Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates it!
It was Friday, the end of our first week at Beacon, and my Team and I had arranged to go shopping together for general supplies. There had already been some growing pains between us, though nothing we either weren't able to deal with or couldn't endure until the weekend.
The Beacon Lost and Found did not have any sleep masks, so we workshopped ideas until Cinder convinced me to wrap a roll of spare bandages around my eyes while I slept. Despite that my three teammates clearly knew each other from before Beacon, it appeared that this was the first time they were forced to sleep in the same room, as they seemed to surprise each other with their morning behaviors. Mercury was unquestionably the most irritable in the morning, most especially before he got his chance to hole up in the bathroom. Cinder and Emerald both were caught off guard Wednesday morning when he had snarled at the mint-haired girl when she and him both made for the bathroom at the same time. Cinder spent the most time in the bathroom in the mornings, usually spending almost an hour in there before coming out looking impeccable. I woke up at around the same time she did and I usually was still in the process of removing the sleep bandages by the time I would hear the bathroom door shut for her to start her routine. Mercury took the second longest in the mornings, which seemed to surprise the two girls of the team as much as it surprised me. From the look on her face, it seemed that even Cinder didn't understand what he did for so long, despite that she was the one most invested in knowing everything.
For class itself, it did not take long to learn the rhythms of the various teachers. Port was loud and longwinded, every class being nothing more than him monologuing about his experiences as a Huntsman. Everyone more or less treated it as a free period, and my Team all used it to get ahead on the classwork for other teachers. Cinder and I had a good back and forth for Oobleck's History, as I was the only one who could actually process what the man said, while Cinder slowly gave me all the prerequisite information that I was assumed to have from previous schools. Greene's Stealth class was all theory, the woman starting each class by giving us a mock situation that we would have to navigate ourselves. Peach's Plant Studies was more accurately a Rural Survival course, where she explained all of the various ways to keep oneself safe in the wild. Mulberry's Weapons class was much more accommodating than the first class indicated, as he displayed he enjoyed engineering and appreciated it when people actually wanted to learn. Finally, Witch's Combat Class was the one everyone was always the most eager for, to no one's surprise. So far, it had only been one on one fights, but she promised that she would start doing fights with more fighters starting next week. The first was just so she could get a grasp on where everyone was and who to pair against who.
After class in the afternoons, we agreed to collectively go to the gym for most days of the week, going every weekday but Friday. Right after class was the busiest time of the day, around half of the first years and about two-thirds of the second years going at that time. With how many machines there were, though, there were no issues about having to wait on someone else. Whenever we went, Mercury unfailingly split off to work out on his own, only joining back up once he finished with his routine. Cinder walked me through how to use the equipment as well as used me as her spotter, with Emerald always keeping close. Velvet thankfully was able to go at the same time that we did, so we would spot each other, to Team CFVY's great pleasure. Cinder had made it clear that she was unwilling to wait around for me to get tired from what she had already seen of my stamina, so we agreed that we would leave every day once the three of them were done with their routines. We had determined an order of Cinder, Emerald, myself, then Mercury for showering, so that no one dealt with the annoyance of calling dibs. After that, we all would work on coursework either in the privacy of our dorm or in the library, as Cinder had blatantly threatened to kill one or all of us if we dragged her down by not keeping up in class.
Usually, we would end up being completely done with school-related stuff by 8, and we generally kept to the dorm after that. Mercury would either play games or watch something on his scroll, and despite how they bickered, if he chose to watch something, Emerald would usually watch it with him. Cinder either would work on some sort of personal project at her desk or go out for walks that she emphasized she wanted to be alone for. I went the route of socializing with the other students. Team RWBY was the most disorganized of all the teams. Weiss was the prickly star student who outdid even Cinder in how much she wanted to be prepared for class, and Yang was the lackadaisical, self-certain party gal who would either put off her homework as long as possible or get it done as quickly as she could so she could go out and have fun. Blake, whenever she wasn't provoking Weiss about how trashy the SDC was or dissing the Heiress for her mild racism, would get her work out of the way so she could get back into reclusively reading. Ruby, the poor girl, also was diligent in her work, but struggled with socializing with her team. While they no longer seemed to hate each other, Weiss' icy exterior made it difficult for the reaper to have a casual conversation, and the scythe-wielder was too awkward to want to interrupt Blake while she read. She had a great relationship with Yang, naturally, but it was a moot point considering they were siblings that had lived together their entire lives.
JNPR was comparatively much better, with Ren helping them all get used to Nora's eccentric behavior, Pyrrha clearly relaxing once she realized none of them cared about her celebrity status, and Jaune being an empathetic and supportive leader. The only real issue they went through was Jaune's bullying from Cardin. All of CRDL were assholes, though it seemed that Cardin was the one that incited them to actually act. The rest of his team seemed more like the quiet dickheads that would sneer at you from the corner of the room, unwilling to actually voice their opinions, but he inspired them to get loud. After that first day, he was far more conscious of his surroundings when he harassed the other students, never pushing his luck when I was in the room. Of course, that was its own problem, as he was smart enough to only bother those he could beat in a fight and only did it when there wasn't someone around who could stop him. That he was about upper middle of the first-years in fighting ability meant he had a lot of targets. The fact that Team JKPT's faunus member Tara Tise was close to the bottom of the first-years didn't help.
Turning in for the night was always an easy process, each of us usually switching to our respective sleepwear once we had made the decision to stay in the dorm. Since my corner of the closet was currently things taken from the Lost and Found, I was usually in some haphazard mess of different colors and sizes. While Mercury would rotate between a full shirt, an undershirt, or being completely topless in his sleep, he always unfailingly wore loose sleeping pants tucked firmly into a pair of socks. When not going out, Emerald really liked her shorts, with a clear preference for ones that were shorter. The dark-skinned girl also wore full shirts to bed, though generally form-fitting and low-cut. I felt pretty confident she wore that type of attire entirely in the hope of getting Cinder's attention. Cinder stuck to nightgowns, always ones that stopped about halfway down her thighs. So far, only the first night did my partner sleep in anything else, and I had a sneaking feeling it was due to being wary of myself. We all went to sleep independently of each other, and I had so far always gone to bed first.
