On Wednesday morning, I slept in, bad. Looking at my scroll, it was already three. I had what can only be described as a metric fuckton of notifications. At first, I was worried that someone had died, but no, it turns out that Ruby had made a group chat called "Game Night" at the last second. Everyone had agreed to meet at… oh for fuck's sake… Everyone had agreed to meet at three.

I scrambled out of bed and quickly fixed my hair, which had become a disheveled mess while sleeping. Once my appearance was adequate, I walked over to my gaming setup, and started taking wires out of the wall, tv, and a console. I went with the Series S, because it's easy to transport. After grabbing an empty backpack and stuffing it with everything from the cables, to external hard drives, and a few controllers, I was able to cram everything into my bag without much issue. So, with that in my bag, I headed out.

Once to the dorm, I knocked, and walked in, a nervous smile on my face, "Hey gu-"

Lukas cuts me off, "Where have you been?"

"I was busy…"

Lukas shakes his head, "Bullshit. Blake was the first one here."

"I'm sorry?" I ask.

"Yeah. You better be. Somehow, though, you're not the last one to show up. We're waiting on Yang." he says.

Taking a moment to look around the room, Ren. Nora, Jade, and Ruby are playing the Remnant board game. Levi, Jaune, and Lukas are playing cards, probably blackjack, knowing Lukas. Blake and Weiss are playing chess, and poor Blake is getting dogwal- er, catwalked. Pyrrha's just watching those two play chess, and she looks like she's enjoying herself. She keeps "sneaking" glances at Jaune, but it's more obvious what she's doing. Well, obvious to everyone minus motherfucking Jaune. There's music playing, and it doesn't take a genius to guess that Lukas currently has aux. "Making Moves" by Oh the Larceny is playing, and while not what I'd normally listen to, I fuck with it.

After setting up the console, and showing Jade how to work it, I decide to join in on blackjack, and everything goes well. I win a few hands, lose some, y'know how it goes. We aren't playing for anything, otherwise I wouldn't have asked for a hit when I had a king and a seven. Drew a four though, so Lady Luck can get bent.

After ten or so minutes, with "Psychosocial" by Slipknot playing courtesy of me, Yang walks in. She's carrying a Xbox 360, and has a Guitar Hero controller.

"Sorry I was late, couldn't find the controller for this thing." she says, before starting to set it up on the spare tv that we keep in here.

Levi and Lukas share a glance before Levi walks to his closet, and produces another Guitar Hero controller, adorned with bullet and bullet hole stickers, and after a minute, Lukas comes back with his own Guitar Hero controller. Lukas' has a bunch of, who could have guessed, lightning stickers on it.

"Well then," Yang says, "I think we might have a battle between two pick-sperienced players, huh?"

I groan, as does 90% of the room. Levi obviously snickers, because why wouldn't he? No, no, enough of my conspiracy theories. I get up and turn off the music, as Lukas starts to pick a song. "Through the Fire and the Flames" is the obvious choice, and that's exactly why it isn't picked. He eventually turns to Levi, "Alright, I can't think of anything. You pick."

…

…

…

No response.

…

…

…

After way too much time, Lukas speaks up, "So, are you going to pick one?"

Levi snaps back to reality, "Y-yeah, uh…"

He quickly shuffles through a few options, and lands on "Hit the Lights" by Metallica at Expert level. Jaune turns the lights lower, and I settle into the couch. By now, Weiss and Blake have finished their game, Blake's sitting on the armrest. Due to that, I have no choice but to use Blake's thigh as a pillow. Harrowing, I know, but I make it through. Pyrrha pulls up a chair, and Jaune grabs a beanbag chair that Lukas keeps in the corner of the room, and sinks into it. Weiss is acting like she couldn't care less about the whole ordeal, but is still observing. Finally, Yang is standing off to the side watching the screen with all of her attention.

The music starts, and Levi sends himself into overdrive with his semblance. A small thing to note, while when he applies his semblance to someone else, it only lasts for three minutes. However, due to his body adapting to it, he can keep it active for somewhere closer to ten minutes. Lukas is laser focused, and damn, neither of them are missing a single note. I'm nodding my head along to the music, and no one's said a word so far. The opening concludes, and the lyrics start. I'm impressed with how well they're both doing, considering my dumbass could never do that.

