This is a work of fan fiction, created for entertainment purposes only and with no claim to the characters depicted. Ownership of RWBY characters and concepts belongs to Rooster Teeth. Dungeons and Dragons and the d20 System belong to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. The World of Ere setting belongs to Landon Porter and Paradox-Omni Entertainment.
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Chapter 21: Some Day In Snow Part 1
The treasure chest fanfare from Legend of Zelda woke Pyrrha up from a pleasant dream whose details dissolved upon waking leaving her with a vaguely happy feeling. That feeling soon turned sour as she found herself with the distinct realization that she was wrapped up in a warm burrito of blankets while her phone was on her nightstand in her significantly colder room.
It took her a sleep-hazed moment to remember whose texts she'd assigned that particular sound to. Nora's was a party horn blowing (as per her request), Ren's was a short selection played on a flute, Weiss's was a delicate music box chime, Blake's was the sound of pages being rapidly turned, Yang's was fireworks going off, and Ruby's was a recording of the girl in question shouting 'Yay'.
That left...
Her eyes, previously starting to close so she could go back to sleep, opened again. Her arm shot out of the covers to snatch the phone off the nightstand and drag it under the comfy cavern of covers with her. With some clumsy fumbling, she unlocked the screen to find a text message from Jaune.
'hope this dsnt wke u—'
Too late.
'—bt whn u do wke up, lk out ur wndw.'
For a moment, that question sent a shiver down her spine. Memories of the prank war and several days worth of the threat of Yang's antics looming over her head. Then clearer thoughts prevailed and she remembered that the war was weeks ago. Today was important for another reason: her birthday.
Had Jaune set up a surprise for her outside? She'd thought he'd had his fill of big, flashy displays in the wake of the Weiss Incident and one of her previous birthdays about two years prior when the sound system he set up for her party had become something that necessitated a visit from not only the police but the county electrical utility after it blew out the power to the block.
Considering he was old enough now to be tried as an adult, she wasted no time struggling out of her blanket cocoon and sitting up enough to look out the window next to her bed.
What greeted her was the familiar vista of her front yard with its single sycamore tree and the street that separated her house from a gentle hill leading down to the edge of a forest of young trees. Only now it was under a blanket of fresh, powdery snow, all save for the road, which had been plowed then snowed on again so that it was mostly gray slush.
If there had been school that day, it would have been a snow day anyway.
She blamed the last foggy bits of sleep in her head for the fact that it took far too long to connect the dots and realize that if there was that much snow and slush outside, no one was going to be able to make it to her party. It made her a little sad to think her friends were going to miss her special day (by now it didn't faze her at all that her parents had managed to both be there for her birthday twice since she was ten), but then she could always count on the Arcs.
Remembering her phone, she texted back:
'I guess it's just you, your family and I today. Are your sisters excited?'
Yang always mocked her for typing in complete sentences, but Pyrrha never saw the sense in not taking to time to do something right when one had the time.
Text sent, she retreated back under her blankets. Technically she didn't have to start getting ready until she said she was going to get ready. It was her birthday; she was allowed to be lazy.
Sadly, she only had less than a minute before a new text came in.
'Jst me & dad grls slpovrs. Stl cm ovr 4 mves &fd.'
It actually took her a few minutes to completely decipher that one. She'd known that Jaune's mother was out of town for a teaching conference, but it seemed that the only two of Jaune's seven sisters still living at home had been at sleepovers and were snowed in, leaving just Jaune and his dad at the house. Undeterred, Jaune was still inviting her over for movies and... food, she guessed? It would still be a nice time; she always enjoyed their movie nights. Plus, ever since they were little, Mr. Arc always made her cake and birthday dinner just like for all his own kids. She always insisted on helping even if she wasn't half as proficient in the kitchen as any of the Arcs.
She tapped out her reply.
'That sounds grand. Let me get ready and I'll be over in twenty minutes.'
