The morning after Yamuna was cornered and calmed down, students and staff were shocked when they found the library in complete chaos. Those involved with the giant wolf fiasco the night prior had already started dealing with their punishments, re-shelving the books and making repairs. Roland, having known the organization of the books beforehand and still being able to sense the writing, had an easier time than the others. This lead the rest to begin work on fixing the window and damaged doors.

Arty began his special punishment of recreating the illustrations of the books with the help of the school's database and with the limited amount of useful supplies he had brought from Atlas. As anticipated, his supplies began to thin out after only repairing a handful of books. A supply run was inevitable.

Professor Alabaster, being the enigmatic and usually kind old man he was, allowed the rest of Team ARTS to go with Arty into town while he got supplies as long as they were back within a few hours. The teens found this fair, and they arrived at the docks in the City of Vale after a short ride on the airship transit.

"So," Timbre walked alongside her team. She wore the hoodie from her first day at Beacon, and pulled the hood tightly over her head to avoid being seen in the streets of Vale, "what's the first stop for us?"

"Well," the leader said as he scanned through the shopping list on his scroll, "I need to stop by an art supply store and or a stationary shop for supplies to fix the library books, and I'm running really low on paint... so I'm gonna stop by the Dust shop too." He put his scroll back into his pocket, "You guys are welcome to join me if you want to grab some ammo or some stuff to try it out. You never know what Dust can do for your combat."

"I think I'll take you up on that." Roland thought about his weapon. With a few modifications, adding different colors of ink that correspond with Dust wouldn't be a terrible idea. At the very least, he could make some really interesting ink grenades, "I have a few designs thought up on how to utilize Dust in my ink, but I don't know anything about the ratio of Dust to ink that I should use. Do you think that you would be able to help we with that?" he asked, "I'm thinking that Gravity Dust would be my best bet, since it wouldn't mess with the mechanics of my weapon or the paper itself. I could probably use any kind in some new grenades."

Arty thought about it for a moment, "I don't know how different Dust ink would be from Dust paint, but yeah, sure. I'll see what I can do to help." He looked over to the girls, "You two want to try some out?" images of flaming wires and electric bullet barrages spun in his head.

'Me pass,' Sepia signed, being careful to only use words that she explicitly taught Arty. On the downside, her words came out similar to Everest's. She turned so that Timbre could see her hands, 'How about we head over to that music store? I'm in need of some earbuds. Mine got trashed.'

Timbre nodded enthusiastically, "Okay! I should pick up some new headphones too, but you are gonna probably want to make plans to meet up with Roland somewhere ASAP," she winked to her partner, "I'll be in there a while, and I'm sure you won't want to stick around and listen to me blather about instruments and artists."

Sepia's cheeks flushed red. She was a deer in headlights. No good response to that would come out of her hands. If she did respond, then there would be no end to Timbre's prying. Though Timbre was a great friend, she was one to get a little too far into other people's business.

The eyes of Arty and Timbre naturally fell onto Roland next. He didn't seem nearly as flustered, but he did seem hellbent on keeping his gaze firmly fixed in the direction that they were walking. Finally, he spoke, "Sepia and I are both single. Leave it alone."

An initial reaction from Sepia was that of irritation, but then indifference. I mean, technically… she thought to herself. Of course, her impression of relationships between team members was that it was frowned upon, so she didn't push the issue any further.

"Okay, whatever," Timbre smiled and grabbed Sepia's arm, "C'mon, let's go!" She waved goodbye to Arty and Roland as she dashed away, nearly dragging Sepia behind her. "See you guys later!"

The two guys stood there and watched as Sepia struggled to keep up with Timbre. She looked back at Roland pleadingly. She couldn't call for help while the singer dragged her around the corner.

"Wow," Arty said as they walked in the opposite direction, towards the other end of the shopping district, "When it comes to her interests, there's nothing that will stop her, huh?"

"Let's just get to the Dust shop." His partner hurried ahead, "I was thinking that some Steam Dust might be useful in a grenade. It might make the spray thinner. Maybe even some Magma Dust to get some better coverage."

