Brush, brush, brush.

Weiss' hair was already as free and clear as could be, as soft and conditioned as the chemical industry could make it. Yet here she was continuing to brush the life out of it. Her hair didn't deserve this.

Those thoughts were distant. She had a more pressing concern. Namely, she didn't feel tired.

Weiss was not a morning person. She'd come to that conclusion years ago. When you expected to be tired in the morning, it was second nature to lean on coffee as the solution. The way Weiss was feeling this morning made her think she might not need coffee. That was... unsettling.

Which was weird! Logically, feeling better was better. She shouldn't have a problem with being fresher in the morning. Hence why Weiss was brushing her hair: half out of compulsive habit and half to buy time while she interrogated the problem.

It wasn't like the bed was any more comfortable than what she'd had at home. No bed on Remnant could be, frankly. Nor was she feeling relaxed, because classes were coming up soon and she had to perform at her peak in them for both internal and external reasons.

The only reason left was the most obvious: she'd gotten more sleep last night than her six-hour norm. For whatever reason, she resented that.

What sense did that make? None that she could see, but she still felt that way, sensibly or not.

There was a pounding on the door with all the subtlety of a megoliath stampede, followed by the voice of a person with the same quality. "You done in there, ice queen? You're not the only one who needs to use the bathroom, you know."

"Rushing people is rude," Weiss snapped, because Yang's abrasiveness was getting to her, even if she had to concede the point. She had monopolized the bathroom without really using it as intended.

She strode out of the bathroom and shot Yang a frosty look. "There, are you happy now?"

Yang grinned, and it was so unsatisfying to vent her frustrations at Yang only for Yang to smile and let them slide off of her. "I'm happy all the time, but getting a turn in the bathroom does make me happier, yeah."

Weiss rolled her eyes and walked past Yang back towards her bed. Most of her suitcases were clustered around and beneath it, not fully unpacked into the dorm's closet and drawers. The team needed to figure that out soon. Back in Schnee Manor, Weiss had access to essentially unlimited storage space. Her walk-in closet was larger than this entire room, bathroom included. Here, space was extremely finite.

"You need a turn, Penny?" said Yang.

There was a pause long enough to be noticeable. Weiss looked over at Penny, not understanding why she'd have to think so long on such a simple question. Penny had a new fake tattoo on her face, one that looked like a flower, and it made her look more juvenile than ever.

"I will take a turn later," Penny said at length. "I'm feeling fresh enough for now."

"Suit yourself," said Yang, and she flounced into the bathroom.

Weiss watched Yang with resentment; when the door shut behind Yang, Weiss' eyes fell on Blake watching from her bed. "And what are you looking at?" she snapped at Blake.

"Someone who's totally out of control," Blake said shortly, and without waiting for a response she grabbed her book bag and left the dorm.

Penny wrung her hands as she looked to where Blake had been. "Do you think she will make it to class on time?"

"If she knows what she's doing she will," said Weiss, not really caring about Blake's timeliness.

"You're right," said Penny with unexpected brightness. "Blake will want to set a good example for us as our team leader."

The words clanged off something sore in Weiss' chest and left an uncomfortable resonance there. "You don't have to bring up that she's the leader in every discussion with her or about her," Weiss said, impatient at having to tell Penny that yet again.

"I'm not trying to," said Penny with apparent sincerity, "it just seemed relevant at the time."

"Sure it did," said Weiss harshly. She finished dressing, grabbed her own bag, and also left the dorm. Being around other people felt unbearable right then.

According to Weiss' syllabus, her class on Aura had some lecture material, but also a great deal of practical. Hopefully, Weiss could use some of that time for introspection, skilled as she was in manipulating Aura already.

Everyone attending Beacon had control of their Aura and had been using it practically for some time. A class like this was about refinement, control: getting the most out of their Auras by training to use them more finely. It was almost impossible to increase a person's Aura pool by any significant amount, but training and discipline could let a master use a given amount of Aura to accomplish far more than a novice.

Exhibit A, Weiss thought sourly. Jaune was at the front of the class with a teacher in the demonstration area. Professor Ursula 'Ultra' Violet had shockingly purple hair, wore clothes similar in style to the women's student uniforms, and seemed at first glance like she was barely older than Weiss. Only thin age lines on her face gave away the truth.