We had decided on Tuesday to head out to Vale to go shopping after school on Friday for supplies that would last us the semester. It led us to now, where we all were on the Bullhead flying toward Vale, discussing what we were going to buy and what shops we were going to visit. Mercury had the intent to split off, but one harsh look from Cinder had him freeze in place before agreeing to stay. Thankfully, I had already received a credit card from Glynda, though it was her own that she was loaning out to me until my card from the John Doe program came in. She had emphasized that I was to only use it for necessities.
All of us were in casual clothes. Mercury, as always, had thick black pants over a pair of dark boots. A navy blue shirt covered his chest, under a leather jacket, his hands tucked into the pockets of the jacket. Emerald wore beige jeggings which hugged her lower half tightly, open-toed sandals of the same color, and a hot red shirt with an uneven hem so that the right side hung lower than the left. Cinder was dressed in a clean brown windbreaker over a crimson v-neck and a pair of form-fitting black pants. Her usual black heels completed her outfit. I, once again, was in a thrown-on mess that even I knew was an insult to fashion. Bright green jeans that were short and didn't reach my ankles, a pair of worn purple sneakers that had holes in the top and a frayed shoelace, and a faded yellow shirt that was loose on me with a moderately concerning brown stain by the left hip.
"So we're going to be stopping at a clothing store first, get some food after we're done there, then head to a general store to get toiletries, care products, and furniture for the dorm." Cinder stated, her arms crossed under her bust. "Once we've acquired everything we need, we'll head directly to the dorm and put everything together. I'd prefer to be done with all of this by the end of today, but I will accept it if we finish shopping tonight and put everything together tomorrow to have it done by noon."
"You sure it's a good idea to buy the furniture after the clothes?" I asked.
"The amount of clothes we get will determine how large a dresser we would need, and it would overall be less exhausting to only carry the heavy items at the end of the trip." She reasoned. I shrugged in acceptance. "A mall should allow us to cover all of our bases without having to go around the city. I took the initiative to look them up and find one that has quality supplies in every area we need."
"You planned out this much for a shopping trip?" I almost laughed. The Bullhead landed and we promptly stepped out, myself and Cinder taking the lead while Emerald and Mercury silently kept behind us. I was the only one out of the three of us who was unafraid to openly call Cinder out, and they generally went out of their way to stay as outsiders when I did. I didn't see a problem with it, made it easier for me to have less infighting to deal with.
"I did not wish to waste my afternoon searching for quality products, and so I took the time in Port's class to read reviews." My partner stated. "Are you saying you would rather scour through trash?"
"I'm saying that I wouldn't put so much effort into getting some essentials. If anything, there's a certain fun in burning time with nonsense. It's good for a team to know each other outside of fighting and studying."
"Learning about each other comes naturally when we live together."
"Only as much as you let it." I argued back. "It's easy to just close yourself off, there's a couple teams I know that already are dealing with communication issues." All three members of my team leveled blank stares at me.
"…It hasn't been a week." Cinder deadpanned. "How incompetent must they be to already suffer infighting?"
"Sometimes personalities clash really bad." I emphasized. "The worst we've suffered so far was finding a way to get me to not accidentally wake up the entire team. We've been reasonable between each other, but think about the fact that most of the first-years are straight out of high-school-level combat academies. You're gonna have gym junkies, pretty bitches, antisocial nerds, and Cardin is the prime example of the kind of egotistical shitheads some people are forced to live with. I'm sure if any of us were on a team with Weiss, someone would wake up with a slit throat within days." Mercury pondered that thought for a moment before he gave a half-shrug of acceptance. Cinder hesitated, though her frown deepened as she continued to think about it. Emerald made a face that indicated she wanted to argue but was finding it difficult to.
"It's a moot point." My partner spoke up. "You've explained that other teams are suffering issues we are not, and that especially has nothing to do with how I organize outings."
"I'm just saying that us all being able to relax around each other is going to go a long way toward being a good team." I held my hands up in faux surrender.
"Fine. If you want us to do activities together to make us closer as a team," the amber-eyed woman announced as we stepped inside the mall, "then we can start with fixing your wardrobe."
"You make it sound like I like borrowing from Beacon's lost and found." I chortled. "I've already been talking with Coco, we agreed to go shopping together once I get my card from the John Doe program. What outfits I'll be buying here will just be to carry me over until then." Cinder led us to a clothing store close to the entrance of the mall.
"As long as you stop looking like your outfit came out of a homeless camp's trash bin, it makes no difference to me." We went over to the shirts section, and I took a moment to think while Cinder and Emerald sifted through women's shirts.
"Witch said that it'll be another week to ten days before I get my card, so I'll need enough to last me that long." Mercury, by this point typical for him, didn't get involved in the conversation at all to go over to a rack, check the sizes, and just start grabbing shirts.
"There's a laundry room accessible from the main lobby of the dorms, so enough clothes for five to six days will suffice."
"So, five sets of everything." I thought aloud, before glancing down as I stepped up to a rack. Pulling the back of my collar around, I was barely able to make out an 'XL' in faded bronze text, so I let it fall. The coat hangers all thankfully had the sizes labeled on them, so I picked out the 'Large' section and sifted through them to look for nice designs. A simple black shirt and a white one were no-brainers, but while looking for any that seemed more fun, a design caught my eye. Pulling it off the rack, I held it up to read it aloud, since Cinder and Emerald didn't stray. "'Bigger than The Pit'. The hell kinda tagline is this?"
"It's a Vacuoan folktale-slash-boogeyman." Emerald answered, sounding supremely uninterested in the myth. "Vacuo's got a problem with sinkholes, anywhere that isn't a major city with thorough groundwork has a decent chance of just giving out under your feet. No one remembers where it started, but stories got spread around that the sinkholes were the work of some vague monster called 'The Pit'. Depending on who it's being told to, it appears to punish bad children, thieves, the corrupt, you get the idea."
"Yeah, I get it. Monster under your bed kinda stuff." Figuring 'why not', I threw the shirt onto my shoulder and continued looking. "How'd you first hear of it?"