.

The Bite the Dust Dust shop was the go-to place for most of the first years at Beacon Academy. Unlike other Dust shops, this one specialized in pre-weaponized Dust for Huntsmen and Huntresses as opposed to the general wholesale Dust available to everybody. In addition to the display cases and pipes full of powder and crystals, the store even had stock of cloth infused with Dust for clothing and ammunition for some of the more common types of guns found in Huntsmen weapons. What Arty was most thankful for, however, was that they had a nice supply of an oddly rare variety of Dust, despite its status as a base type.

"Oh yes…" Arty said, pushing his hands and face against a display case where a bag of powdered blue Dust sat, "I'm so glad I finally found a place with Water Dust…"

The young woman behind the counter laughed, "Yeah, you'd think it'd be much more readily available. Too bad it's not that practical for the everyday man," she pushed a lock of lime green hair back behind her ear. Her pale blue shirt, which was similar in color to her eyes, displayed the logo of the shop.

But don't liquid projectiles defeat the purpose?… Roland pondered. He had never given much thought to Dust, so he had trouble imagining the various applications for the wide variety of Dust types.

However, as the scenarios played out in his mind, he began to think that Water Dust might be useful to him. It would help him greatly to be able to increase the spread and volume of his ink grenades. That would be a question to save for someone with more hands-on experience with Dust like Arty. The employee seemed to be knowledgeable, so she would probably be the best one the ask about Dust.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Roland took on a surprisingly pleasant and patient tone, "but I have a few questions regarding the usage of Dust. I never really use it, so forgive me if I'm a little clueless." He removed his hat as a show of respect, "I was wondering how Gravity Dust might function if it were compressed and then expanded within a fluid. For instance, if someone infused it with a liquid, applied pressure, and then released it within a localized explosion."

As Roland and the woman discussed the process of altering gravity by spreading it over an area of effect, Arty just looked at his partner and tilted his head slowly to the side in confusion. Is he being… polite? He thought to himself. He decided to ignore it, and went off to figure out how much of each kind of powdered Dust he'd need to make equal amounts of every kind of paintballs for his next batch.

"Right, so if I coated my hand in Gravity Dust and punched someone, then we would both go flying," Roland inquired the employee, and was pleased to receive an enthusiastic nod. Gravity Dust seemed like a great start, so he put in his request. He wanted to shop a little more, but Arty knew this stuff better than he, "Hey, Arty. Would you mind to give me some insight as to what the most dangerous type of Dust that you know of is?" He didn't want to be rude, so he extended the same question to the employee, "I would also like to hear your thoughts, ma'am, if that isn't too much trouble. You've been incredibly helpful."

Arty took a minute to respond due to the sheer shock of Roland's… performance.

The shopkeeper gave Arty a minute, but as he stood there with a blank dumbfounded look on his face. She decided to go ahead and answer, "Well… I personally don't fight. I just know how others fight and supply them, but if I had to say the type of Dust I've heard more people having trouble with is-"

"Magma. Either that or Fire," Arty finally responded.

The shopkeeper nodded, "Yeah. Fire causes a lot of problems. Though its effects can be compared to electricity, the effects can last a lot longer and can be a little less predictable. Magma's quicker and more explosive, so it doesn't cause as much lasting damage."

"Tell me about it…" Roland said, giving a quick glance to Arty as he remembered the forest fire he had caused with his paint when they first met, "This might be a little scary, but what happens when you mix Fire Dust with that Electricity Dust that you mentioned?" Roland looked between Arty and the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper looked at him like he was crazy, while Arty looked on like he had seen a ghost.

Roland decided it best to share where his line of thought was going, "Wouldn't that create something like a Plasma Dust, or something of similar nature?"

