Chapter 8: New Team Who Dis?
The rest of the ceremony went by in a blur. The newly formed Team VIEW were led, along with the rest of the first years, to their dorms. They were surprisingly suite style split into two rooms connected by a decently sized common area. Each suite had two beds, two desks and two chairs; it was the epitome of simplistic design. The common lounge had a simple couch, an old armchair and a coffee table.
Eckhart raised an eyebrow examining the room before curtly saying "No kitchenette? Ugh, so I am going to have to run to the common lounge to make coffee." he said before walking towards the bathroom in the left suite.
Ifiral took a look around the common room before shrugging and walking towards the suite side on the left side of the room. "So I assume they were splitting rooms based on partners. Me and Eckhart will take the left, you and Winter the right." before entering the room and visibly face planting onto the nearest bed.
Viralious shrugged, vaguely remembering that he was supposed to do something but couldn't remember what. Walking into his suite he looked around and thought.
Today was a bit of a surprise. First I get on a team with the Four I met last night… Winter seems nice, a little frigid but nice. Ifiral… he's…. Strong, sarcastic. Then there's Eckhart, maybe he's not as much of a prick once you get to know him. *Sigh* It's still surprising that I was made the leader I mean after all-
His train of thought was interrupted by Winter suddenly saying
"SO co-ed dorms…" Nervousness hung obviously in the air.
Viralious took a second to process what was said before turning to her eyes wide
"Oh my god… Ironwood, this is a terrible idea." Do they expect the students to NOT breed like rabbits? Glancing around the room his eyes land on Winter where he sees light apprehension.
Shaking his head, Viralious grabs the pillow off of the furthest bed and a blanket and moves to the common lounge.
"What are you doing?" Winter says with confusion as she sees him place the pillow and blanket onto the couch.
"Well I can see you are obviously not comfortable with sleeping in the same room as me. I figured I could just sleep on this couch." Damnit Viralious why do you have to try and be nice? Your back is going to kill you. Viralious said in a simple tone.
Winter just looked at him before lowering her head. "I- uh-... it's not you, it's just I've never slept in the same room as someone other than my family."
"Yeah, same here in all honesty. Winter I get it, just take your time adjusting and I'll sleep out here until then."
Winter looked up at him before breathing in. "No you should sleep in your own bed, I can… adjust. Besides, that couch looks like it hasn't been washed in at least 5 years."
Viralious stifled a small smile before picking up the pillow and blanket walking back towards the suite. "Bet that it has never been washed in all honesty."
Placing the items back on the bed, Viralious walks out to the common lounge, seeing the bathroom door open and Eckhart stepping out of the dormroom. Glancing out the door, Viralious notices the team across the hall.
Or rather he sees the orange hair of Delphi stuck in the doorway due to her antlers.
"Hey you good?" Viralious quickly calls out
The deer faunus almost jumps out of her skin at his voice, getting free and turning to face him.
"No… I'm good…"
Viralious exits the doorway and looks at the deer faunus, she was a good 6 inches shorter than him, her antlers came up to his neck. She seemed to almost collapse in on herself under his gaze.
Sighing Viralious extended his hand
"I don't believe we've properly met. My name's Viralious, the apparent leader of Team VIEW." he said with a small smile appearing on his face.
Delphi looked at his hand before shakily moving her own into his, her grip was light
"My name's Delphi, I'm… I'm the leader of team CARD, it's a pleasure to meet you. Viralious.
"Likewise Delphi, so If you or your team ever need something feel free to knock."
"Hey Delphi what's the hold up? Are you moving in or not?" a rough voice came from within Team CARD's dorm. Appearing in the doorway a moment later was Celica.
"I am Celica, Viralious was just introducing himself to us" Delphi says with a bit more ease in her voice.
Celica examined Viralious up and down " You're the guy from initiation aren't you?"
"Uh yeah, I guess we did kinda meet then" Viralious said, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey Viralious, weren't we supposed to do something after the team assignment?" Winter said while stepping out into the doorway.
Celica's eyes looked to Winter glancing up and down before they rolled
"Oh great I've got the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company across the hall" Celica said with sarcasm.
Viralious jumped in quickly before things could devolve (He did not want to deal with another goat faunus situation) "Why don't we introduce our teams to each other tomorrow after classes. Everyone is probably tired from initiation, after all fighting a Geist isn't easy."