"Born and raised in Vacuo." The dark-skinned girl explained, stepping into view while still parsing through the shirts in front of her. A few shirts were hanging off her left arm. "They're a superstitious lot, never believed in any of it myself. You can only hear so much about how 'the monsters get the bad people' before you realize it's all bullcrap."
"Can't argue with that." I laughed. "What about you, Cinder? This the first time you're hearing about The Pit?" From her position before a rack of turtle necks, my partner shifted her gaze to the two of us, remaining silent for a long moment.
"…Someone I was unfortunately forced to spend a significant amount of time with is obsessed with horror movies, particularly slashers or anything gory." She explained. "Because of him, I've seen the entire Pit franchise multiple times by proxy." Emerald paled.
"All of them?" The mint-haired girl asked with a pitying voice. Cinder looked like she wasn't certain if she wanted to be offended by the pity, before nodding as though it was the correct decision.
"Including Return of The Mecha-Pit."
"Return of The Mecha-Pit wasn't that bad." Mercury actually chose to include himself, though when I looked over, I saw that he kept his gaze on a display for jackets. "It's better than the Pitlings spinoffs."
"The Pitlings got spinoff movies?" Cinder looked disgusted by the thought. "Didn't the after-credit scene in the third movie show that only one Pitling survived and fully grew to become the next Pit in the fourth movie?"
"Why do you think I said the spinoff movies were the worst part of the Pit franchise?" He sneered. "They make some bullshit excuse about some of the Pitlings at the end of The Pit 3: Dig Deeper still being in their cocoons when Chris set the Nest on fire, and that somehow giving them fire resistance." Emerald tilted her head at the explanation.
"But…the only weakness of The Pit is fire. That would basically make them invincible." The grey-haired man let out a single, spiteful bark of a laugh.
"Yeah, they decided to write in that, because the Pitlings had fire resistance, they then formed a weakness to cold and ice. Because I guess that's on a slider like in a video game or something."
"How many movies are in The Pit franchise?" I asked.
"Eleven." Mercury spoke the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. Cinder and Emerald both paused in looking through clothes.
"There's three Pitling movies?!" The mint-haired girl shrieked in disbelief.
"Yeah." The grey-haired man looked like he enjoyed the prospect as much as the other two members of my team did. "There's The Pit, The Pit 2: Entrenched, The Pit 3: Dig Deeper, The Pit: Back 4 Blood, Rise of The Mecha-Pit, and Return of The Mecha-Pit. Plus the three Pitling spinoff movies: Pitlings, Pitlings 2, and Pitlings 3: The Flood. Then there's the remake, Bottomless, and its sequel, Bottomless 2: Greater Void."
"Are any of them good?" I wondered.
"The first two are…the least horrible." Cinder tentatively rated.
"The first two are the best." Mercury agreed. "The Pitling spinoffs should never have been made, everyone pretends the Mecha-Pit movies never happened, and no one can really agree on the remakes."
"I've never seen any of the movies." Emerald revealed. "I've just overheard conversations people had about them."
"Well, if you two are down for educating Emerald and I on The Pit movies, we could probably do a movie night."
"If we ever do a movie night, The Pit movies will not be what we watch." My partner hissed. "The first two may be the least horrible of the bunch, but all of them are corny and stupid, while relying upon the idiocy of the human characters in order to progress."
"Hey, sometimes it's nice to watch stupid!" I defended.
"What would you put on for a movie night, then?" Emerald asked.
"Silence of the Beowolves, naturally." The amber-eyed woman hummed.
"That's barely even a horror movie!" Mercury complained. Cinder crossed her arms and sent a judgmental stare toward the grey-eyed man.
"It's a psychological thriller. It doesn't reduce its own quality with cheap jumpscares to interest the average audience member, it emphasizes the atmosphere and the threatening intelligence of Chaddibal Licter."
"The guy's in a cage for most of the movie, and the actual killer they're going for basically isn't even in the movie until the last thirty minutes!"
"Exactly, there's no nonsensical goose chase where the cast is assaulted by the killer multiple times and miraculously only manages to claim victory in the final encounter. They figure out who and where the killer is, and then deal with him using appropriate numbers and strategy. It's why I loathe slashers so much, they're nothing more than exercises in frustration because the cast somehow fails to take the life of a single person."
"…You like ghost movies, don't you?" I realized.
"My favorite movies to watch are psychological thrillers." My partner huffed, then glanced away. "…Though I don't mind ghost movies." Emerald's eyes lit up, and I had to keep from laughing as the girl sneakily pulled out her scroll and started tapping away at it. There was no doubt in my mind that she was looking up ghost movies.
"Well, we've got Cinder's vote, then. Merc, what about you? You get the remote for a movie night, what are you putting on?" The man in question glanced at me for a moment before looking up in thought.
"Eh…probably one of the Slash movies." He shrugged. "The kills are entertaining and it's always fun to try figuring out who the killer is."
"At least you didn't suggest Mistral Machete Massacre." Cinder shuddered. "The one I mentioned earlier who was obsessed with horror can't get enough of it, he'd watch it every minute of the day if he could."
"It's just a family of hicks that kill people and skin them, the only interesting part of the movie is the practical effects." The grey-haired man waved away.
"The practical effects is why he loves it so much." My partner sighed. Laughing at the newfound banter, I turned to Emerald.
"Alright, you're the last one up, Emerald. What's your movie night vote?" The dark-skinned girl stiffened, and silently turned wide eyes toward Cinder, who had already returned to peering at turtle necks. She bit her lip as she struggled with some internal thing, before shrinking in on herself and trying to hide behind the rack she was in front of.
"Um…Cruel Corpses?" She voiced nervously. Both Cinder and Mercury paused in what they were doing to stare at her.
"That barely even counts as a horror movie." My partner stated. When Emerald anxiously looked away, Mercury got a sinister smirk.
"Holy crap, you're a bitch when it comes to horror, aren't you?" He grinned victoriously.
"Am not!" The mint-haired girl snapped immediately, before retreating in on herself just as quickly. "I just…don't see the point in spending my downtime trying to scare myself, you know?" Her excuses clearly failed, as Mercury began howling with laughter.
