Beacon Academy. Vale. Night before Initiation. 80 AGW.
Solomon didn't even need to look into the ballroom to notice that it would be impossible to go into a trance to speak with Tactical Warrior. While a near instantaneous shift in perspective was easy to achieve thanks to the Rose Cards, the Rose Duelist did wanted to avoid showing off their abilities in public. This meant that he would need to utilize the other methods, necessitating a measure of focus upon the trance. While not as great as it was when he first started practicing the method, the level of focus he required still wasn't possible with the number of people and the, while somewhat low, still present noise of conversation.
Still, it was late enough he was unable to head anywhere else, so he moved to the back wall and sat against it crosslegged, proceeding to attempt to achieve the requisite focus. It took some time, but eventually the external stimuli began to fade and the ordinarily ignored internal stimuli rose. As he began to reach the level required to enter his soul. Until he heard someone speak to him, interrupting his focus and snapping him back to reality.
Knowing that Solomon turned his head upwards and took note of a yellow haired individual who seemed familiar had likely been the person to interrupt him from his meditation. "What can I help you with, Miss…" he stated after he stood up. 'Fucking hell, why am I so short here?' the Rose Duelist thought as he had to look up a fair degree in order to look the woman in the eye.
"Yang Xiao Long," the blonde responded.
"Solomon Rosenkreuz" Solomon asked, recalling the name Ruby had mentioned. He noted she was wearing different clothing than earlier. "Are you the sister of Ruby Rose?
"That's me," Yang answered cheerfully. "She's how I heard about you, in fact."
'Wonder what the story is of why they have separate names,' he thought. 'Actually, that's none of my business.' "I can admit that I have not seen twins with as disparate appearances as the two of you before," he replied.
Yang was confused by his comment for a second, before realizing what the Rose Duelist had meant. "Oh, no, she was brought ahead two years," she replied.
While Solomon himself was impressed, he noted that Tactical Warrior seemed to be even more impressed. 'Tac probably knows more of how significant that jump is, so if it's impressing her that much…' he trailed off. "Miss Rose must be an exceptionally gifted fighter," he finished the thought aloud.
"Miss Rose?" Yang asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.
'What is she thinking of?' Solomon mused, noting that, for some reason, Tactical Warrior seemed to be having a bit of a chuckle at his reaction. Collecting his thoughts, the Rose Duelist responded, "She had not requested I call her by only her first name. It would be disrespectful to do so."
She seemed to be weighing something within her mind at this response, speaking up after a few seconds with, "I'm pretty sure she would be fine with you calling her by her first name."
"That may be the case, but her accomplishment of being capable enough to skip two years means she is deserving of a fair amount of respect," Solomon responded. "Until such a time as she gives her explicit permission for me to do so, I will continue to be referring to in more formal terms." Tactical Warrior seemed to be outright laughing now. 'Just what do you notice…' he thought after noting her reaction.
A mixture of emotions existed within Yang's expression, the sum effect giving her a serious disposition. "How is it you regard my sister?" she asked, her tone matching her expression.
Solomon noted Tactical Warrior's mindset shift to convey concern and wariness, almost as if she was telling him to be careful. Solomon stroked his chin as he collected his thoughts to determine what would be the best thing to say to the quite protective blonde. "She is an acquaintance with a great amount of combat skill," the Rose Duelist responded carefully.
"That's it?" Yang asked in the same tone.
"I acknowledge she has a quite protective sister, if that is what you are asking." he responded carefully. "I have only met her once, so I do not yet know her enough to apply any other term."
Yang gave Solomon an odd look, seemingly considering something. Whatever the thought was, it seemed to be cut off by a familiar voice speak up, "Oh hey, I see you two met each other."
"Greetings, Miss Rose," the Rose Duelist spoke as Yang looked like a deer in the headlights for a second from Ruby speaking up. 'Seems she wasn't expecting Miss Rose to interrupt,' Solomon thought to his and Tactical Warrior's mutual amusement. Yang was able to narrowly get her expression under control before Ruby was able to notice it.
"Hey little sister," Yang greeted.
"What were you two talking about?" Ruby asked innocently, seeming to cause Yang to panic for a second.
"Miss Xiao Long was telling me a little about your accomplishments after introducing herself, Miss Rose," Solomon said, noting that Yang seemed slightly relieved. He remained confused and Tactical Warrior seemed incredibly smug, presumably seeing something he didn't."
"You don't need to call me that," Ruby responded, apparently slightly embarrassed. "You can call me Ruby."
"Call me Yang," the elder sister responded with greater confidence than the younger.
"I shall do so if you refer to me as Solomon," he replied with a slight bow.
"Hey, I wasn't able to find you earlier, where were you at?" Ruby inquired.
"I was helping with a translation of a work written in a very old language…certain events…led me to have a great amount of knowledge of," Solomon explained. "I would rather not try to explain."