Celica's smirk hitched "Wait you guys fought a Geist? I thought there would only be Saybrs and Centinals in those mines'' she then addressed the Megoliath in the room turning to Winter
"Look Winter, I've got nothing against you… if you don't turn out to be a racist bitch I can maybe and I mean maybe get to know you better."
Winter slightly smiled, "I believe I can fulfill that request… I'm sorry I didn't catch your name"
"Celica Rhulk, but you can call me the foxy girl across the hall" She responded in an oddly flirty voice.
Winter looked at the fox faunus. This girl is giving massive mixed signals. She then heard a light snickering. It was Celica.
"Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face, it's priceless," coughing Celica recenters herself "teasing aside, what other types of Grimm were in the cave, I kinda wish we fought a Megoliath in there"
"No we don't" A male voice called from inside the open doorway.
"OH you're no fun Russet." Celica said.
Clearing her throat Winter looked at the two faunus, Delphi seemingly trying to do her best wall paper impression
"We mostly encountered Saybr's and Centinals before coming to the central chambers where there was the Geist and… a large amount of Meolwyrms"
"Oh fuck, Winter I know what we were supposed to do." Viralious suddenly cut in upon hearing the word Meolwyrm
"What?" Winter said before thinking back to the Initiation, and a scream echoed in her mind. Then their professor's words echoed in her head
"I would like to speak with each of you in my office after your teams have been assigned."
"Meet with Professor Basil" both Viralious and Winter said, eyes going wide.
Turning to the two faunus, Viralious cocked a smile, waving "Sorry we've got to run, tomorrow let's meet up and introduce each other's full team." before he and Winter took off down the hall.
Delphi blinked twice before releasing her breath and turning to Celica "This being a leader thing is going to be a lot harder than I thought."
Celica simply patted her on the head before saying "Well I think you'll do a great job… Now then let's figure out where to put my guitar."
–
Character Change: Viralious - Eckhart Slate
Location Atlas Academy: Ironwoods office
–
Eckhart stepped into his uncle's office, barely able to keep his anger in check.
His uncle simply looked at him as if he was expecting this outcome.
"Why" was all Eckhart was able to spit out before the general interrupted him,
"This is exactly the reason I didn't make you leader Eckhart, you cannot comprehend people not following whatever grand plan you concoct. You expect them to know everything without saying and get short when they don't follow to a T" His voice was commanding, almost militant.
Eckhart just stood there staring daggers at Ironwood.
Coughing Ironwood continued "To answer your next question why Viralious? Well I didn't choose you for the reason I stated earlier and the fact the council would have a field day if they found out my nephew was leading the most promising team at Atlas this year."
Eckhart raised an eyebrow at that before allowing the general to continue
"I didn't choose Winter as that would only play into the rumors that she bought her way in… Something that I don't need you to stoke the flames of. As for Ifiral, I was considering him but I'm going to be honest I haven't heard him speak and the linchpin of a good leader is communication. So I picked Viralious, the boy whom you convinced me to take an aptitude test to attend the Academy this year."
Eckhart stared blankly into Ironwoods eyes before saying,
"Only one thing you said in that entire speech was true, uncle. Team VIEW is the most promising first year team at Atlas Academy and probably on remnant, but the rest of the drivel you said is just excuses for not choosing the tactically correct choice. I'll make you see that I'm the better leader compared to Viralious." His tone dripping with venom.
"Eckhart you-"
"Your short sightedness will lead to everything crashing down around you uncle… are you prepared for Atlas to be included in that?" Eckhart said as he walked into the Elevator leading out of the General's office
–
Character Change: Eckhart Slate-Viralious
Location Atlas Academy: Outside Professor Basil's office
–
Viralious and Winter stood outside the door to Professor Basil's office staring at the odd newspaper comics clipped out and placed around the door. There was one of a little mouse grabbing the cheese from a mouse trap with a harpoon gun and another of some kids bullying a bald faunus. But the one that had caught Winter's eye was a caricature of her father holding a dust crystal in his hands.
Before either of them could comment or knock on the door, it swung open revealing… Professor Makoto walking out. The squirrel professor just looked at the two students blinking twice before turning her head behind her and saying "Basil you've got two students standing outside your office want me to chase them off?"
