"Alright. So I woke up at something like...Eeh, I don't even know what time it was, and then did my usual morning routine and then I think I had Practical Geography-"
"Oh? What did you do there?" Blake inquired, halting Yang every time she threatened to steamroll through her explanation of her days events.
"Well. We met up I think down the southern-ish end of the forest, and we'd been told that there was a single item that we had to find, depending on the riddle we'd been given it would be somewhere related to that." Yang was about to continue, but Blake interjected with another question. She had placed her book gently to her right, clasped her hands into a ball in her lap and tilted her head to look at her partner as she spoke. Yang too had changed her position, sitting cross-legged at the foot of Blakes bed, just on the edge of falling off. She too had her hands in her lap for the most part, though she gesticulated wildly to accompany her explanations.
"What was your riddle?" Blake asked.
"Uh, I didn't really understand this one at first, but my riddle was something cryptic and confusing. I didn't get it for a long time." Yang replied, giggling awkwardly to herself, mildly embarrassed while she fiddled with a strand of her hair. Blake smirked for a second, amused at the thought. Yang continued with her usual spirit.
"So after a long time I was reminded of something else, a proverb of sorts. To hide a-" She was stopped again by Blake, who focused her gaze beyond Yangs face as she thought.
"To hide a tree, use a forest." Blake finished distantly, something had clearly dragged her attention away in a hurry. She repeated the words in her head. 'To hide a tree, use a forest...where have I seen that before?'
Yang blinked, not quite sure of what to do. She took one hand and waved it in front of Blakes face. "Blake, you okay?" The question yanked Blake back into reality with a jolt. She was startled slightly, though any physical evidence of this was evaporated in an instant as she re-applied her calm demeanour. She spoke with a waver in her voice, but she filtered it out within the first few words.
"I'm fine. Just lost in my thoughts again." Her eyes returned to her partner, who was grinning with happiness.
"It's alright, I've seen you do it multiple times. Whatcha thinkin' about?" She asked, tilting her head yet again.
"It's not important." Blake replied flatly, severing any possible chance to continue that topic. Instead she took control of the situation again, slowly pressuring Yang to continue her retelling of her days events. "So you got your riddle, and then what?"
Yangs grin widened even further. "I went off to search for it!" She replied, leaving the sentence hanging.
"...And that's it?" Blake questioned the validity of this information, but Yang wasn't exactly renowned for her memory.
"Well, I may have got a little sidetracked by the Beowolf that I found..." She said with a slight restlessness.
"Just one?" Blake asked, aware that Yang was either lying on purpose or simply too unfocused to remember correctly.
"Okay, there may have been more than one." She looked left and right, a force of habit when unnerved. Something wasn't entirely true here. "There may have been a pack of them."
"Well, that does sound a lot more likely. I assume you dispatched them with relative ease." She was about to push for the answer she was waiting for, but Yang took the brief stop between sentences to interject with one of her own.
"Not all of them, a few got away, but I killed most of them. Of course, by the time I finished, time was almost up, so I headed back." Her general tone was one of faint sheepishness, almost as though she was ashamed at getting sidetracked. Blake spoke with a little more feeling this time, lining her words with reassurance.
"Just because you prevented things tearing you to pieces doesn't mean you failed at the objective, Yang. Did you get any kind of consequence?" She would've put a hand on Yangs shoulder, had they not been so far apart.
"Not really. They just said I should find it in my own time, so that's what I did. I went back to look for it after I'd finished my lunch." Yang inadvertently covered her own tracks without intending to, as that gave her a rational explanation for her being in the Emerald Forest at the same time as Blake. It wouldn't be too farfetched to assume that she'd come across her teammate on her search and once again got distracted. Blake was considering the very same thing, though she completed her analysis much faster than Yang. It did seem a reasonable thing to happen, but she maintained her suspicions and skepticism.
"Did you find it?" She asked without even the slightest hint of eagerness.
"No, I looked and looked but couldn't find it. And then it started to rain, so I started going back to Beacon anyway." Yang responded, trying to mask her words with a sense of normality. Blake watched as she fidgeted somewhat while she spoke, her hands never quite stayed still. She was lying, and Blake decided to challenge this theory.
