Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.

Ren caught the back of Nora's collar just as she lunged out towards Cardin Winchester yet again. She really had a grudge against that boy because of how he bullied others. Nora was not one to ever take abuse lying down and any bully's worst nightmare would be to try and pick on her or one of her friends. She talked about breaking Cardin's legs when she found out he was being rude to Jaune and picking on Velvet because she was a Faunus and everyone thought it was a joke. Ren knew better though, he knew that if he ever didn't catch Nora and restrain her from going after the poor boy that they would have to have a very long, uncomfortable talk with Headmaster Ozpin.

"Renny, come on." Nora pulled at his hand desperately trying to break his grip. Ren had a very practiced hold of the inside of her armor or the collar of her school uniform. In the first few days at Beacon, Ren had tried to hold her back and the clothing had simply torn to pieces under his hand. Ren had to spend that night silently reinforcing the neck lines of all of Nora's uniform shirts so that wouldn't happen again.

"Nora, no matter how much you hate him, he is a fellow student. You can't just beat him up." Ren pulled her back slightly, knowing that once he had told her no, she wouldn't go chasing after him. She understood why she couldn't, just sometimes she didn't really care and needed someone close to her to tell her no. Nora fell back into line and grabbed her tray off the counter where she had left it.

"You know he deserves it though." She pouted and began grabbing food, trying to look as sullen as possible but not really upset when faced with the prospect of some of her favorite foods. It was lunch time so there were no pancakes, but Nora was a big fan of pot roast as well and it seemed to do a decent job of cheering her back to her usual self. Ren looked up and down the line of friends that he and Nora were at the middle of. Jaune and Pyrrha were at the front, picking through the foods to find the healthiest options as Ren had suggested. Team RWBY was behind them, Yang at Nora's side, competing with her pile of food, Weiss and Blake bickering about Blake's choice of fish and how Weiss was certain it would make her breath smell later. Then Ruby down at the far end, she was incredibly quiet. Not just quiet for her but quiet for anyone, she may have spoken less words than himself today.

Ren had not replied to Nora and she had turned away to see if she or Yang was capable of getting more food onto a single plate. It was good that Nora had so much fun with their friends. In Ruby she had someone as spontaneous and energetic as her and in Yang she had found someone to keep up with her physically, a lifting partner and rival as well as someone that made her feel less bad about how much she ate compared to everyone else. Ren smiled as he watched the two and grabbed some more asparagus for himself.

"So, Ren. Does this meet your health food standards?" Pyrrha asked politely from his side. Ren replaced the tongs back in the tray of asparagus and turned to look at Pyrrha and Jaune's trays. They both had a substantial amount of dark green vegetables, two fruits a piece, some of the day's pot roast and a modest amount of bread. Ren noticed that Jaune was eating much more these days than he had been before. It must be a result of his increased training regimens with Pyrrha. That was good, being a huntsman took work and Jaune was finally putting it in.

"Yes, you two have learned much." Ren gave them both a warm smile and returned to stocking his plate. He was really very happy that his teammates had taken so much from him. When they became a team Jaune's eating habits were nearly as bad as Nora's which Ren had given up on long ago. He, of course, ate no where near as much as Nora but still gave absolutely zero thought to what he was eating. Pyrrha had a fairly well balanced diet as it was, she couldn't have been the champion she was otherwise. But, even she tended to focus more on red meats and starches leaving herself desperately lacking a truly balanced diet. He was glad that when he began offering his advice, she had told him how much better she felt herself performing after just a few weeks.

Once they had finished arranging their food, Ren followed Jaune over to a large enough section of empty tables for both Teams JNPR and RWBY to sit at. He looked around the cafeteria as they walked and breathed deep and heavy, reminding himself that here they were safe and at home here. Surrounded by fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses at an academy designed to train them into being the absolute best at defending the world from the terrors that were the Grimm. He seated himself comfortably with his team, feeling very much at ease here with his friends.

Once again, without a word the team arranged themselves so that Jaune and Ruby were as far apart from each other as possible while still being at the same table. Ren was seated directly across from Ruby and his entire team was stretched out to his side, Nora, Pyrrha and then Jaune. Team RWBY was similarly spread, with Ruby across from him, then Weiss, Yang and Blake at the far end with Blake and Jaune facing each other. They had all done this with the same unspoken cooperation that had given Ruby and Jaune seats with each other while they were dating. They all knew it was a sensitive time for them and didn't want to make it any more so by forcing them together. Ren was really glad that the people he spent all his time with were insightful and considerate in this way, it made things much easier.

