That afternoon Yang sat beside Ruby as they talked, merrily chatting away as her younger sister listened intently to her stories. Ruby questioned some of their validity but they were all in good fun, and it helped pass the time so she was grateful. She laughed along with Yangs erroneous statements that she took on a club full of people singlehandedly and won, but found the tale of the Mega Beowolf to be even better.
Yang retold tales she had been told by her parents, ones she had read in books and some that she changed from TV to better fit Rubys interests. Some, like her nightclub beatdown were complete fabrication but neither of them seemed to mind. They were having a good time, and it only made Yang feel even better when she saw Ruby burst into laughter. It was such a rare thing to see her do nowadays, even more so in her condition.
Though her sister couldn't see it, Ruby often glanced over Yangs shoulder to the third person in the room. Blake didn't appear to care, but Ruby noticed Yangs lack of hospitality to her recently and it was worrying her. As a leader, it was her job to make sure her team functioned well together and if they weren't, she wasn't doing her absolute best. It was always better sooner rather than later, and so Ruby waited patiently for Yang to finish her current farfetched account, before she kept her voice low and serious to avoid raising her teammates suspicions.
"Yang, are you and Blake on good terms?"
The blondes face hardened at the question, smile vanishing to be replaced with a solid line across her mouth.
"Why?"
"It doesn't look like it to me. I don't want to see you two at odds with eachother, you're supposed to be friends."
Ruby wasn't pleading, but there was definitely genuine concern in there. Years of experience had taught Yang exactly how to pick it out beneath her attempts to sound professional. She was trying to do what she thought was right as a leader, and the act warmed Yangs heart.
"We are friends, Ruby. It's just..." She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn't quite sure why she was feeling so cold towards her Blake, her partner hadn't really done anything wrong. Sure, Yang would have preferred to be told of this as soon as Blake had found out, and the fact that she went to Weiss first and not her own partner added insult to injury. But even so, she had still told her everything she knew. She could have kept it to herself but she didn't, so she clearly trusted Yang with the information. She couldn't quite let it go...
Yang turned her head to glance at her partner reading on the bed, frown fading at the sight.
"I don't know what it is."
Ruby cocked her head, reading the purple eyes like a book.
"Yes you do."
Yang flinched a little, turning back to her sister with the beginnings of a surprised stare on her face.
"Wha-? No I don't."
Ruby nodded, challenging her sisters claims with a confidence that belied her appearance.
"Yes you do, you can't hide it."
Her voice softened after that, dropping Yangs guard with the meaning it conveyed.
"I'm not asking you to forget whatever it is that's between you, but I do want you to accept that you're gonna be with her for four years. Nora will be coming over soon with pancakes and I don't want her to see you two fighting. She'll probably try and play friendship cupid."
Yang smiled at both her sisters words and the mental image, glancing down as she swallowed her guilt. She gave a tiny nod and looked back up at Rubys eyes, the sincerity bringing a wide grin onto the girls face, to which Yang could only copy as they hugged.
"Okay. I'll talk it out with her."
At that moment, the door clicked open alongside an almighty shout that could only be one person.
"Helloooo everyone! I brought pancakes!"
Weiss shared a grim stare with Blake as she moved to allow Nora passage, and while the girl bounded over to the sisters with a delicately wrapped tower of pancakes Jaune stepped through behind her, giving both Weiss and Blake apologetic looks. Pyrrha soon followed, greeting to the two girls before making her way over to her partner. Weiss glanced down the open doors to JNPR's dorm to see a boy in green hard at work over what appeared to be a fold-up kitchen. That was probably Noras idea.
"Ren'll be over in a few minutes with the second set. He baked these himself." Jaune explained, to which Weiss nodded and trudged to the bathroom. Blake could only suppress a giggle at the heiresses expression of lethal annoyance until Ruby called her over. She obeyed without question and closed her book, and while Blake only sat on the edge of her own bed Pyrrha sat herself down beside the girl per Yangs insistence.
"You're here early." Blake commented, though the embarrassed shuffling to her left gave her the explanation before Pyrrha could say anything.
