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Between all the havoc, it had been hard to spot.
There was a lot of work to do – figuring out how exactly to approach Lionheart, training, bringing the whole team up to speed with everything that’s going on.
Ruby’s the one who notices anything is off first. Though she doesn’t connect the dots until much later.
It was during breakfast, the whole house gathered downstairs for an early meal meant to be followed with a head start on training. Ren and Jaune had woken up early to make pancakes, and most of the team were already waiting at the table. All except Nora, who was a late sleeper but was sure to be there the moment the pancakes were done and the smell hit her nose. Ruby, not at all being a morning person, groggily made her way down the stairs to join them.
“Ugh, remind me why we decided it would be a good idea to be awake at this hour?” She complained, sitting down next to Oscar, who was watching Ren coach Jaune with mild interest.
“I know it sucks kiddo, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” Qrow takes a swig of his mug. “Caffeine usually helps.”
Ruby makes a face. “Ugh, too bitter. I dunno how any of you stand that stuff.”
Qrow shrugs. “Well, offer’s open for anyone else who needs a bit of a pick-me-up.”
“Oh, you better hide that when Nora gets down here. She’s banned from coffee until we know she won’t break anything again.” Jaune looks away from where he was carefully pouring batter into a pan, wanting to communicate the importance of keeping Nora away from anything that could potentially boost her already hyper state.
“Hmm, usually I’m a morning person, but I might have to take you up on that.” Oscar brings a hand up to his mouth, yawning. “I dunno what’s gotten into me, maybe it’s all the excitement from… erm, everything, but I’ve been super tired lately.”
Ruby looks to her side, looking at Oscar as he leans on the table, arms pillowing his head, eyes half-lidded. She hadn’t noticed before, but he seems downright exhausted.
“Heh, well, it’s probably that new huntsman schedule you gotta get used to.” Ruby flashes an awkward smile. Hopefully their youngest member has been getting enough sleep.
“Guess so. Waking up early’s nothing new, but I think all the sparring is just tiring me out. I still don’t get how you guys can wrap your head around all that stuff.”
“That’s how I felt last year, but don’t worry about it. Enough practice and you’ll figure it out pretty quick.” Jaune says.
“First batch of pancakes are done.” Ren barely has time to speak before he’s interrupted by Nora barreling down the stairs.
“DO I SMELL PANCAKES?!” She exclaims, rushing to her seat and not hesitating to toss several onto her plate.
The group laughs and quickly begins digging into the pancakes, eager to get a bite before Nora devours her favorite breakfast. Light conversation resumes, and Ruby’s thoughts turn from worrying about Oscar to the day’s early sparring session.
Much, much later that night, after a day full of training and planning, Ruby starts to see the other side of the issue.
She had gone to bed after most, but earlier than Qrow and Oz, who were having some kind of conversation in the common room. She had managed to drift off to sleep okay tonight, but only a few hours later her slumber was interrupted by flashes of memories, adrenaline, and her waking with a gasp that briefly caused Jaune to shuffle in his sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she figured she needed a half hour or so to cool down, and got up to splash some water on her face.
As she quietly turned the door handle and crept out of the room, though, she realized she could hear something coming from downstairs. She froze in her tracks, prepared for the worst, and listened. Footsteps, and… the clinking of dishware?
Realizing someone with bad intentions would likely not be rummaging around in their kitchen, Ruby descended the stairs, watching Oscar gather ingredients and a mug.
“Oscar?”
He blinks and looks at her. “Oh, hello Miss Rose.” Oz says. “Would you like some hot chocolate?”
“Oh, sorry Professor Ozpin. Umm… sure? I guess?” Ruby walks to the table and sits down, while Oz grabs a second mug. “Sorry, but why are you making hot chocolate at…” She glances at the clock. “Two in the morning?”
“Hmm, hot chocolate calms the nerves. I find it to be a great sleeping aid, something I’m sure you might benefit from.” He turns away from stirring together milk and powder, giving her an understanding glance. “After all, there must be a reason you are up at this hour as well.”
“Ah well… can’t argue with that.” Oz finishes mixing the drinks, and hands one off to Ruby. The two sip in silence, until Ruby voices a thought.
