Where the Flowers Lay
Main Ships: Bumbleby, Whiterose, Arkos
Sub Ships: Renora, Crosshares, Seamonkeys,
Ships for Plot: Nuts & Dolts, Freezerburn (assumed), Tauradonna
Summary: Summer Roses was somewhat a memorable place for the two sisters. It was a place of grief yet also gave endearing emotions for Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. Although flowers may not have been particularly their speciality as younglings, the symbol of the place was left behind for them by their mother and who were they to defy such an amazing person? The only trouble was branching out the shop to Beacon, a city that was by far more terrifying than the farm animals back at Patch.
Chapter Three: A Speck of Thunder
"Hi, Yang." The black-haired beauty spoke. "I've heard quite a bit about you from your sister."
Yang smiled at Blake, nodding in her direction as she made her way towards them. "Wish I could say the same…but I didn't know she had friends."
She could see Ruby glare in her peripheral, making a big gesture to question why Yang would think that. The blonde just rolled her eyes because it was harder to believe that her introverted sister had made friends than Zwei having a special fire move, and that's impossible…maybe.
"That's a little harsh to say about your sister." Blake replied, raising a brow.
Yang shrugged and leaned on the counter, trying to come off as cool. She wanted to make a good impression on the lovely lass.
"Ruby's not especially skilled in making friends," then Yang raised her hand to ruffle the red head's hair. "But I'm glad you have a good eye for spotting amazing kiddos like her, Blake."
Ruby groaned and swatted Yang's hand away, obviously disliking the childish treatment. Back at Patch, the older sibling was always smothering the younger girl and looking after her like she was a child. Old habits die hard, was something that Yang quoted from Uncle Qrow, who claimed that it was his own creation, though Ruby found it in a book that was written way before Uncle Qrow was even born.
"Yang. I'm nineteen, already. Stop treating me like I'm a baby." Ruby pouted, not convincing Yang nor Blake that her statement was true.
"What do you mean? You'll always be a baby to me, Rubes. You're my baby sister." Yang grinned and messed the girl's hair one more time before Ruby got out of reach.
"Ugh! That's it! I'm retreating to the back!" Ruby announced, glaring at Yang once again before giving her friend a sheepish smile. "Thanks for getting Jaune and I some coffee, Blake. And, sorry in advance…that Yang will be taking your order now."
Before Blake could utter a word, Ruby ran through the staff door, leaving a small swirl of rose petals to fall to the ground. Yang frowned a little, wondering if some of the roses were dying, however she changed her expressions when faced with the black-haired beauty.
"One moment, please!" She said, then making her way around the counter to put on her apron, which had the shop's name and logo on it. "Done! Now," She clasped her hands together and smiled. "How may I help you?"
Θ
Usually, Yang would have attempted to flirt with beautiful girls, maybe try to get their numbers or ask them out for coffee, but despite her urges, she took her job quite seriously. There were things that Yang put in front of pretty women; Ruby, Zwei, Bumblebee (her motorcycle back at Patch) and Summer Roses. No matter how much Yang liked Blake's yellow eyes, how much the girl ran a hand through her thick black hair and revealing her smooth and fair skin, the blush she held when smelling her bouquet, Yang was going to be professional.
The Xiao Long-Rose family came to Beacon not to flirt on the job, but to achieve greater heights for Summer Roses, for their late mother. Both daughters knew this responsibility and no way was fluttering feelings going to tamper with their objective.
Well…at least on the job. Yang was definitely going to ask Ruby to bring Blake along to their parties just so that she could get to know her more. Maybe even slip in a few of her jokes.
Blake left after receiving her change, congratulating Yang on opening the shop. She smiled, a little proud, as she waved the black-haired beauty off. It wasn't really eventful after that, not unless Jaune's weird quadruple sneeze counted. The girls finally closed the shop, taking count of how many flowers they had sold and also making sure their stock wasn't stolen and in order. Their employee left just as the clock struck 5.