The woman was now fully invested in discussing Dust with Roland, "Yeah, I mean, I've never heard of anyone using that particular mixture, but... I wouldn't mind having a buddy of mine work to combine some for ya if you want. I'd ask a teacher first about using it before you actually try it out, but yeah, I'd definitely be willing to do that for ya." She began scribbling down a note on a pad of paper that basically read 'flame + electricity = ?', "Combining Dust is always fun. Dangerous, but fun. One time, that same buddy of mine tried to combine gravity and force Dust. Idiot practically caved in his workshop… Took awhile for him to get back up in business, but he says he's glad he tried it. Never would've found out what it did otherwise, y'know?"

"That would be excellent. Thank you very much," Roland laid his debit card down on the table, "I'll go ahead and grab a bag of Gravity Dust powder," he thought for a moment, "Three bags, actually. I have a few tests that I plan on doing with it." From his pocket, he produced his own notepad and pen and began scribbling down his contact information, "My name is Roland Wells. I'm happy to make your acquaintance. This is my information so that you can contact me when that mixture comes in," he handed the slip of paper to her, "Oh, and is there any way that I could tip you? You have been truly helpful to me today."

The woman smiled, "Glad I can help. You've gotten me wondering about other Dust fusions now. There's a ton of unexplored territory!" She put the three bags into a cardboard box before taping it up, "Just sign there on the pad for your payment. There's an option to tip at the bottom, but you really don't have to."

Arty watched as Roland quickly signed the pad, making sure to tap the small green box at the bottom of the screen. His mouth fell open Roland tipped the shopkeeper the full amount of his order.

"Wow! Thanks so much!" The shopkeeper grabbed the note that she made and nodded to the back, "I'll go get this order put in, and have my coworker take over here for a bit. Have a great day!" she waved goodbye and disappeared behind a door marked 'Employees Only'. Shortly thereafter, one of the other attendants began ringing Arty up.

"What's up with you, Arty? Your brain finally short-circuit?" Roland's polite attitude was gone with the shopkeeper.

Arty just pointed at him, "Was that- was that real? Because for a second there, I couldn't even tell if you were still you."

"The girl works in retail. She probably deals with jerks all of the time, so I'm not going to be one of them. People in the service industry go through enough already," Roland shrugged, "I get that I have a tail, but I'm not an animal."

"What about everyone else who doesn't work in retail?"

"They're fair game."

"Nice," Arty moved away from the display case, "Well, I'm gonna go get my stuff now. I'm heading to the art store down the street, so you can go off and find Sepia now." Arty pushed past him and began listing types of Dust he wanted bags of to the new employee behind the counter.

"Why do you automatically assume that I'm going to run off with Sepia?" Roland asked quickly. Sure, hanging out with Sepia was his initial plan, but he didn't want to arouse too much suspicion. They had plans to go back to the cafe that Team ARTS had adopted, maybe even catch a movie after, but he wouldn't let that happen if it made Arty and Timbre think something was going on.

Arty looked at him quizzically as he paid for his Dust, "You two are dating aren't you?"

"No! Not at all!" This time, Roland's face did flush red, "I mean… not exactly," he slumped his shoulders in acceptance of his defeat. "Do you want the full story…?"

"Do I really need it?"

"I think it would add some clarity to why her and I act strange around you and Timbre."

"Roland," Arty picked up his box of Dust and thanked the attendant again before turning to leave the shop, "I don't care if you two date. It's honestly not a big deal to me."

"Wait, what?" Roland looked at his leader in surprise, "I was just about to tell you about how we kept getting detention and spent more and more time after that, and that we aren't technically dating, and that we both feel really awkward on the idea of team dynamic if we became a couple, and…" he forced himself to hold back, "Arty, you're the one who tells me to not do stupid things."

Arty arched his eyebrow, "Really…?" Is that part of the leader position?... "Roland, our team dynamic is fine. You scared about focusing too much on her when we're in a fight and getting yourself hurt in the process or something?"

"I don't know, man…" Roland kicked a pebble down the sidewalk as they got outside, "It's not so much getting myself hurt, but getting you guys hurt. I'm worried that… well…" he sighed, "I don't know what I'm so worried about, but I know I'm definitely worried. She's great and all, really great, but what if it goes down hill? What if she has, like, a super crazy sister or a psycho ex or-" he realized the stupidity of his rambling, "That aside, wouldn't that make it really awkward for you and Timbre?"

