Chapter 4
Typical for Weiss, the sun was fully up before she began to stir in the morning. The remainder of team RWBY was already up and going about their morning activities. Blake and Yang were likely out sparring a few rounds before having breakfast together. Ruby had Crescent Rose field stripped on her desk, carefully inspecting, cleaning, and oiling every piece. Her headphones barely muffling the music she was listening to.
Neo was already awake and ready to go for the day, her corset and jacket on, sitting at the desk next to Ruby, watching the young girl work. Well, some job you did making sure she couldn't sneak away in the middle of the night. Weiss thought to herself. Maybe I'll just tie her to the bed tonight. She felt her cheeks go warm and flush at that thought.
Weiss moved as quickly as she could this early in the day to get ready and start thinking about what needed to be done before Monday rolled around. After a mere forty-five minutes, a new morning record for Weiss, as noted by Ruby, she told Neo that they should head to the cafeteria if they wanted brekkers before heading out for the day.
Nodding eagerly, Neo winked at Weiss and pointed to her stomach before holding her hands out, palms up, like an empty bowl.
Leaving Ruby to her maintenance tasks, Weiss lead Neo through their dorm, pointing out the rooms various other teams were assigned to.
Walking across the courtyard, Weiss realized that Neo might make the same mistakes she did during her first week on campus.
"Now, you have to pay close attention to where you are. Not many of us really lock our doors all the time and every single floor is set up exactly the same. And if you come in through the back, you're on the ground level, not the first floor that the main entrance puts you on."
Neo cocked her head to the right and her eyes alternated colors, one pink, one brown.
"So you can understand how easy it is to make a mistake as to what floor you're on after walking up five flights of stairs, going to 'your' room and accidentally walking in on Coco… Well, you get the picture."
Eyes now both pink and wide open, Neo motioned for Weiss to continue, as it was obvious the story was just getting good.
"Maybe another time, the cafeteria is right here."
Dropping her head and slumping her shoulders, Neo exaggerated her disappointment in not hearing the rest of the story.
The great hall was fairly empty as they entered. Some students came in quite early, much like a normal class day, while others like Weiss, preferred to sleep in and miss the early rush. "Okay, so, one of the nice parts about the weekend is the breakfast burrito bar and the omelet station," Weiss began, pointing to each in turn, "And then there's the smoothie station, which is open during the week as well, and the regular buffet. Grab whatever you'd like and we'll meet up at that table over there with Pyrrha and Nora." she finished as she pointed to the two redheads across the dining hall.
After gathering up a couple of plates, each loaded with a hefty pile of food, Neo made her way to the table with the Amazon and the cute little redhead Weiss pointed to. But Weiss wasn't there yet. Apprehensively, Neo approached the two girls and gestured to the seat next to the Amazon.
Smiling widely, the two girls welcomed her to their table. "Howdy, Stranger! You're just in time to hear all about the boatloads of Lien Ren and I made selling Ursa-skin rugs."
"Now, Nora…" Pyrrha began.
"So there I was…" Nora jumped right into her story, paying no heed to Pyrrha.
Turning to Neo, Pyrrha introduced herself, "Hello again! I'm Pyrrha Nikos and this little ball of babbling energy is Nora Valkyrie. Don't feel too bad if you miss part, or all, of this story. You'll hear it again, I'm sure." Pyrrha rolled her eyes as Nora continued on.
Neo smiled and placed her hands on her chest and bowed her head slightly by way of saying 'thank-you'.
Pyrrha continued, "So, you must be the skilled warrior Weiss fought and defeated? You must have some impressive skills if she then managed to convince Goodwitch to let stay here and train rather than turn over to the local authorities?"
The mention of her rare defeat struck Neo like a blow and almost threatened to sap her appetite. Neo hung her head and slouched over her plates, staring blankly at them.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect. Weiss is a very skilled Huntress in training, there's no shame in a defeat at her hands. You're in good company, Weiss and Ruby have beaten Jaune and me more than once in combat class."
"I'm starting to think that only happened because you let us win, to spare Ruby's feelings, Pyrrha."
"Why Weiss, you know I would never do that!" Pyrrha leaned back and placed a hand over her mouth in mock shock at the playful accusation.
"So I see you guys have met…" Weiss looked over to Nora, animatedly telling her story, "Wait, is she seriously telling the Ursa-skin rugs story AGAIN?"
"Yet again, I'm afraid."
