Chapter 9. Among Friends

(October 10, 2015)

"Good morning!"

Nicandra was waking up her team. She was met with Bruin's protests and Rouge's groans.

"Do you haaave aaany ideaaa what tiiime is iiit?" Zelony protractedly yawned.
"It's nine in the morning, I went easy on you."
"That's stiiill niiight," Rouge grumbled.
"Really? The look outside says different," Rouge argued as she violently revealed the curtains and threatening sun beams entered the room.
"Heeey! Let me sleeep, okay?" Bruin yawned. "It's Saturday, for Dust's sake!"
"Which is why we're going to Vale together."
"Excuse me?"

Zelony was awake now. Did Nicandra just wanted to hang out with their team and was genuine about it? Or was she faking it for Professor Goodwitch's sake? Either way, it seemed rather strange of her to suggest such thing.

"I want us to get to know each other better. It is in our best interest to develop decent co-operation skills if we wish to graduate Beacon."
"And what exactly would we do?" Bruin asked skeptically.
"Have you never socialized with other people?" Nicandra inquired.
"Ummm..."
"Then I suppooose we should fiiix it up," Rouge offered.
"That would be nice of you. Now get ready everyone! We're leaving after the breakfast," the blue-haired girl ordered and left the dorm.
"Who does she think she is, bossing us around?" Bruin wondered as he got up and started to get dressed.
"Seems like she's still on that 'inadequate team leader' thing," Zelony sighed, but then pulled Bruin for a hug, "But don't worry! I'll make sure she's as little of nuisance as she can be," he smiled.

After half an hour, the trio finally arrived at the cafeteria, complete with their weapons. Nicandra just looked at them with a questioning look and motioned them to come to the table she was sitting at. During the breakfast they exchanged a few words, but most of the team was still half asleep. The leader of Team AZRE, Ace, and some other boy in black were also using the opportunity to continue their rest, most likely interrupted by their team mates. The tables at which Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting at were lively, thanks to Yang and Nora's quite energetic movements. To some extend it was also thanks to Ruby as well, who was speeding through the cafeteria to the counter to get the last batch of cookies.

With the breakfast finished, Team BRNZ went for the landing pad. An airship was awaiting, planned to depart in fifteen minutes. As they boarded the vehicle they noticed a boy around their age, with brown hair and a longbow and quiver on his back. He was sitting loosely, doing something on his Scroll.

An hour later, Bruin, Rouge, Nicandra, and Zelony were strolling across the streets of Vale. They were walking in a rather uncomfortable silence, much to the blue-haired girl's disappointment. The frustration grew so large that she couldn't keep calm and exploded.

"This is terrible!"
"It was your idea," Zelony reminded her. "I thought you'd, you know, have an idea for today."
"Do I have to do everything?" Nicandra replied. "Bruin!" she turned to the brown-haired man who looked up from his Scroll, "Think of something!"
"Do I look like think tank?" he deflected.
"Let's go to a tea house!"

Bruin, Zelony, and Nicandra looked at Rouge who just made a suggestion. It seemed unlikely of her to come up with such an idea: they thought that a confectionery would be something more her style.

"Tea house?" their team leader wondered. "Why not go grab some pizza instead?"
"Oh, now you're coming up with ideas," Rouge pouted. "Why, I know the best tea house on this side of Remnant! But if you don't want to," she summoned the earth spirit which surrounded the other three with a solid stone wall, "I can make you."
"Okay, okay! Just let us out of here! I don't take small spaces well," Bruin uttered and laughed nervously.

Gnome released the group and disappeared into emblem. Rouge was smiling victoriously, while her leader was sighing in relief. Zelony looked at him worried.

"I'll take you shopping later," he winked at him. Bruin smiled weakly.
"So where is this tea house you were talking about?" Nicandra turned to Rouge. "I wonder what makes you anticipate so greatly."
"You'll see soon enough," she smiled. Her smile wasn't enough of her smirks or those creepy-and-mysterious type. It was as she was genuinely smiling. "Follow me."

As the four of them walked across the streets of Vale, they talked about their first week at Beacon. Of particular interest was Rouge's battle with Cardin. The dark pink-haired girl once again expressed her bewilderment with her yesterday opponent's lack of skill. However the whole team agreed that the battle between Pearl and Larimar was quite entertaining to watch, especially the girl's Semblance was praised.

