Author's Notes: WINTER BREAK! NO MORE FINALS! Which of course means working more on these chapters and posting them every week like I said I would (knowing me that's not gonna happen). Anyway enjoy this chapter! Review if you wish! Have a great day!
What It Takes
Chapter 5: Understanding and Listening
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Basil's eyes snapped open. He reached his hand over and shut off his alarm clock. It was eight in the morning and he had his first class at nine. He lay there for a minute longer until heading off to the bathroom. He showered, trimmed his beard, brushed his teeth and put on his school uniform. Basil wasn't a fan of formal clothes, so putting on the uniform felt restricting for him. He walked back in the dorm and saw Porphyrios all ready to get to class.
"Hey you have a class at nine too?" asked Basil.
"Yes," replied Porphyrios gruffly and went back to gathering his school supplies.
Realizing that Porphyrios wasn't going to volunteer information, Basil asked further, "What class do you have?"
Porphyrios glanced at him, "Grimm studies, same as you."
"Neat," replied Basil.
There was a silent pause for quite a while.
Doesn't like to talk much I see, Basil thought.
"Should we wake the girls up?" he inquired further.
"No," responded Porphyrios, "they don't have class till ten."
"Lucky them," Basil replied with a chuckle, "am I right?"
"Look, are we going to head to breakfast or are you going to continue to stand there and make pointless conversation?"
And with that he walked out the door.
No conversation is pointless, thought Basil, a bit hurt from his partner's comment. He followed Porphyrios out of the dorm and to breakfast.
She did not sleep well.
It was eight in the morning and Namra could not get back to sleep, despite having trouble sleeping the night before. She turned over, closed her eyes and tried to relax into the mattress but to no avail. Resigned to her fate, Namra lay there, thinking about all that had happened yesterday.
She had gotten to Beacon, met a new friend, Basil, got yelled at by Sylvia, became partners with Sylvia, got mad at Sylvia, got yelled at by Sylvia again and now here she was, lying awake and tired on her first day of classes.
She sighed; this is not how I imagined my experience at Beacon to start, thought Namra as she got out of bed, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now.
She headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day, since she couldn't fall back to sleep.
After changing into her school uniform, Namra headed off to the cafeteria where she was greeted by Wai, who was already in the hallway.
"Hey," greeted Wai in a friendly fashion.
"Hello," Namra returned the greeting in her sleepy voice.
"What are you doing up?" questioned Wai, "I thought you didn't have class till ten."
"I do," responded Namra, "I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep though, so I thought I'd get some breakfast."
"Can I join you?" inquired Wai, "I have a class at 9:30 and was about to get food myself."
"Sure," Namra replied.
They got to the cafeteria, grabbed some eggs and bacon, and sat down at a table. As they ate, they made idle conversation, mostly about their past experiences. Wai talked about going to school with his friends and always getting into trouble, yet still passing class pretty well. Actually most of the conversation was about Wai. Namra didn't like to talk too much herself, so she thought it would be best just to listen.
"So," continued Wai, "what about you?"
"Excuse me?" questioned Namra.
"You," repeated Wai, "what was your childhood like?"
Namra was uncomfortable with this conversation; she didn't like talking about herself and decided to try and switch topics.
"Oh, you know, average childhood, a bit different being blind and all," Namra described vaguely, "So, what do you think classes will be like?"
They continued on about classes until Namra realized something. They had been talking for a while and yet Wai had not mentioned anything about her being blind. Actually, from the way he had been speaking to her, he acted like there was nothing wrong.
"Alright," Namra interrupted what Wai was saying to address this, "what are you doing?"
Wai was put off by the question. He didn't know what it was that Namra meant.
"What am I doing?" inquired Wai.
"We have been talking for some time now and you have not once mentioned anything about me being blind," answered Namra.
Wai took a sip of his coffee before he answered, "Does it matter?"
Now it was Namra's turn to be confused, "What do you mean?"
"What does it matter if you're blind?" Wai responded, "You obviously made it into this school, so you must be able to hold your own."
Wai put down his coffee mug, "Just because somebody else is different doesn't make them any less of a person," Wai continued, "we're all different from each other and we shouldn't judge each other based off of that."
Namra smiled, she was glad that at least one of her teammates understood that she was capable. Her smile faded though as she thought of Sylvia and how she would always chew Namra out.
