As it turned out, Verbena Hazelwood was not happy about losing her weekend with Lumi and nearly refused to take Ash and Nocte for her custody visit out of spite. In the end, however, she picked up the younger two and imparted beautiful, heartfelt advice to her oldest; "Sit in on a spar so you can see how far your skills are from where they need to be."
Only because backtalk would make her siblings suffer, Lumi smiled and ducked her head with a quiet, "Yes, mother." In her mind she was cursing the woman and hoping she'd fall down a long flight of stairs in the immediate future.
Her mother nodded, critical violet eyes glinting in the evening light, then herded Ash and Nocte into the car. She drove off without looking back.
"Witch," Lumi muttered under her breath and let the window curtain swing back into place. Guilt curled in the pit of her stomach, but she forced it aside and went to her room. Ash and Nocte were old enough to deal with their mother on their own; Lumi wouldn't be around forever to shield them.
Unlike Friday, Saturday went much more smoothly. She and a couple of other students who lived in Vale carpooled to Beacon courtesy of someone's dad. The students who lived in the dorms at Signal arrived in an airbus half an hour later, which felt like an eternity to the second and third years stuck waiting in the cold.
Ms. Aryl stepped out of the airbus first, holding up a mustard yellow sign that was taped to the end of a metal rod. "Follow me! Our tour guides will meet us at the Hunter statue."
A wave of excited students rushed out from behind her, clumped in groups of two and three. There wasn't really a need for Aryl's sign at the moment, Lumi thought as she followed her classmates, because the airbus docked at the end of the main avenue that lead straight to Beacon Academy proper.
You couldn't get lost unless you ran off into the woods- and the woods were something like a mile away. Even then, a clock tower (which doubled as the base for the Cross Continental Transmit system) stood in the center of campus, visible from pretty much anywhere because it glowed green in the fog.
Up ahead, a team of four lingered beneath the impressive stone statue, decked out in their Hunter outfits instead of the Beacon uniforms Lumi saw other students wearing. The leader, a bear of a woman with red pants tucked into rugged brown boots, strode forward to meet Aryl.
She embraced the history teacher with a wide grin. "Finley! It's been a while, huh?"
The green-eyed woman chuckled, "I'll say. What are you now, a fourth year?"
"Ya know it," she placed her hands on her hips. "Me and the team just got back from a mission two days ago."
"Oh?" Aryl glanced back at the awe-filled faces of her students. "You'll have to tell me about it after the tour."
She laughed good-naturedly. "Of course, of course, anything for my favorite teacher. Now," she clapped her large hands together to draw attention (unnecessary, all eyes were already on her). "My name's Diane and I'm leader of team DSRT (Desert)."
Her teammates took the cue for what it was and introduced themselves.
"We'll be taking you on a tour of Beacon," Diane nodded at her team. "Feel free to ask questions, but keep up!"
Off they went. Lumi wanted to be more excited about the tour, but unlike some of her classmates, she'd been to Beacon on a tour almost exactly like this one more than a few times- not to mention the times her mother took her Grimm hunting in the Emerald Forest when she wanted to switch things up. It was just One of Those Things that happened when you lived in Vale your entire life and idolized Hunters enough to go on every offered field trip.
She lingered near the back of the group, half an eye on her Scroll and half an ear tuned to the tour guide to make sure she didn't miss anything important. They were about a quarter through the tour when Branwen drew up beside her, hands stuffed in the pockets of a familiar (?) coat.
"Bored?" He asked.
She shrugged.
Wow, what a well thought out and perfectly articulated response Hazelwood, Qrow thought dryly. He continued despite the lukewarm reception. "This is my alum, but I needed to chaperone at least one field trip this year so the principal would get off my back; ya know how it is."
Lumi nodded. They lapsed into silence as they went into a building and up a flight of stairs.
"That's the coat I helped you find, right?" She inclined her head towards him.
"Yup," he rolled his shoulders. "No complaints so far." Though he hadn't exactly fought in it yet.
A small, warm smile lit up her face. "That's good."
Now wasn't that just the cutest? His quiet little student actually gave half a damn.
