So… I'm back again. It's been a while and I'm not sure anyone remembers any of my old works but it's time to get back on the saddle. This story is inspired by one of my cancelled stories which was one where Ruby and Jaune return from the future, but have forgotten the events of canon resulting in "the funny hijinks" and the most wacky of shenanigans. One of my favourite quirks which I added to that story was that Ruby, being a gun nut, was constantly making new weapons for Jaune to use, just because she could.

That story got cancelled, having hit a dead end in my inspiration but its given birth to this idea. I hope you all enjoy.

Update: the link broke so I'll be doing a quick update here to see if its fixed.

Ruby Rose was a completely normal girl with completely normal knees. Sure, she got into Beacon two years early but that was more because the headmaster saw something in her silver eyes. At least, she thought he saw something in her silver eyes; the headmaster didn't really give her a reason for why he let her in. Whatever he saw, it made him show a bit of favouritism and let her into Beacon early. It was a little weird, all things considered, but it let her stay with Yang so she'd leave the old man be. And sure, she technically fought off Roman Torchwick but she'd also technically failed to capture him and technically involved herself in an ambush which was going to actually capture Torchwick.

Couldn't they have told her that before she was held at gunpoint?

To sum it all up, Ruby was a very normal, very mundane person. And, as she'd learned from many, many stories, being a completely normal person in a world of heroes, villains and monsters was tough. Though, that was mainly because there was always a villain or well-intentioned hero who shows up and steps all over a normal person's life and leaves it in ruin... Well, okay, she wasn't actually getting stepped on… But she was on the floor… ripe for stepping…

Did that make it sound like she wanted to be stepped on? She didn't.

She also didn't want to get up. There was something distinctly disheartening about taking a Dust explosion to the face and then having it blamed on you. Who did that huffy girl think she was? It was White Schnee, or whatever her name was, who had been carrying Dust in loose vials and it'd been White Schnee who shook it into the air so it was clearly White Schnee's fault that it all exploded. And White had called her brain-dead. Who was the real brain-dead one: the person who sneezed when Dust was shaken in their face or the person who shook the Dust in the first place?

Ruby sighed contently as she got that internal rant out of the way. Within the safety of her internal monologue, she just had the wondrous trio of Ruby, Ruby and Rubes as her audience, so it was easy to get her thoughts out of the way. With that freeing rant, she felt the weight of her annoyance roll off her shoulders. She'd been feeling so angry, but wasn't that silly? How was she going to let one mean girl ruin her life's dream of becoming a huntress? Who needed other people anyway? Her mum used to take solo missions all the time so Ruby'd just be following in her footsteps… Right?

As long as she didn't follow the footsteps off the cliff, her mother would be proud of her.

"You, er, good down there?" a voice called out from… somewhere. Ruby wasn't quite sure where since her eyes were closed but it was reasonable to assume it was coming from outside of her mind and that meant it was something she didn't quite want to deal with. She didn't need people.

"Hello? Hello-hello? Are you awake? W-Wait, are you concussed?" the voice continued on as if it couldn't hear her internal thoughts, "Ah, crap. There has to be a paramedic some-"

"I'm fine," Ruby spoke up, not wanting the voice to involve anyone else in her totally-not-a-pity-party, "I was just… taking a nap."

"On the floor outside the school?" the voice asked once more, "I guess if that floats your boat… well, I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it."

Ruby opened her eyes for the first time in the conversation and took in her surroundings. In front of her was a blonde boy, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, pretty standard attire for a Huntsman. As for the armour plates, those were a strange addition. Who wore metal armour in this day and age? Most bullets could penetrate the metal anyway so it wasn't like there was a practical reason to weigh yourself down with a breastplate. Was it like a knight motif? That was… kinda cool, actually.

Though, that wasn't her biggest question, "Love what?"

"My… name. Huh, I've never messed that line up before," Jaune let out a nervous laugh before looking in Ruby's direction, "Hope that doesn't set a precedent. Are you… actually going to take a nap?"

"Oh… no," Ruby reluctantly took the offered hand and yanked herself up, only pulling Jaune down a little, "I didn't feel that tired anyway. But, your name? Do the ladies actually love it?"

"Well, my mum does… and my sisters. There's seven of them, so that has to…" Jaune noticed Ruby's barely contained giggles before sighing, "Never mind. What about you?"

"Ruby Rose. You know, like the flower… and the gemstone," Ruby cringed at her words. Her eyes only widened as Jaune started to shuffle around awkwardly. No! No! She was losing him.

"That's very… red," Jaune looked at himself awkwardly, "I'm more of a blue guy."

