[5/13 – Morning]
Opening his eyes, Clerval took note of the white ceiling before him as the memories of what had transpired flashed through his mind. Sitting up on his bed, he scanned around the room only to find no trace of the velvet blue train.
Opening his eyes, Clerval stared blankly at the white ceiling above him as fragments of last night's vision flashed in his mind. The train, Igor, Mary, that eerie familiar Velvet Room...
Sitting up on his bed, he glanced around his dorm. No trace of the Velvet Room remained; only the faint hum of the ceiling fan above him and gaps in the curtains that let sunlight through were present.
For a moment, he wondered if it had all been just a dream.
Until his eyes landed on the velvet blue train card on the stand next to his bed where his Scroll laid. He picked up the card, letting sunlight bathe the mysterious object in his hand. A few seconds passed before he got up from his bed, placing the card down next to his Scroll.
His Scroll's display blinked to life, the time showing two hours before his first class at Beacon.
As he moved toward the bathroom to freshen up, his eyes briefly caught the luggage standing neatly against the wall. He made a mental note to sort through it later, perhaps after classes.
For now, he had more pressing matters.
It was his first real day as a student here. He should get ready.
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[5/13 - Afternoon]
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After a quick breakfast consisting of sandwich slices and a steaming cup of coffee, Clerval made his way toward his first class, arriving a good thirty minutes ahead of schedule.
On his way, he glanced at the schedule on his Scroll, still finding it peculiar that the first semester only had three core subjects.
The first was Grimm Studies, the very class he was heading to, taught by a Professor Peter Port.
The second was History of Remnant, instructed by Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck.
And lastly, Combat and Application of Aura, taught by none other than Miss—no, it's Professor, seeing as she was the one teaching it—Glynda Goodwitch herself.
Each class lasted around two hours, with breaks ranging from thirty minutes to an hour in between depending on the course. Still, he had a feeling that the light schedule was deceptive, with the workload no doubt being heavier to make up for the limited number of subjects this semester.
Reaching the lecture hall for Grimm Studies, he twisted the knob before pulling the door open.
Looks like he was the first to arrive. Entering the room, he picked a seat at random near the middle rows and began setting out his stationery. With about twenty minutes left before class began, his gaze drifted around the lecture hall.
Rows of student desks arranged in a gentle semicircle, similar to a college lecture hall, with each row slightly elevated above the one before it, ensuring every student had a clear view of the front.
At the center stood the professor's podium and a wide blackboard that stretched nearly the entire width of the room, filled with notes and sketches of Grimm and battle tactics.
Reading the content on the blackboard, Clerval assumed that today's subject would be about Beowolves. He decided to flip open his notebook and copy the contents from the board in case their professor erased them.
While sketching a rather crude drawing of a Beowolf, the door to the lecture hall abruptly swung open, revealing a middle-aged man dressed in a buttoned-up burgundy suit.
As he strode into the room, Clerval immediately noticed the large, rattling cage perched on the man's shoulder, the metal bars rattling with movement beneath a draped tablecloth with the reverberation of a growl.
Considering the subject of the class, it didn't take a genius to guess what was within the cage.
Placing it onto the ground, the man wiped his brow with a handkerchief before noticing Clerval.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "Good afternoon! I didn't even notice you there."
Clerval offered a polite nod in greeting.
"Ah, punctual and polite!" The man said warmly, scratching his beard. "I must say, it's quite the rare sight to see one of my students arrive early for class."
He admitted it as he looked around, searching for something. "And where is your team? You didn't leave them behind so that you could arrive early, did you?"
"I don't have an official team, sir."
The professor's brow raised before he gave an understanding nod, tapping his fist lightly into his open palm. "Ah, yes! You must be the substitute member assigned to Team Ruby and Team Juniper, correct?"
Clerval nodded once more, and Professor Port hummed in thought, twirling the end of his mustache between his fingers.
