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Chapter Text

Team RWBY was lounging about in one of the common rooms when the discussion started. Weiss had wanted to work on a paper looking at famous huntresses, and the rest of the team had followed behind out of boredom. Weiss was seated on one of the wooden-backed chairs and scrunched over her notes, laid out in whatever weird sorting pattern she was trying this week. Yang had claimed the couch, laying out to cover as much of it as she could. Blake had joined Yang on the couch, but contrary to her partner’s leisure sprawl, she was perching at the edge, entranced by the book she was reading. Ruby had entered the room last, and had taken the large plush chair on the other end of the room. She was clearly daydreaming; her hands fidgeting with some nuts and bolts she had pulled out from a pocket that blended perfectly into her dress.

Yang looked at her scroll. She  supposed she was daydreaming too, though she was paying enough attention to notice the blush that was slowly forming on Weiss’ cheeks. “Something catch your eyes, Ice Queen?”

Said queen gave a huff and put her head in her hands. “Just – the audacity of some people.” She turned in her chair to face the rest of her team, lifting the book she was reading to show them the page-size picture she had been looking at. “Myrtle Achille. Famous for, among other things, her outfit.”

Ruby perked up. “She had a semblance that let her reflect blows off bare skin, right?” Yang’s eyes moved gracefully over the picture. “Indeed.” Weiss continued. “And in order to take advantage of this, her combat outfit wa- “ “Wait. Bikini armor?” Blake interjected, closing her book. “I can’t believe anyone would wear that outside of – well. You know.”

Yang’s smile grew evil as she poked Blake with her foot. “What? You mean those hentai mangas you keep stashed away?” Blake flushed an even deeper scarlet than Weiss, and hid her face behind her book. “Still,” Yang said as she shifted upright, “You can’t deny she pulls it off. Sometimes you’ve just gotta flaunt it.”

She accented her statement with a flex. “It’s also pretty smart. A lot more thought than I put into my outfit.” “How many times have you set your jacket alight Yang?” Ruby asked with a false innocence, Bolt switching rapidly between her hands. “Hey! I got that fireproofed a while ago!”

Weiss gave a small chuckle. “I see we have some stories to share with the class, Ruby.” On the defensive, Yang knew she had to get the heat off her. “Please. Like you guys haven’t had semblance mishaps before. Remember when Weiss tried to catch that falling bowl with a glyph, and accidentally used a time one?”

Blake and Ruby laughed as Weiss gave her a glare. “We. do not. talk. About. The Splatter incident.” “Just joking, princess. But yeah, fireproofing is nice. How about you? Any special tricks with your outfit?”

Weiss placed the book down and crossed her arms, face having a satisfied smirk. “If you would like to know, it is tear-resistant, flame retardant, and highly insulated. Almost all Atlas clothing is.” Yang gave a whistle. “Damn. That’s some high-end stuff.” “Indeed. I’m looking forward to the dance that caps off our second semester. I will be taking all of you out to get dresses.”

Blake’s ears flicked towards her. “A chance to take a chunk out of Jacques Schnee’s endless cash pile? Don’t mind if I do. Aside from that, though, you do look good Weiss.” Weiss’ smile grew. “Indeed. Though, Blake, on the topic of outfits – I’m surprised you didn’t change your outfit after leaving the White Fang.”

Blake’s blush, mostly faded from her face, came back with a vengeance as she hid her head in her hands. “Don’t remind me. God, I was so stressed at making sure wouldn’t single me out I completely forgot about that. I even wore the bow around them sometimes!” “Blake, you didn’t even change your name.” Ruby stared with a deadpan look, spinning the nut up the bolt. ”Hey! No one actually remembers the names of their representatives, much less those of other kingdoms. Name one person on the Vale Council besides Ozpin.”

The team took a second before giving up. “Exactly.” “Ozpin would have known” Yang pointed out. Blake sighed, slumping back into the couch. “Yeah, he did. He also knew I was former Fang – Tuskon has a deal with him.” Her face lightened at the mention of the bookstore owner.

“Yeah, he’s great!” Ruby leaned forward in her chair. “Did you know he has the entire run of Detective Comics? Some are even signed!” her hands spun the nut all the way off the bolt, before flipping it between her fingers.

Yang laughed as Weiss gave a smile. “I concur. “You what?” “Agree, you brute. But Ruby, does your outfit have any special features? It goes well with Cresent Rose.”

The nut almost fell out of Ruby’s fingers as her hand jolted to a stop. She chuckled nervously. “Ah – yep! That’s totally it! You know I have to keep on theme with my baby.” The nut was once more threaded on the bolt, moving up and down with incredible speed.

“Black and red do go well together.” Blake’s tone was soothing. “Personally, I thought you were just cold given how much you cover up, especially with how many blankets you have.”

“Yeah, she’s always been like that. Weiss? Don’t take my baby sis to Atlas before upgrading her outfit.” “I doubt I would take any of you.” “I dunno, I def want to give your pops a beatdown.” Weiss gave a small laugh. “Well, I won’t say he doesn’t deserve one.”

As the group moved on to more meaningless chatter, Yang’s eyes moved to Ruby. When was the last time she had seen her sister without heavy clothing? She had always loved big dresses and long sleeves, and was almost never seen without her cloak. With Qrow giving them enough first aid training that Yang had been able to test into a third-year class, and Tai being the person who would wash her before she got old enough to be in the tub without danger, the last time she had seen Ruby’s back was when she was four.

She felt herself start to worry, but quickly clamped down on it. She had realized her mom-brain would do that sometimes – notice something small about Ruby and obsess over how to fix it. She was working hard to break that habit, after all it had been part of why she had come to Beacon in the first place, but it was something she still struggled with.

