Pyrrha was uncertain what to expect. Classes were over for the day but Goodwitch had sent her first years to the auditorium. All eight teams were present, 32 students that made it into the school. On stage stood Ozpin himself, back straight and oozing confidence; the headmaster made it a habit to stroll across campus in his free time so seeing him was not that much of a surprise. Yet today his demeanour was different, more serious.
Once everyone was seated and the deputy took her place by his side, Ozpin began to speak: "I am glad to see you all deigned to follow Professor Goodwitch's directions. The students have been ever so obedient since she joined our staff." Some laughter followed from the crowd, even Pyrrha's lips twitched. Goodwitch herself was not amused but Ozpin did not acknowledge her displeasure.
He carried on after his little joke lifted the mood: "Regardless of her presence, we never had to worry about our students' academic pursuits. It is my personal belief that education is one of the most important goods in this world. The fact my paycheck depends on it aside," he quipped, to some more amusement from the crowd, "it is knowledge that separates us from mere beasts. The ability to obtain and exchange it, to learn. Yet as much as we wish to say otherwise, claim all as equal, the truth of the matter is that some individuals stand out. Some stand beyond most any of us.
"Atlas, Shade, Haven, and Beacon prepare prospective hunters over four years. We teach you everything you need to know. Not just to survive in the field, but to thrive and improve. Among our alumnis are known names of just about every occupation. It is no empty boast when I say that, among your age group, you are among the best."
The praise felt genuine coming from him. Despite the many platitudes Pyrrha hardly acknowledged over the years, this once she felt herself glow with pride. Meanwhile, Ozpin seemed to look everyone in the eyes at once. He studied them, took their measure, and smiled.
"However, sometimes there are others. Less fortunate or more secretive souls, those born with a gift of one sort or other. People who either lacked the chance or the desire to apply for combat school. People who, through a stroke of bad luck, failed to enter one of the academies." Another pause was left, opening the room to an expectant silence. Pyrrha immediately suspected the upcoming license examination and was not disappointed.
"Naturally, we offer all of them a chance to become hunters as well. Be it their circumstances, their preferences, or outside interference that kept them from joining us, all are allowed to undergo the examination for a hunter license. As some of you may be aware, the time for this very exam is near." The excited muttering his announcement created, he simply cut through: "And like every six months, it is not just up to the faculty to render judgement on the hopefuls. It will be up to all of you to join our efforts."
The noise level grew so far that the headmaster needed to stop once again. People were talking across the room, even Selina and Yang started arguing what this might mean until Pyrrha and Weiss shushed them; she felt a certain kinship with the Schnee heiress in that moment, though not for long.
Ozpin simply continued to smile. "Usually, the excitement only starts with the following announcement: for the two weeks the examination lasts, first year classes are suspended."
He gave the shocked silence time to be broken by a collective cheer. Pyrrha did not join but was still pleasantly surprised by the break. She doubted there were no strings attached, though.
The headmaster continued as if reading her mind: "While the applicants are not aware of it yet, their first assignment will be a combat test. As is customary, they will run through a gauntlet of our entire first year class."
Though she expected something along those lines, this still came as a surprise; some others exclaimed about what sounded more than a little unfair at first glance. Over the ruckus however, one hand rose daintily. Ozpin nodded to its owner.
"Yes, Ms. Schnee?"
The room grew quiet again; Weiss waited until her voice could be heard, though she also projected it well to carry. "I understand that this examination is to be challenging, but why over thirty students and not a team of instructors?"
"A good question, if a frequent one. The answer I have always given is that we are walking a tightrope. Applicants need to prove they are not in need of the four years of education Beacon offers. Yet at the same time expecting them to go head to head with a full team of seasoned hunters goes too far. This is also why only our first years participate in this exercise. In addition, this gauntlet tests not only their martial prowess, but also resourcefulness. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes. Thank you, sir."
