AN: I know It's been a while, and honestly, this chapter has been mostly done for a while. But as I was rousing it off, things came. I won't go into detail, but they have passed. I'm hoping for better production in the future.

Chapter 4

Thor

The weekend came quicker than what he would have expected, and his general down beat mood hadn't passed as he woke up that Saturday. Classes were boring, and he'd had a mildly more interesting spar in combat class. Weiss Schnee was far superior to Jaune in combat, in fact she was better than him is all academic circles.

But she had her faults as well. Jaune had no combat instincts, Weiss had a tendency over think in a fight. That gave more experienced, or instinctual fighter to take advantage over the openings she gave when thinking of her next move.

Still, she was in a totally different league than most of the other students, and honestly her overthinking was something he'd have expected to of been fazed out of her skill set with how well she was in other areas. If he were to guess, she had something else on her mind, not unlike himself. The difference being he was able to compartmentalize his problems when he fought, a skill that came with experience.

The whole event had made Weiss even cooler to him. If he didn't share a room with her and her team, that really wouldn't have bothered him. But it did, and as much as he wanted to attribute this to his teenager brain chemistry, he knew that wasn't the entire case. It was his personality even as an adult to enjoy comradery and bonds of friendship. He also loved to be at the center of attention on contests of martial prowess. Normally, he won, but he wasn't used to such cold reactions from the people he beat, at least when the competition was friendly.

Weiss was cold to begin with, but she also highly competitive and didn't like to be outshone. That was clear from how she treated Ruby after being passed over for the team leader position.

He lay there on his bed roll on the floor, thinking about his life here. He'd been thinking about his attitude and thought it might be he was feeling lonely. Aside from the fact he was alone in a larger sense of having outlived anyone on this planet multiple times over and seen things that might drive most of them to madness. But on a smaller level, he didn't have a team, or at least a real team.

He shared a dorm with team RWBY, but that wasn't the same.

But he didn't really mind that so much as he didn't feel like the students in his year had bunched up into those small groups and didn't interact with other's outside of it. Team JNPR was an exception, and they seemed close with RWBY.

It wasn't that he didn't have people he considered friends, but rather he felt like a distinct outsider compared to the teammates of those friends.

Or maybe he was being overly sensitive or emotional about it. He sat up and noted he was, as usual, the first one up. His internal clock was set earlier than pretty much any other student as far as he knew. Getting up, he grabbed his toiletries went to the shower.

Thor never really took long showers, but today he felt the cold water running over his body was usually soothing and stayed in longer than he would of normally. When he got out he looked at himself n the mirror and ran his fingers over his beard, or at least what passed for one at his age. It was full by the standards of a late teen, but it looked bad if it got too long.

He used a pair of electric clippers to shorten it and clean it up. After he was satisfied with the task, he started cleaning up, when he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, hurry up! Other people need to use the bathroom!" Yang voice rang through the door.

"A moment!" Thor called back, as he finished cleaning and picking up his toiletries and walked to the door with a towel around his waist. He opened it and said, "All yours." He said stepping past her.

"Oh, thanks for the show." Yang said as, in a tone that told him she was smirking.

"Humph." Was all he said, and he went to his corner of the room to get dressed and heard the door to the bathroom close.

"Thor!"

The voice startled him as he pulled his pants on and he fell over onto his mat.

"What!" He looked up to see Blake, red faced staring at him.

"You think you should maybe do that in the bathroom!"

It took him a moment to realized she meant getting dressed, which he normally did in the bathroom for the privacy of his roommates. He'd just spaced out and forgotten with Yang rushing him out of the bathroom, because in his mind it wasn't that big of an issue. He'd gone into battle stark naked before on a few occasions when caught off guard. But he also knew humans, for the most part, weren't particularly comfortable with casual nudity. He didn't feel embarrassed, not exactly, but he did feel uncomfortable in way that made he feel almost like he'd been caught doing something wrong.

"What did you see?" Thor said as he finished pulling his pants on and moved onto his socks.;

Blake's face was flushed but was slowly returning to normal. "Not as much as I could of, given the situation."

Thor didn't press the topic but felt a twinge of humor for the first time in a week. He couldn't help but think of this as funny, even if Blake didn't. He was grateful it hadn't been Weiss, who would of likely reported him to the school staff, but Blake wasn't nearly as vindictive when she felt slighted. She was courteous if distant with him.

"Why are you smiling!" Blake almost hissed at him, trying not to yell, as Ruby and Weiss were still asleep.

"What, you don't think it's a little funny?"

"No!" But her lips showed the ghost of a smile and hint of laugh in voice.

