"… and so, in summary, Dust's role in our world cannot be understated. Our technology, our livelihoods… our very survival as a civilization is built on the foundation of Dust, and I, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, am incredibly proud of what my family has built so far, and will build in the future. Thank you."
Grabbing her pleated skirt, Weiss gave the other students in her class a proper curtsy and a smile. Not too big of a smile to being brash, but a picture-perfect ladylike smile.
The smile was the most important part in curating a respectable image.
Looking out over her classmates Weiss fell back on her training to not openly scowl at their bored expressions. She did allow her smile to soften a breath when she saw Zeffre giving her a thumbs up from her seat. 'At least someone was paying attention.'
She immediately scowled when she saw Yang sleeping on her desk.
"Excellent presentation Ms. Schnee. Very informative," Professor Oobleck said rapidly, taking an obnoxiously loud sip from his tumbler. "You may take your seat. Next up, would Ms. Lux please come down?"
'Ms. Lux?'
Walking back to her team, Weiss tried to recall the name. She didn't know of anybody in the class with the last name 'Lux'.
Weiss took her seat next to Blake.
"Nice advertisement Weiss."
That wasn't a complement.
"What's your problem," Weiss whispered a little too loudly.
Before Blake could say something else Zeffre abruptly stood up from her seat. "Is nobody going to wish me luck? I'm scawed," she said, smiling as she put on a wide brimmed hat with a brass buckle.
"Did you just seriously say 'scawed'?" Weiss asked.
"Yup," Zeffre said, giving Weiss a bright grin as she finished adjusting her hat.
"Why are you putting on a hat?" Blake asked, looking past Weiss at the blue-haired girl.
"Prop. I've got some more I need to get outside," Zeffre said as she walked past them down to the front of the lecture hall.
"Any time now Ms. Lux," Professor Oobleck said, taking a drink from his tumbler while tapping on his watch.
"Moving. I just need a minute to get set up," Zeffre said, giving him an innocent smile.
An innocent smile.
Weiss knew enough about the girl to know that an innocent smile meant she was up to something.
'I didn't know her last name was Lux,' Weiss thought, narrowing her eyes slightly at the girl. Weiss silently watched as Zeffre walked out of the lecture hall to get her 'props'.
They had only known each other for a few weeks and, as she thought about it, Weiss realized she knew shockingly little about Zeffre.
'Zeffre Lux? Huh.'
She knew her well enough to consider her a friend at least, but beyond that the girl was a mystery. Even ignoring all of her weird powers that, according to her, weren't her Semblance, Zeffre was still an unknown. Sure, she was friendly enough; always willing to talk with anyone and offer help whenever she could, but whenever a topic became somewhat personal she would either deflect the conversation or say some non-sequitur that made no sense.
The door to the hall opened again.
Using a door stop to hold the door open, Zeffre brought in her 'props'.
First was a polished brown wood podium.
Then came a pair of candelabras, which were placed on either side of said podium.
Then the candles.
Kicking the door stop back into the room, Zeffre came back with her final prop; a bundle of wooden sticks which she placed underneath the podium.
"She probably stole those from around campus," Ruby whispered to Weiss.
"You mean 'borrowed'," Weiss murmured back. Zeffre was adamant about the distinction between stealing something and borrowing something.
"This should be interesting at least," Blake said, resting her head on a propped-up arm.
Weiss refused to acknowledge Yang's snoring off to her side.
"If you're wondering Professor—"
"Doctor," Professor Oobleck corrected.
"Doctor-Professor," Zeffre continued without missing a beat, lighting the candles for the candelabra, "this entire setup is crucial to my presentation."
Candles lit, Zeffre placed the two candelabra's slightly behind the podium, casting a warm orange glow on her back, but her face in shadows. "Could someone dim the lights please?" she said before ducking behind the podium; tall black hat poking out above the podium.
Gradually the light faded, drowning the room in darkness save for the flickering lights of the candles.
And also a few students' faces which were lit up as they looked at their scrolls, but that wasn't part of the presentation.
