Chapter 8

It was a good morning. For the first time since she arrived in this time. With a bright sun shining in the windows, and a cool breeze rolling through the room, Ruby felt invigorated. Today was one of two things. Number one, it was the first official day of classes, which meant learning in a new environment, even if it was the same school as before. She was just now attending class with her professors. The second thing that today was, and boy was she glad for it, was the day they got fitted for uniforms.

"Rae, wake up! Tai! Qrow! Everyone up and at 'em!"

She received a series a groans from the three other beds haphazardly occupying their room. It was six-thirty already! They were gonna be late of they didn't wake the hell up!

"Guys, c'mon! You're wasting the day!"

Raven tried to throw a pillow at her.

"Go'way."

"Do you not want your uniforms?"

Tai rolled over in front of her and squinted upwards. He had a nasty case of bed head this morning, and to be honest, Ruby genuinely thought it was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen him do.

"Summer, it's too early. Why're you even awake?"

It was not too early. This was supposed to be the man that had her and Yang up at six every morning so they could be bathed, clothed, and looking presentable for school every day, and have time to get himself ready to go to his job. He needed some encouragement, it seemed.

"Taiyang Xiao Long, my good friend, today is the day we start school. If we aren't up in five minutes, we will be late for our uniform fittings, then that will make us late for class, and that will make it so we don't pass, and then we will fail out of school and become homeless! Do you want to be homeless, Tai?"

He sighed and put his arm over his face.

"Ugh."

"Why do we need to get fitted? What's wrong with my regular clothes?" Qrow asked with his head in a pillow. Ruby smirked.

"Because this is a respectable private institution, and we wear uniforms here. Now get up!"

She grabbed both Qrow and Tai by the legs and dragged them off their respective beds and onto the floor. This would normally have been a reasonable thing to do to a roommate who won't get up in the morning, but Ruby was quickly realizing why she shouldn't have been so bold. As the two boys tumbled to the carpet, she saw something, or rather some things she would have preferred to never see, not now or ever for the rest of her life.

Because Qrow and Tai both slept naked.

Normally, Ruby should have been disgusted. This was her father and her uncle, after all, presenting the maximum amount of skin to her at six-thirty in the morning, all wrinkled and loose. But thanks to her flick of the wrist, they had fallen one on top of the other, front to front. It would have been rude to not laugh.

"Ack!"

"What the fuck!"

Like two greased weasels, they separated with force, flailing backwards into the two beds she had so rudely yanked them from. Their jiggly bits did as they were designed to do as they retreated up and onto the beds the other had come from. Ruby's leg collapsed as she tried to not pass out from how hard she was laughing. She was crying at this point, and tears of joy streamed from her face.

"Your junk touched my junk!"

"No, yours touched mine!"

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

Raven had sat up, but quickly averted her eyes from the scene that had... revealed itself.

"Qrow, what the fuck?!"

"Look, she dragged me out of bed!"

Raven's voice turned violent, rather quickly, Ruby noticed.

"That's not my point, why are you sleeping naked?!"

Qrow turned beet red as he wrapped himself up in Tai's blanket.

"I always do! I thought you knew this!"

"That was when we slept in separate rooms! NOT WHEN WE SLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM!"

"Rae, shut up! It's who I am, and you can't stop me!"

"I'M GONNA SAW YOUR DICK OFF!"

Ruby rolled onto her back, gasping for air. She couldn't breathe properly anymore, and now she couldn't see properly either.

"Please- stop- can't... bre-heathe!" she tried to push out through the fit of giggles. To no avail.

She was defeated. Ruby Rose, the second-greatest huntress alive, in her opinion, had been defeated. Not by a creature of Grimm, not by natural disaster, but by two penises. Two very hilarious, early morning penises.

"Put them away, BOTH OF YOU!" Raven yelled.

Qrow had coiled himself up under the blankets on Tai's bed to try and hide from his twin's ire. He'd need more than some low-thread count cotton sheets to avoid her. Tai, on the other hand, didn't seem like he wanted to hide, per se. Sure, he had covered his man parts with a pillow, specifically Qrow's, but he wasn't showing any signs of hiding any further. His pastie white thighs were on display for the whole world to see, now. Sitting up, Ruby could see that said thighs were very well toned for a young man of his age, and he didn't seem embarrassed by the exposure, either.