"You didn't meet anyone else along the way? Nothing happened?" She kept her posture relaxed and her voice steady, watching for the tiny giveaways that everyone used when they were uncomfortable.
"Nnno, there was just me. I didn't see anyone, but I might have heard them. Could've been anything though, y'know?" Yang scratched the back of her head and closed her eyes, smiling awkwardly. Blake narrowed her eyes slightly, and continued with her interrogation.
"Mhm. Which way did you come back?" Blake inquired, knowing full well that if Yang behaved anything like Blake thought, she'd slip up here.
Sure enough, Yang said the first thing that came to her mind. "I took the cliffside path, since that was the closest!" She was speaking with a cheerful tone, but there was a nervous edge to her voice that wasn't there usually. She did her best to avoid Blakes stare for more than a few seconds at a time.
"Did you make it back before the rain started?" Blake asked, having obtained most of the information she needed. She hadn't moved since they started talking, and kept her collected manner about herself even in a personal space such as this.
"I did! It was very close though, I bet I would've got drenched if I hadn't have left when I did." Yang replied with more energy this time, most likely assuming she'd dodged the bullet. She was visibly relaxing, and her usual self was returning. "Did you?"
"Yes, I was fortunate enough to get inside before the downpour began." As she spoke, her eyes glued to Yangs, though she glanced at the jacket on the hook in her peripheral vision, and remembered the damp clothes strewn across the floor when she arrived. Yang was lying, she had been outside when it started to rain, and she got caught in the worst of it.
It was pretty much settled for Blake, she knew that Yang had followed her, and she didn't want Blake to know about it. The only question that remained now was why. Typically, before she could pursue that line of inquiry, the door opened inwards calmly as Weiss walked in, shutting it gently behind her. She briefly glimpsed both Blake and Yang watching her as she made her way over to her bed, but she didn't care. They could've been confessing love, as long as they left her alone, she was fine with it.
Blake thought it best to leave her final line of questioning for another day, Yang was most likely too aware by now, and would make extracting the necessary information difficult. She altered the subject, briefly noting Weiss searching through one of her many suitcases for something.
"And then what did you do after coming back?" Blake continued, satisfied with the results she had acquired. She let her head tilt back slightly until the tips of her bow brushed against the wood. Yang spoke with a usual cheer, she assumed she'd avoided raising any suspicions of her whereabouts.
"Well, I came back here with Ruby, she'd been caught out in the rain too. She went and changed into a clean uniform in the bathroom while I got into these-" She said, grabbing the bottom of her shirt and lifting it up somewhat, as if Blake couldn't deduce what she meant already. Yang was in a very good shape, Blake had to admit.
Of course, none of them were unfit, but Weiss was very slender and she appeared frail, in stark contrast to Yang. She continued, having no comprehension of Blakes mind working as she spoke. "And then I climbed onto my bed and starting studying for the Grimm Weapon lecture we have tomorrow, and eventually I fell asleep. Oh, then Weiss came in, we exchanged...friendly words." This earned an over the shoulder glare from Weiss, while Yang merely smiled her wolfy grin.
Something had happened between these two, severe enough to mildly anger Weiss. It wouldn't surprise Blake in the slightest if Yang had initiated and continued it. "And then you came in! Well, I guess. I mean, Ruby woke me up as you know, but you were already there, so I assume you'd already came back by that point, and Weiss had left since she just got back now." Yang took a single breath between sentences.
Blake gave her a half smile, her mind now requesting she continue with her book. "I came back and you were asleep, there was no point in waking you so I left you alone." She responded with her usual lack of emotion. She glanced behind her out of the window and noted the sky was darkening. "Either this weather is going to get even worse, or it's starting to get dark. When will Ruby be back?" Even though Blake already knew the answer, it didn't hurt to attempt to converse with her partner.
"Uuh, should be about now I think, this'll be her third and final class for the day. ." Yang shrugged, catching herself mid-yawn and stifling it with a hand. Her tiredness was returning.
