179.1 Shimmer712

[-]

A Second Card Maker

"Heeellllooo, Sun!" Neo cooed in greeting.

"...What do you want?" Sun asked warily, prepared to Pocket himself. Just in case. Had his Unawake self been doing something to Roman in recent loops she was in? Neo could be funny about that. Sometimes she was fine and other times she most definitely wasn't, even if it was the same person and activities. Sun personally thought it didn't actually matter to Neo most of the time and she just liked keeping people off-balance.

Neo grinned at him. "I hear you're making Cards Against Yggdrasil, Remnant edition," she said.

Sun blinked. "I guess that is what the looper version would be called, wouldn't it?" he muttered. "So what branches already have an edition?"

Neo shrugged. "I don't know of any," she answered. "But I wanna know how the version you're working on is going."

"Oh." Sun pulled the cards out of his Pocket. "Well, the SFW version has plenty of white cards. I've got all the weapon names, the relics, song titles like Trust Love and I May Fall. Also threw in some quotes like 'Is also a gun' and 'Ruby, Yang, Blake...Ice Queen'. Things like that and a few others like Jinn tap-dancing on a beringel, pissed-off beowolf, Silver Eye blast to the face!, a slap from Cinder's Grimm arm, Ozpin's chair, Watts' ego-"

"Watt's ego?" Neo echoed, amused.

"Well, yeah," Sun shrugged. "Already got some funny combos for that one. Like the black card that says Ozma once reincarnated into blank."

Neo snickered. "Ozma once reincarnated into Watt's ego. That is good for a giggle."

"Yeah, so the SFW one is going fine. The NSFW one... not so much," he admitted with a wince. "It's mostly toilet humor and different terms for genitals. Including the childish ones like pee-pee. And one loop I got Salem to make some stuff poking fun at Oz and the Brother Gods and some of those are definitely not safe for work! But yeah, that deck isn't doing too good." Sun shrugged. "I kinda figured coming up with stuff for it would be easier but I'm having a bit of a hard time. I mean, I can throw in cards from the other deck but still."

Neo smirked. "I could help that," she suggested.

Sun paused. "On one hand, I'm kinda terrified of what you may come up with," he said. "On the other, it's not like I can actually stop you if you wanna make some cards, can I? So I guess the only thing I can say in response is go ahead."

Neo cackled. "Oooh, I already have some fun ones in mind," she said gleefully.

"And I am already regretting this conversation," Sun mumbled to himself.

[-]

179.2 Masterweaver

[-]

Overclocked Processor

"...Hey Penny."

Penny sat down on the bench next to her girlfriend. "Expansion?"

"Yeeep. Probably the last one of the batch."

"How bad is it?"

"Well... nobody died, as far as I know," Ruby admitted. "I mean, Fria died. But she was..."

"She was going to die, yes." Penny nodded. "Nobody else?"

"Everyone was everywhere. I only know what I was there for." Ruby shook her head. "Penny, you... you know how I once told you, that you were a real person? That you were as real as I was?"

"Yes."

"Well... you were the last person on Fria's thoughts."

Penny blinked for a moment, her eyes turning toward Ruby. "I... was?"

"You were," Ruby agreed. "You're the new Maiden, baseline. Green fire and all."

"Huh." The gynoid looked down at her hands. "I... didn't expect that. I would have thought..."

She trailed off, unsure.

"...In the end, you were more human than anybody expected," Ruby offered. "I can't... say I was there for the fight with Cinder, but whatever happened it must have been... there was ice everywhere. Fria..." She shook her head. "Expansions like these always bother me, I never know enough. Not until we get the backups."

"Still... Winter-"

"She was upset," Ruby agreed. "But she was... in no condition to protest. Alive and awake, but pretty banged up. At least I managed to scare Cinder off."

"Cinder's scared of you?"

"Of my eyes. One look at her, and woosh." Ruby leaned back into the bench. "Do you think the looping Cinder's scared of me?"