"We're not opening tomorrow, are we?" Ruby asked, when Yang turned the key to lock the shop.
"Nope. Tomorrow's Tuesday, our break." Yang grinned, to which her sister rolled her eyes at.
"We only just started, and you hardly helped." Ruby replied, deadpanned.
Yang chuckled at her response, holding her little sister in a headlock, which may seem a little harsh, but she promised she wasn't hurting Ruby in any way.
"Yang! My neck hurts!" Okay, she lied a little.
"C'mon, Rubes. I was only joking." The blonde spoke, letting go of her sister. "But, I want us to hang out tomorrow. We need to talk about things like the little party we're going to throw with Jaune and Ren."
She wiggled her eyebrows, smirking and recollecting the time they last had a party back in Patch. Ruby ended up kissing Oscar's cousin – granted that they broke up years ago. It got out a big reaction to many of their friends since his cousin was a girl. Drunk Ruby was definitely something similar to sober Yang.
The red head nudged her older sister, embarrassed at the memories. She was so caught up in it that she managed to trip on her own feet, almost falling but managing to catch herself. They headed home that night to do nothing in particular. Since Ruby had worked, Yang volunteered to cook for them. It ended up with them having to order pizza…and adding a new frying pan on the shopping list.
Θ
"So…Why did we have to come here to talk about the party?" Enquired a very lazy Ruby.
The sisters ended up watching a scary movie last night, which ended around 1AM, so waking up at 7AM just to end up sitting in Coco Latte was not good for the younger sister's body.
Yang sat herself across from Ruby, giving her a shot of expresso to wake her up. "Because I wanted another person's opinion in on this."
"Who is this other per—"
"Sup, ladies." Coco dropped in, sitting in between them.
"Ruby, this is Coco, my new best friend." Yang introduced.
The red head just rolled her eyes and leaned back. "I know who Coco is, Yang. I'm basically a regular here."
Coco nodded to reassure. "It's true. She's even met Blake and that chick rarely comes here."
Yang gasped and slammed her fist down, though gently. "You met Blake?!"
"You met her too!" Ruby replied, furrowing her brows with confusion.
Luckily there were only a few customers within the shop including the sisters, otherwise they would have probably been kicked temporarily out of the café.
"What do you mean, I met Blake!" Yang yelled back.
"Oh my days, you met her yesterday!" Ruby argued back.
There was a pause in the air, the silence enabling Yang to recollect the memories of yesterday; of the black-haired beauty…who was called Blake.
"…She's your Blake? Black hair, yellow eyes?" Yang asked Coco for reassurance.
Coco, herself, wasn't sure what was happening, but it was all amusing. She just shrugged and trusted that Ruby was right in the fact that Blake did meet Yang yesterday.
"I mean, I'm pretty sure there's tons of Blakes with black hair and yellow eyes in the world but…Ruby and Blake are friends, so I assume she's right."
"Huh, small world." Yang murmured, now taking a gulp of her coffee. "Anyway, let's get back to the matter at hand."
Ruby and Coco nodded and sat, waiting patiently for Yang to continue her talk, since she was going to organise the whole gathering. At least, Ruby hoped it was a gathering. She didn't like the thought of having to clean up after a party like the ones in Patch.
"Well, we're going to have the party at our house. I'm going to stock us up on alcohol and fizzy drinks. Don't want too many people to come. I was just thinking about inviting our friends, y'know?" Yang said.
To this, Ruby sighed in relief.
"I need your help with the decorations, Coco, but also invite our friends too." Yang told her.
The beret girl leaned back and hummed. "You mean Velvet and Weiss? I can get Velv to come but you'd have to personally invite Ice Queen. She's a rich girl, they like hand invites and stuff. Just tell me your address and date and I'll be round to help you out."
"Awesome. Rubes, can you stock us up on snacks? I want you to invite Blake too. We'll have Jaune and Ren come for the heavy lifting." Yang said. She meant moving around the furniture, which she could do herself but her being her, she was going to be lazy.
