Yang wandered around the campus, looking for her friends from Signal High. Quite a few had decided to go on to Beacon, instead of one of the other prestigious universities. Yang found her way to the cafeteria, where she was totally gonna be spending a lot of time. Food was amazing. She waved to Nora and Ren, whom on first sight, seemed like the world's most mismatched pair, but were truly the closest couple that Yang had ever known. Growing up together tended to do that. They smiled at her. At the far end of the cafeteria was a stand proclaiming 'Vegans are better than savages!". Yang's lip curled. It was one thing to have an alternative diet, and quite another to decry every other diet, and try to force your own on everyone. That was really uncool. Yang liked eating meat, and she wasn't likely to give it up anytime soon. A tall green-haired dude was arguing with the women at the stand, and appeared to be winning. Yang chuckled to herself. Her stomach rumbled.
"Good timing." She said. The line up for food started towards the entrance, so she made her way to the back. In front of her were stereotypical frat bros: Roided out, obnoxious, and smarmy. One of them, a scrawny guy with a blue mohawk checked her out. She gave him a hard look. It meant something along the lines of 'Fuck off.'. The guy turned away instantly. The line moved slowly, so it was a few minutes before Yang even got a tray with cutlery. Ten minutes later, and her tray was covered with egg rolls, bacon and mushrooms. She balanced a bowl of ramen on the side. Nora waved her over, and she took a seat on the bench across from them.
"YAAAAAAANG." Nora cheered.
"Sup." Ren greeted.
"Hey guys, how's your first day going?" Yang took a huge bite out of an egg roll, and swallowed it whole.
"My roommate is a total idiot." Ren said.
"Mine's kinda cool, but she doesn't talk much." Nora stole some bacon from Yang.
"What about you, Yang? What's your roommate like?" Ren took the bacon away from Nora and gave it back to Yang, who chomped on it happily.
"My roommate is Weiss freaking Schnee. Yes, that Schnee."
"April Fool's was five months ago, you ass!" Nora scolded Yang.
"I'm not kidding, though. My roommate is actually Weiss Schnee. And she's freaking cute."
"I detect no signs of falsehood. You're gonna have an interesting year, Yang." Ren said.
"How cute exactly?" Nora questioned.
"Extremely. Her skin is flawless, and she's got the most adorable voice. A little bitchy, sure, but I'm willing to bet she could be a good friend eventually."
"I bet you wanna be a little more than a friend, eh, Yang?" Nora winked.
"Oh, shut up." Yang grinned. She slugged back her ramen, and coughed when a bit of broth went down her trachea.
"Would that be her over there? Face like she's got shit under her nose? White hair?" Ren pointed towards the entrance of the caf.
"Probably." Yang turned to look. Weiss was surveying the room with an air of distaste. People got out of her way as she walked toward the front of the line-up for food.
"I don't like her." Nora said. Yang turned back to her friends.
"Yeahhhh, I hope she lays off the bitchiness." Yang said.
"NO, YOU DUNCE. I SAID LIGHT ON THE SALAD."
"How's that hope going for you, Yang?" Ren smirked.
"You're a dick."
"Oooh! My roommate is over there! Come on, Yang, let's go talk to her!" Nora jumped up.
"Tall, red hair, athletic. Kinda hot in a gym rat way. Like you." Ren pointed.
"I appreciate the compliment." Yang looked over. Nora was hopping around the aforementioned woman. And Yang recognised her.
"Holy shit! That's Pyrrha Nikos! She was one of the world's best amateur boxers a few years ago!"
"Was? Did she stop or something?"
"Yeah. As far as I know, she got out of the sport for her education."
"You should go save her from Nora. Maybe get a few tips from an expert." Ren advised.
"Yeah, good plan. Thanks. You can have the rest of my 'shrooms."
"Didn't come for that part of the university experience, Yang."
"What? Oh, Rennnnnnnn! I meant the mushrooms. Oh, just shut up." Yang reached across the table to smack her friend. He dodged with ease, a shit-eating grin on his face. "See you later, Ren."
"Go make sure my girlfriend doesn't scare off the 'best boxer ever'." He said sarcastically. Yang stood up, her back cracking as she did. She mussed up Ren's hair, and he laughed. Nora waved her over. Yang dodged around a tall green-haired guy carrying a really full tray, and he grumbled.
"Pyrrha, this is my friend, Yang. Yang's a boxer too. You should hang out and be besties!" Nora said when Yang approached.
"Pleasure to meet you, Yang." Pyrrha held out her hand. Yang shook it.
"Same to you, Pyrrha. I assume you don't want me fawning over you?"
"That would be correct. I get enough fervent admiration from people as is."
"Understood. Although can I say how awesome it was when you knocked out Cinder Fall?"
Pyrrha dipped her head in response.
"She was an exceptional fighter and I got lucky." Pyrrha said humbly.
"She's just fibbing, Yang. I bet it was an easy fight." Nora said. Pyrrha blushed.
"Nora, I think Ren wanted you back." Yang said pointedly.
"Ooh, good idea! See you later, Pyrrha!" Nora ran back to their table and tackled Ren from behind.
"I'm sorry for her. We really need to invest in a leash and muzzle." Yang gestured. Pyrrha laughed.
"It's quite alright, Yang. I think she's funny. A bit hyper, obviously, but that's alright."
"Yeah, she's been like that for as long as I've known her."
"I'd love to hear any stories you have about her. You know, for blackmail." Pyrrha smiled.
"I'll tell you sometime. Maybe in return for tips from the greatest amateur boxer ever?" Yang teased. Pyrrha rolled her eyes.
"What a deal. Come along then. I just need to grab some bacon." Pyrrha dragged Yang back to the food, where Weiss had returned for more salad. Yang made eye contact with Weiss, but the other woman turned away in favour of some iceberg lettuce.
"I was unaware Weiss Schnee was attending Beacon." Pyrrha commented.
"Tell me about it. She's my roomie." Yang muttered. Pyrrha gasped.
"That's incredible! Think how much you could learn from her!"
"Except she's kind of a bitch."
"Oh, that's a shame."
"You're telling me."
...
"Yang, your right foot needs to be further back. I told you this last time." Yang rolled her eyes, but followed Pyrrha's instructions. She had to acknowledge that Pyrrha's advice was sound, and she was hitting the dummy with even more force. Yang hit the dummy with a right cross, then followed with a flurry to its torso. The spring it was mounted on squeaked ominously.
"Stop rotating your shoulder so much. And hop from foot to foot. You can dodge attacks better." Pyrrha paced behind the dummy, her long hair falling freely down her back. Yang rolled her shoulders and started hopping. She dodged an imaginary strike and smashed the dummy in the face. The dummy bounced off of Pyrrha's shoulder and back at Yang, who dodged.
"You've got a lot of power, but no style. That will allow you to take down amateur fighters, but not the more experienced ones. And there will be a lot of the latter in the Blitz. I assume you wish to compete in the Blitz, right?"
"Yeah. That's the goal."
"Alright. You'll need to train a lot harder and for a lot longer if you want to have any chance."
"Yeah, yeah. You should spar with me sometime instead of making me hit this flimsy piece of shit." Yang punched the dummy so hard that the spring almost snapped.
"I'll consider it. But until then, keep hitting."