Ruby can not be more bored for the rest of her entire life than in this class. Her future self would come back to tell her that she also could not have been more wrong - if she had the chance to - but for now, she sits in a creaky chair with an equally creaky table and plays with a stray petal floating around her hair. The teacher drones on and on and on and on (she could probably go on forever, Ruby thinks) and then turns to look at her.

In that moment, she is suddenly very aware of twenty-one other pairs of eyes on her. She clears her throat and drops the petal. It lands on the ground. Ruby winces when the teacher crunches it under her feet and frowns at her.

She fixes the teacher in front of her with the sweetest look she can make. It worked with Yang and her father most of the time. Surely it would work with the teacher?

"Now, Ruby Rose, as we have finally grasped your attention, can you tell us the name of any type of Grimm present in Remnant?"

Ruby gives her a sheepish smile and says nothing.

"It isn't a rhetorical question, I hope you know that."

Nope, it doesn't work. She drops the look, but keeps the smile up.

Several giggles erupt from around the room. She doesn't exactly care for theory lessons, really, but part of her wants to get rid of the snickering.

She recalls the black creatures in front of her and Yang that day, red mist trailing from behind their eyes and growls dripping with only the instinct to kill. It had been three wolf-like Grimm, the gleam of their fangs clearly making their mark in her mind.

The slash of a grey scythe in front of them had also kept a piece of memory pinned there, though.

"Beowolves," she replied, confident. Qrow had told her the name of those damned creatures after they had gotten back from the fight. She can never forget the moment when foul blood splattered onto her cheek and sizzled away right before Yang leapt to cover her face, shielding her sight from the gore just a few feet away from them.

The teacher nods.

"I see you've been paying attention despite your...daydreaming," she tells Ruby and walks to the front of the class. "Beowolves may be common around the area, but without a proper means of escape or a suitable weapon and skill to wield it, it can kill you with a single snap of its jaws. Hence, as Hunters and Huntresses in training, we have to learn how to kill them before they kill us."

"That's gory and ruthless," Ruby hears a boy whisper to a friend behind her. "And exciting!"

Ruby shrinks into her seat. If that was what her mother had thought was exciting, then she doesn't want any part of that feeling. She can't be throwing herself into the battlefield without calculating the risks, right?

Right.

Though, when she thinks about it, Qrow did lunge himself at the Beowolves to defend his nieces. Maybe she does have to wing it and jump right into it when the time calls for it.

Maybe.

She is jolted back to reality when the bell rings and students leap from their seats like they're hot rods.

Oh, right, it's Uncle Qrow's class next!

She gathers her things up in a pile in her arms, joining the crowd pressed against each other in the corridors in a flurry of petals and squawks of shock when she barrels into the other students.

The handle of the door is rusty, but she grips it hard and tugs the door open with as much force as she can put to her hands, anyway. Qrow looks up at her from the desk in front.

"Careful you don't cut your fingers with that rust, kiddo," he rasps, a bottle of alcohol in his hands. "Don't want you bleeding all over the place even before the real fights start."

Ruby giggles. "Are you sure Signal allows alcohol in the premises, Uncle Qrow?"

He winks and tips the bottle to his lips to take a swig. "Broken rules aren't broken if no one finds out," he replies with a grin. Ruby laughs properly now.

She walks up to the desk and trails a finger across the stationery and papers strewn across the top. The other students aren't here yet - she had run so fast in her excitement that she had probably toppled some other kids over. Whatever. She shrugs and makes a mental note to apologise to those she had knocked into on her way.

The mental note is forgotten the moment she turns to Qrow.

"Hey, what other kinds of weapons will they be teaching us to craft in this academy?" she asks. Qrow lifts an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure weapon crafting is in this year's syllabus, so I'd reckon you'll be learning what sorts of stuff goes into that chunk you'll be using to fight."

Ruby nods.

"But what about specifics? You know, will they teach us how to make a sword and shield, or a gun, or some sharp thing, help us in the process?"

"They'll be assessing your ability to create your own weapon, and you're encouraged to be creative, so I'm pretty sure they'll only give you the boring physics and calculations of the whole thing and then throw you the parts and expect you to build it," Qrow replies. He leans in. "Though you already knew all that, didn't you?"

She gives him a thousand-watt grin. "Of course!"

"So," he says and leans forward, "what sort of weapon do you think suits you, then?"

"A scythe, like yours!"

Qrow chuckles. "Looks like we've got a rather eager apprentice here," he jokes, just as the first few students begin to trickle in, some with petals stuck to their hair. Ruby pretends not to remember who she'd bumped into on the way and makes her way to her seat, not before flashing Qrow a thumbs up and a cheeky smile. He returns them with another wink.

