"So let me get this straight." Ruby begins as she pushes her plate away and looks at Jaune Arc directly. "You're being forced to marry Weiss?"
To his credit, Jaune doesn't flinch at Ruby's eyes, but locks his own brilliant blue orbs on hers. "I am, by my mother. She covets the Schnee dust mines, as well as the research and development areas of the company. She is especially interested in the research of Dr. Hephaestus Polendina when it concerns artificial constructs."
Ruby blinks at the freely given information from her perceived rival, before her face falls into it's well practiced mask of indifference. Yang would know this look all too well, the Reaper having developed it into an artform.
Yang loves to tell people to leave her alone, because the mechanical hamster that runs the virtual computer in her brain is on full blast, and already demanding more cookies.
"What else?" She asks as she stands and begins to pace, not realizing that she's begun to shed both red as well as white rose petals as she walks back and forth.
"That's all I know." Jaune replies earnestly. "Mom doesn't trust me enough to tell me all of her plans. Hell, to be completely honest, I only know as much as I do thanks to my older sister Saphron."
Salem nods. "Saphron is the nosiest of my nieces, Ruby. She has an odd talent for ferreting out information from my sister without too many problems, thanks to having one of the few grandchildren in her side of the family." She adds quietly.
Ozpin sighs. "Jeanne runs the Arc Corporation with a velvet glove hiding an iron fist, Miss Branwen. Even Jacques Schnee and Azura Adel, her two closest rivals, tread carefully around her."
"But why Weiss? Why not her older sister Winter?" Ruby stops and asks, not noticing that she is still shedding petals at a constant rate.
"Because Winter abdicated the throne, as it were." Salem informs her. "And the next oldest, Willow, is still missing and wanted for a variety of crimes in Mistral and Vacuo." Jaune and Ruby both blink at that unexpected revelation.
"Weiss has another sister?!" Ruby cries out.
"And she's a wanted criminal?!" Jaune adds, his voice rising nervously. "Wanted for what?!"
David Ozpin looks at his wife of over twenty years now, who smiles and nods her assent to the comical reply the two of them are about to receive. Looking at them, he schools his face carefully. "We aren't sure exactly. When we asked her Uncle, he informed us that she was simply looking for a good time."
"What kind of good time?" Ruby asks, taking the bait.
"The kind that has earned her enough arrest warrants to keep her tied up in litigation for several hundred years." He replies calmly.
Salem nods. "Apparently, she had a very good time."
Ruby and Jaune both look at each other nervously as they realize that they may both have a common problem. Especially if she doesn't actually like either of them.
But Jaune, who is normally fearless despite the consequences is the one to ask the obvious. "I'm guessing murder is one of the charges?"
Salem looks at her nephew and simply smiles. "None they can prove. They still can't find the bodies."
Ruby gulps as she looks at them both, while squaring her shoulders. "She won't stop me from getting Weiss out of this. I'll even fight her if I have to." She declares as she stands and moves to the door, grabbing her bag along the way.
"I do not believe that will be necessary Miss Branwen." Ozpin calls out behind her, all three of them watching as Ruby takes her scythe next and sets it on her lower back.
"Can you guarantee it?" She shoots back as she opens the door. "Because I'm not risking everything over an I think or a maybe." She declares calmly. "Not when I know how I feel about her now."
Standing to her feet, Salem walks over smiling and suddenly offers her a hand. "Stay in touch with Jaune and David, Ruby. They will help you claim Weiss for your own."
Ruby takes the offered hand with a smile. "Thank you ma'am. And I will. By the way, why didn't you and my mom get along?" She asks curiously.
"In order to answer that question, you will have to wait until winter break, Ruby." She replies calmly. "Return then, and I will be more than happy to explain."
"Yes ma'am. Oh, and thanks for lunch." She adds almost absentmindedly before dashing away, exploding into a swarm of rose petals as soon as she is clear of the steps.
Salem sighs as she watches the white and red petals fall and dissolve into nothingness, memories of Summer Rose swirling in her mind, along with her husband Qrow.
Especially memories of Qrow Branwen, her first loveā¦..