"No Makoto, I-I- Send them in please," Basil said from her desk.
Makoto just shook her head before walking off.
Winter was the first to step inside and stood in front of the professor's desk. Viralious followed suit after her and took a seat.
Basil scanned the two carefully before motioning for Winter to sit down in the other unoccupied chair.
As Winter sat she glanced around the office, it was decently sized and homely, on the shelf to her right were multiple books on dust theory, Poisons and a few about faunus culture around Remnant. Scattered around the room were multiple different plants, some flowers, others simple ferns but there was one in the back, a simple white flower that looked like it was the centerpiece of the room. Professor Basil herself looked slightly tired as she pulled something up on the computer in front of her.
Sighing, Basil turned to the two of them before speaking,
"I want you to explain what happened with Dree and Drum, our records from your scrolls show that you met in the cavern before splitting off. Then shortly encountered them again before their signal and auras went dark." Basil's tone carried none of the nervousness it normally did, only stoic duty.
Viralious looked at Winter who shared a look before Viralious spoke
"What Winter described at the evac site is exactly the second meeting that went down as you described. You can ask Professor Murt to verify the presence of Meolwyrms and as for the Geist, just ask any member of Team VIEW that thing was a bitch"
"I see… Now can you explain what occurred during the first meeting?" Basil responded with a chill in her voice.
"Ah well I had just met with them and they were verbally assaulting Winter so I jumped in and threw some barbs. Then one of the two got mad and ran at me and I kicked him in his genitals. Me and Winter then moved continuing on a path, had a short conversation engaged some grimm then heard a scream leading us right to the Geist and them."
Basil looked at him before pushing her glasses up, "Is there anything you would like to add, Miss Schnee?"
Winter just looked at the mouse professor and repeated that what Viralious had described was correct.
Basil looked at the two of them before grabbing the bridge of her nose and sighing,
"Well it's good to know our intel was at least correct on that front… but more importantly How are the two of you holding up?"
Neither responded.
Sighing again, "Look I get, reaching out for help can be hard especially after the loss of someone… I get that you probably didn't get off on the best foot but it's still a lot for a 17 year-old to handle so if you ever need to talk to someone, my door is open."
Winter simply nodded as Viralious said, "Is there anything else?"
Basil simply looked at both of them before saying in a commanding tone "Shut the door," which Viralious did quickly. "The rest of this conversation did not happen. Understood?"
"Understood." the two droned out.
Turning her monitor Basil showed them a file on the two goat faunus "Dree and Drum Tweed. Orphans of Mantle who were recruited into the cult known as Meteion. The two of them managed to get a set of faked transcripts and come to Atlas. Their mission is currently unknown but we speculate that Winter was the target due to their pestering of you at the start."
Winter and Viralious looked at the file in shock. Before Winter managed to stumble out "Why… Why are you telling us this?"
"Because you deserve to know that and I am going to be honest with you I see great things coming from you two. Viralious you picked up quickly from my short lessons and Winter your ability to wield dust is second only to me in this school. That and I have a feeling you will be dealing with them more as the semester goes on. I want you to remain vigilant."
"So you are basically telling us to not be broken up about not being able to save them?" Viralious says after a short pause
"In a sense, yes… Now I didn't tell you this either but each professor is going to pick a first year team to 'mentor' officially no one has picked theirs yet. Unofficially, I'm your team's mentor, guide and advisor."
"Professor Basil, I apologize if this seems rude but I notice that you haven't stuttered during this entire conversation" Winter says.
With Winter's words Professor Basil sinks into herself. Her calm demeanor melts into one of nervousness
"Oh… I… well… I… *Sigh* When I am sp-speaking about something I am pa-passionate about or need to act all… military li-like I can put my nerves aside… S-s-sorry." Her tone is laced in a lack of confidence
"If you can put your nerves aside for a moment to talk about something in specific situations why not act like it all the time?" Winter says in a puzzled tone.
"It's because then she wouldn't be herself. Professor Basil's stutter is as much of a part of her as your white hair Winter" Viralious says quickly.
Basil nods her head before continuing,
"Right… Viralious… i-if you don't mind, I would like to go over your f-file with you. I can have M-Miss Schnee leave the r-room if you like."