"In battle," said Professor Violet, "any Aura used to repel harm that's more than necessary is pure waste. Those are additional hits you could have soaked that you burned up instead. On the other hand, you don't want to use too little Aura to protect yourself or you actually will take damage, and it requires vastly more Aura to heal damage than to prevent it.

"This is a practical demonstration of the principle. Above me is a pendulum with a fifty eelo weight. When I release the pendulum, the ball will swing down on me. An untrained Aura would protect me automatically, but also inefficiently. My training lets me calibrate my Aura to defend myself with the appropriate force.

"Your challenge is to bring the pendulum to a complete stop. You will halt it and no more. If you use too much Aura, you'll impart a force on the pendulum and repel it. Too little, and you'll be knocked over yourselves, to say nothing of potential broken bones."

Jaune's knees visibly knocked together.

"I'll demonstrate," said Violet. She stood on a large 'X' made of red tape on the floor. Weiss could see that she was offset some from the top of the pendulum, so that when the arm swung down, it would hit her when it was perfectly up and down. Maximum energy.

"Observe."

Violet pushed a button on the remote in her hand. The pendulum swung down at her. It reminded Weiss of the Geist kicking at her in the forest during Initiation.

With total serenity, Violet raised a single finger.

The pendulum looked to be a solid metal ball swinging with tremendous force, but when it hit Violet's finger it stuck like it was made of toffee. Violet didn't sway backwards any more than the ball recoiled.

The class gasped.

"This is what it should look like," said Violet. "I don't expect all of you to manage it the first time, but even your failures can be instructive. We'll start here. Mr. Arc?"

She stepped out of the way and Jaune took her place on the red 'X'. He looked even less confident than he had before.

"Keep your eyes open, Mr. Arc. You want to try and gauge the incoming force and match it precisely."

"Yes ma'am," said Jaune, though his voice had a strangled quality to it.

"Here it comes."

There was a beep from Violet's remote and the pendulum swung down like a wrecking ball. Jaune looked for a moment like he would leap out of the way, but to his credit he held his ground. Instead there was a bright, surprising flash at the moment of impact.

The pendulum went swinging back almost thirty degrees.

This drew murmurs and a smattering of laughs. Violet approached Jaune with a cluck of her tongue. "That was an impressive display of how much Aura you can gather," she said. "Few people have enough Aura to achieve scintillation. However, flexing wasn't the goal of the exercise. The goal is control. What good is having so much Aura when you burn it so carelessly?"

"Control," repeated Jaune. "Right."

"He must have had some garbage instructors in the past," Weiss muttered in the direction of her teammates. "He said the word 'control' like he'd never heard it before. Had he never really considered that?"

For no reason Weiss could see, Pyrrha's cheeks turned red, and she poked her fingers together nervously.

"And for those of you who think this is all fun and games," Violet said with a dangerous expression on her face, "don't worry. Everyone will get a turn to show how well they cope with this challenge. It's a lot harder than it looks."

The laughter and murmurs died out.

"Do we have any volunteers to go next, or will I have to choose at random?"

"I'll go next," Weiss said with a raise of her hand. She preferred to get these things over and done with, and there was pleasure in setting the bar so high no one else could reach.

Well, maybe Pyrrha could reach it. But no one else.

"Very good, Miss Schnee," said Violet. As Weiss walked towards the front of the class, Violet added, "I used my finger for the demonstration, but you all are permitted to use your whole palm. Are you ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Weiss.

Beep.

The pendulum swung.

Weiss watched it, attuning herself to the oncoming weight. She gauged it as best she could, and consciously gathered Aura in the palm of her hand.

The pendulum struck. The impact was harsh; it made Weiss' hand sting and her wrist ache. But the pendulum recoiled barely at all.

"Well done," said Violet, "well done indeed! You have good control of your Aura."

There were new whispers from the other students at this, but unlike with Jaune, these weren't mocking or malicious. Weiss lifted her chin and smiled. It was gratifying to establish herself so decisively. She had to be the best—nothing else would do—and she was confident that the mark she'd set would stand. Feeling quite pleased with herself, she returned to her seat.