"Can you... you can... pants... gonna die..." she laughed out.

Tai showed no indication or inclination of reaching for his dresser.

"Sorry you had to see this, Summer."

He didn't sound sorry. Ruby had to pull herself back up onto her feet with the edges of the two beds, but she managed even if her legs were completely useless. She took a quick glance over to where Raven was sitting, her back to them all and her arms crossed. Ruby smirked. Raven must have thought she was pretty clever, but she could see the tall woman trying to sneak a glance back over to where Tai was sitting.

For good reason, if she was being honest. Taiyang was a buff individual. Attractive by both traditional and her own weird standards. Still kinda felt weird to see him without clothes on. She'd seen him in a bathing suit enough times twenty years from now, so this was a little off putting. But she appreciated Raven's subtle intrigue.

"Hokay!" she finally settled on, shaking out her hair and trying her best to avert her eyes. "You two, get some pyjamas on with shirts, and c'mon with us. Rae, let's give these two perverts some personal space for a moment, then we can all go get fitted for uniforms, okay?"

"Yes, please."

Before Ruby could move, Raven had gotten up off her bed and bolted out the door, slamming it behind her. So quickly, in fact, that her butt-print was still visible on the sheets for a minute after. Ruby flustered for a moment, before turning her attention back to the boys.

"Two minutes. Then out of here. Capisce?"

"Yes, Summer." Tai said, sheepishly scratching his head.

She looked at the mess of blankets where Qrow hid.

"Mister Branwen?"

"Yes, Summer."

Her scary smile returned.

"Excellent! We'll be waiting for you out here."

She spun around and left the room as well. As she had expected, Raven was leaning against the opposite wall, still clad in her black-on-black full length pyjama set. The slippers she had slid on matched as well. Having been given only five minutes to prepare, if that, her hair wasn't done up and all hung around her face like a curtain. A very messy curtain.

"Fucking boys, am I right?" she asked of her moody partner.

"I hate them both."

Ruby shrugged. She remembered she had a hair elastic in her pocket and dug it out, only to find two. She handed one to Raven.

"Eh, what can you do. Here."

Raven nodded her thanks.

"But who the fuck sleeps naked in an open dorm room, not to mention when there are two girls with them, and one of them is their sister!"

Ruby gave her head another shake as she pulled her hair back into a low, short ponytail. Raven's was much higher and much more impressive, even with the chronic case of disaster-hair she had proudly displayed on the top of her head.

"Qrow and Tai, I guess."

"Can you use your Leader powers on them and make them wear clothes to bed?"

Ruby smiled.

"Hun, I could probably get them to wear suits of armour to bed. Or just like, all the time."

"Heh. That'd be funny. I'd like to see Qrow in Medieval armour try to fight me. I'd cut his fuckin' head off!"

"Can we maybe not dismember him, please? Or at least wait until combat class?"

Raven pouted. It was adorable.

"Fine, whatever you say."

Ruby smiled up at the tall, messy-dressed woman. She still unfortunately had a bit of a stiff air to her, but she was considerably softer now than she had been two days ago when they had collided... twice. Ruby wondered what the woman was thinking, and what possible ways she could break through the brusque and aggressive facade and into the soft, caring core. She didn't actually know if said core even existed, but she did know the principle that of you kneaded a stiff pencil eraser enough times it would become smooth. Thumbing an eraser, however, was a lot easier than thumbing Ra-

Gross thoughts.

She shook her head, her ponytail slapping against the wall. Raven glanced over, a concerned look crossing her face.

"Y'all right?"

Ruby coughed, turning a fair shade of pink.

"Yeah, no- I'm just... Where are the boys?"

She seemed puzzled. For good reason. "Still in the room. Where we left them... Did you get enough sleep? Are you coming down of some morning high?"

"I- shut up."

Raven shrugged an 'alright', crossing her arms and fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt. Ruby could feel a little bit of heat rising from her collar. This was not the time, nor the place.