"...I couldn't say," Penny replied. "Thank you, for... telling me this privately. First. You didn't tell any of the other loopers?"

"I... not yet," Ruby admitted. "Should I have?"

"Not even Weiss?"

"No, I... told her we had an expansion, but I asked if I could talk to you first and she agreed."

A faint smile, brief as the breeze, crossed Penny's face. "I appreciate that, really. So... Maiden."

"Yes. But..." Ruby grabbed Penny's hand, gently. "Remnant likes its patterns. And, Penny, we may not talk about it a lot, but your template is Pinnochio, and in every version of that story there's a Monstro."

Penny gave her a baffled look.

"Salem arrived when the loop ended," Ruby explained. "With a horde of flying Grimm... and a massive sky whale at its center."

"...oh."

"...Oh?"

"I... Ruby..." Penny shook her head. "So much happened for me, this batch of expansions. I came back from the dead, I... I had a new body, my father became real, I learned how I was made, I was... I've been forced between Mantle and Atlas, between what I was built for and what my heart said, I, I, I got framed and saved lives and suddenly I became close to Winter, and now you're saying that I'm the new maiden, that I could only just manage to protect Winter who probably resents me, and there's a massive whale that is almost certain to swallow both me and my father at some point. I'm just... I need time to process this, it's all-everything at once."

"Yeah, I can... get that. We should be able to process things better with the loops, but sometimes..." Ruby shook her head. "Well... you know I'm here for you. Baseline and looping, right?"

"I do, yes."

"You have a family here. Whatever you need-"

"I get it," Penny said. "I... need time. To figure out how I feel about all this."

"...Alright." Ruby paused for a moment, before leaning into her. "Alright," she said again, more quietly.

[-]

179.3 Masterweaver

[-]

Offtime

"...really, Merc?"

"This is my first time out of Evernight in months," Mercury pointed out, not even opening his eyes. "Might be the only time to work on my tan."

Emerald frowned, staring down at the lawn chair. "While riding on the back of a giant skywhale grimm."

"Hey now, don't diss Marcus, he's pretty cool."

"Marcus."

"Yeah."

"You named the grimm after your abusive dad who you killed."

"Seemed appropriate."

The greenette pinched her brow. "I would have gone with Moby Grimm, maybe Monstro... Look, that's not even the point." She waved a hand at the grimm-filled sky around them. "We're in the middle of a fleet set to invade Atlas, and you're acting like it's a vacation."

Mercury lowered his shades. "The loop ends when we hit Atlas, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And we don't have anything else to do until then?"

Emerald groaned. "Merc-"

"Look, if you're too gay to appreciate my pecs, you don't have to stare at them."

"Oh my fucking god-Mercury, what happens if Salem wanders up and wants to know what you're doing?"

"I tell her what I'm doing and ask her if she wants me to do anything."

"What, you think she'll just accept that?"

Mercury shrugged.

"...Whatever," Emerald grumbled. "Learn the hard way, I guess. I'm going to go..." She trailed off for a moment. "...do... something."

"Yeah, you do that something."

"Shut up."

[-]

179.4 Masterweaver

[-]

It's all fun and games until someone gets shot

"Hold on," said Ruby as she pulled out her buzzing scroll. "I need to take this, could be important."

"We're in the middle of initiation!" Weiss protested.

"Don't worry, I can fight and talk at the same time." The red-head tapped a few buttons on the screen before sticking it in the hood of her cloak. "Hey there, Oscar! Sorry if I'm a bit distracted, I'm in the initiation right now and you're on speaker. Say hi Weiss!"

"Who the heck is Oscar?"

"I'm a farmboy from Anima," replied the voice from the scroll. "Sorry, I... I didn't keep track of the time, I should have realized-"

"It's no big, Oscar. If it's important, it's important. Is it important?"

"It's about the last expansion."

