And you were kind enough to watch Specter when I needed to go to the library the other night." She snapped her fingers. "Specter, to Ruby." She pointed at Ruby while speaking briskly and clearly.

Specter blinked up at her, looked at her finger, then slowly padded over to where Ruby was. He liked this human. She was very energetic, but also incredibly friendly.

Ruby smiled, stroking the ice dragon's snout. "Hey there, handsome."

Storm huffed loudly, her tail lashing.

"Stop that, Storm," Ruby scolded. "He's not replacing you." She pointed at Weiss. "Okay, to Weiss."

Storm stared at Ruby's hand, but didn't move.

"Come on, Storm. To Weiss." When Storm continued to sit still, Ruby groaned. She ended up having to pick Storm up and place her in front of Weiss. "Stay."

Storm tried to follow Ruby back over to where Specter was, but was stopped when Weiss pulled her into her lap. She snorted, but didn't bite. She liked the singing one well enough. She just didn't want Ruby going anywhere.

"Good girl," Weiss said, stroking Storm's back gently. "Should we start with giving them some commands?"

"Sure." Ruby patted Specter's head, then stepped away. "Specter, forward."

Storm squeaked and started pawing at Weiss, confused as to why she wasn't the one being given commands by Ruby.

"Easy, Storm," Weiss said while watching Specter, who was currently looking at her. She resisted the urge to say something to him. He needs to accept Ruby's authority right now.

"Specter, forward," Ruby repeated, trying to imitate Weiss's sharper voice.

Specter snapped to attention and walked over to her. He sat down, curling his tail around his front paws.

"Good boy, Specter!" Ruby gushed. "What a good boy!" She bent down to kiss his snout.

Weiss felt Storm squirming in her arms. "Storm, settle." To her surprise, the wind dragon stopped moving and looked up at her. Hm. We might actually be getting somewhere. "Good girl." She placed Storm on the ground near her and stood up. "Stay."

Storm winced at the sharpness in Weiss's voice. Why couldn't she go over to Ruby?

Weiss walked away and snapped her fingers. "Storm, forward."

Instead of Storm approaching, Specter turned and bounded over. Storm, meanwhile, ran over to Ruby and pawed at her leg.

"It's okay, girl," Ruby soothed. "Sorry, Weiss. She's not a fan of snapping."

"I see," Weiss murmured. "I'll try to remember that." She looked down at Specter, who blinked his black eyes up at her. "You are doing well, Specter. Good boy."

Specter let out one of his signature eerie whistles, his tail flicking cheerfully.

"Now, let's try this again." Weiss snapped her fingers. "To Ruby."

Meanwhile, in another part of the classroom, Yang saved Blake from a nasty bite. "Don't touch his head!" she warned, watching with gritted teeth as her teammate barely pulled her hand away from Fang's snapping jaws in time.

"He hates having his head touched. Took me long enough to figure it out." She let out a rueful laugh. "Now, I only have two dozen bites a day instead of the usual five."

Blake chuckled. "Well, that's an improvement. Maybe you can lower it to only one dozen." She looked down at Fang, who was sitting next to her, glaring sulkily at everything. She was a foot away from him, since he growled whenever she tried to get closer.

"Whoa, let's not get crazy!" Yang laughed. She was petting Pit, whose head was rested contentedly on her knee. "Are you comfortable, big guy?"

Pit snorted lazily up at her, though he was glaring at Fang out of the corner of his eye. If that fire dragon even thought about trying to bite Blake again, things wouldn't end well.

"He's so chill," Yang commented. "He reminds me of Quake."

Blake shook her head. "Don't be fooled. He becomes the bossiest dragon in the world when playing with Zircon and Twiggy."

"That's probably good for them, though. Dragons like to know who's the leader and who's the follower."

"True," Blake allowed. "I'm still not sure if Pit or Specter will end up being the dominant one on our team."

"Specter's a bit more reserved," Yang noted. "And he likes being overly dramatic."

Blake chuckled, thinking back to a few nights ago, when Specter had stolen Weiss's textbook and hid it in his bed when she was too busy to play with him. "That's true. Pit seems to have more of a head on his shoulders."

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Still not sure where the others stand with Fang, though. He seems to just equally hate all of them."

"I've noticed." Blake moved away from Fang a little more. "Fang, forward."

Fang responded with the most deadpanned look that could possibly adorn a reptilian face. He snorted loudly, thumped his tail on the ground, and turned up his nose.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Fang, don't be a brat."

Fang growled, shooting a sideways glare at Pit, whose head was still in Yang's lap.

"Okay, let me try." Yang got up and walked away. "Pit, forward."

Pit yawned and walked slowly over to Yang before lying down on the ground again. He shot Fang a smug look over his shoulder.

Fang let out an angry huff. Stupid earth dragon! Green eyes blazing, he stalked across the floor until he was a foot away from Blake, then sat down again, tail tip twitching with irritation.