Why not though?

Because many, many reasons. Her suffering was swiftly ended as the bedroom door swung open and her two other roommates sauntered out. Well, Tai certainly sauntered. Qrow seemed more like he was oozing out of the room. Despite the nude awakening, he seemed to have fallen back asleep in the last five minutes.

"You fuckers take too long." Raven complained. Tai seemed almost prideful.

"You gotta problem, take it up with my agent."

"Tai, I'm gonna insist you grab your partner and let's motor. Okay?"

Ruby straightened, gesturing to him to grab the slow-moving liquid man.

"Yeah, I got'im." He slung Qrow's arm over his shoulders.

"Don't touch me, man."

Qrow recoiled, trying to slap him away. He was too tired to do so, so he missed. And hit the one person in the world most likely to murderize him for the effort, right in her face. Raven did not, however, murderize her brother, though the glare she gave him was fiery enough to melt the floors and the walls. Ruby certainly felt intimidated, and the baleful gaze wasn't even directed anywhere near her.

"Right, let's go!"

"Don't shout, it's too early..."

"Wake the fuck up, idiot."

Ruby led on, down to the staircase at the end of the hall.

"I never asked for this."

"Shouldn't have befriended little Miss Early Worm, Qrow."

Ruby choked back a chuckle. Good reference, she thought.

"She's lucky she gets to be the worm in that scenario. I'm tired of you being the bird and me being the worm."

"Maybe so. Move your ass before I kick you down the stairs, bird-breath."

"At least I'm not a worm."

Ruby paused, halfway down the stairs on a landing. Any faster and Tai would have slammed into her back.

"I feel like I need you to explain that metaphor, guys."

Raven smirked, clamping a hand down on Qrow's shoulder.

"Early bird gets the worm. I used to beat him up in the morning."

Ruby squinted up at them, concerned.

"Like, wake up before him?"

"Nope."

Of course.

"Oh. Well, if you try any of that, bird-breath, this worm will tear your limbs off."

It was hard to be intimidating in pyjama shorts and an oversized t-shirt, but Qrow visibly recoiled into his sister.

"I got you."

"Good."

Without another word, she spun back around and hopped down the next flight of stairs. At the bottom, she kicked the door to the outside world and the light came flooding in. Everyone except for Ruby had to shield their eyes from the bright glare. She'd been outside already that morning to have herself a brisk stroll around the campus and buy a box of granola bars for the cupboard in their room. The warmth of the September air was quite nice now, much better than earlier. She inhaled deeply as she skipped ahead of her comrades, into the large dorm courtyard.

"So, can you enlighten me as to why we're up so early, oh fearless leader?" Raven asked, mildly irate. "I thought we were supposed to get our uniforms at eight?"

Ruby shrugged, pulling her lanyard out from down her shirt. On the end hung her faculty card, the laminated surface shining in the sunlight.

"I'm getting us in early."

They all looked equally perplexed. She realized that no 'first-year' student, or any student for that matter should even have one of these. She stuttered her response.

"Uh, team leader privileges are good things, Rae."

"I don't-"

"We're given cards to get into the 'Leader Planning and Strategy' room for when we're to go on hunts." She hoped none of them were the wiser, and that seemed to be the case. "Furthermore, that happens to be the room where the uniforms are kept, so we can get in first."

"Why would that matter? We're gonna get them anyways. Why do we need to be so early?"

Ruby swiped her card against the reader on the side entrance of the Beacon main building. Flashing her a little green light, the door unlocked and she pushed it open. The eerie quiet of the school at this hour was certainly unnerving. She had a plan, but nobody needed to know that yet.

"Yeah, they give first-years used uniforms to save money. They say if you can make it to second year without dropping out, you can get a fresh, tailor-made uniform."

Utter bullshit, but she pressed on, skipping down the hallway.

"That seems both gross, and unhygienic."

"And a waste of storage resources." Qrow added.

"You guys are just being dramatic, I'm sure they wash them. Right, Summer?"

Ruby smirked.

"Nah, they don't even bother. Something about how it's not worth the money to buy us all new uniforms when we're just going to DIE!"