Ruby was slightly disappointed at the latter statement, before perking up. "Would you be able to explain your semblance then? There's time now."
"Right…" he replied, trailing off nervously.
"Something the matter?" Yang asked.
"I have never had to actually directly describe it," he said with a chuckle while shaking his head. "People either already knew about the details already or had directly witnessed it and did not need any further explanation. Probably easier for you to see it in use during initiation…"
"Really, that's what you're going with?" responded Yang skeptically while Ruby looked disappointed.
"A single part of it allows for me to go intangible if I transfer my aura to an entity I summon," Solomon stated to both of their shock. "I did say that it was considered abnormal," he continued slightly sheepishly.
"That's only one part?" Ruby responded in sheer disbelief.
"That's impossible," Yang spoke in the same tone.
The Rose Duelist gave a small smirk and responded with a slightly smug, "You will be seeing my capabilities during initiation if you do not believe me."
"We'll hold you to that," Yang said, crossing her arms.
Furrowing his brow, Solomon asked, "I am curious. Would you kindly inform me as to what your semblances are?"
"Speed," Ruby responded cheerfully.
"The more I am hit, the stronger I get," Yang stated nonchalantly.
Solomon chuckled and shook his head before saying, "If only I were able to summarize mine so simply."
His minor laughter was stopped dead when Ruby asked, "Where are you from?"
"It is…not important," Solomon responded as he lowered his gaze to the ground, a hint of loss and sorrow lacing his voice as memories came to him. "There is no point to attempt to go there anymore." Months had eased the sting of the memories and it was further reduced as he noted Tactical Warrior was giving him the mental equivalent of a hand on the shoulder, but there were still traces. The Rose Duelist was fairly certain it would never go away.
After shaking his head to brush the emotions away, he raised his head and noted something within the expressions of the two others. At first he thought it was sympathy, but after noting Tactical Warrior seemingly having come to a different conclusion, he soon saw that it was instead a different emotion, empathy. Solomon had a slight feeling of guilt, and said 'I know the cover story is that I am from a destroyed settlement outside the walls and I am only implying such a scenario, but it still feels wrong using such a cover in front of someone who seemed to have someone in their lives lost.'
"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Ruby apologized.
Solomon sighed. "It is not your fault," he responded. "There is no possible way I can see you could have known the information before now."
"That obvious?" Yang asked a bit sheepishly.
"Not really," he responded carefully. "I had to take a second look at your expressions in order to notice. Most people would not look that far." Preempting their potential next statement, Solomon finished with, "I do not wish to pry into the tragedy you had to deal with. I know such things are not lightly spoken of."
Both nodded in understanding, leaving a slightly awkward silence in the aftermath. "There isn't too much that can be said after that," Yang eventually spoke up.
"I probably could have been a bit more careful with my word choice," Solomon admitted with a shrug. "It is doubtful we can recover the conversation at this point in time. Maybe we could continue speaking tomorrow?"
"Okay…" Ruby agreed sadly.
"Just try to make sure we can actually find you this time," Yang lightly teased, leaving Ruby slightly aghast for a split second before Solomon started chuckling.
"May you have pleasant dreams this night, Ruby and Yang," Solomon said.
"You as well," Ruby responded cheerfully as she left.
"'Night," Yang stated as she walked with her sister.
A low conversation seemed to start between them as Solomon returned to his crosslegged meditative state. Over the course of their conversation, the level of noise in the room had decreased, so it was far easier for Solomon to collect his focus and shut out external stimuli. He easily progressed past the point where he had been when Yang had first gotten his attention, and he was soon shut off from virtually all external stimuli.
The sounds of his steady breathing increasing in volume as his internal focus grew. Soon, he felt his blood flowing through his entire body, from his feet to his head. Following the blood with his focus, he came to his heart and its steady beat echoing across his mind. Attuning himself to it, the Rose Duelist slipping fully into his soul's hallway.
Solomon took a quick glance into his soul room, letting it rebalance his mind in the strange way only the room could do. Turning towards the door marking his link with Tactical Warrior, Solomon noted her standing in the open door. Wordlessly, he closed his door and followed her to a segment of her room with a table inlaid with a battlefield. As both were seated, the magic within the table activated and left two figures identical to Tactical Warrior upon opposing sides of the field.
"Terrain?" Tactical Warrior asked.
"Let's leave it upon basic for now," Solomon responded. "It has been awhile since we dueled each other."
"Roughly a week ago on the toon corridor, wasn't it?" Tactical Warrior replied, gesturing to him. "It seems you have the first move."
Solomon gave a nod as he moved his leader forwards. "Yes," Solomon answered as he perused the selection he had available. "Was difficult to turn around once you were on the losing side," the Rose Duelist continued as he fused two cards, advancing the newly summoned face-down card forwards after it came into play. He waved the turn to Tactical Warrior.
