Thanksgiving (2014) Special!
Submitted by: Coolheadluke
[Beacon Kitchens]
The situation that Glynda Goodwitch found herself in at the moment was, to put it simply, only a few steps short of total humiliation. It was bad enough that she had been discovered wearing a frilly apron and covered in all-purpose flour, her nose buried in a cookbook as she tried to puzzle out how to make a proper pie crust. It was worse that it had been nearly five in the morning, and that she had been discovered by perhaps the most inept freshman to ever stumble into Beacon, Jaune Arc. She had been expecting ridicule, or at the very least howls of laughter.
Instead, she had gotten mild confusion, a brief 'hello', and a very polite yet shockingly detailed list as to what she was doing wrong with her baking. Before she had had proper time to register this fact, Jaune had already pulled on an apron of his own and taken a place beside her, mentioning that since Ozpin had wanted him to make pies for all of Beacon anyway, it would be non trouble to help her out as well. Which, after about an hour of confusion, finally led to the situation they were in now.
"It's really quite simple, Professor" Jaune said, demonstrating the proper method to making sugary apple slices for pie for the fourth time in fifteen minutes.
"Hardly..." Glynda muttered, her hand shaking slightly as she strove to keep her fingers from being cut on the edge of the paring knife she was using. It had been a long time since she had been on the other side of the proverbial teacher's desk, and she had almost forgotten the rigors that came with learning.
"Hey, lighten up!" Jaune laughed, his own hands going on autopilot as they quickly yet carefully rolled out multiple pie crusts, laying them on or by their respective tins. "It's the thought that counts, right?"
"That maxim applies only to gifts..." Glynda corrected, frowning in concentration as she finished peeling an apple and began to make slices.
"Believe me, Professor" Jaune asserted, now peeling and slicing apples at a tremendous rate. "It applies to cooking as well. In fact, it's the secret to making truly amazing food!"
"It is?" Glynda asked, finishing her first apple and beginning to work on her second.
"It is!" Jaune agreed, mixing his massive pile with batches of syrupy filling and pouring the resulting deliciousness into the waiting pie crusts. "Just think of the special someone that you'd absolutely love to taste your cooking, and everything just falls into place like magic."
"Special someone..." Glynda muttered, her cheeks reddening as that special someone's face invaded her mind. "Gah!" she hurriedly sucked on her finger, glaring daggers at the knife that she had just stabbed herself with.
"Here's a band-aid" Jaune called, casually tossing one over while crimping the top crusts of the pies in place.
"You know, Mr Arc" Glynda commented, putting on the band-aid before rounding on her student. "If you put as much effort into your classes as you do into cooking, you'd be at the top of the class."
"Then I would've had to have started training at the age of three" Jaune laughed, checking the pies to make sure he hadn't made any mistakes.
"Three?" Glynda asked, surprised.
"Three" Jaune repeated, bending over one of the many ovens in the kitchen as he crammed it with pies. "I did grow up with seven sisters, a doting mother, and a misogynistic father, after all. He constantly made my mother and siblings practice 'domestic activities.' I kinda picked up on how to run a house without even trying."
"I-I see..." Glynda replied, finishing her apples and beginning to fill the one pie tin that Jaune had left empty for her.
"Yeah..." Jaune murmured wistfully, closing the oven and stretching his back. "But hey, having those skills means I'll have no problems living on my own, right?"
He tossed a grin over his shoulder before opening a second oven and filling it with pies as well. Once he finished filling all but one oven, he returned to check on his professor's progress. She had managed to mix the apples with the syrup and pour the mixture into the waiting pie tin. She had carefully aligned the top crust over the tin, and was currently crimping the crusts together with a frown on her face and her tongue curled out of the corner of her mouth. Jaune smiled and took the completed pie from her, carving a rendition of Glynda's wand into the top with a few quick strokes of a knife. He slid it into the final waiting oven along with the rest of the pies and set the timer.
"Well, that's done!" Jaune proclaimed, flowing through a few quick stretches before eyeing the messy state of the kitchen. "Time to clean up, I guess..."
[City of Vale]
"Hmm~" Yang mused, walking aisles of her favorite party supply store. "What to buy... What to buy..."
She gazed at the endless arrays of napkins, paper plates, streamers, and decorations, trying to decide what was best for sprucing up the dorm. She knew that Ozpin had a massive feast and festival planned for the entire school, but she still wanted to add her own flair to the occasion, especially since the entire student body had been given a week-long vacation to spend as they see fit. She picked up a few different paper turkeys before setting them down in disappointment. She sighed, it really wasn't the kind of holiday that she could spruce up with the usual party supplies. She'd just have to find a way to make the rest of the vacation fun without touching Ozpin's Fall Festival. She left the store without buying anything (a first), and set off to find her partner.