"While I must admit, I find the idea of a Hunter without a proper team to be... unconventional, I have the utmost faith in our esteemed headmaster's judgment," he declared proudly, puffing out his chest. "The man has never steered me wrong, and I suspect he has his reasons for such an interesting arrangement."
He could feel Professor Port's unwavering trust in the headmaster. It was admirable.
"Now then!" Professor Port chuckled, slapping the top of the covered cage, causing the creature within to fall silent with a low hiss. "Let us await the arrival of your classmates, and then we shall begin. dare I say, the most essential subject in any Hunter's education!"
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Professor Port made the subject rather... interesting, to say the least.
"—I had to think fast, with so many lives on the line!" Professor Port boomed, his voice echoing across the hall. "That's when inspiration struck! With a single whistle, all twenty Beowolves turned their fangs toward me, and the real action began!—"
"—Fast as they were, they stood no chance against the might of Peter Port! With one grand swoop, heads rolled and limbs flew!"
"—With my intelligent instincts, the Grimm's keen sense of smell had turned against them! By masking myself with a blend of elbow grease and battlefield grime, I hid right under their snouts—ha! They never saw it coming until the pack blew up into smithereens!—"
As the professor droned on about his experiences against the variant of Grimm, though educational, Clerval noticed that more than half the class was asleep, with the other half struggling to stay awake.
He glanced to his side. It seemed that Team Juniper's leader and hyperactive teammate were the former, while Lie Ren and Pyrrha were the latter of his observations.
Meanwhile, it seems like Team Ruby, who were directly below him, were in a rather peculiar situation, prominently Ruby and Weiss.
The silver-eyed girl was trying to interact with Weiss... and failing, by the looks of it. Therefore, she tried to get her attention by doing all sorts of actions. Showing her a doodle on a paper, balancing her school supplies on her nose and fingers, talking to her.
But all that only seemed to cause Weiss more agitation.
By the look of annoyance and grim on her face, he knew that this wouldn't end well.
Before she exploded, Professor Port unknowingly came to the rescue as he motioned to the class.
"So! Who amongst you believe themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Not even a second had passed as Weiss shot her hand into the sky.
"I do, sir!"
Amused at the enthusiasm, Professor Port laughed as he waved at her. "Well, then, shall we find out? Step forward and face your opponent, Miss Schnee!"
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Changing out of the school uniform and into her combat attire, Weiss walked down to where Professor Port was, loading her rapier-revolver weapon with several canisters of elemental Dust before slamming it shut.
Up in the stands, the rest of Team Ruby minus their "W" were already leaning over the desks, voices rising in support.
"Gooo, Weiss!" Yang hollered.
"Fight well," Blake added, waving a small, hastily made Team Ruby flag.
"Yeah! Represent Team Ruby, Weiss!" Ruby beamed, her voice bright with excitement.
Weiss froze mid-step, her grip tightening on her weapon as her eyebrow twitched. "I'm trying to focus!" She snapped, spinning toward them before letting out a sharp huff and turning her back to the stands.
The action seemed to drain the air from her teammates' enthusiasm. He especially noticed Ruby's smile falter, but the younger girl quickly straightened, forcing a determined expression back into place as she gave a soft cheer.
He glanced at the concentrating Weiss before sighing under his breath. The heiress' ego was through the roof.
"Alright... BEGIN!" Professor Port signaled as he released the Grimm inside the cage with a pull of a rope.
As expected, it was a Beowolf. But instead of the normal variant, this Beowolf was larger than the ones that he fought against and had more white-bony armor around its body.
She began by starting the fight off with a thrust straight at the Grimm. Unflinching, the Grimm took the hit without a scratch as it retaliated with a swipe of its claws.
Surprised but unphased, Weiss dodged to the side before trying again with a thrust with her rapier at its side instead.
It yielded the same results, with the blade unable to penetrate the Beowolf's armor.
