Every day begins in mostly the same way. First is a shower. The scalding hot water flows over her tattooed skin as if she were trying to cleanse herself of the memories that refuse to leave her. She had been eighteen when her father had taken her back to Atlas. She had shrieked and howled like a common dog as his high-priced security guards had dragged her away to be collared and tamed once more. To force her to surrender the freedom she once cherished every bit as much as the wonderful friends she made. As much as she cherished and loved a certain silver eyed reaper.
She takes her time drying her long silky midnight black hair, being especially careful around her wolf's ears. She winces in pain whenever she runs the towel near the base of them. She feels the horrid scars from the constant pulling on them she endured from her father during her captivity, and a slight growl slips gently from her lips. He had collared her like a common house pet, and the damned thing had shocked the shit out of her at random times just for his amusement. To her eternal regret, she wishes her long lost sister had survived the abuse. What she wouldn't give to have her back. For twenty years now, it has felt like a hole in her heart that once held her beloved twin.
But Willow Noir Schnee had proven to be a godsend in death. While she was in hiding, she had the bright idea to copy her twin's midnight black hair color for her own ears, tail and ivory hair. Noir had never been allowed out of the Schnee Manor her entire life, since she was a harsh reminder that Jacques was not a Schnee, but married into the family. Her only sins were being born with his black hair and ruby red eyes, and she had suffered greatly for it. But she was defiant to the end, even as Jacques beat her to death in his private office, while she herself screamed in all the pain and suffering Noir would not give him the satisfaction of seeing or hearing. It would be a void that wouldn't be filled for years until she met a certain silver eyed Reaper at Beacon.
She sighs as she slips on a pair of baggy carpenter jeans that can fit her tail and a tank top next, not bothering with a bra or panties anymore. Who does she have to impress? Certainly not her father. When news of the atrocities at his mines were verified by the press, the scandal had ripped the SDC apart. Winter had gotten dragged into it, and brought down along with Jacques Schnee, and the scandal even rocked the Atlas Military. But Weiss was nowhere to be found.
Looking into the mirror again, she starts by applying her makeup slowly and carefully. She ignores the scar that runs along her left eye for now. She has a solution for it after so many years. Ruby had always lavished attention on it back at Beacon, during the early morning hours when Yang and Blake would still be asleep. But that was before the fall. Before Pyrrha had been killed. Back when she had her freedom. And now she has her freedom back, but the cost had been high.
Taking a stick of makeup putty, she begins to roll it between her hands to flatten it a bit. Applying it takes her no time at all now, not after ten years of practice. Not like after Ruby and the rest of team RNJR rescued her from Atlas. Then, she had been weak, emaciated from lack of food and sleep. She could barely even use her Glyphs without exhausting herself, and forget summoning. She could barely hold the glyph for it without passing out. So it was no surprise that Ruby started to distance herself from her, and spending more time with Jaune. Weiss couldn't blame her. She was just a worthless animal after all. So one night, after everyone had gone to sleep except for her and Nora, she had slipped off into the night. Nora had wished her well, and gave her some of her own supplies. Nora understood. Even Nora had seen the difference in how Ruby had been treating her. Nora at least is still alive and helping to quell the Grimm in Atlas. And now? She doubted she could hold a glyph for even a second. She barely even used her aura for anything more than healing minor scrapes or cuts. It's all it's good for now.
All done with her makeup, she slips in a pair of color changing contacts, turning her ice blue eyes a light green color. The eye color change had been suggested by Aeon and his wife Mel, during the downfall of the SDC. They had found her on the streets of Mistral City, shivering and yet burning up with a fever. She had no idea how long she had been living in the alley near their tattoo parlor, living off of refuse and handouts and struggling just to survive. But fate had something different in mind for the dying former heiress. Mel had been the one to hear her panting when she was burning up, and Aeon had carried her back to their home, a small two bedroom apartment they lived in over their shop. The massive bear Faunus and petite fox Faunus had taken their time, nursing her back to health. From the very brink of death itself.
Walking out into her shop proper from the small bedroom she keeps in the back, she starts wiping down the table she uses to do her work, making sure that everything is nice and neat. She prides herself on passing her health inspections with flying colors, and she refuses to slack now. Aeon had taught her that when he started teaching her how to tattoo. She had been despondent as she recovered, and had taken to sketching to pass the time. Mel had seen some of her sketches and shown them to the self proclaimed teddy bear, who insisted on teaching her his trade. To her surprise, she had taken to it rather easily. She found it to be peaceful as she learned the ins and outs of tattooing, along with the tearing down and rebuilding of the guns used to render ink to skin, the best ways to keep her work environment clean, even the best ways to pierce skin carefully to attach jewelry while causing little to no bleeding. Aeon and Mel had been proud of the progress she made in such a short time, and for the first time since she entered Beacon, she felt like her life had a purpose again.