"We were going to come around in an hour but Nora insisted that we visit as soon as possible to make Ruby feel better." The redhead gave a respectful nod to the team leader, and as Nora handed everyone a plate that she appeared to have conjured out of thin air she began to unwrap the delicate red ribbon that held the stack in place. Ruby giggled a little at Noras concentration, and while Yang pointed out the chairs at the desk for Jaune to retrieve Weiss returned from her mental preparation.
She put her uniform down as she always did and sat on the opposite side of Rubys bed adjacent Yang, stiffly but politely accepting Noras plate and pancake - which she had now begun to hand out - with a forced smile. Ruby nudged her gently and she relaxed a little, accepting her fate and doing her best to make the most of it.
Blake had to admit, Ren knew how to cook. They did taste exquisitely good for a pancake. Without going into detail as Nora was doing, she did find it to be the right balance of texture and flavour, and she did have a sweet tooth. She would have thought Nora to be the first to finish, but the girl was talking so much that she never got to take a bite. Pyrrha ate normally, giving polite answers and corrections when Nora began to run into the wild side of her breathless conversing.
Blake smiled. It was so nice to see everyone, particularly Ruby and even Weiss lightening up a little. She doubted that either of them would be laughing or smirking if JNPR hadn't arrived. Yang too was enjoying herself immensely, playfully teasing both Jaune and Pyrrha on their leader-partner relationship. They both became very embarrassed very quickly, causing Pyrrha to ask if they could change the subject.
At that point, Ren walked into the room with another neatly wrapped stack of pancakes and handed them to Nora, giving his understated greetings to the four girls of RWBY and excusing himself for a moment. Blake watched him leave and turned her attention to the girl beside her, beginning one of many conversations that they would have that evening.
It seemed that Nora was completely disgusted with Rubys lack of happiness and resolved - despite all their collective protests - that she should cheer the young girl up.
"What makes you happy?" She asked, bouncing on the spot as she waited for Rubys answer.
"Uuh...weapons, technology and stuff...Yang and my friends." She glanced at the three girls and smiled.
"What about your birthday?" Nora inquired, leaning over the foot of the bed on her tiptoes. Rubys face flashed with regret for a brief second, but she put on a brave face and did her best to act as though it didn't affect her.
"I don't really celebrate my birthday..." She replied, almost a whisper despite how she intended it to sound.
This was blasphemy to Noras ears. She gasped overdramatically and pulled Ruby into an awkward hug as she stretched herself as far as she could to reach the bedridden girl. Ruby returned it as best she could, laughing a little at the shocked cries that came from her hammer-wielding friend.
"That's insane! Who doesn't celebrate the day they were born?!" She paused, the surprise flipping into suspicious intrigue at the drop of a penny.
"What about Christmas?"
Yang and Ruby glanced at eachother nervously and Yang answered for her sister, attracting Noras attention.
"Yes, we celebrate Christmas,-"
But before she had a chance to continue Nora straightened out like a statue, her arm raised in the air triumphantly while everyone else in the room wore faces of disbelief.
"Then we'll talk about Christmas!"
"Nora, it's the middle of summer." Ren pointed out the main flaw - one of many - in her plan, but she was having none of it.
"Ooh, I know! You all tell me what you enjoy about Christmas and what you did every year before coming here and I'll compile it into a story for us to read!"
Weiss's shoulders sank in displeasure as she sighed, while Ruby, Yang Jaune and Pyrrha all gave eachother pleading stares. Blake pulled out her scroll in time with Ren, both knowing better than to try and protest Noras ideas.
Over the next thirty minutes seven of the eight people in the room had either told or shown the excitable loon their past Christmas experiences, and she had hurriedly scribbled down their answers, moving from person to person in a mad rush until she finally stopped to sit down on the desk in the corner and began to write slower, immense concentration playing across her face.