Ruby, as if attracted by the sounds of guitars, gravitates over from the table, as does Nora. They both watch in awe as Levi and Lukas absolutely shred one of the several solos in the song. Yang then whistles, and speaks in a teasing tone, "Well, now I'm wondering what else you can use those fingers for…"

Levi loses focus for a split second, and misses a single note. After that, he's back in his flowstate, but ouch, seeing him miss one hurt. Oh, and he's now turning red, in case you somehow hadn't guessed that.

As the song starts to wrap up, Levi and Lukas hit overdrive at almost the same time, and man, it's like the air is buzzing with excitement. The final solo climbs, and then drops for a split second, climbs again, and finally comes to an end. Lukas scores higher by maybe a hundred points, and he and Levi exchange smiles.

Lukas, being the winner, speaks first, "Whoo! Let's go!"

Yang pipes up, "Someone's ec-static, huh?"

It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to guess how everyone reacts to her pun. If you don't know, then I just can't help you at this point.

Lukas takes off his controller, and sets it down. He then speaks up, "So…are you guys hungry? Like, not snack hungry, I mean full on hungry, you know?"

Nora nods, and I get up. After checking the time on my scroll I reply, "Yeah, honestly. Animal crackers go hard, but like, I want a meal."

After some discussion, we agreed on pizza. We then have a separate discussion on the subject of if we should get wings or not.

"Ok," I start, "so it's settled, that pizza place with the really good wings. C'mon Lukas, let's go."

Lukas gets up, but then Ruby speaks up, "Hang on, is it going to be bone in or boneless? Because I kinda want boneless wings but I dunno if anyone…" she trails off into mumbles and looks away.

Yang says, "Aww, but I kinda wanted bone in. I have a neat party trick I wanted to show you guys!"

I can imagine her locking eyes with someone, sticking in a wing, and pulling it out just the bone, before smirking and licking her lips. Yeah, fuck that noise.

"I mean, I'm chill with boneless." I say.

Weiss scoffs, "I still think that wings are too messy, so I don't care."

I roll my eyes, "And you probably plan on eating the pizza with a fork and knife, so your opinion is irrelevant for this discussion. Shoo shoo." I wave her off. Lukas snickers.

"Well, y'know what, half bone in, half boneless. I-I'm not doing this right now." I say. Before I step out, I turn on my heels and continue, "And if a single one of you doesn't want pepperoni, then say it now, because if I come back with four…" I look at how many people are in the room, "…five pepperoni pizzas, and you have the nerve to say 'oH i DoN't LiKe PePpErOnI,' then we are going to fucking fight. No? We're all ok with pepperoni? Lovely! C'mon Lukas."

I grab Lukas by the hood of his hoodie and drag him through the door. He swats me off and we begin to walk. I yawn a little, and Lukas immediately notices.

"You alright? Also, wait, why were you late?" he says.

"I'm ok, yeah. And as for being late… Ok, well," I start, and shrug a bit, "I woke up about thirty minutes ago. Maybe closer to an hour by now, but still."

"Fucking hell dude."

I shrug, "I'll probably buy a coffee when we're in town. There's a little cafe across the street from the pizza place I'm thinking of. Y'know the one ran by that family that moved from Mistral?"

"No. Why the fuck would I know the lore behind a damn pizza place?" he asks.

"Jeez, I don't know. Just figured I'd try to elaborate and be helpful." I say, a little more defensively than intended.

We step outside of the dorm building and start on the way to the airship docking area, or port, or whatever the fuck you want to call it.

The walk is mostly quiet, as I text back and forth with Blake.

Text Conversation

Blake: "Hey, hate to bother you, but do you think you and Lukas could grab some drinks too?"

Me: "I mean, yeah, but what happened to that root beer? Wasn't it full when we left?"

Blake: "Yeah. It was. Then Nora happened."

Me: "Nora happened. Got it. See you soon."

Blake: "See you soon."

End of Text Conversation

In the time I was texting, we made it to the port/dock/thingamajig. Lukas and I step into one of the airships. I put in my earbuds after taking a seat. I decided that I want to listen to something softer than what I usually do, so I put on "'Til We Die." I tap my foot along to it, along with singing under my breath.

Once we're out of the airship, out of the docking area, and in Vale, I speak, "So… On that previous note of talking about your past, what's the story behind your dagger? If you're comfortable and shit. Don't want to press you if you don't want to be pressed."