Yang barely managed to keep from laughing out loud. "Good boy, Fang."

Fang's ear flicked, but he showed no other sign that he heard her.

Blake smiled. "I think he likes you more than he lets on."

Yang snickered. "Don't tell me that I got stuck with a tsundere dragon."

"You're lucky he doesn't understand complex phrases yet," Blake said dryly. "Otherwise, he'd probably bite you for that. I know I would."

"Ooh, feisty," Yang said with a wink.

Blake couldn't help but snicker. "Don't even go there."

"So, tell me more about Pit," Yang continued, kneeling down to pet the earth dragon again. "Are you noticing any differences in his demeanor, since you bonded to him a few days after he hatched."

"Uh, no," Blake said, thankful that she and Ozpin had rehearsed her story so many times. "Being bonded right after hatching may be the most guaranteed method, but Pit has proved that there can be cases when it can be just as strong after a few days."

"I guess he'll be showing off his powers soon," Yang noted. "Elementals usually start around two months after hatching." She grimaced as she imagined how much harder Fang would be to deal with when he actually started breathing fire. He occasionally took on a higher temperature and caused things to smoke and scorch when he bit down on them for too long (except for his satchel), but things would reach a whole new level of difficult when he could start emitting actual burning heat from his scales.

"I guess so." Blake looked at Pit, her brows furrowing a little. But, what exactly will those powers be? Even Ozpin still didn't know. "Anyway, let's see if they'll respond to some different commands…"

Near one of the desks, Jaune and Pyrrha were having an incredibly easy time. Twiggy already adored Pyrrha, and Titan was tolerant of Jaune.

"Honestly, he acts neutral toward everything," Pyrrha admitted as she watched her dragon flawlessly follow another of Jaune's commands before sitting down and scratching at his ears.

"Well, dragons are like people in a lot of ways," Jaune reasoned. "Not everyone wears their hearts on their sleeves." He patted Titan's head. "I think he'd let you know if he was unhappy."

"I'm sure he would." Pyrrha smiled as Twiggy nuzzled against her hand. "She seems a lot happier than before."

"I know I am," Jaune sighed. "You and Titan have basically been her guardian angels these past few days."

Ever since Pyrrha had made her offer to escort Twiggy and Jaune around, Cardin and Mudslide's attacks had tapered into near-nonexistence. All it had taken was a swift bite to the foreleg by Titan, and Mudslide suddenly was very reluctant to be used as Cardin's attack dog. Jaune did feel a little bad, though: Cardin had a habit of yelling at Mudslide and making her cringe whenever he was mad at her, which was often.

"Give yourself a little more credit," Pyrrha urged. "No one has protected Twiggy more than you have."

"I mean, I've done my best," Jaune said. "Not sure if it's enough."

Pyrrha walked over and touched his arm. "It's been enough so far, hasn't it?"

Twiggy trotted over to Jaune and sat down on his foot, chirping happily.

This drew a smile to Jaune's face. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Oh no! The horrible beast is killing me!" Nora squealed, rolling onto her back as Ao Guang licked her face.

Ren watched passively and exchanged a look with Freya, who was sitting calmly next to him. "We have some interesting partners, don't we?" he muttered.

Freya yawned and leaned against Ren's side.

"Hey, no falling asleep. We still need to work on some commands." He walked away and turned to her. "Forward."

Freya padded over and sat down, tilting her head.

Nora sat up. "Ooh, ooh! Try a new one I've been teaching her. Tell her 'up!'"

Ren nodded. "Okay. Freya, up."

Freya chirped and slowly eased herself up until she was on her haunches. Then, she slowly lifted her front paws from the ground, standing briefly on just her hind legs before falling forward again.

"Good girl." Ren patted her head. "Guang, settle," he called over as his dragon continued wriggling in Nora's arms.

Ao Guang continued wriggling, but not quite as much.

Nora giggled. "Oh, he's fine."

"He needs to focus. We are in class, remember?" Ren said flatly.

"Fine…" Nora stuck out her tongue as she placed the water dragon on the ground and stood up. "Guang, forward."

Ao Guang gladly bounded over and pounced on her foot, causing her to make that mirthful noise again. He loved it when she made that noise. It was harder getting his partner to do it. Maybe if he licked his face more…

Ren rolled his eyes. "Half the time, I can't tell if he's actually obeying the command, or just wants to pounce."

"As long as the result is the same, who cares?" Nora asked, kneeling down to scratch Ao Guang under the chin.

"I suppose. Okay, Freya- Really?" he groaned as he turned to look at Freya, who had fallen asleep on the ground while he wasn't looking.

Neptune was on his knees, staring down at Huo, who glared a challenge back at him. "Dude, I think he's actually plotting my death."

