I do not own RWBY
First of all, she was not interested in dating Blake; no matter what Cardin said. She was simply trying to connect with her teammate who so far had kept a steady distance between them for some reason. Part of her was curious if she'd somehow set off some instinct in the other girl that made her wary but there was no way to work that question into polite conversation. It was sort of annoying however when her plan to spend the day with the raven-haired girl was ruined by Yang turning the entire situation into a joint team bonding trip. As such she decided to have Blake accompany her to meet Nik; after all, she did need to get the materials for Jaune's weapon.
Was it strange that she was oddly nervous about bringing Blake with her to Nic's shop; this was the first time she'd bought someone other than Cardin to meet the old man? It was strange that introducing a friend to him seemed almost like introducing Blake to her dads. Although she knew it didn't really matter, she was worried about Nik liking her friends; he was her honorary grandfather after all. Stopping outside the old man's shop she stared at the door for a long moment with Blake's amused eyes on her back.
She knew that she had to open the door but part of her would rather stay out here where his thrown shoes, and other items, couldn't reach her. He had a habit of throwing things at customers to test their reflexes, something that she honestly thought was nothing more than a bad habit; but it had enhanced her reflexes over the years. Entering slowly, she caught the shoe that was thrown in her direction with what she wanted to say was exasperation, but she felt more amused.
"Hi to you too old man," she said the teasing tone causing Blake to raise an eyebrow. Sending the old man, a smirk Ruby tossed the shoe back to Nik. He grunted in her direction before slipping his shoe back on. Looking over at Blake for a moment he huffed, the dismissal causing the feline faunus to narrow her eyes.
"Where have you been," he grumbled with a hint of worry in his voice. Taking the time to study her, he frowned saying, "I hope you didn't manage to mess up that jacket of yours."
"Jackets fine Nic," she said walking over to lean against the counter. Motioning to Blake she said, "This is Blake Belladonna my teammate. Blake this is Nic my honorary grandfather."
The old faunus glanced at Blake for a long moment before rolling his eyes as part of him wondered if Ruby had only come here to show off her new pet. Not that he would mention that to the faunus who already seemed ready to murder him for what she perceived as an insult. He could easily see the resemblance between the girl and her parents; although he doubted her father was still the young revolutionary, he was the last time they met.
"Menageries Princess," he mused his eyes firmly on the silver-eyed girl letting him catch the way she stiffened slightly at his words. He'd known his little one was special; he knowledge was far more than a normal person should have, even being a prodigy didn't explain the things she knew. Instincts bred from years of being a huntsman told him that his little one would become a force of change in this world; he just hoped he would live long enough to see what she would do. Offering her a small smile he said, "I'm aware of who she is and what she's done. Just like I assume you are."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ruby said turning her head away from him, in doing so she managed to see her teammate's eyes narrow at the old man.
"Of course not," he said deciding to let her get away with lying to him, however, that didn't mean he wasn't going to tease her by saying, "well at least it's not Cardin."
Flushing scarlet at the reminder of the last time she'd brought Cardin to visit the shop, she shifted nervously. Her brother had taunted the old man leading to half the shop being destroyed when Nic had gotten tired of his attitude. She'd never forget the way those chakrams had torn through the room as if they had a mind of their own. The knowing smirk on his face told her, he was all too aware of her slight fear of old people with pointy weapons.
Clearing her throat Blake moved to stand beside her leader causing the girl to jolt out of whatever waking nightmare she was having. Shifting on her feet, Ruby leaned fully over the counter looking at the weapon he was putting together. Tilting her head in mild curiosity she asked, "what are you working on?"
"That gun you ordered," he said casually. Catching sight of the almost put together revolver she twitched in annoyance something that Blake noticed immediately.
"Nic," she said the whining tone causing him to smirk in amusement. Crossing her arms, she said, "that was supposed to be a team thing. At least tell me you didn't mess with the other stuff I ordered."
She'd wanted to use putting together the weapon as a bonding activity between her and Jaune. How was she supposed to bond with her little puppy now? Pouting she didn't notice the way Blake tracked her movements but Nic did. Smirking he guessed that either she was curious about her leader or she didn't trust the reaper; he was willing to bet it was the second option. Ruby could, to those that didn't know her, come across as a bit much.