Quick! She needed to think of something to fix this! What could she say or do to make things normal? What did she have to bring to the table that would make Jaune want to be her bestest friend? What defines Ruby Rose? Well, if she had to pick what her best trait was, Ruby didn't exactly have to choose from much: her social skills were abysmal, her hand-to-hand was serviceable at best and her studies were only a hair above average. But her scythe-fighting skills?

Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose with a slick twirl, smiling as she did, "Well, I have this thing."

Crescent Rose, her dear baby girl, dug into the ground like a hot knife through butter. Sleek, shiny, sharp and, dare she say, a little sexy, her sniper scythe was exactly what the doctor ordered… Or the friendship doctor ordered. If there was a love doctor, there had to be a friendship doctor too, right? Or a like doctor at least. Whether or not the friendship-based medical professional existed was besides the point, a high-calibre sniper-scythe was basically the golden ticket to friendship in Ruby's eyes.

"Woah… That's… where did that come from?" Jaune's reaction told her she was right on the money.

"It's foldable. It was a real nightmare to have to plan all the moving parts whilst also making sure maintenance wasn't a distant dream but this baby is a real combat machine. She's custom-built to take down any Grimm that walks on Remnant," Ruby pulled back the bolt and let her baby speak for herself, letting that sing-song crank ring out and leave Jaune in awe.

"You… built that?"

"No, no, no. I didn't just build her, I perfected her," Ruby's smile only grew as her eyes glazed over, remembering all the late nights spent with her darling, "First of all, the feeding ramp is polished to a mirror sheen; she's not going to have any feeding problems ever. The frame itself has been welded and scraped down multiple times for maximum precision. The front strap part of the pistol grip has been chequered to make it dig into the hand. That prevents any slipping when aiming during high-speed movement. The sight's original too. I was trained up with iron sights but then I found this really great scope for sale at a weapons fair. I bought it, improved it with some extra markings and a nicer reticle and replaced the frame of the sight to minimise weight and air resistance."

"If you changed everything, what made it so great?" Jaune had to wonder aloud.

"It had a really cool folding design," Ruby waved off the question, "But that's not all. The trigger guard has been removed to make it easier to get to the trigger and the trigger itself is a long type for easy finger access. That's really great for when you need to pull off a quick shot for interrupting an attack. The trigger pull is about three pounds: a few pounds lighter than normal. That, of course, means that there's no delay between when I want to shoot and the bullet firing. The magazine well has been widened to make it easier to put in a new magazine; that really helps when needing to reload mid-fight. The magazine catch button has been cut down low to make it harder to hit it by mistake. And the bolt-action has been taken from an SK-46, so she's a semi-auto and a bolt-action."

"W-Wow, you did all of that?" Jaune may not have understood everything she said but he caught most of it and that had to be impressive. The boy had played enough FPS games to know that gun modifications could be pretty extensive but to hear it all done in real life made it sound so much cooler than games portrayed.

"Yep!" Ruby popped the p out of joy for the appreciation her dear baby was getting, "I've tested it before: this thing can shoot a one-hole at 250 yards in a machine rest."

"Well, that's some gun… sniper scythe," Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously, as if intimidated by her beautiful baby, "I've got this sword."

"Ooh, I'm not much of a sword gal but…" Ruby opened a palm, silently asking for a closer inspection, and Jaune handed the sword over without much resistance, "It's a very nice weight distribution. Light. Agile. Whoever made this really knew what they were doing. It's pretty long for an arming sword too, which means that it was designed to be someone's main weapon and not a side-sword like most of its kind… The guard looks solid, but it's also one homologous piece as opposed to a bunch of different pieces stuck together, which makes it much less likely to break. There's no pommel though… That's weird; arming swords tended to have one of those. It's even weirder considering how the handle's made of metal: that's bound to be slippy… unless-"

Ruby gave the sword a few swings, one vertical, one horizontal and one diagonal before her smile grew, "Oh, that's amazing! See, the small dips in the handle don't have much grip when you hold it still but, when it's in motion, it digs into your skin enough to keep it in place. That's an interesting design choice: a sword that wants to stay in motion to keep on swinging. It benefits aggression and non-stop offence, an odd choice for a one-handed sword but I'm sure it was made for a user in mind. There's no trigger mechanism as far I can see, which is a little surprising. Is it an antique?"

"Hand-me-down. It's been in the family for who knows how long. I know my dad used it, and his dad before him and then his father and, well, my great-great-grandfather used it in the Great War-"

"Oh, a Great War era antique? Probably forged beforehand since flintlock was actually made just before the Great War kicked off. No wonder there's no firearm; contemporary weapons were probably snaplock and doglock; those'd be awful on a one-handed sword. Shame though, the blacksmith who made this could have made a real beauty," Ruby held the sword up to her ear and gave it a quick shake, "Still, I'd expect there to be some Dust compartment somewhere here; it was all the rage before and during the war. This is… really just a sword. A pretty fine- oh, what the heck?"