Turning on her coffee machine, which an ingenious client of hers had hooked up to the shop's water supply in exchange for a Prince Albert piercing, she moves over to her autoclave machine and cuts it on as well, wincing as it starts making an odd noise again. She sighs miserably as she realizes that she is probably going to have to rebuild the ancient machine once more. Aeon had given it to her before she left Mistral, along with her new identity. Gone was Weiss Schnee, the Faunus heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. In her place is Sophia Wulff, the midnight haired, green eyed, heavily tattooed faunus tattoo artist & piercer. She traveled to Vale as part of the first huge wave of people and Faunus eager to build new lives within the reclaimed city. She had of course vanished easily into the crowds of Faunus that swiftly carved out their own district in Vale. She could still remember the first call she made back to Mistral, and how excited Aeon and Mel had been to hear about her first day back in almost six long years. But a curious Aeon had asked her why she had left Myrtenaster behind. She had answered him without hesitation, Weiss Schnee is gone, dead and buried in a pauper's grave. Sophia Wulff has no need for a huntress's weapon.
Making herself a cup of coffee with her customary two sugars, she walks over to her side door and opens it wide to air out the shop before her first client of the day arrives. Smiling at the sight of the faunus children playing on the side street, she sits down to enjoy her coffee as she takes a pack of cigarettes out of one of the pockets of her jeans. She still needs to slip her shoes on, but she's in no hurry. Her first client is a regular who has been coming to her for over a year now getting several large pieces done on his back and chest. She smiles wider as a squirrel faunus girl stops and waves at her, and she waves back. The local kids all know later on if they catch her outside, she will have small treats and candies for them. The local parents all trust her, and know she has a soft spot for children. But now at 32, she doesn't have much hope left to have children of her own.
Sipping her coffee as she lazily watches the smoke from her cigarette drift skyward, she hears the kids start to chatter excitedly as the adults look worriedly at each other. Her wolf ears pick up the conversation easily, and her eyes narrow in disgust. A huntress is coming to the Faunus district. Stubbing out her cigarette, she makes her way back inside and shuts the door, not willing to see or be seen by some nosey huntress who will ask her a million and one questions while over inflating their own worth hoping to get a discount. Her neighbors and regulars all know the distaste she has for them, but not the why. The why is simple enough. They had allowed her to be taken away from the woman she loved, the home she loved, and the team she loved without a fight. Even Professor Goodwitch hadn't interfere as she had been dragged away kicking and howling and screaming for Ruby. And then there was the way Ruby, the woman she loved and adored most in life had just ignored her at best, and treated her as a liability at worst. And had ignored her in favor of...of...of HIM! That insufferable, idiotic, ignoramus! So no, she no longer has any love for the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Remnant.
Walking over to her front door, she unlocks it as she flips the open sign over. Her regular is her only client scheduled today, which is not good. Not with her rent due in less than a week, and she is still short for it. But she is confident that running a quick add on her Valebook page will drum up some last minute business. After all, if you want a tattoo that will last, you come to the Wolf Queen. Walking back to the small desk she uses for transactions and sketching, she reaches under and pulls out a pair of old well worn sneakers and slips them on. Looking at the time, she decides she has just long enough to smoke one more cigarette before before her client arrives. But before she can move back to her side door, she hears the ding of the front door opening and stops. Money is money right now, and even a quick fifty dollars for a piercing is more money in her pocket.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for the Wolf Queen." She knows that voice. She hears it every night in her dreams, and in her nightmares. She isn't sure she can turn around. It isn't from any kind of loving feelings that have started to well up inside of her. You have to have a heart for that, and her heart is dead and empty. The owner of the voice had seen to that personally. No, it is because she wants nothing to do with Weiss Schnee's life anymore. Any of it. Aeon and Mel, along with Mel's father had moved heaven and earth to insure that the whole world thought she is dead. And she wants it kept that way. With a slight sigh, she turns back around, and for the first time in over a decade, she looks at Ruby Rose.