"Are you two talking about a video game?" Weiss demanded.

"Not exactly, but we're being surrounded by Beowolves. If you take one I can clear your flanks, kay?"

"You can't just-"

Ruby smiled as she twirled Crescent Rose through six stygian necks. "Look. I could take them all out on my own. But we're partners. We need to work together."

"You're on a scroll call!"

"You know what, I can wait," Oscar said quickly. "It's important, but it's not time-sensitive."

"You sure? You seemed pretty distressed-"

"Call me when you've got the time Ruby." The scroll beeped as the call ended.

"Well that's going to bug me all day now," Ruby muttered. "Weiss, would you mind helping me to wrap this up? We've got a Nevermore to ride, after all."

"But I-what?!"

[-LATER-]

"...so I'm not the leader because I am the best leader, but because being the leader gives me the best chance to grow-and to help my teammates grow as well. That's my theory, anyway."

"Grmf," Weiss grumped.

"Aw, cheer up! Tell you what, I'll let you solo the boarbatusk professor Port thinks he'll surprise us with tomorrow!"

"Wait, how do you know he's got a boarbatusk?" Yang asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby replied, her face a mask of innocence. "I don't know anything about that!"

"But you just said-"

"Also Blake is looking at your butt."

"Wait what?" Yang spun around, her eyes meeting that of a blushing Blake's. "I mean, I have a nice ass sure but-"

"I wasn't looking!" Blake said quickly.

"Oh. That's... disappointing, actually-"

"Not to interrupt this thrilling romcom," Weiss deadpanned, "but our team leader just jumped out the window."

"Wait what-?"

"Sorry," said Ruby as she walked in the door, "had to do a thing."

"But you just-" Yang pointed at the window, at Blake, at Weiss, at Ruby, at the window again, and then frowned for a moment. "I'm not the only one who's confused, right?"

"Nope," said Blake.

"Certainly not," said Weiss.

"I got pizza," said Ruby.

[-MEANWHILE-]

"Hey, Oscar, you there?"

"Oh! Ruby, right, sorry. I was just... doing some farm work with my aunt."

Ruby nodded with a small smile. "Family, got it. Anyway, I've got a majin clone distracting the team with pizza. You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah... about the expansion. The last one..."

There was a moment of silence.

"...Oscar?"

"Ironwood... shot me."

Ruby's breath stopped.

"I didn't... die, but I did fall into the pit, you know, around the vault. And... through the ground, and I wound up in the crater but-"

"But... he shot you."

"Off a cliff. Yeah."

"I..." Ruby frowned. "Okay, I need to get over there and... I dunno. Hugs. Something. What do you need, hugs and cookies and that's not enough is it?"

"No. He said... his friends call him James, but that I called him general. And then he-"

"Oscar, I don't know what to do here," Ruby admitted. "I don't know if... I don't know. This is just... so far out of left field, but it makes so much sense, I can't even... I'm going to... do you want me to tell anybody else who's Awake?"

"Depends on who it is. I'm sorry to drop this on you-"

"Never. Apologize for that."

"Ruby-"

"No, I'm going to worry about my friends," Ruby said firmly. "It's what I do, Oscar. That you told me is a lot better then if I'd learned from the backups or from somebody else. Don't apologize for dropping this sort of thing on me, okay? Even if I can't help, at least I... at least I'm not out of the loop. And this... this is serious," she admitted. "I... uh... I'm going to do some thinking over this week, okay? But I'll be up Saturday."

"Alright..."

"...And Oscar? If you need to stay away from the general for a bit-"

"I-I... might. Until I sort out how I feel about... all this."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"...well... uh... have a good... farmboy life, I guess. Relaxing vacation thing."

Oscar laughed. "I'll try, Ruby."

"And if you need anything at all-"

"I'll let you know, promise. Goodnight, Ruby."

"...goodnight Oscar."

Ruby flopped back, splaying herself on the roof as she looked up at the shattered moon.