"Hey, you guys do what you do. We don't care, or at least I don't. I know I'm supposed to be leader and all, but nobody's ever told me inter-team relationships were against some sort of Huntsmen code. Even if they were, I'd say forget about it and do what makes you happy. Honestly, the only thing I'd be worried about is how Sepia'd act if you broke up with her… It's not a pretty image…"

.

"Sepia!" Timbre shouted in the music shop, "What are you talking about?! You and Roland make a… cute… couple…" she then realized she was talking about the two maniacs of their team.

'Cute? That's the word that you use to describe me? Cute?' Sepia looked at Timbre in disbelief, 'Look, I like him, yes, but the moment that we make anything official is the moment that the school burns down. You've seen the havoc we cause together, Timbre.'

"Well, yeah," Timbre pulled a vinyl record out of a bin to look it over, "but I mean, regardless whether or not you're a thing, the school's gonna burn. Why not burn it together, y'know?"

This wasn't a position that Sepia had ever been in, so she was at a loss as to what to do, 'Well, he keeps being awkward about it when I bring it up!' her motions became more and more frantic as the conversation went on, 'And I don't want everyone talking about us! And what about the flack that we'll get for a human/Faunus relationship? Alice will flip a lid and go out of her way to make our lives miserable.'

"Sepia… when have you ever cared what Alice thought about you?... When have you ever cared about what anyone thought about you?"

'I don't! I care about how she treats Roland! I don't want to go overboard and seriously hurt her just because I have feelings for that stupid cowboy!'

Timbre was taken back by Sepia's show of affection. Her mouth curled into a grin and began to rapidly kick against the floor as she squealed in delight. "Sepia! Don't you see?! Just the fact that you'd be willing to knock someone to the floor for Roland says it all! Imagine if you put that into a battle, not saying that that's the only reason you two should be together, but if you saw Roland getting cornered by Grimm or something," she stopped herself, "Carmen has a motto. The moment you find someone that you would throw away everything for, including yourself, is the moment that you should start doing everything you can to make the most of the time you have with them. I know we're just teenagers and people say teen-love never lasts, but holy crap, Sepia. We're training to be Huntresses for crying out loud!"

'You know what? Fine. I'll tell him how I feel the moment that we see them,' Sepia signed forcefully.

"You girls finished in here or what?" Roland's voice came from the front door of the music shop. He poked his head in, and behind him was Arty holding a few bags with stickers on them to alert the owner that the contents were hazardous along with a few plastic shopping bags.

Sepia's eyes widened in horror. She looked back and forth between Roland and Timbre. Her hands were positioned just so that Roland couldn't see her sign, 'I take it back. I take all of it back.' In a panic, Sepia quickly yanked down Timbre's hood and began pointing to her. Unfortunately, she couldn't yell "Hey, everybody! Look, it's Timbre Forté!", so instead, she ran to the back of the store.

"Is she okay…?" Roland asked as he stepped into the store.

Timbre looked to Arty, who just rolled his eyes. She quickly pulled out her scroll and texted Arty:

Timbre Forté: U talk 2 him bout Screenplay being more thn just a team atk?

Arty grabbed his scroll, read the text, and turned it away from Roland. He responded.

Timbre looked down and saw one word appear in her message box.

Arty Umber: yep.

She smiled widely as she shoved her scroll back into her hoodie pocket. "Yeah. She will be." She began walking to the door, but grabbed Arty by the black sleeve of his shirt on her way out.

"Hey! Timbre!" he yelled in protest as she dragged him out of the store.

"Have fun, you two!" Timbre sang out as the door closed behind them.

Roland began his search of the shop, given that he knew Sepia's tendency to flee and hide from awkward situations. This wasn't a situation that he wanted to be in, but he felt as though avoiding it would just annoy Arty more, and he wouldn't hear the end of it from Timbre either. A few of the store's patrons pointed in the direction that she went, and he was both thankful for and frustrated by their actions.

