Ever since I had been introduced to books back in first grade I had a thing for the ancient times.
I did not really know why, but there was this everlasting desire for more knowledge about these time periods. Having involuntarily been transported to another world had not changed this. The moment I was in front of something even remotely related to the long past history of our species, I could not help myself but take it apart and study for hours until I was satisfied.
There was one question which had not been on my mind ever since arriving here. One mystery I was not even aware of until one fated day. The day I wrote about the not-even-alive-at-this-point Team RWBY. Weiss in particular.
I was brainstorming ideas regarding Myrtenmaster, some possible ways for it to work the way did. There were still a lot of books about dust I needed to read at this point, leading to many things I thought about its inner workings to be off by a hilarious factor. It was made even worse since I could have just looked it up with my scroll.
Idiocy aside, there was something, a small thought which made me pause: How come Weiss' name was Weiss? It did not make any sense. Obviously she received her name because of her white hair. Which should not have been possible.
As you may or may not have known about Remnant, names given to children after the Great War were related to colors, directly or indirectly. That was a fact. Not everyone did it, of course. Some traditionalists still used the admittedly larger pool of names not having anything to do with colors. They were the minority, ignored by most and shrugged off. Sometimes they were being called weirdos and some insulted them for 'supporting an ancient and evil system', but there really wasn't much else.
They were not a problem. And not really interesting, either. However, there was something else which was. And this something was up there in the north, in Atlas.
The problem was the Schnee family. Or, to be more precise, their family name and its actual meaning being the same as the one it had in a language not spoken on Remnant. It was an impossible connection.
After all, for something to have such a connection, the meaning of the word had to be exactly what it possessed in its language of origin. Especially the indirect relation to color required it to be very specific, very precise. Meaning did not just fall out of the sky. There had to be some sort of giver. And Schnee? Or Weiss? Really?
The chances for these words to develop the exact same meaning they possessed on Earth without its language of origin existing here were slim. Astronomically slim. So how did it happen? How did they come about this knowledge?
Obviously, German was not a spoken language here. Nor a written one. Which made this a puzzle with puzzling implications. The prospect awakened a curiosity in me being nearly too much for my person to handle. I could not stop myself from checking any and every history book containing information which dated back to about 300 years ago.
In the end, the exact sum of success I had was a very round number. One could say it was the roundest number there ever was, not counting Pi. The total amount of success I found was zero. It was not due a lack of effort. I worked through A LOT of books, over a period of time spanning multiple days, sacrificing ungodly amounts of coffee and suffering many sleepless nights. There simply was nothing to be found in those books.
The words were used, yes, but it was never once talked about their history, only their meaning, usage and general context. Truly frustrating. The possibility was high, very high for me to lose my hair before this research had come to a close.
With a sigh usually heard from tired old men I closed the book in front of me, having found nothing. Again. Leaning back in the chair I let my tired eyes roam through the library, a sight I had very much grown accustomed to, even began to like, no matter how blurred it had become.
Once again the quietness in this grand hall of knowledge was soothing. Here you could just lean back, forget about everyday life, close your eyes and let your thoughts wander. Bliss, I found thee.
"You sure look comfortable.", a voice most welcome spoke up from my left, warm but still measured, which prompted me to open my eyes again and look in the direction of the owner. "Never mind, are you okay?"
It was my old new friend, Library Girl. To think she cared enough to ask for my well-being after only discussing history once. What a great person she was. She did not need to worry, however.
When I told you I had many sleepless nights behind me, I meant it. For me there was not much of a felt difference, insomnia made you quite resistant to the negative effects of sleep deprivation, but people did start to notice if you had even less sleep than usual.
"I am fine.", I waved her off even when my view blurred a little again. Yeah, I probably had to retcon the no felt difference part."Just stayed up a little too long, conducting research."
"... I want you to answer me honestly:", was it just me or did her voice start to sound sterner than before? "For how long did you go without sleep?"
That... was actually a good question.
"... 20 hours.", I told her after checking my scroll's clock. Huh. 20 hours. I was impressed by myself. And worried. Mostly worried. Something she shared with me if the judgemental look she gave me was anything to go by.
"Are you an idiot?", why did I suddenly feel like a naughty child caught with one hand in the cookie jar? "Do you have any idea what a lack of sleep can do to you?"
"... yes?"
"Okay then. Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"List possible side effects a lack of sleep can have on your body.", I did not know any of them. I told her such. She did not look amused. "How irresponsible can you possibly get?!"
"Look, its not such a big deal." I tried to appease her, seeing the situation slowly taking a turn for the worse.
"It is a big deal and don't you dare tell me otherwise.", It did not work. "Not sleeping enough is one of the worst things you can do to your body. If you don't allow your body to rest enough, you can suffer diabetes, high blood pressure, or even strokes or heart failures."
I tried to argue but right on time to prove her point a wave of fatigue hit me. My vision became blurry again. This time I had to grip the armrests of my chair and struggle to stay upright, however. After a few seconds and succeeding in staying upright, it passed.
"I told you so.", the girl in front of me let out a heavy sigh. "You really should go home and sleep."