"Em's a bitch with horror movies!" He wheezed. "That's fucking hilarious!"
"I could…get into it." She defended herself, glancing out the corner of her eye at Cinder. "I've always heard ghost movies are pretty good." Unfortunately for Emerald, her attempt to appeal to the strategist of the team fell flat. Something seemed to catch Cinder's eye, prompting her to walk over to a wall covered in small hanging boxes slightly bigger than a hand. She looked over them for a few seconds, then pulled one off and strode over to me. Once she was in front of me, she thrust out the box, and I looked at it to see 'sleep mask' written on it in bold black text.
"Here, now you don't have to complain about flailing around blindly when you cover your eyes before bed." A snort left me and I took it. She looked over what I was holding, which now included the sleep mask, the three shirts I had already picked out plus a bright green gym shirt and a higher-quality black shirt that had a logo that was proudly on a noticeable amount of the clothes available. I also had three pairs of comfortable-looking jeans. "Since you seem to be largely finished, you and Mercury can go finish up while Emerald and I get other necessities." I caught the hint easily.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll grab the last of what we need, get rung up, and meet you outside." Cinder nodded approvingly as Mercury and I walked away. He seemed content to remain in silence.
"So, since we're now definitely gonna scare the shit out of Emerald, ideas?" I asked with a smirk. He matched my grin.
After we all were rung up and done with clothes shopping, we had easily decided to have lunch at a pizza shop, as it was the cheapest for all of us to eat and none of us really wanted to spend more money when we were already expecting to spend a lot. Mercury and I each got a large soda as a drink, Cinder got a cup of water, and Emerald ordered herself a chocolate milkshake, while we all agreed a simple pepperoni pizza was good enough to split. While eating, Cinder and I ended up deciding that a small four-drawer dresser could hold our respective underwear and we could use the closet space to hang our clothes in chosen corners. In terms of furniture, we needed nothing else, so we agreed to grab that last while we got more simple stuff.
It was while we were in the general store that something unexpected came up. I was leaning on the cart we grabbed, waiting in the beauty care aisle while the rest of my team picked out products and dumped them in the cart. Well, Mercury carelessly dumped a bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo and body wash into the cart then leaned against the opposite side of the cart with me. Cinder was comparing two bottles of body wash, having already filled the cart with several different hair care products, and Emerald watched from the side, her corner of the cart having been filled with a smaller selection of bottles that were also significantly cheaper. While the grey-haired man and I blankly stared out as we waited for my partner to finish, he blinked and straightened before looking over at me.
"Wait, I just noticed. You haven't grabbed anything." He pointed out. Emerald shifted on her feet to look back at me in a mix of surprise and disgust, while Cinder stiffened completely. "And the only stuff in the bathroom is either Cinder's, Emerald's, or mine. One of us definitely would have noticed if you were using our stuff." I gave a halfhearted shrug.
"Hot water and high pressure does the job just as well, doesn't it?" At my comment, Cinder snapped around, such intense fury in her eyes that I caught a flash of orange flame.
"You haven't properly washed yourself this entire week?!" She slammed the two bottles in her hand down onto the shelf and stomped up to me. I was undaunted.
"The pressure of the shower is decent, the water is more than hot enough, and it's not like I've gotten dirty from anything." One of her eyes twitched, and her gaze flicked up to my hair, then my exposed collarbone, then back up to my face.
"In the past week, you have accumulated nine hours of intense physical exertion, and you're telling me you haven't scrubbed yourself clean once."
"It was intense for you." I reminded. "Every workout session we've done was basically a morning stroll to me." Her glare intensified, but she kept from making any more remarks for several long seconds. Then her head fell into her hands in despair.
"You moronic forest hick!" She shouted as she lifted her head and spun on her heel to stomp back to the shelves. However, she stood in front of the men's section. I blinked in confusion as she grabbed bottles and began looking them over. "Get over here, I need to get a closer look at your skin and hair!" My partner spat. I glanced over at Mercury, who waved for me to do as ordered. A look toward Emerald showed she had not stopped in looking at me with disgust. Shrugging, I pushed off from the cart and stood to Cinder's right.
"Alright, what do you need me to do?" For a moment, she didn't appear to hear me. Then she returned the left bottle to the shelf, moved the other bottle to her left hand, and blindly reached out with her now free right hand to grab my left arm. I didn't fight it as she brought my arm up to get a look at it. Wordlessly, she twisted it to get a look at my elbow, fixed my arm after a moment, then turned me toward her as she faced me. She stared intently at my face, hissed, and then forced the bottle in her hand into my left hand.
"Naturally perfect-skinned bastard." She mumbled under her breath spitefully, though she was close enough that I still heard it. Her eyes burned as she spoke her next sentence louder, and more firmly. "When we return to the dorms, the first thing you are going to do is go into the shower with everything I get you, and you are going to use every damn bottle. This is body wash, and you will use it second to last."
"Got it." I acknowledged. Cinder nodded in approval and let go of my arm. From there, I looked over at Mercury and twisted my wrist outward meaningfully. He lifted one hand in a ready position, and I tossed the bottle toward him, the man catching it easily before depositing the bottle into the cart. I then watched Cinder look over the bottles on the shelf for a few more seconds, until she grabbed a bottle and thrust it at me.
"Body scrub, use it after body wash." I took it from her hand and tossed it to Mercury without looking away, hearing him catch it and then put it in the cart. Cinder leaned down and picked up a lime green sponge on a rope, handing that to me as well. "Loofa. You pour the body scrub and the body wash over this and use it to lather your skin. Remember this color, if you use mine by accident, it will be the last thing you do." Once again, I accepted it and handed it to Mercury, who placed it in the cart. She straightened, faced me, and grabbed the collar of my shirt before pulling at it. The old, oversized, and incredibly worn garment simply stretched, which caused her to narrow her eyes into a glare. Going along with what I assumed she wanted me to do, I leaned down slightly so our faces were level. Her glare deepened, and she let go of my shirt to instead palm the top of my head and tilt my head down so that she was staring directly at my hair. Her fingers brushed through my hair and lifted the locks in a few places, then I heard the sound of a bottle being lifted off a shelf. After a few moments, the bottle was placed back down and another was picked up. This happened two more times before she shoved whichever one she picked down into my field of view.