Wai frowned, noticing Namra's face falter, "What's on your mind?" he asked
Namra looked towards him. Deciding that she could confide in him, she spoke, "It's Sylvia. Ever since the start of initiation she feels I need to be taken care of because I'm blind. I've told her that I can handle myself perfectly fine, but she still insists on babying me. I just wish she would understand how I feel about it."
Namra took a breath as Wai drank a long sip from his coffee. Once he had finished, he placed his cup down on the table. Taking a quick breath he spoke.
"Sylvia is probably not used to this sort of thing," started Wai, "I mean it's not like blind people are common in combat schools. Not to mention she got partnered up with one immediately during initiation, it's a lot to take in for one day. I'm sure if you just give her time she will come around and start to understand."
Namra mulled it over a bit. She understood that Sylvia may not be used to it right away, but that didn't mean she could ignore what Namra wanted.
"Well, I certainly hope you're right," replied Namra.
Basil and Porphyrios were sitting in their Grimm studies class taught by Professor Port. Well 'taught' was a strong word. It was more about the professor telling a story about his youth as a huntsman than learning about the Grimm. While most students were probably bored out of their skulls, Basil found the man's stories, although clearly embellished, quite interesting. Then again he had always liked listening to stories, whether it was a book or merely a recantation of an experience from another person. Either way he enjoyed them for what they were.
"The moral of the story," spoke Port as he finished, "A true huntsman must be honorable! A true huntsman must be dependable! A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"
Basil took in every word that Port had said, knowing now what it would take to be a true huntsman.
"So," he continued, "who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
"I do sir!"
Basil looked down and saw a girl with white hair tied up in a ponytail raising her hand. He always had a good sense of how people were feeling and what they were thinking, and right now Basil noticed from how quickly she raised her hand that this girl seemed angry about something.
To everyone's surprise, Professor Port pulled out a cage with a creature of Grimm inside it for the girl to face. The white-haired girl left and got changed into her combat clothes in order to not be impeded during her fight.
As she approached the cage and took her stance, her teammates near the front of the class started cheering her on.
"Go Weiss!" shouted the blonde girl.
"Fight well!" cheered the black haired girl.
"Yea! Represent team RWBY!" the red cloaked girl yelled enthusiastically.
To this, the girl named Weiss turned toward the red cloaked girl, "Ruby, I'm trying to focus!"
"Oh, sorry," the girl called Ruby apologized, dejectedly.
Basil realized that these girls were the last team that had been announced last night after initiation. He remembered that Ruby had been declared the leader of the team despite being younger than the others. There also seemed to be some dissent between Weiss and Ruby, as Ruby was the only one Weiss had reprimanded for cheering.
"Alright," Port stated, "let the match begin!"
He swung his blunderbuss ax at the lock on the cage, opening it to reveal a Boarbatusk. The Boarbatusk charged at Weiss immediately. Weiss swung at it with her rapier while dodging to the left, avoiding the beast's tusks. The beast turned around to charge again.
"Ha ha, wasn't expecting that were you?" the professor pointed out.
"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby called out, encouraging Weiss to keep fighting
Weiss and the creature charged at each other. Weiss tried to stab the beast right in the face, but the Boarbatusk caught the blade in between its tusks. Unfortunately, this trapped itself as well as Weiss, and both struggled to free themselves.
"New approach," commented Port, "I like it."
"Come on Weiss," Ruby encouraged, "show it who's boss!"
Basil realized the mistake before it even happened. Weiss, angry at Ruby, turned to glare at her as the beast flung Weiss's weapon behind it and knocked Weiss to the ground.
"Ho ho," Port observed, "now what will you do without your weapon."
Weiss slowly got up as the Boarbatusk charged again. She dove to the right and ran towards her weapon on the other side of the classroom. The Grimm kept going and crashed into one of the lecture desks. Weiss slid and grabbed her weapon from the ground.
"Weiss," Ruby called out again, "go for its belly there's no armor underneath-"
But Weiss was done with Ruby's comments, "Stop telling me what to do!" she yelled.
Ruby hung her head dejectedly, as Weiss stopped the final charge of the Boarbatusk with a light blue snowflake-like symbol, and stabbed its underbelly to finish it off.
"Bravo," cheered Port, "Bravo, it appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training."
"Hmmph," Porphyrios grunted next to Basil, "she needs some anger management."
"I don't think so," disagreed Basil.
"What would you know about it?" challenged Porphyrios.
