RWBY: LUCID

The bell rang, dismissing the last class before lunch.

Jaune stepped out into the hall with Nora still chattering beside him like they'd been best friends for years.

"That's good to know for next time. Who knew adding pink starch turns it to goop?" she gestured, shrugging like she wasn't the one who added extra ingredients to the experiment. "Or maybe I secretly discovered a new polymer!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Is that a good thing?"

"Only if it doesn't come to life later and eat someone."

Before he could figure out whether she was joking, footsteps approached from behind. Jaune turned just as a familiar face stepped into view.

Lie Ren.

He stopped next to Nora with his hands tucked calmly inside his jeans. His expression was a picture of practiced patience, though the slight crinkle near his eyes betrayed a hint of amusement. As if he'd already endured several of Nora's morning tangents and expected a dozen more by nightfall.

Nora beamed and gestured dramatically between them. "Jaune, meet Ren! Ren, meet Jaune!"

Ren gave a slight bow of the head. "Nice to meet you. You're the new transfer, right?"

"You too," Jaune said, returning the nod. "And yes, I'm new. I'm from Ansel."

Ren raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes. I've actually been there before a couple of years back."

"Really? It's a little further out from Vale so I thought it would be rarer to find someone that's been there before."

"Well. You aren't entirely wrong. I was only there due to a connecting flight. Gave me some time to explore the city a little."

Jaune nodded. The city of Ansel did have many connecting flights, small though it might be. Nora gave Ren a curious look but said nothing.

They stood there for a moment in easy silence, broken only by the muffled noise of students clearing out from surrounding classrooms. Jaune found himself liking Ren's presence. He seemed calm and grounded.

The kind of guy who could probably survive a hurricane just by standing still. Well, Nora was kind of a like a hurricane in her own sense.

Then Yang's voice rang out from down the hall. "There you guys are!"

She strolled up with a bounce in her step and greeted both Nora and Ren with a casual wave.

"Hey, you two. Causing trouble already?"

Nora saluted with a grin. "Only small trouble!"

Yang rolled her eyes fondly. "Sounds about right."

From their short exchange, it was clear the three of them knew each other already—casual acquaintances, maybe even on the edge of friendship. Familiar enough to tease but distant enough to still be polite.

Then Yang seemingly having a lightbulb moment asked with hum "You guys wanna join us for lunch?"

The question seemed casual on the surface, but Jaune didn't miss the way Ren's and Nora's expressions widened, though Ren's was more subtle.

"Really, you want us to join the two of you for lunch?"

She looked from Yang to Jaune, almost like she expected them to laugh or tease her.

Jaune didn't hesitate.

"Of course," he said, smiling. "We'd be glad to have you join us."

Nora blinked.

Then she lit up like someone had flipped a switch behind her eyes. Her grin could've powered a small town.

"Awesome! Let's go right now!"

Ren offered a small but genuine smile too. "Thank you."

"Hold your horses. We're waiting on someone." Yang held her hands up. The two of them nodded in acceptance.

Yang gave Jaune a playful nudge with her elbow. "Look at you, making friends already."

"I'm on a roll," Jaune said, a little surprised at himself. But he didn't mind it. Not one bit.

Just then, Ruby appeared at the corner of the hallway, waving as she jogged over.

"Hey, Yang! Oh—Nora! Ren!" she greeted with a bright grin.

Nora waved back. "Ruby! Hi!"

Jaune watched as Ruby exchanged conversation with the two of them. She seemed to know them well enough to make it natural, and soon the five of them were heading toward the dining hall together.

Jaune was simply happy that he didn't feel like the new kid awkwardly tagging along.

As the five of them reached the cafeteria, the familiar scent of warm food drifted through the air—grilled meat, baked buns, and a hint of delicious seasoning that probably came from the curry station.

Beacon's dining hall was impressively stocked for a school cafeteria. Along the serving line, trays were loaded with options: thick-cut steak sandwiches, steamed dumplings, pasta with creamy mushroom sauce, rice bowls, fruit cups, and the ever-reliable Beacon fries, which were seasoned so well that Ruby joked had their own cult following.

Jaune grabbed a chicken rice bowl, a cup of apple juice, and a slice of chocolate cake he definitely didn't need, but took anyway. Ren, after some quiet inspection, settled on steamed dumplings and a miso soup, moving with precise, almost graceful efficiency.

Ruby stacked her tray with shocking speed, piling on mashed potatoes, a grilled cheese, and two cookies that looked comically large next to her phone. Nora had a similar method—grab now, question later—ending up with three different entrées and a can of something neon pink. Yang stuck with pasta and a side salad, tossing on some breadsticks as they walked past the last station.