She spun around and jumped at them, her hands raised and a crazy expression on her face. All three of them jumped back in unison with a yelp. Ruby laughed and clutched her stomach.

"Nah, I'm just kidding. It's just a cost-saving measure. Turns out Headmaster Pine is cheap as hell."

"Man, you have a convenient explanation for everything, huh." Raven mused with a chuckle. "Why is that, I wonder?"

Ruby shrugged as they rounded the corner to where the storage room was situated. Nice and hidden away, out of view of any of the other early morning students who were milling about in the lobby.

"My superior intelligence. Here we are, boys. Our uniforms!"

She popped over to the door, and gave the card-reader a swipe. Just as before, the light flashed green and the latch made a loud click. She punted it open and hopped through the opening, with her team following nervously suit. The floors and walls were lined with cardboard boxes, all with sizes written on them in marker. Ruby took a long drawn breath in her nose. The smell, the delicious smell of fresh fabric was intoxicating. It brought her right back to first year again. She shivered.

"Alright!" she cheered, spinning around. "Welcome to the room of dreams. Fresh uniform. Who's up first? Rae?"

The woman shrugged.

"Guess so."

"Perfect!" she scurried along a row of boxes. "What size of shirt do you wear? Medium?"

"That's none of your business."

Ruby's smile fell. She levelled a glare over at her. "Do you want it to fit or not?"

Raven crossed her arm, flushing. "Large."

"Okay lar- wow, really?"

"Shut up. I have long arms."

"How tall are you, like five-eleven?"

Raven tried to shrink deeper into her skin, as if to seem even shorter.

"Six-two."

"Large it is, then."

She tore the tape off of the box in front of her and pulled the flaps open. With a giddy grin, she grabbed the neatly plastic-wrapped uniform from the top of the pile, gently holding it in her arms.

"And what size shoe do you wear?"

"...woman's eleven."

Impressive. Ruby stood, looking for the boxes of shoes. She skipped over, and pulled a box open. The shoes came out, wrapped in plastic as well. She dashed back over to Raven and handed her the new uniform.

"And there you are, my Amazonian friend."

"Shut the fuck up, Summer."

She seemed pleased, despite her harsh words. There was genuine appreciation behind her voice. Ruby gleamed. She looked over to Qrow. He was fidgeting, shifting left and right on his feet. She frowned.

"Something the matter, man?"

"Gotta pee. You got me out of bed before I had the chance to do my morning stuff."

The most wicked of smiles came to her, but she kept it inside. All of her planning was about to fall through, and that was okay. She hadn't expected this kind of opportunity to present it self and it was glorious. Her original plan was going to involve paying off Tai to do something embarrassing, but when opportunity knocks, Ruby opens.

"Shit, hold on."

She ran back over to the box and grabbed a second uniform. With a quick visit back to the box of shoes and a quick guestimate on his foot size based of what she had seen when she yanked him out of bed, she grabbed a pair and shoved both things into his arms.

"Here. Go change in the bathroom."

He smiled, winking and pointing some finger guns at her.

"Thanks, Mere."

He turned and awkwardly walked out of the storage room, closing the door behind him with a click. Ruby held her breath in for a few moments, waiting for his footsteps to recede down the hall. She bit her tongue to stop from burst out laughing right there on the spot. She turned back around to where Tai and Raven stood. Raven hadn't noticed, she was too busy pulling open the plastic wrapper on her uniform. His mouth hung open in a sly smile, his eyebrows on the damn moon.

"Did you just..."

Ruby nodded vigorously, having to bend over and support herself on her knees.

"Yeah, I did."

He laughed one solid laugh, clapping his hands together. Raven dropped her blouse, looking up at the two of them.

"You savage animal, Summer."

"Did I miss something?"

Ruby shot a glance over at Tai, who winked back at her. "Don't worry about it. We'll tell you later." He said, clapping the distracted woman on the shoulder. Ruby let out a short sigh of relief.

"What if I want to know?"

"We'll tell you later." He repeated, pushing himself off the wall.

She shrugged her noncommittence. "Whatever you say, dude. Go get your uniform before they find us here."