"I can't. I still have to finish this.", I lifted up the book in question. Already having read through half of it surely there was still a little time left to finish it. She held, of course, a different opinion and wasted no time in confiscating the book.
"The 2nd Dawn of Dialogue? Interesting choice. Which it will be still when you continue to read it at a later date. Now, take a break.", the reluctance must have shown on my face. But she was nothing but resolute. I could do nothing but accept this round as my loss.
"Come, I help you on your way home. I don't want you to be hit by traffic."
Before joining her in leaving the library and before packing all my stuff I wrote the word 'history' in my note book on one of the pages reserved for 'general information about Remnant', a small insignificant scribbling of the word. A little reminder about what I still had to research in the near or distant future.
I would not give up. It simply was that important.
"Have you already eaten?", my companion asked me upon leaving the library behind us. "Because if you have not I know of a very good place we could swing by."
"Didn't you tell me to go to sleep barely a moment ago?"
"I told you go to take a break. Eating something falls under that category. Besides, they have a very good selection of tea. Baked goods, too."
"No coffee?", I asked with the best hopeful look in my eyes I could muster.
"Technically they have coffee.", what does that mean? How can someone technically have coffee? "Whilst they do serve coffee, you won't get any. Caffeine is the last thing you need in your current state."
"I am a grown man! I can drink whatever I want.", I protested rather loudly, much to the chagrin and/or amusement of the pedestrians nearby.
"No means no!", she refused, equally loud. "No coffee for you. You will eat something, drink some tea -no black tea- and once you are back at home you will lay down in your bed and sleep."
"I am a grown man-"
"No caffeine and you will lay down in your bed and sleep once you are at home!", there was to be no more arguing, her tone said as much. Man, she definitely would make a great teacher in the future. I briefly wondered if she considered it.
"Not interested.", she denied when I asked her. "I don't study at Beacon only to end up as an instructor."
For some reason my sense of irony was tingling. I did not give it much thought, too busy sulking about the unfairness of it all. No coffee. In what brutal, deadly world did we live in?
As if on cue another wave of fatigue hit me once again, something I tried to hide but failed. Thankfully she did not give another comment and simply watched me like a hawk in case I stumbled and fell.
Half an hour later we stood in front of a cafe somewhere in the western part of Vale. And what a cafe it was. Since not giving you a description of the establishment in question would be a great disservice I was more than happy to do.
The name of the cafe was Cof-Isley, proudly showcased by a sign above the entrance. And what a sign it was. The letters were glowing blue, probably neon lights, and were placed on a dark background.
It took me a second longer to realize said background was actually showing a view of space, strongly stylized of course and containing zodiac signs I did not recognize.
The interior of the cafe was also kept in a sci-fi theme, with chairs looking like rockets and tables like holo desks, copied straight out of movies. Every window looked like a viewport, every square inch of the walls was covered in Sci-fi motifs, be it spaceships, planets, gas giants, spaceships or aliens.
Speaking of aliens, apart from the waitresses and waiters who ran around and did their job in what looked like crew uniforms, the cafe actually had a band playing live music with every member, you guessed it, stuck in an alien costume and probably sweating like hell under it.
Somewhere deep down I cringed at the name, though for the love of gods in the moment I did not know why. I cringed again after seeing the big menu board right beside the entrance, displaying all the different futuristic sounding stuff you could buy and consume here and ending with the sentence 'Straight from a galaxy far, far away'.
"I did not expect you to like something this childish, to be honest.", and how could you blame me, it totally was out of character for her. Then again, I did not really know much about her personality to begin with. Which had been a common theme around here on Remnant.
"Something wrong with that?!", she actually turned a little red. And even redder once I began to chuckle, which only fed the chuckling even more. "Stop giggling!"
"Sorry, sorry. Could not help myself.", my response elicited a humph and a grumpy-cat-face from her. Which did not help in stopping the chuckles continuing to erupt from my lips. At all.
They died with the next random seeming thought I had soon after we walked in. This cafe was childish. There was not a doubt about it. Now why did I get a foreboding feeling from this?
This feeling did not go away when a waiter greeted us. It did not go away when he lead us to an unoccupied table. It did not go away after the waiter had left to attend to another table and gave us time to browse the menu.
We spotted each other when I turned around to ask the waiter for a cup of water. At the same time she lifted her head to answer a question from her table mate and looked in my direction by pure chance.
In this very moment my brain finally managed to connect the dots. Childish things attract childish people. And there was someone who was most of the time the very definition of childish. The same someone whose shock was written in their face and who lifted up a fork which still had a piece of cake on it.
Let it be said there was something about a huntress pointing a trembling fork in your general direction with wide eyes. There was even more to it if she started to vibrate on the spot, exponentially increasing the risk of a fork flying in your general direction due to various factors.
Summer took a deep breath, her cheeks visibly inflating. She actually held it for a few seconds before her mouth opened. I did not know what kind of crime I had committed, but it did not matter. The only thought swimming through my mind was an Oh boy, here we go.
"TRAITOR!"