"Nope," he said causing her to blink. She'd ordered several things for her teammates and she didn't want anything to mess up her gifts. Brightening she smiled only to pout when he stated, "not much I can do it it's already put together."
Pouting at the old man, who she knew was messing with her, Ruby took the small box he passed her. She'd put in the order for her teammates the day after they'd been assigned as a team. A dagger for Blake and Pyrrha and the gun for Jaune. While she hated not being able to give him a gift as she had for the girls, but she had no idea what to give him. He wasn't a dagger person as such she had no idea what his fighting style was yet. Opening the lid to Blake's gift, she gently ran her fingers over the weapon before turning to face her teammate.
"Blake can you give us a minute," she asked causing the other girl to nod. Looking around the shop she caught sight of a shelf of dust blades on a far shelf. Glancing curiously at the box she wondered what her leader was hiding for a moment before stalking toward the dust blades. Waiting until her teammate was out of hearing range Ruby sighed as she picked up the dagger.
"Small, easily concealed, with a hollowed hilt for dust," she stated examining the dagger with Blake's emblem sewn into the leather sheath. Unsheathing the dagger, she stared at the darkened metal for a moment. The blade was thin double-sided, and she could see a clear fuller running toward the tip that seemed to be hollowed out. Flipping it in her hand she studied the point for a moment before noticing the slight indention, most likely for poison. Laying down the sheath she held the dagger steady in her hand before coating her finger in aura and running it along the blade. Hissing she pulled her finger away as her aura lashed out and the small cut healed quickly. Across the store, blade twitched her nose picking up the metallic scent of Ruby's blood and she moved to watch her leader from behind a shelf. Narrowing her golden eyes, she watched the girl sheathe the weapon and lay it back in the box.
"Aura resistant metal," Nic said looking up from where he was working on the barrel of Jaune's gun. Taking the chance to grin at her he said, "very rare. You said your friend had an assassin air about her. The other one though has enough metal folded into it your partner's polarity should work fine with it."
"The metal's also illegal," she said causing him to roll his eyes. It wasn't illegal when he was running around killing grimm and collecting bounties on rogue huntsmen.
"It'll also keep your teammate alive," he retaliated besides he doubted he would ever be arrested for importing illegal weapons. He no longer cared about the law either, he was far too old to care anymore but it was cute that she cared enough to point it out. Smiling he said, "worry about the law when you get old."
"Like you," she teased, "the law doesn't even worry you now. Selling illegal weapons to kids, you should be ashamed of yourself."
"But I sleep fine at night," he said and handed her the finished gun. It was a white six-shot revolver with Jaune's emblem imprinted on the handle in gold. The weapon was simple, like every first gun should be, and she looked forward to training him to use it. Raising an eyebrow, he said, "you want to order anything else, or are you actually going to pay me this time."
"Yes," she said and smirked when she saw the greed light up his face. The fake expression almost caused her to laugh but instead, she said, "I need another dagger."
"What is with you and daggers," he whined before getting out his sketch pad asking, " you do know there are other weapons right. What about chakrams?"
Twitching the smile on her face became plastic as she stared at him, her mind returning to the only time she'd seen him angry. It had been terrifying in her opinion and it drove home the fact he wasn't just some old man simmering in a weapon shop. He was a retired huntsman from Atlas who led over a hundred and fifty successful missions then chose to live in Vale after his wife died. More than that he was strong enough to scare her uncle into submission. He did all of that with the pair of serrated chakrams hidden under the counter.
"Too hard to handle," she said lightly pretending that she wasn't thinking about just how well he could use his weapon. Instead, she reached out taking the sketch pad and outlining what she wanted.
"Oh, but a giant scythe is easy," he ground out. Eyes snapping to his she silently dared him to insult her baby; Crescent Rose was perfect the way it was, and she didn't need another person judging her on her weapon. Seeing the expression, he let it go choosing to ask instead, "why does no one ever want chakrams?"
"Just because you love the weapon doesn't mean others do," she replied handing the book back. Taking it he passed her the holster and a box of bullets for Jaune's gun. She smirked when he held out his hand for payment saying, "just put it on my tab."