Weiss raised an eyebrow as Zeffre slowly rose from behind the podium.
The girl's face was stern, deep blue eyes filled with an intensity that Weiss had never seen before on her face. Her cobalt blue hair disheveled, frantic.
She wouldn't admit it, but Weiss for the first time found Zeffre to be a little intimidating.
As Zeffre scanned the crowd, face shadowed, eyes intense, posture ridged, she locked her gaze on the sleeping Yang.
Without a word Zeffre drew one of the wooden sticks from the bin in a single slow, deliberate, motion, eyes locked on Yang the entire time.
'What's the sti—'
The stick shattered against the podium in a resounding CRACK, Yang jumping awake in her seat as she took a dazed look around. "Why are the lights out?"
Standing to her full height, Zeffre placed both hands on the podium.
"Greetings," she said, voice low with an accent Weiss had never heard before.
Weiss shook her head. 'What with that accent?'
"I come before thee all to deliver a most solemn narrative; a narrative of folly, of overweening pride, built upon sin, upon grievous offences against our Sovereign Lord God, a narrative that demands thy heedful attention." she said, her voice projecting throughout the lecture hall.
As she sat watching Weiss wondered if Zeffre was going to continue speaking like that the entire time. She then quickly realized that was a stupid question.
Of course she was.
Zeffre continued. "We shall start with what is known. That all in this assembly be wretched sinners, steeped in iniquity."
It was at this moment that Weiss realized she didn't know where Zeffre was going with this.
Then again, she normally didn't know where Zeffre was going.
"That ye, every day, make affronts to our Lord thy God, and that judgment shall be delivered upon ye in due time," she said, eyes scanning the room as she talked. "Yet, of the myriad sins that doth corrupt thy soul, one most heinous sin doth emerge. A sin born o' ignorance and vanity… The sin I speak of is the sin of prejudice."
Grabbing a bundle of sticks from below the podium, Zeffre removed the top of a candelabra as a makeshift torch and began stalking around the hall. "Ever since my first arriving here at this fine institution two fortnights ago do you know what I've 'erd?"
Walking up the stairs towards the back of the room Zeffre drew a stick, dragging it alongside desk as she passed.
"Mongrel."
CRACK
A stick shattered against one row of seats; the students in said row jumping at the abrupt impact.
Zeffre continued up the stairs, her head constantly scanning the room ahead of her; the room completely silent. Most of the students she made eye contact with immediately withered under her intense gaze, suddenly finding either their desk or the roof to be more interesting to look at.
"Beast."
CRACK
Splinters of wood flew across a desk as another stick shattered.
As her gaze fell onto her team Weiss noticed the corners of Zeffre's mouth twitch, her expression softening for a moment before coming back in full force.
Weiss looked around the room as Zeffre passed them, the shadows around the room changing with every step she took. She could see that all eyes were on Zeffre, watching the preacher as she delivered her sermon of condemnation.
She couldn't decide if she should be impressed at how Zeffre commanded the room, or if she should be amused at the absurdity of the entire performance itself.
'Knowing her, Zeffre probably thinks this entire performance is hilarious,' Weiss thought, silently watching as Zeffre approached the desk where Cardin Winchester was sitting.
"Freak."
CRACK
This time she shattered three of the sticks against his desk, the sound reverberating throughout the lecture hall as she continued her walk, the flickering light of the candles held low, casting long shadows on her face.
"Thou proclaimest thyself disciples of this esteemed institution, sworn to defend thy brethren, yet behold, thou fallest short in defending one another." Zeffre said, making her way back to the podium, reattaching the candelabra top to the base.
"Why is this sin such an affront to our Lord thy God? Because it is a compound sin!" she shouted, gesturing wildly at the class. "Vanity in thy own image! Hubris in thy own faculties! Slothfulness in believing thy birth conveys any value onto thy being! Each an affront to our Lord the God, but together?"
Zeffre gripped the sides of the podium, the wood creaking throughout the hall. "Blasphemy."