"Alright, everybody, settle down now!" he calls out. The students quieten and turn their attention to the sweaty, slightly drunk Huntsman in front of them. "Today, we'll be doing some work on your basic stance and that kind of stuff, you know, built on top of the theory we did yesterday." He takes a sip from the flask in his hand and nods at the student who raises her arm.

"Professor Branwen, what do you mean by stance? What about our weapons?"

He lets out a short laugh. "Not so soon, young lady, you gotta learn how to wield a basic weapon in battle before you can actually start learning how to use your own or you'll topple right over, and I'm not going to help you up from that."

The student nods and murmurs collectively ripple around the room.

"So, with that down, let's get on to proper business."

Ruby and the other students are brought outside, where they are led to an open arena. Qrow stands in the middle.

"Here's where we'll be learning how to do the stuff that was translated into boring old crap in the theory lessons earlier on," he says, producing a bunch of poles and some paper dummies. The poles have some sort of blade on their tips. "You'll learn how to actually do those stances and find the weak spots on your enemy using your basic weaponry."

The students all gather around him and take a pole each. Ruby, on the other hand, stands at the side, watching them swarm about with their wooden sticks.

Did Qrow find her childish? Too eager to learn? She knew how much he had seen around Remnant and how immature she seemed in comparison. Maybe her enthusiasm was over the top. Why would anyone in their right mind want to sacrifice their time to become a Huntress just to protect without any reciprocation?

She is snapped out of her thoughts when Qrow waves a pole in front of her face. "Hey, Ruby, aren't you going to learn how to be a Huntress? We need more people like you in the battle in this world, after all," he quips.

Scratch that. Her enthusiasm seems justified now.

She grins and grabs the pole to join the other students, who have already begun to assume certain stances and whacking their sticks at each other.

"Hey, hey, the teacher's still here, y'know!" Qrow shouts. They stop and turn to face him while he clears his throat. "You'd better listen properly, or before you know it, I'll be your next enemy."

Several others chuckle.

"And I won't go lightly on you," he adds.

The whole class laughs. Qrow seems miffed. He takes a spare pole from the ground, positioning it at a dummy near him, and strikes with shocking accuracy and strength. Everyone shuts up.

He turns around with a satisfied smirk on his face to see the gaping mouths of the students. "And that, kids-" He nods towards the mess that is a shredded-up pile of cardboard, "-is what happens to your enemies if you pay attention, and to you if you don't."

The class stays quiet. Ruby nudges a nearby student and whispers, "That's my Uncle Qrow!"

He grins.

"That's much better. Now, we'll start with your hand placement."

—

The bell rings and everyone files out of the arena. Ruby is about to step out of the field when Qrow stops her.

"Hey, kiddo, it's your last lesson for the day, right?"

"Yep! What's up?"

He proffers his scythe and Ruby gives him a quizzical look.

"Remember when you took my scythe and was so excited about holding it that you nearly tore up the furniture in your house?" he says, a smile tugging at his lips. She laughs.

"Yeah, that was fun."

She picks up the scythe from his hands. The dull, faint reflection of her face looks back at her and smiles.

"Can I try it out?" she asks. Qrow raises his eyebrows in approval.

She recalls the positions they had assumed during the lesson and starts swinging the scythe like she had done with the poles, but-

"It's too heavy!"

-she falls over right before she can land a hit on a dummy. Qrow laughs and helps her up.

"You know, Ruby," he laughs, "you're complete garbage at this."

She pouts. "Uncle Qrow! You didn't have to put that so harshly!"

"But it's true!"

He goes to stand behind Ruby and holds her arms. "You know, this school may teach you the basics and drill them into you, but you have to understand that not everything can work if you always conform to the standard rules."

Her fingers shift to rest higher on the handle of the weapon.

"Sure, the basic rules like always finding your ground have to be followed in battle, but if you always assume that all weapons are the same, then, oh boy, you're in for a hard time."

Her hips twist and her arms are lifted above her ear.

"So you can't always be applying what you've learnt to everything. Learn what information is useful in combat and what isn't."

She swings the scythe and cuts the dummy in half, Qrow's hands a tight grip on her wrists as he guides her path. Ruby stares at the dummy she had mutilated.

"I-I did that?"

"Sure you did, Ruby."

She turns around to look at him properly.

"That's so cool!" she yells. "Can you teach me how to use this particular scythe, then?"

He smirks. "That's if you're really going to have a scythe as your weapon."

Ruby returns the smile.

-

Well this was one heck of a chapter. Definitely longer than chapter 1. I wrote this during classes and boy did it help pass the time. Hope you enjoyed!