“So, if you’re up so late, is Oscar up too?”
Oz hums against his mug as he swallows. “Not exactly. His mind is asleep for now, though enough strenuous movement on my part will surely awaken him. He prefers to head to bed, and thus awaken in the morning, much earlier – no doubt due to his background waking up at sunrise on the farm. I, on the other hand, tend to be a bit of a night owl myself.”
“That’s so weird… It’s like you’re sleepwalking for him.” Ruby whispers.
Oz chuckles at that. “I suppose it is odd. But many things are, for someone like me.”
At this, the two resume their drinks. The conversation had distracted Ruby thoroughly enough that she felt she could try sleeping again, and she bid Oz goodnight before heading back to bed. But something did nag at her, just a bit, about Oz being up so late. If he stayed up, but Oscar awoke early... even if their minds were resting, that seemed very odd.
It all came to a head during training one day. Oz was directing RNJR through a few hand-to-hand exercises, but Ruby was distracted. It had been a few days since she had met Oz during the late hours of the night, but he and Oscar still seemed to be fatigued. Oscar would openly yawn, and often his focus would drift as his eyes would start to shut before he shook himself awake and again attempted to carry on. Oz was better at hiding his exhaustion, but she could still see it. It was apparent in the way his dramatic pauses became just a bit longer as he struggled to come up with his next words in a grandiose speech. Or the way his posture dipped ever so slightly as he observed from the sidelines.
Her musing was cut short as Ren landed a solid punch to her solar plexus. “Oof,” she muttered, bending down.
“Are you okay? You look a little spacey.” Ren offers his hand to steady her, and she takes it.
“Yeah, I’m just a bit distracted today. I dunno. I’m not the best at hand-to-hand yet.”
Oz walks over, having noticed the pair stopped. “While I don’t mean to diminish the importance of hand-to-hand combat, you all have been at this for quite a while now. Let’s change gears, and have a full weapons fight. Mr. Arc, pair with Miss Valkyrie; Mr. Ren, you will practice with Qrow. And Miss Rose, I find it far past time for Oscar to join this training session.”
At that, Oz drops control all at once and a panicked Oscar takes his place. “Sorry, I’m doing what now?” He tilts his head, listening, then sighs and pulls out his weapon.
Ruby goes to stand apart from him as the other pairings do the same, weapons at the ready. Oscar looks around nervously, then speaks. “Okay, um, I guess… go?”
Each pair launches into action. As a lighthearted sparring match, it’s pretty much second nature for everyone except Oscar, who is focusing intently as he tries to both counter Ruby and heed Oz’s advice at the same time. It’s not long before Ruby notices he really starts to struggle, panting as he sluggishly brings his staff up to block.
She slows down. “Are you okay?”
He brings his staff down and leans on it, Ruby abandoning any attempt to strike. “‘M fine,” he slurs, “Jus’ need… ah, a breather…” But he crumples to the floor as soon as he finishes the sentence.
“Everyone stop! Oscar fainted!” Ruby calls out, rushing to him. The others gather around.
“MY BOY!” Nora exclaims.
“What happened?” Jaune asks.
“I dunno, he was doing just fine, but then he started looking really tired and he just – passed out!”
“Well, let's bring him inside, all cool off for a bit.” Qrow goes to pick Oscar up.
“Do you think it was the strain from fighting so much?” Ren asks.
“But Ozpin was just standing around before! It’s not like his body did too much today.” Nora points out.
As they make their way inside, Ruby thinks about that. “Ozpin… was acting very tired today. And come to think of it, Oscar’s also been tired all the time lately. Have they… not been getting enough sleep?”
The group exchanges glances. “Well,” Qrow speaks up, “Oz was up with me last night planning stuff. But we didn’t head in too late, only like eleven.”
“Ooh, but the other day I saw Oz up much later making hot cocoa. Are you sure he actually went to sleep?”
“No idea. I was out like a light pretty quick.” Qrow lays Oscar down on the couch.
“Wait, when did you see Ozpin up? Because I came down around seven the other day and Oscar was already awake. Said he was used to being up so early from the farm that it was a hard habit to break.” Jaune pipes up.
“It was a few days ago.” Ruby answers.
“So between the two of them… they’re kinda always awake.” Nora observes.