He finally reached a small booth that served as a quiet place for people to try out their new music with the curtain drawn, "Hey Sepia, you can hear me in there, right?"

The curtains flailed to life for a second before Sepia tumbled out of them. She looked up at Roland, her face blazed red, 'Need something?' she signed from the ground.

"Care to talk… or sign, rather? Arty and Timbre are gone at the moment." he extended a hand to help her up.

She slowly took his hand and stood, 'What's going on?'

"You know, Timbre is onto us. Now Arty's aware that something's up… to say the least," he looked down at the ground. Faced with the choice of dragging it out or just getting it over with, he figured that Sepia would appreciate an attempt at the latter option, "I don't mean to beat around the bush. We've just got a lot going on with classes and everything, you know? Everything between Mikado and Yamuna and Turf and… We've all been through a lot. Arty just wants me to spit it all out, and now that we've been out a few times and all… I mean…"

'You're asking me out?' she signed to him. Butterflies zoomed around in her stomach. Her hands trembled. For the first time in a good while, she was nervous.

"Not exactly, since we've kind of been out a few times already," he scratched the back of his head, "Look, I just don't want to be making this out to be such a big deal if it isn't. I mean, I get it. You could shoot for the stars when it comes to guys. Like Gavin, no pun intended. Maybe the ASHS guys. Or anyone else, really. I'm just a Faunus with anger issues, you know?"

'And I'm a psycho. I don't follow anything even resembling a rule. Let's be honest here, Click-Clack,' she punched his arm, 'I can't even talk.'

"Most would see that as a plus," he nodded to the door, "Look, you want to go hang out for a while? I mean, with Arty and Timbre of course, maybe, if you want, but without all of the-"

'Cloak and dagger?' she signed, 'As in, we stop worrying about everything and do what makes us happy?'

"I mean, I suppose. Arty doesn't care if we're in a, you know…"

'Relationship?' she covered her mouth as if she were giggling, 'Yeah, Timbre's been shipping us hard since I told her just now. We might as well go for it. We don't have anything to lose.'

The two sat there for a moment and smiled to each other, taking solace in the tension that they had finally broken.

.

"Do you see them?!" Timbre whispered harshly to Arty as they hid behind a row of bushes. "Are they coming out together?" she gasped, "ARE THEY HOLDING HANDS?!"

"I wouldn't know…" her leader grumbled, "I kinda can't tell since you shoved me into this shrub over here. That, and I honestly don't care if they start a relationship. Things don't change in Team ARTS, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up Painter Boy." She suddenly squealed and fell back to sit next to him.

"They come out of the store?"

"Yes!" she clapped giddily. "They are holding hands!" she began slapping him on the shoulder repeatedly out of excitement, "We did it, Arty!"

"We?..."

"I'm with Arty," Roland leaned over the bush with Sepia right by his side, "You guys didn't do much. Neither of you are exactly what one would call quiet, either."

Sepia used her free hand to send a message to the group, 'Take a lesson from me.'

Timbre's cheeks flushed red. "Oh… haha. We were, just leaving!" She jumped up and dashed away, "See you guys back at school!"

Roland and Sepia watched as she disappeared down the street before returning their eyes to Arty, who was still tangled up in the bush.

Arty struggled to get his clothes free from the branches, "I wasn't here by choice, okay?" he went limp, "Help a guy out? I still have to buy supplies to fix the library books…"

Roland grabbed Arty by the arm and helped pull him out, "You alright, man? You seem a little… pissed. I thought you were cool with this."

"I am, but it's being in a bush and crumpling my box of Dust and my art supplies that has me annoyed…" He picked up the bent up box and brushed it off carefully. "If Timbre had shoved me just a little bit harder… this whole city block would… not be a city block anymore…"

"Right, so you have to go get supplies, yeah?" Roland looked at Sepia and then back to Arty, "We were going to hang out with you guys, but with Timbre gone… do you care if we go back to campus and torment Alice by walking by the infirmary hand-in-hand a few dozen times?"