"Alright, so what's the plan for team training?" Yang shoved a forkful of food into her mouth without hesitation. She and Nora were already plowing their way through their giant meals.

"Well, we can use the room again or since we haven't in a while, we could always go out to the wilderness again." Jaune held his fork up in the air with a few sprigs of asparagus on the end as he spoke.

"That would be nice. I like training outdoors where we can really move." Blake, usually so quiet during conversations like these, must have really wanted to train outdoors again for her to have voiced her opinion.

"I agree, even tournaments usually take place in an open air environment to allow greater freedom of movement. Training in a small room is very constricting to our techniques." Pyrrha had yet to begin eating. She usually waited until their initial conversations were over before she did so that she was never caught with a mouthful of food when she needed to speak.

"Well I guess that settles it then. Anyone opposed to training out in the wild again?" Jaune looked all around the table though Ren noticed that he never lingered very long at his end where Ruby was sitting. Apparently Jaune was still feeling uncomfortable about it and while they all focused on the fact that Ruby hadn't spoken with Jaune since their break-up, Jaune had not spoken with Ruby either.

"And where exactly are we going to train?" Weiss crossed her arms in her usual show of prideful indifference, "Not that anywhere out there would be much better. But I seem to remember someone," she very pointedly stared at Nora, "absolutely destroying our previous training grounds in the ruins.

"They were already ruins." Nora bellowed in self defense, "I was just making them even more ruin-y."

"Oh come on Princess. What are you? Scared to go back out in the woods and get a little dirty?" Yang nudged her in the side with her elbow and never stopped eating. Ren also noticed her wink in what could be considered a suggestive manner, but it most likely just more of Yang's usual humor.

"I am not," Weiss shot both fists down to her side, obviously upset by Yang's insinuations, "I just think we need to practice somewhere that properly prepares us for actual conflict." As she spoke Weiss remastered her own emotions and finished with her chin turned up and away from her blonde teammate.

"Well, in real combat against the Grimm we could be anywhere," Blake leaned around Yang's massive shoulders to catch Weiss's attention. "The world doesn't always give you a clean floor and a fair fight."

"Right, so gotta be prepared for anything they can throw at us." Yang threw an arm over her partner's shoulder with a grin. She was always so full of energy and optimistic about the world. Both she and her sister were. Ren looked across the table at Ruby who was sullenly poking at her food, not having really eaten anything yet. Ren cleared his throat rather pointedly and she glanced up at him.

Ruby stared at him for a long moment and he just stared back. He knew that his point had gotten across and that she knew exactly what she needed to do. So, he let her stare and come to terms with the facts herself and decide on a course of action. She looked at the back of Weiss's head as the heiress continued to argue with Blake and Yang about just how prissy she was and whether or not she was actually scared of dirt.

"Uhh… Weiss." Ruby attempted to broach Weiss's angry exterior with her voice. Weiss didn't respond at all, she just went off on Yang about wearing white because it complimented her light skin, not because she wanted to show just how perfectly spotless she could remain. "Weiss?" Ruby reached out and tapped her shoulder with a single finger. And tapped the irate heiress on the shoulder. Weiss jumped a little at the contact and turned to face Ruby, her anger with the other two immediately fading to speak with her partner.

"Yes?" Ren could see that Ruby's silence had been affecting everyone. She was usually second only to Nora in volume and her constant jabberings often held more meaning and intent than Nora's random jokes and observations. Ren spared Nora a glance as Ruby mustered the courage to actually address her partner and he saw that Nora was indeed watching the scene in front of them with a lot of attention. She was of course, also sneaking her hand across the table to steal a piece of freshly buttered bread from Yang's plate but her hands really did seem to act on their own sometimes.

"Yang and Nora wanted to take me to the salon, because well..." Ruby held her now fading red bangs out in front of her so Weiss could see what she meant, "I kind of need to." Ruby mumbled so quietly that Ren was sure only he and Weiss had heard since they were the closest. Weiss sighed audibly and pinched at the bridge of her nose in frustration though.