“It sounds like neither of them are getting rest.” Ren comments.
“Well, Ozpin did say he can be awake while Oscar isn’t. And I bet that goes for the opposite too. So their minds are resting but…” Ruby trails off.
“But are they actually getting enough sleep?” Jaune asks.
At that, everyone looks at each other. Qrow shrugs. “Hell if I know how any of that works for their mess of a situation.”
Oscar awakens slowly, dazedly. It takes him a minute to register where he is, not in the stiff bed he grew up in but the one in the house he was staying in with Qrow and the others.
He tries to sit up, only to incite a pounding headache. “Where…? What happened?”
Oz hesitates a bit before responding. I… my memories are a bit hazy on the subject.
“Great.” Oscar massages his temples, willing his headache to go away. He blinks once, then rubs his eyes, trying to dispel the fog of sleep. Based on the window giving way to the colorful summer sky, it’s late evening.
He slides his legs down from his bed and walks to the door. He notices he’s not dressed in pajamas, but he’s not in full getup either. His suspenders and boots had been removed, though his less-than-comfy work pants remained. He figures he probably didn’t intend to fall asleep, then.
He walks downstairs and sees the group up and about, preparing dinner. Nora, banned from the kitchen in general, notices him first.
“CUTE BOY OZ!”
“Nora, wait–!” Oscar attempts to brace himself for her tackle hug with minimal success.
“Oh my gods, we were so worried, you were asleep for an entire day! We thought there might be something wrong with you but you didn't have a fever or anything and we were kinda talking about it and figured you probably just needed the sleep, so…” As Nora rambles on and on, the others make their way to him too. All except Ren, who peeks at the commotion but diligently remains attending to their food.
“Hey kid,” Qrow greets. “You feeling okay?”
“Uh, yeah,” Oscar stutters. “Just groggy.” As he tries to regain his bearings, he catches up to what Nora had blurted out before. “Sorry, did you say I was asleep for an entire day? ”
“Yup. Pretty much,” she confirms.
That allows panic to well up in him. “But– that’s thrown us so off-schedule! We already have so much to do, I can’t have been asleep that long!”
“I think the schedule is part of the problem,” Ruby speaks up. Oscar’s vision focuses on her. “We all talked, and we don’t think you’re actually getting any sleep.”
Oscar scrunches his face in thought. From his perspective, he’s been sleeping like normal – out early in the night, up early in the morning. Though, thinking harder on the subject, he does realize it’s not usually him that goes to bed. Usually, Oscar is already yawning when Oz asks to take over, usually to catch up with Qrow, or spend a bit more time stargazing, citing that he’s not quite tired yet…
Oh my. Well, this is embarrassing.
“What is?” Oscar asks. The rest of the group exchange glances, ignoring his magical soul-bond induced outburst.
Honestly, I haven’t experienced this problem in centuries. Perhaps I would’ve realized it sooner, had we not been exhausting ourself like this.
“But I’ve been sleeping enough. Haven’t you?”
Yes – but not at the same time, Oz says. I, as you have noticed, am currently quite the night owl – and you are quite the early bird. I believe our body has only picked up, at most, an hour or two of sleep each day, between my late bedtime and your early awakening. Between the two of us, we are completely tiring out your body.
“So,” Oscar summarizes for the group, “It’s not just my mind that needs rest, my body also has to spend enough time asleep.”
“It makes sense, I guess,” Jaune comments.
Yes. While resting the mind is half the battle, physical rest is required too. Both of us may have acquired some energy from our mental rests, but ultimately our body needs that as well.
“Ugh,” Oscar groans. “This is gonna suck to fix.” He puts his hands up to his head, drawing them down his face. “I like waking up early. And I’ve been doing it my whole life. Can’t you just go to bed a little earlier?”
I’ve been heading to bed late for the past 20 years. It will not be that easy to fix.
“Yeah, but 20 years is only like a tiny percent of your whole life. So really, my schedule should take priority.”
As Oscar argues with himself, Ren calls out that dinner is ready, and the group begins migrating towards the dinner table. By the time they sit down to eat, Oscar and Oz have agreed to compromise, each chipping a little bit off of their sleep schedule until they meet in the middle.