Ch 11: Welcoming Speech
After a short walk, Ray, Ruby, and Jaune reached the glass-domed amphitheater where the orientation speech was to be held. The place was packed with students, but as soon as they walked in, a bright splash of gold within the herd called out to them.
"Ruby! Ray! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang waved her younger siblings over to her.
"Oh! Hey, We-we gotta go! See you after the ceremony!" Ruby said as she ran off to join up with her sister.
"Later, Jaune." Ray said as he followed after his twin.
"Hey, wait!" Jaune called out to the departing duo. "*sigh* Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another pair of nice, quirky siblings to talk to?!"
As Jaune walked off to find his own place to stand for the speech, he failed to notice that he had caught the eye of a red-haired beauty in amazonian armor.
"So, how's your first day going?" Yang asked her siblings as they arrived to stand next to her. Ruby crossed her arms in a pout while Ray stood with his hands in his pockets and smiled at Yang's question.
[Oh, Yang. You have no idea.] he thought.
"You mean since you ditched us and I exploded?" Ruby asked her sister, accusingly.
"Yikes! Meltdown already?" Yang brushed off her accusation as an overstatement.
"No, Yang. Our darling little sister literally exploded a hole in front of the school."
"I'm older!" Ruby interjected.
"Lots of fire, lots of ice, and lots of lightning. Nearly earned herself a new nickname with it too," Ray continued ignoring her.
Yang's face split in a grin from ear to ear as she imagined the situation. "Are you being sarcastic?" she asked, trying not to laugh while making a mental note to ask Ray about this new nickname Ruby had acquired.
"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" As Ruby started her rant, she failed to notice a certain 'crabby' girl had overheard her.
[You want crabby? I'll show you crabby!] Weiss fumed to herself as she snuck up behind Ruby. Ray noticed her approach but just gave her a smile and a wink behind Ruby's back. The wink caused Weiss to falter and blush for a moment. Hearing Ruby's continued venting to Yang, however, she quickly got her head on straight and plastered a royal glare over her face to hide her vindictive smirk.
"YOU!" Weiss yelled right into Ruby's ear.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" Ruby squealed and jumped into her brother's arms. "Oh, god, it's happening again!"
"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss scolded the frightened Ruby.
"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang had a deadpan expression on her face, shocked. On the other hand, Ray was immensely enjoying the situation as he held his sister in his arms in a princess-carry and tried to keep the grin off his face.
"It was an accident." Ruby tried to explain. "It was an accident!"
Weiss shoved a Schnee Dust Company pamphlet titled "Dust for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals" into her face cutting Ruby's excuses short.
"What's this?" Ruby asked with a cute head tilt.
"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Weiss spoke with the poise of a professional company liability spokesperson, her voice getting higher and faster as she continued.
"Uuhhh…?" Ruby, Ray, and Yang were a little awed that Weiss had memorized that long, boring spiel and was able to spew it out so fast.
"You really wanna start making things up to me?" Weiss asked pointedly.
"Absolutely?" Ruby replied, not entirely sure she did now.
"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." Weiss forced the pamphlet into Ruby's hands.
[Yeah. That's not likely.] Ray thought before looking down at his sister with a grin.
"So, Ruby, how much longer do you intend to continue clinging to me? Hmm?" Ray breathed out, his nose almost touching Ruby's.
"Eeep." Ruby squeaked and jumped out of Ray's arms, trying not to blush.
"As for you…" Weiss turned to confront Ray next but was cut off by Yang.
"Look, uh, it sounds like you three just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" Yang knew that there was nothing Ray liked more than messing with people who thought too highly of themselves. If Weiss set him off, this would never end.
"Yeah! Great idea, sis!" Ruby exclaimed as she put the pamphlet away. *Ahem* Ruby cleared her throat and reached out for a handshake. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies~?"
"Yeah!" Weiss threw up her hands in mock joy at Ruby's suggestion. "And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, dark, and handsome over here!" Weiss continued sarcastically, pointing at Ray.
"Hmmm." Ray raised an eyebrow at that last part.
"Wow, really?!" Ruby perked up, hearing her, at first.
[Wait…] then she registered that this girl she had just met seemed to be hitting on her precious little brother and started to put her guard up.
Weiss missed the sudden wariness in Ruby's eyes as her face flipped from mock joy to deadpan serious, "No."
Ray stepped forward into Weiss's space at this point and placed a finger under her chin to force her face up to stare straight into his eyes. "I never would have imagined I would have caught your interest, little snow fairy." Ray purred. "Perhaps, we should set some time aside to get to know each other better after this."
Weiss was utterly thrown by Ray's actions and just stood there, blushing, her pale pink lips slightly agape. Her head was telling her to push him away, but she was drowning in those radiant silver eyes that looked intent on devouring her whole and couldn't seem to move. Thankfully she was saved by the sound of a mic test as Professor Ozpin appeared on stage. With a soft smile, Ray released her, stepped back, and turned his attention to the stage. Weiss staggered back a step, having safely escaped his clutches, and realized that she had forgotten to breathe for that brief moment he had held her. She took a couple of seconds to calm her pounding heart and get her breathing under control before also turning her attention to Ozpin, who was now standing in front of the mic on the stage with Glynda beside him.
"I'll... keep this brief." Ozpin began, adjusting his glasses. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Whispers broke out among the gathered students at this point—whispers which Ozpin ignored. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
Ozpin walked off the stage, his speech finished, and Glynda stepped forward to take the mic. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
"He seemed kind of… off." Yang commented.
"It's almost like he wasn't even there." Ruby agreed.
"Hmmm." Ray nodded in agreement. "He wasn't wrong, but the way he presented it…"
"Orientation speeches are supposed to inspire people to try their best. That... that was just depressing." Weiss summed the awkward let down they were all experiencing nicely.
The four just stood there for a moment in silence before Yang turned her attention to Weiss with a manic grin on her face.
"Sooo… Weiss was it? Are you going to start dating my little brother?"
"Wha-" Weiss started, a blush returning to her face. Ruby whipped around to face Weiss, vigilance darkening her eyes.
"You know, Ray is probably the best looking guy in Beacon, and definitely the strongest. Every girl at Signal wanted to be with him. Despite that, none of them could ever catch his eye, and he is still single. Now that he is finally showing interest in a girl. Ooooh, could this be love at first sight!?" Yang started laying it on thick as she saw her teasing was getting to Weiss. [Having a sister-in-law this fun to tease might not be so bad.]
"What do you say, Weiss? Interested?" Ray asked, reaching out to wrap his arm around her waist.
Weiss was better prepared this time, "N-no. Stay-stay back!" Weiss pushed back weakly against him, and Ray relented, letting her go.
"Why would I want to spend time with this… this rascal!?" Weiss declared, the blush on her face as she looked Ray up and down, putting the lie to her words.
Seeing the smirk on Yang's face, the frown on Ruby's, and the sly smile on Ray's, "I-I'm going to get my stuff ready for tomorrow." Weiss made a quick excuse and fled the scene.