"Oh, right. You know we are waiting until the weekend right? We already told Jaune about your salon trip." Weiss turned back to face the rest of the group, who surely by now was starting to get some inkling of what Ruby had said. "As long as the team training doesn't interfere with their little trip to the Salon, then Ruby and I are okay with going outside." Nora's face lit up with excitement at both the renewed prospect of a day out with Ren, Ruby and Yang and because she had managed to take the bread off of Yang's plate before the blonde could react. She shoved the bread in her mouth with a grin as Yang tried to lunge across the table and grab it back. Nora leaned back and held her hands up and away from Yang so that she could the bread unperturbed. Yang decided to swipe Nora's entire plate as payment and began hungrily devouring her pot roast, much to Nora's chagrin.

"Oh yes," Pyrrha turned happily back to Jaune, "And we are still going to train tonight aren't we?" Jaune seemed a little blown away at the sudden response everyone was having. Usually these kinds of situations were handled by Ruby but as she was rather out of sorts right now they all appeared to be jumping to the other Team leader.

"Yeah, yeah." Jaune looked around, searching for the answer somewhere in the sea of students around them, "We can do Saturday then? Or maybe Sunday? How about Sunday so we can all finish everything else we need to do first?"

"Sunday would work." Ren leaned just far enough forward that Jaune could see him around Pyrrha and Nora. Jaune smiled, he always seemed to gain confidence from Ren's support, whether it was because Ren was slightly older or because he was the only other male on their team he did not know, but Ren tried to offer his support when it felt appropriate to help his leader.

"That is it." Yang bellowed and lunged across Ren's vision, arms outstretched towards Nora. They both went tumbling to the ground, taking their plates with them. There was a crash as the cutlery hit the floor and shattered, utensils scattered everywhere and food smashed under them as they rolled across the aisle and banged into the opposite row of tables.

Nora ended up on top, most likely through sheer luck as they tumbled and pumped both fists into the air declaring victory. Yang grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her off to the side and down towards the ground with a yelp. Ren looked back to the others at the table for some sort of explanation as to why this had happened. He had taken his eyes of off Nora for just a moment and now she was wrestling with maybe one of the only people that could beat her in an unarmed fight.

"I believe it has something to do with Nora squirting ketchup into Yang's hair." Blake said sullenly from her spot at the table. She did not seem overly concerned that her partner was smashing through the benches and tables of Beacon's cafeteria, chasing a giggling redhead.

"Ahh, of course." Ren shook his head sullenly and turned back to locate the two brawlers currently laying waste to the dining area. They had already covered quite a lot of ground and Nora was wielding an entire bench as a stand-in for Magnhild as Yang pursued her, smashing and punching her way through the tables and other students with ease. Most everyone jumped out of their way, not wanting any part of whatever quarrel the two had.

That was until Professor Goodwitch arrived and put an immediate stop to it all with a snap of her riding crop. She flicked her arm outwards angrily and the bench went soaring out of Nora's grip and back to its spot on the other side of the cafeteria. She snapped her arm the other direction and all of the tables that Yang and Nora had displaced rolled and careened back into their spots. Her semblance was truly incredible and oddly suited to being the head of discipline at a school made for super strong, sometimes destructive teenagers like themselves.

Ren couldn't make Professor Goodwitch's reprimand from across the room, but he could very easily tell the tone. Her shoulders were hunched incredibly far up and seemed about to touch her ears. She continued using her riding crop like a baton, pointing at the wake of destruction the two had left behind them. Nora and Yang both stood with their heads down. He saw Yang hold out her hair at one point, most like trying to explain what had started it all but she dropped it again at a sharp retort from the Professor. They all watched on in silence as the two members of their teams were chewed out in front of most of the school. In fact it appeared that most of the student body was watching or trying to appear as if they weren't. Those two definitely knew how to make a scene out of themselves.

After some time they turned away from Professor Goodwitch and began a slow snaking path back to their table. They were stopping at every table they had upended and appeared to be apologizing to any students who still remained.

"Blake, did you hear what they said?" Weiss turned to her teammate curiously. It was strange that she would ask Blake. While the quiet girl did appear to have impeccable hearing, she was also the furthest from what had happened and Professor Goodwitch wasn't really one to yell at students; she was more of the quiet, stern, angry type.