"Well if you notice, Weiss is a great fighter," Basil analyzed, "and she only yelled at the Ruby girl and no one else. Also did you notice that Ruby seems pretty young to be in this school?"
Porphyrios thought for a moment as he watched Ruby walk out of the class, "I guess she does seem pretty young, must have skipped a year or two."
"Exactly," reasoned Basil, "and if you recall, Ruby was made the leader of her team last night, which Weiss is a part of."
"That is true," Porphyrios agreed.
"So with that in mind," Basil continued, "wouldn't you be upset if you had that much talent, and instead of becoming leader, the headmaster decided to appoint someone younger than you?"
Porphyrios pondered for another moment, "Yea I guess that is a possibility, but how did you figure that out?"
A bit insulted by the question, Basil responded, "I've always been good at reading people and figuring out what they're thinking."
"Hmm," Porphyrios grunted, "interesting," and he got up and walked off to his next class.
Basil sat a moment longer.
However, he thought, you are mysterious Porph. I see you're quiet and blunt, but I can't figure out why you act that way.
Basil got up from his desk; I guess I'll just have to get to know you better; Basil finished his thought as he walked out of the classroom.
Namra was sitting next to her partner Sylvia in Oobleck's history class, listening to the caffeine fueled professor talk about the credentials of the course and what they would be learning. Namra was only half listening as she was trying to figure out a way to get Sylvia to understand that she could take care of herself without needing Sylvia to baby her.
Wai understands my situation completely, Namra thought, so why can't Sylvia understand?
Continuing her train of thought, Namra lost track of time until she felt Sylvia's hand on her shoulder.
"Class is over," Sylvia said, "time to go."
Normally this would have seemed like a nice gesture considering she had been spacing out, but not many people had left yet meaning class only just got dismissed. So Namra saw it as just another example of Sylvia thinking Namra was hindered because of her blindness and couldn't figure things out on her own.
Deciding to deal with it later, Namra walked out of class, still unsure as to what she should do about Sylvia.
Should I talk to her? thought Namra as she walked down the hallway. She shook her head; she didn't like confronting people if she could avoid it.
Besides, Namra continued, she would probably just yell at me again. But then what can I do? Well maybe-
WHUMP!
Not looking where she was going, she had accidently bumped into someone.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, embarrassed by her clumsiness.
"Watch where you're going!" a boy's voice shouted angrily
She could tell that the boy was taller than her, and much more heavily built.
"Well what do you have to say for yourself?" yelled the boy, scathing eyes glaring at Namra.
"I said I was sorry," Namra said, trying to get out of this situation.
"Well sorry isn't good enough," he stated, "I'm gonna have to teach you a thing or two."
"Leave her alone."
Sylvia had moved in front of Namra, shielding her from him.
"Get out of my way girl," he commanded, but Sylvia didn't move.
The boy moved quickly and shoved Sylvia out of the way and onto the ground. Sylvia tried to get up off the ground but struggled, considering she wasn't expecting the blow. The muscular boy walked over to her to continue his bullying.
Seeing her partner on the ground like that infuriated Namra, "Stop it!" she shouted.
He turned toward Namra, "What are you gonna do about it?" he asked, "you can't even see what's in front of you."
"I can certainly do more than you, troll," replied Namra
Angered at the comment, he ran at her, aiming to push her to the ground as well. However, Namra was expecting this and bent down and elbowed him in the stomach. Stunned, the boy was unable to do anything as Namra lifted him and threw him to the ground.
Feeling humiliated, he stood up immediately and charged at Namra, fists raised. Namra started to take a stance, when Sylvia moved in front of her to take the blow. Namra was taken aback, surprised that Sylvia would defend her to this extent.
The boy was about to strike, when Re appeared, almost out of nowhere, and grabbed his arm, bending it behind his back.
"You are going to back off, or I will break your arm," threatened Re.
Before the boy could respond to Re's threat, Oobleck came out of his classroom to respond to the commotion.
"Cardin! Re! Break it up!" he commanded in a stern voice that seemed out of character for the caffeinated professor.
Re let go of Cardin's arm and backed away.
"Fighting outside of combat class or sparring is strictly prohibited at Beacon," stated Oobleck, the sternness still in his voice, "but because it is the first day of classes I will let you two off with a warning. If I ever see you two fighting again, I will send you both to Ozpin's office, is that clear."