"What?" Jaune asked nervously, wondering if something was wrong with his weapon.

"Don't you get it, Jaune? This sword has been in constant use for generations but it is incredibly sharp without a hint of wear along the metal. No stress line or any indication that it's even been used. Heck, there's not even a chip. I'd almost say it was freshly made if it didn't look like it came straight out of a history book! Even if you were to maintain your sword after every battle, edge damage should have caused it to deform if it was softer or chip if it was harder, but it's done neither! It's as strong as tool steel but it's edge is as sharp as high-carbon… How do you even do that?" Ruby gushed about the sword, eyes meticulously checking along the edge before she gave it a twirl and struck the ground, once with a slash and then again with a thrust, "What? No way!"

Jaune couldn't help but be swept by her enthusiasm, "Don't leave me out of this. Explain what's so cool."

"That blade flex is… it's unreal!"

"Blade flex?"

"All blades tend to flex when used; it's either they do that or snap completely off. But your sword, oh this beauty here, its flex is superb. It must have something to do with the shape: your baby's pretty thick for an arming sword and its central ridge is intended to stop any blade flex. At first, I'd thought it wouldn't bend at all when cutting, not the worst idea but bad for longevity. But. It. Did! And when I thrust into the ground, there wasn't even a bit of wobbling. It's amazing!"

"So what you're telling me is that this sword was built by a genius?"

"Genius? Genius? This sword is almost perfect… Was this how good all classics were back then? I'd always heard people call them too simplistic but I'd almost say it's overengineered," Ruby's eyes sparkled as she turned back to Jaune, "That sword's really built for pros! You must be amazing!"

Jaune nervously chuckled, no doubt embarrassed by the praise, "Nah, I'm nothing too outstanding."

"No, you don't get it. A weapon reflects its wielder, and if you're even half as good as this sword is, you must be a legend in the making," Ruby giggled as she handed the sword back, "What's his name?"

Jaune correctly inferred that she was still talking about his weapon, "Crocea Mors. What about your massive sniper-scythe?"

"Yellow Death? I like it. As for my baby," Ruby gave her sniper a quick twirl, "Crescent Rose, at your service."

"Nice name," Jaune smiled as Ruby preened from her weapon's praise, "So… why were you on the ground?"

"Oh, it was really weird, you know?" Ruby couldn't help but feel a little more comfortable around Jaune after she'd been allowed to inspect his weapon, "I was just minding my own business when this really crabby girl crashed into me and spilt her luggage. It could have been fine but she was carrying Dust vials in a loose case so they started spilling out. Then she started shaking the damaged vials and the Dust got in my nose and I sneezed an explosion!"

"Wow… Never realised I'd have to worry about accidentally being caught in a Dust explosion in Beacon," Jaune looked more worried than the average Huntsmen-in-training should've been at a mere Dust explosion. If Ruby had to guess, he probably thought the explosion was bigger than it actually was.

"You'll be fine. With that sword on you, you've got nothing to worry about!" Ruby's encouragement must've been effective if Jaune's more relaxed posture was anything to go by. Nice. Socialising was as easy as could be when there was a weapon to base a conversation around.

"Yeah… Yeah! Beacon better prepare itself because I'm going to take it by storm! And I'm not going to take a single Dust explosion to the face!" Jaune roared his convictions into the emptying courtyard with such confidence that Ruby was starting to feel a swell of courage herself. From Ruby's perspective, he looked just like the protagonists of one of the Mistrali comics she liked to read: mainly because he wore a really dumb grin and was screaming at nothing.

Well, if he was going to be a little silly, she was happy to join him, "Heck yeah! No crabby girl will stop us!"

"We're unstoppable!" Jaune cheered on and rode the high until it petered out into an awkward little laugh, "So… er, Ruby?"

"Yeah?" the girl had relaxed completely, since sharing a slightly embarrassing moment together had really killed off her social awkwardness for now, "What is it?"

"Did puberty skip out on you or something?"

Ruby took back anything she thought about her social awkwardness being killed off; she couldn't hear that and not feel awkward. Sure, she understood that she didn't look very mature, especially compared to Yang, but she wasn't expecting someone to just say it like that! It was bad genes! Well, good genes really, but her mum was really short and-

And if she skipped out on puberty, wouldn't that have made her look ten or something? She didn't look that young! She didn't!

"S-Sorry. I made things weird, didn't I? But, you know, you look really young. If I didn't know that Beacon's minimum age was seventeen, I'd have thought you were a lot younger. I mean, you don't exactly look seventeen.," Jaune started babbling as he tried to wave away the awkwardness, "Wouldn't that be weird? I-If you weren't seventeen, I mean. You'd have to be, like, The Chosen One or something to get in early."

