The evening of that day, Shine and Wally were tired of all the negativity.
"I know we have to deal with Vara and the Salem thing," Wally said, "but I think we could really just relax for one day."
"Well, our date was fun last night," Shine said.
"That was 24 hours ago," Wally said. "And I thought maybe with the team, you know... I mean, I love hanging out with you, but I don't think we've even done anything fun with some of them, except for that one movie."
"Fair enough," Shine said. "I'm bushed, though. Not sure I want to go out...but maybe I'll get the girls and see if they want to do anything quiet."
"I bet there's an arcade here somewhere..." Wally said.
Well...to say that Qrow and Tai were exactly down for that idea would be overly ambitious...but Qrow agreed to it if they didn't mind that he'd win.
And only because Wally said he needed help chaperoning the kids so they wouldn't wander off.
Ren declined to go, but Sun, Neptune, part of team CFVY, and Oscar all agreed to the idea. Sun also wanted to get noodles.
Whitley was invited--and accepted out of curiosity, though he said it was beneath him.
Hazel declined. He didn't do "fun".
Mercury went because he had nothing better to do and needed to blend in. But he wished Emerald would have gone so he could have avoided interacting with anyone new.
[Introverts, am I right?]
That taken care of, Shine and the girls were all left at Shade.
Theo was sulking in his office, or else he must have been outside the school--and honestly they were sick of him. Maybe he was looking for Vara.
Pyrrha seemed like she was in a really good mood, to Emerald and Yang's slight annoyance. Certainly too-happy people weirded Emerald out--and Yang was still mad about being kidnapped.
She told them yet again more of what Victoria had said and done.
Winter returned from checking in with the Ace Ops--again, to find them not doing much productive.
"Weiss, have you trained or studied at all?" she asked.
"Studied?" Weiss said.
"Just because you're not currently enrolled is no excuse not to study," Winter said.
"Oh...well..." Weiss said.
"Enough of this." Shine came in carrying some bags. "The guys are all gone, except for Hazel, and we should be doing something fun too."
"Like what?" Blake was trying to read for once in ages.
"I don't know, what do you do here for fun?" Shine asked. "Where I live, we have things called sleepovers, pajama parties, girls' nights. Practices vary, but a lot of people do make overs, karaoke, games, and things that you definitely shouldn't do."
"You know how to make something sound lame," Yang said. "And is this really the time for something stupid like this?"
"I'm disappointed to hear you say that," Shine said, "because the whole party was going to be in your honor."
Yang frowned.
"To celebrate your return and your mother's--but she won't come out of her room." Shine rolled her eyes. "Raven acts just like some goth teenager."
"Miss Likstar, is this really a good idea?" Winter said. "We have things we need to discuss. I have some questions for you--"
"And that's a perfect idea, Winter," Shine said. "We all hardly know each other, some of us. Questions would be a great game to play. You should join us."
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"I am not going to do that," Winter said.
"What, you have so many other things to do?" Shine said dryly. "I thought making friends and building team work skills was important."
"You can't really think these frivolous activities are going to do that," Winter said.
"I'll make a bet with you that they will," Shine said, undaunted. "And if we see an improvement in the next few days, you owe me coffee."
Winter frowned at her.
"It doesn't sound so bad," Weiss said cautiously. "I mean, doing things a little different."
"The makeover idea sounds kind of fun," Pyrrha said, cheerfully. "I mean, trying something new... It's just for an evening anyway. I can't remember the last time Nora and I did anything fun anyway."
"True," Nora said. "But Ren isn't here to make pancakes."
"I know how to make pancakes," Shine said.
"They won't be as good as Ren's," Nora said.
"That is rude, Miss Valkerie," Winter said severely. "Miss Likstar offered to make you food. You should thank her."
Shine smiled. "I'll make Nora pancakes if she does the makeover idea. I love doing makeup."
"But we don't even have any makeup," Blake said.
Shine pulled enough makeup out of one of the bags to supply a theater cast's worth of people.
"Why on Remnant would you own this much makeup?" Emerald asked.
"Oh, look, mascara." Weiss looked in one.
"Feel free to experiment," Shine said. "I'll go start cooking. Someone put on music."
"Winter, won't you join us?" Weiss begged. "I mean...we haven't spent time together since Atlas, I think."
Winter could never resist Weiss's puppy eyes--at least not when she felt guilty about not spending time with her.
"I suppose I could supervise..." she yielded.
"Yay! Party!" Ruby said.
"If it's in Yang's honor," Blake said, "should we do something special for her?"
"Hey, who said I wanted this?" Yang said. "And it's weird. Likstar can't stand me--she's got something up her sleeve."
"Or she's just less petty than you are." Emerald crossed her arms. "I mean, do you even appreciate how hard she worked to rescue you? She interrogated Watts twice. Do you know how infuriating he is? I would have killed him if he talked to me like I heard on the recording."
"You listened to that?" Winter said.
"It was classic," Emerald said. "I bet he almost wet his pants."
"That was what Mr. West said," Weiss said. "Which is disgusting."
"Oh, grow up, Princess," Emerald said.
"I'm not a princess!" Weiss said.
"Weiss, do you want to try makeup?" Pyrrha distracted her hastily.
"Winter says makeup is vulgar," Weiss said.
"But Winter wears eyebrow pencil..." Blake said.
[I have to thank either my sister or another fan for pointing out that Winter does, in fact, color her eyebrows.]
Winter had hoped no one would notice that... It was actually one of her only vanities other than her ship decorations and side bangs...and she had always suspected that some of the other women in the Ops judged her for that. But a Schnee really couldn't afford to look common either.