Cardin and Re both nodded in agreement. Satisfied, Oobleck went back to his classroom and all of the students went on their way.
As they left the hallway, Namra was contemplating what had just happened. She knew that Sylvia always tried to help out because she felt Namra couldn't take care of herself, which Namra disagreed with. However, she never thought that Sylvia would go as far as to take hits for her. Unless, Sylvia truly was just looking out for her, but that couldn't be it, could it?
Namra shook her head, I'll have to talk to her by the end of the day and sort this all out, she decided. And with that she continued to walk to her next class.
The bell rang as the last class of the day ended for the school. Basil and his teammates all agreed to meet for dinner after classes had ended. However, Basil's class had taken more time than was originally anticipated, making him late.
I hope they didn't start without me, thought Basil as he went into the cafeteria.
Sure enough they were all waiting for him near the food line.
"You're late," remarked Porphyrios in a rough tone.
"Aw give him a break Porph," defended Celestia, "His class probably got out late."
She turned toward Basil, looking for confirmation.
"Yea," replied Basil looking away from Celestia and scratching his head, "the class lasted longer than expected."
Celestia looked a bit dejected at the fact that he had looked away from her. Seeing this, Aurelia scowled at Basil, grabbed Celestia's arm and walked to the food line. Basil winced, he felt bad about what he did, but he didn't quite trust Faunus too much, what with the whole White Fang group and their aggressive actions. He was fine with Porphyrios, considering they had fought side by side for a while.
"Whatever," grumbled Porphyrios and he walked to the food line. Basil followed them as they went to get their food.
I should put aside my feelings for now, pondered Basil, I won't make our first dinner together a bad one.
Grabbing his food, Basil walked over to where the others were and sat down next to Porphyrios, across from the girls.
The dinner proceeded without incident. Basil tried not to act too awkward around Celestia, much to the appreciation of Aurelia, at least he hoped. They talked about classes and teachers and how they all thought the year would go. Jokes were exchanged by everyone, a few from himself, and Celestia made a few puns, to everyone's horror. Aurelia even did a pretty good impression of professor Port that left everyone in fits of side-burning, tear-inducing laughter. Everyone, that is, except Porphyrios. Basil just couldn't figure out why he was so stone faced all the time. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was about small talk and schedules. All Basil knew about him was that he was strong and intimidating to most people. Anything else was just a collection of grunts and 'hmmms'. Basil wanted to get Porphyrios to open up, but he was not budging.
Maybe that's just who he is, suggested Basil, maybe he is just silent and reserved.
Basil shook the idea out of his head, no there's something more to him than just that.
"Hey."
Basil looked up and saw Celestia stood up in front of him.
"Porph and Aurelia went back to the dorm, you coming?"
"Oh right umm…" the awkwardness was reaching into his voice again and he rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair.
Noticing his awkwardness, Celestia's face faltered, "Well, I'm heading back, so come when you're ready." And with that she had left.
Great job, Basil said to himself, now she knows you're uncomfortable around her.
He sighed. No helping it now, he thought and made his way back to the dorm, great way to start a year, he thought sarcastically.
It was amazing to watch. Two people who had never met before were treating each other like old friends. Wai and Re were like two peas in a pod, even though they seemed like opposites. Re would propose some scenario of epic proportions and then Wai would go through the ways that it could be approached and achieved. They both started laughing when they discussed the idea of using watermelon projectiles and a porcupine to fight off a White Fang attack. After recovering from their laughter they discussed classes with as much joy as humanly possible.
Namra watched them, occasionally contributing to the conversation where needed, and wondered why her and Sylvia weren't like that.
She looked toward where Sylvia was and noticed her absentmindedly playing with her mashed potatoes, which were hardly eaten. Concerned, Namra reached over and touched Sylvia's shoulder.
"Hey, you ok?" Namra asked softly.
Sylvia snapped out of her train of thought, "Huh?" she asked.
"I asked if you were okay," Namra repeated worryingly.
"Of course I'm okay," replied Sylvia curtly, "I'm just…not very hungry right now obviously."
Namra didn't believe her for a second. It didn't take eyes to tell that Sylvia was not at all fine, and Namra was pretty sure she knew why.
I better resolve this situation quickly, thought Namra nervously; I'll talk to her after dinner.
Turning back towards the boys, she continued to converse with them, anxious about the prospect of talking to Sylvia later.