"Shampoo, use first." Just like the previous items, it passed to me, then to Mercury, then to the cart. Almost immediately, another bottle was picked up and put in front of me. "Conditioner, use after shampoo and before body wash." Cinder let go of my head, so I treated that as an indicator that she was done probing at my hair. I stood up straight as I tossed the conditioner at the grey-haired man, who once again put it directly in the cart. My partner placed her hands on her hips. "Now, what was the order?"
"Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, Body Scrub." I listed. She nodded approvingly.
"Good." Cinder turned to Mercury. "Are there any male care products he would need that I wouldn't be aware of?"
"Do I not get an opinion on this?" I asked.
"You forfeited the value of your opinion when you neglected to wash properly for a week." She stated firmly.
"Nah, showering is it." Mercury announced. "He's got his own toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant."
"Isn't cologne important?" She questioned.
"It's basically the male version of perfume." She nodded in understanding of his answer, clearly writing it off as unnecessary.
"The dresser is the last thing we need, isn't it?"
"Yeah." I confirmed, stepping over to the cart to list off what was inside. "We've got clothes, care supplies, spare towels, stuff for the gym, cleaning supplies, a few mechashift maintenance kits, a few variety cases of Dust, shotgun shells for Mercury, revolver ammo for Emerald, and a first aid kit since you were so adamant about getting one."
"Good. Since you're the physically strongest of us, you will be carrying the dresser." Cinder stated.
"No other reason?" I smirked back at her, which prompted another glare.
"You should not treat being filthy as a point of pride."
"I'm not." I soothed. "I just know when the reasonable answer isn't just a reasonable answer."
"Just pick up the damn dresser."
To give credit to Cinder, I felt refreshed in a way I had never experienced before after coming out of the shower. I was certain my laughter could be heard across the dorms when she had pulled me down immediately once I stepped out of the bathroom to smell check me. But, once all that was over and done with, and I was dressed in the new clothes I had just bought, it was time to enjoy the weekend. The rest of FAME had made it clear they didn't want to join in my exploration of the Vale nightlife, which saddened me a little bit. However, I focused on the fact that it allowed me to go at my usual pace and not have to worry about someone not being into it. I found myself on a Bullhead heading back to Vale, and I smiled to myself seeing that there were a few upper years on the ride with me. There was no hesitation at all in stepping up to a team of four.
"Tell me you guys know some places where a guy can have some fun around here?" I asked. The team all turned toward me, three guys and a girl.
"What kind of fun you looking for?" One of the guys, a tanned man of above-average height with a stocky build asked.
"Some place loud with a dance floor. If they don't mind people going up on stage, even better." I answered, which prompted them all to exchange grins.
"We were gonna party at Junior's, pretty sure a few of the other fourth-years are going, too, along with some third-years." The woman of the team explained. "We don't mind the extra company if you can hold your liquor."
"I wont say no to some beers, but I don't need the drink. Wait until I get on stage, and you'll see the kind of party I can make happen."
"You know how to DJ or something?" Another guy with dark hair, white highlights, and a patchy stubble asked.
"I'm a one-man walking concert, but I don't use a mixer." I corrected, before holding out my right hand. "Andrew Blaqreblu, Leader of FAME."
"Blaqreblu!" The woman perked up as she took my hand first. "That's the name Coco was spreading around, said something about cutting you some slack. Isabel Ebons, of Violet."
"Yeah, that was just so I don't get too much shit for being uninformed. From outside the Kingdoms." I explained, which earned a recollective nod from the four in front of me, as the first guy shook my hand next.
"Vince Ceruleus, Leader of Violet. Now that you say it, I remember that's what Coco was saying. She's the leader of team CFVY, one of the best teams in the school. Some people think it's not deserved because of Velvet. She's kinda shy, but that bunny's on another level as a combatant. She's practically Beacon's own Pyrrha Nikos." He explained. "Coco's a good judge of character, though, if she says you're good people, I trust it."
"'Scuse me for being insensitive, but isn't the whole reason there aren't many faunus Huntsmen that they have less Aura than humans?" I tilted my head as I took the second guy's hand.
"Thomas Amarand. And Velvet's famously an outlier." He passed a hand through his hair, adjusting some of the highlights. "She's got all the power you'd expect a faunus to have, and enough Aura to put her in the top ten percent of the school for levels. Combine that with how well she knows Dust, and she's practically blessed by the Brother Gods." We finished the handshake, and I held out my hand to the final member, a blonde-haired and blue-eyed man with a well-balanced build.
"Sorry." I frowned. "This is definitely some 'outside the Kingdoms' showing, but who are the Brother Gods?"
"Leon Kenneth." He introduced. "And if you're religious, the Brother Gods made everything. The God of Light created plants, humans, and Dust, while giving everything with a soul Aura. The God of Darkness created Grimm, faunus, and natural disasters. A lot of fairy tales also try to build on the Brother Gods, like The Girl Who Fell Through The World is a big one that explores some other world that the Gods supposedly came from." Hmm, something to grill Ozpin on. Whether I was certain of his trustworthiness or not, he would be the only person I knew who might have knowledge about whether these 'Brother Gods' were real. And the tidbit of them coming from another world was something to pay close attention to if they were real. The Bullhead came to a stop, and the five of us left as a group. I did not fail to notice that almost all of the other students who had occupied the Bullhead with us went in the same direction.
"Sounds interesting." Hummed from me. "I'll look them up tomorrow, tonight's gonna be finding out if y'all are playing up how good Junior's is."
"Junior's is the best nightclub in Vale!" Isabel defended. "There's a few others that are decent, but Junior's has the best music, the best drinks, and they've got a great policy of keeping accidents from being exposed to the public so long as you don't cause too much of a mess."
"They keep shit secret for you?" I raised an eyebrow. The woman's dark ponytail swayed as she leaned up to me, throwing an arm around my shoulders.
