Fusilier

Little Things

Donnie sat in the courtyard of Beacon, keeping an eye on the activity at the docks. Around a week ago Atlesian ships had arrived above Vale. War ships hovering massive and proud, guns at the ready. Bullheads had been making constant trips to and from the ships. Disgorging dozens of soldiers and students. He had been assured that it was all for the upcoming Vytal Festival but he hadn't seen the other kingdoms send their students with an army in tow. This combined with the knowledge that the White Fang were gathering arms did little to comfort him. Everything seemed to conjure up old memories. Memories that kept him up at night.

He wasn't alone in this. Blake was on edge about her old, newly equipped friends as well. He had noticed she was barely sleeping. Through restless eyes he had watched her quietly slip out in the night. While he watched he considered how his other teammates had been taking the information from their mission.

Donnie considered their lack of worry to be a surprise. Their thoughts were with the upcoming school dance. The responsibility of planning the event had been placed on their shoulders while the original planners, team CFVY, was away on an extended mission. Being given the job was an even bigger surprise. Though he had had few interactions with the team himself the rest of RWBY seemed to have become good friends with them.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of incoming footsteps. Professor Goodwitch was coming his way at her usual brisk pace. She stopped near the bench he was resting on, eyes watching the steady activity of their visitors from Atlas. He sat up a little straighter, something about her always seemed to make him tense. Donnie figured it was her attitude. The way she acted always reminded him of his captain. A man who was willing to use any punishment for the slightest infraction. 'Shine your buttons!' He'd always shout, 'If you're a soldier in my army they will shine like you've a meeting with the king!'

"Good afternoon Mr. McManus."

"And to you ma'am."

She turned to him, regarding him with a curious eye. "I thought your team was busy decorating for the dance?" He nodded and took a glance at the docks. Taking note of the new robotic soldiers being unloaded before responding. "Aye, I'm just having a rest. Yang and Weiss can be a couple of slave drivers."

"Sounds like it's shaping up to be an interesting dance."

Donnie let out a small laugh, "It sure is. Can you believe they want a fog machine? I mean who in their right mind wants fog?! Trust me I've seen plenty of it. Hardly all it's cracked up to be." This earned a small smile from the professor.

After a moment she returned her gaze to the docks, arms crossed with an annoyed look on her face. This time it was Donnie's turn to break the silence. "I see Atlas decided to drop by for a visit."

"It's rather difficult to miss."

"Seems like all they're missing is Ironwood himself." Glynda gave him a sidelong look, "Have you met the General?" This earned a laugh. "Ma'am I'm a soldier ripped from another world of course he introduced himself." She sighed and gave him another once over, "And what did you make of him?"

He gave a moments consideration, "He's a stubborn man who thinks his plans are better than everyone else's. Add in a little more arrogance and he's fairly close to just about every other general I've been under the command of."

Glynda smiled again, "I see he certainly made an impression on you."

"You should've seen the first time he introduced himself."

Glynda gave an expectant look, prompting Donnie to continue. He leaned forward a bit, smile starting to creep up on his face.

"Alright so this was a good week or two after Weiss had yanked me off a battlefield and I was still pretty much in a daze. One way or another, word about me had gotten to Ironwood. If you ask me it was probably Jacques Schnee, he was half convinced I'd have some idea he could sell to the military." This last bit was said in a conspiratorial whisper. "So anyway I get told to come to Jacques office in the Schnee manor where lo and behold the general himself is there. Now no sooner than I arrived he started laying into me with questions. 'Where are you from? What army are you from? Are there any more of you? What strategies do your people employ?'" At this point Donnie was starting to crack up. "Oh the look on his face when I told him I was just a private. He tried a bit longer after that. Tried offering me rewards for information but I was so confused I could barely get anything out. Eventually Jacques apparently thought I looked so pitiful he stopped him from asking anything else."