"I'm fifteen," Ruby confirmed quietly. There was no point in lying, was there? She could only hide it for so long.

Jaune blinked once, then twice before taking a deep breath, "The Chosen One…"

"N-No! Not The Chosen One! I'm perfectly normal. I'm the unchosen one! The unchosen one!"

"The Unchosen One…" Jaune nodded solemnly at that. He was saying it like it was some sort of title or accolade, which was just silly. What was so special about someone not being chosen for something?

"Not like that!" Ruby squawked, "I'm nothing special! I-I'm normal!"

"Not with that scythe of yours," Jaune pointed at the massive tool of destruction, "It does explain how you got in though."

"How?" Crescent Rose shouldn't have anything to do with her getting into Beacon early.

"If anything could help you get into Beacon early, it'd have to be a really awesome weapon," Jaune explained, making far more sense that she'd expected, "Well, that or being a combat master, prodigy protagonist type-"

"Nope! Not a master! Not a prodigy! I'm a normal girl with normal knees!" Ruby needed to nip this in the metaphorical bud ASAP. She didn't need her friends thinking she was better than them or anything as silly as that.

"Wha-"

"Normal girl with normal knees!"

"Ruby, you-"

"Normal! Knees!"

Jaune only shook his head in response, "Fine, fine, I don't know what'd make knees abnormal but I believe in the normalcy of your knees."

"Thank you…" Ruby relaxed once more before her eyes widened, "Wait, before you think I'm weird, I'm not… you know, into knees!"

Jaune didn't even try to hold in his confused laughter, "What?"

"The normal knees thing: I'm not into knees. I just don't have the bee's knees!" Ruby wasn't sure whether she made herself look better or worse by trying to say that.

"Do… Do bees even have knees?" Jaune wondered aloud, "Do insects even need joints if they don't have a skeleton?"

"C-Can we not talk about knees or bees or bee's knees or knee's bees?" Ruby wasn't sure what the last one would be, but she soldiered on regardless, "I'm just a regular girl who does regular things"

"Regular things such as building that sweet scythe," Jaune pointed out before deadpanning, "As regular as they come."

"Yeah, but that's Crescent Rose. She was going to be sweet no matter who made her. As for me, I'm just… me."

"Weren't you the one who said that a weapon reflects the wielder?" Jaune reminded her, leaving her a little speechless. Those were her words but that was also something Ruby had to diligently reject: she didn't match Crescent Rose. Heck, no one matched Crescent Rose. It was a tool perfectly made for killing monsters, tailor made to slay the unyielding hordes of Grimm… The fact that it was perfectly built for her didn't detract from its perfectness!

"Yeah, but-"

"And, if you were the one who built Crescent Rose, wouldn't it reflect on you more than my heirloom reflects on me?" Jaune dug deeper.

Okay, that was unfair! Crocea Mors was a deeply important part of Jaune's family: it was handed down from father to son, each wielder entrusting the weapon and its history and its legacy on to the next in line. That was a deep, loving story of paternal affection, handing down an eternal protector to keep them safe so that they could keep the story going. Sure, it may not reflect Jaune just yet, but it reflected what Jaune wanted to be. What he would become, under the tutelage of his sword.

How was that not cool?

"Y-Yeah, but…" Ruby wrinkled her brow, trying to think of any way that she could respond to that, "But I'm me and Crescent Rose is Crescent Rose."

Jaune rolled his eyes, as if that wasn't the perfect defence, before letting the subject drop, "Right. Well, Miss Normal Knees, what do we do now?"

"Why do I have to decide?"

"Your knees are normal," Jaune explained, as if that answered everything, "That must make you important if you're making such a big deal about it."

"No!" Jaune tricked her: he didn't drop the subject at all, "Why, you- Stop laughing!"

Jaune didn't stop laughing and Ruby awkwardly joined in before the laugh became more genuine as the situation dawned on her. This wasn't what she was expecting from Beacon at all! She'd been expecting combat, action, slashing, thrashing… anything that wasn't laughing next to a boy about knees. Was this Yang's fault? Wrong question: it was always Yang's fault! If she just didn't say that thing about knees on the bullhead, Jaune wouldn't be able to tease her with it!

"Say, Jaune… Can I ask you a question?" Ruby began as their laughter died down, "Why did you help me?"

"Because I'm not the kind of monster who walks past someone down on their luck," Jaune didn't think it was much of an accomplishment. And, to be fair, basic human decency shouldn't have to be something that needs to be commended but…

"Yeah, but I was a stranger to you," Ruby reminded him, only for him to laugh.

"My mum always says that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," Jaune admitted, "It's not like you can avoid meeting people, right?"