Jaune responded swiftly with a 'c u thn', leaving Pyrrha fresh out of excuses for staying under the covers. A hot shower managed to take off the chill from having to leave her comfy bed, and woke her up well enough to think clearly; to reminisce about birthdays past.
For as long as she could remember, all her parties had been at the Arc household. The huge family next door was more than happy to host and with eight kids, they had way more experience at the set-up and cleanup than the Nikos family anyway. This would be the first year without any of Jaune's sisters and only the second where one of his parents wouldn't be around.
It would be almost like she was alone with him.
All day.
She paused in the middle of brushing her hair to fight down the blush that was forming.
Academically she understood nothing was going to happen besides some fun, some food and a few gifts, but a girl could dream as long as she didn't didn't take things too far. Which arguably she already had with the whole 'playing characters in a romance' thing, but for once Jaune's social density was working for her instead of against her.
Pushing her brief sojourn into a fantasy world where her present was Jaune with a bow around his neck, she quickly finished grooming and got dressed. Dark green wool leggings under a knee-length, black jean shirt and a black and white checked flannel shirt over an olive-colored tank top; it was cold outside, but she knew it would be a little too warm for her tastes so she made sure she could effectively strip down to something comfortable yet modest.
A little make-up, the same amount she wore to school; just a touch of eyeliner and a dusting of blush, and she headed downstairs.
Stomping into her snow boots, she finished up by pulling on her winter coat. It was... the thing she hated most in her wardrobe. Her mother meant well, and she was an expert in outdoors sports for all seasons, but she seemed to not notice there might be a tiny difference between winter at a training camp on a Swiss mountain and winter in a small city in a temperate enough climate that almost every instance of snow shut the whole place down.
In short, the coat was a hideous red thing with a shiny surface that made her look like an angry Mylar marshmallow. She never had the heart to tell her mother how awful it looked and it felt like a betrayal to her if she went and bought a new one.
So she pulled it on, zipped it up, pulled the head over her head and went out the side door of her house. Long ago, both families decided that walking all the way out to the street and down the sidewalk to get from one house to the other was a sucker's game and so they'd installed a gate in the six-foot slatted fence between their yards.
The snow provided a slight obstacle by blocking the door, but it was nothing a few good kicks with her snow boots couldn't fix. Within a few minutes, Pyrrha was into the adjoining yard and up the stairs to the Arc back deck.
Jaune had left the blinds that normally covered the sliding glass door open and was sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for her, playing something on his phone. At the first tap on the glass he hopped up, laying his phone to the side, and came to open the door.
"Happy Birthday!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms around her heedless of the melting snowflakes and squeaking red fabric of her coat. When they broke apart, he took a step back and announced, "You are officially older than me for the next two months. Can I get you your rocking chair and rheumatism medicine, gran'ma?"
She stuck out her tongue at him while shucking off the coat and boots. There was a slit open trash bag next to the door to put them on so the carpet didn't get wet. "Now, now," she poke with an imperious tone, "Respect your elders lest my cane find your backside." Reaching out before he could reach, she ruffled his hair roughly.
He shied away from it, but was laughing as he did. "Hey, watch the hair. I actually spent time on it for your special day, ya know?"
"Really? I couldn't tell," she teased, knowing full well that the fact that it had been in a slightly less scraggly state that tempted her to muss it up in the first place. It was fun and made him look more like himself.
"You suck," he pouted, making a show of stomping back to the couch.
Pyrrha followed him, all smiles, playing along. "Oh come on, don't be like that. Besides, I get a pass because it's my special day, right?" When he dropped down onto the couch, she did the same, sinking easily into the cushions.
"Yeah, I guess so." Jaune said, after falling silent just long enough to make her second guess whether he was actually upset or not. He straightened up and gestured around at the lack of decorations. "I know it's not exactly a party, but we can still have fun. We can play whatever games you want, watch whatever movies you want, and Dad says that even though we can't get to the grocery store, we have all the stuff we need to make your cake and," he drew out the world, a wild spark in his eye she recognized from every time he was trying to be dramatic for a big reveal.