"No that is not how this works," he argued but marked it down on the page she'd used to sketch. If there was one thing she could always count on it was that he would always trust her. Rolling his eyes at the small smile she gave him he said, "freeloader."
"You know I'll pay you back," she said not at all insulted. She was honestly planning on paying him after she knew how well the weapons worked. It wouldn't be good to pay full price for something that might not work out well for those she was giving them to. Shrugging she said, "besides I paid you for the jacket."
"True," he relented and pulled out a large metal case with a handle saying, "if you pay me half now I'll give you this to put the weapons in."
The case was made of black metal and she was pretty sure it was the same type used by drug dealers along with other criminals. For one small moment, she was Alice again watching as Dante charmed his way through drug deal after drug deal without caring if she was watching. He'd never actually thought she would betray him or even stand against him; funny that out of the two of them she was the only one who actually cared. Snapping out of the memories when he placed the case on the table she tugged at the edge of her jacket.
"Yeah, because that's not suspicious at all," she said dryly not allowing her memories to cloud this life. Watching him laugh she took a moment to smile at him softly despite knowing he was about to start arguing with her. They would have continued bickering but at that moment Weiss stomped into the store and Ruby had to stop him from throwing the case at her head. She was pretty sure that the force he would have used might have caused the white-haired girl brain damage. Instead, she slammed the case down using it to hide her newest order and turned to the heiress. Trying to be casual she said, "hey Weiss."
"Did you know your teammate was in the white fang," Weiss asked with narrowed enraged blue eyes. There was so much fury in her expression that she could have melted all the ice in Atlas with just one look. Still, she saw the exact moment Ruby went from friendly to ice-cold as her silver eyes hardened.
"Oh," she said trying to keep her voice calm. She barely managed to keep herself from glancing at Blake who she was sure felt this was her worst nightmare. Straitening she kept all emotion from her voice as she asked, "And why do you think that?"
Weiss fell silent her hands clenching into fists as she stared at the other leader. It was Jaune: who told her about Blake being a faunus, who screamed at her in defense of the White Fang despite Pyrrha trying to stop him, who let slip that Blake was a faunus. After that Weiss had put together the pieces herself. She could still see those enraged blue eyes glaring at her, challenging her, in a way that no one had ever done. That was something she hated yet respected, however, that didn't stop her from feeling that he was a naive fool.
"Jaune," she said her pride kept her from lying. Ruby twitched her hand dropping from the case as she processed her answer.
She had no doubt that Jaune had a very good reason for telling Weiss; however, at the moment she didn't have enough control to keep herself from snapping if she spoke. Weiss was a threat to her teammate, her Blake, in her life as Alice all threats were eliminated quickly. Ruby was all too aware of the aura resistant dagger less than a foot away as her hand twitched. Feeling something like ice crawl down her back she tried not to shutter at the long-repressed instincts that were rising to the surface. She'd always tried since she was reborn, to separate Alice from Ruby but sometimes it was hard to keep the bright happy part of herself from darkening. There was so much fury and hate beneath her skin that it was hard sometimes to continue acting like Ruby Rose.
"You know that the White Fang are vicious murdering criminals," Weiss said not realizing the danger she was in at that moment nor did she notice the way Blake sucked in a breath at her words and glanced at the back door.
"Well the Schnee's aren't much better," Nicolas cut in catching Weiss off guard. He'd seen the change in Ruby the instant the Heiress had brought up her teammate. He'd been around dangerous people from the moment he became a huntsman; Ruby was dangerous, except she was able to hide just how dangerous she truly was. Watching the Schnee's attention snap to him he asked, "do you even know how many faunus die in your mines each year, little girl."
Taking a moment to breathe, Ruby moved away from the counter. Away from the dagger. Tugging on her jacket she tried to relax; she couldn't do anything about her instincts, but she could keep them under control. Turning to look at Nic she knew why he was so ready to argue; he was a lion faunus. Straightening she squared her shoulders as she mentally prepared herself for talking to Weiss. She had to make the white-haired girl understand before she hurt Blake.