"Now that the ice is broken, as it were," said Violet, "we'll go ahead and run your teammates through the exercise. We'll continue with the rest of the class after Team BXPS."

Weiss almost groaned. She'd been feeling so good right up until the reminder of that humiliating team name. Well, at least she'd be able to observe her teammates in action again.

Yang went next. Instead of the pendulum being knocked away from her, she took the hit hard enough that one of her feet had to shuffle to keep her balance.

"And this is what happens when you don't use enough Aura," said Violet. "Protecting your body against the impact takes more out of you than canceling the attack."

"It's kind of my thing," Yang said with a grin Weiss found alarming on multiple levels.

"Hm," said Violet skeptically.

Next was Penny's turn. "Ready?" asked Violet.

Penny looked straight up at the mechanism for the pendulum, then looked towards the ball and extended her hand. "Ready."

The weight swung down, and—

There were no murmurs, whispers, or laughs this time. There was silence.

The pendulum had stopped perfectly at Penny's hand. Weiss honestly couldn't tell if she'd done as well as Professor Violet, or if she'd done better.

"Outstanding," Violet said at last. "Truly outstanding!"

"Thank you, ma'am!" beamed Penny.

"Where did you learn such exceptional control?" Violet said. "I have to know!"

The smile fell from Penny's face as confusion took its place. "You told us how heavy the ball was, and when I moved beneath the pendulum arm I could see how long it is. The rest was just math."

Just math. Said as nonchalantly as you please, as if it was a complete answer. Now there were murmurs aplenty.

"You must have done very well in your Human Ballistics courses, then," said Violet. Penny went still again, which Weiss was beginning to see was her default response when she didn't know what to say, but Violet was already moving along. "Miss Belladonna, your turn."

As the girls exchanged places, their visages were two faces of a coin: Penny was as happy stepping out of the spotlight as Blake was unhappy stepping into it.

Blake took position and looked almost as nervous as Jaune had been. The weight came swinging down, and for a moment Weiss thought Blake had used too little Aura, even less than Yang, because the ball seemed to pass straight through her-

Then it did.

Blake had used her semblance to dodge away from the weight before it hit her. Laughter erupted in the classroom. "You can practice dodging in Professor Goodwitch's class," said Violet in light rebuke. "Please perform this exercise as instructed."

"Yes, ma'am," said Blake sheepishly, her shoulders hunched in deep embarrassment.

When she performed the exercise correctly, she did a decent job of it. The ball recoiled with more force than it had with Weiss, but good enough for Weiss to deem it acceptable. When Blake returned to her seat, she did so with the attitude of someone who wished to never be seen again. It was not an attitude Weiss wanted from her leader.

Wait. Something there was important.

Weiss was consumed with thoughts along these lines as the other students trooped out to the front of the room and performed the exercise one by one. Weiss couldn't be bothered to watch the likes of Team CRDL; this matter was far more important to nail down.

"…the rest of Team JNPR."

Well, Weiss would have to pay attention to that. Pyrrha was always worth watching.

To Weiss' complete lack of surprise, Nora wildly knocked the pendulum back with no restraint. She didn't have the shame to look embarrassed by this. Ren was a shock, because he stopped the pendulum almost perfectly, nearly as well as Weiss had.

"That may be the second best so far," said Professor Violet, "after Miss Pallas."

Weiss ground her teeth together. Third best, she insisted in her head.

Then it was Pyrrha's turn, and Weiss could tell she wasn't the only one who'd been waiting for it. A hush came over the room as every eye swiveled towards the champion. Despite her pedigree, Pyrrha took her place the same as the rest of them had, raised her hand just the same, watched the weight fall just the same.

It was all the same until it wasn't. For a microsecond, Weiss thought she saw the weight outlined in black, but she blinked and it was gone. Instead, there was Pyrrha with the weight perfectly balanced against her palm.

"Miss Nikos," said Violet sternly. "No cheating."

"I'm sorry!"

By the time they were on to History with Doctor Oobleck, things were coming to a head.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" said Blake as they took their seats.

"I'm not," lied Weiss. "You're just being self-conscious."

"That's how I know you've been staring at me," Blake said.

"Just pay attention, class is about to start," said Weiss.