"The time between expansions is supposed to be fun," she murmured quietly. "But... this... wow. That's... this is..."

She sighed, her eyes flicking toward the window where her team was sharing pizza.

"...Yeah. That's what's important." Ruby sat up. "The little things... that's what will help."

[-]

179.5 Shimmer712

[-]

A Shower of Filth

The image of Salem smiled and opened her mouth, to speak softly to General Ironwood in response to his refusal to give her the Relics.

No one expected a bunch of sewerage to cover the immortal woman.

There was silence for several long moments.

"...What just happened?" Marrow asked as Team RWBY pulled out their scrolls and snapped pictures quickly of a disgusted Salem instinctively trying to wipe off the filth while she wasn't paying attention and just as quickly put their scrolls away.

"That is a good question," the witch snarled, looking up. "If you'll excuse me..." Her image vanished. Ruby instantly whipped out scroll back out and started typing.

"I'm gonna send a picture to Uncle Qrow!" she giggled, selecting and attaching a picture of Salem before hitting send.

"Is that even a good idea?" Harriet asked. Ruby just stuck out her tongue.

In the shuttle, Qrow pulled out his scroll as he got a message. He did a double-take at the picture. "How the fuck did that happen?" he blinked.

"How did what happen?" Clover asked.

Tyrian giggled. "Ooh! Did that birdie get bad news?"

"No, just weird news," he answered absently, showing Clover the picture.

"...Is that Salem?" Clover asked, causing Tyrian to perk up at the mention of his goddess.

"Yep," Qrow nodded as Tyrian started beaming, rocking back and forth in delight.

"Covered in...is that raw sewerage?!" Clover demanded in disbelief as Tyrian froze, processing what he just heard.

"Also yep," Qrow nodded again as Tyrian's eye started twitching.

"How...?"

"I honestly have no idea," Qrow admitted. "I didn't think something like this was possible."

"It shouldn't be!" Tyrian screeched, startling the two. "Who dared to cover my goddess in such filth! I'LL KILL THEM!"

"...Goddess?" Robyn echoed.

"He's her zealot," Qrow explained. "When it comes to her, he takes loyalty to a psychotic extreme."

Robyn looked at the ranting serial killer. "...I see..." she said slowly. "So does this mean Salem is in either Mantle or Atlas?"

Qrow read the message. "Don't know. Apparently she used some sort of Grimm as scroll or something. She might be here or she might be on an entirely different continent."

"So she could be anywhere," Robyn huffed.

"Exactly where to find her is a bit of an issue," Clover admittedly.

The trio blinked as a thump as heard and looked over to see Tyrian unconscious on the floor, face faintly blue.

"Was he ranting so much he forgot to breathe?" Robyn asked.

"Looks like it," Qrow said.

Above a giant Grimm Whale, several chibi Rubies re-Pocketed themselves, having finished removing the waste from their Pocket's plumbing. Granted, it made good fertilizer for the small section of the pocket that had a garden, and they did have a system that would extract various compounds from it, converting it into something less gross but when the system needed repairs, a backlog sometimes developed so it was sometimes necessary to just dump it out.

Salem never would learn what had hit her, despite postponing her invasion of Atlas for several months to try and find the culprit.

[-]

179.6 Masterweaver

[-]

Fate and Destiny

Knowing about an expansion and living through it were two different things.

Knowing she and Winter would have to fight Cinder was different from being literally thrown through a wall and assailed in midair. Knowing Winter wound up terribly wounded was different from seeing her aura break as she nearly fell to her doom. Knowing Fria was going to die, to make a final choice, was different from holding her hand and watching her fade in her grasp.

