And then she grins wider. "Oh, I'd love to!" She sits down next to December, curious what Jaune picked out.

December taps the player to her scroll, and lets it download. 

"Looks like this will take a little bit," she says. "I really wonder what's on it..." 

"So Sable," Violet starts. "How did you end up in combat school, anyway? It sounds like there's a whole story there."

She tilts her head and smiles bittersweetly. "Yeah, it really is." She sighs softly, her tail swishing a bit.

"Short version? For a variety of reasons, at age eleven we were all Lost Girls on the streets of Mantle. We claimed an abandoned warehouse, robbed a few places to buy food and bedding, acquired a scoundrel as an adoptive older brother, took jobs defending the Dust miners from Grimm and SDC strikebreakers, made a bunch of friends in low places, and eventually got convinced to come to Vale. A job we took after moving here convinced us that we needed better training, so we threw in for the Beacon entrance exams, and here we are."

"I was right, that is quite the story! Defending strikers, huh? That's pretty worthy work. And I bet it pays less well than being a Huntress."

Violet, please do not imply that you think Sable is a sellout.

What? I completely missed that. You overthink too much.

"Yeah, but to a gang of thirteen-year-olds living in a warehouse, it was a king's ransom, even giving the miners a discount. We're still in touch with some of the friends we made, doing those jobs, and new friends they introduced us to."

She runs a hand through her hair, and scratches one of her violet-furred ears for a moment. "Some things stick with you, no matter how far you come afterward."

"Is that why you're so kind?"

A soft smile crosses her face as she nods. "Kindness to each other is what brought our little family together in that Mantle warehouse. Kindness to the miners gave the people of Mantle hope — especially fellow Faunus — and introduced us to some... different opportunities. I try to bring kindness wherever I go."

December ducks her head and nods. "That makes a lot of sense. I'm glad your life has... given you such a strong heart. I don't feel like it really did the same for me. Sometimes suffering is just suffering."

"Not to be too much of a downer, of course. Today should be a joyful day, no matter how skeptical I am of this whole 'training' thing."

She finishes off her cookie, and smiles. "I guess I'll have to go through all the basics with you all. Train from the ground up. I'm pretty excited to try."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. The suffering is just suffering. I just found ways to fit goodness in around the edges once we were all away from our shitty beginnings. I got lucky, and I was clever, but the suffering is not remotely what did it."

She shakes her head and smiles. "Yeah, training from the ground up will be fun. It's hard, but it's worthwhile, and you can find your own best path forward."

"The more I think about it, the more I feel like getting knocked around by you could be a real fun time." She winks, and picks up another cookie. "Want one of these? Sorry about the music taking forever to load, our scroll is kind of old."

"I will never turn down one of Ruby's cookies. Anyone who does has no taste." She accepts a cookie and grins. "And I am increasingly thinking that training you three is going to be particularly fun."

Violet picks up another cookie for herself. "Yeah, these aren't going to last long. And I'm definitely looking forward to that sparring session."

She checks the music player. "Ah, there, looks like it's downloaded." She scrolls through the list, looking at the new tracks.

She leans close to Violet and looks as well, curious to see. It seems to consist of a mix of pop-punk and indie rock with female vocalists.¹ "Oh, Jaune picked out some good tracks here!"

¹ The Remnant equivalents of Paramore and Florence and the Machine.

"Huh, yeah. He has surprisingly good taste." December smiles and turns up the volume on her scroll a little. 

Sable scoots closer, smiling warmly. No, she is not going to put her head on December's shoulder. No, do not put her head on the cute plural system's shoulder. Do not. But maybe? No.

Sable is kind of looking at her in an odd way but she has no idea what to make of it.

The scoot closer is nice, though. 

She's not going to talk over the music. They can just listen together for a little while.

They can. It's great.

...okay what if she lets herself try holding their hand, would that be okay?

No, they just got out of medical. They have had far too much traumatic crap recently, they do not need relationship pressure. What if they feel obligated or something, because she saved their souls? She didn't do it to get a date, she has three girlfriends already.

She does not hold their hand. Her hand is maybe resting on her own thigh, right next to them, but she does not actually hold their hand.

A few songs pass. 

Violet gets up again and turns the music down a little, then sits back down next to Sable.

"... So," she says. "What's this you said about having... girlfriends. Plural?"

Violet.