Sepia gave Arty her usual crazed, wide-eyed look of excitement.

Arty laughed, "Like I said earlier, Roland, I don't care if you're a couple. I have no qualms with inter-team relationships. Go do what you do."

"Chaos?" Roland asked the girl latched onto his hand.

Sepia nodded enthusiastically and splayed her fingers out, mimicking an explosion with her free hand.

"Right," Arty began walking off, "Have fun you two. Just make sure you're back from torturing Alice before it gets too late. I don't want Alabaster extending our punishment."

.

"YOU BLOODY DOLTS ARE WHAT?!" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs from the doorway of the Team ANTE dorm, apparently having been released from the infirmary since the debacle at the library, "YA CAN'T JUST DO THAT WITHIN YA OWN TEAM, YA TWITS! DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT ONE OF YOU BEIN' A FAUNUS?!"

"I was born of a Faunus mother and a human father. I'm not technically a full Faunus, but whatever," Roland informed her. Of course, he didn't expect Alice to be out of the infirmary, so he and Sepia were taken by surprise when she yanked the door open and began screaming at them.

"YOU-" Alice trembled in her fury, "What tha 'ell is goin' on, huh? Turf spends a little time with you guys an' now he refuses to leave our dorm, Yamuna's walkin' around like she owns thA place, an' now you two think that you can start foolin' around with each otha-"

"What do you you mean fooling around?" he shot back.

"Well, you are a Fau-"

Sepia held up her scroll to show her message, 'What happens in our relationship is our business,' she looked cross, to say the least, 'Being a Faunus has no bearing on a relationship, so you can kindly keep your thoughts to yourself.'

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Roland gave the faintest ghost of a smile, "Hey! Timbre! Come here!" he called into the dorm for Team ARTS. He jabbed a thumb back at Alice, "You've got to see this! Her face is as red as her hair!"

Timbre opened the door and couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Roland and Sepia holding hands as Alice fumed from the open door of her room in her pajamas, "Guys, leave Alice alone and get back to the library. Arty's going to need help identifying the books that need fixing."

Alice narrowed her eyes at Timbre, "Oh ya. I almost forgot your team was involved in all that. Thanks, by the way, for dragging Turf into everything. Thanks for driving home my point," Alice winced and put her hand to her side, "I'm goin' back ta bed. I'll be seein' you three in Carmen's class," and with that, she slammed the door in their faces.

Roland stared at the door in disbelief, "There's more than a stick up her butt. I think it's an entire tree that has made its home growing straight out of her a-"

Sepia tugged on his hand and shook her head and began signing, 'Don't let it get to you. I don't want to have to break her,' after her conversation with Timbre, her mind was pushing her to take Alice on, 'We'll get her back, I promise. You know, I did notice that Alice does writes her notes with pen and ink.'

A sadistic grin found its way onto Roland's face, "Ooooooooh yes… We'll get Turf to send some photos of her notes. Change a few words, and boom!" he whispered in her ear, "Or we use some of those recon orbs."

'I agree wholeheartedly,' Sepia silently giggled.

Timbre rubbed her temple with her fingers, "Oh man… guys. Don't make me take back what I said, or else I'll try to break you up for the good of humanity."

'Then you'll be the next target,' Sepia winked at her partner.

"And there is a ton of ink on CDs and the like. It would be a shame if that got… rearranged," Roland bumped his fist against Sepia's.

Timbre's smile faded and she closed the door. From behind the door, Roland and Sepia could hear her mutter, "Not my babies…"

Roland and Sepia made their way to the library without another word. Their mission was a success. Alice was fuming, and Timbre feared them. At this point, they could actually get down to business.

When they arrived at the library, Arty was already working on the illustrations in the damaged books.

"Hey guys," Arty said without looking up from the book he was currently drawing in, occasionally looking at a reference image on his phone, "Glad you could join us."

"Us?" Roland looked around for the others in the punished group.