He replies, "Oh it's umm… a gift from someone."

"A… gift?"

"A birthday gift from someone, specifically." he says, taking out the knife.

I press, "And you're just… not going to elaborate on that, or…?"

"I can."

"Then do so."

He nods, "Back during my time with the crime syndicate, I wasn't doing much of the fighting. I was more on the back line, sabotage, cutting wires, recon, that sort of thing. Never had to use it, but the sentiment was there."

"So who gave it to you?" I say, looking at the intricate design on the knife.

He stays silent for a moment, before shrugging, "Someone I was close with."

"Go on…" I say.

"No."

"Oh, c'mon! Te-yo-wh…" I pause, "Ju-who-te-, FUCK! Ok, like, any details?" I seem a little embarrassed at my stutter spree. Got so excited about trying to get something out of him that I started losing control of my own damn tongue.

"A woman." he says.

"A woman?" I tilt my head. "So like, was she a higher up, or like, a goon, or like, your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No, no, dude I had just turned thirteen."

"Ok? And? Like, you'd be surprised." I say, smirking like a dumbass.

"No, Doge, I was the only child there, and I was not hunting for any adults." he says in a "sick of your shit" tone.

I go to say something, and he swiftly cuts me off, "And no, they weren't after me."

"Hmm. Well it's a neat knife, anyways. What was it's name again?"

"Solace."

"Solace… I like it!" I smile.

"Solace means comfort or-"

I cut him off, and finish the definition for him, "consolation during a time of sadness. I know what it means dude, I use it on a nigh daily basis."

"Yeah yeah." he chuckles.

"Oh, by the way, I need to grab a coffee when we get there. So…yeah." I say, checking my nails, as it had randomly crossed my mind.

"Alright, sure." he says, texting someone.

I attempt to peak over his shoulder, and he shoves me backwards. It doesn't really do much, but it gets me off.

"Aww, c'mon…" I whine, trying to get another look.

"No." he says, putting his scroll up. "You bitch any and every time I try to see your texts with your girlfriend, so why would I let you see my texts with mine?"

"Ooooooh so that's who you're texting. Dumbass." I snicker.

"Fuck off." Lukas says. After a second, he continues, "And she actually is my girlfriend now, by the way."

"Wait, she wasn't before?" I ask.

"Nah. I asked her out last night."

I cover my mouth with my hand, and giggle as I imagine the scene.

"Oh Penny," I start, imitating Lukas, "Will you pretty please be my girlfriend? We could go to the hospital cafeteria as a first date!" I snicker. "Reeeeaaaaal fucken' romantic, dude."

"You don't get it, I can hardly ever see her in person." he says, rubbing his temple.

"Strict parents?"

"Something like that." Lukas responds.

I shrug, continuing down the street. We reach the place, and I hand him my card.

"1273." I say, before walking into the coffee shop. I then decide to buy an extra large mocha latte with five shots of espresso, and pay with… Oh, yeah, Lukas still has my card. I tell the barista that I'll be right back, rush across the road after a moment, and get my card back from Lukas. I then hurry back into the cafe, a nervous smile on my lips. I pay, grab my coffee, and go back to wait on Lukas.

I take sip after sip, and watch Lukas come out carrying the five pizzas, and a bag that holds what I'm assuming is our wings on top.

"Alright, let's go." I stay, walking down the road.

Lukas half shouts out, "Are you not going to fucking help me?"

"Nah…"

He grumbles, but I know damn well it isn't a strain for him. Plus, I need to hold my coffee with one hand, and gesticulate with the other. Oh right, root beer. Now I actually have a good reason!

"…I need to carry the root beer. So like, I can take the wings?" I offer.

"Fucking please."

I slip the bag over my arm, and have it rest in the crook of my right arm. I then head into the nearby grocery store and grab a two liter. Once back at Lukas' side, we hurry back to the airship, and then home.

While we're on the airship, I notice that the straw is slightly smaller that usual, and call it out, "Dude, why is this thing so damn small?"

Lukas chirps, "I'm sure it has a great personality."

"Yeah, you would know." I say, before taking another sip. Then, like the socially incompetent clown that I am, I laugh at my own joke.