The rest of the tour continued that way, with random but short conversations between the two; mostly commentary on some new feature of the school or a nostalgic anecdote about his team breaking something. By the time the group reached the cafeteria, Lumi felt less frozen and relaxed enough to not care about much of anything except the prospect of hot, delicious food- half the point of even going on this trip.
It was, of course, at that moment that someone slammed into her from behind and her Scroll went skittering along the ground. A heavy foot crushed it beneath the thick rubber sole of their combat boots then quickly jerked back with a hissed "shit, sorry!"
Hot embarrassment, anger and mild panic rushed through her as she scrambled to scoop up the shards of her Scroll into her gloved hands. "No, no, it's fine- I needed to update anyways, it's okay." She smiled despite herself and shooed away the guilty faced boy. "Yes, yes, I'm sure. I'll be okay, don't worry, it was an accident."
Lumi gently cradled the pieces in her hands until she could make it to an empty seat. She grabbed a napkin to wrap everything in, then put the bundle into her pocket and made her way to one of the food stations, throat tight.
Her Scroll had been an older model, and she was going to update it… eventually, but having it crushed underfoot was a bit much. Oum couldn't have sent her a subtler sign like making the display glitch out or have the keys respond sluggishly? The universe really had to destroy her damn phone to get a message across? Had she not suffered enough? What the actual fucking fuck.
She set down the assorted plates a little too roughly, but no one called her out on it. She attempted to drown her sorrows and rage with greasy fries, burgers, chicken quesadillas and pork chile verde. Midway through pity burger number two and Life Sucks quesadilla number one, Branwen slid into the empty spot across from her with more plates than she thought a human could conceivably carry.
She hummed hello and stopped shoveling food into her mouth at a furious pace, instead taking normal sized bites at a more acceptable pace.
"So," Branwen began, stabbed a forkful of pasta. "Your Scroll broke."
She hummed again- more of a grunt really, what with the food in her mouth.
"Need me to call your parents and let 'em know?" He twirled his fork in the air. "Ya know, so they don't freak out and think you've been kidnapped or somethin' crazy?"
"They won't pick up," she bit with more venom than she intended. "Much less call me to begin with."
Bingo, Qrow thought.
"Why not?" He pressed. "You're what, sixteen? And on a weekend trip to a school where Grimm basically roam the campus with no Scroll- no way to call home."
"I'll be fine," she met his gaze for a second then looked away with a stubborn clench of her jaw. "Sixteen's old enough."
"Seventeen's legal," he countered and brought his thumb and index finger nearly together with a squint. "You're a little short there, kid."
"I can take care of myself," she huffed, then "Practically have been for forever…" in a low tone that he (probably) wasn't supposed to hear.
"Well," he grabbed his hip flask and unscrewed the top; her eyes were riveted to the motion. "If you need anythin', lemme know." He took a swig and noticed out the corner of his eye the way her gaze followed his every movement.
She looked down at her food just before he finished and frowned. Was it really okay for him to drinking so obviously? And in front of a student no less? It was barely noon… Whatever, not her problem, she thought hotly. If he wanted to get sloppy in the middle of the day she wasn't going to stop him- couldn't stop him anyways. (And didn't that just burn?)
Lumi kept her eyes away from Branwen. She hm'ed and ah-huh'ed through his chatter then finished up before he did and left with brief wave. Tactics for dealing with her mother apparently applied to her weapon's instructor too. He didn't call her out on how rude she was being, which she was mildly thankful for.
The air outside was chilly, but slightly warmer than it had been when she first arrived. She tucked both hands into her pant pockets and set off without a proper destination in mind. Her feet lead her on a winding path that looped through some dorms, past an amphitheater, around the campus' perimeter and ended at the edge of the Emerald Forest.
She swiftly turned on her heel and backtracked as the clock tower chimed the hour. Going hunting alone was incredibly stupid, even if she did have her weapon. Her semblance could help her get away quickly if she needed to, but neither of those two facts would help her if a Grimm got in a lucky, fatal blow.