Everyone watched her, not quite believing what they were seeing. Ren was the only one who stared out of admiration, and although they were all used to Nora dashing around non-stop nobody had expected her to actually take herself seriously. And yet there she was, flitting between the notes she had taken and her scroll while she tapped her foot on the remaining chair. Her tongue stuck out from the side of her mouth, complimenting the turquoise eyes darting between both paper and technology.
Slowly, they all turned back to conversations amongst themselves, with Jaune and Ren conversing with the sisters while Blake and Pyrrha talked quietly with one-another. Weiss was content to remain on the sidelines, listening to the two boys talking - or in Jaunes case stammering - to Ruby and Yang, who regarded their friends with the typical liveliness that made them such good people to be around. Ruby was awkward at first, but Jaune knew from experience that once you got to know her she was the kindest soul you could ever meet. Yang flirted and joked like no tomorrow with the both of them, but she could see clear as day that Ren had no interest and Jaune's was elsewhere. It didn't stop her trying however, if only to see the blonde boys flustered face.
The evening wore on in relative normality, with Ren retrieving more pancakes on Noras request and handing them back out to everyone. She had told him to make more than enough to go around, and he knew that she'd finish what remained after the night was over. They had all almost forgotten about the girl sitting in the corner writing furiously until she kicked the chair over in excitement. Nora apologised and picked it up after literally jumping off the desk, taking her position in the dead center of the room. They all gave her their attention as she cleared her throat and began to speak, her voice being the levellest Blake had ever heard.
The snow had stopped falling in the night, but it still covered everything in sight with its cold embrace. A blanket across the ground as far as the eye could see, a dazzling, beautiful show of white. The sky was clear and blue above the trees, a winter sun shining brightly down on the face of a young girl. The first one up, she had gotten very little in the way of sleep, too excited at the prospect of snow to rest. She burst out of the front doors and fell face first into the soft powder, white dots clinging to her hair and skin as she bounced back up and began running around, a cry of happiness escaping her throat into the frozen air.
Her breath came out in clouds of steam, with the knee-deep snow giving her plenty of opportunities to burn some excited energy before everyone else was awake. The grin was as wide as it had ever been and her heart lifted in her chest, joy clouding her silver eyes as she laughed without a care in the world.
She dropped onto her back and caught her breath, throwing her legs up in the air to jump onto her feet and inspect her handiwork. Something small but hard hit her on the back of her head, and she turned to see her assailant while rubbing the sore spot. Her eyes widened in delight and surprise to see two other girls, two years her senior standing a little in front of the doors. One of them was tossing a decent sized snowball up and down in one yellow-gloved hand, the smuggest of smiles on her face. Violet eyes contrasted with a fiery clothing choice, a thin orange coat matching her sun-coloured shorts. Brown boots accompanied the blazing orange scarf around her neck and the red socks that poked up to under her knees.
Next to her was a distinctly less colourful but by no means less fantastic girl. Black hair matched the thick jet black scarf that wrapped the lower half of her face in its warm embrace while her slate coloured coat contrasted with the bright white shorts - shorts, in this weather - that held her purple stockings in place. Double insulated, fading to black as they reached her obsidian snow boots that were rimmed with the white stuff. Exotic amber eyes finished off her appearance, watching the girl beside her with amusement.
The two duelists began their combat, hurling snowballs both solid and weak at eachother with varying degrees of accuracy. The older hurled her ammunition with much more force and strength than her opponent, but the smaller girl was fast on her feet and nimbly avoided most of the attacks. The blonde was by no means a slouch however, dodging a large amount of the projectiles that came hurtling her way. They both wore enormous smiles on their faces as they laughed and played, and while the dark haired girl stood on the sidelines and watched, she too was smiling at the sisters.
"Ruby! Are you insane?!"
A shrill voice came from the doorway, temporarily halting their combat as a fourth girl strode across the snow to the youngest, fastening and tightening a scarf around her neck and handing her a pair of black and red gloves that matched her coat and pants. Ruby had her own black knee-high boots on, and the red laces went well with the deep crimson that fringed her hair. She mumbled something under her breath and smiled warmly at her partner, though the white haired girl was too busy making sure Ruby was sufficiently snug to notice.