Ozpin nodded. He waited for other questions and continued when none came: "Good. Now, in addition to the experience of facing people confident enough to apply, each candidate you defeat will earn extra credit for the entire class. The faculty will not set a schedule or order; this will be up to you students. I recommend that you take some time to discuss strategies and find a good order."
The excited chatter began halfway through. That was a lot of potential extra credit to be earned, to the point it enticed even Pyrrha. While she began to muse what to do however, Selina's hand went up. Once Ozpin called on her, she asked her question. "Do we get extra if we beat all of them?"
Going by his smirk, he absolutely expected that one. "Yes. You would also turn out to be the third group in fourty years to achieve this."
"Oh, oh!" Nora waved her hand and shouted into the room without being acknowledged first. "Who else did it?"
Goodwitch's stern glare homed in on her, but she was too excited to notice. Ozpin indulged Nora without rebuke.
"The first time was twenty years ago. Team STRQ, Stark, set themselves at the end of their gauntlet and mercilessly cut down everyone who made it through. The same strategy was repeated last year by Team CFVY, Coffee. In both cases we saw two thirds of over thirty applicants defeated by the final team. I would not be too confident in such a strategy, however." His gaze somehow seemed to grow heavier. Conversation petered out and Pyrrha's breath caught in her throat. "In both cases the teams consisted of students with the potential to become legendary. STRQ should be especially telling. After all, you all know the name Qrow Branwen."
Excitement returned as the weight lifted from the room, except for Yang who seemed both interested and upset for some reason.
The headmaster answered a few more questions over the next minutes before dismissing them. Selina immediately left their side while dragging Weiss along; the pair moved between teams, exchanging words with their leaders. Even Cardin seemed to agree with whatever Selina said, going by his occasional nods despite the scowl she always earned from him.
During a somewhat late lunch, Selina explained to the rest: all team leaders would meet up and discuss strategy in the evening just like Ozpin suggested. Pyrrha understood the idea perfectly, though Weiss already scribbling notes amused her a little.
At some point Blake turned to Yang. "Do you know Qrow Branwen? You looked pretty excited when Ozpin mentioned him."
The blonde shrugged at that. "Well, yeah? He's my uncle."
To say Pyrrha was surprised was a bit of an understatement. The table had fallen silent, all eyes on Yang. Selina adequately put their feelings into words: "You're telling me you're related to a living legend? And never said anything about it?"
Her exasperation cracked Yang's nonchalant demeanour. She sheepishly played with a lock of her hair. "It wasn't really relevant?"
The subject intrigued Pyrrha a great deal. "Would you happen to know the other members?" she inquired curiously, but for some reason that made Yang slump. Her frown grew more pronounced.
"Yeah. My dad was on the team, and my mom too."
"Wow. Tight-knit team, I guess? What're they like?"
Selina only seemed to realise Yang's despondence after the question was already asked. "You okay? Don't wanna talk about it?"
"It's not that, I... yeah, I'd rather not."
Though Pyrrha was curious, she honoured the other girl's wish and steered clear of the subject. Selina nodded as well, then her gaze was drawn by something else. "Alright. And lookie there, I spy with my little eye a bunny. Be right back." So saying, she left the table and her half-eaten meal. Pyrrha watched her partner sidle up to team CFVY and start chatting with them. Velvet in particular became flustered after a minute, likely related to the way Selina beamed at her.
"What was that about?" she inquired once the wolf girl returned. This earned her a lopsided grin.
"Oh, turns out Velvet is the reason they got the clean sweep last year. She's all modest about it but everyone agreed it's because of her. So I organised us a spar for tomorrow, hope you guys don't mind."
Just this once Pyrrha took no offense with her leader making decisions without consulting anyone. The prospect of facing second year's top team intrigued her quite a bit. Especially after what she just heard, considering that Velvet Scarlatina did not stand out all that much. Yet a check of the database confirmed that she led the combat rankings by a decent margin.
Meanwhile, Weiss had begun to fret. She knew intellectually that Beacon's students had a great number of advantages, but the power of their opposition remained unknown. She could not plan for something she was unaware of.