She kept on until she arrived to the front door of a random building. With a shrug she walked in. Despite it being Saturday, she could see people in the classes she passed on ground level, gesturing and drawing on whiteboards. She took the staircase and went up to a few floors, stopping to check if there was an open and unoccupied room ever so often. No luck, and by the end of it she was on the topmost floor in front of a door that read "roof access: maintenance only."
The logical part of her mind pointed out that the roof probably had nothing but the heating and cooling system- but she was curious and felt a little anti-social so rather than do the sensible thing and walk away, Lumi stepped through the shadows to the other side of the door and walked up to the roof.
The winds were colder and stronger this high up, she noted with a shiver, but she could see the forest stretch off seemingly forever in one direction; the water in another. It was, simply put, breath-taking. She stared at the green horizon until a dark-feathered bird swooped by, cawed at her, and perched a ways away.
Lumi startled and looked at it for a moment, but when it titled its head at her and revealed no blood-thirsty desire, she figured it was a normal bird and let it be. Months had passed but she hadn't lost her distrust of birds after that Grimm attacked her and bloodied her nose while she was eating.
She plopped herself down on the edge of the roof to watch the waves in the harbor like she had the swaying of branches moments prior. The swell and retreat of the water so soothing, nearly hypnotic. Cold, damp wind brushed past her cheeks and lifted the ends of her grey hair with every gust.
This was the sort of moment that having her Scroll would have been useful. She patted the pocket of her bright blue coat that held the bits of it. When she got back to town she'd replace it; maybe see if anything could be salvaged. Her contacts and some pictures, at least, were safe because they were backed up automatically.
She peeked over the edge of the building and marveled at the blanket of fog that coated the campus like a scarf. That turned to people watching, but a sense of emptiness settled in her chest the longer she did so. Her siblings were with their mother, her dad was at work, and she'd come all this way to… what, be alone? Completely ignore the library and on-site healer and all the knowledge she could pick up with just a bit of effort now that she was on campus?
She scoffed at herself and walked around the roof's perimeter just to stretch her legs. Without much thought, she stepped through a shadow to appear back on the ground floor. She needed to get her act together and do what she set out to in the first place. With a nod, she walked forward, caught sight of the cafeteria, and switched gears.
There'd be no harm in getting a drink before heading out, she thought to herself. It'd bring some feeling back to her cold cheeks and make up for the less than pleasant lunch she had. A group of three Beacon students strolled out, laughing and talking, and Lumi sighed as the warm air hit her.
She snagged a cup, topped it off with whipped cream and parked herself at an empty seat. Unlike Signal, Beacon had long benches that ran the length of the room which were probably meant to encourage teams to sit together but in her case, highlighted how alone she was.
One hand drifted down to her pocket and she sighed into the whipped cream. Without a working Scroll she couldn't even text anybody. She sipped her drink and looked around the room. Back to people watching for her, it seemed.
At the end of her table was a quartet of Beacon students (a team?) and next to but clearly separate from them was a pair of Faunus girls. A stream of her classmates walked in, following one of the tour guides from earlier. There was a boy tucked into a quiet corner with a text book and- Branwen was walking towards her?
Her hackles raised at the sight of him.
"Hey, kid, where've you been?" Branwen asked as though he hadn't clearly made her uncomfortable.
"Around," she lifted her mug and held it close to her body. "Why?"
"You're supposed to check in every hour," he reminded her not unkindly.
Her initial impulse to ask how in the hell she was supposed to do that when her Scroll was broken for fucks sake, would not go over well and her self-preservation instinct was thankfully stronger than any irritation she felt. Also thankfully, he continued so Lumi was spared having to give a response.
"And anyways, there's somebody I wanted you to meet," he motioned for her to follow. "Didn't think I'd find you this quick though, so hopefully he's free."
She mentally balked at the idea but complied because she wasn't a stubborn, contrary idiot who disobeyed authority for the fun of it. More importantly, she wanted to know who this he was who wanted to meet her.
Branwen snagged a mug of coffee and a plate of brownies on the way and no one stopped him from walking out with the items.
Well then. Lumi followed with her own mug, shooting looks over her shoulder at the cafeteria workers and then at the back of his head which roughly translated to "what the fuck is going on" in the calmest possible way.