About 20 minutes later, they had all finished eating and were heading back up to the dorm.
It's now or never, Namra decided.
"Sylvia," Namra called out.
Sylvia turned toward Namra.
"What?" asked Sylvia, she sounded annoyed and tired from her first day of classes.
Great start, thought Namra. "Can we take a walk out around the courtyard?" she asked.
Sylvia look a bit annoyed and confused at the prospect of walking around the courtyard, "I don't think so Namra," replied Sylvia, "I need to look over notes tonight and get a good night sleep for tomorrow's classes."
"I promise it won't take long," Namra assured, "I just want to talk a bit."
Sylvia was a bit curious, Namra had rarely talked during dinner and at other times, yet now she was asking to talk to her. Sylvia sighed, figuring that talking to her would probably be the best idea. Sylvia was the leader after all.
"Fine," Sylvia conceded, "as long as we make it fast."
They walked out of the school doors and into the courtyard. The chilled night breeze blew through Namra's hair, calming her. She had always liked the night, calm and peaceful most of the time, and yet still filled with excitement. But it was the calm nights she liked the best, because she could just relax from the stress of the day.
They walked over to the fountain in the courtyard and Namra sat down on the edge, motioning for Sylvia to sit down as well.
"Alright," Sylvia started, sitting next to Namra, "Let's get this over with; what do you want to talk about?"
Put on the spot, Namra hesitated, wondering how to start the conversation.
"Well, it's about this." Namra moved her hands in front of her blindfold, implicating her blindness.
"Okay," Sylvia replied, understanding, "what about it."
Namra sighed. Sylvia still doesn't even realize what she is doing wrong.
"Look, I understand what you are trying to do," Namra began, "you are looking out for me and trying to help, but you need to understand that even though I'm blind, I'm not handicapped. I can take care of myself perfectly fine."
"Yes I've seen what you can do," responded Sylvia standing up, "but you have to understand that as the leader of the team it is my duty to protect my teammates."
She took a breath and then continued, "Whether it's Grimm or bullies, I have to take care of and defend my team."
"Yes that's true," Namra spoke, "but there is a difference between protecting and babying."
Sylvia was about to retort, but Namra stopped her by standing up, "Look, as I said, I understand your reasoning and I appreciate your help, in fact sometimes I welcome it. But the amount of 'protecting' that you've been doing for me makes me feel like you believe I'm not capable."
Namra took a breath of the night air before she spoke again, "And I want you to know that I am capable."
Sylvia hesitated for a moment.
"Yes, you are capable," she said softly, "but because you're blind you need to be protected more than the others."
Namra sighed. As much as she didn't want to tell her, she felt at this point she would have to.
"Sylvia, I'm not as blind as you think I am."
Sylvia seemed confused, "What do you mean? You can't see with your eyes right?"
"Yes that is true," confirmed Namra, "but I can still see you sitting there."
Sylvia seemed further confused as Namra continued.
"My semblance allows me to see using the energy around me. The trees, the people, even the bats around here that you can't usually see," Namra explained calmly, "using this allows me to see clearly than most people ordinarily see."
"Well I guess that explains a lot," Sylvia stated, "but I don't understand, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
Namra hesitated. Should I tell her? Well I guess I can tell her the vague picture.
"I've had people use their knowledge of my semblance against me," Namra voiced quietly, "I was afraid to trust someone with that information again."
Namra turned her head back toward Sylvia, "I didn't tell you because I was afraid of trusting you."
Sylvia was taken aback. She had never thought that Namra would be hurt by Sylvia over protecting her, yet here she was, telling her things that she normally wouldn't tell anyone. She felt flattered yet guilty over this prospect.
"Ok, fine" Sylvia answered, "I didn't know that you felt so strong about this. So I will stop being overprotective and 'babying' you."
Namra sighed in relief, "Thank you, I'm glad you understand."
Sylvia smiled a rare smile, "I just wish you had told me earlier," She replied, "I want you to know that you can trust me. I am your partner after all."
Namra smiled back, "I understand completely. I'm sorry I didn't trust you before."
Sylvia walked over and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. They stood there for a few seconds, letting their words sink in, until a cold breeze came by, bringing them back to reality. Sylvia shivered.
"Can we go in now?" Sylvia asked removing her hand, "It's freezing out here."
Namra laughed, "Yea, let's go back in."
The two of them walked back to the school, feeling like they had become closer than they were before.