The original OCs are back by popular demand. Shorter than I wanted because I wanted to get some sleep.
Author: XCVG
Canon: Yes
Context: after Aliens Among Us
Emergence: Aside
A Year of Strange Times
Sam
"Is this the same goddamn bar again?"
I paused and turned to Cliff, no doubt with a puzzled look on my face. "Well, yeah, we always go to the same bar."
He shrugged. "Just saying, maybe we should try something different."
"Since when did you want to do anything different?" Isaac asked. He received only a noncommital grunt in response.
At the end of May, everyone was finally done for the year and we could legitimately go out and celebrate. We weren't the only ones- students flocked from every campus toward pubs and parties. Ben was still working, but joined us anyway.
They seated us in a booth one over from the one we had been in a few months ago. I ordered a pitcher of beer, Ben ordered a poutine as a late dinner, and Cliff ordered a rum and coke as his one drink for the night.
"So," I said offhand, reaching over and stealing one of Ben's fries. He glared angrily at me. "It's been a weird fucking year, hasn't it?"
"Let's see, fictional characters coming to life, chasing them halfway across the world, then fucking CSIS steps in..." Cliff reached over and tried to steal some of Ben's poutine, almost getting his fingers impaled in the process. "Yeah, that's pretty fucking weird."
"I wonder what happened to them," Isaac mentioned, sipping on his beer.
"Haven't you been keeping in touch?" I asked, surprised.
He replied sheepishly, "No."
"They're doing okay," I answered. We hadn't exchanged many messages, but we were still technically in contact. "They're more or less the same way we were back then. Except for the whole being aliens thing."
"Mmm," Cliff acknowledged. "Seriously, how are they doing?"
"Fine, I guess," I told him. "They seem to be enjoying Earth. Ruby is Ruby, Yang is Yang, Blake is Blake and Weiss is apparently a gamer now."
He nearly spit out his drink. "Wait, what?"
"Apparently Weiss has become irreversibly contaminated. She's wild, loose, 'not princess-y', and plays a lot of Global Offensive."
"No shit? Wow." Cliff swished around his drink before turning serious. "Must be hell for them, though. Everything they know is gone."
"Well, not everything-"
"Pretty damn close. You know what I mean," he replied harshly. "And they're being watched, and they're different... yeah."
"It's RWBY, man," I reminded him. "If there's anyone who can handle it, it's them."
"Yeah, there's that," Isaac agreed.
I poured myself another beer and asked, "So, enough about that, what are you guys doing now that we're done school?"
Cliff rolled his eyes. "Going home."
I motioned to Ben. He glared at me. "I live here."
"Isaac?"
"I dunno," he replied with a shrug. "I'm going to try to get a job, but I don't know if it'll be easier here or somewhere else. You?"
To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it much. "I think I'll stick around, get a job here. I've been being lazy but I've got some leads to try."
"Cool."
"Well, I wish we had more time," I said, filling up my glass one last time. I raised it. "To a year of strange times."