'Most likely from tailing me all afternoon...' Blake spoke mentally to herself. Ruby was far too small to force her way through the crowds, she'd most likely just wait as Blake had done. Or attempt to follow the traffic flow towards the dorm. She wouldn't be running now, as she was finished with schoolwork for the day, and so Blake knew that all four would be together in the room very soon. She knew she wouldn't get much reading done while Ruby was fresh from class, as that would no doubt raise a conversation between the sisters. No, reading would be pointless.
Yang remarked with displeasure. "Ugh, when will it stop? I had things to do today." She pointed to the window, and was followed up immediately by Weiss.
"Probably not tonight. Have you seen the colour of those clouds? It may as well be night already, the weather isn't going to change for at least another few hours." She closed her suitcase with another frustrated sigh, and slid it back under her bed. Blake would've asked what Weiss was missing, but it seemed Yang had beaten her to it.
"What'cha lost?" She inquired, tilting her head to the side.
"We've discussed this already, Yang." Came the sharp reply. "It's none of your business." Weiss was clearly irritated. They exchanged words back and forth, Yangs happy, warm reasonings and questions clashing with Weiss's cold counters. It was a textbook case of opposites at work, and it showed no signs of slowing down. Only when Ruby finally returned, some twenty minutes after her class had finished did Yang and Weiss cease arguing.
Ruby emptied a large amount of paper and books onto her bunk above, leaving Yang to close the door behind her. She was very unorganized in comparison to Weiss, Blake, or even her sister. Everyone in the room seemed to stop and wait, they could feel something wasn't quite right.. Nobody opened their mouths to ask, perhaps they didn't need to. Ruby eventually emptied her entire bag onto her bed and plucked a single sheet of paper from the mass of files.
"Okay, I was on my way back from class and Ozpin gave me this." She waved it in the air. Weiss had placed herself at the foot of Blakes bed with her arms folded, awaiting the news.
"What does it say?" Asked Blake, catching Yang opening her mouth and shutting it again, about to ask the same question.
"Well..." Ruby began, reading slowly. "There have been reports, and only reports so far, of something very big and very dangerous in the Emerald Forest that shouldn't be there."
"What do you mean, very big and very dangerous? Isn't everything in there lethal?" Weiss snapped, only to be interrupted by Blakes question.
"Only reports?" She asked simply. Something about the way Ruby spoke unnerved her, this was not a usual request. Ruby continued, half ignoring the questions. Yang waited with held breath.
"Several students say they've seen something 'Unnaturally large and incredibly violent.'" She finished the sentence and looked at her teammates. Weiss maintained her serious manner, though worry was evident across her brow. Blake was deep in thought, and Yang was seemingly stunned. "Ozpin would like us to investigate, since we're the team most suited for the job." Ruby concluded with an explanation of how the exchange went, and waited for her team to respond. Yang was the first to give her opinion, exclaiming with vigor.
"How bad can it be?" She was cut through by Weiss.
"It can always be bad. Stop charging headlong into things and think about this. Ozpin wouldn't have asked if it wasn't serious. He clearly believes that these students are telling the truth. If there are Grimm in there, anything could be living amongst the trees." Weiss was harsh, but her words made a lot of sense. Blake said nothing, still contemplating what Ozpin had said. Ruby followed up with her own opinion.
"I think we should plan ahead, Weiss is right. There's no telling what it could be, and we need to be ready for anything. But, he did tell me that it had only been seen at the very eastern fringes, so the Academy is in no danger. Even though this is important, there's nothing we can do about it now." She may have been young, but she was very mature. Blake respected her for that. Ruby nodded to her left at the rapidly darkening sky, and began cramming everything back into her bag, leaving one sheet on her bed.
Nobody said anything for several minutes, too occupied with their thoughts. Yang broke the silence first, with a suggestion to head to the dining hall and get something to eat. Everybody agreed that this seemed like a good idea. Ruby had ran back and forth a lot today, and she was eager to regain some of the energy she spent. Likewise with Yang, her stomach growled with hunger. Blake and Weiss were far more subtle. It was more of a chance to observe and contemplate rather than eat for Blake, and that was exactly what she would do. After Yang had changed back into her now dry clothes, they left the dorm in single file, with Weiss closing the door behind her.