"I'm the Wolf Queen. Can I help you?" She stares at the face that haunts her dreams and her nightmares, and feels nothing. No excitement, no dread, no love, no hate. Just nothing. But she is surprised at how much Ruby has changed. Gone is the bouncy energy of youth, that feeling of electricity you get when you're in her presence. Instead she stands calmly, almost stiffly in place. Her hair is still it's usual shoulder length, but to her surprise almost all the red is gone now with only a patch of it here and there. But the silver eyes are the most telling. Instead of the usual joy and life that once filled them, they are full of bitterness and sorrow. And somewhere in her dead heart, she can't help but approve.
"Yeah. I was told you're the best tattoo artist in Vale, and I need a cover up." She's intrigued now. The Ruby she remembers would have never gotten a tattoo, much less needed a cover up. Yang would have killed her the second she ever saw it. But then again Yang would have died on the spot if she saw her now. Both her arms are sleeved up to her shoulders, and she is sporting a huge chest plate as well. It is what earned her her nickname of the Wolf Queen, since it is the visage of a Beowolf snarling. It is still some of Aeon's best work, and she doesn't mind that her boobs are currently displayed for the world to see in one of his portfolio albums. Weiss would have, but Sophia doesn't give a damn. Especially since it's her artwork, and he credits her for it. And it certainly helps her business as well.
"So what am I covering up?" She motions the huntress back to her booth for privacy. A lot of the coverups she does are in some very private spots, and more than one customer is hesitant to show her in the open.
"Just a huge mistake is all." Now the huntress really has her interest, which is really rare. Diane and Aqua's antics usually keep her amused, as the squirrel and meerkat faunus girls get into no end of trouble on an almost daily basis. And they always come running to Auntie Sophia when they do end up in that trouble. But she needs to focus, she needs the money pretty bad right now and she is not about to do like several other girls who live on the block and flatback for the rest of her rent. Even she still has a bit of pride left. Opening the door, she ushers the huntress into her booth, the familiar smell of roses wafting up from her like a fine perfume. But, still nothing. No quickened heartbeat, no swelling feeling of love or desire. Nothing. Her heart still feels just as dead as before. As dead as it has been for almost thirteen years now.
"Well, let's take a look then." She watches as the huntress takes her long red cloak off, the hem even more ragged and tattered than she remembers it being. She then slips her left arm free of her shirt, being careful to keep her chest covered. She can't help but notice the corset is gone, and that Ruby has all the telltale signs of having given birth at least once. So she has at least one child, probably with Jaune. Well good to know. It's just another reason why her heart is staying dead. She watches impassively as she turns to the left now, revealing her arm and the roughly drawn tattoo of a heart with JA loves RR in the center. She winces as she turns it back and forth, seeing the rough linework as well as the poor ink quality. She knows exactly who JA is, but she needs to play dumb. That may be a bit tough. Oh wait, she just needs to think like a village idiot! Goddess only knows how great of an example Jaune had been over the years.
"This is going to be a bit rough. Whoever did this barely knew what he was doing." Rough is putting it mildly. The linework for the heart looks like it had been done by someone having a seizure the entire time, and the letters were barely any better. And she is willing to bet that it hurt like hell the whole time. Good. She can't help but feel a bit petty.
"My idiot ex husband did it when we were younger. I guess he felt like marking his territory and we were drunk. I almost killed him for it." Now that is a surprise. Her and Jaune seemed pretty lovey dovey to her when she was still young and foolish. Hell, it was the kiss she caught them sharing that had broken her that night she snuck away. She and Nora both had witnessed it, but she stopped Nora before the hammer wielder could go and break it up. It was obvious to her that Ruby had moved on, and that there was nothing left for her anymore. But back to business, she berates herself.
"Well this is going to cost you a pretty penny. And it's going to have to be pretty damned big to cover the whole thing." Personally, she thinks Ruby should keep it. After all, that is why she drew the chestpiece she now has. With a tank top on, no one can see the bloody rose being crushed in its maw. A constant reminder of why she refuses to love again. Even when the itch gets to her, she never removes her top. Never. That is her own scar to bear.
"I don't care. I want it gone. The only good that ever came from him are my girls." Hoo boy, that twit must have done something really bad to screw up with Ruby. Ruby used to be the most forgiving person in the universe. Hell, she even pleaded to save Cinder Fall's life during the great tribunal held for her trial. It didn't work obviously, as her execution had been televised on every channel on Remnant. But hey, when you destroy two kingdoms and kill millions of people that tends to be the preferred way to show that someone is trying to do something to reassure the masses. She hadn't watched obviously, she was too busy getting laid by Diane's mom. Speaking of her, she needs to see if she's busy later. The itch is back again.