Leaning heavily over the podium, Zeffre gripped the edge as she looked at the class, blue eyes filled with a righteous fury. "Faunus or Human, there be no difference. Before the eyes of our Almighty Lord God, all souls weigh the same in worthlessness, and to harbor contempt over such trifling disparities is a grave affront to thy own soul and to Divine Providence."
As she finished speaking Zeffre slowly lowered herself down, hiding behind the podium as the room was filled in utter silence.
Weiss blinked. 'Wow.'
She had decided to settle on 'both'.
"You can turn on the lights now," a voice from behind the podium whispered.
The lights immediately came on, a few students grumbling about the abrupt change as they rubbed their eyes.
"Thank you Ms. Lux for… Whatever that was," Professor Oobleck said evenly.
Zeffre popped back up from behind the podium, a wide grin plastered on her face. "You're welcome, anytime." She then looked out over the class which, from what Weiss could gather, was a mixture of amusement and bafflement. "If anyone of you are confused as to what the gist of that speech was, like Cardin—"
"I wasn't confused," Winchester shouted from his seat, giving Zeffre an annoyed look.
"Essentially, racism is bad, 'kay?" Zeffre said, giving them all a brilliant grin as she blew out the candles. "And if I ever catch any of you being racist, I will fight you."
"Ms. Lux…"
"This is a threat."
"… please take your seat."
"That was exhausting."
"You were sleeping through most of it…," Weiss huffed. She could be a little more open about her annoyance when not in a public space.
"I would've been sleeping through all of it if it weren't for someone," Yang said as she looked at a smiling Zeffre.
Zeffre smiled a lot.
Tying her navy-blue scarf back around her neck, Zeffre gave Yang a shrug. "Sorry, I'd already settled on the sticks before I came in today. Needed something to get everybody's attention."
Scarf firmly around her neck Weiss could barely make out the tip of Zeffre's new pendant; a simple forest green crystal affixed to a silver chain. It was a part of Zeffre's new look, with the only other addition being she had started dying the edge of her hair silver.
"You definitely had the most… creative presentation at least," the girl with black hair, Blake, added. "I particularly liked your overall message that was beneath all of the fire and brimstone."
Weiss still wasn't over her earlier comment.
"Eh. The dear Doctor-Professor said we could use any topic for our first presentation," Zeffre said, shrugging. "I overheard a comment a few days ago, and it really pissed me off. I can't change the way people think," she smirked, "but I can make a threat memorable."
"I'm sure the Faunus students here at Beacon appreciate it…" Blake muttered, looking down at the ground as their group walked before looking at Zeffre. "Do you think you needed to be so forceful?"
"Of course. I mean, I could spend weeks trying to convince a few people that racism is stupid, but it is much faster to just threaten them into submission. Resolves everything far quicker."
"But that doesn't change their minds," Blake said, staring at Zeffre. "On the outside they might pretend to be tolerant, but internally nothing has changed."
Zeffre gave her an amused look. "So?"
Blake waited for her to elaborate.
"So, what if they don't believe in it? As long as they act tolerant I don't care what they think." Zeffre clarified. "Threats and force are much quicker in effecting change than appeals to reason. Racism is inherently an absurd position; you cannot reason a person out of a position they did not reason themselves into in the first place."
Weiss blinked. "That was a surprisingly intelligent response."
"You don't need to sound so surprised," Zeffre said, giving Weiss a smile. "I can be insightful when I want to."
The group walked down the hallway for a few seconds, the sound of Ruby's cart rattling filling the silence between them.
Blake had a pensive look on her face. "…There has to be a better way."
"Probably, but I'm impatient," Zeffre said, putting her hands behind her head as they walked before smirking. "Originally I was just going to walk to the front of the room, say 'Racism is bad.', and walk back to my seat." she said, letting out a snicker.
Yang let out a laugh. "That would've been amazing; imagine the look on his face!"
Zeffre laughed alongside her. "Yeah, but that would've been a much harder sell to him I think."
Zeffre turned to look at Weiss. "I really liked your presentation Weiss. It was nice to see someone besides me and Ruby have some passion in what they were talking about."