Viralious paused for a moment thinking long and hard before sighing, "That won't be necessary, I've already told her my last name… Not on purpose, mind you, but she knows I'm a Rose. Besides, we're gonna be partners so it's best to learn more about each other."
Winter and Basil just looked at him shocked before the professor pulled up a file on the monitor and spoke,
"Viralious Rose, Age 17. Son of Summer Rose and a father not listed on the birth certificate. Has a twin sister Named Zeliska Rustiva, reason for different last name currently unknown-"
"Okay, I don't think we need to give my entire life story Professor, so what did you want to talk about?'' Viralious interrupted
Basil nodded before pulling up a video from earlier in the year.
"This video shows the final portion of your final exam from Signal Academy. You had to fight against a trained huntsmen and press a button on the other side of the field."
"Ok, is this about how I beat the last record by 35 seconds? If so then It was honestly just luck as I caught Tai off guard."
"It's about your weapon… Viralious, It's vastly different from your current design… I wanted to ask why you changed weapons."
Winter looked at the screen examining the weapon in her partner's hands, it was completely different from his twin blades and SMGs. Instead there was a dual bladed scythe, blade on each end facing opposite directions and no firearm was visible. She too shared the professor's question.
Viralious just closed his eyes, remembering him and his sister designing their weapons together, their bases and their inspiration standing behind them. He then felt the heat of the fire in his eyes before he opened them.
"My original weapon was based off of my uncle's. Me and my sister both designed scythes but made them distinct from his. I looked up to him as a hero and Inspiration… until my mother died. Unlike what the autopsy says it wasn't Grimm but a gunshot that killed her. The only people in that forest were her, me, and my uncle… After that I put two and two together. I couldn't look at the weapon without feeling… anger. So that is why my weapon has changed so much since then" Viralious said, looking down at the ground.
Basil then took a deep breath. "Viralious I understand completely, I…. Also changed my weapon after a… case of shaken faith." She then places something on the desk
Viralious and Winter look at the item on the desk. It looked like a conductor's wand; it had a small rotating cylinder where one would load dust into it. It was small, only about a fifth of a meter long but it looked worn and well maintained.
"Part of life is facing things you never expected or would have wanted to… I just wanted to let you know that this is more normal than you think… but even though you are moving away from the old weapon. Remember what you had from it, as sometimes the best parts of ourselves can blossom from that pain."
Viralious thought about her words for a minute looking at the small weapon on the desk before looking up at the professor.
"Alright Professor… If you don't mind me asking, what made you change your weapon?"
"Maybe another time." Basil said while motioning to the clock which read 21:12 on it. "It's getting a little late and you two should get some sleep before your classes start tomorrow. For now, have a good night and don't forget a notebook for Murt's class… From experience I can say you are going to need it." Finishing with a small smirk.
Both Winter and Viralious looked at the mouse professor before thanking her and wishing her a good night as well before leaving the room.
Basil sighed quietly before shutting down her computer and said "That team… I wonder." before shaking her head and exiting her office. Walking off into the dark hallway.
–
Winter and Viralious both walked back to the dorms in silence, arriving back they noticed that both Ifiral and Eckhart had already showered and were going over their schedules in the common lounge. Ifiral was looking dead tired and taking occasional forlorn glances to the bed. Eckhart had an annoyed look on his face.
"Oh, there you two are, I was planning on going over all of our schedules before we got some sleep but had no idea where you went."
Viralious rolled his eyes before pulling out his scroll, and slid it to Eckhart
"That raises a good point, we should all probably share scroll numbers as we are going to be a team."
All four quickly exchanged scroll numbers then focused in onto their schedules for tomorrow
9:00am-9:50am: 1st year Grimm Studies with Professor Murt
10:00am-10:50 am: History of Remnant with Professor Beryl.
11:00am-11:50am: Applied Sciences with Professor Makoto and Professor Cinnamon
12:00pm-1:50pm: Lunch and Free Period
2:00pm-2:50pm: First aid and Field Medical Training with Professor Lute.
3:00pm-3:50pm: Combat Training/Dueling class With Professor Kaine
4:00pm-4:50pm: Dust Studies and Application with Professor Basil
Viralious was the first to break the silence, "Surprised they are giving us two hours for lunch."
"I believe it's meant so you spend a small amount of time eating then using the rest of the time to do some light maintenance on your gear." Eckhart stated in a simple tone.