They later found a corner table by the windows overlooking Beacon's courtyard, where students occasionally strolled past with their own lunches, books, or backpacks slung across their backs. The midday sun spilled through the glass, painting long golden lines over their trays and the table's metal frame.

Ruby and Nora immediately launched into a chaotic, high-energy conversation—something about medieval weapons and a the best cold weapons sport, followed by Nora's unrelated retelling of a day-dream she'd had about sparring with a sentient pancake. Yang sat between them, occasionally jumping in with a sarcastic quip or encouraging "What? No way!" to keep things rolling.

Meanwhile, Jaune found himself in quieter conversation with Ren.

It started with the usual polite exchange—classes, professors, a shared dislike for overly bitter foods—but shifted into more personal ground. When hobbies came up, Ren mentioned that he spent a lot of his downtime reading.

"Historical fiction, mostly," he said with a small shrug, gesturing lightly with his chopsticks. "I like stories based on real events. War dramas and political intrigue. I feel as if those kind of things show how people adapt."

Jaune had nodded, interest piqued. "I read too, but mostly action or comedy stuff. A lot of fantasy. Knights, monsters, that kind of thing. I even some cool figurines that I've collected over the years."

They found common ground in the rhythm of reading itself. The escape it offered, and how a good story could make a bad day bearable. A quiet understanding grew between the two that wasn't quite friendship yet, but felt like the bud of it. Even their differences in taste seemed to complement rather than clash.

They also talked about the city—places in Vale they liked or wanted to visit. Ren knew a few parks and cafés that Jaune was interested in going, and Jaune mentioned a small gaming-cafe he'd seen on the way to Beacon that looked promising.

As trays began to empty and conversation shifted toward the post-lunch slump, the topic of after-school clubs naturally surfaced—half-jokingly at first, but Nora proclaimed she wanted to start a "pancake appreciation society," with seemingly more than earnest curiosity.

"So what about you, Jaune?" Yang asked, jabbing the last of her pasta with a fork. "You thinking of joining a club or just gonna fly solo?"

Jaune leaned back in his chair slightly and shrugged. "Haven't had a chance to look at the bulletin board yet, honestly. Everything's been kind of a blur since I got here."

That seemed to spark interest around the table.

"What kind of stuff do you like?" Ruby asked, leaning forward with both hands around her juice like it was tea at a secret meeting.

"Not sure," Jaune admitted. "I guess I'd want something chill. Not too competitive or serious. Maybe something like… a book club? Or a sparring club, if that's a thing. Would be nice to pick up boxing again or something."

"Oooh, you can box?" Ruby asked.

"Sort of. I'm a little rusty but I was taught by a family member for a little while. I haven't really been practicing much, however."

She nodded.

"You could always join the Beacon Plant Enthusiasts Guild," Ren added with a shrug. "They water a lot of things and rarely talk."

Nora grinned. "Ren joined a similar club when we were in middle school, just to get access to the rooftop garden. He didn't talk to a single person for six weeks."

"It was peaceful," Ren added, almost wistfully.

Jaune chuckled, then glanced between Nora and Ren. "So are you two part of a club now?"

Before either could answer, Yang chimed in, sipping from her drink with the smug satisfaction of someone about to drop a surprise.

"Technically," she said, "Ruby, Nora, Ren, and I are all in the same club."

Jaune blinked, staring at them. "Wait...really?"

Ruby looked up from her cookie and nodded casually. "Yup. We got pulled in a little while ago."

"It's that same club you mentioned earlier, isn't it?" Jaune asked, looking to Yang. "The one with the mysterious invite-only thing?"

Yang gave a playful smirk, but didn't elaborate much. "Mmhmm. It's not that exciting though. Just dream research and a couple of psych projects. A little science, a little theory."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Dream research? What does that even mean?"

"Mostly surveys," Ren said, cleaning up his tray. "Data entry. Sometimes interviews. They're trying to build some kind of database for the Academy."

"Sometimes they hook your scroll up to this weird dream-logger thing," Nora added with her mouth half full. "It's kind of cool. You get to see how weird your brain gets when you're asleep."

"It's honestly more boring than it sounds," Yang said with a shrug. "We just help when we're told to. The Headmaster chooses who joins and when."

That last line made Jaune pause then he looked at Ruby teasingly.

"So it wasn't a secret cookie club after all?"

Ruby seemed to shift nervously but shrugged in response.

Jaune wondered why that was.

It wasn't just an open club. It was something handpicked by the guy running the whole school. That made it sound a lot less casual—and a lot more like something important.

Still, none of them seemed especially fazed by it, bar Ruby of course.

But if they didn't treat it like a big deal… maybe he shouldn't either.

He filed the thought away, his interest still quietly piqued.

Dream research, huh?

Funny.