The cart Ruby was pulling rattled as they walked, filled to the brim of historical weapons that the girl had exhaustively talked about during her presentation.
"I didn't even get to go over the transition from single shot to repeating rifles…," Ruby said, kicking the floor as she walked.
She had to be stopped because of time constraints.
"I didn't know your last name was Lux," Weiss said, watching Zeffre carefully. She was almost certain she knew how Zeffre would answer her. She would offer a surface level explanation, give her a dismissive wave, and cap it all off with a charming smile.
"Oh, that?" Zeffre said, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, well, a few days ago I update some of my information and I guess the Professors have been itching to know my last name for a while now."
Zeffre gave her a dismissive wave. "But yeah, my last name is Lux. You've got me," she finished, giving Weiss a charming smile.
Weiss continued watching Zeffre as she turned to talk with Yang. Internally she was pleased to know how right she was, but that feeling was overshadowed by her curiosity.
'Who are you exactly?'
Placing her fork down Weiss gingerly patted her mouth with a napkin as she had been taught to do.
"Did any of you know that Zeffre's last name was Lux?"
The blond boy, Ruby and Zeffre's friend Jaune, looked up at her, mouth full of food. "I'sh disn—"
Weiss's eye twitched. "Finish chewing," she said, suppressing what she really wanted to say.
She had promised Ruby that she would try to be nicer to Jaune.
Nodding, Jaune finished chewing before continuing. "I didn't know her last name was Lux."
Around the table Weiss heard similar sounds of agreement.
The girl in question was from the table. Zeffre vanished soon after their presentations. She had told them she was going to be gone until tomorrow, which was also strange to Weiss.
"What is your point Weiss?" the girl with a black bow, Blake, asked.
Weiss was willing to forgive her earlier comment.
For now, at least.
"Doesn't it make any of you curious about how little we actually know about Zeffre?" Weiss asked, looking around the table at the members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR. "I mean, we just learned her last name after, what, four weeks? Not even the Professor's knew it until recently."
Blake shrugged. "Zeffre has a right to her privacy. If she doesn't want to talk about her past then that is her business."
Weiss didn't verbally tell Blake that that was a dumb thing to say. She did, however, think it.
"Please," Weiss said, rolling her eyes, "to a degree maybe, but just think about it. We know next to nothing about her."
"I know where she's from!" Ruby said excitedly, waving her hand at Weiss. "She said a few weeks ago that she was from New Atlantis."
Weiss blinked. "Ruby that sounds like a fake name. Which just raises more questions," she said, muttering the last part more to herself.
Ruby shook her head 'no'. "No way. I am absolutely certain that she wasn't lying when she told me where she was from."
"Assuming that's true, we still know next to nothing," Weiss said before crossing her arms. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've never heard of a place called 'New Atlantis' before."
"Makes you wonder what happened to regular Atlantis…" Nora said to nobody, staring off into the far distance of the dining hall.
Weiss was going to do what she normally did, and just ignore Nora.
"Oh! We can go to the library and go over what everyone knows about her," Ruby said. "It can be like solving a mystery!"
Weiss opened her mouth for an admonishment, closed it, considered what Ruby said, and then opened it again. "You know… That actually isn't a bad idea." She said, impressed at how not terrible the idea was.
Ruby had her moments.
"Ruby, make sure to get Yang after eating and meet us there," Weiss said.
Blake stared at the rest of them silently for a few more moments. "I still think this is an invasion of privacy."
Weiss scoffed. "Whatever. It's not like we're breaking into her room or anything."
"Alright, let me go first."
Gathered in a booth on the second floor of the library Weiss wrote down the first piece of information that they knew about Zeffre onto the blank holographic board.
'Last name Lux.'
"Stunning insight Weiss." Blake said off to the side reading one of her books.
A Schnee did not grit their teeth. They speak emphatically.
There's a difference.
"We have to start from somewhere," Weiss said emphatically.
Ruby walked between the two of them, giving a nervous smile. "Come on… We're all friends here right?"
"More like acquaintances," Weiss muttered, glaring at Blake.