Finally they arrived at a small building, a sign saying Lilium Terrace. Its had flowerbeds filled with many types of lilies in a variety of colors. The windows were filled with colorful glasses depicting various tea shrubs. Rouge took Bruin and Nicandra by their arms and motioned with her head towards Zelony to follow her inside. The interior was quite large, walls covered with dark red tapestry and adorned with images of different lilies, couches and tables were littered across the room, some of them already occupied. Rouge led the way and the four of them sat down in a corner.

"This appears to be a tea house specializing in lily-made drinks, am I correct?" Nicandra asked first.
"So coool!" were Bruin's only words.
"I must admit, it looks quite decent," Zelony added.
"Yep, they have a really large selection of lily-based teas, not to mention the cookies baked in the house too," Rouge explained, then turned to the green-haired boy with an angry expression on her face, "A talented architect and interior planner conceived such a wonder! Do you have any design sense?"
"Hey, I didn't say that it looks bad."
"But you said it looks 'decent'."
"'Quite decent'," Zelony drew quotation marks in the air.

Then silence once again fell over them. However, it was quickly dissipated with a coming of a waitress.

"Hello, can I take your order?"

The sudden appearance of the waitress just a moment after the squabble between Rouge and Zelony was off-putting from even looking at the tea cards laid before them.

"Yes, four martagon teas and a large bowl of hansonii cookies, please," Rouge quickly came up with an answer.
"Okay, they will arrive shortly," the waitress shot a quick glance at the girl and went into the kitchen. The rest of the team deeply exhaled.
"Thanks for the save," Bruin mumbled.
"Don't mention it, but don't expect me to pay for you all just because I made the order," Rouge smiled menacingly.
"What exactly did you order?" Nicandra asked interested.
"The best of the best," she winked at them. "It'll arrive shortly."
"Tell us!"

Bruin asked her excitedly, but Rouge refused to speak. Instead she opted to put on a half-smile, half-smirk. They boy sighed and turned to Zelony and the two of them started talking about their impressions of other students. Nicandra rebuked them about talking about others instead of focusing on the situation she hoped would be the topic of their conversation.

After about ten minutes, the waitress came. She had a tray which held four cups of hot water, atop each a small plate with the tea bag and a tea spoon on it and a big, lily-shaped bowl filled with cookies. She put the cups in front of each person and the bowl went for the middle.

"Enjoy your meal," she said and soon after left them to attend to other customers.
"Let's see what it is."

Nicandra took the plate from her cup and put the tea bag into it. The drink soon started to take colors similar to Rouge's hair, although it was brighter than them. The other three followed her example and soon the air around their table was filled with the tender smell of the tea.

"If the tea smells so nice, I wonder how it tastes." Bruin was drooling, the sweet smell of flowery drink tickling his nose.
"Calm down, Bruin," Nicandra reprimanded him, but with little success.
She just earned a smile from Zelony. "He seems excited about things like that."
"No kidding," was her only reply.
"Take a bite of these cookies. They're fantastic," Rouge encouraged her team mates.

Without wasting time, Bruin quickly grabbed a cookie and bit it. It tasted delicious: it was sweet, but it was mild. Then there was the filling which was simply amazing in his opinion: mildly bitter, as if two balance the perception of taste. Nicandra sighed as she looked at her childish leader, although Zelony didn't mind. Quite the opposite, he seemed to be very content with it.

"You're a dirty boy," Rouge purred seductively, "you have filling on your lips."

With a quick motion, she wiped the yellow filling from the corner of Bruin's mouth with her thumb. Nicandra and Zelony looked at her confused. Bruin felt his face heating up a bit and quickly swallowed the rest of the cookie.

"R-Rouge..." their team leader stammered, feeling warmth raising in his cheeks.
"Such a tease," the girl replied, a content smile on her face as she licked her finger.
"Rouge, please keep your 'fun' to minimum in places likes this," Nicandra said. "Our leader isn't a one to take to your playing very well. Neither is me and Zelony."
"Hey, it's quite entertaining to be honest!" the green-haired boy deflected.
"Oh, thank you, Zelony!" Rouge beamed. "Not many people appreciate a good flirt."
"Just 'Zel' is fine."

The rest of the socializing in Lilium Terrace was spent on further talks about their first week at school. Few talked about their families, most content with the topic were the girls. Rouge talked about her older cousin Garlik Allium, his team consisting of three girls, and her Hunter father. Nicandra on the other hand talked about her strict parents, but even stricter mentors, also telling some of funny stories she was part of. Bruin and Zelony were not very open about their families, both mentioning brothers and stepbrothers, but aside of that they kept silent.