A good idea. Ruby checked her watch, before remembering she didn't wear one. It felt like about seven, which meant they'd run out of time for breakfast if they didn't get their butts in gear. Her and Tai dashed around the room, pulling open some boxes and grabbed their own correctly sized uniforms. Someone was going to notice what they had done, but Ruby didn't care. It was going to be worth it.

They changed into their respective uniforms fairly quickly, making sure to obscure themselves with piles of boxes so nobody got any clear view of anyone else. This in itself was a surprisingly new concept for Ruby, as no one had ever had problems changing around each other back from when she was from. Yang, Blake, and especially Weiss had no issues with her nudity in the dorm room, and they would always change together in the mornings. It made her suddenly wonder how her neighbours across the hall dealt with it. She figured Ren never had problems, being all stoic and mysterious, and Nora would probably be the one jumping on the bed with her tits flying all over the place. Pyrrha and Jaune, on the other hand...

"God, this is fucking humiliating."

Ruby glanced over, watching Raven come out from behind a stack of boxes. Ruby's mouth hit the floor. There she stood, in all her hugely tall glory, perfectly filling out the uniform like she had been the original model it had been designed on. The subtle curves of the waistcoat, the perfect falling of the skirt, and even the perfectly tied ribbon around her collar impressed her. Those ribbons were a bitch on good days. The coat and the skirt weren't what captured Ruby's- and Tai's- attention. No, that honour of honours went to the thirty miles of leg that protruded out the bottom of the skirt. Ruby went a little crosseyed.

"Geez, guys, don't fucking look, you're making it worse!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to turn away. Ruby's eyes remained fixed on the thighs. And by golly, were they thick. And currently clad in the uniform-required black thigh-highs. Having seen Glynda in her probably-bought-outside-school-premesis uniform the other morning was one thing, but this was a new experience all together. Raven was very nearly as tall as Glynda was, and she was built like a tank. A sexy tank. Perfectly toned thighs, well-filled blouse, and better proportioned than any other woman she'd met, and that included Pyrrha.

"Fuck it, I'm getting back into my pyjamas."

"But that's not allowed by code, Rae."

"Don't call me that! You don't get to call me that!"

Tai had to dodge a pair of Mary Janes tossed at his head.

"But she gets to call you that, why can't I?"

"Because she doesn't stare at my legs in this skirt!"

Ruby didn't have the heart to tell her. She laughed anyways.

"God, you're precious, Rae. Let's go get breakfast before everyone takes all the waffles."

Raven kicked her way out of the room again, the whole time flipping them both off with both hands. Back out in the hallway, the air was quiet and cool as they made the long trudge back through the courtyard to the lunchroom. The smell wafting from the lunchroom was one of sweet and delicious pastries and cereals. As they pushed the door open, Ruby could only see one other student so diligent as them.

Glynda sat at the far wall up against the windows, shovelling what looked like a plate solely covered in syrup. She stopped eating as the door to the cafeteria clicked shut. Ruby watched as she glanced up from her plate and turned a vivid red as their eyes met.

"Hey, I'm gonna grab some Chex, you want anything?"

She was startled by Tai's slap of her shoulder, causing her to break eye contact. She turned to her new crew. Tai already had his tie and top two buttons undone and his blazer slung over his shoulder. She frowned at him, preparing to reprimand, but gave up mid thought. This was just who he was.

"Yeah, bagel I guess."

"Sesame?"

"With cream cheese."

He smiled, winking. "I got you, babe."

She winked back. "Thanks, babe. I'll be in the corner with Glyn."

They separated, Raven and Tai disappearing into the kitchens, and Ruby skipping over to the table by the window. Glynda perked up as she got closer.

"Morning, G, how's it going?" she asked as a formality.

"Hey, Summer. I like the uniform. You get that from a surplus store too?"

Ruby grinned, sliding into the bench across from her. She popped the collar as if she was imitating a gangster. The fresh label popped out of the lapel.

"Nope. She's brand new."

Glynda's fork his the plate.

"Guh-what? Those aren't for first years!" she paused, straightening up and putting on a sly grin. "How'd you get one?"