The ride's short, and we step out and carry on. As we pass by one of the dorm buildings, I remember that we literally have a grocery store right here. I then also remember that it never sells any actually good root beer, and only sells that knock off crap. The aftertaste reminds me of that one pink medicine I used to have to take as a kid. You probably know the one I'm on about. The flavor was supposed to be bubblegum, but all it tasted like was sulfur and tree bark.

We enter our team's dorm building, and head upstairs. I knock, and Jade answers the door, "Hey, friends! Did you bring the stuff?"

"That makes it sound like we have drugs on us." Lukas says from behind the pizzas.

"Fair enough." she says, "Come on in. I'm worried Yang might eat Levi if she doesn't get some food soon."

I snicker, and walk in. I set down root beer, before taking another sip of my coffee. Blake walks up to me, and snatches it from my hands before I can even set down the wings, before taking a sip. Her face immediately contorts. "How much espresso did you put in this?"

"Five, uh, five shots." I say, taking back my coffee.

She doesn't seem as surprised as she is disappointed. She then smirks, and speaks, "I don't know what I was expecting. Well, no, I was expecting a chocolate flavor, not the taste of a liquid heart attack."

"Nah," Lukas starts, "that would be the energy drinks he drinks."

Jaune interjects, "How are you even alive?"

"Good question," says Ren, "I hardly ever see him without some sort of caffeinated beverage."

In a slightly defensive tone I say, "Why am I suddenly getting jumped?"

Yang's next up, "Because you, in your infinite wisdom, decided on five shots of espresso."

"I mean, six is the recommended limit, so…" I respond.

"Why do you even know that?" asks Jaune.

"Because," I start in a slightly snarky tone without even realizing it, "I like to be informed about what I consume."

"Bullshit," Lukas continues, "you like to be informed about how much caffeine you intake, but nothing else."

I roll my eyes, and speak in a more reserved tone, "Alright, well, not my fault I don't sleep enough."

"It… it is though…" says Levi.

"Whatever, whatever, alright. Look, there's better things to do then call me out over a perfectly safe level of espresso. If this was like, ten shots, then I'd understand."

"I guess that's fair enough… Fine, just… try to be responsible with it." says Lukas.

"You're one to tal-"

Lukas cuts me off, "Can it."

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am." I say, now back to screwing around.

"Good boy. Now bring over those wings." says Lukas in a low voice.

Looking around the room, everyone's either just blatantly horrified and confused, or too preoccupied with something else to notice our bullshit. I set down the wings, and Ruby, Lukas, and Yang descend on them like a pack of Beowolves. Ruby takes a few of the plain boneless wings, a slice of pizza, and scurries off with it. Lukas grabs some wings, pizza, and goes sit down on the couch. Yang… Well, she does exactly what I was scared she would do, putting in a wing, and pulling out just the bones, all while making eye contact with Levi, licking her lips and winking afterwards.

I grab three slices of pizza, and a few boneless wings. I sit down on the sofa, next to Lukas, and look at the TV. Oh… Oh my Gods… there's no fucking way…

Jade is on my Xbox, and she's playing Uno with Weiss, Pyrrha, and Blake on their scrolls. Jade looks like she's one plus four away from crashing out, and I watch Blake tap a button on her scroll, and suddenly, Weiss has to draw four. However, Weiss stacks it with another plus four, then Pyrrha stacks another on the plus eight, which makes Jade have to draw twelve. Jade stands up, takes a deep breath, walks outside. If you listen closely, you could hear the trees howl in the wind. Only problem, it wasn't a windy day. She then comes back with a stoic expression and resumes playing.

After finishing my food, I put my plate in the sink, and rinse it off. I then walk back to the sofa, and lay across it, putting my legs over Lukas'. He sighs, but then uses my legs to keep his plate up. I gaze at his plate, and see that he still has a bunch of boneless wings.

"Bitch, gimme a wing." I say, wanting another glorified chicken nugget.

"Motherfucker, is that how you ask?" asks Lukas.

I scoff. "Bitch, please gimme a wing." I say.

He then chucks it at me, and I catch it, then I toss it into my mouth.

"Uno, and Uno out! I win!" Weiss exclaims. She's beaming at having won the match, and she gleefully skips over to the pizza box, in heels, which is bewildering, and takes a slice. She takes it, and carefully eats it, like it's radioactive or something.

"It's not going to bite you, Weiss." says Ruby, who's putting ketchup on her plate for her wings.

