( closed ) the river knows to reach the sea

[qaw]

Who: Blake, Pyrrha, Qrow, Ruby, and Yang
What: Catching up
When: Early April
Where: Blake's Van
Warnings: Discussions of trauma, war crimes, and risque drawings

It's been a while since Qrow has taken part in one of these group meetings, and even longer since he felt like he was leading one. Hell, maybe he's not leading this meeting. He's the one with the most updated information, but Ruby is the leader of her team and closer to Pyrrha than any of the rest of them. Maybe it's her meeting.

But it doesn't matter. It's a pleasantly cool mid-spring evening. Dinner is over, the Drifters are winding down for the night, and the Convoy has deployed its shield. The five of them are gathered around a cheery little campfire, the flames throwing flickering shadows against the... interesting... mural painted on the side of Blake's van.

Whether or not they're ready for it, it's time to catch up.

Comments

[guidemyway]

Look.

Ruby doesn't want to step on Qrow's toes. He did have more information than her about home, and she wanted to hear his take on that. However the meeting didn't have to just be doom and gloom, or reeling over the fact that one of their passed friends was sitting before them.

So of course, Ruby had come prepared with an activity.

Ruby is seated with the mural to her back, because she would not be able to get through this meeting any other way.

"Okay. Now that we're done discussing that. I think we should move onto some important business in the here and now.

Since we've got four of us here, I think it's important that we decide on a team name." Ruby is aware that there are five of them here. Can you guess who she's leaving out? Here's a hint. Their name doesn't start with an R, B, Y, or P. Sorry Qrow.

"I already have something in mind, but I'd like to hear if anyone has any ideas."

[qaw]

Hey, Qrow's not about to resent being excluded from this team. He's already a part of the coolest team to ever grace the halls of Beacon Academy, and has long since developed a habit of flying (hah) solo.

He does, however, have a suggestion.

"You could do B-R-N-Y."

He grins.

"You know. Like 'briny'."

[fists_of_funny]

"Come on, Uncle Qrow, that leaves Pyrrha out in the cold." Yang points out. "But we can rectify that if we go B-R-P-Y. We could be Team Burpy!"

With a grin, she looks around for support. Come on ladies, you know you want to.

(Somewhere, somehow, Weiss is probably mortified and has no idea why.)

[andnevermore]

Blake groans. "We are not going by Team BRPY."

Honestly. Gross.

"We have two options; we can either rearrange R, W, Y and P, or we can do our last names, to have R, B, X, and N. Or a mix of both, I guess."

[tokencanadian]

Burpy... That tugs at the corner of Pyrrha's lips. Ahem.

"Well... we could try the last names. Team... BRNX, perhaps? Like bronze, sort of."

Not really, but she's helping.

[guidemyway]

Okay. Team BRPY does get a giggle and a snort out of Ruby. But she's pretty sure it's not what they're looking for long term.

"I don't mind the sound of BRNX. ...But I think it might be better to keep that one in our back pocket too." There's a brief thought of what happened to Team BRNZ at the fall of Beacon and she's not really sure she wants that reminder going forward.

"How about- Team RPBY? Like Raspberry? Sounds pretty delicious if you ask me."

[andnevermore]

"Or Team BRXN, like brazen," Blake offers. "RPBY's pretty good too."

She might actually be leaning toward Team Raspberry. She really misses having fresh fruit.

[fists_of_funny]

"Oh, BRXN, that's good." Yang leans forward, resting her arms on her knees. "I really like what that says about us. I vote for that."

[tokencanadian]

Pyrrha looks between the three teammates, thinking it over. "...I do like Raspberries."

She flashes a look to Yang. Sorry.

"But it can be leader's choice?"

[guidemyway]

"Are brazen's a kind of raisin? Because I'm not huge on raisins." This whole conversation was starting to make Ruby hungry too.

But Pyrrha raises a good point.

"Yeah, I guess it could be." Ruby didn't just want to assume she was going to be leading this team either.

"I guess if we're going between B, and R. That makes it a choice between the two of us. Do you want to rock, paper, scissors over it?"

[tokencanadian]

A snort.

"That's certainly one way of settling it, don't you think?" Which she does concede to. "I guess, if you're going to solve it either way...."

[andnevermore]

It takes Blake a long few seconds to realize that she's being spoken to here. Mostly because she'd never considered herself as a leadership candidate. When she realizes, she blurts, "Oh! Between B and R? Me? No, that's--"

She breaks off, flustered.