"She went into them pretty hard. But, they aren't in trouble. She did make them apologize to everyone they disturbed though." Blake settled back into a more relaxed position in her seat. Had she really heard all of that? Perhaps she could read lips, or was just inferring based on what had happened and passing it off as if she had heard. Ren decided that he would have to remember just how observant she was.

Eventually, after making their rounds of apologies, Yang and Nora finally returned to their table. They both looked rather dejected but seemed amiable enough with each other. These two never seemed to be upset with one another when something like this happened, they were usually more upset with whatever authority figure was forced to make them stop. It seemed that was the case now as well.

"Oum, Goodwitch is so lame." Yang threw herself down next to Pyrrha, not even bothering to make her way around the table to sit with her team. Nora slumped into the spot between Yang and Ren in a similar huff.

"It's like she doesn't want us to have any fun." Nora crossed her arms and pouted like a small child, resting her arms on the table and her chin on her arms. Ren smiled to himself, she was absolutely adorable when she got herself so worked up. He would have to remember to mention this later to her, just how much he liked how blatantly she wore her emotions.

"Well, the two of you should be happy you weren't more seriously punished." Weiss crossed her arms in a very different manner, haughty and uptight as usual, "I mean honestly, Professor Goodwitch could have very well given you detention or forced you to clean and repair the cafeteria on your own. She was incredibly generous. Apologizing is the very least you two could do to make amends for veritably ruining everyone's lunches." Weiss's temple began to pulse with the absolute effort of talking that loudly, that sternly and for that long without stopping to breath. "Did you even consider the consequences before you leapt in Yang? No, there you went just hurling yourself into harm's way without a second thought. And Nora, ketchup in her hair? Really? Of all the things that you knew would push Yang's buttons just the wrong way. I just cannot believe you two." Weiss quickly turned away at the end of her tirade, most likely so that she could gulp hungrily at air without being overly obvious.

"Wow Weiss, I didn't realize you could do that too. I thought only Ruby could talk that long without breathing." Yang nudged Nora in the side with her elbow to get her to join in.

"Yeah have you two been practicing that together too in your training sessions?" Nora sat up, allowing the thought of being able to tease Weiss pull her out of her Professor Goodwitch inspired depression.

"I mean, I understand Ruby needs the lung capacity for when she's trying to drown herself in milk and cookies but dang." Yang put her hands on her hips and leaned back, "I'm impressed Ice Queen."

"Well you should be." Weiss turned back, having recovered her lungs and now fully back in control of her breathing and her emotions, "I will have you know that singing gave me excellent lung control."

"Oh Weiss, you sing?" Pyrrha clasped her hands together beneath her chin in joy. Her eyes lit up in honest enthusiasm and Ren wasn't sure how much of it was fake to try and steer the conversation away from another fire and ice argument and how much was actual, genuine excitement at the idea of having a fellow singer in the group.

"Yes, I do." Weiss stated with quite obvious pride. She held a single hand to her chest, slender fingers extended so just the tips of her finely manicured nails grazed her blouse. "I sang professionally several times before focusing more intensely on my Huntress training."

"Oh that is so amazing." Pyrrha nearly giggled with girlish delight and seemed to only barely be containing herself. "Weiss, can we sing together some time? I would absolutely love to be able to sing with you." Weiss seemed taken aback by the offer, perhaps she had not considered the fact that Pyrrha too had a reputable singing career. She had apparently never had to work at it very much, she just had a naturally silky smooth and rather sultry singing voice.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly be opposed. I mean under the right circumstances of course." Weiss stumbled a bit under the unknown information. "Pyrrha, do you…? Do you sing as well?" Weiss's holier than thou attitude slipped visibly in the presence of yet another of Pyrrha's many talents.

"Well, I'm sure that I'm nothing like you Weiss. I only sang a few times in the past. I performed for a few different promotional purposes, I sang for events held by close friends and just once after a tournament I was invited to do a solo piece at the Mistralian Concert Hall." Pyrrha blushed as she described her singing career. Although she had described everything faithfully, Ren knew from other conversations with her that she was being modest. The events she had performed at were all galas and balls put on by her sponsors, some of the largest corporations on Vale. Surely Weiss's father had been present for more than one of Pyrrha's performances.

