[Inside Dragonheart residence]
Everyone was currently chatting as the adults were currently sitting on the couch and talking about stuff that has happened recently. It being politics, or just funny stories from their experience. Some kids hanged around the adults, but most of them hanged out on the other side of the living room, which happened to be enough room for them to hang out as well. Peridot was tapping at her scroll for a moment before she pocketed her scroll and looked to her side and up, looking up at Smaug. He looked at her and smiled back at her. After making up, it took Smaug almost two months to actually ask Peridot on a date, which took some of his pride a bit, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Peridot scooted closer to him as he furrowed an eyebrow at her with a small smile.
"You know you can start any conversation you want right?" Peridot said with a small chuckle.
"Oh, uh…what is there to exactly...talk about?" Smaug asked.
"Uh…" Peridot said looking away for a moment before looking back. "How are you on hoverboards?" Smaug blankly stared at her for a few minutes before he asked his own question.
"What was that other picture you had before you shut your scroll off and dragged me away?" He asked with a head tilt. Peridot jolted a bit with a blush forming.
"T-that was nothing! It was just uh...personal picture?" she said, her best at making an excuse.
"I did see a hoverboard but um…I didn't see what the last picture was." Smaug said with a head tilt.
"I-It was just a new uh...trick...but its secret...very secret…" Peridot said quickly, giving a nervous chuckle. In her mind she groaned. 'WHY did I keep that picture!? I was just trying to practice my hoverboard while I waited for my clothes to get clean! Plus those girls boards and roller blades looked like nice angles…'
"...Guess there is nothing much to talk about now?" Smaug said with a furrowed eyebrow.
"...No, nothing at all." Peridot said with a quick shake of her head, actually kinda glad he has trouble starting conversations as long as he won't look at the picture. It pans to Kai giggling as Ragnar was currently acting like a statue with his viking helmet as he exaggerated a typical viking pose. The butterfly giggled at him as she clapped her hands together.
"You look so silly in that position, Nar~!" Kai said cutely.
"It's not silly, it's heroic!" Ragnar said with a grin as he lifted his axe above his head with a loud deep chuckle.
"The posture is silly though~!"
"As a viking, you must keep a wide stance and look triumphant!"
"What else to Vikings do?" Kai asked with a head tilt. Ragnar looked at her then lifted her over his shoulder. "Eh-hehehe~! What'cha doin?"
"Well Vikings are known for their strength, so I'm demonstrating!" Ragnar said with a prideful tone. Lazulis leaned next to him with a furrowed eyebrow and small grin.
"But you are carrying the lightest person here...minus Aunt Ruby." he said in a normal, but slightly high pitch tone. Ragnar was silent for a moment before he grabbed Lazulis next and lifted him up as well, surprising him.
"Better?" Ragnar asked holding the two people up above his head.
"I mean, not exactly that heavy, dude." he replied with a rather uncomfortable look. "You uh...mind putting me down?"
"No." Ragnar said simply shaking his head. Lazulis groaned as Kai giggled at her older brother; Sparrow just watching as she chuckled.
"Well, eldest brother, you seem to be in a slight predicament, so it seems." she said in her usual kind smile. Lazulis just chuckled nervously as he smiled meekly at Sparrow. It cuts to Yang and Mercury next to each other as they were currently drinking an alcoholic beverage.
"So I just came back from a walk I was forced to go to, and their on our bed was Peridot, with a large blush on her face, reading one of my playboy magazines." Mercury said with a chuckle.
"To be fair, you leave them out in the open without a care." Yang chuckled. "But hey, I am guilty of that too when I caught my son reading my stash of raunchy novels at the age of 10." Mercury nearly laughed out loud as he shook his head. "But hey, they always got that one gene in us. You being a lady's man and me being a tease to Oscar, what can ya do?" Yang took a chug of her drink as she chuckled. It was silent for a moment as Mercury was contemplating for a moment, then looked at Yang.