"Right…" That definitely hadn't been her plan for Beacon. It sounded silly in retrospect: she was guaranteed to have to meet at least two new people on her team (assuming Yang didn't ditch her like the no-good sister she was) and Ruby was bound to be put on assignments with people she didn't know. Despite her hopes, there wasn't much of a chance of staying a silent loner…

Assuming she even wanted that in the first place.

Still, that was a nice idea: strangers just being potential friends. It was kind of obvious, wasn't it? Everyone started off as a stranger until a bond was formed and the relationship grew. Every person in Beacon, or in Vale or even all of Remnant was someone that Ruby could potentially form a friendship with. As she thought about it now, the idea sounded more and more appealing. There were loads of great people, with loads of great weapons, out there just ripe for befriending. All she needed was the confidence to take the first step, like Jaune bravely had done when he offered her a hand.

But that ignored when it went wrong, didn't it?

It was equally obvious that one person couldn't become friends with everyone. Humanity ran a gamut of different views, morals and lifestyles, and not all of them would be happy with Ruby's hopeful idealism. What if the person she tried to befriend was a plain bad person? You know, like criminals or domestic terrorists or something! It was unlikely to happen in Beacon but it wasn't impossible. What if the person she tried to befriend just didn't appreciate the dorky little girl with the big gun? It wasn't like she wanted to be one of those fake friends who acted differently around someone just to form a connection.

What if she formed an enemy-ship? Or would it be a nemesis-ship? Whatever the case, she didn't want to meet another White!

Maybe she could just hang around Jaune for a bit; if he could make friends with her, he had to be really good at making friends in general. She could just tag into the friendship through having mutual friends and boom, Ruby Rose was basically a social butterfly in the making. Yep, this was a great idea. All she had to do was wait for Jaune to make friends, which he basically did as soon as he got off the Bullhead. It shouldn't take too long since there were plenty of people around them…

When had the courtyard become empty?

"No! No, no, no! Where is everyone?" Ruby panicked immediately, any plans of making more friends ruined by circumstance. More importantly than that, did she miss something? Were they meant to be somewhere? She couldn't ruin her chances at Beacon because she missed a memo!

"Probably wherever we're meant to be. What would you have before school starts? Like, an opening ceremony or orientation or something, right?" Jaune thought aloud, "Where would that be? Which building looks like it'd hold a ceremony?"

With a plan to calm her down, Ruby quickly checked her surroundings and found her answer, "There, that one. It'd be the biggest one, wouldn't it?"

"Probably. And if it isn't, we can just check the other ones out," Jaune waited a moment, just in case someone happened to walk out of a room to narrow their search down, "Well, best get to it."

"Finally… made it" Ruby panted out in relief.

"Isn't it-" Jaune coughed as his lungs burned from constant running, "Isn't it weird that, despite how massive the school is, they're holding this orientation/speech… thing outside? S-Seems like a gross mismanagement of resources."

"Hey, Ruby! Saved you a spot!" Yang called out from a distance, suddenly deciding that her half-baked plans of throwing her sister to the wolves was dumb and that they'd talk anyways. If Ruby listened to the petty thoughts running in her mind, she would just leave Yang on her lonesome and see how she likes it when her only sister in the world abandons her… Then again, Yang wasn't the one with crippling social awkwardness so it probably wouldn't be as effective.

"Coming, Yang!" Ruby shouted back, although she was unsure if it was lost in the crowd, "You good, Jaune?"

"J-Just give me a second to catch my breath," Jaune sputtered out, "We really didn't need to run that fast."

Silly Jaune: that was barely a light jog. He really needed to get back in shape if that was enough to have him winded. Then again, maybe he had a rough night… or was sick or something. It'd explain the vomiting on the-

"Wait, you were the one who vomited on the airship," Ruby was surprised that she'd been able to forget, considering how the vomit got Yang into a particularly murderous mood. When did she forget about that? Probably when she took an explosion to the face.

"W-What?" Jaune didn't think up a good defence.

"Ruby! I see you ignoring me!" Yang called out again, unwilling to be abandoned by her sister, "Bring your little cloaked butt over and- Vomit Boy?"

"See you later, Jaune!" Ruby didn't wait for his response before she hurried off. She could already tell what would have happened if Yang found out Jaune was her first friend in Beacon: mockery and teasing in the form of terrible puns. Oh, the teasing would be endless, and Ruby'd be lucky if this thing didn't haunt her for the rest of her life. She could see it now: Yang constantly reminding Ruby that she started chasing boys as soon as Yang looked away.

Well, excuse her! She didn't pick who offered to help her.

Right, so she just needed to deflect and deny until she found a female friend. That couldn't be too hard: she was one for three on friends made to strangers talked to and those weren't the worst odds. Uncle Qrow always said that anything that was a 1 in 36 chance was basically a guarantee. It was a weird number to pick but Qrow was a weird guy so it fit.