"Sounds like it's settled. When's it gonna be?" Coco asked, whipping out her phone to put it on her calendar.
Yang looked at Ruby and the two had a telepathic conversation. It mainly involved brow wiggled and intense staring, but they finalised on which day and time.
"Sunday. Around 6PM. I'll text you the address later." The blonde informed her friend.
After that, Yang and Ruby left the café to explore around Beacon for the fifth time. Except, this time, Yang had a different plan in mind. They took Ruby's car (Crescent Rose) out for a drive, which Yang driving. The two passed a few streets with shops and arcades and such, but Yang then took a different route.
They ended up in front of Beacon Academy, which was a really big school with dorms within its campus. Yang had gotten out, but Ruby was a little more hesitant. They both knew that this wasn't for Yang, who had just finished her 3 years of college with Signal's college.
"Come on, Ruby. We both know you want this." Yang said softly.
Even with the warmth in her voice, Ruby couldn't trust to leave the car, not until Yang told her that it was only to look around. A tour of the place.
She found out after they began their tour of the campus, that Yang applied for a tour before they left Patch. Her older sister was really looking out for her, and it really made Ruby happy, but she was still conflicted. Ruby had already finished school and it was too late to apply for the autumn semester, so she thought of giving up. Now, knowing how much effort Yang put in to help Ruby at least try university, she really wanted to. The only problem was that it meant she'd have less time at Summer Roses.
Ruby couldn't lie how much she liked the atmosphere. The quiet chatters across the quad, the smell of summer in the air. The buildings looked modern as well, unlike the ruins back at Patch. The young adult was even able to talk to a few teachers, though she sounded like she wasn't keen in attended in the car, Ruby was bursting with questions. She found out that the teacher she was talking to, Prof Goodwitch, was the professor who was currently teaching English Literature.
They stayed at the Beacon Academy for much longer than was expected but as long as it helped Ruby consider applying, Yang was okay with it. The two went home with a prospectus for Beacon Academy and a very red Ruby.
"I guess you didn't find today useful." Yang teased.
"Shut up, Yang!" Ruby huffed, but she smiled and hugged her immediately. "…Thanks. I really appreciate you looking out for me."
"What kind of big sister would I be if I didn't?" She replied, laughing.
The two went home after that, having takeout for dinner. Ruby, since she wasn't working tomorrow, spent the rest of the night binge watching a series called My Little Grimm – Yang couldn't stop making fun of her because of that. Yang on the other hand, was going to have to wake up early anyway. She wanted to stop breaking her morning jog routine. So, the blonde sister went to bed first.
Θ
Just like the Monday, when they first opened shop, Yang was met by the two's employee. Today it was Ren, who was more experienced in a florist shop than Jaune. This was going to be an exciting day!
"Morning, Ren." Yang chirped, opening the shop and allowing the young man with a pink strip in his hair in.
Ren bowed just a little before politely saying good morning. He was really nice, something that Yang and Ruby both liked. They ended up setting up the shop faster than Monday. Since stock wasn't going to be needed in moving around, Yang asked Ren if he wanted to work at the tills or guide customers. He took the latter choice.
For at least 4 hours – Yang had definitely not stared at the clock – the shop had plenty of customers window shopping and occasionally 1 or 2 who bought a single flower. The blonde admitted that it was busier than Patch, but the window shopping was annoying. Even if there were long hours between customers in Patch, every customer who came in had bought a bouquet. Here in Beacon? Not so much.
Yang was about to let out a groan when the bell rang, and she was met with a woman who had a power stance. Her hair was short and ginger and she definitely looked like she was…different.
"…Nora?" Ren spoke, poking his head out from a bunch of flowers.
The ginger grinned and skipped over to him, all with Yang watching, a raised brow plastered on. She hugged the guy, who was stiff and side-glancing at Yang.
"Ren! I just wanted to pop by and see how you're doing here!" The girl – Nora – had said.