"You know...I'm not gonna lie, there were days when I think about our...rather bad introduction to one another, you know, something you wish you could sort of forgive yourself for...but it gets a bit difficult once you saw for how long you've been doing it...I just honestly don't know." he said with a small shrug and a small look of regret. Yang looked at him before making a small "hmph" as she smirked.
"Well, we are here now aren't we? The past is the past; nothing you can do about that...but you can sure do a lot of things in the present." Yang said with a smile towards him. "Cinder has proven that many times."
"Yeah, I guess if she can change, then I can too." Mercury said smiling with a nod. Yang smirked as he patted his shoulder, then took another drink. Anthony was currently sitting on the couch with Glynda as he was sitting next to Drago, Ruby and Cinder; who both ladies were sitting on both sides.
"Heh. She was that scary, Cinder?" Anthony asked with a chuckle.
"She was find the first two months until the week after, her mood swings would give me whiplash, she was super aggressive and God forbid if we didn't have her snacks or food." Cinder said shivering a bit. Ruby chuckled meekishly as she scratched her head.
"It doesn't sound that bad." Glynda said, amused by Cinder's attitude towards the whole situation.
"That's not the half of it, let's just say that my hips were still on fire, FIRE!" Cinder said looking at her with a widen glare. Anthony chuckled as Glynda held in a giggle Drago looked at Cinder as he was amused himself.
"That's a problem for you, Fire Goddess?" Drago said with a small smirk and arched eyebrow.
"Drago!" Cinder snapped slightly. "No human body works like that, Drago!"
"Cinder-"
"There was no sleep, just friction."
"I wasn't complaining." Drago said rolling his eyes with a chuckle.
"Didn't really help her situation when I kicked open the door that day." Ruby said with a small giggle.
"Hehe yeah." Drago said shaking his head. "Cinder tried to hide behind the couch when Yang was over with us. You demanded for both of us, and you told Yang to stuff it after she tried to say you looked lovely after she told you where Cinder was hiding."
"Traitor." Cinder said with a grumble as she folded her arms.
"You can't complain though, it was a fun night." Drago said shrugging. "Ruby was like a freaking beast in bed, and Cinder was our prey for the night." Ruby blushed a bit as she looked away.
"Drago~! Stop trying to embarrass us~!" Ruby cutely whined as she covered her eyes as she blushed heavily; Cinder blushing widely herself. Anthony and Glynda laughed a bit at their reaction.
"You wanted me to socialize, and I am aren't I?" Drago asked with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't hear you complaining that night we did it, you just kept begging for more and more."
"I was overdosed by pregnancy aggression." Ruby muttered, causing even Drago to laugh a little bit, him patting his head.
"Thirty-four years old and you still act like you were still sixteen." Drago chuckled out. "You're still the same Ruby we all love and know."
"You still need work on socializing though." Cinder joked.
"Oh come on, I'm doing just fine."
"Even with Sun earlier? Who was offering you a drink?" Ruby said with a furrowed eyebrow and smirk.
"You know how I feel about that jokester."
"He is trying to be friends with ya." Anthony said.
"We are...in a way…"
"...Still mad about that banana peel?"
Drago growled at the memory as Ruby just patted his arm.
"You'll' forgive him eventually." she assured.
"What about Cinder? She had any whiplash's herself?" Glynda asked.
"Eh, nothing I couldn't handle." Drago said quickly after calming down. "All I had to do was fuck her senseless." Anthony snorted at the response as he shook his head, Glynda having an amused blushing look.
"You sure know how to be blunt about things and then act like it was normal conversation, dude." Anthony joked as he chuckled.
"When am I never blunt, I don't have to hide anything." Drago said shrugging. "FYI, Cinder can be really needy when pregnant, far more than Ruby."
"...That I won't deny." Cinder admitted with a shrug. It pans to Rodriguez walking out of the kitchen as he gave a small tired sigh, rubbing his eyes.
"You alright there, Rod?" Anthony asked, looking at him.