Well, no point in beating herself up now. She refocused back into the conversation, where Blake and Weiss had gotten Ruby to go off on a rant about Batman’s gadgets, and she smiled. Yang knew she wouldn’t trade these idiots for the world.

Chapter Text

Of all the huntresses-in-training at Beacon, Pyrrha struggled the most against Ruby Rose. Pyrrah had years of gladiator battles under her belt, but she hadn’t fought a scythe wielder, much less one that used it like Ruby did, using the massive recoil from high-caliber sniper rounds to launch herself around the battlefield at high speeds. Accentuated by her semblance letting her stop on a dime or speed up dramatically, it could be hard to even track her movements. Most fighters caught only the petals left in her wake.

Pyrrha was glad to count herself among those who could beat Ruby, but even she worried about how skilled the scythe-wielder would end up. And if Pyrrha was right and Ruby’s semblance wasn’t just speed, even she couldn’t keep up.

The duo had just finished some sparring to prepare for the Vytal festival coming up soon. In truth, more of Pyrrha’s thoughts were caught up in the dance that was just around the corner. She sighed wistfully. Jaune had told her he would wear a dress to the dance if she didn’t have a date, and it was looking like he would have to dress up.

“Something on your mind?” Ruby’s voice snapped out of her daze. “Oh, no, just thinking about the dance.” “Oh. That.” Ruby rolled her head, her neck making small cracking noises. “I’m glad we got Blake to come, but it means I definitely have to go.”
Pyrrha gave a small laugh. “Not a fan, are you?” “No, its just,” Ruby sighed, bringing a hand to her face. “Dressing up is always such a hassle. And don’t get me started on how annoying heels are. How do the rest of you do it?”

Pyrrha’s smile grew wide. “It is quite tricky to get the hang of. Do you want to try? We could switch footwear.” Ruby went red. “Oh no no no nothing like that.” She jumped to her feet. “Actually lets just spar some more, no fancy tricks.” Pyrrha got to her feet, a hand at her mouth to keep herself from laughing at the younger girl’s awkward deflection.

Taking places opposite of each other on the sparring field, Pyrrha unfolded Miló to its javelin form, and held in her awe as she watched Ruby unfold Cresent Rose. With her semblance and a lengthy explanation from Ruby one time down in the forge, she had a feeling she knew it better than anyone besides its maker.
Said maker’s eyes locked with hers as the countdown hit zero, and the blast from Cresent Rose was just as impactful as ever, the curved blade reaching over her shoulder.

Pyrrha had sparred enough with Ruby to see this next move coming, and barely dodged to the side before a second shot sent the girl all the way back across the arena, Cresent Rose folding into its sniper form as she went. Dropping close to the ground, Pyrrha unfolded Akoúo̱ just in time to block the shots from slamming into her aura.
She glanced at Ruby. The girl was in a kneeling pose, barrel pointed directly at her. Pyrrha shifted Miló to its sword form and sprinted forward, shield covering her face and chest. 

Ruby popped to her feet, unfolding Cresent Rose’s blade just in time to catch Pyrrha’s flurry of strikes. For all the speed she had, even Ruby was unable to deflect all of them, leading the girl to petal burst away once given an opening.

Pyrrha wasted no time throwing Akoúo̱ to where Ruby reformed, her semblance a firm grip on the trajectory of the shield. Ruby panicked for a second, before deflecting it with her scythe. Pyrrha pulled, Akoúo̱ now on a return course, as she observed Ruby’s fighting style.

It was incredibly defensive. For the few people she had fought with speed-related semblances, they had all used it to unleash a rapid series of blows, forcing their opponents on an almost permanent defensive until someone tripped up. The slow-motion shots of those fights were something she always came back to when training, but they didn’t help her at all against Ruby, who would throw out one or two strong attacks before falling back to plan her next move.
As Ruby sprinted at her, trailing petals, Pyrrha pulled herself back into the fight to catch Cresent Rose on Akoúo̱, grunting at the force behind the blow. Ruby wasn’t very skilled at hand to hand, but she could contest Yang in how much force she could put behind her blows. 

She had to push down her blush as she remembered doing arm day with the two sisters. Swinging a metal monstrosity sniper-scythe needed a lot of strength.
She ducked as Cresent Rose discharged a shot that would have slammed into her face, and jumped back as Ruby twirled in place, the blade on the other end barely scraping against her torso. She swung out with a kick, catching the smaller girl’s knee and sending her sprawling to the ground. She lay there panting for a moment, before calling out “I concede.”

Pyrrha ran over, reaching out a hand to help Ruby onto her feet. “I didn’t hit you too hard, yes?” “No, just an awkward spot.” Ruby rubbed her knee, leaning hard against Pyrrha. “God, I forgot how weird that feels.” Pyrrha wrapped an arm around Ruby, keeping her eyes on where the blow had landed. She definitely didn’t glance at the redhead’s face, panting with exhaustion. “Do you need some help?” Ruby groaned, slowly stretching her leg. “No, it’ll be fine in a few seconds. You did really well, Pyrrha.” 

That lead to a blush Pyrrha couldn’t keep down, but all of Ruby’s focus was on her knee. After a second, she placed it back on the ground, shifting some weight to it before pulling back from Pyrrha’s side. Ruby stretched as she walked over and picked up Cresent rose, folding it down to its compact form and stashing it on her belt. “Anyway, I had some ideas about tricks you could pull off with Miló and your semblance. Wanna go over to the forge?” Pyrrha gave a nod, and trailed after the shorter girl, who was rambling about her weapon. 

She was glad she had come to Beacon. Everyone was so kind here.