Nix what I said before. There will be more than just two or three more chapters in this thing. This AU is too much fun!

"And then, I put targets on their foreheads and the squirrels started dive-bombing them," Nora was saying. "I swear, it was the coolest thing ever."

"Mm hm." Blake flipped a page in her book.

"Of course, after that, I took over the Administrator Building and became Queen of Vale."

"Mm hm."

Nora plopped down on her bed. "And it's been the same dream all week. Weird, huh?"

"Mm hm."

Nora frowned. Accustomed as she was to dealing with quiet people, she couldn't help but notice several differences between her new roommate and Ren. Ren always listened to her when she rambled and remembered every word. Blake was obviously not paying attention. Nora wasn't particularly offended by this, but it was moments like these when she really missed sleeping in a room with her best friend. Blake was just nodding to everything she was saying

A slight smirk came to her face. Maybe she could use this to her advantage.

"So, classes have been fun, huh?"

"Mm hm." Blake's eyes scanned the beginning of another chapter.

"The bonfire was pretty cool. You'll have to go to the next one."

"Mm hm."

"So, are you coming with me to Dag this afternoon?"

"Mm hm."

"Great!" Nora jumped from her bed, clapping eagerly. "Get some comfy clothes on, and we'll leave in an hour!"

Blake looked up, blinking in confusion. "Wait, what?"

…..

"Oof!" Jaune's vision briefly went black as a well-aimed, thankfully-well-padded javelin hit him square in the face, smashing his nose. He shook his head, groaning as the sharp sting caused a few tears to spring to his eyes. "Ugh. It's always the nose."

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called out in alarm, rushing over. "I didn't break your nose, did I?" She tried to see if there was any blood.

"Nope," Jaune quickly reassured her, forcing a grin despite the continuous throbbing of his nose. "You got it pretty good, though. Nice shot. You got me two for two now."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha asked, her eyes shining with concern.

"I'm fine," Jaune insisted. "I told you: You aren't in Dag until a projectile hits your face. Believe me, this is nothing compared to the time Ruby hit me in the crotch with her red."

"Which time?" Ruby called over, snickering at the memory while Jaune stuck his tongue out at her.

Pyrrha winced at the thought. "Does that happen often?"

Jaune shrugged. "Yeah. That's why we sign waivers. It's just part of the game."

"You know," Pyrrha mused. "I never realized before joining Dag how much foam can hurt. Everyone I talk to is convinced that this is just a soft, harmless sport where it's impossible to get bruised."

"Impossible to get bruised," Jaune snorted. "Heck, when Yang was still with us, I'd go home with bruises all over."

"Kinky," Sun commented as he finished his spar with Ren and joined them, his eyes glinting. "I'm liking this organization more and more."

Weiss, who was just walking over, winced. "Do you have to be so vulgar?"

Sun snickered. "Heh. 'Vulgar.' I'm really glad Pyrrha finally got you out here." He nudged Weiss's shoulder. "Loosen up, Ice Queen! We're in college. No parents to give us judgmental looks when we tell dirty jokes."

Weiss sniffed, giving Sun a disdainful glare. "Some of us don't need parental supervision in order to act mature. And don't call me Ice Queen."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes at the two before noticing that Nora was approaching, followed closely by a dark-haired girl. "Hey, Nora!" she called. "Finally got your roommate out, huh?"

Nora grinned, running over. "Yep! This is Blake."

Blake nodded politely, seeming a little ill at ease surrounded by so many people.

Jaune, noticing Blake's nervousness, approached and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Blake. I'm Jaune. My Dag name is Arc Angel. If you wanna fight, talk to Barty about a waiver. Otherwise, you're perfectly welcome to sit by one of the trees and watch."

Blake smiled a little as she shook Jaune's hand, relieved that she wouldn't be expected to participate right away. "I think I'll just watch for awhile. I'll let you know if I decide to join in."

Nora shrugged a shoulder as Blake sat down by a tree and took her book out of her bag. Oh well. It's a start. She noticed Ren finishing a sparring match with Coco. "Hey, Ren!" She ran over just as Ren was hit in the abdomen. "I had the dream again."

"Tell me about it in a second," Ren groaned, putting a hand over his midsection. "I think…I was nearly cut in half."

"Oh, no you weren't," Coco said, rolling her eyes. "Man up, Lotus Boy."

"That…" he panted. "Is never going to be…" Pant. "My Dag name."

"I dunno," Nora teased. "It's kinda cute."

"It's an unwritten rule in our particular branch," Coco explained. "If you don't come up with your own Dag name within a few weeks, we give you one."

"In that case, Sun shouldn't be allowed to call me Ice Queen yet," Weiss declared, still glaring at the smirking blond.

"I never said it was your Dag name," Sun pointed out. "So, unwritten rules don't apply!"