"I promise to remember in the future." He said pulling his shirt on. Blake didn't say anything else but got her own thing ready for her turn in the shower.

Thor pulled his hair back into a ponytail and got ready for the rest of his day. Breakfast first, and he thought maybe he was appetite was returning.

Yang

Yang sighed with relief as she excited the bathroom. A Towel wrapped around her body and another around her hair to dry. The dorm was silent, Thor gone, probably to breakfast. Blake was getting ready to take her turn in the shower.

"Hey, you ever notice there's never any fog on the mirror after Thor take's a shower?" She asked Blake as her partner went in to take her turn.

"That's because he doesn't use hot water, all his showers are cold."

"What? How do you know that?" Yang asked as she started to get dressed. And found the idea of cold showers…interesting.

"It's not hard to figure out, if you pay attention." She said as she closed the door to take her shower.

Okay, well fair enough, she didn't really pay attention to the hygiene habits of her roommates. Still, she couldn't understand how or why anyone would take a cold shower unless that old joke was true. Which she honestly never knew if it was or wasn't, it was supposed to be a guy thing.

Now, as she pulled on her boots, she wondered if that was what was going on. If so, what caused it, if that was what was going on.

Thor

His appetite had returned somewhat, and he was feeling more upbeat. It was strange that what most people would consider, and embarrassing incident had made him feel better. He just thought it was funny.

Still, he hadn't shaken the entire down beat feeling. More like a gap in the passing storm. But he'd thought on it for a moment, and decided his melancholy was his own doing, at least in part. He got in his own head and wasn't trying to help himself. He needed to try and do more than go through the motions.

He'd have to try and make his time here more enjoyable. That meant connecting to people. Granted he hadn't made much of effort in that field, sense classes started he hadn't tried to socialize much.

"Hey Thor." It was Ruby "You eating again?"

"A bit." He said with a smile.

"Ready to go into the city?" She said as she sat down "Blake and Yang are doing partner stuff, or training, I'm not sure and Weiss said she had to study, so it will be just you and me." She blushed ever so slightly as she spoke but started coughing not entirely convincingly to bring her hand up to help hide her face.

That told him everything, and he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. He liked Ruby, but not in that way. She was so young. Granted she was only two years younger than him, but there were times when she acted so much younger.

That wasn't going to be a fun conversation.

"So, first place I want to go is the dust shop. It's not really fun, but I figure we can pick up some of the things we need there…" She said and trailed off. "You know, I don't I've seen you use dust sense initiation."

"Haven't need to." He said and took a swing of his orange juice. "I wasn't going to waste it if I don't need to, it cost too, much to replace and I don't exactly have much in terms of money."

"Oh…" Ruby looked a little embarrassed, but pushed on "Well, after that, there's this museum showing a bunch of stuff from famous hunters and huntresses, I thought we could check it out."

That actually sounded interesting to Thor, it might help him get a better understanding the larger scope of his situation, learning a bit of history.

"Then I thought we could to that 'mech showcase.' I think that will be cool." She finished

"The what?"

"Oh, it's something that happens every few weeks. Different company's or even private builders make have they little tournaments between there different androids or mechs. Sort of a show case to try and get contracts with the government or private defense corporations, sort of way to show off what you made and try to sell themselves."

"That sounds like a lot of fun." Thor said, with complete interest. "When is that?"

"Usually around 4:00 or 5:00, we can check once we are in the city. So ready to go?"

Thor took one last bite and stood up "Sure."

Ruby

Ruby hadn't expected to be alone with Thor for the day, but she didn't find it all that unpleasant. In fact, she felt a little excited, her stomach was fluttering a bit, which she wasn't sure why. Probably just excited to be spending time with someone outside of her team, or Jaune's team.

Well it would be a fun day, never the less.

The streets of Vale were full of shopper's other patrons. Ruby didn't like or hate crowds, but she sorts of wished, in a vague way, she and Thor could be alone.

Still, the museum would be cool, and wasn't likely to be that full.

"So, Thor I was thinking we could go to the store first."

For Ruby the day was a waste. The museum was fun, but overall hadn't held Thor's interest. The show case was her last chance to salvage the day. Not that she wanted to of course. He was her friend, and helping Jaune, for what he told her. So, he was tall, strong, and handsome. And more developed than the other boy's in her class, she wasn't interested in that, no sir. She was going to be a huntress, no need for boys or men, nope she'd be a hero.

But Thor made her feel weird. She liked him, but not in the same way she liked Jaune or Wiess. He was just…different.

Thor

Ruby was clearly in a mood, which was atypical for her in the time he knew her. She was trying to have fun, but was so on edge and watching him, he felt she was preoccupied with other things than enjoying the day. What that was, he'd figured out some time ago.

