I'm hopefully defending my research paper soon so I'm feeling kinda anxious. Not sure if it will affect my update rate. Anyway, this is the Coco/Yang/Weiss talking chapter.

Coco took her tray of food and looked around for somewhere to sit. The cafeteria was full to bursting, which made sense considering the Vytal Tournament was just a couple of months off. Transfer students had easily doubled Beacon's population over the last few weeks and a lot of the people were all too eager to mingle and...mingle. Coco herself had been eyeing a few of the transferees, particularly one Dew Gayle from team NDGO.

Too bad the entire team were bitchy to the last. Then again, what did she expect from those prideful desert stragglers?

Another scan showed an empty space at a table with Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long, two members of the infamous team RWBY. She didn't really talk to them outside of the occasional greeting in the hall, but she did know of them. Hard not to make an impact when you take out a Nevermore during Initiation, especially doing it so damn stylishly. She had to admit she was impressed, especially considering they were in the same year as the Invincible Girl.

Still wouldn't beat herself if Coco had anything to say about it, but still, impressive.

"Ladies, mind if I take a seat?" She smiled down at them.

"Sure." Yang grunted.

"Whatever." Weiss picked at her salad.

Coco blinked from behind her shades and sat down across the pair. Okay, so team WY was in a pissy mood, "Woof, who died? You guys sad cause your teammate ran off?" She was so pissed when she woke up to her dorm's windows getting shattered...along with a pair of her favorite glasses. Belladonna would've gotten a minigun to the face if she hadn't been MIA the next morning.

"Blake'll be back. She always does this sort of thing." Weiss scoffed.

"Yeah. Kitty Kat will come crawling when she gets hungry," Yang said, not even attempting to hide her partner's 'secret' identity. Because really, who did she think she was fooling? Her bow moved, for god's sake. Velvet just assumed she was one of those self-hating Faunus and felt bad for her.

"Uh-uh...and where's your illustrious leader?" Coco munched on an apple.

As soon as the question was asked the mood between the two only worsened. Weiss' lips puckered in a frown while Yang clenched her hands and started muttering under her breath.

"...Guessing I shouldn've have asked."

"No, it's...actually, you'll probably understand." Yang brought a hand through her hair, "You know about Denji, right?"

"That guy with the chainsaw arms? Sure." Coco shrugged.

"Yeah, him..." Yang started muttering again, "So much blood and guts. I can hear the chainsaws revving at night when I sleep..."

Coco gave Weiss a 'WTF' look that the heiress could only shrug to. Apparently even she thought Yang's fear was irrational, something Coco and most of the student body shared. They were being trained to fight the literal embodiments of evil here. A guy with chainsaws for arms didn't even register on the weirdness scale. Her partner was a blind telepath!

"Right, so...what about him?"

"Ruby's been hanging around with him." Yang grit her teeth, eyes blazing red. It would've been hot if she wasn't acting so weird, "And I know he's doing some fucked up shit with her! Ruby's so...so innocent! She can barely even talk to strangers even though she can fight an entire horde of beowolves! There's no way she'd be doing that if it wasn't for..." Yang shuddered and looked down at the table. Coco was too scared to ask what 'it' was.

"Oh, so this is just the overprotective big sis thing?"

"No! I'd be pumped if Ruby got a boyfriend! Why does everyone think I'm gonna go apeshit if she starts dating?" Probably cause when Sky Lark tried to peep in on the reaper Yang had smashed his balls to paste, which tended leave an impression on the student body. Not like she felt sorry for the guy, though. Checking out a girl was different from trying to see her naked in the showers.

"Speaking of dating, congrates on you and Arc." Jaune wouldn't have been her first choice, and it wasn't just cause of what he had dangling between his legs, but he was apparently a nice enough guy. That and Yang probably mogged the guy in the gym daily.

"Thanks, it's been great." She acctually smiled at that before trailing off, "Except Pyrrha's been super weird ever since she found out. Not bad or anything, but she gives me these looks I can't describe." Oh dear, sounded like a classic love triangle. Well, it was none of her business. Let the freshmen sort it out. Far be it for her to take away from the experience.

She was about to say something to change the subject when she caught sight of Ruby Rose herself past the window in the wall across from her. Weiss and Yang didn't see her and thus didn't react to the sight of her dragging a kicking and howling beowolf that actually looked scared for its life.

"But yeah, it's definitley Denji's fault that Rubes is acting so weird."

The beowolf was desparately clawing at the ground now to try and avoid its fate. Ruby paid it no mind and continued to hum, eyes closed and mouth curled in a bright smile as she slowly but surely brought the monster to its presumed doom before it finally maanaged to get a strong enough grip to stop her in her tracks.