It was an adequate smokescreen. Weiss' day one impressions of Oobleck were quickly confirmed on day two: the man's zoominess forced students to either pay attention or get run over. The class seemed about an even split between people keeping up and people who'd become roadkill.

Weiss, of course, was keeping up, her pen flying across her paper as she took notes. It left little time to think about anything else. That all turned on its head near the end of the class. Oobleck had been describing theories of history, ways to look at the subject holistically.

"Finally, there is "great leader" theory," said Oobleck with scorn in his voice. "This theory claims that the actions of a select few leaders in each group outweigh all other considerations. This is overblown, the domain of hero worship and oversimplification, history as biography. While there have been exceptional individuals in the past, yes, the ability of those individuals to dictate or redirect the whole flow of history is greatly overstated. The people who can by themselves change the course of events are few and far between, and even they find themselves as often victims of historical currents as their creators.

"That said," he added thoughtfully, "the theory is far more pertinent at lower levels and in smaller groups. I find it very common that Huntsman teams take after their leaders, for good and for ill. To all the team leaders in this room, I suggest you keep that in mind."

Weiss couldn't help it. Her eyes were drawn as if magnetically to Blake. As ever with the topic of team leadership these past few days, Blake shrank in her seat as if trying to disappear rather than be noted for her position. Weiss came to a decision.

The chime rang. "Class dismissed, but mind your readings on historical theory. Your summary of historical methods is due by the weekend."

As her teammates rose, Weiss said to Blake, "Go on without me. I have a few questions for the Professor."

"Do you want to review course material?" said Penny, looking as burstingly eager to do this as any other group activity. "I can help you with that!"

Something was wrong with that picture, but it took Weiss a moment to realize what. "Can you help me, though? It doesn't look like you took a single note. Do you even have a notebook?"

Penny's hands were empty, but her mood didn't falter. "My memory is very good."

No one's memory was that good, except perhaps Winter's, but that might explain why Penny wanted to study with someone else who had taken notes. "Perhaps later," said Weiss. "For now, I have something specific to ask the professor."

"Suit yourself," said Yang with a shrug, "but if they run out of pie before you get to the cafeteria, I don't wanna hear about it."

"I truly doubt…" Weiss began, but she assessed both Yang and Nora and changed her mind. "I promise I'll hold my tongue."

"See you later, then."

Her teammates joined the general exodus from the classroom until it was just Weiss and Oobleck remaining. He looked up at her, his eyes greatly magnified by his large glasses so they looked twice their actual size. "Ah, Miss Schnee. Did you have questions about today's lesson?"

"Sort of," said Weiss. The lecture hall was in the style of the amphitheater. Wanting to keep her voice down, Weiss descended until she approached the podium at the bottom. "I was considering what you said about teams taking after their leaders."

"Yes, yes," said Oobleck eagerly. "Small groups in general do this, though it is a tendency, not an absolute. It greatly depends on the style of the leader, and, perhaps more importantly, the energy they use to lead."

"So you're saying leaders should be energetic so that their teams take on their best parts," Weiss said.

Oobleck adjusted his glasses, as if Weiss was out of focus. "You're putting words in my mouth. That is not the only way to be a leader, nor is it even necessarily the best. A leader of great energy, but poor character, can lead their whole team to ruin or infamy."

"Then the leader should be someone with energy and who can set a good example, is that it?" said Weiss, becoming more eager by the second.

"Miss Schnee, it sounds as if you're seeking justification to launch a coup."

Weiss' denial was instinctive, but even she didn't believe it, and Oobleck clearly didn't, either.

"It wouldn't be the first mutiny I've seen," said Oobleck. "Nor would it be the fastest. Team STRQ set that record back when I was your age. That said, I am not endorsing it."

"I wouldn't want to usurp," said Weiss semi-truthfully.

"You couldn't in any event, because leadership appointments are the exclusive domain of the Headmaster. He listens to the faculty's opinions, but is not driven by them."

"Of course," said Weiss.

"And before you get any ideas about that," Oobleck added, "Professor Ozpin has never entertained a leadership change until at least two months have elapsed."

"That seems like a long time for something this important," said Weiss.