"Honestly, I understand that you're excited but please, have some concern for personal safety, will you? I will not have you in bed with a cold because you didn't layer up enough."
She took a step back to admire her handiwork, giving Ruby ample opportunity to look at what she was wearing. White. All white, every inch. A contrasting colour yet the same style of snow boots as Blake, thick white pants that vanished under her heavy white parka, rimmed with white fur that matched her snowy hair and beautiful ice blue eyes. She wore a light blue, almost white scarf around her own neck and pristine white gloves, finishing off her angelic appearance with a pair of white earmuffs that she had resting on top of her scarf. Her skin was as pale as the clouds in the sky, bar the reddening cheeks and scarlet nose that matched her ears.
Weiss took her place beside Blake and watched as the two sisters resumed their battle, understated happiness dancing across her hidden mouth as Ruby gave her a cheery wave in the midst of combat. Weiss returned it a little less enthusiastically, but she quickly pointed to Rubys left as her eyes widened in shock. The girl turned her head only to come face-to-face with a snowball twice the size of her fist, exploding into a shower of white mist as she stumbled back a step. The triumphant cry of 'Ah ha, gotcha!' was followed by 'Oh cripes.' as Yang just managed to duck in time, rolling to the side to avoid a rapid onslaught of small but dense snowballs. It was the snowball equivalent of a machine gun, and Ruby was aiming well.
Too well, as one of her many attacks was on a collision course with her friend and fellow leader, who was leading his own team out into the winter wonderland.
"Wuugmph!" Was all Jaune could manage as he got a mouthful of snow, stumbling backwards into his partner. Pyrrha held him steady, hooking her arms under his shoulders and using her considerable strength to keep him on his feet. He balanced himself and thanked her, cheeks turning red rapidly with embarrassment as he led the four of them to meet their friends. In much the same way as team RWBY, the members of JNPR wore clothing that matches their colour schemes. Jaunes was primarily beige in colour, a striking contrast to the crimson-brown combination that Pyrrha was wearing. Nora sprung over their heads in her pink fluffy coat and matching skirt, diving headfirst into the snow while Ren adjusted the cuffs on his simple green coat. He was wearing magenta gloves on Noras insistence and kept them well hidden in his pockets, appreciating the thought but disliking the appearance.
Ruby and Yang halted their duel to greet their friends, and while Nora immediately launched herself into a hug with Yang and bounced over to Ruby, Blake and Weiss moved to speak with Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren. They met in a far more quiet manner, with Pyrrhas warm smile clashing against Jaunes nervous laughter as he fell over his own compliments, giving Weiss the brief impression that he had called her a snowman. Ren and Blake nodded respectfully at oneanother and turned to watch the three-way snowball fight that was taking shape until Ruby and Nora physically dragged Jaune into the fray. He reached out a desperate hand to Pyrrha for help, and she excused herself from Weiss's company to go and help her hopeless leader.
Minutes passed, with the five combatants proving fairly evenly matched. Well, besides Jaune. The poor boy was doing his best, but while the other four girls had reflexes to match their weapon skills he was left with what he had learned before his brother left home. He wasn't bad, and he did manage to land a hit or two against his opponents while they were distracted, but although he was able to dodge snowballs with a pretty good form he was almost always caught out by a sneaky double team, usually by Yang and Ruby. The sisters employed this tactic against Nora and Pyrrha, but the Nordic hyperact and Amazonian Warrior teamed up together and established themselves on even footing with the Rose and the Dragon.
The battle continued for another ten minutes until the five of them agreed it was a draw, shaking hands and hugging oneanother as the other three members of their teams joined them. They headed towards the hills by Noras suggestion in pairs, with Jaune and Pyrrha following behind Weiss and Blake. Ren held Noras arm under his own to prevent her from racing off, while Yang and Ruby brought up the rear. Each pair talked amongst themselves on the way there and quickly found themselves at the summit of a moderately tall hill. Nora jumped forwards and spun on her heel to reveal her master plan, a glint in her eye.
"We're going to have a free-for-all sledding race! And then we can have a team one! Don't worry about sleds, I brought some already!"