"Gate Deeg proved to be quite useful to you," Tactical Warrior responded, looking over her options. "A slight shame we had to remove Invader from Another Dimension to add it," she finished with a slight chuckle. She proceeded to junk one of the cards before summoning a fusion to the left of her Leader, from Solomon's perspective, before advancing the card. She waved the turn over to the Rose Duelist.
"It may have been neat to keep that card. Could have been an invader bringing in another invader," Solomon responded with a slight smile. He set a card behind his leader before advancing both his leader and fusion towards Tactical Warrior's side of the board. "What do you think of Ruby and Yang?" the Rose Duelist asked as he finished his turn.
"Ruby's skill with her weapon is quite spectacular," Tactical Warrior commented, looking over her selection with a stern eye.
"She skipped two years, of course it should be," the Rose Duelist spoke.
"Precisely," Tactical Warrior responded as she moved her leader to the Rose Duelist's left, behind her fusion, and flipped the fusion to defense rather than advancing it. "Her weapon seems as if it needs a different combat style than most, especially given its size in comparison to her mass. The scythe is also an unusual weapon for melee, meaning there would be few teachers."
"It being a sniper rifle would only add to the difficulty of the weapon's use," Solomon informed as he looked over his selection. "It is a weapon designed for long ranges and a fair amount of skill is needed to be accurate at the ranges it operates on."
"What's the maximum range?" Tactical Warrior inquired as Solomon advanced his leader to his left and fusion summoned another monster, advancing both it and his first fusion.
"Depends upon the model," Solomon admitted as the turn passed to Tactical Warrior. "I seem to recall there were a few shots made over a mile back on Earth with some models. I don't know how many were in the .50 caliber range, but I do know that size bullet can pierce multiple inches of steel."
Tactical Warrior's face easily betrayed how much she was impressed. "Quite a powerful weapon, then. It speaks a fair bit to her sill that she is able to utilize the wide range gap effectively enough to skip two full years of training." Tactical Warrior summoned a card in front of Solomon's first fusion.
"It certainly does," Solomon commented, slightly smug as Tactical Warrior grimaced when it was revealed his fusion was Judge Man, a full hundred stronger than her Empress Judge summon.
"Still," Tactical Warrior continued, after restoring her composure and moving away her leader. "She seems a bit…less mature than I am used to. Both of them do."
Solomon chuckled. "Remember what I was like when I first was transported to the fifteenth century? You know, joining with the Rose Crusaders out of petty vindictiveness rather than listening to the arguments."
Tactical Warrior laughed as she remembered, "Then there was you adjusting from modern student to medieval nomad."
"Oh god, that whole debacle," he responded laughing. "Wasn't helped by how awkward we were with each other at the time."
"Neither of us could barely speak with each other, what with how new we both were to it," Tactical Warrior continued laughing.
"Don't forget my awkwardness around girls," the Rose Duelist said, continuing the laughter. "Every time I tried, I stumbled over every word!"
Both laughed for a bit of time before it finally died down. "And now a good amount of the strongest cards you have are female monsters," Tactical Warrior said with the occasional chuckle. "As well, the first few other students you have met are all female."
"Indeed," Solomon commented as he finished regaining his composure. "Still, as I was going to say, you can't forget that there aren't the same pressures to grow up as fast as there were in the fifteenth century. May be slightly more than back where I live due to the presence of the Grimm, but there is a little less pressure to do so as quickly," he continued, finally making a move. He had Judge Man attack Tactical Warrior's defense position fusion, revealing it to be Nekogal #2. He further began movements to box Tactical Warrior's leader against the corner.
"That is true," Tactical Warrior admitted with a frown upon seeing she was out of options and used Final Flame to at least deal some damage to Solomon. "I guess there's some stuff to adjust to still."
"We both probably need to," Solomon said as he moved his pieces into position to box her in against the corner. "Still, now that we are around some people that aren't a decade older than me, we should be able to start soon. Concede?"
"Concede," Tactical Warrior said. A slight steel entered her voice as a her expression shifted to a promise of vengeance, saying "You will not win the next game."
Seeing her expression, Solomon chuckled, "Yes, I very much doubt I will."
This chapter was oddly a bit of a chore to work through. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up when I tried to push my way through it. I wish to note that, if anyone can come up with a team with the greatest number of coincidental similarities to the three Duelist of the Roses deck leaders I got with the name Solomon, I may use that team rather than the RNG. For reference, aside from Tactical Warrior/Command Knight, there was also Thunder Nyan Nyan and Serpentine Princess.
Also, here's few thoughts I had while working on this chapter that I haven't been able to get rid of:
Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising Revengence being dropped into RWBY, fully healed after his fight with Raiden. Just how much would that mess things up?
In another line of thought, doesn't the Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon look a bit like a Grimm and the regular Blue Eyes White Dragon look like the antithesis of a Grimm?
Also, just noticed the 'two brothers' religion, the Grimm were created by one of them, and humanity was created with both light and darkness. Well then.