Her nerves remained under wraps into the evening, when all eight team leaders met in the dorm's common room. They seized a table they could all fit around but only half of them actually prepared to take notes. The prospect of putting her head together with others was exciting if nothing else.
Selina seemed to just be giddy; She opened the discussion once greetings were exchanged: "Alright, everyone. I checked with Goodwitch, they've got thirty-eight people. Coco told me they let them form groups of two for the gauntlet and there's two fights a day with a few hours to recover for us in-between. How do we go about this?"
A moment of silence followed her announcement. Weiss immediately seized the opportunity to offer her opinion: "I imagine we should focus on attrition; Ozpin did say that resourcefulness is being tested here, among others. So forcing them to commit resources early on should allow later teams to win."
"We should probably draw out the first fights, yeah," one of the boys added. "See what kind of skills and weapons they have." That got a murmur of acknowledgement.
Cardin chimed in next, brow furrowed. "Just so we're on the same page: it doesn't matter which of us konks them out, we all get the extra credit, right?" Everyone nodded. This was how they understood it. "Good."
"We've got a few heavy hitters in first year," one of the girls supplied. "Pyrrha and Yang are our top dogs, can we do something with them?"
She had a point there; although Pyrrha already displayed the ability to defeat Yang handily, both were forces to be reckoned with. Selina seemed to agree as well, snapping her fingers in thought. "Actually, speaking of, I was thinking we should place my team at the end. Pyrrha is our strongest fighter, so we want her there to knock out whoever makes it through."
The group in general agreed with her idea and Weiss hoped her miniscule frown remained unnoticed. She understood the sentiment as well, but a tiny part of her desired for SPBY to be the final hurdle. The glory lured her.
Before she could speak up and make a reasoned argument, Cardin chimed in again: "Yeah, how about we don't do that?"
It was surprising if welcome support for her own desire.
"Any particular reason?" Selina shot back curiously, to which he made a so-so motion.
"Kinda. First off, I don't want to just repeat the same thing Ozpin talked about. That's lame."
"But effective," someone quipped. Weiss did not catch who.
Cardin rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, fine. But I was thinking, if we put the strongest one at the end, anyone who makes it there can rally and know they're done afterward. So why not put her in the middle to lay on the pain and tire them out? Then we need someone who hits hard at the end to take 'em down."
His proposal prompted a moment of introspective silence. As much as Cardin's general attitude peeved Weiss, she could see his point. The psychology behind his idea was familiar as well. Not to mention that it served her own desires perfectly.
"That idea does have merit," she reasoned, pleased when Selina nodded. "Assuming Sunlight takes a center spot, I imagine Spiceberry will fit well at the end. Yang is without doubt the strongest in our year. Physically, that is."
Nobody argued that point. Seeing that they were in agreement, Cardin went on: "Alright then. And my team can go first to soften them up. The boys are pretty agile and I hit hard, so we can cover speedsters and bruisers." Again he earned some general agreement, though his smirk told Weiss that going first may have been his sole intention here. Not that she begrudged him such a preference.
As the discussion continued, Weiss sometimes took notice of their upperclassmen listening in. The approving nods and grins flying around filled her with determination not to disappoint.
They ultimately settled on CRDL first, SNNL fourth, and SPBY eighth. The other teams sorted themselves in the remaining spots; their priority was to mix heavy hitters and fast strikers, as well as Dust specialists and whatever shenanigans their Semblances could bring. After about two hours, Weiss was confident that they created a winning combination. A fire of passion burned in her chest, she wanted to excel and be among the select few who defeat all applicants. A legacy of her own or at least a first step in that direction.
She eventually found herself with only Selina and Cardin after wrapping up. The redhead nudged their classmate cheerfully. "You're surprisingly unbiased there, big guy," she chirped. "Change of heart?"
"Fuck off. I want the extra credit."