"So, Junior's has a sort of unspoken agreement with Huntsmen. They're a little bit on the shady side, and we know it, but we pretend nothing is wrong as long as they don't do it in front of us and they will sweep most stuff we do in their building under the rug."
"Ah, I get it, you get a place to unwind in and they get soft immunity as long as they're not stupid."
"Exactly." Vince nodded. "Also helps that we get discounts. Not enough that they're throwing away money, but cheap enough that it doesn't hurt our wallets as much." I raised a knowing eyebrow while smirking at the fellow team leader.
"But it ends up balancing out because cheaper drinks mean you end up getting more drinks, doesn't it?" Four abashed smiles answered my question. Figures. As we continued walking to the nightclub, Team (what I figured was) VILT pointed out several places that were decent entertainment, such as the internet café and the movie theater. Leon tried to emphasize how fun the escape room was, but the rest of his team didn't seem to agree.
After not too long, we found our way to Junior's, which was a massive white building that had the name of the establishment in red neon right above the front doors. I instantly recognized the pair of bouncers at the front door as some of the Mafia Dudes from my first night in Remnant.
"Not very subtle with their workforce, are they?" I asked.
"No. They're really not." Thomas sighed. The five of us joined the line, which thankfully was short and quick moving, and were at the front in no time at all.
"ID's?" One of the Mafia Dudes asked.
"Hunter's Discount." Vince grunted back. The bouncers looked over the faces of everyone in Team VILT, before stopping at mine.
"He's new." The same guard pointed out.
"First year. What team were you on, again?" Vince turned to me.
"FAME."
"Alright," the bouncers opened the doors for us, "you're good to go." We walked in, myself behind the more experienced students, and I took special care to look the interior over. A dance floor was directly ahead, down a small set of stairs, and took up the majority of the space. Across the dance floor from the entrance, there was a DJ stand, with an elevated platform right in front. Along the left side of the dance floor was a long bar, four bartenders manning it. Above the dance floor, there was a circular rig of multicolored lights. There were about a dozen patrons standing at the bar, being well attended to, and about triple that on the dance floor, with more trickling in from the front doors. Music thumped from the speakers, clearly controlled by the DJ at the stand. I blinked.
"I thought you said this place was the best nightclub in the city." The four members of VILT snapped around to me.
"There's already almost fifty people here, and the doors opened an hour ago." Thomas announced.
"Yeah." I spoke slowly, meeting each of them in the eyes. "Not even a hundred people. And this music is terrible."
"Okay, sure, the DJ is blatantly just replaying the set from a different DJ, but they're copying from Mashmellow." Leon defended.
"Cool, I'm gonna assume that guy is a big deal as a DJ?" I asked rhetorically, though they all nodded to confirm. "Then that means none of you have ever had a party with some proper goddamn music." I stepped forward with purpose, Team VILT instinctively backing out of my path and letting me through. "Now I'm definitely gonna talk with whoever owns this place to see if I can play some music."
"Oh, I've gotta see this." Vince grinned. "Junior is usually behind the bar, the big guy with the short beard and mustache." I already saw the guy that matched that description, and as I strode closer, I realized I was familiar with who he was talking to. A face-splitting grin curled across my lips and I didn't hesitate in coming up to the man sitting at the bar and throwing my left arm over his shoulders.
"Fancy meeting you here, Bowler Hat!" I delightfully shouted, ignoring that the music was nowhere near loud enough to demand it. "You here for drinkin' or thievin'?" The man jumped in his seat, though was unable to move due to my hold.
"You're that cheating brat that ruined one of my jobs last week!" At Bowler Hat's angered declaration, Junior stiffened. The brightly colored girl sitting on the other side of Bowler Hat eating an ice cream sundae peered at me curiously, before her heterochromatic eyes widened. A wide smile tore across her face and she waved at me excitedly. Seeing no reason not to, despite not knowing who that was, I waved back.
"I am! But also," I pulled out a Lien card from my pocket, one I had stolen off one of the White Fang from the mission Ozpin sent me on, "I'm the guy buying you a round with the hope that you'll at least have a chat with me until it's finished."
The orange-haired man stared at me in bafflement for a long moment, before his gaze shifted to the card in my hand. His eyes squinted as he looked it over, before a soft snort left him as his lip quirked up. His eyes returned to me.
"What kind of chat?" Smirking, I lifted my arm off him and sat in the seat next to him, spinning so that I faced him.
"We had a bit of a bad introduction." I elaborated. "I'm a hick that came from fuck-off nowhere, and my first night in Vale has me catch sight of a little girl fighting some guy trying to run away with as many cases of Dust as he can hold. I don't know who's right, I don't know who's wrong, all I know is that little girl seemed a little green and you clearly just robbed a store. I picked the side that made sense at the time. In hindsight, you had a lot of opportunities to go for the throat and never even tried." The man I was facing peered at me thoroughly before he tapped two fingers on the counter.
"The name's Roman Torchwick. Pay for that whiskey I just ordered and keep talking." He accepted. Maintaining eye contact, I slapped the Lien on the counter.
"Andrew Blaqreblu. After you and whoever that was in the Bullhead spitting fire like a flamethrower got out of dodge, I ended up getting strongarmed into a deal. Got a partner I'm being forced to work with, and they're the only one feeding me information." I explained as Junior dropped two cubes of ice into a glass and then filled it halfway with a drink. "I'm not the kind of dumbass that blindly trusts I'm not being bullshitted. I need someone that can verify what kind of crap I'm being fed."
"You want that to be me?" He asked, before taking a sip of his whiskey. "How do you know I won't do the same?"
"You've got no bet in the game I'm in, and I promise that I'll be asking you for shit so stupid you'll think I was born yesterday." I reached into my pocket and slipped out another, larger, Lien note, also stolen from the White Fang. "Plus, the bigger the question, the bigger the paycheck I'll hand you. I'll even add in some spice on top and give a guarantee that I won't drag you into my crap unless you for some godforsaken reason want to be." The man silently stared at me analytically.
"You say it'll be easy work, but I'm gonna need some verifying on that. Give me a freebie, let me know what kind of shit you want me to set straight for you." Very fair demand. I glanced at the card I put on the counter.
