Chapter Text
It had been Yang’s idea to begin with.
The surprise Grimm attack on a number of nomads leaving disease and orphaned children in its wake had been blasted on the news for merely a couple of days, when Yang blurted, “We’ve got to do something!”
Weiss glanced up from the swirling web of an essay she was writing for Prof. – or Dr, they weren’t sure which to use at school – Oobleck. “What can we do?” she sighed.
“Go out there!” Yang pointed dramatically at a library window. “And give them the support they need!”
Blake, without looking up from her book, offered her views almost monotonously. “The support they need is medical. Sorry, Yang, but I think the Grimm themselves have been taken care of.”
Yang sank back into her chair with a defeated sigh. Fighting, becoming a huntress, for her it was all about the thrill. She had admitted to her team during their away mission that she had no real motive other than that – but helping people would be an added bonus. She had figured that, if she and her teammates could get over to the affected area, their participation in the fight would be the help those poor orphans desperately needed. It would certainly make the thrill worthwhile.
It was Yang who started it all. Ruby was the one who fuelled it.
The small dark-haired girl was having a long debate with Jaune about how to spell “simultaneously”. After Ren’s intervention, it turned out that neither of them were correct. She had still been listening to her sister’s woes, and abandoned her spelling match to pat Yang on the shoulder.
“I know it’s not much,” she said, “but you could always donate to the cause. They’re in desperate need of medical equipment; so many people were hurt and disease is spreading…”
“That ain’t how I roll sis,” Yang cut in with a shake of her gold locks. “I’ll donate of course, but I won’t feel satisfied. I need to do something more significant than that. Something big!”
Ruby tipped her head back in thought. “I don’t know…you could host a fundraising event, maybe?”
It was Yang who started it, Ruby who fuelled it, and Nora who completely glorified it.
She leapt up from seat, actually standing on it in a dramatic pose, one fist punching the air, and she declared grandly, “We could all do fancy-dress!”
The initial reaction to the proposal was not well-received.
“No,” said Blake simply.
“How many people would actually want to do that?” added Weiss.
“They will if you advertise it well,” Pyrrha offered, and losing her place in the dictionary where she was trying to prove to Jaune that her version of “necessary” was correct. It wasn’t.
“And it doesn’t just have to be dressing up!” Ruby’s silver eyes gleamed. “We could have a bake sale! With cookies!”
“Lame,” Yang moaned.
At that moment, Nora leapt from her lofty perch on the chair, and twirled around Yang with each idea bombardment.
“There could be a cake sale – but only those who dress up can buy a cake, and they’ll be very good cakes! We could have a mass game of Twister! Or a water fight and people have to bet on the winner, the prize being a box of chocolates! WE COULD THROW SPONGES AT THE TEACHERS!”
The final idea had been loud enough for her to receive a brusque “QUIET!” from the head librarian down the aisle.
The discussion continued in hushed murmurs. Luckily both teams were gathered around the same table and so could here each other easily.
“D’you really think we could get this big enough?” said Yang.
“With posters and announcements, yes!” Nora beamed.
“Crank up the hype,” added Jaune.
Weiss wrinkled her nose as if it were being lightly tickled by a tiny feather. “You’ll need permission from Prof. Ozpin. I wouldn’t get your hopes too high though.”
But Yang’s were already soaring. She flashed the white-haired ‘Ice Queen’ a winning smile. “Why would he say no when it’s for a good cause?” She leapt up from her seat, the legs of the chair scraping back with an ear-splitting screech. The exasperated taps of the head librarian’s heels stalked down the aisle.
“Ruby, Nora, come with me!” Yang blurted in a hurried whisper. “You’re good with ideas. Pyrrha, you come too, any teacher will listen to you!”
And so the four girls scurried down one of the many aisles in giggly excitement, disappearing from view just as the head librarian emerged before their table.
“I told you,” she hissed at the remaining, yet innocent, students, “be QUIET!”
The final word had been stressed the loudest a whisper would allow, and the librarian had shown a hilarious proportion of her mouth while saying it. This caused Jaune to chuckle, followed by, Weiss, and before long all four of them were clutching their sides with tears rolling down their cheeks. The girls returned triumphant from their visit to Ozpin to find their friends having been kicked out of the library for “being a disruptive influence”, still giggling away, but in a much lighter spirit about the fundraising event.