"And the glory," Selina added cheekily. His grousing did not seem to affect her at all.
And somehow it worked; Cardin heaved a sigh. "Yeah, that too. If I gotta play ball to get it, fine. But that doesn't mean I suddenly like you."
"Yeah, right." However one could fit so much sarcasm in two simple words. "Anyway, speaking of balls, we're still up for the day after tomorrow?"
"What, think you can get around another ass-whooping?"
His taunt earned but a chuckle. "Just you wait, the score's even again before you know it."
"Sure, if that helps you sleep? Later, losers."
So saying, he sauntered away. Only a bemused Weiss and an amused Selina were left behind. The atlesean could not help but comment: "He does seem more mellow than before. Whatever you are doing apparently works."
Much as she came to expect, Selina did not preen. She was surprisingly humble for a woman so brash. As it were she simply shook her head.
"Wish I could take credit for it, but it's all Ghira. I'd probably be right there with the other White Fang assholes if it weren't for him. He taught me to keep my calm and engage the other person instead of trying to fight them." A soft laugh escaped her before she threw Weiss a smile. "And it worked on you too, now didn't it?"
Only her saying it made Weiss realise that this was true. She meant to ponder the repercussions of this new insight, but was distracted by a muscular arm sliding around her shoulder. Before she knew it, she was pulled into a sidehug that was... not awful. If anything, Weiss had to fight herself to not melt into Selina's side.
Regardless of her craving the comfort, she mustered up a disgruntled response: "Could you not?"
"Not at all, or not where people can see?"
Weiss opened her mouth but stopped before she could sour their relationship unnecessarily. Despite herself she did not want to refuse Selina entirely. She slowly began to feel that she could be at least a little more open here at Beacon.
Her voice was quiet when she finally answered after an awkwardly long pause: "The latter."
Though there were few people left who could see them, her wish was heeded immediately. Selina let go. "Right, right. Can do."
Of course she had to ruin the moment right after: "And just to be clear, I'm not coming on to you. Not into girls."
"I, I was not assuming you were!" Weiss shot back, flustered. She started to stalk away, muttering to herself. "Of all the crude things to say..."
Selina followed with a chuckle. "Hey, just making sure we're on the same page. You've gotta keep these things in mind when you're friends with a raging lesbian."
When Weiss glanced at her with an arched brow, she motioned into the distance. "Ilia's a year younger, she'll go to Shade next year if she makes it in."
"I see." She had nothing else to say to that. Soon the two of them separated as well for the evening.
The next day, SNNL received a thorough thrashing by CFVY. Coco would later compliment them for putting up a fight, but the result was never in question. Fox was as swift as Ren, Yatsuhashi outmuscled Nora, Coco and Velvet had perfect coordination to take down first Selina, then Pyrrha. The only one whose aura went into the red was Coco herself, thanks to Pyrrha's efforts.
The leaders clasped hands with matching smirks in the end, though. Compliments were exchanged. The brunette made a motion for the younger team. "You've got a good thing going and a nice coverage. Your teamplay needs work."
In turn Selina threw a sour look toward Pyrrha's downed form. She lay on the ground catching her breath, sweaty hair clinging to her forehead. "I'm working on it," the faunus girl told her senior. Coco would be an idiot to miss the signs but decided not to pry. Pyrrha failed to notice their exchange.
The day after that, aside from training and their final classes before the break, they had the next football game. SNNL barely eked out a win and managed to tie up the score, much to Selina's pleasure. Other teams were playing as well and more balls found their way on campus.
While Selina was chatting with Dove and Sky about putting together an actual field instead of using the meadow, a glint of light caught her attention. Glancing out toward the city, what she saw gave her pause. Other heads turned in response to behold Lumina cresting along. Her gleaming wings were spread wide, somehow illuminated despite the overcast sky.
The moth surveyed the area momentarily before spotting Selina. The moment their eyes met, she angled her course and dove before making a gentle landing right in front of her erstwhile companion. What was more, her clothes now sported a layer of sheer fabric that fluttered with every motion.