"Right, something else I noticed is that the lecture classes are before lunch and the more hands-on ones are after it." Viralious said with a slight puzzle in his voice.
"I wouldn't exactly call 'Dust Studies' and 'First Aid' hands-on." Winter quickly responded.
"Eh, I have a feeling that we are going to actually be mixing the dust combinations we learn about and for first aid… you know he's going to have us wrap simulated wounds."
Picking up his schedule Viralious stood up before turning back to the group, "As a heads up we're going to introduce ourselves to the members of team CARD tomorrow after class, they live right across the hall. I would say just think of this as a Team bonding opportunity considering we also haven't known each other for that long.'' With that Ifiral grabbed his scroll and walked back into his and Eckhart's suite before face planting on the bed.
Eckhart rolled his eyes and followed suit, closing the door behind him.
Viralious and Winter just stared at each other before Viralious spoke
"Go ahead and grab the first shower, I'll stay here in the common lounge until you are done. Feel free to close the door to the suite if you want."
With that, Winter thanked him and shut the door behind her. A few minutes later the sound of water running could be heard faintly through the door.
With a sigh. Viralious pulled his scroll out of his pocket and opened up his contact list. Searching through the list he eventually finds the one he is looking for and starts a call. The scroll rings for a minute or so before there is no answer.
"Hi sorry I couldn't get to your call, I'm probably busy taking care of my girls. Please leave a message and I'll do what I can to get back to you." His stepdad's voicemail chimes in with a simple tone following suit.
"Hey Tai… Look I'm sorry about not responding to your calls I… I just needed some time away from everything to examine what I actually did. I'm not proud of what I've done and what's happened because of my decision to attack Qrow… I'm… I'm truly sorry about the house and with Ruby, I should have paid more attention… Should have been more careful. Look, Tai, I know words can't make up for what's happened so I'll find some way to fix up the house and… make things right. I know I'm probably rambling on but… He killed her… he killed Mom. I… I couldn't just sit there with him and act like he didn't. I know you probably won't believe me but he's the only one who could have… I'm…. I'm enrolled at Atlas academy. Actually, I was named leader of my team. Team VIEW… I can tell you about them some other time but for now it's getting late and I've got classes in the morning. So I hope I can catch you sometime to talk. Until then later… Dad."
With that, Viralious ends the call and sighs loudly. Not noticing that Water had long since stopped running and the door was slightly ajar.
Winter Sat next to the slightly open door and sighed. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop on her partner and leader, it's just… It sounded like a strained family situation… Something familiar. Standing up she opens the door quickly.
"It's your turn to shower, Viralious." Winter says almost too quickly causing Viralious to jump slightly.
Getting up he thanks her and walks into the room grabbing his sleepwear from his bag and entering the bathroom. Closing and locking the door behind him.
Winter stands there questioning if she should say anything, but the words die in her mouth. Closing her eyes and shaking her head she moves to her bed and tries to drift off into the realm of sleep.
–
Character Change: Viralious - Taiyang Xiao Long
Location Island of Patch: Temporary Xiao Long/Rose house
–
"So I hope I can catch you sometime to talk. Until then later… Dad." The voicemail ended as quietly as it came. Tai was busy helping Yang organize her temporary room and make sure that the Stew was cooking on the stove; he didn't even hear his Scroll ring.
Glancing down at the time on it, he sees it reads 6:38 meaning it was approaching 11 PM at Atlas. He stands there with a bundle of confused emotions. First comes relief knowing that his Stepson is alive and apparently thriving, something Summer would have loved. But then comes sadness and frustration that he just ran away from his problems and went to Atlas instead of facing them here back at Patch. Lastly is just pure apathy, he was still believing that Qrow had killed his mother and wasn't addressing the root cause of his problems.
Sighing, Tai grabs his scroll and slips it into his pocket. Deciding that Viralious needs time to sort out his emotions and when he's ready to face them for real. Until then he didn't exist to him… or to the girls.
Tai then notices Ruby "sneakily" grabbing a cookie from the cookie jar earning a small smile as he walks over to check on the stew.
