RWBY: Thicker Than Water Volume 1: Ominous Omens

A Possible Distraction

"You shouldn't second guess yourself so much." (F/N) said after a moment's pause. A pensive look that she didn't often see from him crossed his face. "I was just thinking about my meeting with the headmaster."

So she wasn't imagining things. Velvet wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or worried. "It's wasn't about anything bad was it?"

"Try downright horrible." (F/N) admitted before he took a deep sigh. "But it's nothing for you to get all worried about." He suddenly closed the distance between them and twirled Velvet around, pushing her by her shoulders. "So what class do you got now? History? Grimm studies?"

"W-Wait, (F/N)!"

"No can do. I'll be labeled a bad influence if you end up late to class because of me so let's pick up the pace."

A brief protest later and Velvet relented, allowing (F/N) to guide her towards her next class. He didn't want to talk about his problems. All she could do was respect his wishes while keeping an eye on him.

With him pushing her along Velvet made it to class just in time.

"Thanks by the way." (F/N) suddenly said before she entered the room. He gave her the genuine smile that up until now she thought reserved for his siblings as he tapped away at the katana at his waist. "People don't usually check in on me like that so, yeah, thanks."

He took off before she could respond.

Velvet smiled to herself, a faint pep to her steps as she joined the rest of the class and made her way to one of the back rows. (F/N)'s crimson eyes were the most intense shade of red whenever he was angry or annoyed but they could be warmly reassuring at times. Whatever troubled him, he'd be able to handle it.

And if not, she'd be willing to lend whatever help she could even if it didn't amount to much.

₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩

Their individual student rankings would be easy enough to manage. As much as it annoyed Weiss, Pyrrha would likely retain her rank as number one for the foreseeable future. Second place would have to be enough for now. Assuming they continued to help Ruby cover the holes in her academic studies, her practical scores would keep her ranked among the top students.

It was their team rank that worried Weiss.

According to professor Goodwitch herself, their teamwork had become praiseworthy these past few weeks but that alone wasn't enough, evident by their quickly falling rank.

Beacon held plenty of optional team events for students, the results of which were taken into account during their evaluations. While they were an incomplete team, the three of them were allowed to participate like any other. The problem, as Weiss soon found out, was that the system in place favored four man teams. Each member of every team were allocated an equal number points during events and lost them based on mistakes. In other words, the lack of a fourth member prevented them from ever earning points equal to competent teams. Perfect performance or not.

They'd fallen out of first place and the gap between then and other teams continued to widen. Utterly unacceptable.

Thankfully Weiss believed she found the solution to their problem. The system favored equality rather than equity; they simply had to make that work for them.

"Ruby." Weiss called out from the study desk they set in the corner of the room. She got no answer. Ruby sat cross legged at the center of her bed, headphones blasting music as she tapped away at the screen of her scroll. The girl could spend hours sitting there playing video games. Weiss didn't understand the concept. To her, gaming sounded like an immsense waste of time. Why throw away so many hours doing something that ultimately amounted to nothing tangible?