"No, I'm definitely not leader material. This is your team, Ruby. You've always done a good job of being our leader."

[fists_of_funny]

"Hey now, that's slander against my partner, and I'm not gonna stand for it." Yang turns with a grin to Blake. "Ruby's a great leader, but you're selling yourself short; we know who was leading the charge when the Faunus came to our aid at Haven Academy." It wasn't just her parents who rallied Menagerie to the cause, or who led them against White Fang and Salem's minions.

"That's leader material as far as I'm concerned." Sorry, but no one puts down Blake Belladonna on Yang's watch, not even Blake Belladonna.

[andnevermore]

Blake can't help the little pleased flush that springs to her cheeks. Yang is so sweet sometimes.

"Thank you, Yang. But I still think you should lead us, Ruby," Blake continues, smiling. "I put my faith in you when RWBY was first formed, and that hasn't changed. Team RBPY gets my vote."

[guidemyway]

Ruby listens to everyone's take on this, and to be fair she would happy with anyone on this team taking on the role if it came down to it. But when Blake puts her vote to it like that, there isn't really much Ruby can do but accept the choice.

A little line about carrying a daunting responsibility echoes in the back of her head, but she feels a little more comfortable with it now. She could handle it if that's what her team wanted.

"Okay. Okay. I guess if that's what folks want. We can do that. Team RPBY it is." She takes a moment to rub at the back of her head.

"I'll try not to let you down."

[tokencanadian]

"...A team name? But isn't that a bit--"

Quick? Because she just got here, not that the others are worried about that. No, they've been here much longer, haven't they?

How long have they existed... without her?

Pyrrha swallows something acidic in her throat.

"I wouldn't want to take up Weiss's position permanently, of course."

[guidemyway]

Ruby looks over to Pyrrha and frowns briefly.

"Of course not. We would never think of you replacing Weiss. And no one would want to replace you either." There's a pang of guilt as she thinks over her own recent history.

"After Beacon fell. Team RWBY kind of went their own way for awhile, for a whole lot of different reasons." She didn't exactly like dwelling on this either.

"But for awhile I travelled with Jaune, Ren, and Nora. We formed Team RNJR for awhile. It wasn't something I did to take your place. ...But we all needed each other because we-" Because they had lost Pyrrha.

[tokencanadian]

Pyrrha expression is a mirage. Soft and vague. It's hard to say whether she was thinking on the way Ruby's words trailed off, or not thinking at all.

Just... taking all that in.

What feels like an eternity is a short couple seconds before Pyrrha swallows something hard and bitter in her throat, and states: "RNJR is... that's a good name. For it, I mean. I'm sure you all did very well."

Without her. Which is something Pyrrha has summarily decided she is not ready to think about in the slightest.

[guidemyway]

Ruby immediately feels bad for opening up her mouth. It's hard to know what to say in the first place, but Ruby was probably that had been closest with Pyrrha's team after she passed. She had hoped the information would bring comfort.

"Yeah. I-" She stops herself, and looks down at the fire briefly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

[tokencanadian]

Everything about what Ruby knows could potentially be a great help. Or it could hinder things in ways Pyrrha had no way of knowing. As it was, the scraps Ruby fed her left Pyrrha chewing on the edge of her lip, contemplative. That was the nature of destiny, it seemed.

But she could never ignore Ruby's sadness.

Reaching over, Pyrrha tried to place a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"No, I... thank you, really," she meant it, even putting on a slight smile. "Seeing you here, Ruby - all of you, after what I did - that makes me feel better."

[fists_of_funny]

"Your spot in Team JNPR will still be waiting for you when we all go home, Pyrrha." Yang speaks up. Because they are going back to Remnant, all of them. Whatever force brought Pyrrha back, it's gonna have to go through all the rest of them if it tries to take her back.

[guidemyway]

The awkwardness and terrible feeling in her gut lightened up a little feeling the hand on her shoulder. It was going to be strange walking the line between what she should or shouldn't say with how long she traveled with RNJR, but she knew how much each of them desperately missed Pyrrha. Maybe the best she could do was just try to make sure those feelings got across.

"Right. And well- while we're all here. We might as well make the best of it. I feel like we've got a lot of adventure ahead of us."

Ruby blinks slightly at Yang's comment. She still wasn't exactly sure if they'd get that chance. But she hoped so, and Yang's determination was pretty infectious.

"Yeah. I think that's a good thing to work toward."