For the time being, he'd leave the issue alone. When it would addressed, he was certain that it would clear when it came, for now, being a good friend would suffice.

The arena of the showcase was far less organized than he thought it would be anyway. It wasn't exactly an underground fight but was less refined than what he would have expected from what he thought it would be. The crown was rougher looking than he'd expected, or at least some of them were.

Ruby was clearly on edge but had an air of excitement as well. The arena was in a sunken with tiered seating around it, with the flicker of a force field around where the machines were tested.

The two previous pieces of machinery were being taken out, one by its tech team, the other by what looked like a scrapping crew.

Ruby took a seat and Thor followed suit, sitting next to her while scanning the audience. He didn't expect trouble honestly, but this wasn't exactly a group of high-end investors, although he was sure they were watching from somewhere, from VIP seating or a close circuit television.

The next match featured what looked like standard Atlas knight up against a much larger machine that looked more like a spider or crab. The Atlas knight was armed with a new weapon from what he could see. That he supposed was what was being shown off, given how this machine was clearly and already used piece of hardware. The weapon looked like a lance, one he'd of expected to see on a mounted warrior.

The larger mech charged the smaller knight, but before it could land a blow, the lance glowed with an incredible heat, and thrust in the heat of the larger machine, which seemed to bleed with the strike, but the fluid was molten metal instead of blood.

It seemed certain the larger machine was done for, but it showed life, and grabbed the knight in one of it's arms and tore it piece, before it died.

"A draw" Thor said, amused.

"That was quick" Ruby said, but clearly happy at the event. "I've never seen a weapon like that."

Thor was impressed himself. Who ever had entered that knight only wanted their weapon sold, but the team of larger machine should also be showing well, after taking a hit that should have disabled or destroyed it, it still managed to get a killing blow.

"Imagine if those two teams made a single machine, it would be quiet a formidable foe."

"Yeah." Ruby said as she watched the scrap being pulled off the field "a Grimm killer for sure."

The rest of evening continued a similar fashion, fight after fight. Ina none particular spirted fight that lasted thirty minutes, with both machines ending the match with missing limbs. But ended when one of the androids took the head of the other with a sweep of it's backs up weapon, an ax infused with fire dust.

The night was getting late by then and Thor knew it was time to go, even though there were several more exhibitions to go.

"Ruby, I think it's time we head back." Thor said as he looked outside.

"Awww." Ruby looked longingly at the next match up. "I guess you're right." She said as she looked outside. "It looks like the weather is going to turn bad in a bit."

Ruby

The day had ended better than she could have hoped for. The exhibitions were great, and Thor had been clearly excited by them, just like her.

And that made her heart flutter. The day had a slow and less than great start but had ended with bang. The fights had been both entertaining, and inspiring. She had tons of new idea's for weapons and upgrades.

"I think it's going to rain." She said, and no sooner than she did, it started to downpour. She yelped with sudden cold of the downpour. "It's cold!" and it was she was shivering before she knew it, and her attitude shifted from joy to misery in a moment.

Thor laughed, not apparently bothered by the cold rain. Instead he pulled her close and she felt herself become warmer, not just from his body heat.

"How can the rain be cold?" He said as they walked to Bullheads. "The rain isn't cold! You are cold and unhappy; the rain is neither cold or unhappy!"

It took Ruby a second to piece the words together and what they meant. "No, I'm…. I'm not unhappy." She said worried she's shown some of displeasure at the weather, but still blushed as she said this, she in fact felt hot and in incredibly high spirits.

"Ahhh." Thor said, "remember this little sister, all you feel is of your own mind." He smiled at her.

And her heart sank. "Little sister?" he thought is that how he thought of her? She hadn't thought of it before now, but…she liked him. More than friend, in a way she didn't understand.

He pulled her closer, and she felt herself become warmer, but sadder at the same time. A shiver ran down her back and goosebumps raised on her skin, in tempest of emotion.

"Thor, I think I'm…." She shivered again "getting to wet."

"Ahh, well I know what will warm you up, come on." He had his arm over her shoulder and lead her off the path to the Bullheads.

"Thor, if we don't get back soon, we'll miss the last Bullhead to Beacon." She protested, but not a strongly as she might have had he not been holding her close. Thor lead her to a bar almost pushed her in. "Thor I'm not old enough."

"Ha." Thor scoffed "You fight monsters, if you can die in battle you can drink." He said and wend to the bar.

Ruby sat there wet, cold and feeling exposed and nervous feeling she wasn't supposed to be here. Thor came back in after what felt like an hour, but could have only been a few minutes, carrying two large mugs of beer. She'd never drank before, but her sister had done so a few times, and Qrow was more than familiar with it.