"Its importance is all the more reason not to rush it," said Oobleck. "You students are not a finished product. That's why you're in school in the first place! You may have strong opinions on your team's leadership now, but first impressions are a tyrant. A tyrant, I say!"

Speaking of energy, Oobleck had become so animated he had almost resumed his zooming about the classroom. "I must warn you that people almost without exception have more to them than you know. Certainly more than you can tell at first blush!"

"That's sort of what I'm afraid of," said Weiss.

"Hm. Well, that fear is fear of the unknown!" said Oobleck. "It is the unthinking fear, the fear that springs from our own insecurities, our own worst instincts. And do you know what the only remedy for fear is?"

"What?"

"Knowledge. Experience. They're related, though not identical." Oobleck stilled, without warning, and folded his hands behind his back. After considering Weiss, he whipped around, looked at the board, where he'd sketched an outline of the grimm's impact on civilization, and spoke much more slowly. "Civilians fear the grimm, but we do not. Why is that?"

"We can't afford to," said Weiss. "If we were afraid of the grimm, our fear would bring in more grimm and make things worse."

"Hm. A half-correct answer. That is why we must not be afraid of the grimm, but not why we are not. The answer is the same one I gave you before. Knowledge and experience. We know the enemy. We've faced them. We've beaten them. Bravery should not be confused for recklessness—we respect the grimm as adversaries, and we know our limits. But we do not fear because the grimm are known to us."

He turned to face her, looking solemn. "Your leader is unknown to you, so you fear. You fear the type of leader she might be. Well, consider this, Miss Schnee. The same is likely true of her."

Weiss jerked in surprise. "You think so?"

"Fear of the unknown," said Oobleck again. "Your leader likely doesn't know what type of leader she'll be, either. That makes the two of you the same, doesn't it? And neither of you will overcome your fear, neither of you will know, without experience."

Weiss was supposed to respond in a timely fashion. Small talk had rules of etiquette that her father had rigidly enforced. The timer he'd drilled into her was going off, telling her she had to answer.

Weiss couldn't help it. Serious words had been said to her, and it would be a disservice to those words to treat them un-seriously.

"That's a new way of thinking about it for me," she said at length. "I… might have been too concerned with my own desires to consider how Blake felt about it."

"Yes," said the Oobleck gravely. "Empathy is a difficult skill, but one for which there is no replacement."

He let her think on that for another few seconds before saying, "Well, it would appear your brain is full as it can be for now. Ruminate on these topics and consider how you might put them into action. If you need additional guidance, you know where to find me."

He grabbed his teaching materials off the podium and blurred out the door.

"Hey, Penne-pasta, wanna go on a walk?" said Yang.

"Socializing with my friend is an excellent use of my evening," said Penny with a definite nod.

"Let's go, then," said Yang, but as she left she winked at Weiss. It was totally unnecessary, since Yang was just following the plan Weiss had developed, and more than a little juvenile, but Weiss found she couldn't hate the gesture.

When the dorm room door clicked shut behind Yang and Penny, it left Weiss and Blake alone. Weiss gathered herself and approached Blake's bed. "Blake?"

Blake set down her book and looked at Weiss. Blake was trying her best to be stoic, but there was a trembling underneath, an unsure foundation. Atlas high society thrived on finding and exploiting people who felt that way. Just another feature of Atlas high society Weiss despised.

"I've been reflecting on my actions the past few days," said Weiss formally. "I can see now that I was frustrated when I wasn't made leader, and I grew more frustrated whenever you did something I wouldn't have. I had assumed that I would be team leader when I came here. That was, in hindsight, a poor assumption."

Blake gave her a long, slow blink.

"It was even more frustrating when you didn't even want to be a leader," said Weiss. "You had something I wanted that you didn't, and that felt wrong. But… I realized today that I wasn't being fair to you."

At last Weiss got a reaction out of Blake: her eyes widened some and her mouth opened. "You didn't ask to be made team leader," Weiss went on. "Ozpin did that on his own. Why should I be frustrated at you for something you didn't control? Besides, me thinking I should be leader came from the assumption I would do it best." She looked Blake square in the eye. "And that also may have been a poor assumption."

Blake couldn't withstand that gaze. She averted her eyes and clenched her hands together. "You're really putting your faith in me?"