"You could have just picked up Ozpin's order and left, you know" Blake commented, appearing from seemingly nowhere and hovering over Yang's shoulder.
"GAH!" Yang exclaimed, stumbling and clutching her chest in surprise. "Blake! Hello!"
"You're about to say that I need a bell" Blake commented dryly, turning a page of the novel she had buried her nose in.
"You seriously need a...hey, how'd you...?" Yang trailed off, surprised.
"You say the same thing every time I appear over your shoulder without warning" Blake explained, marking her page and putting the novel away. "And I got the order for you, so don't worry." She held up a medium-sized plastic bag filled with smaller, unmarked bags.
"What do you think old Ozzy wanted us to get, anyway?" Yang asked, setting off again at a casual walk.
"I don't know" Blake replied. "And I'm not willing to risk his ire over idle curiosity."
"Good decision" Yang commented, surprising Blake with her sudden spike in common sense. "You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat!"
"I think my ears just bled..." Blake groaned, Yang's puns and situational humor were getting worse by the day.
"It can't have been that bad..." Yang grinned.
"Yes, Yang" Blake replied, deadpan. "Yes it...oh hell no." She broke off in the middle of her complaint to voice her opinion on Yang's choice of store. "We almost got caught once, Yang. I'm not risking my academic neck again."
"It'll be fun~" Yang wheedled, throwing her arm around Blake's shoulders. "And it's not like it's illegal, Vale does have a legal age of 18."
"And Beacon prohibits all students from drinking and substance use while on campus" Blake retorted. "Besides, we don't need alcohol to have a good time at Beacon's Fall Festival."
"What about after the festival?" Yang asked. "We'll need something to spice up the after-party."
"You know what? Fine." Blake acquiesced. "But on one condition. Whatever we buy we have to give to Jaune to cook with."
"Jaune can cook?" Yang asked, surprised.
"He can" Blake replied. "Ozpin put him in charge of making sure there were enough pies to go around."
"Huh" Yang mused, unaware that Blake was steering her away from the liquor store. "I hope his cooking is up to snuff, we will be eating it whether we like it or not for the rest of the week."
"It is" Blake assured her, vividly remembering the delicious salmon fillet Jaune had made her as a bribe when she discovered his talent on a late-night tuna run. It had been succulent and moist with all the fat delicately scraped away and covered in a light maple glaze...
"You're drooling" Yang commented, passing her hand several times in front of Blake's unfocussed eyes. Blake snapped back to reality, hurriedly wiping away the drool and refocussing on Yang with a slight blush.
"You spaced out about food?" Yang asked, grinning mischievously. Blake internally groaned, it was going to be a long walk back to Beacon.
[Team RWBY Dorm]
"Would someone please enlighten me as to what is going on?" Weiss demanded, choosing to use a collective pronoun despite the fact that Ruby was the only other person in the team RWBY dorm. The source of her confusion was the fact that the dorm had been decked out in autumn hues of orange, red, and brown, along with the usual posters being replaced by cutout turkeys with monocles. Rose petals were littered everywhere, though this was less of an intentional decoration and more of a side effect of Ruby's semblance.
"It's the Fall Festival, Weiss!" Ruby chirped, pausing her rapid dashing to land on the heiress' bed.
"You're decorating the dorm" Weiss began, her tone deadly calm. "To celebrate a glorified one week break that the Headmaster inexplicably decided to give us?"
"It's not inexbli...enexplic...inexpica..." Ruby tripped over the word, trying to speak as quickly as Weiss had.
"In-ex-plic-a-ble" Weiss sounded it out for her, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, that!" Ruby agreed cheerily. "The Fall Festival is an annual holiday in the kingdom of Vale. It celebrates a time of peace and thanksgiving when the Grimm were first driven back and the kingdom founded."
"Alright" Weiss stated, seeing the plausibility in having a holiday to celebrate the founding of a nation. "Why turkey decorations?"
"No clue" Ruby replied honestly. "But it probably has something to do with the massive feast that comes with the festival."
"That seems reasonable" Weiss mused, beginning to get out of bed. "Is the shower free?"
"Yep!" Ruby said, returning to her mad dashing as she set up more decorations.
Once Weiss was properly freshened up for the day, a process that easily took an hour, the two teammates casually strolled down to catch the end of breakfast in the dining hall. Once they arrived, Weiss' eyeball developed a significant twitch, and Ruby's shoulders slumped. The dining hall was closed all day to prepare for the evening's feast, leaving the students to find their own food.
"Why would they do this to us?" Ruby moaned, already missing strawberries and cookies the dining hall offered at all meals.