"I mean just...look at her! Rubes can take out any Grimm no problem, but she wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Ruby took out her scythe then cut the beowolf's right hind leg in a shower of black gore. Coco didn't hear the howl of pain thanks to the soundproof windows, but she didn't have to. The pain was so obvious that she actually found herself feeling bad for the damn thing.

"But no matter how much I tell her to stay away from him, she just tells me I'm being dumb! I don't get it!"

Ruby cut off its other hind leg. For a second she thought that it would be enough to kill it, but the reaper clearly made the cut in such a way to avoid letting it die. The beowolf lay still on the ground, any and all defiance beaten out of it, and Ruby gave a pleased little nod. Then she started dragging it back to god only knew where till Coco lost sight of her.

"Man, what happened to the little sis that always looked up to me? They grow up and start acting rebellious so fast..." Yang sighed.

...

"So what about you, Weiss? Why are you so bummed?" Coco asked.

"It's my sister, Winter." The Schnee heiress stabbed her salad with a soft growl, "She's been...ugh, courting that reprobate. Oh of course she tells me that it's all professional and that she's merely performing the mission General Ironwood gave her, but Winter was never the best at lying. For some reasons he finds that...uncouth, perverted barbarian charming! It's enough to make me sick!"

"Damn, two for two on the sisters front, huh?" She couldn't relate being the only girl, and a middle child at that, of her family. She and her brothers got along well enough, but they also had different paths in life.

"Yes, it's been...quite an unpleasant experience." Weiss pursed her lips, "My worries have only compounded ever since she filed for an official transfer here as an assistant teacher." She sighed and gestured to the teacher's table where Winter Schnee was sitting between Professor Oobleck and Professor Goodwitch. Coco whistled under her breath. Damn, she was a looker! Why did some people get all the luck?

"She transferred to stay closer to him? Sounds serious."

"Don't remind me!" Weiss snapped, "How could...why on Remnant would she pick him, of all people? He's crude, he wouldn't know manners if it bit him in the posterior, and he wouldn't know a good thing if she was standing right in front of him." Coco raised a brow. Okay, that last one sounded different, "And if that's not bad enough, she's acting so...improper! Just look at her."

Coco did and saw the woman not looking down at her food but rather a few tables down where Denji was eating with a little girl, seven dogs, and a cat. Her expression was decidedly neutral, but every time Denji spoke to the girl or wiped her mouth with a napkin the white haired woman's pale skin flushed red and she licked her spoon just a little longer than necessary.

She didn't get a chance to comment before Weiss continued, "But I'm sure I don't have to tell you all this, Coco. Your own teammate is pursuing him as well, isn't she?"

"Ahh, so that's what Yang meant about me understanding." Coco set her apple down and looked at them both.

"Exactly! I bet you're super worried he's gonna do something to Velvet!" Yang said.

"...Actually, no, I think it's cute." They both looked at her like she wore last season's accessories, "What?"

"Are you serious? He's Denji!" Yang shouted.

"Indeed! He's-"

"He totally saved Bun-Bun and kicked Cardin in the dick when no one else did." She would've done it herself, but Velvet had to make up for failing that coffee junkie Oobleck's class so she and the team had different lunch periods. Good thing for Cardin too cause she wouldn't have just stopped at his balls, "I mean yeah, apparently he told her it was cause he thought it'd make him look cool, but I can dig someone who owns up to it."

"But..." Weiss trailed off.

"Listen, whatever you two think of the guy, it's clear your sisters like him, so why not just let it ride?" She would've preferred if Velvet got her crush, of course, but she wasn't gonna begrudge either Ruby or Winter for liking a guy. All was fair in love and war and all that jazz. Besides, it was nice seeing Bun-Bun coming out of her shell for someone outside of their own team.

Coco would support her every step of the way there, of course. Some people who could only think with their smaller heads thought Coco was after Velvet for herself, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. She didn't date teammates. Made things messy.

Speak of the devil. Coco watched with a light smirk as Velvet walked in (early lunch, maybe?), got a tray and made her way to Denj's table without any hesitation. She didn't have extra ears so she didn't hear what they were saying, but judging by the smiles on their faces, it was good.

"...I still disapprove of this." Weiss crossed her arms. You know, she was cute when she was angry. Maybe she should fish around and see if she batted for the other team too?

"Yeah, there's no way I'm letting this go. I have to protect whatever innocence Rubes has left before it's too late." Coco didn't have the heart to tell her that it was probably far too late for that by now.

Oh well. Good luck, Bun-Bun!

Next chapter is either Denji revealing his past, Denji meeting Summer, or a shorter joke chapter where Yang's put into an intervention by her friends to try and deal with her irrational fear of Chainsaw Man. Not sure which just yet.

I'm also debating introducing Penny, but I don't know what interactions she would have. The whole 'two weirdos' dynamic is already going to be what Denji and Summer have. I also want to introduce Whitley, if only for the humor of everyone in the family except Jacques approving of Denji and Winter.