"The White Fang. Partner says they're trying to demand equality through spilling blood. That true?" Roman's green eyes widened in dumbfounded shock.
"Wow, you are a hick." He breathed. "Yeah, that's about as cut and dry as you can get for what they're doing. You're not being screwed with there. The rest of your questions like that one?" I nodded. "Then I've got no reason to say no to a job like that. Anything else? Any sort of pull-the-rug moment you've been trying to keep on the low?" A shrug left my shoulders.
"Beyond that, all I want out of you is one small favor." I announced while leaning forward, resting my right elbow on the counter. An orange eyebrow lifted.
"And what kind of favor would that be?" He drawled. I rotated my right elbow and jut out that thumb so that I was pointing at the silently watching Junior.
"Help me convince this guy to let me swap with that DJ, just for one song." Green eyes filled with amusement and swiveled over to the club owner with silent askance.
"You expect me to let some brat from the sticks take over the music when I have a professional DJ? Just because you struck a deal with him?" Junior growled.
"He said just one, and the doors opened barely an hour ago. If he plays like shit, you don't let him on again, you've got more than enough time to get the mood going again, and you can always play it off that you're playing the broken records so the good stuff sounds better."
"It's a Friday night, we get the most patrons and most of our Huntsmen patrons tonight. Word could spread fast if I start playing shit music, and I'll start losing a lot of my regulars, Hunstmen Discount or not." I spun in the seat to face Junior.
"I get you're worried about losing numbers, but I can give you an absolute guarantee that me being on that stage will double the number of people in this building, at least." I declared. The club owner glowered at me.
"And what are you willing to lose if you're wrong?"
"If no one's bullshit me about your reputation, I'm willing to pay in blood." The man tilted his head back at my challenge, glaring at me from over the bridge of his nose. His lips fell into a deep frown.
"One song, and if you make me lose customers, I take a finger for every regular you drive out." Rather than feel any sort of trepidation, my wild grin returned and I slapped the counter hard enough to push me up and over the back of the seat I was in.
"Finally time to start the fucking party." I smiled as I turned toward the elevated platform the DJ stand was on and sauntered over to it. As I did so, I saw the DJ press a few buttons and then lift a hand to his right ear. Must've had an earpiece, considering he looked around before locking onto me and waving me over. I wasted no time in climbing up onto the platform to join him, and I noticed a few people closest to the stage had already glanced over at me in curiosity. Perfect.
"Alright party people!" The DJ spoke into a microphone once I was standing next to him, his voice filtering through the speakers surrounding the dance floor. "We've got a surprise request tonight!" What did this bastard think he was, a radio show host? "Some new guy thinks he's got the chops to play some music at the best nightclub in Vale! Junior took pity on this kid and figured we'd let him try one song, so let's hope he doesn't kill the mood too bad!" Oh, this fucker was gonna get it. I held out my hand for the mic, and he slapped it into my palm on his way off the stage. I made a show of watching him leave as I held the device up to my mouth.
"Damn, what crawled up his ass and died?" Seeing him snap his head around to glare at me over his shoulder was worth it. Flipping him off for good measure, I turned toward the crowd. I didn't have a reputation yet to have the excitement built up before I started. Not an issue. "Anyways, best nightclub in the city. I've heard just about everyone say that when I was asking around. Now that I'm here, I have to wonder: what the fuck do the other places look like if this is what the best is?" Even from where I stood, I could see Junior's face twisted in rage. The girl sitting next to Roman, eating ice cream and dressed in bright white, pink, and brown, held a hand up to her face as she seemed to snicker. Roman himself raised an eyebrow inquisitively, asking me with his eyes if I was sure I wanted to diss the place I was singing at. Even some people in the crowd booed.
"Hold on, hear me out." I held up a placative hand. "A proper nightclub is bouncing off the walls. Drinks flowing like water, lights flashing crazy enough to give someone without epilepsy an attack, and most importantly, music thumping loud enough to hear it from outside. How else are you supposed to be drawn in if you can't tell how insane it is inside?" Ah, good, I was able to spot a few acknowledging nods. "Now, as far as I can tell, the drinks certainly match up the reputation. Hell, I've already seen somebody go back for more twice in the time I've been up here. Someone should check if that guy's okay." A couple chuckles sounded from the crowd. "The light rig is also pretty good. Not sure who's controlling them, but whoever is, is going a good job. See, the issue I have, is that that DJ up here a moment ago is crap, and none of you even seem to realize it!" I could feel the shock in the air, and I didn't give it time to shift into any form of distaste.
"Nightclub music is supposed to be fast, loud, and make you move!" I emphasized. "It's flashy, it's excited, it's supposed to make your bones vibrate and your feet move until you realize it's 2AM and they're kicking you out so they can close the doors!" My tattoos lit up with Magic, brilliant and bold. In the sporadic lighting of the club, they were prominent and drew attention, exactly like I wanted. "Music meant for a nightclub has bass and a beat that makes your heartrate follow along. Something powerful, like this!" With a wide grin tearing across my face, I lifted my left foot and slammed it down, Magic pulsing through my veins and shooting out from my heel, escaping my body in a type of Magic known only to me. An invisible wave of sound rippled across the platform I was on and pounded through the crowd, spreading until it had reverberated through the entire building. It carried a sound akin to the kick of a drum, but struck everyone it touched like they were the ones being used as the instrument. Gasps filled the air, shock and awe blossoming in the room. I took particular pride in seeing Junior lean back, his eyes wide and blinking in surprise. Roman and who I assumed was a partner of sorts both turned in their seats to face me, the well-dressed man's face slowly shifting into a smirk as his partner started bouncing in her seat. The song flowing through my veins started leaking out, and I started shuffling on the stage, each step bringing another pulse that made the bodies in front of me begin swaying.