"Oh, stop being such a child" Weiss retorted, grabbing her leader's hood and dragging her towards the airship docks. "I know multiple healthy restaurants in Vale. We'll just spend the day in the city and return for the dinnertime feast." Ruby nodded, choosing to remain limp as Weiss dragged her along. She'd never admit it to anyone, but she rather liked it when Weiss got all huffy over the team's health. It was almost as if Weiss was an inexperienced mother hen, trying her best to keep the rest of them in line while not falling into the same pitfalls she so studiously pointed out to the others.
Fortunately they caught the next airship just as it was about to depart, missing a half-hour wait for the next ship. They settled into their seats as the powerful engines rumbled to life, beginning the ten-minute trip down into the city. Weiss stared impassively out of the window, content to watch the clouds go by as the city's airship docks slowly grew larger. Ruby fidgeted a little, trying to come up with a suitable topic for conversation. Their awkward silence lasted throughout the airship ride, throughout the short walk to a cafe of Weiss' choosing, was briefly broken by their polite waiter and their orders, and was finally shattered by a simple question from Ruby.
"So Weiss, what're you thankful for?"
"Wh-What?" Weiss spluttered, surprised in the middle of taking a sip of tea.
"What're you thankful for?" Ruby repeated. "The Fall Festival is a time of thanksgiving, after all."
"Um..." Weiss muttered, casting about for a suitable reply, one that wasn't too ostentatious or too humble or too provocative.
"Having trouble thinking of something?" Ruby asked, her trademark grin reappearing.
"Shut up, dunce" Weiss' reply was almost automatic, robbed of it's sting through overuse and lessened determination.
"Well, if it makes it any easier" Ruby began, pausing briefly as the waiter brought her a strawberry crepe and some oatmeal sprinkled liberally with sugar. "I'm thankful above all for my family." Weiss raised an eyebrow in indication that Ruby should continue.
"I mean, after mom died and dad retreated into himself, Yang practically raised me" Ruby went on. "Qrow was there, of course, he took every opportunity he could get to come home and care for us. We bonded in our mutual grief, and though we might not have had everything we wanted, we had each other. And that was more than enough." Ruby had a melancholy smile on her face, her hands folded in her lap.
"I..." Weiss didn't know what to say. Ruby had just nonchalantly mentioned that the primary emotions binding her family together were love reinforced by grief. Following that, Weiss couldn't just say something trivial and shift the topic of conversation. No, she would have to think of something truly meaningful in her life, she owed it to Ruby.
"It's alright" Ruby replied, her soulful grey gaze tugging at Weiss' heart. "It's all in the past, there's really nothing to be said."
"I'm thankful for you" Weiss decided, the lack of Ruby's usual energy granting her a sudden epiphany. "You're the backbone of Team RWBY, keeping us all together with that childish optimism and enthusiasm of yours."
"That's..." Ruby's eyes had gone as large as saucers, both from Weiss' admission and from the warm tone she was using.
"A long way from hating your guts, I know" Weiss finished for the startled Ruby. "Truth be told, Team RWBY has become the family that I never had, a group of people that won't judge me for just wanting to be me. Me trying to be nicer, more collaborative and less elite...I guess I was just trying to say thank you without really knowing it." She glanced down at her teacup. "So thank you, Ruby, for everything you've done..."
"You're welcome" Ruby smiled across the table at her, putting both her hands on top of Weiss' free one. The two shared a friendly smile before finishing their breakfast, knowing their bond as teammates and partners to be stronger than ever before.
[Team JNPR Dorm]
"Good morning! Good Morning! Good Morning!~" Nora sang, rousing two of her teammates from slumber.
"..." Ren cracked an eye open, registered Nora's energetic cerulean eyes about two inches from his own violet ones, grunted in acceptance, and rolled over to catch a few more precious moments of warmth underneath his covers.
"Good morning" Pyrrha yawned, stretching as she got up, ignoring Nora's bouncing on Ren's bed. "Where's Jaune?"
"He left a message about doing a favor for Ozpin" Nora replied, now rubbing Ren's back affectionately as she slowly worked her hands up to the covers pulled tightly about his shoulders. "Something about the Fall Festival, apparently." She pulled off Ren's covers in one go, inciting a resigned moan as Ren slowly rolled over and flopped onto the floor, wiping sleep out of his eyes.
"Good morning, Nora..." he muttered, slowly getting up and fumbling towards the closet for his school uniform. Pyrrha had gotten fully dressed in hers by this point, and was reviewing the message left by Jaune.
"I'm going to go check on him" she announced, a little worried by the fact that he said that he could be gone for most of the day.
"Alright~" Nora replied, waving as Pyrrha left the room.