Time quickly flew by and it was already three in the afternoon. The team paid for their teas a cookies in equal amounts, totaling to twenty lien. As they left the establishment the waitress who served them waved farewells, although it appeared to be more directed at Rouge.

They decided that even though they haven't done much, they should head back to Beacon and tackle some homework. One of the assignments they were not really fond of doing, at least Zelony, was an essay for Professor Oobleck's history lesson. The "times before the Dust" wasn't particularly interesting to him, but it was the basic of how the Hunters and Huntresses came to be in the first place.

As the team walked to the airship bay, they noticed the boy from the morning. He seemed to be trying to sneak up on someone, evident in him hiding behind various objects. Suddenly he drew his weapon and shot an arrow. They heard a loud clank and a desperate 'meow'.

"What's going on?" Bruin asked Nicandra who just shook her head.
"That sounded like trouble," Zelony thought. "Might as well go ask the guy about it."
"Zelony, this is his matter," Nicandra reprimanded him. "We don't need to interrogate him, he's a Beacon student anyway, he should be able to handle whatever he is doing."
"Still, we should act like Hunters, I suppose," Bruin said. "Ignoring things, even minor, may lead to greater consequences."
"That is quite deep, coming from you."
"I just said what you would say, Nic," Bruin replied with a sheepish smile.
"Oh."
"Nic, whatever is it with you today?" Rouge asked. "You seem a bit not yourself."
"Well, it seems personal for the boy, so I didn't—"
"For Dust's sake, Nicandra!" Zelony suddenly burst. "You sound like you already gave up on this whole Huntress thing!"

An arrow suddenly flew past them. They looked around and noticed the brown-haired boy who was gesturing for them to be silent. He then quickly disappeared and after a moment he appeared again, now with a white and orange cat in his hands.

"I barely caught him," he said with an expression of frustration crossed with delight.
"Who are you again?" Zelony asked.
"Isn't it rude of you to ask my name without giving me yours?"
"I am Nicandra," the girl replied unmoved. "These are Zelony, Rouge, and our team leader Bruin. Now could introduce yourself?"
"I'm Dezaryl, from Team AZRE."
"Ace's team, right?" Bruin inquired.
"Yes." Then the boy thought silently for a moment, "I do recall Ace and Matt speaking about someone named 'Bruin' if memory serves me right. Would that happen to be you?"
"Um, yes."
"And Nicandra... I heard a bit about you from Matt."
"The Grimm-clad boy's friend? I expect they weren't the nicest of things." Nicandra seemed to be a bit tense and nervous.
"So, what is the deal with the cat?" Zelony asked.
"It's an errand, surprisingly well paid. Julius here," he patted the cat on his head, much to his discontent, "run away from home and haven't returned for some time. Well, as one could expect from a cat it was quite hard to catch him, but I finally did."
"So who's the bigwig?" Rouge asked.
"My main employer. I need to return the cat to him, I'll be seeing you around Beacon."

Dezaryl quickly fled, leaving Team BRNZ surprised and confused. It appeared as the boy had a secret, not wishing for it to be known.

The four went back to the airship bay and boarded the craft. A moment later the engine was activated and the airship departed for Beacon. As they flew over Vale, they noticed some commotion as group of people was fighting. Among the fighters they noticed two men: one in all black and one with white jacket and a black hat, and there appeared to be also a woman, judging from their graceful moves. However they couldn't make any solid guess as the airship soared higher into the sky.

As soon as the airship landed, the people aboard it quickly left it. Bruin almost left his collapsible staff, but Zelony noticed it in time and retrieved it before another wave of students would fill the craft. The leader smiled sheepishly, thanking his partner, as Nicandra sighed once again. She thought she sighed way too many times today, even by her standards. Rouge teased their leader, making him blush.

The team were about to head to their room when they happened upon a pair of students: a red-haired girl in a rather casual red clothes and a blue-haired boy wearing armor. Then a green-haired girl wearing a meager variation of a standard soldier uniform crashed into Nicandra causing her to fall.

"S-Sorry!" she apologized and quickly helped the blue-haired girl to her feet.
"What's the hurry?" Zelony asked her.
"Ah, it's just that my team leader just disappeared and with my and his partner we're looking for him," the girl replied. "I'm Eva Manos, by the way," she quickly added. "Member of Team BLZE."