"Thank you, Nora. As you can see, I am doing splendidly, here." Ren replied calmly as the ginger detached herself from him.
"That's great! Now, where's your boss?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
Yang leaned on the counter at this, clearly wanted to see what would happen next. She cleared her throat, getting the couple's attention, smiling at them.
"That's me." Yang spoke, her violet eyes on Nora.
Expectantly, Nora skipped over to Yang, both palms on either side of Yang on the counter. Her eyes looked intimidating but she was smiling warmly…or maybe she was challenging her. This Nora girl was hard to read.
"It is nice to meet you, Ren's boss!" Nora said very loudly, causing for Ren to rush over and remind her to tone it down a little. "Ren is doing a good job."
Yang furrowed her brows, quite amused at the statement. She straightened herself and looked at Nora closely. The girl definitely made that sound like a statement.
"I'm…sorry, are you telling me that he is or are you asking?"
Nora, without a second to hesitate, grabbed Ren by the shoulders and poked his cheek, all whilst staring at Yang.
"Do you see this man?" Yang glanced to Ren, nodding. "He is the embodiment of doing a "good job", ergo I refuse to believe otherwise."
"Nora! I'm only hours in on my first day of the job. You can't go around saying that to everyone!" Ren warned her, apologising quietly to Yang.
Nora just rolled her eyes and looked at Yang, like "men, what can you do with them?". It just confused Yang even more, making her erupt in laughter. Nora was such a weird person that Yang was enjoying this. She liked how the two were near to being opposites but together brought a comedic effect, even though it was unintentional on Ren's part. Yang was definitely going to befriend this Nora chick.
"You're doing good, Ren." Yang said, smiling at Ren, probably for the first time. Those smiles during their interview didn't count.
"See, Ren? I know you better than you know yourself, that's why I'm always right about you!" Nora said, nodding to herself like she was proud.
Yang just shook her head and looked at the calendar, since it was on the countertop. That stimulated her memory, reminding her that she needed to invite Ren to their party, otherwise it wouldn't really be a party for their shop.
"Oh, Ren! Ruby and I are throwing a party for the opening of Summer Roses this Sunday. You wanna come…I mean, you have to come. You're helped with the opening. You're invited too, Nora."
"Oh, it's an honour Ya—"
"WE'D LOVE TO!" Nora interrupted, a fiery passion in her eyes.
Yang could tell she was a party girl just merely from looking at her facial expression. She laughed at the enthusiasm and the look of disbelief from Ren, though it turned into an eye roll, like he was used to her actions.
"Great. I'll give you a call on Sunday to help set up, a little cost for attending." She said, winking at Ren. "However, now we must work. If you are not here for the flowers, you may stay, but only if you don't distract Ren or me."
Nora pouted for a moment then it immediately returned to a grin.
"It's all okay. I've got places to be, people to see." She replied, before quickly whipping out her phone. "Selfie!"
The sound of a captured photo was loudly than expected and Nora was able to get a slip of Yang and Ren in her Dustchat selfie. Nora looked very presentable but the other two were caught with opened mouths and misshaped eyes.
"Awesome! You both look terrible!" The ginger snickered, leaving the shop right away.
Ren apologised 23 times that day, each seemingly sounding guiltier than before.
Θ
When Ruby woke up, it was already 2 in the afternoon. She received a text from Yang about them having an extra guest on their invite list just 16 minutes before waking. Honestly, even if she had enough sleep for the day, Ruby could sleep a little more. It was a shame that she planned on opening a bank account today.
"Ughhhhhh." The red head groaned, getting up from her comfortable black-sheeted bed.
Ruby slowly made her way through the house to get ready, from brushing her teeth to getting changed to drinking coffee and eating toast. At 3:57PM, she left the house, making sure to take her keys so that Ruby didn't have to tell the same embarrassing story as Yang.