As if by magic she pulled out eight decent sized sleds of various colours and materials, though they all noticed that each colour matched their clothes and guessed that she had planned this beforehand. They lined up on the edge of the hill and, after Pyrrha had thrown her spear to the ground below to mark a finishing line - Jaune was incredibly awestruck at her throw -, Nora began the countdown.
"Three!"
Ruby gripped her sled hard, aware of the unhappy Weiss beside her. She glanced to her left and gave the heiress an encouraging smile, to which she did not receive back.
"It'll be fine Weiss, don't worry!" The sound of 'Two!' cut through her sentence, and as Nora gave the final word they all concentrated hard.
"One! Let's go!"
As the words left her mouth they all kicked off the conveniently placed heavy objects that Nora had miraculously found before they arrived, picking up speed fast as the snow sprayed every which way. Yang squinted through the white spray as she corrected her sleds course with small but firm movements, the bright red pole in her sights. She could hear the oddly impressive sound of eight sleds scything down a snowy hill at high speed and the black glimmer catching her eye behind the wall of white. Blake was right next to her.
A hysterically happy cry reached their ears, followed by an equally excited whoop of joy as they all pulled up to slow their descent. By the time Pyrrha had stood up and turned, she became quickly aware that Jaune wasn't with them. Before she had a chance to panic, she caught the back end of her partner stuck in the snow with his sled sailing past her feet and smiled. Her actual worry quickly took over as she ran back up the hill to his flailing legs while Nora laughed uncontrollably. Ruby and Yang both almost fell over, finding his mistake to be hilarious even despite their concerns for his safety. Blake couldn't help but snicker into her scarf while Ren shook his head. Weiss smirked at Jaunes misfortune and glanced over at her partner, seeing Ruby so happy warmed her to the core.
"So! I don't think any of us won that one, so let's try it again!"
Noras enthusiasm was infectious, and every single one of them agreed immediately, though with different levels of obviousness. The second race went a little better for Jaune, as while he did actually finish this time he was unable to stop himself and careened into a tree, bruising his shoulder and leg. Pyrrha ignored the whooping laughter behind her and made sure he was okay, giving him a brief hug as he proclaimed that he was 'A man, who would not complain.' He was determined to show them all that he could do something well and marched back up to the top of the hill, redder than Rubys coat.
After the fourth time Jaune ended up with his face in the snow, Yang suggested it was time for him to admit defeat. Pyrrha half expected him to agree with the blonde but instead he puffed out his chest, and much to everyones amusement... proceeded to trip over his own sled. Even Ren couldn't stop a smirk creeping onto his face at his leaders incompetence, although Nora fell on Jaunes back as she clutched her sides madly, heaving her chest with wild laughter that set the sisters off once again. Jaune stood up and dashed up the hill as fast as he could with his sled in tow, prompting the rest of them to follow him as they laughed and laughed.
On his fifth attempt, Jaune was able to keep himself steady on the descent and even to slow himself to a halt without smashing into the trunk of a tree. He didn't win and he came last, but Pyrrha was so supportive and encouraging that he felt as though he had won the Vytal tournament. Even Blake gave him her congratulations, and while Weiss only clapped once with a complete lack of inspiration in her eyes he couldn't help but feel like she was happy for him on some level. Yang pulled both him and Ruby into a bearhug that caused them to flail wildly as the air was squeezed out from their lungs. The blonde began to move towards Blake, but the girl kept a safe distance away at all times. This eventually led to Yang chasing Blake all the way down to the lake at the center of the forest, with the other teenagers in tow.
They all stopped and stared in wonderment at the sight that greeted them after the journey. The lake was beautiful at all times of year, but today it was completely frozen over, from end to end. Ruby tested the depth with her scythe and, once Ren had explained the ratio of thickness to weight, they all decided it would be safe to move onto the ice as long as they were careful.
"We should skate!" Nora exclaimed, her hands behind her back, Jaune leant backwards as subtly as he could to see if she already had a pair of boots ready, and to his surprise found that she was holding eight different coloured pairs.