Ruby turned to her sister and took a deep breath to try and cool her nerves, "Have you finally grown a conscience and remembered not to abandon your sister?"

"I don't need a conscience. Not when I have big sister senses and these puppies tell me someone's got a new friend!" Yang gave her sister the most patronising head rub possible, "So tell me, is Vomit Boy going to be your new knight in shining armour? Cos that's one hell of a left field pick. I kinda like it, though: he looks like a golden retriever."

"Gah, no! It's not like that! Jaune just… helped me out when I exploded."

"Exploded? What lit your fuse?" Yang almost sounded disappointed, "I always thought I'd be the first to have a meltdown but I guess you're breaking out of your shell, right?"

"No, not an emotional explosion! A Dust one!" Ruby jabbed a finger into her sister's side, "After you spun me around when you left, some crabby, rich girl walked into me and spilt Dust on me and I sneezed fire and ice and… well, I was too blinded by the fire Dust to really notice anything else."

"Shit! You didn't just let her walk all over you, right?" Yang gave her sister a quick appraisal and patted her down, gaining a sudden hyper awareness of the scuffs and singe marks left on Ruby's clothes, "Where is she? I'll teach her why she should keep her Dust secure."

"Yang, no! Just… leave the crabby girl alone," Ruby had to try and reign her sister in before she caused an incident, "Can we just move on to-"

"You!" a familiarly snobby voice grated on Ruby's ears.

Of all the times to gain a conscience and want to apologise, now was not the time! Alright, new mission in life: prevent Yang from catching a homicide case.

Ruby needed to begin as non-confrontational as possible, "White-"

"Weiss."

So, she got the name wrong, it wasn't like she'd completely messed this up just yet, "Weiss… How about… You just, er-"

"Are you trying to say something?" the heiress jabbed at her hesitance.

Talking was so much easier when the person she was talking to wasn't so… Weiss.

"Can you… go somewhere else?" Ruby glanced at Yang to see if her "big sister senses" could tell that the porcelain girl in front of her was the one who burned her precious sister, "We can talk later… if you want."

She really hoped Weiss wouldn't take her up on an empty courtesy.

"I don't see any reason to talk to you after this," Weiss stuck her nose up at the idea, "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff."

Alarms blared in Ruby's head as Weiss, poor foolish Weiss, showed her absolute lack of self-preservation once more. The first time, she'd got into a Dust accident from poorly storing her Dust. That was fine: only Weiss would suffer any legal charges for property damage. But now she was actively ignoring Yang's increasingly darkening mood like a mace ignored armour. Did she not see that Yang looked a second away from murdering her?

Honestly, was Weiss planning to test Ruby's patience this much or was it natural talent?

"I'm sorry. It was an accident," Ruby tried to reason, more to quell Yang's growing fury than to satisfy Weiss, "It was just an accident. So, how about we-"

"Take this and stop talking," Weiss interrupted, slapping a flyer into Ruby's face.

Yang growled in the background, and the air felt a tinge warmer. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noticed that Yang's hair was glowing, a river of fire flaring out in the middle of a crowded hall. This was starting to reach unsalvageable territories. Ruby might have been able to protect Weiss from an incident she'd accidentally caused outside of Yang's field of view but not this. Even if it didn't hurt Ruby at all, such a blatant show of disrespect was pushing Yang closer to her own explosion, one that was both of the emotional variety and yet just as destructive as the Dust kind.

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages that occur whilst operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Dust Company highly encourages customers to familiarise themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust Application and practice in the field," Weiss rehearsed, likely from having read this same pamphlet numerous times.

It was a shame she didn't read it well enough to not cause a Dust accident herself!

"Okay…" Ruby glanced at Yang cautiously from the corner of her eye and saw a pair of glowing red eyes, promising pain and a cruel punishment, "Well, that's… nice, Weiss."

"Do you really want to start making things up to me?" Weiss asked, as if she was entitled to Ruby's every waking moment.

No! No, she didn't! All Ruby wanted was for Weiss to not end up a smear of blood on Beacon's grounds, and even that was more because her sister did not need another interaction with the police after destroying an entire nightclub! Not that she would have let Weiss die if she could prevent it but Ruby was beginning to doubt that Weiss hadn't already eaten her last meal. It was probably something expensive, like caviar or gourmet chocolates or the tears of a virgin or something.

"Absolutely," Ruby answered instead, because she did not want Weiss to react any more hostilely. Yang's fuse was almost burned out and she'd prefer that they weren't in a crowded area when she went off.

"Then don't ever talk to me again," Weiss finished before spinning on her heel and strolling away like she owned the place.