In Beacon, there were two banks, Ironwood Banking and SDC Banking. Ruby was going to apply for Ironwood but when she looked online about the rewards and benefits of applying with SDC, she couldn't resist. She could potentially get discounts for flying to Atlas. The red head had booked for an appointment to open her account at 4:15 – luckily she woke up just in time. She made it in the building 5 minutes before her appointment. The bank wasn't far since it was in town. Ruby made it to the desk, telling the man behind the glass window her name and appointment. Then, Ruby had to sit and wait before one of the bankers called her name.
Interviews was already hard for Ruby to do so this was going to be very nerve-wracking. It also reminded her that she had to tell Yang about what happened on Monday. She twiddled her fingers around each other, waiting patiently and convincing herself not to leg-it. The thoughts of anxiety swam around her head, though it was eventually drowned out by a loud voice.
"Do not touch me!" It sounded like a boy who hadn't gone through puberty…basically a girl.
Ruby perked up and glanced around to find a young man—no, it was a boy. He wore faded blue and white attire; smart buttoned up shirt and dress pants. There were two very big men in white beside him, making him seem like he was of higher class.
"I'm sorry, sir. I-I was just picking up your scarf for you." A man spoke, who wore a supermarket uniform.
The boy flicked off invisible dust from his shoulder, looking calmly at the man. He was shorter so even if he seemed important, it was a little funny to witness this dynamic.
"You can keep it. I'd rather give my clothing to the needy than keep it for my own use." The boy said.
Somehow, the way he toned it and worded it, had ticked Ruby off. He was definitely undermining working-class people, and no one was calling him out for it. Just because he looked like he had money, didn't mean he could treat people like that.
So, before she knew it, Ruby had placed herself between the supermarket guy, and the rich snob. Though Ruby knew how much attention increased her anxiety, the rush of adrenaline zipped through her body as she looked down at the boy – he wasn't really tall.
"What is your problem?" Ruby asked, very cross.
The boy, who had white hair, blinked at her, fazed a little by her question.
"What are you talking about?" He answered.
"You know what. You're treating this nice man like a commoner, like you're a kid going through their medieval phase." Ruby barked back.
Then, the boy narrowed his eyes at her statement, clearly not amused.
"Clearly, you're the less educated one here if you don't know who you're talking to…ah, commoner." The white-haired guy snarled.
Ruby clenched her fists, about ready to punch this guy in his pretty, rich, pale face. However, she was only taught to fight for self-defence. It would be a waste to use it on scum like him.
"Mister Schnee, would you like me to escort this lady out of the bank?" One of the white-suited men asked.
The boy smirked, crossing his arms and nodding. "Yes, please."
Then immediately, Ruby was kicked out, like she was the reason for the wrong. It baffled her why no one was standing up to a jerk like him, but then again, history taught her the fearsome power of money and class.
"…I guess we are still stuck in the past." Ruby muttered. "Ah…I'm an idiotic peasant."
She frowned. Stupid rich people.
Θ
When Ruby came home, Yang was already on the couch, which didn't surprise her. The red head took a lot of time walking around town to blow off steam. That short white-haired boy was still lurking at the top of her head, making fun of her and her income. She just wanted to—
"Hot chocolate?" Yang asked.
When Ruby blinked, she found her sister already by the kitchen, getting out the powder. She must have been thinking too hard if she didn't notice the blonde moving. Nonetheless, she nodded, taking a seat on a stool, sighing to herself.
"Geez, sis. Rough day?" Yang asked, leaning on the countertop.
Ruby nodded again.
"There was this prick at the bank, Yang. I wanted to punch him in the face." Ruby groaned, resting her forehead on the cold marble surface.
Yang frowned and moved over to the cupboard, taking out a container of cookies, which she called the "Ruby De-stressor" (it was literally on the container). She placed it by Ruby's head, making the red head sit up, then grabbing a cloth, began pretending to clean the counter.
"Tell me about it, darlin'". Yang said, doing her best bartender impression.
That made the little sister smile, happy that her sister was a good listener. She was just happy that her sister even listened to her to begin with.