"Yeah, just a bit tired." Rodriguez answered with a sigh. "Been cooking since six in the morning, I think a small break should be fine." he looked to his left to see his wife, Winter, walk up to him and gave him a small kiss on the lips, him doing the same as he smiled at her. "Good to see you off work every once in a while."
"Atlas specialists get their own breaks...this one I asked Ironwood to make an exception." she replied with a grin.
"What's Blizzard doing?"
"He's with Marcus. They both seem to always have the indication to practice a little bit on combination attacks."
"Figures." Glynda said with an eyeroll. "Those two love their combo attacks."
"Well, if you have someone that sets up attacks mixed with someone who tends to have the opponent dancing in their hands, it makes a powerful one." Anthony shrugged. "Not to mention, those two were inseparable ever since they were born."
"Just like you and Rodriguez, right?" Winter said with an arched eyebrow.
"Yeah. He was more curious than me though, I just watched him do stupid kid things when we were younger."
"Like what?" Winter asked interested, Rodriguez making hand gestures to Anthony to say "no."
Anthony gave a mischievous smirk. "Tried to go down a chimney because he wanted to "experience the job of Santa Claus.'" Rodriguez facepalmed as he sighed, Winter snickering at that information.
"I was young and curious at the time." Rodriguez muttered under his breath.
"It got better when Mother came out of the house and went 'Hey Anthony, the chimney is making some weird sounds, you know what it is?' 'Nope.'" the people around him laughed as Rodriguez rolled his eyes.
It cuts to Garnet and his teammates as Vulture was currently talking about a memory at Beacon.
"I didn't find it that funny, Kai made Ragnar literally tear off our dorm door with his bare hands." Garnet said shaking his head.
"I mean, it was funny on the aftermath. Aqua decided to flirt right then and there." Nazrat joked, gesturing at said person.
"Shut up." Said girl said with a glare. "I-I was just...slightly impressed."
"You flirt with everyone though. Hell, moment you saw Garnet you were all over him." Vulture chuckled, Garnet slightly blushing at the memory of his first time meeting Aqua.
"I was just complimenting him!" Aqua said crossing her arms. Her teammates chuckled at her response as she pouted with a small growl.
"Well, not to mention after Aqua flirted with him, Ragnar just lifted her up on his shoulder and said he was gonna do this "the Viking way" Naz was just dying from the expression Aqua gave when she blushed." Vulture laughed out, Nazrat holding in his laughter.
"Oho man, i've never seen a girls face go that red that fast." Nazrat said chuckling. Aqua gave a more embarrassed look, Garnet patting her shoulder.
"Hey, it's all in good fun. No need to take it personally." Garnet assured with his own chuckle.
"Yeah, kinda like you with conflicted personalities from Uncle Drago, and Aunt Ruby. You are either very passive, or excited." Nazrat commented.
"I know, can't help it though."
"Hey Naz, don't get me started on you bud. I saw what ya did that day before prom." Vulture pointed, Aqua now chuckling because she was there too.
"Before we talk about me, let me just throw that right back at ya. Because uh...the day Headmaster Crypt caught you with those raunchy magazine's...oh boy!"
"Hey even I need stress relief time to time, and Aqua is always such a tease!" Aqua didn't even hide it as she did a small bow and smirk. "Seriously, I wanted to tap that the moment she started to flirt on the first week!" Garnet and Nazrat just recoiled from laughter at the casualness, Garnet more of a loud "PFFFF" as he rested his hands on his knees.
Aqua gave a mischievous look as she walked up next to Vulture. "You know if you wanted to, you could've just asked."
"Aqua I fucking swear." Vulture said with a knowing glare, making her laugh as Nazrat and Garnet laughed harder. "One of these days, you're gonna regret teasing me."
"Sure. Just not today, big man." she replied with a grin. What got their attention was suddenly a red portal opening, catching everyone's attention. A few seconds past as Raven Branwen and Taiyang walked in with smiles on their face. Yang immediately set down her drink and walked over to her, giving her a welcoming hug.