"Not important. What is important is what's gonna happen next."

"Whassat?"

"Patience. Where's your crew?"

"Bart's outside, running laps. Meyln and Arancia are probably still asleep."

Meyln Arc and Arancia Rosso were Glynda's new team members and fifty percent of the newly formed Team Gambit. Meyln was a timid girl, blond as the rest of her six sisters, and as tall as Glynda. She bore the very same sword and shield that her father had, his father before him, and his father before that during the Great War. A sword that would be passed down to her youngest sibling in some eighteen years. Arancia, on the other hand, was her polar opposite. Brash and fairly rude, she was a fair foot and a half shorter than her other three towering teammates, but made up for it in spirit. Ruby might have described her had she known her in her own time as 'Nora, but with a bow.' Last night at dinner she had had her steak shot off of her fork by a stray orange-red arrow from the other end of the table. She might have been strange, but she was a damn crack shot.

"Where's yours?"

"Breakfast and the bathroom. Oh, speaking of."

Tai and Raven had returned, with two trays of food. With a quick and cursory glance, it was pretty obvious that Raven should not have been left alone with her blond compatriot. She seemed either hot under the collar or hot and bothered, she wasn't quite sure which. But it was pretty obvious, as all that was on her plate was three forks and a box of strawberry milk. Tai sat down on Glynda's side, and Raven took up residence on her side, across from Glynda.

Tai slid a plate with a bagel on it over to her. It was toasted with the right amount of crisp on the edges, coated in a copious amount of cream cheese nearing an inch thick. She grinned. This was exactly the way she used to have bagels when she was a kid. But of course it was. Tai was her dad. Her smile became a shiver. Spooky. In a panic, and with concern for Raven having breakfast, she distracted herself and everyone at the table by reaching across it and nabbing Glynda's muffin, tossing it to the tall woman to her left.

"Uh, puh, thanks."

Ruby smiled. "Don't mention it."

Lucky for her, Glynda had too much waffle in her mouth to say anything bad against it. Ruby dug into her bagel, melting into her seat as the warm toasted bun flowed through her.

"You know, you've had this insidious smile on your face ever since Qrow left us."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Rae."

"You did give him his uniform, right? He's not gonna be walking around in his underwear or anything revealing like that, right?"

Ruby said nothing. Just smiled.

"Summer?!"

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Tai asked, pointing over to the main entrance to the cafeteria. The students that had been milling around had gone silent, leaving the large room with an eerie air as one particular student strode through them.

It was Qrow.

He strode through the mass of students near the front, and they parted to the sides like he was a deity gliding on air. From their spot, he was only visible from the waist up, and that was enough to silence everyone at their table. The women's blazer was a weird fit on him, but it was a perfect fit. His blouse was done up all the way with the red ribbon tied up and snug around his neck, perfectly ironed and press.

"Somethings..." Raven started, her brow furrowing. "...wrong with this picture."

He came around the edge of the other table to reveal his glory. Yes, something was wrong with this picture. But so many things were right with it, too.

"What..." Glynda started.

"...the..." Tai continued.

"...Fucking hell is this shit?!" Raven finished.

Ruby burst out laughing.

All of Qrow's pasty, mile-long legs were on full display under the slightly too short plaid uniform skirt he was dressed in. She dropped her bagel, falling herself onto the floor. Her three tablemates were completely dumbfounded by this. Tai was the next to start laughing, dropping his spoon into his cereal.

"Hey Qrow, nice legs!" he shouted, slapping the table.

"Thank you?" he replied, oh so innocently. This set both Glynda and Raven off, them both splitting in half from laughter. Ruby had to roll over onto her side, as she was now having trouble breathing.

"Something the matter, guys?" he asked, clearly oblivious.

"Yeah, your legs are showing, Bird-brain!" Raved cawed, clutching her stomach and stamping her leg. "But he's right, you have nice legs, bro."

Qrow recoiled, disgusted.

"What- what're you saying?"

Glynda stood, then with the voice of someone who had just noticed an alien sitting in church, yelled "You're wearing a girl's uniform!"

Qrow screamed, and bolted from the room.

Ruby laughed so hard she cried.