Chapter 7

The weekend hadn't been able to come soon enough for any of the members of Team WYRD. They were all surprisingly worn out after their first week, and Dahlia especially was feeling the effects of not only the start of the term, but also an unexpected apology from Professor Ozpin himself, for the way in which he'd revealed her family name. She knew that William had gone to talk to him on her behalf, but she hadn't known that the headmaster would apologise in person. She'd never seen an adult do so towards a minor before. She had to admit, a small part of Dahlia had long since thought that "sorry" was a word that disappeared from the minds of a person after they reached a certain age.

However, they were finally out of all of their classes for the week, and even though they all had some homework left (Rust and Dahlia, especially), William had decided that they should spend some of the day exploring the city of Vale as a team. A chance to get to know the city, and each other, he'd said. Dahlia had jumped at the idea, since she needed to get off campus for a little while. All of the looks that the other students had been pointing her way had been getting annoying, and even the support of her own teammates alongside Team SPRK hadn't been helping.

That being said, she did have one hurdle to get past first…

"So, do you just not have any other clothes?" she asked her partner, incredulously.

Y'sh, for her part, looked somewhat embarrassed, as she stood wearing the exact same outfit that she'd arrived at Beacon in. Whereas Dahlia, having got some changes before attending, was in a distinctly different set of clothes.

"I've never had a need for anything else. To tell the truth, my uniform was the only set of clothing I ever received that wasn't designed for martial arts combat…" Y'sh trailed off. Some part of her realised from Dahlia's expression that she should have at least one set of casual clothing, and the rest of her wondered why the smaller girl was looking so shocked.

"Right then. First thing we do after we get into Vale, shopping trip. Good thing William and Rust are already coming with, we're going to need them for carrying the bags."

With that, Dahlia grabbed Y'sh's hand and pulled her out of their room, heading for the courtyard, where they'd arranged to meet up with the other two.

Upon arrival, she was forced to stop. William was dressed in the kind of casual attire that wouldn't look out of place behind the counter at a café. Rust, on the other hand, was wearing the same tunic and robes that he'd been in during their initiation, which looked like a male version of Y'sh's. She hadn't noticed the similarity before, but seeing them outside of combat made it easier to pay attention to them.

"Ah, there you are. Shall we?" William looked up as they approached, and Rust opened his eyes. Team WYRD's leader gestured towards the airdock that they'd need to use to get into town. Rust got to his feet and stepped towards Y'sh.

"What took so long?" The question was likely supposed to be a murmur, but the others were close enough to overhear. That, and Rust's version of a murmur was somewhat akin to distant thunder.

Wiliam clapped his hand to his brow in frustration.

"Rust, dude. We talked about this. You never ask a woman why they're late, even if they are. You just gloss over the fact, and continue with your day."

"Why? Should all parties involved not value each other's time enough to be on time, if not early?" Rust seemed genuinely puzzled, to Dahlia's amusement.

"Mostly because ladies have a bit more to concern themselves with when getting ready, big guy." She nudged him with her elbow as she walked past. "Also, it was mostly my fault. I was kinda interrogating Y'sh about the uniform you guys are wearing."

Y'sh looked confused, before realising that Dahlia was taking culpability for their late arrival. She hadn't been focussing on their clothing so much as expressing surprise at the lack of anything different. She readied herself to make the point, when William slipped to her side.

"She's just covering for you." He whispered. "Besides, it really wasn't an issue. It's not like we're actually on a time limit today. Rust was just getting worried, something about you two not being separated for long in years…?"

Y'sh looked down and nodded in silence. She didn't really want to get into it, but she also felt that her teammates did deserve to know. After all, she wasn't the only one among them with a past filled with pain. Obviously she knew Rust's, but the look in Dahlia's eyes when she'd talked about her family was filled with anguish, that was still recent enough to be raw.

William took the hint and dropped the topic, looking ahead of them at their counterparts. Dahlia almost looked like a much younger sister chatting at her long-suffering but indulgent brother. He smiled at the thought, especially since Dahlia was close to tugging the Faunus along by the hand. He'd known that she needed the breath of fresh air that a trip into Vale would allow, but he hadn't quite realised just how much it was going to cheer her up. Hopefully, the day would prove fruitful for them all.

Rust heaved a sigh of exhaustion as they finally sat down. Three hours of non-stop shopping, being dragged around various clothing stores in downtown Vale, whilst being coerced and cajoled into taking part in Dahlia's insistence of trying on what felt like every item that could fit his frame had left him feeling like he'd just gone seven rounds with his old Sensei. Not to mention carrying one half of the bags of clothing that the girl had somehow managed to procure. Fortunately, William had been more than willing to offer himself to share the burden, which Rust had been confused by, as none of the contents had been bought for him, but it had been waved away with a shrug and a smile. Rust put it down to cultural differences, and tried to forget about it. William and Y'sh had gone to the counter to order drinks for the team, and Dahlia was apparently running low on energy and excitement, if her current quietness was any indication.

"I was a bit rough on you today, huh?"

He looked up to see Dahlia smiling shyly. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes, however, and he frowned.

"It's not that, exactly. It's just… I've never really been to a big city like this." He gestured at their surroundings. "It's all a bit… Overwhelming, I guess. I didn't mean to make you feel guilty about it, I'm sorry."

Dahlia's slight smile faded at his words.

"You've not got anything to apologise for, Rust. I should have figured that you wouldn't be comfortable doing stuff like this. I just… I just wanted a chance to get off campus, and spend time with all of you. I guess I wound up venting my pent-up frustrations on you more than I wanted to. You didn't deserve that."

Rust's eyes widened at the tone of remorse and… "Is that fear…?" in her voice.

"I've just… Never really had any friends, and I wanted to do the things I heard people do with their friends. I guess I should have given us all a bit more time to get used to each other, huh?"

"I wouldn't have said so." Dahlia looked up at his words. "I'll admit, it has all been a bit more than I was expecting, and being coerced into wearing clothing that made me feel like a festival banner was a new experience, but I have also enjoyed spending time with you all. It's been very different from anything I've done before." He chuckled slightly. "Besides, if I started shying away from new and different experiences, I wouldn't be able to face Sensei without him beating me into a stain."

Dahlia smiled at the sound of Rust's laughter, and his words certainly helped. Then a frown started to form.

"Do you mind if I ask… Who exactly 'Sensei' is? It's a word I don't think I know."

"It means 'teacher' or 'master', in a sense." Said Y'sh, setting down Rust's drink before sitting down with her own. "In this case, it serves as both, and refers to my grandfather."

As William joined them at the table, he also joined the conversation.

"Does that mean that you did, in fact, grow up together?" His words led to Y'sh and Rust sharing a meaningful look. "You did say that you'd been dealing with each other for years…"

Y'sh took a deep breath, and stared at her coffee, arranging her thoughts. She shared one final glance with Rust, who nodded almost imperceptibly, and began to speak…