"Well," Ruby began, taking a bite of a chocolate chip cookie. "this white-haired boy was being disrespectful to a man at the bank. He was all condescending and judging the guy just because of their different class. It really frustrated me, Yang…I couldn't just listen in—I had to jump in and stop this. Turns out this boy was really big and got his bodyguard to kick me out."
Yang nodded then clenched her fists with narrowed eyes. She looked very serious, just like the time when she found out Ruby was being bullied at school. The events turned out really bad for the bully and Yang, with them both being suspended for a month.
"What's the kid's name?" Yang asked calmly, a tone that she used when she was truly pissed off.
Ruby shrugged, trying to remember if his name was mentioned. "I don't know…I think I heard a guy say "Mister Schnee" at the bank…"
Yang hummed and glanced over at the TV, trying to think deeply like she heard of that name before. Ruby just waited patiently for her sister to speak, only to become even more curious when the blonde's eyes widened.
"…Yang?"
"Oh…It's nothing, sis. Everything will all wash over soon."
Ruby found it doubtful. She saw the fire in Yang's eyes, heat of vengeance. Nothing other than revenge could burn that out, nothing.
Instead of digging deeper, Ruby let it go since there was no way Yang could get to that snob, especially since he had bodyguards. No martial arts could help Yang get through stacks full of Lien.
"Okay, well I might as well go to sleep now. I'm working with Ren tomorrow." Ruby said.
Her sister nodded, then she reminded her to invite her friend, Blake, to which Ruby replied that she already did. That was an obvious lie. She was going to do it when she got to her room.
She forgot to do it.
Θ
When Ruby left to go to sleep, Yang immediately whipped out her phone. She walked over to the couch, typing "Schnee" into Scroll. Immediately there were articles and pages about the Schnee company and important people, one of which Yang recognised was on the telly the other day: Jacques Schnee.
"Jacques Schnee is the CEO of world's largest bank, SDC Banking (that was probably the bank Ruby got kicked out of). Previously caught in a scandalous affair, Jacques, at the age of 27, had daughter Winter Schnee. He soon married Winter's mother after breaking up with his girlfriend. Weiss Schnee was born 5 years after the marriage, who is said to be the heir of the company…" Yang paused at this, finding this quite shocking.
She didn't think that Weiss was this important, especially seeing as the way she acted so friendly with her. It was a little scary. Then, the blonde wondered if she was managing okay, recalling the way she spoke about her father.
"…Jacques last and only son, Whitley, was born 7 years after Weiss—" Yang stopped and tapped on Whitley's name, which led her to another tab with his image and profile.
Yang bit her lip, looking over it before she closed the tab and went onto her messages app to text Weiss.
Yang: hey Weiss I need 2 talk w/ u
While waiting, Yang went through Faunstagram, liking all of Pyrrha's posts, because that's what friends did. She even bantered with Coco on one of the beret-wearing girl's photos, whilst waiting.
Ice Queen: Of course, however I will not be back until Sunday night. Do you mind?
Yang: Nah its chill take as long as u liek b
Ice Queen: Thank you.
She was going to drop the phone and go do something else, but Yang remembered that she had to invite Weiss to the party on Sunday.
Yang: 4got 2 tell u but I hve a party this Sunday and ur invited so u better cme
This time she didn't wait for Weiss' reply because that girl better come or she was going to drag her to the party herself.
Hello, hello lovely people!
Caff is back at it again with the chapter updates! I've been trying to write every day so that I won't take longer than a week to update, but I keep going a day over.
I don't want to rush my plot and I'm not, I swear! Slow burn is the BEST (insert sarcasm). I also hate having to wait and anticipate what's happening next.
So, for now, look forward to some more slow burn and some more one week worth of waiting!
Also, I've added in stuff that might confuse you guys, unless you caught on. Here's the keys:
Faunstagram = Instagram
RemBook = Facebook
Dustchat = Snapchat
Scroll = Google
My Little Grimm = My Little Pony
Am I funny yet? No? Okay. T-T