With an uncomfortable laugh Ruby approached the board with her own red pen. "She likes sea shanties," she said as she wrote 'From New Atlantis' on the board.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's how I learned where she's from. She was singing a shanty to herself," Ruby clarified, adding to the board a verse.
'I miss my dear darlin' in New Atlantis.'
Ruby drew an arrow from the verse to the other piece of information about where Zeffre was from. "I remember her singing this part at least."
Weiss let out a quiet 'hmm' as she looked at the board. While walking over to the library she had done some light research into the name 'New Atlantis' and found nothing. The fact that Ruby learned about it from a song was important somehow…
"Either she's intentionally created an elaborate lie, or she's telling the truth."
Turning, Weiss found Blake watching the two of them over by the board. "What makes you say that?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"To create a fake name is one thing; to create an entire song about said fake name, and to have someone overhear the song?" Blake stood up and approached the two of them, staring at the board. "Either she intentionally had Ruby overhear the song for some reason, which would require us to imply many other things, or she genuinely was singing a song from her past to herself…"
Picking up a black pen Blake drew a question mark and pointed arrows away from it to the two pieces of red information. "I too have never heard of 'New Atlantis'."
"I've got something," Yang said as she approached the board, picking up a yellow pen.
'She's short.'
Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing. "Please tell me you have something to actually add."
Yang twirled the pen around her thumb once before writing on the board again.
'She has to have an Aura.'
"What makes you think that Yang," Blake asked, moving to stand next to the girl.
Yang shrugged. "Because I've fought her before. There's no way someone without an Aura can move that fast and hit that hard."
"Then why lie about not having one… and why not ever use it…" Blake said slowly, tapping a finger against her cheek.
"Wouldn't that mean Zeffre has been lying to us this entire time?" Ruby said, tilting her head as she looked at the board. "I mean, didn't you have to explain to her what Aura even was when you two first met," she continued, looking at Blake.
"Wait, she didn't know what Aura was before coming to Beacon?" Weiss asked, incredulous.
Blake nodded her head. "The first night I met her I had to explain to her what Aura and Semblance were…" she said, writing on the board.
'Didn't know about Aura or Semblance until a month ago.'
Weiss let out a scoff. "How old is she?"
Jaune sneezed.
Silence.
Looking around all Weiss found were blank expressions as they collectively realized that they didn't even know how old Zeffre was.
Reaching up to a corner of the board, Weiss wrote in white 'Age: ?'.
"Has she ever mentioned her family to any of you?" Weiss asked, hoping to gain at least some personal information about the girl. Anything.
Jaune let out a quiet 'uh'.
Not quiet enough for Weiss to not overhear. "Do you finally feel like contributing?"
The blond looked at each of them nervously. "I do know something but… uh… it just doesn't feel right to share something so personal without her here, ya know?" he said, gripping his shoulder.
"Jaune we currently have nothing; if you have nothing to share then why are you even here," Weiss said, crossing her arms as she glared at the boy.
Jaune gave one last look at the girls before nodding. "Okay," he said, approaching the board. "Uh… Yang, can I use your pen," he asked, voice quiet.
"Uh… yeah, sure," Yang said, looking confused as she handed over her pen.
Jaune wrote a single word on the board before stepping back.
'None.'
"Jaune, why did you write none? None what?" Ruby asked, tilting her head as she looked at the board.
"Weiss asked if Zeffre had any family. She doesn't," Jaune said, looking down. "I, uh, accidentally brought it up once before."
"What do you mean exactly when," Weiss let out a cough to help clear her tightening throat, "when you say she has no family," Weiss said, the question making her feel sick to even ask.
"She has nobody. When we talked she had been clear about it… She said it was okay, but, uh, it was pretty obvious that it really bothered her." Jaune shrugged. "I didn't push it."
Weiss silently stared at the 'None' on the board for a few seconds.
Using her uniform's sleeve she then wiped away the word; it was making her feel sick.
Silently Yang wrote on the board.
'Is a bad liar.'
Weiss let out an amused chuckle at that.
