A/N: Hello everyone! This was an idea cooked up by one of the members on the Discord server and fully endorsed by me. I've wanted to make small, Tales From The Anthill styled one-shots for Remnant Unknown, but I also want to devote all of my writing time towards the main story. So Vin, in his infinite wisdom, proposed the idea of having readers submit their own little one-shots that I can compile and post on here. It'll give everyone something to enjoy between my updates, and offers the benefit of fleshing out some of the minor (often fluffy) details that are unfortunately not important enough to warrant chapter space in Remnant Unknown.
The plan is for me to give them a final editorial pass before I post them, but the are otherwise written by readers who are interested in adding something to the story of REMCOM.
And so I present to you the first entry for this initiative, written by Vinpap himself, that expands on something I've been meaning to hint at in Remnant Unknown.
Title: The First Photoshoot
Author: Vinpap
The Avenger was, for a long time, a real maze of empty room and hallways. But as the crew size expanded and more rooms were needed, it became easier to find its way through the ship. Velvet had grown accustomed to walking around the ship and exploring its various hidden secrets. Be it an out-of-the-way game room, a room designed to host dance battles or even a sweatshop for some kind of action figure, Velvet always enjoyed those little discoveries.
However, she never expected her team leader to be in one of the abandoned rooms, setting up lighting, decors and props around on shelves. Nor did she expect to see the room next to it be filled with clothes, uniforms and other accessories for people to wear. Silently, Velvet entered the clothing room and began to scan the various clothing racks. The clothes varied in style but they all had one thing in common: they were all authentic and high quality. They were from all over the world. From Vacuoan silk shirts to Atlesian dress coats, even Menagerie's fashion was represented. Velvet slowly moved through the alleys of the clothing, letting her hand roam through the various items, a smile slowly tugging her lips upwards. She then moved towards the back wall, where a large number of hats, caps, glasses and other random accessories were labelled in various containers, all arranged in orderly fashion.
"Oh, damn, I hoped to make this a little surprise when I finished setting everything up."
The voice made Velvet shriek as she turned around, not expecting someone else to be present in the room with her. In the doorway, Coco stood against the doorframe, hands in her pockets and a smile on her face. For once her sunglasses were nowhere to be seen but it did nothing to lessen her beauty, nor her aura of confidence. Velvet laid a hand over her heart as she took deep breaths to lower her heartbeat to a more reasonable speed.
"And I thought that these ears of yours would help you hear other people coming at you… Guess that I was mistaken." Coco smiled as she walked towards her teammate.
"Oh har har. This has nothing to do about my ears and you know it!"
Coco couldn't stop herself from laughing when she saw Velvet's pout and the way her ears dipped when she mentioned them. They didn't stay that way for long, Velvet's smile slowly came back as her friend approached her.
"So, mind telling me what's going on here? I know you have a lot of clothes, but this… Even this is a bit too much for you."
"Well, as I said, we were planning on making this public when it was all done, but… I'll make an exception since you're kinda involved in it."
"I'm involved?"
"Only if you want of course. But Central, a few other operatives and I had a discussion a week or two ago. We were saying that we should find a way to counter Cinder's plans and PR campaign. That's when someone proposed we create our own propaganda campaign. To show that we are not the monsters that Cinder claims we are!"
As Coco made her speech, she became more and more expressive, her hands becoming a flurry of motion as she began to gesticulate energetically, and Velvet smiled as she saw the passion in her eyes. She pressed a finger against Coco's lips which promptly shut her up, her eyes bulging as she looked at the offending digit.
"Just jump to the bit that concerns me." Velvet said, giggling softly at her team leader's antics.
"So… As I was saying! We need to create our own propaganda machine. And this is where this room, the studio and you come in. With your camera, my fashion sense and our network of agents in all the kingdoms we can begin to show everybody that we are actually here to help them. I wanted to make a test set with me so we could showcase what we could do. Think you can do it?"
Velvet stayed silent for a long while. Both her ears dipped as she began to think over what her friend had told her. This would put a lot of pressure on her. It would be her job to ensure the success of the propaganda campaign, while making each set fit with each of the kingdoms. Atlas would need something appealing to their military side while also showcasing some degree of nationalism, while Vacuo…
Coco looked at her friend pace back and forth, head down and arms crossed as she thought about what she had to do. Not wanting to put pressure on her, Coco slowly left the room and began to put the final touches to the set. The only things that she lacked now were a few more backgrounds and possibly another set of lighting but, as of right now, it would have to do. And anyway, some things could be touched up through the image editor she knew Velvet had in her possession. When she heard the door open, she turned around and smiled at the sight of Velvet walking in, her camera in hand. The rabbit girl looked around, taking in what had been done in the room, assessing what could be improved and what had to go. She then nodded at Coco and took a deep breath.
"Alright, I'll do it, but at the condition that I have complete control of everything during the photoshoot. Is that clear?"
Coco grinned and gave a salute to Velvet who laughed in return. This would be so much fun.
Ruby hummed slowly as she hopped through the Avenger's hallways. These lonely walks through the ship had become her own way to fight against the fact that her team was now spread across the various kingdoms. These walks allowed her to think, to be alone in her thoughts and to reminisce about all the good times her team had spent together. Not that she didn't like the other members of XCOM. She loved spending time with Annette, Lily and all the rest. But this was different. It was her team, her squad, her friends and they weren't with her right now. Even if she knew it was all temporary, she just couldn't shake the feeling that…
"Oh yeah Coco, that's perfect! Just like that, I love it!"