"Hey, Roland. Hey, Sepia." Rime's voice echoed from somewhere.

The couple looked around until they found the petite girl at the top of a tall ladder, where she was reshelving a book.

Sitting on top of the shelf was Zero, who had more books stacked next to him. After shelving the book, he handed Rime another one from the stack. Zero gave a small salute, touching his right hand to his forehead before flicking it outwards.

There was a moment of silence as Roland surveyed the stacks of books. He nodded slowly, "Hold on. I know Alabaster told us not to, but..." he waved his hands, causing all of the books to begin levitating. Some of them even came off the shelves. They shot back into their places, all of them except for the ones that Arty still had to work on.

"There, you guys can come down," he sat down across from Arty, "Want me to look over your illustrations and make sure they're accurate?"

"If you really want to. Some of them are from the Great War and before, so the style is a little weird," Arty said, still keeping his eye on the pen as he dragged it across the page in a smooth arc. After finishing the line, he patted the stack of books to his left, "These are the one's I've gotten done so far."

Roland looked amazed at the stack. "You've gotten all of these done since you left the music store?!"

"You can read and type fast. I can draw fast. We've talked about that."

Roland cracked open one of the finished books and began looking over the new illustrations. He sat in stunned silence, but that quickly turned into rage, "This… this is not perfect…" he murmured, "It's better," he growled and slammed the book down, "These were first editions, Arty…"

"Well now they're all version 1.1," He pushed the book he was working on to the side to let the ink dry, "I'm sorry if I can't recreate age, Roland."

'Nicely done,' Sepia messaged Arty, 'Roland getting fussy aside, what do we need to do?'

Arty leaned back in his chair to stretch. He cracked his knuckles, "Really the only things to do in here are reshelving books and repairing furniture," he nodded to the giant broken window where Yamuna had crashed through, "The school's handling the window."

Roland looked around to the damaged pieces of furniture in the room. Thankfully, none of them seems irreparably damaged. It wasn't anything a little elbow grease couldn't fix, so he sent a text to Timbre to get him his supplies.

Roland Wells: Hey, could you grab my toolbox before you come down here? It's dark purple and right underneath my desk. Careful, it's a little heavy.

He waited for a response.

Timbre Forté: Sure thing.

.

Timbre took off her new headphones and got up from her bed. She stepped over to the bed opposite of hers, where the neatly arranged books were stacked in the space underneath. She bent down under the adjacent desk and found the toolbox Roland had mentioned. As she was about to get up, she saw something that caught her eye under Roland's bed. Behind the walls of books, there was a small opening, hidden from view from anyone unless they were kneeling down near the foot of the bed. Timbre's curiosity won over her better judgement and respect of her teammate's privacy. She reached her arm into the small compartment and felt plastic and paper in her fingers. Lots of plastic and paper. When she pulled the heavy object out she found it to be a large black and purple binder stuffed to the brim with tiny notes written on the same paper Roland used in Writer's Block. A looser slip of paper fell out of the collection. She picked it up and skimmed over it.

Hey mom, I just thought that I'd update you on Beacon. I'm having some trouble getting along with some of the other students, but I'm sure that you could have guessed that one. You always told me that I could tell you anything, so I want to tell you that I'm scared.

Timbre covered her mouth. Why had Roland not sent these letters? She heard someone walking down the hall, and the heaviness of the steps made her scared it was Arty or Roland wondering what was taking her so long. She quickly shoved the note back into the binder and returned it to its hidey-hole. Timbre shot up off of the floor and grabbed the toolbox just as there was a knocking at the door.

She ran and flung it open, "Sorry! I couldn't find my other boo-"

Turf jumped back as Timbre almost ran straight into him, "Woah! Hey Timbre! Slow down there," he looked down at the metal box in her hands. She didn't seem like she was struggling, but didn't want to find out later if she did, "By the color, I'm guessing that's Roland's toolbox, not yours," he gingerly picked it up from the bottom, "Is it heading for the library?"