Done. Done, done and done. Weiss Schnee will never have to hear from Ruby Rose again!

"Absolutely!" Ruby said, some chipper energy coming back into her voice. This was it! This whole incident could be put behind her and Yang wouldn't-

"Oh, you're not getting off that easy," Yang huffed from over Ruby's shoulder, stealing away Ruby's optimism. Nope, good things didn't happen in life: not in a world with monsters and criminals and anti-weapons protestors. The younger sibling was forced to admit that it was far too late now.

Yep. Weiss Schnee was a dead girl walking.

"What's this about a Dust explosion, eh Princess?" Yang started, beginning her attack with words instead of fists for once in her life, "Don't tell me that the Schnee Dust Company's baby princess can't handle her own stock. Not getting high on your own supply is a rule for drug dealers, sweetie, not energy companies. Though, with the way your family runs things, you're probably about as ethical."

"How dare-" Weiss tried to defend herself. More fool her: Yang wasn't a thing you could stop with empty words.

"No. Good point: drug dealers hurt everyone. Your family's only got a bone out for faunus, right?" Yang gave Weiss the most unfriendly wink Ruby had ever seen, "Workers abuse is one thing. Racial discrimination another. Domestic terrorism though? Oh, that's a new low."

Ruby took a deep breath. Things weren't going too bad. Weiss was still fine: she hasn't been rendered a smear, her bones haven't been turned to dust and her blood was still pulsing through her veins. The princess might be able to come out of this alive, so long as she didn't open her mouth.

Weiss opened her mouth, "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Better question: who are you supposed to be?" Yang's eyes flared with annoyance at Weiss's entitled tone, realising that the girl in front of her was no real threat, "Are you supposed to be a health risk? Are you supposed to be a whiny little hypocrite? Are you supposed to be a little brat who can't accept her own mistakes? 'Cos you are. And I don't appreciate it."

"You-"

"Out of my sight. Unless you want to start something," Yang's tone grew a little excited in anticipation, "Go on, start something. I've never kicked high-class ass before."

The atmosphere grew heavy, so thick that those little razors her dad used to shave with would have blunted their edges on it. Ruby would need a machete to cut away all of this animosity before it launched into a big fight which ruined her sister's Huntress career before it could even begin. She needed something to break past this atmosphere: something thick and heavy and clumsy but very impactful, like a mace but for conversations.

She had just the trick.

"What's your weapon?" Ruby interjected heavy-handedly. There was no way the other two didn't see her interruption for what it was but the question was just sudden enough that they both stopped to look at her. They weren't expecting her to say anything and now, for a brief window of time, Ruby had created a moment of peace.

She had no idea what to say next to keep the peace. In fact, she had no idea what to say next at all as the pressure of two glares built up. Did they have to look at her like that? It felt like she was intruding on some personal conversation she had no involvement in, despite the fact that this argument was over her. Was this how Yang made friends or something? Did Ruby really need to-

"Ruby, I'm in the middle of something here," Yang responded, eyes burning with anger which thankfully wasn't pointed at the little reaper, "You can look at the Ice Queen's toys after I snap her in half."

Ah, right. That was why Ruby was doing this: to prevent Yang from going to jail.

"Nope. Weiss, show me your weapon. Yang, you too," Ruby took in a deep breath, stilling any other questions racing in her head, "You were going to pull them out anyway."

She mentally patted herself on the back for that line of logic. Okay, that was one successful piece of dialogue accomplished. How many speech checks were left?

Weiss turned her nose up at the idea, "And why should I show you, a complete stranger, my personal belongings?"

There were many speech checks left, as it turned out. Ruby hadn't accounted for them just ignoring her logic. Well, at least this might mean Weiss wasn't intending to fight. That'd be good; Yang wouldn't even get hurt as she gets her first murder charge.

"It's not like you can hide your weapon on the field anyway," Ruby reasoned once more, letting her love for her sister overwrite any desires to curl up into a ball and avoid this miserable interaction, "You'll also have to use your weapon in combat class. So… how's about we all just appreciate each other's tools of the trade. No need to fight, right?"

"Are you trying to act mature?" Weiss's eyes narrowed, "It doesn't suit you."

Ruby was trying to be patient. She hoped she looked the part.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yang defended, "My little sister isn't the one acting like a complete-"

"Can we all calm down?" Ruby interjected, though her voice sounded more than a little tired at trying to mediate, "Weiss, can you please just show your weapon? They're a part of you. I'm sure we can all just appreciate each other's weapons and then go our separate ways."

"No."

It was the expected result but a little disappointing. Rich people had access to the best materials and the most creative designers, assuming it wasn't designed by Weiss herself. It probably wasn't: Weiss just seemed like the type who'd off-load all the hard work onto someone else.