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt," said Weiss. "It's the bare minimum courtesy we should extend each other. Besides, I can't see how you could develop as a leader if you're worrying about me second-guessing everything you do. So I'll make you a deal."

Blake huffed. "There's the transactional thinking I would expect from you."

Weiss could brush aside petty words like that. "If you work at being the best leader you can be, I'll work on being the best follower I can be."

Blake's head snapped in Weiss' direction. She scanned Weiss with her eyes as if looking for any hints of deception. "You mean that?"

"Absolutely," said Weiss. "We'll give it a semester where we both work at this. If, at the end of that semester, you've decided you don't want to be leader anymore, we can have this talk again. You don't have to be what you don't want to be."

Blake gave a wry grin. "Leave it to you to frame taking away my power as a blessing."

"If you don't want power, it would be," said Weiss. "Right?"

"It seems like it's about putting me in my place," said Blake.

"What pla… oh." Right. Because Weiss was a Schnee, and Blake was a Faunus, and a Schnee taking power away from a Faunus was…

Poor optics. That's how her father would put it. As if the appearance mattered more than the substance! Fraught was a better descriptor by far.

Not like her father would be any happier with the situation as-is. What would Atlas high society say about a Faunus bossing a Schnee? Oh, the gossip and nattering that would come of it! No wonder Blake was keeping her nature concealed.

That was another point of sympathy… and another reason Weiss knew she was on the right track.

She set her shoulders. "Then let's not worry about next semester. Let's worry about now. For now, I'll work on being a good follower. I'll do my best."

"The SDC could use the PR," said Blake.

"No one but us knows you're a Faunus," Weiss pointed out. "I can't get PR value from a secret."

"…right," said Blake, flushing slightly. She looked away and closed her eyes. Weiss could tell she was working up to something and waited for it. "My last experience with a strong leader… ended poorly. He was strong, and charismatic, and… not a good person."

Weiss remembered Oobleck's words. A leader of great energy, but poor character, can lead their whole team to ruin or infamy.

"I know what I don't want to be," said Blake, "but I don't know how to be something else. I don't even know what that would look like."

"Then let's find out together," said Weiss, and to her surprise, she truly meant it.

Blake looked at her with wide eyes.

"You have my full support," Weiss said.

Blake gave a confused chuckle. "That… means a lot. More than I thought it would."

Weiss smiled. "Of course it does."

"Don't ruin this moment by being conceited."

"I'm not. My buy-in is more valuable because I didn't give it away automatically... unlike some people. Have you heard what Penny's been saying? She threw her weight behind your leadership right from the start."

"She did?" said Blake, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Yes. You mean you didn't notice?"

"I guess a little," said Blake, "but I figured she couldn't mean it quite that much."

"There's not an ironic bone in that girl's body," said Weiss.

Blake smiled wryly. "The blessings of a simple mind."

"So," said Weiss, "now that we've settled that you have my full support as leader, we have business to discuss."

"I'm not changing the bedtime policy," said Blake.

"And I'm not bringing it up," said Weiss. "It's not what I would have done, but hating it just for that reason would be stupid, and it does seem to work. No, this is more urgent than that."

Blake arched an eyebrow.

"You have got to find us a stronger name for our team than 'biceps'."

Blake smiled. "I don't know, it's starting to grow on me."

"Not you, too!"

"I mean, if you're looking for strong names, what could be stronger than an actual muscle?"

"It is the most undignified team name we could have."

"Don't worry about that. In this team, you're the dignified one by default."

"That's not the point and you know it."

"What do you think they're talking about?" said Penny.

"Oh, you know," said Yang vaguely. "Personal drama and stuff."

Penny processed this. "That covers a lot of ground."

"As long as the dorm room isn't on fire when we get back, I think we're doing alright."

"Isn't that the lowest possible standard for 'alright'?"

"You've gotta start somewhere."

Omake

Oobleck: 'Great leader theory'? I scoff at it! Scoff! The idea of a small number of people controlling the destiny of whole civilizations is prima facie absurd!
Ozpin: Yes, of course. Clearly absurd.
Ozpin: *guilty sipping*

Next time: Literature for Gynoids 101