"Glad to see you could make it." Yang said, Raven accepting the hug.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Tai said chuckling.
"That's a ditto for me." Raven said herself. These two sure had their hair getting more grey, but it doesn't mean they looked great. Raven looked over to see her grandson walking up to them as Yang went to hug her father.
"Hey Grandmother." Vulture said not in his usual brash tone as he went to hug her. Raven smiled as she kneeled down and hugged him back.
"How's the young dragon doing?" she asked, pulling back from the hug as she had her hands resting on his shoulders.
"Well aside from my own teammate teasing me to death and working out, I'm good." he said with a small proud look. Raven rolled her eyes as she pinched his cheek.
"Your a cute kid." she commented.
"I'm not cute, I'm a scavenger." Vulture said with a look of slight annoyance. Taiyang walked over with a furrowed eyebrow.
"Like the time you "scavenged" ladies underwear?" He joked.
"It was a joke! A harmless joke!" Vulture said looking away with a small faint blush. "It...was also a nice scavenge…"
"Cause it was the young Schnee's?" Raven asked with an arched eyebrow.
"...Maybe…" Raven shook her head in amusement at her grandson. She got up and looked to her side, her eyes widening a bit as she felt arms wrap around her waist as she looked down at Ruby hugging her.
"It's a pleasure for you to be here, Aunt Raven!" Ruby said rather excitedly. Raven chuckled as she hugged back, a hand rubbing Ruby's head.
"It's good to see you too silver eyes." Raven said smiling. Ruby giggled at the name given to her as they pulled back from the hug.
"I guess you had time after all? I thought you and dad were still out on vacation." Yang said with an arched eyebrow.
"Well, I heard the future tribe leader Vulture was going to be here, and decided to see him."
"Well he is doing fine as of now...his teen hormones continue to kick in when Aquas around."
"Mom…" Vulture said with an embarrassed blush. "Don't mention that around grandma."
"Heh, alright kiddo." Ruby giggled herself as Ren peeked out his head. "Everything okay, Ren?"
"Yes, it's just we have ran out of corn and gravy."
Ruby snapped her fingers. "That's what I forgot!" she then looked at her friends. "I'll be back!" she then quickly left the area. Anthony and Drago watched her leave and a minute has passed, Anthony looking at the table to see her wallet was still there.
"Looks like she forgot that she needs lien to buy things." Anthony joked standing up and grabbing it.
"Better get it to her quickly, she moves fast." Drago said chuckling.
"Yeah yeah, I know." with that Anthony picked up his hat at the end table, putting it on his head and started to walk out the door. When he did, he noticed small explosions to his right as it showed Marcus and Blizzard doing their combo attacks.
"Woohoo! Bliz! The more we do these, the better we are gettin' at it!" Marcus said with a proud tone as he chuckled.
"That we can agree on cousin." Blizzard said with a nod. Both cousins fist bumped as Anthony walked over to them.
"I guess Aunt Rose sped past you guys?" Anthony asked.
"That is correct, Uncle Anthony." Blizzard said nodding. "Just exactly two minutes and forty-three seconds ago."
Anthony chuckled. "That woman is faster than a roadrunner in the middle of the desert bein' chased by a coyote I tell ya what."
"...I'm sorry what?" Blizzard said slightly confused.
"Westernism; don't question it, mate." Marcus said, acting as if this was normal talk. Blizzard looked between him and his uncle before he sighed and gave a small shrug.
"Alright well, I'm gonna go find her quickly...she forgot her money again." Anthony said with a roll of his eyes. "Try not to break anythin' alright? Don't want Drago to go through that hour lecture of breaking his crap again."
"...your one to talk." Marcus said under his breath. Anthony just gave a shrug then started to walk away, waving them goodbye.
"Cheers kiddos." he said before his prosthetic legs turned yellow as he started run, his legs giving him a speed boost. The kids stared at the retreating cowboy, but just shrugged as they went to go hang out where the ice sculptures were.