Then the pair of the students approached them, the boy scolding Eva with just the look he gave her.

"Eva, our leader went missing. Please try to take this seriously."
"You walk too fast!" the girl complained.
"Nah, you're just little, short stuff," the read-haired girl countered.

Indeed, when Team BRNZ looked at Eva they noticed how small she was. She was smaller than their smallest team member Nicandra who, without the heels, stood at 161 centimeters (5 feet 3 inches).

"This annoying person is my partner Zaria," Eva coldly introduced her as she punched her in the arm. "And this behemoth is Lapis," the girl motioned to the boy. "So who are you?"

The team introduced themselves to the other incomplete team. They were actually getting a bit of sick doing that. Just how many people are here at Beacon?

"So, have you met any mysterious guy around our age wearing all black and wearing aviators?" asked Eva.
"If you're looking for a guy with a bow he should still be somewhere down in Vale," Zelony replied.
"No, that's not him. Blaise uses much stranger weaponry, like wrist daggers and railguns," Lapis informed them.
"Let's go," Eva said. "The sooner we'll find him, the sooner we get to finish those damn assignments for Oobleck," she groaned.
"This isn't a group task," Lapis reminded her. "We can do it on our own."
"Four heads will solve those questions faster than three."
"Don't you mean 'four heads are a real think tank,' or something like that, Eva?" Bruin asked.
"It's not like I'm counting on that idiot to do it properly."
"Hey!" the red-haired girl yelled annoyed. "I could slice you faster than you'd be able to say 'shortstuff'."
"That's a low blow, you know."

Everyone groaned harmoniously at Bruin's pun. Eva also growled at him like a dog.

"What?"
"I heard Yang making better," Lapis commented.
"Yang, Yang, Yang..." Bruin wondered aloud. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"At the team assignments, she's the blonde from Team RWBY," Rouge suddenly spoke, earning surprised looks. "Caught you all off guard? Man, that was easy." A satisfactory smirk appeared on her face.
"Well, we'll be going. See you around."

Eva took Zaria and Lapis by their arm and despite her small stature dragged them with easiness away. Bruin and Zelony looking at the distancing trio surprised, Nicandra shaking her head at the boys' reaction.

"Frightened by a little girl now, are we?" Rouge asked the two teasingly. Bruin scratched behind his head, while Zelony tried to maintain his cool.

"Careful, she might hear that," her leader whispered. "She seems awfully sensitive about her height."
"Don't we have more important matters at hand?" Nicandra cut in. "Like homework for example?"
"Gee, you always know how to ruin a mood."
"No, Rouge. I am simply concerned about our team's well-being," the blue-haired woman replied. "I might as well help our leader with that." Nicandra sent a little smile at Bruin.

The team then spent the rest of the day eating meals and doing homework. Bruin was a bit hasty with, hoping to be done with it, so he would have Sunday free. Of course his hastiness was not overlooked by Nicandra who occasionally pointed out a mistake or two in his exercises. Rouge was done surprisingly quickly, a fact not missed by her partner, who was still working on her assignment. Zelony was the slowest worker, taking his time to answer a single question, lazily browsing through the book.

For their first weekend together, it was all going pretty well.

Author's Notes

First of all, RWBY VOLUME 3 PREMIERES OCTOBER 24TH, 2015! I am so happy! And that Episode 1 preview was so cool! Blake's battle cries were once again top-notch (yes, I admit, I love her battle cries). Hoverboard which can turn into twin guns? We should have seen that coming, since well, this is RWBY after all. I like Arslan's fighting style: it's so... I don't know. Composed? Well, it's a stark contrast to Yang's wild blows. My poor baby Nadir (I swear he's a Kingdom Hearts fan 'cause that outfit looks like a lot like Riku's). Bolin seems interesting, I like his voice. "My BFF." "No." OMFG! I died!

Second, it appears I'm posting this on the so-called "RWBY Day". ;)

Third, I finally managed to include Dezaryl of Team AZRE and the rest of Team BLZE's members: Lapis, Zaria, and Eva!

Fourth, Dezaryl's assignment is blatantly taken from a certain video game. Can you guess which? ;)

I wonder what I should do for Chapter 10. I'll most likely do a minor time skip (few days at most). I think I should put some interaction with Teams RWBY and JNPR since Teams BRNZ and PLTM have had pretty much nothing with them so far. Any suggestions?