"Here, this will warm you up." Thor said putting the beer down in front of her.

She didn't think she should, but she was cold, no matter what Thor said, and she knew one of the things beer did was make you feel warmer. And Thor had a point, if she could fight Grimm, she should be allowed to have the same privileges as an adult. Then there was the fact it was Thor, and she trusted him, in a way she didn't fully understand yet.

Slowly she lifted the mug to her lips and sipped. It didn't taste anything like she'd expected, given it amber color. It was hard and biting and she swallowed a mouth full.

"Bleh!" She gasped and stuck her tongue out.

Thor laughed and took a huge draft off his "First timers need to get used to the taste." He said as he put his mug down.

"I don't think I want to get used to it." Ruby said while she rolled her tongue in her mouth to try and get the taste out of her mouth. Still after a minute she started to feel warmer and calmer. Maybe she'd have another sip.

As she raised the mug again Thor smirked at her as he took another drink. She smiled back and could feel her face flushing. He did seem in a better mood after today, especially after the exhibition. It seemed like the fighting had gotten his blood boiling and invigorated him. And the beer was making her feel…better in a general sense.

She looked at her mug a was surprised to see it was almost empty. She didn't think she'd kept drinking…but she guessed she had. Looking at Thor she saw his mug empty, and it was hard to focus, and suddenly didn't feel like drinking anymore, and pushed she mug away.

Thor picked up and drained it. "Think it's time we turn in, come along." He said and helped her up and out of the bar.

Ruby realized that if she wasn't drunk, she was the closest she'd ever been, and he feet felt light and her coordination wasn't normal. But it didn't seem to matter, she felt pretty happy overall.

"Thor, I had fun today." She said, and she supported herself on him.

"Aye, I did as well." He said, "The exhibition was a great sight."

"I was worried you weren't having fun, but I'm glad you're back to normal."

Thor didn't respond for a few seconds, and in her cloudy thoughts, Ruby thought she might have said something to upset him.

"Indeed, I was not myself recently, thank you."

She wrapped her arms around him to support herself. "I like you Thor, I don't make friends like Yang does." She inhaled deeply, feeling in some vague way this would clear her head, and she could smell Thor, his natural scent mixed with the rain as they walked to the dock.

"Perhaps I should have gotten you a smaller drink." Thor said with a laugh in his voice.

"Hmm." She muttered as they sat down and leaned against Thor, because despite sitting down, she didn't feel stable.

The flight back was quiet enough, Ruby feeling like she was ready to fall asleep. But soon enough Thor was walking her back to the dorm. The rain felt good now, cooling against the flushed skin.

As they approached the dorm's she stopped and looked Thor in the eye.

"Thor…I think." She said, feeling bolder and braver than earlier, in the fog of drink. It also seemed to make some things clearer, her feelings all felt stronger. "I think I might…" She leaned in close to him, and his smile faltered a bit. She tried to get closer to his face, but he was so much taller than her that even on her toes she could quiet reach him. "I think I"

Suddenly, a feeling came rumbling up her throat, and the contents of her stomach emptied on Thor.

Ruby took a moment to realized what had happened and even her blur, she hadn't ever felt so embarrassed. She wanted to open a hole in ground and crawl in it. She turned to run away and was probably about to cry, but a firm hand held her in place.

Thor turned her in place to look at him, and the look on his face was not anger or disgust. But concern, he placed an hand on the side of her head and said, "Look at me." She did, his eyes were so blue and beautiful, and she'd just thrown up on him, and her eye's started to tear up. "Do you feel alright?"

Well no, she didn't, but she figured he meant physically. "Yes."

Thor pulled her face closer to look into her eye's more intently, and the concern he was showing started to scare her, he was looking for something and she started to think she might have been poisoned or something. After a minute or so, he calmed and smiled.

"I guess that was just bit too much for your first drink." He said with a sigh and a smile.

"Yeah." She said and jumped enough to bring her lips to his. Her first kiss, and she realized was mixed with her own sick. She pulled back almost instantly in her embarrassment.

But she was stopped again. And looking up, she saw Thor smiling at her. He leaned in and despite the fast she had just been sick, kissed her. On the lips.

Thor

His reaction was based on instinct. His mind may be old, but his body was young. And Ruby had, in few words, enchanted him. She wasn't the only one, her sister had attracted him as well, very strongly. But he was at the whim of his biology in the body. And Ruby was many of things he loved, passionate, strong, determined and beautiful, In her own way.

Only a couple years older than her, he couldn't deny an attraction. She was passionate, kind, and talented. He was drawn to these traits, no matter how old he was.