Sun, who had just given Nymph a successful forward command, shrugged. "He plots my death every day. You can handle it for a few minutes. Just tell him to come forward."

"Okay…" Neptune slowly backed away from Huo, not taking his gaze from those narrow gray eyes. "Uh, forward."

Huo growled sharply, glad to see the human flinching in response. He honestly didn't know what his sister saw in this one. How could anyone want a partner this weak and skittish?

Sun walked over and bopped his dragon on the nose. "Come on, Huo. Be nice."

Huo snapped at Sun's hand. His partner jumped back quickly. Good. His reflexes were at least getting better.

Neptune took a deep breath and tried again. "Huo, forward."

Huo glared, but didn't growl.

Neptune knelt down and hit the ground with his palm. "Forward!"

Huo lunged toward Neptune, who yelped and jumped back. The fire dragon lashed his tail and hissed loudly.

"Sweet Dust, Huo," Sun groaned. "I don't know if Badass or Asshole is a better nickname for you at this point." He picked up his dragon, wincing as the familiar claws dug into his arm, and stepped back. "Wanna take five, dude?"

"Y-Yeah, sure," Neptune muttered, his face flushed with shame. Even Nymph trotting over and licking his face didn't help. I still can't handle water, and I'm too much of a wimp for Sun's dragon. Does this team even need me?!

Nymph purred softly, nuzzling Neptune's shoulder while glaring at her brother. She hated seeing her partner sad, and especially hated that Huo was the cause this time. She'd have to scold him later on.

She knew that Neptune had potential, just like her earth brother did. They just needed to get over their fears enough to realize it themselves.

"You're okay, sweetie," Scarlet cooed, holding a shaking Zircon to his chest. "There, now. How's that?"

Zircon snuggled cautiously against Scarlet's chest, trying not to grab with his claws. He liked this human just fine, but he was so small compared to Sage. It was harder to feel safe in his arms. Still, he had a kind voice, just like the blue-haired one. The one with the tail was a little energetic, but still okay. Why couldn't he be in Sage's lap again?

Sage patted Nimbus, chuckling as the googly-eyed dragon barked and rolled onto his back. "He certainly has no trouble with other people," he noted.

"Yeah. As long as you're playing with him, he's happy. Right, buddy?" Scarlet said, smiling at Nimbus.

Nimbus wiggled gleefully in response, licking Sage's hand.

"Has he been getting better at gliding?" Sage wondered.

"A little. He still crashes, but not as badly as before." Scarlet tried prying Zircon away. "Come on, sweetie. We need to do some commands, then we'll be done. Okay?"

Zircon whimpered as he was placed on the ground. He tried to run over to Sage, but stopped when he held up his hand.

"Okay, Zircon. Forward," Scarlet said.

Zircon looked at Sage, then slowly crept across the floor toward Scarlet. He had learned during his nightly sessions on that awful rock course that it was easiest to just get these things over with. He wished he knew why he was being made to do all these things, though. What was the purpose? Why couldn't he just hide in his partner's shirt all day?

"Good boy." Scarlet picked him up again. "This isn't so bad, is it?"

Sage chuckled as his dragon shot him a mournful glance. "Honestly, I'm starting to wonder how much of his behavior is genuine fear, and how much is just him being dramatic." He gently rolled Nimbus back over. "Okay. Let's see how you do…"

…

At the end of class, everyone's dragons were returned to their rightful partners. The exercise had decidedly mixed results, including Cardin nursing a pretty nasty bite from Tank.

"You did so well, Storm," Ruby praised as Team RWBY headed back toward their room. Storm was trotting next to her, obviously happy that the regular order of things had been restored.

An idea occurred to Ruby as they walked. "Hey, why don't we all go out this weekend?"

Blake tilted her head. "All of us?"

"Yeah! I was at the accessory store, and they have really nice adjustable halters for dragonets. We could walk around the dragon-friendly parts of town and get them used to being around people." Ruby's eyes were alight at the thought. "There are even outdoor food places that serve meals for dragons as well as people. Let's spoil them a bit!"

Weiss bit her lip. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. I mean, what if our dragons react badly?"

"Yeah, some of them are a little vicious," Yang muttered, looking down at Fang as he trudged beside her.

"We'll go to an area with fewer people," Ruby said. "A lot of the areas closer to the school are used to seeing people walking around with their dragons, anyway." She started bouncing as she walked. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

Weiss clicked her tongue thoughtfully. "Well, they do need to learn how to be around non-Riders… It would probably be prudent to start acclimating them early."

Blake nodded. "As long as we get good halters, I don't see a problem."

Yang looked at each of them, then let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine, but if Fang causes me to get sued by some idiot, I'm going to be really mad."

Fang snorted loudly at the mention of his name, but decided against biting his partner's ankle. This time.

Character interaction is my jam! Don't worry, though. Some serious plot-plot is on the way, so stay tuned.

If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.

Peace out!