"Do you happen to have eight pairs of ice skates with you, Nora?" Weiss asked dryly, her eyes widening in surprise as Nora happily pulled the footwear out from behind her back.
"As a matter of fact, I do!" She bounced on the spot and handed a pair to each of them before taking a running start at the lake. Ruby thought she was going to slide into a pose as she entered but to her - and everyone else's - amazement, Nora threw herself into a dive and slid on her stomach, a merry giggle carrying behind her as all six of them turned to look at Ren. He shook his head and stood back up on his feet, carefully making his way towards the lake and the still-moving Nora.
Once on the frozen surface, Weiss surprised everyone. While Blake and Ren were by no means experts they managed to hold their balance by themselves and maintained a decent speed without too much correcting. Pyrrha and Jaune had both never tried ice-skating before and as such clung to eachother like terrified cats, frightened of the very real possibility that they would fall on their faces at any minute. Ruby tried her best to show off, but every attempt only led to her falling over onto her behind, which in turn caused Yang to laugh and fall herself.
But Weiss moved with such elegance, such finesse that it would seem she was born to skate. Every movement of her legs was graceful and sublime, she had her hands behind her back as she glided across the ice with her eyes closed in silence. They all wordlessly agreed that she was beautiful and undeniably the best at ice-skating, as she moved with a style that screamed royalty. It was proper and awe-inspiring, and for a moment everyone stopped trying to skate to watch Weiss in her element. It was stunning.
After the heiress caught them all gawping at her she insisted they all try to do their best, and while her encouragements were oddly out of character there was still meaning behind them. Ruby took her words to heart and stopped trying to flaunt her 'skills', instead concentrating on keeping her momentum going and balancing herself with her arms. She was shaky at first, but with Yang and Nora cheering her on she quickly felt confident enough to keep her arms by her sides. Weiss gave her a small smile of approval and took Rubys hand in hers, showing the young girl how she could optimize her use of weight and minimize her chances of making a mistake. Blake watched the two as Yang gripped her shoulder hard, engrossed in her own footwork.
The brunette rolled her eyes and grabbed Yangs wrist, beginning to tutor the blonde in much the same way Weiss was teaching Ruby, albeit on a simpler level. She wasn't impressive at skating but she knew what she was doing, and watching Yang fumble around was almost painful. Ren half expected Nora to try and slide on her hands and head, and although she did try he was on hand to stop her falling through the ice completely. She was much like Ruby, but the difference was that Nora wasn't trying to skate well. And in doing so, she was second only to Weiss. There was no finesse or beauty to her technique but she was able to strike ridiculous poses and dance, of all things, without losing her balance.
Despite Weiss's rare words of kindness Jaune still refused to let go of his partner. In part due to his justifiable fear, but mostly because he wanted to be close to her. Pyrrhas brilliant red hair fell across her shoulders as she supported him with her arms and nervously moved forwards, prompting him to attempt to do the same. Nora sailed past them with her hands in the shape of a loveheart, and although they both missed the meaning behind it they smiled back. Jaune even attempted to wave, but as soon as he shifted his balance he practically jumped into Pyrrhas arms, their faces both flushing a red that could only mean one thing.
With the ice-skating yielding mixed results, the eight of them settled on a relaxing walk back to the Academy through the woods and across the grounds to warm up and dry off. They walked in two lines, with RWBY at the front and JNPR at the back. Weiss had her hands in her pockets, the same as Blake while Yang happily swung her arms around, leaving Ruby to rub her own hands together. Pyrrha rested her head on Jaunes shoulder as they walked in time with eachother, glad to be toning the excitement down a little. Nora mirrored her teammate and clung to Rens arm as they walked along, the snows muffled crunching under their feet.