"You performed at the Mistralian Concert Hall?" Weiss seemed struck by the news. The Concert Hall in Mistral was one of the largest and most widely acclaimed music venues on Remnant. It housed operas, full orchestras and large bands as well as choirs and the occasional, specially selected solo performances.

"No, no, no it really wasn't all that large of a deal. It was after I won the Mistral Regional Tournament for the third time. They invited me based on my combat prowess and my standing in the community of Mistral at the time. Honestly I was terribly afraid the entire time and I'm sure I sang just horribly." Pyrrha ducked her head down and blushed even further, she was obviously quite embarrassed she had even brought it up.

"Woohoo Princess, looks like Pyrrha's given you a little competition for fanciest girl around." Yang laughed and laughed at her teammate's expense. Ren glanced over and saw that even Ruby was smiling slightly, not even the awkwardness of being around Jaune enough to keep her mirth trapped inside. "That's like, your one thing. If she beats you at that too, then what are you gonna do?"

"Please, that is not my one thing." Weiss jutted her head out towards Yang mockingly, "I have far more talents than just 'being fancy'." She made exaggerated air quotes around the phrase and finished by sticking her tongue out in a very un-fancy manner.

"Yeah, like being Remnant's most boring roommate." Yang shot back across the table. Nora looked as if she wanted to join in on the teasing but at the same time wanted to stay as far away as possible else she incur either girl's wrath. "Oh I'm Weiss, I need to study, we need to sleep, you need to pick up your clothes, stop walking around naked." Yang mocked in a high sing-songy voice surely meant to imitate Weiss's own. Weiss blushed considerably at the final comment, though why Yang's nudity could embarrass her that much Ren could not place. Just as she seemed to recover herself the bell rang loud and clear across the room.

"Oh darn," Blake deadpanned as she slowly stood, "Now we'll never get to hear the end of this thrilling conversation." she took her tray and moved away slowly as both girls completely ignored her.

"This is not over Yang, you hear me?" Weiss stood quickly, lifting her tray with her.

"It never is with you is it Snow Flake? I'll see you back in the dorm, just try not to stare too long." Yang winked at the heiress one final time and literally strutted away, shaking her hips in dramatic fashion as she vanished into the sea of students. Weiss quickly turned her chin up and away with a huff and strode off in the opposite direction.

"That was…. Exciting." Pyrrha offered but was met only with silence from the rest of the group.

"At least Weiss isn't coming to the Salon with us. I don't think it would be as much fun if they were like that the whole time." Nora scooped all of her and Ren's trash and skipped off to the nearest trashcan.

"Pyrrha, I'll see you around five for our training?" Jaune had his things already in hand. He was often late to Professor Peach's class and she was a stickler for attendance so it was no surprise that he wanted to get going.

"That would be wonderful. I'll meet you in the gym?" Pyrrha stood and turned her absolute full attention to her partner and leader.

"Yeah, great see you then." Jaune turned to everyone else as a whole, "Bye guys. Have fun tonight." And with that he was off, dumping his garbage in a trashcan as he left.

"Ruby, we'll come pick you up when we're ready okay?" Ren turned back to the other leader who was still quietly sitting. She looked up when he said her name specifically and nodded.

Ren was worried about her, he had never seen her this quiet for this long before. Hopefully Yang and Nora were right and tonight's trip to the salon would be good for her, maybe even get her totally back on track and bring back the Ruby they all knew and loved. He could only hope.

A/N - Hurray, more shenanigans in the lunchroom. I feel like with that many super powered teenagers all in one room every day there would surely be many incidents like the food fight from volume 2. They should probably have a rather high powered staff member on permanent patrol duty just to ensure things never get too far out of hand.

Also, next chapter is the salon, so tomorrow. I promise. Also, it is only the first part of the Salon visit and clocks in over 6k words, so lots of fun to be had. Special teaser, you will be hearing from a character's Point of View you never have before….and Weiss isn't going. Have fun with that. You won't have to wait long though, because it comes out tomorrow.

Hope you're all still enjoying it. Please tell me what you think as you go, I love to hear from you and I reply to everyone, every time. If I miss yours feel free to slap me =)

-Zach