"Nic," Ruby cut in stopping the argument she knew was coming; she had no doubt that he would tear Weiss apart the same way he did to Qrow. The old huntsman scoffed and sat back in his wheeled desk chair making sure that the chair squeaked as loudly as possible. Seeing that he wasn't going to antagonize Weiss Ruby focused all her attention on the heiress and ignored the baiting action. Keeping her voice calm she said, "The white fang used to be a peaceful organization. Blake was a part of that white fang, not the one that terrorized your family or hurt innocents."
"But-"
"No, I don't care what you think you know," Ruby said cutting off the girl. Weiss was sheltered and naïve about just how horrible her family was, but she didn't blame the other girl for her lack of knowledge. Meeting the other girl's cautious blue eyes, she said, "faunus are punished just for existing. How would you feel if you were seen as nothing more than an animal? Blake is one of us, she's a student at Beacon working to make the world better. Do you have any idea how hard it must have been for her to leave behind her whole life just for a shot at a second chance?"
Weiss wilted as the words echoed around them in the current silence. Were things really that bad for the faunus? Of course, she'd heard the stories about how horrible it was in the mines, but she'd always thought it was an exaggeration. Were the faunus that afraid of being caught that they would hide their features just to appear normal. While she might not truly know Blake, she did consider the girl a friend to her. Could she really call her a friend if the only thing she could think about was what she was; did she really deserve to call Blake her friend. Seeing the defeated realization in the other girl's eyes Ruby sighed.
It wasn't Weiss' fault that she felt the way she did about the faunus. The heiress was a product of her environment rather than the cause of the issue. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people who thought the same way that Weiss did. If anyone was to blame it was Jacques Schnee for his bad parenting.
"Look, why don't you head back to Beacon and forget all about what you learned today," Ruby offered causing Weiss to tense as she watched Ruby stared back at her with a warm expression. She didn't understand how Ruby could still look at her like that after she'd come in here and threatened her teammate. Everyone knew how protective Ruby was of her teammates, so why was she being so nice.
Weiss clenched her hands as she shifted away from the redhead her nervousness multiplying before she gave a hurried nod and rushed from the shop. Ruby barely waited until she was gone to look around for Blake only to find the faunus missing. Letting out a curse she leaned against the counter as she tried to calm down. She kept repeating that it wasn't Weiss' fault in her head, but she wanted nothing more than to strangle the heiress. She'd been making so much progress with Blake; the faunus had almost been ready to trust her.
"Well that was interesting," Nick said. He would have sounded amused if not for the annoyed expression on his face. He'd never liked the Schnee family; being a faunus meant he'd never gotten a chance to. What he especially didn't like was the little princess coming into his domain like she owned the place.
"When did Blake leave," she asked softly knowing that he wouldn't have missed her teammate making a run for it.
"You know when," he said teasingly. Instead of being amused she sent a dark glare in his direction causing him to huff in exasperation before saying, "Fine it was right after the Schnee mentioned your teammate."
Wincing a bit, Ruby nodded slowly. Blake must think that Jaune betrayed her; that must be why she ran. Shifting toward the door she stilled when she remembered that she still had her boxes of weapons to return to the dorm. She couldn't run after Blake right now; at least not with her arms full of boxes. Glancing down at the black case she felt defeated knowing that she would have to buy the thing.
"I'm guessing Blake's your kitten," Nic asked casually allowing a smirk to appear on his face while Ruby twitched. He expected her to deny the accusation or to blush and panic, yet instead, she narrowed her eyes.
"Blake is my teammate," she said crossing her arms. When he raised an eyebrow, she shifted slightly before asking, "if I pay you now will you shut up?"
"Yep," he said all too happy to take the deal. Waving the metal case again he grinned at her saying, "and I'll throw in the case I usually give to my black market buyers."
"That's not something you should say casually," she scolded pulling out her wallet. Sending a mental apology to her father she handed over the money she'd taken from his account. It wasn't stealing if he gave her his pin number. Still, she felt a bit guilty however she tried to push down the feeling as she said, "and why am I not surprised you have those."
Taking the money, he stood and opened the case for her with a flourish. He served clients both legal and illegal in Vale, however, those two groups didn't know about each other. Watching as she placed everything inside, he closed the case.
"You need anything else," he asked as he handed it over. When she shook her head and started to leave, he decided to tease her a little bit more saying, "have fun tracking down your cat!"
"Shut up old man," she yelled closing the door behind her before his shoe could ram into her head.