And despite earlier thinking's of her attraction with dread, now he found himself embarrassing it, and returning it in his own fashion. He thought he'd hurt her, but now, after the day they'd had his drink, he no longer felt like he had earlier, rather he embraced her feelings.

She may have vomited on him a moment before, but his own body wasn't used to effects of strong alcohol either, even if his soul knew what it felt like. His younger body didn't know how to handle the sensations of drink well. Combined with the fact he hadn't order standard tap beer, it was quite a bit stronger, and a boilermaker to boot. He was fine, but Ruby hadn't handled it nearly as well. Her boldness was more than likely drawn from this.

But he still loved the girl, in whatever manner.

"I think it's time we get you to bed." He said smiling.

Ruby looked confused, tired and most of all, drenched. "Yeah." She said, and he could tell she was on the down swing of the euphoria of drink.

As they made there way to the dorm, Ruby seemed to get slower and needed to support herself on him. As he opened the door to the dorm, Thor instantly realized something was off.

Then he realized he was facing down three young women who looked frazzled and more than bit irritated.

Yang

"Ruby!" she near shouted as she ran to her sister and started looking her over "You were supposed to be an hour and a half ago."

"I'm fine, I just forgot to call." Ruby said tone so nonchalant Yang immediately knew something was off. Ruby would normally be a stammering wreck when she was in trouble like this. Then she smelt it. "You've been drinking." It wasn't a question.

"Just one, Thor bought me my first drink." She said groggily. "He said it'd warm me up…it did." Ruby said pushing Yang off her. "If I can fight Grimm, I can have a drink." She said, more boldly than she would of otherwise.

"Get in bed and sleep it off but change into your pajama's first." Yang said.

"Yes mom." Ruby said in sarcastic tones as she walked into the bathroom. She was taken aback but the mount of snark one drink brought out in her.

Yang wheeled around to look at Thor, who was stripping his own cloths off, which were both wet and covered in vomit. He rolled them up and put them in a hamper to be cleaned the next day.

"You!" She shouted at Thor. "What were you thinking!"

Thor looked honestly perplexed. "What?"

"She can't drink you dolt, she's fifteen!" Weiss chimed in.

Thor didn't seem at all bothered by this, he just walked over to his sleeping mate and sat down. "But she can fight monsters and die?"

"What! She's not..." Weiss started to say buy trailed off.

Yang knew what made her shup up, and while she wanted to argue the point, but part of her agreed with it. The reason the drinking age was seventeen was because that was the age when person could die in service to the kingdom. Not just hunters, but enlistment in standard military.

But Ruby was only fifteen, even if she was still in danger of… no she wouldn't think of that.

"She's just a kid!" Yang yelled, or near as she dared at this hour. "You can't just…"

But Thor had laid down, not all bothered by the argument. "If you must discuss this, do it tomorrow. I'm tired, you're tired, and this type of conversation never profit anyone." He said as he got ready to sleep "We'll talk tomorrow."

Yang felt her blood boil, and she looked for support from her team. Blake looked ready to fight with her. Weiss on the other hand looked deep in thought, like she was contemplating what Thor had said.

"Well, me and Blake think…" Yang started and trailed off, to realize Thor was asleep.

She was about to wake him but when Ruby came out of the bathroom.

"Yang." She said, "I'm ready for bed." She said in a slur of words that told Yang her sister was both intoxicated and tired.

Instead of arguing with her, she helped her into bed. As she drifted off to sleep, Yang was hit with a sudden realization.

Her sister was in the Huntress courses, meanings she was in danger, even in class. She had come into a circle of danger earlier than Yang would have expected or wanted. Sure, she had been proud, but know, with Thor mentioning her being able to die, it had in some way made the danger clear.

Thor was, despite making as poor decision in this case, right. Ruby was going to have to be treated like she was older than fifteen. She was team leader and facing threats and tasks all of her classmates were, she was growing up.

Yang hated to think of that. Despite only being two years older, she'd taken on a great deal of the mothering roles in her family for her sister.

But she was in a world of danger now, and Yang knew deep down she could protect her from it, no matter how much she wanted to.

And in that moment, she hated Thor for making her realize this. Her baby sister was now in as much danger as she was, maybe more.

Still she wanted to be mad at someone, and it wasn't going to be Ruby.

Thor

The morning came slowly to him, warm and pleasant. Stretching his arms and legs in his mate, he smiled to himself at the new day, this all before opening his eyes.

Opening his eyes changed his whole mood. Yang stood over him, glaring daggers at him.

"We need to have a talk." Was all she said, and frankly she didn't need to say more.