This variant of Grimm, although armored compared to its normal variant, was slower and had a weaker defense to compensate; his mind immediately brought up the content that Professor Port skimmed through.
A suggestion was to exploit its blind spots or disrupt its balance before aiming for the unarmored joints. He was just beginning to think of how Weiss might adapt her style to that tactic when—
"You got this, Weiss!"
"Will you just SHUT UP, RUBY?!" Weiss shouted in response, her eyes glaring into the brunette.
The entire class went silent, clearly uncomfortable at the sudden outburst.
Ruby stared, heartbroken, as her teammates reacted much the same. Blake's expression turned grim; she closed her eyes and exhaled softly, the look of quiet disappointment evident. Yang, on the other hand, was the opposite; her lilac eyes burned with fury, and the tips of her hair flickered a faint golden hue.
Team Juniper looked just as uneasy, exchanging glances filled with concern toward Ruby and Weiss. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a blade.
But while the rest of the class focused on the argument, Clerval's attention was elsewhere.
Weiss had turned her back to the Beowolf.
In a split second, the Beowolf lunged. Had it not been for her sharp instincts, Weiss would've been decapitated on the spot. Instead, the creature's claws found her arm, raking across it with a vicious swipe that sent a shimmer through her Aura and a cry from her lips.
She hit the ground hard, skidding across the floor as she caught herself and raised her rapier once more, forcing her breathing to steady while assessing the situation.
He flicked his gaze to Ruby.
He could see it in her face; she wanted to call out, to help, to say something. But after Weiss's harsh words and the humiliation that followed, along with her partner almost losing her life, she stayed silent in fear of making things worse.
As the Beowolf took a step back, readying itself for another pounce, Weiss braced herself as three glyphs manifested into reality. Two aligned before and beneath her, and a third hovering vertically in the air. The air was tense for a split second before the Beowolf rushed forwards.
Patiently, Weiss waited. Then, at the perfect moment, just as the beast leaped above the glowing glyph, she flicked her wrist upward. The glyph flared green, and with a surge of wind, the Beowolf was hurled into the air.
At the same instant, the glyph beneath Weiss ignited with the same hue of green, propelling her upward. Her heels found footing on the suspended glyph set prior as she met the airborne creature head-on. The heiress spun the revolver chamber of her rapier, her expression sharp with focus, before driving the blade straight into the monster's armorless abdomen.
The Beowolf shrieked, thrashing wildly, its claws slashing futilely toward her. Weiss's eyes narrowed. She pulled the trigger. A burst of fire erupted from the embedded blade, detonating within the creature's core. The Grimm convulsed once—then fell silent, dissolving into smoke as its body burned from the inside out.
Squealing, the Beowolf reached out with the intent of swiping the girl with its claws, but before it could react, Weiss pulled the trigger. A burst of fire erupted from the embedded blade, detonating within the creature's stomach. The Grimm convulsed once, then fell silent as it dropped to the ground with a limp thud, dissolving into smoke as its body burned from the inside out.
With a practiced motion, Weiss withdrew her rapier and descended gracefully to the ground. She landed lightly on both feet and flicked away the remnants of black blood with a slash to the side.
"Bravo, bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Professor Port then looked at the clock on the wall and coughed. "But I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
Looking at the dejected expression of Ruby and the retreating back of Weiss walking hurriedly to the exit past her teammates, Clerval simply shook his head lightly as he started packing up his belongings.
Though they were done for the day, he still had homework from the lecture to address.
"Sheesh, what's with her?" He could hear Jaune mutter, with Team Ruby without their "W," looking at each other with the same question.
At the very least, he could feel his knowledge slightly grow from the material taught in the lecture.
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A/N: Sorry for the wait, I know I'm three days late. I've been extremely busy with life and work (Chinese New Year's around the corner), and I honestly thought I already posted it.
NEXT UPDATE: Take a Deep Breath, Deep Breath (11 February, Wednesday)
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