Omake Week 2015, Day 5: My only other RWBY omake was done last year for Omake Week as well. This almost counts as tradition, now!

~X X X~

A/N: This story takes place in the same steampunk AU as my novels, Burning Gold and Belladonna Lilies. In fact, it takes place not long after Burning Gold and will contain some spoilers for that, so you probably ought to read that one first, if you care about things like that!

~ 1889 ~

Yang Xiao Long was one of the most courageous women in England. She routinely threw herself into potentially lethal combat against desperate criminals in her work as a huntress. She'd fallen from an exploding airship into the Thames and had reacted by looking into parachute-jumping as a sport. Nor was her bravery limited to the physical, living as she did a happy life on her own terms in Queen Victoria's England despite being female, born out of wedlock, and of mixed racial heritage.

That she was still hesitant to descend the stairs into the cellars of her father's home was one of those things detectives referred to as a clue.

"Um, Ruby?" she called with very uncharacteristic timidity. "Is it safe to come down?"

"Of course it is—ah! Zwei, stay out of the crimson Dust! You don't want to turn yourself into a fireball!"

That enheartening message just proved Yang's courage, as she went down anyway into her younger half-sister's workshop. Ruby Rose was nineteen and an aspiring huntress herself. Unlike Yang, she was also fascinated by the technology used in the profession, tools and gadgets and most especially weapons. The cellar was her domain, where she put together much of what she used in her jobs. This included Steel Thorn, her prized staff-voulge-boltgun-whatever that had been destroyed trying to capture the notorious Phantom Gentleman on her last job.

As Yang stepped off the last riser, Ruby was picking a plump corgi off one of the workbenches.

"You don't want to be a literal firedog, do you, Zwei?"

The corgi yipped and licked Ruby on the nose, making her giggle.

"You know, it's really too bad we can't think of a way to rig you out for that. You could take down baddies and giant automata and everything by shooting fire at them. But you'd have to wear some kind of fireproofing and you probably wouldn't like that."

"Dad wouldn't like you setting the dog on fire, Ruby."

"I wouldn't do that! Zwei just wants to help be a hunter, too, don't you, Zwei?"

Zwei yipped again and favored his humans with a doggy grin before Ruby set him down.

"See?"

"Yeah, he's one of the family, all right. So how's it going with the redesign?"

Ruby sighed.

"Not great. I've got the basic design for the shaft and blade done. It's collapsible, of course, and I'm using case-hardened steel for the barrel; one of the Schnee companies introduced a new process last year that improves the material strength by a third, which is especially important because being collapsible will build weaknesses right into the design from the start. My problem is, I want to make it a proper gun, not just for shooting specialty Dust cartridges."

"That's what you meant when you said you wanted a rifle?"

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'm not the biggest girl, so I like a weapon with reach to help keep me out of close clashes, and that gives me the potential barrel length for a long gun. Though, I'm also thinking of making it able to fire in partly collapsed mode. You know, like a carbine?"

Yang chuckled at her sister's enthusiasm.

"Where does that leave room for the blade, if you're going to shoot down the full barrel length?"

"Mounted on the outside. I think I mentioned that before, back when we were rehashing the Torchwick case?"

Yang grinned sheepishly.

"You know me, Ruby. I just come up with ideas and then let an armorer put them together if they need complex work."

Ruby sighed, shaking her head.

"I've never understood that, Yang. Our weapons aren't just tools, they're an extension of ourselves. If you don't make it with your own hands, how can you really feel at one with it?"

"Hey, I make my own ammunition," Yang protested. "I just don't need seventeen trick functions to punch people and shoot things."

"I have never had a weapon that had seventeen modes."

"You'd sound a lot more persuasive if you didn't say that like you regretted it."

"If you cannot appreciate the finer points of weapon design," Ruby said primly, "then what are you doing down here?"

"I wanted to show you this."

She took a folded newspaper from under her arm and extended it to Ruby.

"Oh? What's the—ah! Look what it says, Yang! 'Dr. Pyrrha Nikos, the renowned archaeologist, will host the grand opening of the new Egyptian Gallery at the Exham University Museum of Antiquity. Dr. Nikos's excavation of the tomb of Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid, will form the core of the initial display, which has already drawn the envy of scholars from the British Museum.' It opens this Tuesday, Yang!" Ruby caroled, starry-eyed. "We have to go see the exhibit."

Chuckling again at her sister's enthusiasm, Yang shook her head.

"I swear, Ruby, you're almost as excited over Dr. Nikos as you are for weapons."

"Well, of course! She's barely older than you are, and she's gone all over the world, into places that most Europeans can't find on a map because the maps don't show them at all, and she's discovered so many things…she's amazing! Since she's been at Exham, she won the Mistral Prize for Scientific Excellence four years running. No one's ever done that before!"

"Then in that case, I guess you'll want these, huh?"

She flipped an envelope to Ruby, who didn't let go of the newspaper in time to grab it cleanly. Zwei, though, snatched it out of the air, then hopped up on his hind legs, front paws on her knee, to hand it up to her.

"What's this?"

"Open it and see."

Ruby broke the seal.

"Oh, my God! Yang, these are two invitations to Tuesday's reception!"

"I thought you'd appreciate it."

"But how did you get them?"

Yang smirked.

"Remember last year, when I caught those art smugglers? Turns out they'd swapped four statues for forgeries out of the Museum of Antiquity. I got them back and kept it quiet, so the curator owed me one."

"And one day I, too, shall be a famous huntress whose work entitles me to entry into all kinds of events. But for now, I shall happily enjoy the benefits of my sister's fame, even if it means I need to suffer through a fitting for a new dress. What are you going to wear, Yang?"

"Me? I'm not going."

"But there are two invitations here."

"I thought you might want an escort or a friend along, someone you can talk to when you're not listening to Dr. Nikos's speech." Though Ruby had the pedigree to go about in Polite Society, she tended to turn into a wallflower when left to her own devices, and Yang definitely wanted her to work on getting out of that shell. A huntress needed confidence even in situations where a weapon wasn't the appropriate vehicle for social interaction.

"I suppose I could ask Jaune. He might enjoy listening to Dr. Nikos," Ruby mused. "I still wish you'd come along."

"Oh, you'll be fine. Just remember not to throw wine on the guest of honor this time."

"That's only happened once and it was an accident, anyway!"

"Just so long as the Schnees don't bill you for the Snow Princess's birthday gown."

Ruby scowled at her.

"Just why don't you want to go, anyway?"

Yang waved a hand dismissively.

"Come on, all that archaeology stuff doesn't interest me. It's just a bunch of what dead people did three thousand years ago. All the actual exploring and investigating and digging they do to find the stuff is pretty exciting, but looking at it in a museum? I mean, a mummy is just a fancily dressed corpse. Oh, but hey! Maybe you don't need to get a new dress after all. If you finish your new weapon in time, you could wear your huntress outfit."

"Is this some side effect from the head injury? I think I just hallucinated you saying that I should wear my work clothes to a fashionable museum opening."

"Well, sure! You said that the blade on this was going to be a scythe, didn't you? Well, with that and your hood, you'll fit right in with all the mummies!"

It may not have been on fire, but the corgi Yang took to the face suggested that Ruby hadn't completely abandoned the Zwei-as-projectile idea.