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha with a grin as the two continued to bicker. "This may be the best Dag group we've ever had."

Pyrrha chuckled a little in reply. "It certainly isn't boring."

"Okay, everyone," Barty called. 'Fighters to the field!"

Everyone gathered their weapons and went out onto the field, waiting to hear what game they'd be playing next.

"Since we have such a good turnout today, we'll be doing a King Battle." Barty smiled as some of the veteran players muttered excitedly to each other. "Now, we'll need two people to be our kings."

Coco immediately raised her hand, brandishing her large shield. "Come at me, peasants!"

"Excellent, excellent. Anyone else?" Barty looked around. "Someone with a large shield."

Jaune raised his hand. "I can be the other king."

A King Battle was explained to the newer players as a battle between two teams. Each team has a king, who holds a large shield. The king's shield is the respawn point for their team. If the king is killed, the respawn point is gone and other people can pick up the shield. If a team gets the other team's shield and bashes it against their team's shield, that team is victorious.

Barty divided them into teams. Pyrrha ended up on Coco's team along with Ren, Sun, Velvet, and Weiss. When the battle started, she brandished her sword while holding her javelin under her arm. She and Velvet hung back to guard Coco.

Ruby immediately bolted along the edge of the field, trying to get behind Coco before anyone could notice. Weiss intercepted her halfway and the two started sparring.

Nora threw herself at Sun while Pyrrha started fighting another member named Reese, who killed her with a hard blow to the back. While she ran back to Coco to respawn, Ren joined Weiss in double-teaming Ruby.

After a few minutes, Weiss suggested that they try rushing the other team. Pyrrha was enthusiastic about the idea, as were Sun and Velvet. Ren was out of breath and offered to hang back to guard their king.

"Okay, let's go!" Sun urged excitedly, raising his sword. "YAAARRRGGHH!"

Weiss managed to shoot him an "Are you serious?" look just before they started running.

Sun and Pyrrha were killed quickly and went back to respawn. Behind them, Nora cried out "Protect the king!"

The sound of running feet signaled that the other team was charging. After tapping Coco's shield, Pyrrha jumped into the fray. For awhile, it was a mess of limbs and foam and everyone hitting whatever came close. Then, Velvet broke away from the group and ran behind Jaune, hitting him in the back and picking up his shield as he dropped it.

"The king has fallen!" Jaune shouted. "Get the shield!"

Velvet ran toward Coco before getting abruptly killed by Ruby. Before the small fighter could pick up the shield, Pyrrha hit her in the abdomen and picked it up, dropping her own to the ground. Coco rushed over and they banged the shields together.

"WHOO!" Coco shouted. "Victory! Take that, peasants! Kneel before me!"

"That's later, sweetie," Velvet muttered into her ear as she walked by, winking discreetly.

Coco's face turned bright red before she burst out laughing. "Dammit, Velvs!"

Barty called for a water break and the group walked over to the trees, feeling very satisfied with the battle.

Nora plopped down next to Blake. "See? It's fun! You should totally join the next one."

Blake shook her head. "I'm not really up for it right now, but I think I might give it a try next week."

"Yessss!" Nora pumped her fist victoriously.

Jaune took a sip of water. "You know, it's about time you guys figured out characters so we can go costume shopping. We're lenient about it here, but if you go to any professional events, you'll need garb."

Ren shook his head. "I looked online for some stuff, but it's too expensive."

"Yeah, I want to be a shield-maiden with leather armor." Nora shrugged helplessly. "Unless I rob some gas stations, that's not happening."

"Well, I can't exactly afford Spartan armor," Pyrrha pointed out. "You don't need to be extravagant on your first outfit. I just did some stitching on an old costume from back home that Mom sent in my last care package." She tugged at her gold tunic.

"What if we go for a Goodwill run sometime this week?" Jaune suggested. "A lot of my best costume stuff has come from there."

"Can I come too?" Sun asked. "I got a pretty good idea on the kind of stuff I want."

"Sure." Jaune looked at Pyrrha. "Are you game? They might have the kind of pants you've been wanting."

Pyrrha nodded. "Sure. These bright red leggings don't exactly work for the look I'm going for."

Jaune honestly had no problem with the leggings, but decided to refrain from saying so. "What about you, Ice Queen?" he said in a teasing voice.

Weiss huffed. "It'll depend on the day. Also, that name will never stick."

"I think it already has," Sun snickered.

After practice, Jaune and Pyrrha went to get coffee as they usually did. This time, however, Ren, Nora, and Ruby went with them. They were all carrying dice in their bags.

Once they sat down at one of the tables in the campus Starbucks, Jaune took out four character sheets. "Okay, the most annoying thing will be rolling stats. After that, it'll be easy." He took his Core Rulebook from his bag and handed it to Pyrrha. "Which of you already know what you want to be?"