This made the young huntress stop and look at the door that was now directly on her right. Now, this could be simply a misunderstanding and absolutely not be…
"Like that Velvet? Or do you prefer it when I do it… like this?"
"Oh, that's even better. Don't change anything."
… Slowly Ruby's cheeks turned red and she hid her face behind her hands. Even though no one was around, she instinctively tried to hide her blushing, years of awkward school days having ingrained the reaction in her. What had she stumbled on? First of all, why were Coco and Velvet doing this here and now of all places? And secondly, since when were they involved together? This was the most pressing matter for Ruby! As far as she knew, this wasn't the case during the festival so it must have developed in the time since then. Had Coco sought Velvet for some comfort after the events of the final match? Or was this something that had been developing before everything fell apart? She would have to ask them later but for now… retreat was the best course of action!
Ruby turned around and managed to take a few steps before she heard the door open. She turned around and saw a disheveled Velvet looking at her with a large smile. Ruby eeped when she saw the rabbit faunus head towards her and grab her by the hand, quickly closing her eyes as a way to preserve Velvet's privacy.
"Ruby! Just as I needed someone's help with Coco! Come with me!"
Ruby was at a loss for words. They were that confident in themselves that they were asking anybody to join them? She felt herself be tugged forward and she followed Velvet as her brain was trying to understand what was going on. A small whine, almost like one of a dog, escaped her lips as she was dragged towards the room. She never thought that this would how this moment would happen, and she was far from being ready for it. Still with her eyes closed, she tensed up when she felt the door close behind her.
"I SAW NOTHING I SWEAR!"
The room got silent in a second and Ruby wondered if she killed the mood for Velvet and Coco. Just as she was about to excuse herself and bolt out of the room, she froze when she heard Coco snort. Opening on of her eye slowly, she looked around and saw Coco, her full huntress attire on, standing on a stage. Her minigun was lightly held with her right hand while her left was removing her glasses from her eyes. Behind her, lit up with multiple LEDs, was a black and white emblem of XCOM. Ruby looked on her right and watched Velvet look at her like she had grown a second head.
"Ruby… What did you think was going on?" asked Coco, grinning as she saw Ruby's reaction.
"Hum… You see, I… SO! VELVET! You wanted me to help?"
"Y… Yeah… Could you hold that fan over there? I want to create an effect of wind on her."
Ruby nodded and did as directed. As she saw the two friends work, she couldn't help but smile as she looked at them. They were so nonchalant and worked so well together. Her smile faltered slightly when she was reminded that Weiss wasn't with her right now, but she quickly perished the thought. She would see Weiss and her team soon enough. Now was the time for something else. Now was the time to spend time with two other friends and help them in their project.
"So, Ruby, about what you thought we were doing…"
Ruby whined and blushed, Coco bursted out laughing and Velvet berated her while giggling as well. It was a good day on the Avenger.
Velvet was walking in the hallways of the Avenger. In her left hand, she held a long tube of paper, while the right one was holding a roll of tape. With a smile on her face, she was heading directly to the barracks, specifically to the bed she had commandeered. While intimacy was never something she had that much trouble with, having your own bed to sleep in was always something she had a fondness over. When talking about it with other operatives, she learned that no one really cared that she had a bed only for her, rather than using any bed that was free. So, here she was now with her own little bed. It made her happy that these people, despite knowing nothing about her, were ready to accept some of the things she was asking for.
When she arrived in front of her bed, she laid down the tube of paper and proceeded to unroll it slowly. In front of her eyes, Coco was grinning, hair and other accessories blowing in the wind, her sunglasses reflecting the light, giving them some kind of ethereal glow while the logo of XCOM appeared clearly behind her. Knees bent and arms at the ready, as well as in a position to showcase just how muscular they were, she held her minigun with all the confidence of a seasoned huntress ready to mow down hordes of Grimm. Slightly under her, in gold letters, were the words "We will retake what was lost ", while her name was written over her head in the same color.
When she and Coco had presented the final result to the staff on the bridge, the reactions had been overwhelmingly in favor of the work. Some people had offered some good criticism on how it could have been done or on some artistic aspects, but the return was still in favor of their little project. Seeing this, Bradford authorised the creation and officialisation of the photobooth and confirmed that the two huntress would have to create various sets for the different kingdoms, as a means to put XCOM in their favor. The teams in each of the kingdoms would then receive shipments of those posters and would be tasked of putting them all over the main cities in the kingdom, but also in the smaller villages.
But this wasn't why Velvet had this particular poster with her. It was for something completely different. She smiled as she grabbed the tape and climbed onto her bed. Standing on the tip of her toes she could barely reach the ceiling but it would have to do. She slowly, meticulously, taped the poster to the ceiling and smiled at the final result. Over her was now standing Coco in all her glory, representing everything they both stood for. To fight the fights that some people couldn't. To defend those who were in desperate need of defending.
Velvet giggled when she thought about what some people might say, about girls and posters over their bed, but Velvet didn't care about it this time. She had her friend, her team leader, always with her and she would follow her to battle on and on again, until no one needed that help anymore. Because that's what they were born to do. To be huntresses and to fight against evil.
A/N: So yeah, the idea is for these to be fun, fluffy little one-shots. They don't have to be very long, and they should try to look at some of the minor interactions, concepts, or themes that come up in Remnant Unknown. If this sounds like something you might be interested in contributing to, please stop by the Discord server, say hi to everyone, and share your work. We have two, maaaaaaybe three authors at the moment, and I'd love to have more of you involved!