Eight bright red noses, sixteen raw ears and eight happy students, each of them enjoying the day in different ways. For Ruby and Yang is was the sheer joy of being out and about, burning off energy and excitement with the world as their playground. For Weiss it was a quiet appreciation of Winter and the cold, finding beauty in snow and ice where others only see chill and an excuse to stay indoors. Blake admired nature the most, watching the trees change every season in an endless cycle filled her with a sense of warmth. It didn't hurt that she was spending time with people she cared about and trusted. Nora treated the day like a birthday, only amplified. In a stark contrast was Ren, who although enjoyed his teammates and friends company would have rather stayed indoors, where it was warm and dry. Pyrrha felt that the day had been interesting, as she was given the opportunity to be even closer with her partner and teammates to bond over something all eight of them enjoyed. But watching Jaune make a fool of himself had been painfully amusing, and she almost felt bad for laughing at him despite his stubborn claims that he was fine.
All in all, it had been an eventful and incredibly fun morning that every single one of them had enjoyed immensely. The two teams briefly parted to change into dry clothes and to relax a little until Ruby knocked on JNPR's dormroom door and offered them to come across the hall for hot chocolate and cookies. The little leader stood at the door as her four friends greeted Weiss, Blake and Yang and made themselves comfortable. Yang offered Jaune and Pyrrha to sit on Blakes bed while she herself sat on the edge of Weiss's bed alongside her partner and Ren. Weiss seated herself on a chair next to her own bed while Nora was content to sit on the floor. Ruby was happy to stand as she handed out steaming mugs filled to the brim with the delicious drink and offered a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
They didn't have a fire to huddle around, but Yang had turned the heating up to full blast and they were snug and warm, a nice change from the freezing cold of the morning. As they ate and chatted and laughed they agreed to share presents later that evening, as they still had the Christmas Feast to attend in a few hours. Pyrrha complimented Blake on her hot chocolates, to which Weiss and Ren agreed. The girls cheeks flushed red at the praise and Yang pulled her into a hug which only served to embarrass her further, though she didn't say anything about it. Nora pointed out their coordinated clothing choices, and much to everyones surprise they found that they were wearing clothes of the same colour as their partner and even more amazingly, for once Nora had nothing to do with it. Ruby awkwardly tried to compliment Weiss on how pretty she was but it ended up as a whisper and the heiress never heard the kind words. Yang was far more vocal and commented that Blake suited yellow a lot, though Blake denied the claim.
The conversation drifted to that mornings escapades, and it quickly turned Jaune an attractive shade of red as five of his friends proceeded to make harmless fun out of his less than stellar performances. Pyrrha shuffled closer and wrapped her arm around him comfortingly, telling him that even though he didn't do as well as he might have hoped he still impressed her. Jaune thought about holding his partner by the waist but chickened out, instead awkwardly hugging her back - much to Yangs delight. She too made a loveheart with her hands and fought back more laughter, until Ruby distracted her with talk of the snowball fight.
Many more laughs were had in the hours that followed and as they split up to prepare for the feast, both teams reflected on the day so far. They had had a brilliant time with their friends, teammates and partners, they had grown closer both as a group and individually, and for some more than others, they had spent a good deal of time wishing there was some mistletoe around. Nora made a note to bring some next Christmas.
The dinner was grand, with every single person at the Academy all joining together in the main dining hall to eat and be merry. The tables had been arranged in a large double row with a third smaller one at the far end for staff members. Professor Ozpin sat directly in the center, with Glynda to his left and Professor Oobleck on his right. He surveyed the happy students eating and laughing amongst themselves and spared a single smile at it all. Ruby was the only one who saw it, and resolved to buy the headmaster a gift next year. He deserved it. The food was plentiful and the sky darkened to black outside, until team by team the students began to leave for their dorms, no doubt to relax and enjoy the remainder of the day.
RWBY and JNPR walked together back through the corridors full of joy and happiness, and after a half hour of settling Ruby once again asked them over to open presents and have a good time.
"The end!" Nora exclaimed happily, putting her scroll down on the bed and flopping onto her back as she blew out a sigh, sending a lock of hair up into the air.
There was a stunned silence, with jaws hanging open in utter disbelief and eyes wide in shock. Had Nora written all that? In thirty minutes? By herself? With no outside help? It wasn't possible.