The actual quality of what was revealed was a mixed bag, but Pyrrha had high hopes because it involved Arcs and cooking and nothing bad could come of it. So she found herself leaning forward, already excited no matter what dish he was going to name.
Jaune's easy smile grew brighter at seeing her excitement, "...your favorite: his famous chili."
And that right there already made this a great birthday as far as Pyrrha was concerned. Leon Arc had been a firefighter up until a few years ago when an injury in the line of duty took him out of action. Yes, firefighters and chili was a stereotype, but Leon's chili had won awards citywide; a perfect blend of meat and spices that didn't try too hard at being the hottest thing on the planet, just to taste good. Jaune knew what he was saying when he said it was her favorite food.
It was like she was a kid again how eager she was upon hearing that. Her eyes shone with anticipation. "Really?"
"Yep." Jaune said with a grin. "which is why we're gonna have to start work on your cake early. Wanna start with that?"
Pyrrha held her hand to her mouth to suppress a giggle. It never really licked with him that she genuinely enjoyed cooking—or rather helping to cook—where he thought of it as a chore (which it was for the Arc children; they had a rotating cooking schedule). "That actually sounds wonderful. Let's get to it."
As little was it made sense to Jaune that Pyrrha could be so happy doing such a mundane task, he wasn't going to question what she wanted to do on her birthday, so he bounced off the couch and offered her a hand up with a poorly sketched courtly bow. It was another thing he couldn't figure out about his best friend, but he'd noticed that that always made her smile just a little, so he did it now. With the plans for a party scuttled, he wanted to do everything he could to make it a great day.
It was only after he'd helped get her to her feet that he remembered what he considered the most important thing.
"Oh right! I almost forgot!" He went over to the gigantic cabinet of tapes, DVDs, and games next to the entertainment system and opened the lower compartment where the writhing snake's nest of AV cables lived and retrieved a box from it.
He would never admit it, but it had taken him the better part of an hour to wrap it so it looked absolutely perfect including repeatedly trying and failing at the trick of running the ribbon along the edge of a pair of scissors to make it pretty and curly. Eventually he'd gotten it looking just right and adorned it with a card he'd printed out with a promo image from Heavenly Sword, a game whose protagonist he always enjoyed teasing Pyrrha for heavily resembling.
The card earned him a quick glare, but not a lengthy one as Pyrrha carefully opened the wrapping. Jaune's mother always commented that the fact that she didn't rip into it with maximum ferocity was one of the only ways one could tell Pyrrha wasn't one of their children.
Because she was taking an excruciatingly long time to get to the present (because he wanted nothing more than to tear through that paper with maximum ferocity), Jaune started rambling to fill the silence. "So um... I had this all picked out back in September, but was starting to worry I wasn't going to have enough saved up for it until Ruby came to me with her little plan. Y'know, the prank war deal? That's the only reason I agreed to any of that: because I really wanted to get this for you. I swear I had no idea that Sgt Oinky was gonna get in the crossfire. If I had..."
Of course by then, Pyrrha had gotten the box open and had pulled out her gift. It was an ankle-length wool duster; a handsome shade of brown with shiny bronze buttons at the closure, cuffs, and along the pockets. It came with a detachable hood with black fur lining, a wide belt with a bronze buckle beating the emblem of a javelin on it and a leather mantle that would reach her elbows. It came with a pair of elbow-length leather gloves, and a hammered metal broach with the same javelin emblem.
"Jaune..." she said in hushed tones, truly awestruck at the gift.
He was too far into his babbling to hear, however. "The broach and belt buckle are Nora's present to you by the way. She copied the emblem you asked her to design for your tabbard in World of Remnant. I guess I should give her credit for part of the coat too: she pointed me in the direction of this woman she knows through Etsy and got me hooked up with a pretty good discount. I-I hope you like it. I mean you complained about the coat your mom got you last year, and you really liked the steampunk stuff from the setting book Ruby's running her game out of so I looked for something kinda steampunk that you could also wear around, y'know, non-nerds..."