"A damn good song will get you swaying and moving, and a damn good nightclub song will have you screaming at the top of your lungs!" I continued to rattle off into the mic, unable to see where the DJ went but fully aware he was likely seething at the stark difference between how the crowd ignored him and followed me. "But you can take it a step farther, and that's how you have a fucking party!" Bellowed from me, which got a few excited yells. I turned off the mic and tossed it carelessly behind me. Magic flowed through my veins, I didn't need a device to make my voice loud. "Give a crowd a few rounds of drinks, and you've got them loosened up! Hype them up, and they're ready to move! Play them the right song, and they're ready to blow! The match you need to set it all off?" I paused to dance another jig, then spread my arms, the glow emanating from them all the more potent in the low lighting. I clapped my hands together powerfully, then pulled them apart, Magic shining between my palms and stretching, into the shape of a guitar. At the spectacle, the crowd roared. "A DJ that will show you how it's done!" With that as my final announcement, I resumed my dance, with my fingers singing across the strings. My Magic poured out beautifully, and instruments that weren't there were heard, creating a heart-pounding symphony that had the crowd joining so enthusiastically I was certain it could be heard inside.
"I wanna see your animal side~!" I screamed into the air.
"Let it all out~!"
Roman's partner sprinted out of her seat to jump up onto the stage with me. She shared my savage grin, and I watched as she spun on one heel once she was standing even with me. She faced the crowd, and fueled by the music that enraptured everyone else in the building, danced ecstatically. I couldn't stop myself from pausing in the singing to laugh joyously, then doubled down on the passion and energy.
"But we are Alive~! Here in Death Valley!"
The floor shook slightly from so many people jumping up and down in sync. Whoops and hollers of excitement tore through the air. I saw the security lining the walls start bobbing their heads and feet to the beat. A pair of girls standing protectively by the bar, one dressed in red and the other dressed in white, started dancing with each other like they didn't have a single care in the world. I couldn't smile any wider when I saw Roman sassily turn to Junior, who was visibly torn between partaking in the excitement and being annoyed that I was proving him so delightfully wrong. I saw a guard lift a hand to his earpiece before rushing for the front doors, and a few moments later, the amount of people trickling through the door expanded into a stream of bodies. The dance floor was a sea of writhing bodies, already double what it had been when I walked in, and with so much more delight emanating off them. As well as I could while playing a guitar, I copied my new dance partner, moving along with the rhythm. Because of the instrument, I couldn't perform her cartwheels or handstands, but I was agile enough to front and backflip along with her. She delighted in it.
There was a momentary lull in the music, and I used that moment to shift my grip on the guitar, holding it by the neck with my right hand as I stepped forward to reach down to the crowd with my left. Two dozen hands all flung out in response, but my eyes were on the one I had seen push her way to the front: Isabel. We clasped hands and I pulled her up, the woman needing no instruction to stand at my other side, opposite Roman's partner. I swung the guitar back into position, and slammed the chorus back in, the dancers at my sides happily moving to the beat. Music reverberated through the building, bursting out through the front door and the windows high above. A euphoric melody, wild and excited and vibrant and free. There was no one who wasn't taken by the feeling, every body I could see bouncing and shaking. The only ones I saw off rhythm were the ones still trying to keep pace while pouring their drinks down their throats. Some even poured someone else's drink down that person's throat. There was cheering, laughing, and oh so much movement. It was wonderful, and amazing, and ended far too soon. But, as the girl dressed in white, pink, and brown rushed to grab the microphone from where I had tossed it and handed it to me, I knew exactly how to keep it going. Turning it back on, I pointedly looked over at Junior, and smirked as I raised the device to my lips.
"Just one, yeah?" There was a cacophony of boos and shouts of disapproval. I saw the man hang his head, shake it slightly, then defeatedly lift a thumbs up in a clear sign that I was permitted to continue. My smile broadened. "Looks like I can keep going!" The responsive symphony of joyous screams overtook all other sounds. There was a rustling in the crowd, and I saw a stream of movement from the crowd passing something from the back up to the stage. I stepped up to the edge. crouched down in wait, and let out a delightful laugh when I saw it was a cup filled with beer that was thrust up to me. "And who's this from?" I saw the girl in the red dress by the bar cup her hands around her mouth.
"The first one's from me! If you keep it going, you'll get one from my sister, too!" She announced. I figured the girl in the white dress was her sister. In acknowledgment, I stood up so they could see me clearly, lifted the glass up high, then tipped it into my mouth. The crowd, and I assumed the sisters, screamed in encouragement as I finished it all in fifteen seconds. Raising the finished glass higher, there was a second round of approval, and I went over to the DJ table to place it down. Turning back, I glanced at the two on stage with me. Isabel was crouching by the edge of the platform, her back to me as she talked with Leon. He had handed her a cup filled with something blue, which she was sipping at. In their conversation. Leon glanced past her to catch that I was looking in their direction, then he looked back at Isabel and nodded towards me. She swiftly took a deep swig of her drink, returned it to Leon, then slowly stood, sticking her ass out toward me in her rise. The dark-haired woman topped it off with a saucy glance over her left shoulder. I cryptically smiled at her, then let myself be distracted by looking over at the other woman on the stage.
"Hey, you're a friend of Roman's, yeah?" I asked. She nodded her head, maintaining her ecstatic grin, then pulled out her phone. One of my eyebrows raised as I watched her tap and swipe at it, then she flipped it around to show me.
'Neo Politan.' It read. My head quirked at an angle.
"You mute?" Heterochromatic pink and brown eyes widened, then she nodded. A smirk rose onto my face, and I lifted one hand.
'How's my signing? I'm a little rusty.' At my question, she turned further shocked, which rapidly changed to utterly ecstatic, before she raised her hands.
'We're going to be great friends.' I cackled, then held out my hand for a fist bump. She matched my energy with a manic grin and bumped her knuckles against mine. Turning back toward Isabel, I saw that she was pouting slightly. With a grin, I stepped over to her, then leaned up to her so my mouth was by her right ear.
"Make it to the end of the night, and you'll get the private show." As I pulled away, I saw her face flush red, and her smile returned. Breathing in, I let Magic sing through my veins again as I looked out toward the crowd. They had waited long enough, it was time to poke the fire.
"Now that the intermission is over, who's ready for the encore?!" A chorus of screams immediately answered me. "Then let's party so hard they'll hear us in Mistral!"
I wasn't sure if the responsive roar was loud enough. I'd have to keep going to make sure.
Next Chapter: Trial of the Tin Man