Yang looks over at Ruby and speaks, her voice sounding dejected, "Ruby… are you putting ketchup on your wings?"

Ruby shrugs a little. "I mean, Levi doesn't have any other sauces. Well, there's mayonnaise, but I'm not putting that on the wings."

Jaune asks the next question, "He doesn't even have ranch dressing?"

"Nope." Ruby says.

"Levi, what the fuck?" asks Yang.

"It's like, the only sauce I use." Levi responds.

What the actual fuck is wrong with him. I knew he was from Atlas, but I didn't expect him to be dishwasher chicken Atlesian.

"You serious? Like, deadass?" I ask.

Levi nods.

"Is salt too fucking spicy, too?" Lukas asks.

Levi rolls his eyes. "I never said I didn't like other sauces, I just said that those two are the main ones I use."

I facepalm. When I do so, I suddenly feel Lukas pushing me off of him, and subsequently, the couch. Next thing I know, I'm face first on the floor.

"Bastard…" I say, pushing myself up. Lukas tosses his plate into the sink, and shrugs at me. I sigh, and get back on the couch. I sit up, leaning against an arm, and yawn.

Levi notices, and speaks, "Need that energy drink that's been in the fridge for a few weeks?"

I shake my head. "Hell no. Ultra Violet tastes like ground up grape candy mixed with unfathomable sorrow."

"You have some really strange descriptions for things like that…" says Pyrrha. I shrug.

"Comes naturally to me." I say.

"That… I'm afraid that wasn't exactly a compliment." she replies.

"Well, was it an insult?" I ask.

"No, not particularly." she says.

I then nod and say, "Then it's a compliment."

Turning back to where most of everyone else is, Lukas is approaching Weiss. If he starts some shit, I will not hesitate to escort him out of the premises via the window. He knows this, and hopefully cares about his well being enough to keep any potential problems from starting.

"So," he starts, "I saw you playing against Blake earlier. You seem pretty good… Want to play?"

"You wish to challenge me to a game of chess?" she asks.

"Indeed. Do you accept?"

"And there's no ulterior motive? No strings attached?" Weiss skeptically asks.

"Nope." Lukas says. "So, do you?"

"Well, I don't see why not. Sure! I'll take you on!" she exclaims, looking somewhat excited at the prospect of a worthy chess opponent. They move to the table, and take their seats. Now, I'm decent at chess, I guess, but don't really know many of the plays and such. The second someone who actually plays the game starts telling me about how I accidentally played the fucking Fredrick's Folly and how I've already lost thirty moves in advance, I just sigh and give up. I'm sure I could be good at it if I sat down and put my mind to it, but sometimes I can't sit still for that long. I usually have to be really into something to get good at it.

After a bit of watching the match, it seems like Weiss is winning. Granted, I'm not paying much attention, seeing as I've put in my earbuds and are tuning most of everything else out. I don't really know what came over me, but I just kinda felt like everything was becoming a bit too much, so I'm taking a little break.

Maybe five or so minutes later, I'm feeling better, and put my earbuds back into their case.

"Checkmate. Good game, Weiss." Lukas says. I turn around to see that Lukas has won, and he has a small smile on his face. He extends his hand over the board for a handshake, and Weiss takes it.

"I can't believe I fell for something like that, but…" she sighs before continuing, "…good game, Lukas. You're better than I would have expected."

They then put up the set, packing the board and all of the pieces up, before going their separate ways. Speaking of separate ways, I'm feeling like my social battery is dying, and it's almost time for me to go. I probably have ten or so more minutes in me, though. Or I could save myself the trouble and fuck off now. Before I'm able to come to a decision, I feel a weight on my shoulder. Looking to see what it is, or more precisely, who it is, it's Blake. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and decide that I'll stay a bit longer after all.

Sup bitches, we're back! And a day early! I got tired of waiting for someone, so now they're forced to wait while I write out. You know what you did. Quit giggling while reading this. Yeah, you, Doe. Jackass.

So, for those of you who aren't that conniving little bastard, once again, welcome back! If this is your first time around, you've read every other note by now so like, yeah.

Ramblings aside, thanks for getting through another chapter. The fabled mint chocolate chip is on the horizon, so stick around for that. Next chapter is actually done, somehow, so expect that within the next one week to two weeks.