[Vale, downtown]
Ruby was seen looking around the area as she had her hands on her hips as she sighed.
"Why does the grocery store have to be far away…" she said with a small pout. "It couldn't be closer, it had to be further away." She thought for a moment until she remembered something. Not that far from her is an alleyway, which cuts the time it takes her to get to the grocery store if she decided to take that route. She smirked, knowing the route would have her come home early. She looked at her watch briefly before she walked down the sidewalk. Unaware to her though, she didn't notice a shadow following behind her, hiding in the crowd.
[Dragonheart residence]
Back at the household, things were looking normal, if you ignore the arm wrestling contest between Smaug and Ragnar. It was at a major stalemate as their friends cheered on the two brutes. As this was happening, Jaune was talking with Topaz, Blake, Sun, Yang and Oscar.
"So we decided to take Ruby and Drago out to a bar because Ruby just turned 21, so we figured to let her try out the mature area. "Jaune explained as everyone was listening. "We get our drinks, and considering Ruby has never drank before, it made sense she would already get tipsy with about 2 to 3 drinks. And here's Topaz, with her first ever drink, looks at her mother being tipsy with only three drinks in front of her and goes "Pff, lightweight." drinks one round and she is gone just like that." Jaune ended with a snap of his fingers to indicate how fast Topaz got drunk. The adults laughed as Topaz just looked more confused.
"I saw a bunch of wiggly lines in the air, was that normal?" She asked with a head tilt.
"Hun, that means you were tipsy like Ruby." Blake answered her with a grin and giggle.
"The best part about it; Topaz started to flirt with me as Ruby did the same to Drago. And I'll tell you...it was honestly the first time I heard either of them be so explicit with their flirting in my entire life." Jaune laughed.
"Topaz flirting, I would've paid to see that." Yang said chuckling.
"Indeed. Rather interesting to see myself." Oscar said chuckling himself. They looked over as they heard a fist slam to the table.
"I win again moron." Smaug said pinning Ragnar's arm to the table.
"Hey! There is still more left in me! You are only one step away from losing!" Ragnar said with pride and optimism.
"What the fuck are you talking about, this was your fourth loss." Smaug said with a deadpan glare.
"I STILL HAVE MORE IN ME!" Smaug growled in annoyance as he reaches under the table and pulled out a small frying pan, then casually slammed it on Ragnar's head. He recoiled from it...then just laughed. "HA! Gotta do more than do that to stop me!" he stated, hitting his head with his fist.
"Bro, you do know that never really works on Ragnar, right?" Garnet said with his hands on his hips.
"Yes, but he honestly deserves it." Smaug said simply as he reached under the table again and pulled out a large metal hammer and slammed it on Ragnar's head again. Ragnar just stared then just laughed again.
"I don't think that is healthy." Aqua said, looking at the fact Ragnar is taking this rather well.
"Maybe, but I like doing it." Smaug said shrugging. Peridot slid in as she was currently munching on barbecue chips.
"To be fair *crunch* Smaugy boy can take any hit like that too, so I guess he has a playmate when it comes to wanting to hit something." she joked as her mouth was a bit muffled due to the chips.
"Peri, be quiet." Smaug said with an eye roll as he took a barbecue chip from her bag.
"K."
"So what is Marcus and Blizzard doing?" Kai asked Belle, who was currently drinking iced tea as she held it with both hands.
"Currently, practicing their combo attacks." Belle asked in a monotone voice. Kai was about to reply, but heard an explosion outside and the sound of a "YEE-HAW!" in the background. "That must be them."
"I just hope they don't break those ice sculptures." Aqua said with crossed arms. "Me and mother worked hard on them, and I do not wish to redo it due to their recklessness."
"We can always repair them ourselves, simply ice dust isn't that hard." Belle said shrugging.
"Yes, but it takes art, something a Schnee can do perfectly." Nazrat leaned in with a teasing smirk.