He led her to the CCT(? here her footsteps faltered) and into the elevator. A swipe of his Scroll, and they were on their way to the top. No, not the top, which might make sense because you could use the top floor to make video calls, but above that. Curiosity warred with wariness and kept her tongue quiet on the ride up.
Finally, the doors opened to a spacious and sparsely decorated office. Clock gears clinked along behind the semi-circle desk that held a grey haired man being chewed out by a woman wearing a black and purple cape. If Lumi got nothing out of this, she wanted to know who the woman with such good fashion sense was.
"-needed to be done yesterday, Ozpin! What have you been doing th-" she noticed the man's (Ozpin's?) gaze shift to behind her and she twirled around on her heel. "Hello, Qrow." She bit coldly then turned her slightly less hostile attention to Lumi. "And guest."
"Hello, ma'am," Lumi stood a little taller and bobbed her head. "It's nice to meet you."
"Sup, Goodwitch?" Branwen tossed the plate (!) to Ozpin then planted a hand heavy on Lumi's head. "This is Lumi, my assistant."
Glynda rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses. "In that case, I have a word of advice for you, Ms. Lumi." She fixed her with an urgent, piercing look. "Run."
"Yes, ma'am," Lumi nodded. "Right away." She knocked Branwen's hand away and smiled innocently.
"My, how polite," she mused and side-eyed Branwen. "Maybe you'll teach Qrow some manners."
The man in question protested the implied insult. Loudly.
Lumi didn't know this woman at all, but between her good fashion sense and giving her the option to talk trash on Branwen, that didn't matter; she liked her already.
She smiled and placed her palm to her mouth to hide her lips from Branwen. "That's the hope, ma'am, but he's so difficult. I don't know how you've managed."
"Yes, yes, I know what you mean," she nodded sagely then grinned at the younger girl. "Unfortunately, I do have some things to take care of, so I wish you luck with these two." She waved and walked out with a parting remark at Ozpin (oh yeah, there was another person here) about paperwork.
Lumi watched her go then turned her attention to the man behind the desk. At her side, Branwen grumbled about traitors and impressionable young students.
He grinned at her and gestured to the pair of seats in front of him.
She glanced up at Branwen for direction.
"Might as well sit, kid," he threw himself into the left chair. "This is who I wanted you to meet, by the way."
Oh, you couldn't have said anything on the terribly awkward and quiet ride up, Branwen? You had to wait until just now?
She stepped closer and extended her free hand over the desk. "Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm Lumi."
He shook her hand gently, but from the feel of the calluses on his fingers and the way his aura prickled against hers she knew he was more powerful than the shake implied.
"You as well, miss Hazelwood. I'm professor Ozpin, headmaster here at Beacon Academy." He reached for his own mug and took a sip.
Well. She definitely didn't say her last name, so how in the hell did he know it? She side-eyed Branwen and connected the dots. Of course. Branwen wanted her to meet this man so it stood to reason that he talked about her. The only question was: how much and about what?
"Qrow here tells me that you're interested in attending Beacon next year," he smiled and inclined his head.
She took the statement as the prompt that it was. "Yes, sir. It's been my dream for a few years now, to come here." She curled her fingers around the empty mug in her hands and tried to calm her heart. Gods, was this an interview? Should she treat it like one anyways?
"Why do you want to be a Huntress?" he asked. "For fame? glory? power?"
"No, that's not really me." She shook her head and unconsciously leaned forward in her seat. "My mother, she was a Huntress and when I was about ten, I decided that I wanted to be one too. I, uh, don't actually remember why aside from that, but, uh," she took a steadying breath. "But now that I'm a little older, I know want to help protect people- so they can live peacefully and without fear."
He hummed. "Well, we accept applicants from all walks of life here; from the most model of citizens down to those with, shall we say, less than savory pasts. We do this because here at Beacon Academy we honestly and truly believe that anyone who is willing and dedicated to bettering themselves deserves the chance to do so."
Lumi nodded wordlessly, moved and inspired by his words.
"I'm sure you have people in your life who want nothing more than to see you succeed," he tilted his head in Branwen's direction. "And who are willing to help you with whatever you problem you may be facing; you need only ask for their help. I look forward to seeing your application, miss Hazelwood."