Nora raised her hand. "Half-Orc Berserker! I'm calling dibs right now!"

"I was thinking of being a Rogue of some kind," Ren muttered. "I'm not sure what race I want to be."

"At the very least, let's get our base stats rolled," Pyrrha said. "We can do the rest after. I roll four six-sided dice, right?"

Jaune nodded. "Yep. Add the highest three. If you don't like the stats you get, you can stop and reroll, but you'll have to start from the beginning."

An hour later, Ruby was grumbling angrily. "Come on…"

"Just settle on a set, Ruby," Jaune urged.

"Tell the dice to listen to me!" Ruby had rolled five good stats and was preparing herself for the final roll. "Aaand…four ones?! Come on!" She picked up the dice and crossed out yet another stat group.

Jaune rolled his eyes before turning to Pyrrha. "Got an idea on a character?"

Pyrrha was scanning the book. "We should have a healer of some kind. I'm just not sure if I want to be a Paladin or a Cleric. Paladins are stronger, but I'm not sure if I want to be Lawful Good, especially with a Rogue in the party."

"Yeah, Paladins are a drag unless you're really in the mood to play a super-heroic, self-righteous, often-preachy character."

"Aren't Clerics also preachy?"

"It depends," Jaune said. "They're devoted to their deity, but you can have any alignment, depending on what deity you choose, and you can decide how preachy you want them to be."

"Squishy healer it is," Pyrrha sighed, taking her character sheet and starting to put down her stats.

"Clerics can fight," Jaune told her. "It's not like Sorcerers, where you can't wear armor."

"Can I be a Kobold?" Ren asked. "They look interesting."

"Sure, but they're pretty cowardly and scummy," Jaune said.

"Fitting for a thief."

"True."

"Kobold will be crushed under Half-Orc's boot," Nora declared in an exaggerated, raspy voice.

"Nora, we're not playing yet," Ren said calmly. "You don't need to talk like an Orc."

"Half-Orc! Get your races straight, Ren."

"Four ones again?! How can that even happen?!" Ruby cried, staring down at her dice. "I think these might be loaded!"

The five parted ways outside of Starbucks, Jaune and Ruby going back to town while Ren and Nora returned to their dorms. Pyrrha walked part of the way to town.

"So, are you happy with your stats?" Pyrrha asked Ruby.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, finally. Now, I just gotta decide what I'll be. I'm thinking Elven Druid. Then I can have a pet wolf!"

"There are a couple animal companions to choose from," Jaune said. "You could get a raptor or tiger."

"Wait, a raptor? Like a dinosaur raptor?" Ruby groaned. "Great. Now, I can't decide."

Pyrrha chuckled. "Well, you have time. We still need to create our characters' backstories and everything else before we start the campaign."

"Yeah, once I know what your characters are doing, I can make a better opening scenario," Jaune explained. "My campaigns are more plot-driven than they are battle-driven."

"I definitely prefer that," Pyrrha said. "We do enough battling on Saturdays, after all." When they reached the edge of town, she waved goodbye. "See you during the week. Let me know when we're going to Goodwill."

"Sure thing. Later, Pyr!" Jaune waved before walking Ruby toward her house. He noticed his friend giving him a look. "What?"

"If you don't ask her out, I will," she said bluntly.

"Says the person who's totally not mooning over the Ice Queen," Jaune shot back.

"Hey, I only met her a few days ago! Also, I'm still just a High School student. What's your excuse?" Ruby asked. "Aren't you the one always saying that women look for confidence?"

"Yeah, and I'm not feeling very confidant." Jaune folded his arms. "So, why would she go for me?"

"You're hopeless," Ruby sighed. "Well, maybe having a Pathfinder session each week along with Dag will do something."

"It might," Jaune allowed. They stopped in front of Ruby's house. "Well, see you later."

"Bye, Jaune." Ruby hugged him before going inside.

Jaune walked back to his house, mulling over Ruby's words. Why hadn't he asked Pyrrha out yet? He tried to dredge up the "Dag guys shouldn't flirt with newbies" excuse, but that ended up falling flat. Maybe it's because she's the only girl I get along with as well as I do with Ruby, he thought. And Ruby and I are totally platonic. I don't want to screw up a friendship this good. This rang a little truer, but still not enough.

His head started aching, so he decided to focus on coming up with scenarios for his Pathfinder campaign. Dice and books were at least things he could understand.

I love writing slice-of-life scenarios, and this AU has so many scenarios to type. The next chapter I think will focus on a Pathfinder session, because those are always hilarious! If you want, leave suggestions for character names in your reviews. I haven't come up with any yet.

Have a good weekend. If you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter to you and your family. See you next week. Peace out!