Character Change: Taiyang Xiao Long-Viralious
Location Atlas Academy: Team VIEW dorm room: VW suite
–
Viralious finished his quick shower and brushed his teeth. Looking in the mirror he looks at his hair and eyes the deep purple reflecting back at him. Breathing in, he slowly thought of the glyph that he summoned earlier. His hair and eyes shifted to be a mirror of Winters. In his hand a small glyph turns clockwise. Breaking his focus, the glyph disperses and his hair shifts back to its normal color.
Viralious then tries to remember when he summoned his mother's semblance. Closing his eyes he imagines his hair shifting to a black and red mix and eyes a nice silver. He then thinks of the summon she referred to as Lemur. Its geist-like qualities wrapped in a white cloak and its long curved hands that he distinctly remembers helping out with cooking.
Opening his eyes, all he sees is his normal hair and eye color. No Lemur behind him. Shaking his head, he steps out into his Suite and silently enters his bed. Setting his alarm for 7:00 AM and placing it on the small desk to charge. He closes his eyes and nods off.
A/N
You may have been alerted to this chapter being posted twice, the reasoning is that the story was not being shown on the site at all not even on my profile when I went to check. So hopefully doing this fixes the issue, if not the story will be reposted.
This chapter is officially the bridge between the first and second arc of this story. This is meant to just tie up small loose threads from the last few chapters and set up small conflicts that will occur moving forward.
Starting off I made their room suite style as I felt it would allow for more separation and let's be honest Team RWBY is the exception not the rule so I don't plan to have any major renovations to the room like bunk beds… Especially hung by rope or on books. AmoebaHewdraw's NOTE: My reaction to seeing this at first was that it was dangerous and stupid. Don't do it.
So the first major part of this chapter we have the official meeting of Viralious and Delphi, Since I didn't have them meet before Initiation I figured it would be smart to introduce them here as they are going to play the JNPR in this story. The meet up I designed allowed us to learn more about EACH team. As for Delphi and Celica, we saw a bit more of their personalities, timid and shy and smug and confident respectfully. The line that Celica says to Winter is something that I have heard from someone while moving into my dorm at one point…
Up next is Eckhart's conversation with Ironwood. Yeah, he's pissed and it ends up mirroring Weiss' conflict with Ruby in the show proper and what we are seeing in Ice Queendom. This will be a major part of the story moving forward. As for Ironwood's words on the subject, that's exactly how I would describe Eckhart. He HAS to be in charge and wants everyone to follow his plan. He sadly doesn't have the best habit of telling them the plan then getting short with them when they don't follow it. We can see this during the first part of the Geist encounter, with Ifiral hitting it in the crotch instead of sweeping the legs.
Next to Basil's office, you can see small hints to her personality and herself. Now Professor Basil is lightly based off of Tsugumi from Scarlet Nexus with her loving plants and being a little bit less confident in herself. We can see that her office has plants everywhere with the rest being books that reflect her. Onto her talk with Viralious, her old weapon is a conductor's wand, but I'm not telling you why yet. The talk is just to give Viralious something to think about and establish Basil as the go to professor for Team VIEW. Overall it's meant to be a cap off the previous arc and build into the next one.
Next was establishing their schedule. It's packed as there is a lot to cover in being a Huntsman. I mean think about it, we only see team RWBY learn about Grimm, history, and sparring… Why no first aid or weapon maintenance? What about knowing more background in the world so they could apply it further into their plans or weapons. That is why there are a lot of professors and classes in their schedules. The two hour lunch is there just to give me some time to play around with things in the middle of the day instead of having everything occur in the evening.
Next is Viralious's phone call to Tai, It's definitely rambling. I wrote it by straight up thinking back to last time I apologized over the phone to someone. It got rambling and was kind of jumbled. So I incorporated that into the way I wrote it. As for Tai, I wrote him to be a caring stepdad that's also just done with Viralious' shit… especially after what happened. Winter listening in was just a little plot bunny that I'm holding in my back pocket.
Lastly, just Viralious messing around with his semblance to better understand it. Him not being able to summon his mother's lemure (he's calling it Lemur as it's what he heard when he was 5) is foreshadowing.
Overall I think I built a decent foundation to begin with. I will probably go back and split some chapters up and rewrite some parts (looking at you, Geist fight) but thank you for reading. Please feel free to write a comment or PM me. Anyways, it's time to start the dreaded point of writing a full day of classes. Xcom Out.