Damn, just what do you say to follow that up?
"And, that's our cue to leave," Branwen stood as if reading her mind and left the dirty mug on the floor.
Lumi followed, a step or two closer than before and with her used cup in hand. (How rude, Branwen.)
"It was nice to meet you, professor," she called as the elevator doors opened.
"You as well, have a good day," he said and turned to something on his desk.
Qrow mouthed "thanks" at Oz as the doors slid close. The ride back to the main floor was as quiet as the ride up, but the air was entirely changed. The pair stepped out and Lumi, still in a bit of a daze at the inspiring words of Ozpin, followed at Branwen's side.
It was, perhaps, a little silly that such simple words would have such an effect on her, but they did. The headmaster good as said "I believe in you; you deserve the chance to be better than your upbringing." Which, wow. Just, wow. No one had ever said that to her before, and it struck something deep inside of her.
Part of her wanted to say that he just spouting pretty words like Mrs. Huang, but he really seemed to mean it and that was everything.
Qrow glanced at the small, warm smile on her face and mentally patted himself on the back. Three, nearly four, months of trying and nothing had ever worked as well as mushy words from wise old Oz had. Maybe she'd take up his offer of having his ear for an hour a day and finally ask for help.
Well, one thing at a time. He had to survive the field trip first.
The week following the trip to Beacon was surprisingly calm on Lumi's side of things. Sure, her mother was pissy about missing a weekend and wanted to pick her up early on Friday to make up for lost time, but classes hadn't kicked into "review everything you've ever been taught" mode yet. It made for a good bit of free time, only part of which she spent on her elusive Huntress outfit design.
The other part, naturally, went towards running errands, stocking up on essentials so when finals hit she didn't have to leave the house, and buying things for people who were willing to pay for her one-person delivery service. It was good money, and her updated Scroll was capable of much more than her old one had been which made the work easier.
It was on a Thursday afternoon trek to the mall for Dust crystals and a cheap pair of boots that Lumi found herself in one of the few open seats at a busy food court. Bags by her feet, ticket in hand, she let her eyes wander over the crowd and kept an ear open for her number.
"Hey, um, is this seat open?" A childish voice called from over her right shoulder.
"Yeah." Lumi turned to look at the speaker. Wide grey eyes peeked out from beneath her long black-red bangs, nervous hands wrung the straps of her shopping bags from the dust store, weapon parts shop and- Victory's?
"Thank you," she hugged her bags to her body and sat.
She looked about Ash's age, and while twelve/thirteen was old enough to go bra shopping, she couldn't think of anyone that young who would go by themselves. Where were her parents? She scanned the crowd again but no one popped out as being this girl's family.
"Number 93!"
Lumi got up, bags and all, to grab her food despite how unnecessary it was to mistrust the pre-teen when it came to watching her things for a fourteen foot journey. Bottles of Dust clanked together as she sat back down and she hoped nothing cracked. She got a bite or two into her meal before the younger girl (she should really find out her name) spoke up.
"Are you a Huntress?" Her eyes lit up in anticipation.
"Um," she looked around but, no, this girl was definitely talking to her. "No, but I'm training to be."
"Can I see your weapon?" She curled her hands into tiny, excited fists and Lumi knew she was done for. Her one weakness: cute things and people.
"Sure," she set down her sandwich and stood. While her baton could extend with a flick of her wrist, it was rude to mess around with weapons in the middle of civilian establishments, so she unholstered it from her left hip and extended it by hand.
She sat back down and pointed out the few functions it was capable of to the eager red caped girl. One question for the other girl was all it took for Lumi to lose control of the conversation, which she was fine with because her food was growing cold.
"-really excited to start training with a live scythe because that means I can start building my own soon and-" her rambling was cut off by another person's teasing comment of "Take a breath, Ruby."
Lumi turned and was surprised to see a familiar face.
A/N: Oh my, who could that be? Guess you'll have to wait until next week to find out :9
Not gonna lie, this chapter was pretty difficult to write. I went through a few different versions before settling on this. But now that it's out the way, I can focus on next chapter which is gonna be full of ~drama~ !
See you next week.