Was she stereotyping Weiss as a huffy, rich girl? Absolutely. Had Weiss done anything to deserve it? Also absolutely. Would Ruby be able to voice her annoyance? Absolutely not.

"W-Well, if you don't want to show your weapon, why don't you not fight?" Ruby reasoned once more, "It's not like you're a hand-to-hand fighter."

"And how do you know that?" Weiss seemed more than a little caught off guard, "I had the best combat tutors to ever teach in Atlas at my beck and call."

"Callouses," Ruby said simply. The answer had come too quickly to not leave Weiss flummoxed.

"W-What-"

"You don't have any callouses on your knuckles, which means you don't punch much or at least don't practise punching much," Ruby gave those delicate white hands a second look just to confirm and noticed something else, "You also have a callous on the underside of your thumb joint, which is common for one-handed weapons."

"You noticed that but you can't leave Dust unexploded," Weiss snidely remarked.

Pot meet kettle. If only Weiss wore black…

"Yeah… Funny how that works," Ruby laughed awkwardly, trying to bleed her annoyance off with sheer awkwardness, "S-So, show your weapon?"

"No."

"Leave?" Ruby attempted.

"Fine," Weiss tried, "Do try to keep your sister in check."

Said sister had been curiously quiet. In fact, more curious than anything, Yang didn't even look angry. If anything, she looked proud, and Ruby wasn't sure whether to be happy about that. On one hand, the crisis had been averted and Yang wouldn't be the first student to leave Beacon in a cop car (if Uncle Qrow hasn't taken that spot already.) On the other hand, Yang being happy about Ruby cleaning up Yang's own mess (or preventing her from creating the mess in the first place) wasn't something Ruby really needed.

After all, Yang should have been the mature one who tried to talk things out. Why couldn't Ruby be the hotheaded one who kept getting into trouble?

"I'm proud of you, sis," Yang sniffled, choked with happy tears, "Is this what it feels like to see a chick leave its nest… It makes me feel so nostalgic. Where's the little baby Ruby who needed her big sis to deal with all of her problems? What did you do to her?"

Ruby didn't bother feebly resisting against the crushing bear hug from her older sister, as the blonde reminded Ruby just how much she'd lost out in the physicalities department. It wasn't fair that Ruby's muscles were only just able to carry Crescent Rose whilst Yang could probably bench press their home on Patch. It wasn't fair that Yang could just start these hugs and Ruby had no way to escape. It wasn't fair that Yang could overpower Ruby's justified annoyance with these unescapable hugs,

"I needed her to get out of the way so I could stop you from murdering someone on your first day in Beacon," Ruby said without the heat needed to make Yang take her seriously, "What would I do without you here?"

"Is that all I am to you? An excuse not to talk to anyone," Yang patted her on the head with a bit of sisterly affection, "Aside from Vomit Boy, who I haven't forgotten about, how many friends have you made?"

"N-None…" Ruby averted her eyes. She really wished she learned how to lie when Yang was hugging her,

"And how many have you approached?"

"Three."

"How many boys?"

"One."

"And that's Vomit Boy, right? Your only friend?"

"You don't have to say it like that."

"So what you're telling me is that you have a 100% success rate with dudes," Yang snorted proudly, "Always knew a sister of mine would end up a heartbreaker."

"I'm not a heartbreaker!" Ruby huffed.

"Tell yourself that now, Rubes. Even I didn't think I'd grow up to be, you know, me, but here I am," Yang smiled before giving her a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't worry, though; it's not that bad once you get used to it."

"I don't want to get used to it!"

"Good. As long as you don't want to get used to it, you can use that thought to go make more friends. You know, of the fairer variety."

Ruby snorted, "You're not fair."

"Let's keep this brief, shall we?" a familiar voice droned out over the speakers as the lights dimmed everywhere except the stage.

Ruby was thankful for the distraction to her empty social life. Remembering that this was an orientation, Ruby assumed this would be some long, boring talk as typical of a school speech. It'd probably be something about moral values, the disciplinary system or some other boring school thing. Even if it wasn't, what brief speech ever began with "let's keep this brief?"

"You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose. A direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step. You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Ruby panicked. That speech only took a minute at most. Maybe if she was really quiet, Yang would forget about their conversation.

"So, heartbreaker," Yang shoved an elbow into Ruby's ribs playfully, "I hope I don't have to tell you what happens to the unlucky boy whose heart you don't break."

Ruby wanted to groan before one of the words clicked in her mind, "... Don't you mean lucky?"

"I know what I said," Yang cracked her knuckles with a teasing smile, "So don't let VB get too close."

"Yang!" Ruby cried out.

This was going to be the next four years of her life, wasn't it? Was it too late to just wait two years?