"Well, you got anything in mind?" This should be good. Part of her is actually hoping the huntress lets her design something. Jaune's bloody face would look perfect, but that will give her away. Her distaste for the blonde twit had been very well known back in Beacon after all. She had even almost stabbed the village idiot one day when he had simply driven her too far. To this day, she still has no clue what Pyrrha and Ruby had ever seen in him. He had to have had a big cock or something. Bleh, no thanks! She barely even likes to use toys. She much prefers a skilled set of fingers as well as a tongue. Fuck! She really needs to see what Lexi is up to tonight!
"Yeah, actually I do." Damn, so much for that. She watches as the huntress pulls out her scroll and starts going through pictures. Many of them are of a pair of rather adorable little girls, both of them with Ruby's silver eyes and raven black with red tipped hair. That's a small blessing at least, neither of them look like the twit. Several of them are of Yang, and for the first time in years, her heart actually pangs a bit in sorrow. Yang looks diminished. All of the muscles are gone, and the once wild mane is gone as well. Her hair is now cut to right below her jaw, but it's her eyes that tell the whole story. Her eyes are as dead as her own. Obviously Yang never recovered from the loss of her arm, as well as the loss of Blake. Which is a true shame. Yang Xiao Long had burned as bright as the sun once, but now her bright spirit is shattered beyond repair. A true pity.
"I don't mean to rush you, but I have an appointment coming in soon." She needs to hurry this along. Her appointment is a well known member of the White Fang, as well as an old friend. The only one left from her days in Beacon other than Nora. They were the only two who knew the truth, and had helped Aeon and the others in the cover up. She trusted the two of them with her life. And she knows he is going to be anything but pleased to see Ruby Rose. He hadn't believed her at first when she had told him, not until Nora had backed her up. To her surprise, he got pissed. But then again, Sun Wukong is still a faunus after all. And the war with Salem had not been kind to the faunus at all. Even she is a quiet supporter of the White Fang now. But they still didn't get discounts, something Sun backed her up on after several members went back and complained. She needs to make a living too.
"Here we go, I found it. Sorry for the wait." Myrtenaster. The sword she abandoned years ago back in Mistral. But the picture is fairly recent according to the date stamp. Yang is holding the rapier gently in her lap, tears in her eyes. Obviously Aeon had given it to her. Or he had sold it like he claimed and she had found it covered in dust in the back corner of a weapons shop.
"It's a sword. You want me to tattoo a sword?" She needs to be careful. Too much will give her away. Damn but acting like a village idiot is harder than she thought.
"Yeah. It belonged to someone I…. Look, can you do it or not?" This is a surprise. Is that remorse in those silver eyes? A pity that she's twelve years too late. Somewhere in her dead little heart she can't help but feel a bit of glee at Ruby's pain. Taking the scroll, she walks back out to her desk and hooks it up to a photo printer to print the image out. She has to maintain appearances after all. She can draw Myrtenaster perfectly from memory even now, but Ruby doesn't need to know that.
"Yep. I can do it. Give me a few days to put a sketch together, and we can go from there. But there is a fifty Lien fee. When you come in for the first session, I'll take it off the total." Good, that will put her closer to her goal. She'll be damned if she ends up like any of the other tenants and have to suck a dick or worse to keep her home. She knows Aeon will send her money if she needs it, but damn it she has her pride!
"No problem. Just do me a favor and lose the part with the blonde please? My sister will be pissed if she finds out there are pictures of her on Valebook or something." She can't blame her, she looks like shit. Nothing like the once mighty Dragon she had been back in Beacon before the fall. Picking up an exacto knife she keeps to cut out stencils, she quickly cuts Yang out of the picture, leaving nothing but the sword that represents to her her failure to become a huntress. Handing it to Ruby along with her business card, she is surprised when the huntress hands her a fifty Lien card back. To her further surprise, she isn't wearing her cloak yet, just her long sleeved shirt.
"Alright, give me a few days. My card has my number on it, so just call me when you're ready to come back." Sun will be here any minute, and he will be pissed if he sees her here. And honestly? If he attacks her she won't try to stop him. Not anymore.
"Thanks. I'll call you when I get back from Vacuo. Gotta clear out a nest of Grimm that's gotten too close to a settlement." So she's still a huntress? Huh. Guess Auntie Yang takes care of the girls, or that pathetic loser. One of the two. Be nice. He had to have had a big dick. Ick. Before she can say another word, Ruby walks out of her tiny shop, throwing her cloak over her shoulders before vanishing in a swirl of roses. But to even her surprise, the rose petals aren't red anymore.
They are as black as night.