She sat up and looked around, folding her arms in suspicion.
"What, you don't think I can write a good story? I tried to make it as accurate as possible but I don't know a lot about you girls...so I took some liberties with it. It might not be as true as I would have liked... Still, did you like it?" Nora beamed, an ecstatic grin threatening to spread out from her face and touch the walls.
Still the silence continued, with both Pyrrha and Yang moving their mouths to speak but not quite making any words. To her surprise it was Ruby to break the trance, starting off slowly at first.
"I-is...is that it? Is...is there more?"
Yang nodded in agreement, her jaw still slack. Nora gave them all a wink as she twirled on the spot and courtesied, despite the fact no praise had been given. Yet.
"Mhm-hm! I don't know what presents we'd get eachother because we haven't done it for real yet so I didn't wanna go that far. But I did my best!"
"A set of Christmas jumpers that match our colours?" Weiss drawled, immediately regretting her decision upon hearing Noras gasp of delight. She was interrupted by Pyrrha, who managed to speak slowly through her stunned mind.
"Nora...that was...amazing."
Jaune nodded slowly beside her with his mouth hanging open, before Ruby began to clap. Yang followed her sisters lead, and within seconds the entire room was in the midst of a thunderous applause, with cheers and praise being shouted at Nora as she reddened faster than Ruby could move. She knelt beside Rubys bed next to Ren and watched eagerly as each person gave their individual compliments.
"Nora, that was awesome!"
"You did an incredible job, I enjoyed your story a great deal."
"I agree, you put most official authors to shame."
"Holy crap."
"Yang!"
"Oh. Oh! Nora, that was kickass! You're even more awesome than I thought you were!"
"Watch your language, Yang. Nora, I found your story to be...enjoyable."
"Ooh, big praise from the heiress over here."
"Yang, be nice! Stop laughing!"
"You've done it again Nora, well done."
"I still can't believe you wrote that...do you really think I'd trip over my own sled?"
In an eerie parallel to Noras story, the two sisters and the author burst into laughter while Weiss and Blake tried to suppress their smirks. Pyrrha comforted Jaune the best she could, and mercifully managed to steer the topic away from her partners inadequacies.
"I will say that I feel festive now." Blake commented, awkwardly returning Noras enthusiastic hug. She didn't exactly like being in physical contact in this manner but thought it rude to protest.
"I'm glad you all liked it!" Nora replied, finishing the pancake she had saved for herself. "It was hard to get you all right!" She mumbled through a mouthful of food, prompting Ren to shake his head at her childlike behaviour. Her eyes were bright and round, reminding Ruby of herself. Nora gently poked her knee and watched for a reaction.
"Other knee, Nora." Ruby smiled and braced herself, but she hardly felt the other girls touch. Ruby sensed Yang tense up as contact was made, but seeing as there was no pain she quickly relaxed back into her friendly demeanour.
The afternoon melded into the evening, and three hours after arriving, Blake waved goodbye to Pyrrha as she closed the door to the dormroom, pressing her back flat against it and letting out a long sigh. Weiss wholly agreed with her teammates reaction and sagged her shoulders. They were both exhausted. Ruby bent her head back on the top of her pillow while Yang faceplanted onto Blakes bed, taking the opportunity to quietly sniff the covers. There was a distinct smell that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but she didn't have any time to acquire it again as Blake ushered her off and opened her book, leaving the blonde to wrack her brains.
Weiss decided quickly that she needed an early night and made her nightly preparations, and both Ruby and Yang agreed that it was probably a good idea. None of them could have thought that talking for three hours would be so physically draining, but Nora proved that it was. Blake bid them all goodnight and stayed up a little later, tiring herself out with her book before turning in herself.
While she still didn't have any answers, she couldn't deny that she enjoyed the day.
A/N: Surprise! I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and give my endless thanks for all the Views, Reviews, Follows and Favourites. I don't think I'd still be writing this today if I didn't receive such a positive response, it's hard to believe that I've come this far already.
Here's hoping to much more amazing RWBY, both show and fanfiction!
~Vokun