Taking a step back the group looked over what little information they had written down so far. Yang's addition had just made the entire thing more complicated.
Ruby drew a single red line across the board.
'She's nice.'
"Ruby, what are you doing?" Weiss asked. She was feeling a little tired at the moment.
"I'm writing down what I know is true about her," Ruby said as she continued to write on the board.
'She likes the color blue.'
Weiss rolled her eyes. 'Oh really?'
Yang stepped up next to her sister, smiling as she wrote something on the board herself.
'She really knows how to fight.'
Blake wrote on the board next in black.
'She likes to be dramatic sometimes.'
Jaune borrowed Yang's pen.
'She always wants to help others.'
Weiss silently watched as the four of them continued writing below Ruby's red line, arms crossed as a small smile played on her lips.
"You know," she began, trying to suppress her smile, "Zeffre would probably hate to see us writing all these nice things about her."
Ruby didn't even bother turning around. "Yup."
Letting out a small laugh Weiss approached the board, absently twirling her white pen around her thumb.
Thinking back on her interactions with Zeffre a single memory stood out. Of how, on the second day of classes, Zeffre had decided to craft the single most intricate note in the middle of a lecture and passed it to her. She could remember herself being completely taken off guard by the note, delivered on a literal velvet pillow.
She remembered her own quickly scrawled note back; of how Zeffre and Ruby had broken down into a giggle fit at her note.
That was the first time she had ever passed a note in class.
'She loves to make other people laugh.' Weiss wrote, smiling fondly at the memory.
The others had left.
Weiss silently stood before the holographic board. The entire surface was covered with writings, from speculations to observations, with sections devoted to information about Zeffre's powers and armor to a section on her food and music preferences.
Weiss had learned that Zeffre liked to drop an egg into her ramen.
She smiled. A lot of the information wasn't really important, but it was nice to know.
Holding up her scroll to the board Weiss opened the board's menu, finger hovering over the delete button.
'None.'
Weiss frowned at the intrusive thought.
She had erased that particular message off the board, but the memory lingered… The thought of having no family of any kind, of being that alone in the world…
Weiss tapped save, the board clearing as a copy was stored on her scroll.
The instant the Bullhead got in range Zeffre teleported into his office.
Removing her helmet, Zeffre instinctively kneeled and patiently waited.
Behind the desk she heard Professor Ozpin let out a tired sigh, then the crystal around her neck began glowing a faint green. From her kneeling position she watched as her hair gradually transformed from silver to a more familiar cobalt blue.
Zeffre smirked.
"Is the kneeling really necessary?" she asked, shooting up to her feet and making her way over to the plush sofa chair.
"It isn't something I can control…," Ozpin said, his voice heavy. Contemplative. "How are you feeling?"
Zeffre took her seat on the sofa chair, resting her helmet on the coffee table. Internally she was thrilled that he hadn't removed her additions to his office. They really brought the room together.
"Fine? It worked about as I expected; made the mission as boring as possible, but, eh." Zeffre shrugged. "It works."
She flicked the green crystal. "I still think it's a bit redundant."
Ozpin let out another sigh. "Ideally I'll never need to use it again."
Watching his face, Zeffre could see that he hated the pendant.
"I'm sorry."
Zeffre let out a bark of laughter. "Don't be so dramatic. I trust you. Besides," she inspected a tuft of hair, the blue transitioning gradually to silver, "I like silver."
"Still…"
"Just don't die. Easy, right?" Zeffre interrupted, smiling as his frown shifted to a more neutral expression.
"I don't think most people plan to die," he said, tone flat.
Zeffre's grin widened as she noticed the corners of his mouth twitch upwards before shrugging. "What can I say? I have faith in you."
Author's Note:
Annnd we're back! I feel a lot more confident in writing from other characters perspectives now, so we'll be spending a lot of time now at Beacon. Writing Witchfinder General Zeffre was fun.
Oh, also, I'd like to hear back on how I did on portraying Weiss. She was interesting to write.
As always, thanks for reading! If you have and comments, critiques, or questions please feel free to ask because I always love reading feedback to see what is working and what isn't.