She turned around to face a half-dressed Ren just beginning to unfold his dress shirt. She gently threw her arms around his neck from behind and nuzzled her chin into his shoulder, almost believing that she could feel the old scars rippling across his back as he readjusted his posture to accommodate her. He clasped one hand over hers while reaching up with the other to stroke her cheek, a comfortable silence settling over the dorm. The Fall Festival had held a special meaning for the two of them, as it marked the day when a young Nora had found a starving and beaten Ren trying to sleep in an alleyway. It marked the day that Ren had seen his first genuine smile, framed by a head of vibrant ginger hair and enthusiastic cerulean eyes.
Nora had invited him to join her family as they wandered Haven's citywide festivities, and the rest rapidly became history. Her parents, just as effusive (some would say insane) as their daughter, welcomed him with open arms. The Valkyries became the family he had never known, raising the stoic boy with all the warmth and affection they could. Sure, Ren and Nora's closeness as foster siblings and their different surnames lead to the 'together, but not together-together' situation that they so often had to explain, but they wouldn't trade it for the world. Ren had found a home, and Nora had found a constant companion that would merely smile at her antics when others would be horrified or disgusted.
For them the Fall Festival marked the beginning of their beautiful friendship, a bond that no one else that they met could fully understand. Each had the other, and for them, it was enough.
[Beacon Dining Hall]
The students of Beacon, even the upperclassmen who knew of Ozpin's enthusiasm for the Fall Festival, were rendered speechless by the appearance of the dining hall that evening. The long tables had been covered by white tablecloths, had been set with fine porcelain plates and intricately worked silverware. The tables were heaped with every conceivable dish from Vale's history, enough to feed all of Beacon even if every student and teacher went back for thirds. The curtains had been drawn and the lights dimmed to provide a cozy and relaxed atmosphere appreciated by all. As the students all took their seats, Headmaster Ozpin stood on a temporary podium at the head of the hall and tapped his cane against the ground once. All conversation instantly ceased as the sharp crack floated through the room, and all eyes lifted to the Headmaster.
"Welcome" Ozpin began, his omnipresent coffee mug resting lightly on the podium. "I won't bore you with a long-winded speech on history, otherwise I'd have Professor Port on this podium instead of me." He waited with a smirk while a ripple of laughter passed through the crowd.
"I will, however, leave you to this feast with a few words" he continued once the crowd had quieted down. "I truly believe that each and every one of you has embodied at least one of the traits that enabled Vale to celebrate the very first Fall Festival. Loyalty. Comradeship. Leadership. Acceptance. A willingness to serve." He raised his coffee mug in a toast, his eyes shining with pride as he looked out at his students.
"May the light you cast on the world never fade!" he proclaimed, and the crowd of students echoed his toast, raising their own glasses and draining them in one go.
Ozpin looked on with a smile as the students began to eat, the podium disassembling itself thanks to Glynda's dust magic. He always enjoyed this particular time of year, a time when the bonds between people were fortified and celebrated. His keen eyes easily picked out a smiling Weiss Schnee reminding Ruby that dessert came after the meal, a somewhat embarrassed Jaune Arc explaining to his team where he had been all day, a boisterous Yang Xiao Long messing with a stoic Blake Belladonna (who did seem to be enjoying her partner's antics), a beautiful couple-in-denial as Nora Valkyrie practically sat in Lie Ren's lap, and an appreciative Team CFVY thanking Velvet for whipping up chocolate confections for all of them.
I really must remember to thank Jaune for baking all those desserts... Ozpin thought to himself as he idly took another sip of coffee. Which reminds me...
Ozpin glanced at his overworked colleague, Professor Glynda Goodwitch, as she finished putting the podium away and began fidgeting over something that was on her mind. Ozpin knew about the pie she had baked for him, just as he knew everything else that happened in Beacon. He smiled at the thought of the inevitable mess that would have been created as soon as she entered a kitchen, and the colossal amount of patience that it would take to help her to not burn a salad. That she had put so much effort into that one pie was the reason that he had had Ms. Belladonna pick up a last-minute order for him. If she wanted to be the first to express her feelings, then he would give her the perfect setting to do it in.
Someday... Ozpin thought to himself as he invited Glynda up to his office, gently feeling the felt-lined case in his pocket. Someday...
A/N:
Hey guys! I know that this is slightly late for thanksgiving, but it's never too late (or too early, for that matter) to celebrate the bonds between family and friends! Crosshares/Combat Totes will be coming up as a short oneshot before the weekend is out, and Malcho1324's request will come within a week. As always, this chain of oneshots is 99% community driven, if you have a story you want to see, PM me or post it in the reviews section, I swear that both it and my inbox are judgement-free zones. Have a great week guys:)