"You sure you aren't like your mother when she was your age?" he asked. Aqua shrugged with a "hmph." It pans to Jaune leaning on the wall as Cinder was not that far from him as she was silent near him, a small worried and conflicted look on her face.
"...So, great party, right?" She said a bit awkwardly.
Jaune took a small drink as he gave a small nod. "I would say so, yeah…" he sounded rather distant as he didn't give eye contact.
"How's...how's life been doing you then?"
"Well...I'm getting my doctors training underway...about a few more weeks." He glanced at her as she was fidgeting the fingers a little bit, tapping on her glass. "I uh...have to go do something. I'll see you around Cinder." He then walked off quickly as Cinder silently sighed to herself.
'This is not going to be easy at all now…' She thought as she stared down at her drink in her glass. Drago was watching as he sighed himself. This isn't something Jaune can let go so easily, and he can understand why. Jaune has still not forgiven Cinder for what she did to Pyrrha all those years ago. After the defeat of Salem, despite Cinder helping take her down, Cinder was slowly changing herself...and it was quite clear she didn't know how to apologize to such a sore subject. Ruby has tried to help her with this, but Cinder told her that she would try and do this on her own. Speaking of Ruby, she has been gone for a bit hasn't she? Granted the store isn't that close to their slightly isolated home, but it would usually take her shorter time.
[Vale]
Ruby was seen walking from within the crowd, waving at some people that waved at her. After defeating Salem, people knew her as basically an icon after learning how much of a threat Salem was. Sure it can be bothersome when they would try to crowd her at first, but that detered as the years passed by, so they now waved at her like any other person. She finally made it to the alley way as she b lined it in that direction, going in casually. It is usually dark alleyway, if she had to be honest, but she wasn't exactly that scared of it. She was only halfway in when she stopped suddenly...the area felt colder as she squinted slightly in suspicion. It was quiet for a bit until she widened her eyes, quickly taking out her scythe as she blocked an overhead sword swing. Due to how dark it was slightly, it was kind of hard to see her attacker, but she knew that he was tall. She slid back when he pushed her back, her scythe in a defensive position.
"Who are you and what do you want." Ruby demanded, glaring at the silhouette.
"Hmph, I'm sure you know who I am, my brother must've told you about me." The individual said in a deep yet normal voice, twirling his sword in his hand. "For what I want, I need to lure him out, and your are my means to do that."
"Brother….wait...You're….?" she went wide eyes in shock. "Your Draco…?"
"Guilty." The now named Draco said shrugging. "And you must be my brothers mate, to be honest, I never expected him to gain a new one...not after what I did to his first one." He said the last part with a chuckle. Ruby remembered Drago telling her about his first mate, Emerald. "If I had to guess, he still holds that fear of losing you like his wife before him, and I'm here to make that small nightmare, come into reality." Ruby widened her eyes again...clearly seeing where he was going with this.
"...you aren't going anywhere near my family...I won't allow it!" she declared with a hardened glare, twirling her scythe. The individual only chuckled as his body came to view, presenting himself from the dim light. He almost looked exactly like his twin brother Drago, but he was slightly skinnier, but equally tall. He had the same kind of armor, but more spikes and less bulky. He had darker colored scales, slightly small wings and darker colored crimson eyes.
"You know, that's what he said as well, before that wretched wife of his took a fatal blow for him, foolish bitch in my opinion." Draco said showing his sword, it almost resembled Drago's, but it was serrated and had more of a curve to it.
"How can you be so heartless!?"
"Heartless, Affection, Dedication. Why does it matter what anyone is. All I want is to prove a point." Draco said shaking his head. "To show I am the strongest amongst my dead race, and Drago, is my way to prove that, by killing him through combat!" he then pointed his sword at Ruby. "And I'll do anything to bring him out...starting…" he then leaned in as he gave a growl, Ruby widening her eyes as her pupils shook.
"With You…"