Timbre pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled nervously, "Oh… yeah. It is." She folded her arms and pushed them upwards in an attempt to push her hoodie up over her face, which she felt turning red.

"You alright? You're looking a little feverish," Turf examined her with care and concern in his eyes. Sure, Faunus only had one physical trait, but it wasn't uncommon to pick up the mannerisms of the animal whose trait it was from, "I'll run you by the infirmary on the way to the library if you need. We should get a move on, though," he nodded her along.

Timbre chuckled, "Turf, I'm fine. Really. I don't need to go to the infirmary," She always found his puppy-like enthusiasm and concern adorable. She looked up to the ears on his head, showing that he still hadn't found his beanie, "but you can walk with me to the library if you want." She then realized something, "Wait, shouldn't you already be there? You're on the detention list, too. Remember?"

"I already spent the day fixing up the lecture halls, but I'm about to head down and help with the library. I like doing handyman work, so this punishment is a bit of a plus to me. Since I had a bit of a break, I thought I'd search for my hat. Navy kind of hid it during the whole me being a Faunus thing," Turf heaved up the toolbox so that he could hold it against his chest with both hands, "Geez, what does this guy have in here…?"

"Well, I'll help you look for it, as long as you think it's not in your room. I don't think Alice would like anybody outside of Team ANTE being in there. And knowing Roland, there's probably a bunch of pens and paper in that thing. Why keep tools when you can make your own out of ink using your Semblance?"

"Maybe he likes the feel of real ones. I mean, if I had that Semblance, then I think I'd still keep my tools around. Maybe it's a guy thing, I don't know," he headed for the stairwell, "I thought you would want to know that Yamuna is doing a lot better, by the way. We've been hanging out since last night, and it's just like old times. She's been following me around while I make repairs, but left to spend some quality time with her brothers and her team."

Timbre smiled, "That's great, Turf. I'm glad," she looked down at her feet as they walked. "Do… do you think she meant what she said? Back at the library?" She kicked at the carpet with her heel, "I just don't want her to hate me. I really look up to Yamuna… well, you get what I mean. I really appreciate everything Team GLXY's done to get us acclimated to the Huntsmen Academy environment. I just feel like all the trouble my team and I cause makes us look… ungrateful, y'know?"

"In answer to your first question, no. She didn't mean anything, not truly anyway. She… resented humans when she first got to Beacon, actually. You should have seen the girl when she got put on a team with three of them," Turf laughed, thinking back to the conversations that he and her would have about life at Beacon on family visitation days, "Sometimes that comes out when she's out of control, but that's just old habits. You know what they say about old habits," he shifted the toolbox to get a better grip on it, "As for your team, it's a little hard for you guys to sound ungrateful. Yamuna has told me all about the trouble that GLXY used to cause, and about how Team ASHS drums up a lot less trouble now than they used to. You guys are pretty much the average."

Timbre sighed, "Well, that definitely makes me feel a little better. Thanks."

The two students in green walked into the library. Arty was still at the table drawing as Rime, Zero, and Roland put up books that he finished.

"Hey guys," Arty said, still focussed on his drawings, "Glad you could join us."

"Hey, Arty." She walked over and looked at the spread of drying illustrations, "Wow… you've been busy!"

"Yep," he blew gently on the drawing he just finished, "at this rate, I should be done within four days max."

Roland clapped his gloved hands together and sat next to a broken chair, "Toolbox, please," he ordered impatiently.

"Oh, sure thing." Turf said as he handed the purple container to Roland.

Timbre watched as Roland set to work putting a chair's leg back together. She felt bad for what she had found hidden away behind Roland's under-the-bed-library. Half for what it contained, half for the fact she neglected his right to privacy. Arty always talked about how the team should share anything that would help them know each other better, but Timbre knew that Roland had demons he'd rather keep hidden. The fact that Arty neglected to tell his team his Semblance for so long made her confused as to whether or not he really wanted to stick by what he said about not hiding things from one another when they first met. But then again, she had her own secrets to hide as well.

Still... Why wouldn't Roland send those letters?