"Guhhh! Neo, grab your plates. Pyrrha, good luck." Weiss took Neo's upper arm and gave her a tug to indicate that they were moving.
Neo looked between Nora and Pyrrha, smiled and got up to follow Weiss.
The two girls claimed an empty table and dove into their food. Neo was famished. It had been nearly two days since she last ate. And in that time, she fought the blonde girl – Yang, was subsequently defeated by Weiss, and since taken 'prisoner'. Though, to be fair, being a prisoner here didn't seem like it was going to be that bad, especially with this much food available.
Weiss was a little disgusted at the scene before her, watching Neo devour the piles of food, so she held off speaking until the small woman took a break from shoveling food into her face.
"Well, now that you're well-nourished, we actually have a lot to do today. First, we need to get you some uniforms, your books, and supplied for classes. Then, we're going to have to pick up some essentials for you in downtown Vale."
After bussing their plates, grabbing some snack bars, and filling up their water bottles, Weiss led Neo to the Quartermaster's building to begin the process of acquiring the necessities for Beacon classwork.
The Quartermaster's building was fairly large and well equipped. Weiss explained that the front of the building, with the uniform shop and supply depot was only a small fraction of what was within. There were also various professionally staffed armory rooms that customized weapons, created and tested new Dust rounds, as well as work areas for students to use for maintaining their weapons and attempting their own customizations.
One of the bubbly work-study students welcomed them into the uniform shop and led them over to the ladies side of the room. Sizing Neo up, the girl began shuffling through the racks. Pulling out a pile of skirts "These are going to be the smallest size we have, and they'll probably still need some tailoring." She brought them over to the blouses and vests and pulled out a few before walking over to the jackets. Picking out a couple, she held each in turn up to Neo's chest before deciding on one. "Okay, the fitting rooms are in the back. I'll send over the tailor to help you out while I pick out your accessories. Do you want leggings or socks to wear with your skirts?"
A bit overwhelmed by this girl's pace, Neo sheepishly shrugged.
"I'll grab some of each. Options are nice." The girl pointed to a table near the fitting room, "I'll meet you there when you're finished with the tailor's measurements."
Fortunately for Neo, since everything would need to be cut to the same size, the tailor only had Neo try on one outfit, saying he could take all the measurements needed from fitting that one properly. Handing the girls a slip, he told them that he would have a few ready for pickup on Monday morning, so Neo would have appropriate classroom attire, and that the rest would be finished in the evening after their classes.
The girl bagged up Neo's leggings, socks, and, to Weiss's pleasure, the neckties Neo had chosen over the crossovers. "Have a good weekend, ladies." She smiled warmly at the pair as she passed the bag across the counter.
"Thank you. You as well!" Weiss replied for both of them.
Their next destination was the next door over, the bookstore. Ticking off the items they were going to need on her fingers, Weiss began, "Okay. You're going to need books for history with Oobleck, Grim anatomy for Port, Goodwitch doesn't really give us readings – it's more of a 'trial by fire' kind of class, and a current affairs text, kingdom newspaper subscription, and a subscription from one of the other kingdoms for Ozpin's class."
Weiss maneuvered through the aisles with practiced ease and handed more and more books to Neo, which piled up in her arms before they even made it halfway through the store. Neo suddenly began to feel overwhelmed again and started questioning what she was even doing here. Setting the books down, she grabbed Weiss's sleeve and tugged it to get her attention.
Having gotten it, Neo shifted her eyes rapidly between the accumulated books and Weiss, then she pointed to herself, shook her head and pointed to it, and then gestured towards Weiss.
"You're worried you don't know as much as the rest of us to make it through classes?"
Neo nodded.
"Well, you don't. You're coming in midway through the semester and you're going to have a lot of catching up to do." She paused briefly and looked at her charge. "Don't tell me you thought this was going to be easy."
Neo rapidly shook her head. That wasn't it. I don't think it was going to be easy. I just have my own routines. My own little world. For so long. This is all so new. What would happen if I fail? If I disappointed those in power? Those that gave me this generous reprieve from prison. They would realize what a mistake they made. They would punish me. Severely.
Sensing her inner turmoil, Weiss put a hand on Neo's shoulder. "You're fine." She dragged out the last word to take the edge off of it, and tried to give a reassuring smile when the small woman pressed her shoulder into Weiss's touch and looked up to her, but truth be told, she had no idea what would happen if Neo couldn't make it and was a little worried for both of them. "C'mon, let's finish up here, drop everything off in our room, and head into town."