The dining hall was filled with hungry students fresh out of their final classes. The entire room was a hive of activity. Blake didn't care much for it. The four sat themselves down on a table in the far corner, as away from people as they could get. They had decided to wait a little before getting their food, to let the line shorten first. Instead, they discussed what was all on their minds.
"Whadd'ya think it is?" Yang asked, eyes ringed with intrigue. Ruby shrugged her shoulders as flatly as she could.
"I don't know, it might even be nothing. Anything can be dangerous when it's big enough, and this is supposed to be very big." She was trying not to let the news weigh her mood down, but Yang could see through her facade.
"Don't worry yourself Ruby, it's like you said. There's nothing we can do about it right now, just enjoy the food." She gave her little sister a cheerful smile, which elicited the same reaction from Ruby. She had both of her hands on the table, looking around at everybody going about their business. Weiss sat opposite Yang, boredom written in her eyes. Blake looked as though she wasn't even there, sitting with her back to the wall. She was still thinking about those few words and what they meant, how there were no sightings or explanations, just speculation. She trusted Professor Ozpins judgement, but she kept the thought close to her attention.
"Oh hey, looks like it's starting to thin out. Do you wanna go start lining up?" Ruby pointed out, looking in the direction of the much smaller queue. Yang gave her a nod and stood up, making her way over. Ruby stopped momentarily and turned slightly to look at her other two teammates. "Are you going to get anything?" She spoke as warmly as she could, but she was never good with people. Weiss said nothing as she rose, walking past Ruby without saying a single word. "Blake?"
"Huh?" She was lost in her mind again. "Oh, of course." Ruby still wondered how she could show so little emotion. As the other girl joined Weiss and Yang, Ruby gave a slight smile to herself and went off after them.
They returned to their table a short while later, with plates of distinctly opposite foodstuffs. Yang of course had plumped straight for the most indulgent thing she could find. She sat staring at the small mountain of ice-cream in front of her, eyes glazed over with awe. "Mmmmm, quadruple chip with sauce. I'm drooling already." Ruby meanwhile had taken a small bowl of vanilla, which she placed next to her plate containing a heap of various biscuits and cookies. By contrast, Weiss had nothing but a glass of water, her appetite nonexistent. Blake simply took an assortment of things and made her own sandwich, though she barely touched it.
As they ate, the two sisters discussed their days through mouthfuls of unhealthy food. How they could understand one another over the racket that echoed in the hall was beyond Weiss, let alone the dismembered words that they managed to form. They may as well have just slammed their faces into their food and ate like pigs.
It didn't take long for them to finish their meals, and coherent speech returned, mostly with Yang complaining about the weather. "How long is it possible for it to rain continuously. d'you reckon?"
"No idea." Came the reply to her right, and then another from her front.
"Around eleven days. There are recorded incidents of up to two weeks of non-stop rain, but they're exceedingly rare." Weiss paused momentarily to look out of the window to the left of their table. It was now a midnight blue, verging on black. The lights of the Academy glowed through the water on the glass, but it had not gotten any easier. If anything, it had worsened since it started earlier that day. Weiss continued. "I'd estimate this one will last around three, maybe four days. The cloud bank we're under came from the north over the sea, through Forever Fall and now it's here. It'll blow itself out before it gets any further inland. Ruby was visibly impressed, her eyes wide with admiration.
"How do you know all that?" She asked, amazement in her voice. Weiss replied with her usual chill.
"I actually studied more than what I was told to. I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that." Yang watched Rubys face for a reaction, just to gauge whether she should step in or not. Rubys expression barely changed, she used to the way Weiss treated everyone by now. She was about to continue bombarding the snow-haired girl with more questions, but a familiar cry of excitement pulled their collective attention back to the line.
There couldn't be any mistaking who it was, beside herself with glee as she waved dramatically at the four. Nora had a huge grin from ear to ear, in stark contrast to her partner. Ren simply gave a small nod and a half-smile, far more understated than the bouncy, hyperactive hammer wielding lunatic that he'd been childhood friends with for years. Pyrrha was standing behind her, and she gave a much smaller, but no less happy wave, which Ruby returned while their leader, Jaune, followed up behind her, at first not noticing what his teammates were actually doing. He did a double take and did his best to wave without knocking anything over.
Blake returned the greeting with a nod and smile of her own, Yang almost hit Ruby on the head with the force of her arm as she flapped around. Weiss turned and smiled too, though mostly at Pyrrha. She respected Nora and Ren in combat, but they left her alone, so she left them alone. Ruby was the most ordinary of the greetings, waving her arm for a few seconds with a grin before turning back to her teammates.
"I didn't actually see them at all today, where were they?" She inquired, a little befuddled. Blake had taken out her book at this point, and answered her leader without breaking her concentration.
"They were at team combat practice this afternoon, and then they joined me in History class." Ruby was once again wide-eyed, even though she was used to Blake being knowledgable. As if Blake could read her mind, the older girl answered Rubys question before she even had a chance to ask it. "I saw them heading over there with weapons out while I was going to the forest. They usually get absorbed in their training, so they made it to the lecture due to Pyrrha pointing out the time." Her tone was completely nonchalant.
"You worked all that out just from watching them?" Ruby asked, her mouth hanging open with astonishment.
"It's not difficult to observe, nor is it difficult to put the pieces together." Blake replied, glancing up from her book. She caught Yang in the corner of her eye, also in wonderment at her perception. In truth there was a much more subtle reason for Blake to say what she did. It would sow the seed of realisation in Yangs mind that she was far more observant than her partner imagined. This in turn would begin to give Yang doubts about how much Blake actually knew. Sooner or later, the fiery haired girl would bring it up in conversation and answer Blakes second question, whether she meant to or not.
They sat for another thirty minutes or so, talking and watching the room gradually empty, until they were all content to head back to their dorm and decide what to do from there. As they rose, Blake noted that team JNPR had also just finished their meal, and so the two teams would most likely make their way back together. She would walk at the back, passively aware of what was going on as she read, mentally noting anything of interest that would be said. Probably about the rain.