"Selina," her friend greeted with a trace of warmth.
She was still too befuddled to just greet her back. "How'd you get here? I mean, not that I'm not happy, but how?"
"I flew. As usual."
Her nonchalance almost tripped Selina up. It really had been a while since they spoke more than a few minutes over the phone. Remembering that this was normal for Lumina, she simply nodded and suppressed a sigh. "Yeah, fine, fair enough."
"Friend of yours?" Yang chimed in. Her curiousity was clear for all, though most of the students were interested in the new arrival.
Selina grinned, aware she would get some fun out of seeing others interact with her. "Yeah. Meet Lumina." She motioned for the younger girl, who studied Yang momentarily. The blonde struck out her hand.
"Nice to meetcha. I didn't know there's faunus who can actually fly, but I guess it makes sense. You look pretty, heh, light to me."
Blake and Nora groaned in the background, but Lumina simply kept staring at the expectant girl. "A pleasure to meet you as well," she finally said while taking her hand. "I believe Selina mentioned you a few times."
Lumina may be one of the few people who missed Yang's disappointment; the far taller woman masked it admirably and put on a smile. "Oh, did she? Only good things I hope."
"She rarely has anything bad to say in general," Lumina answered before turning back to her fellow faunus. "Beacon seems to do you well."
She grinned back and gave a thumbs-up. "Absolutely! You should try to get in here too when you're older."
"Perhaps," Lumina allowed.
Selina then proceeded to properly introduce her tiny friend; if nothing else, that had not changed. Lumina even beat out shortstack Nora by several centimetres, though with not even half the boobs. Selina kept that comparison to herself, although she doubted her friend would take offense.
The last person she got to was Weiss, who shook Lumina's hand without hesitation. The heiress inclined her head. "A pleasure. I have to admit I am as curious as Selina about the purpose of your visit. From what I heard, you live on Menagerie?"
"That is correct. I have business with the headmaster and decided to attend in person. And while I was at it, I figured I might as well pay a short visit."
"Aww, you do care." Selina tried to play it off but the care on display surprised her nonetheless. Lumina was not an overly affectionate person. Others clearly caught how flustered she was.
Meanwhile, much to the wolf's surprise, Pyrrha chimed in: "You would travel half the globe for a meeting? That does seem quite important."
"Not overly much, mainly just an introduction." She paused at that point, faintly confused. "And it is not like I am losing much time." Her comment drew confusion from most while Selina quietly cackled to herself.
Weiss arched a brow in response. "The journey must have taken at least a week."
She was right in any conventional sense. Unfortunately for her, she dealt with an absolutely unconventional person. Lumina shook her head and checked her Scroll. "I arrived here about five minutes after my departure from Kuo Kuana. As it is my first time traveling to Vale, I had to make frequent stops to orient myself and took some time to admire the view. Now if you would excuse me, I need to see the headmaster."
She wandered off without another word, likely unaware of the crowd staring after her. Perhaps she was just unwilling to comment, though. Either way, Selina kept laughing; she forgot how fun it was to have her around. Weiss's flat stare, that wordless demand of an explanation, only kept her going.
Once she calmed down, the faunus woman shrugged. "You know how some people just have unfairly neat semblances?" She already expected the nod, considering Weiss was one of them. "Lumina is to those people what they are to some of us normies."
She glanced toward her friend's retreating back again, no longer pale but tanned a few shades lighter than her own skin. Wings folded up neatly, she looked healthy now. Not half-starved like when they first met.
"What do you think she's talking to Ozpin about?" Nora asked. Selina shrugged.
"No idea, maybe she's trying to get in early? I'll ask her later."
Alas, Lumina was nowhere to be found. They later learned that she zipped home immediately after the meeting, seeing that Kali asked her to do so. Everyone remained tight-lipped about the reason of her visit, too.
Selina decided not to pry, figuring she would find out soon enough. And she was right, much to her detriment.