"It's wonderful, Jaune. You neverdisappoint. Carefully putting the coat back down in the box, she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you. Really."
Jaune gladly returned the embrace. "Of course, Pyr. Anything for you. You know that." He gave her a squeeze, then added, "Now how about we get started on that cake. What do you say to a Seven-Up cake with... caramel butter cream frosting?"
Pyrrha smiled into his shoulder. "I say this might just end up being my favorite birthday so far."
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Across town, Qrow Branwen was just waking up and wondering why he was having his hangover on the couch instead of in his bed.
He'd just come off the last double shift in a week of doubles and had been passed over again for his reinstatement to Detective because of his 'attitude' just that... well technically it had been morning when the new reached him.
Attitude.
Where the hell did those out of touch, wide-assed, desk apes know about attitude. They hadn't been out there on the streets dealing with real people with real problems with absolutely no real support from on high in years if at all. And half the new young bucks on the force were a bunch of vengeful pricks who thought they were Clint Eastwood or Liam Neeson from Take, always growling and barking orders at civilians with plenty of threats and none of the listening.
And he was supposed to show them the ropes and turn them into good cops without dishing out copious slaps across the back of the head and write-ups to IA? Yeah, he knew where they could shove their attitude.
Tai wondered why he drank. It was to build up a heavy enough bladder to piss away the stupid.
Of course maybe he didn't deserve to be a detective if he couldn't figure out how he, with the years of drunken stumbling experience he had, hadn't managed to at least get to his own bed.
Because God loved mocking him, that question was answered by a high, squealing laugh coming through the ceiling above him and boring directly into his left temple.
One bloodshot eye opened wide with panic. He'd known about this weeks in advance.
More giggling and then a shriek. Oh god, they were waking up. They were waking up and they were going to be loud and hyped up over the snow the whole damn day.
He'd known that too—well except the bit about the snow. That's why he'd made reservations at a motel. Reservations he'd been too roaring drunk last night to remember to use. Some cabbie or Uber driver out there probably got a big tip and a big earful about intra-force politics last night.
From above there were sounds of bare feet pounding around on the floor. One set reached the stairs and paused.
Oh no.
He tensed, girding himself for impact while praying it was anyone but the one he guessed it was because the others had some sense when it came to how to treat a man with a hangover.
"Uncle Qrow!"
Damn.
Pound, pound, pound when the feet on the stairs and thus screamed the thousand angry monkeys in his skull.
Then the sound stopped and he knew Ruby was airborne. She landed right on his gut, making everything swirling around in there to make a run for he exit he barely stopped. His niece-by-marriage's face came into view, beaming with the contemptible energy of a morning person.
Alright, it wasn't so contemptible when it was Ruby. Hell, he loved the kid, but it was too damn early and she was being too damn loud right now.
"It snowed last night! It snowed and Yang's friends are here and we're all going outside to enjoy it." She bounced up and down in her excitement and he almost threw up again. "So how about you, Uncle Qrow? Do you wanna build a snowman?"
Yeah, Tai had warned him that he'd regret taking her to see that movie all five times she wanted to go.
This was going to be the worst day ever.
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AN: Yeah, here it goes Arkos fans. I promise you that this is the storyline you've been waiting for and also the one where you're going to want to throw things at me over before it's through. It's also the one where a pay off a lot of little things I set up earlier: Nora's Etsy account, World of Remnant being a game Pyrrha plays but Jaune doesn't and Jaune participating in the prank war being the start of it but certainly not the only Chekov's gun I'll be firing this arc.
We also finally meet Qrow, and as people have speculated, he's been busted down from Detective. I felt like this arc needed something for the people who either don't like Arkos or don't like romance in general, so here's a RWBY-based B story with Qrow and Zwei tossed in for good measure.
Lots of geek references here, some more obvious than others. Feel free to try and find them all!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in Game On, but I have a site where I'm putting up the SRD (System Reference Document. Read: Free Rules) for the rules Ruby and company are using. It's at worldofered20 DOT paradoxomni DOT net.