And then there were the things Ruby couldn't have known about, couldn't have warned her about. Cinder's near-literal hunger for power, and the way she screamed as her Grimm arm regrew. Winter declaring her life didn't matter, and nearly scalding her fingers off in the snowstorm. Fria's soft but unyielding insistence on her duty, how she managed in her last moments to focus on Penny herself-

-it was so gentle, flowing into her, wrapping around her core like a scarf, and yet for the briefest of moments she felt the power rise within her vast and cool and true-

A flash of light and a scream of fury mixed with fear brought her back. She blinked and turned to see Weiss, already rushing toward her sister, and Ruby coming down to her.

"Penny, are you alright?" Ruby asked as she knelt. With one hand she gripped the gynoid's shoulder; with the other she grasped the hand not already holding Fria's.

"I... this all just threw me for a loop," Penny murmured back.

Ruby nodded, squeezing her hand gently. "I can help anchor you," she promised. "In every sense."

Gently, Penny released her grip and took the hands of the old woman in front of her, clasping them together over Fria's chest. "May you find peace, wherever you went."

"She's a part of you now," said a third voice, filled with hurt and anger.

Penny cringed, but Ruby's hand on her shoulder helped to force back the hurt. She turned around to the battered and bashed Winter, struggling to sit up, and whose face was filled with sullen betrayal.

That look, on her friend's face, pointed at her...

"You know I didn't intend to take this," she said, somberly.

"...I know," Winter replied, her tone as bitter as her expression. "I... I suggest," she managed, regaining some semblance of professionalism, "that you all surrender and comply with the General's orders."

Ruby sighed, shaking her head.

"We can't do that," Weiss declared softly.

Winter hissed, in pain or something else, before schooling her face. "Then... I suggest you run."

"No! You're hurt, I'm not going to leave you like this!"

A flash of humanity managed to shine through, a desperate attempt to regain control of emotions and the situation. "You're not leaving me! I'm giving you a head start."

Penny shook her head, turning away even as Winter called for reinforcements. Words tried to form-words of shame at what the military had done to Winter, of sorrow at how clearly she could not turn...

"...how will we tell her, in the loops?" she asked instead, too quiet for any but Ruby to hear. "This whole series of events..."

"She's more mature," Ruby pointed out quietly. "This one, she's still bonded to the military, but the looping version knows how to make her own destiny."

"...you'll be there with me when I tell her, right?"

"You don't have to be the one to-"

"I do, Ruby." Her eyes darted over her shoulder. "I... owe her that much."

Ruby nodded for a brief moment, before glancing over to the hole in the wall. "And three, two..."

On cue, a Manta flew up to it, door sliding aside to reveal Yang. "Guys, you're..." She trailed off, taking in the scene.

"...Only a few minutes left," Ruby murmured. She took Penny's hand, eyes downcast at the glove and skin burned off to reveal bare metal. "If I could have been here sooner..."

"I know," Penny said. "But... you're here now." She stood, giving Winter one last sad look, before marching toward the chariot that would fly her into the future.

[-]

179.7 Masterweaver

[-]

A City With A Drivestick

Penny didn't even look up from her scroll. "No."

Neo continued smirking.

"I'm not doing it."

Neo rested her arms on the back of the chair, tilting her head.

"Yes, I'm well aware that I'll probably have to do it at some point in baseline," Penny deadpanned. "That's no reason to do it for fun."

Neo slung around the chair, sitting on the table as she illusioned up an Atlas military uniform.

"Just because I don't agree with the general doesn't mean I'm going to play havoc with the rest of Atlas."

A frown formed on Neo's face, before she snapped her fingers, smirking as her outfit turned into a longcoat with a prominent avian emblem.

Penny gave her a flat look. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, because Robyn Hill would absolutely approve of taking away one of the major economic and resource providers for Mantle. The woman's not an idiot, Neo."

Neo crossed her arms huffily.

"Look, I'm only going to poke at the Staff if, and ONLY IF, Generuncle Jamie is Awake to help coordinate things. And not even always then!" she added firmly. "Honestly, why don't you-?"

She paused for a moment.

"Neo," she said slowly, "have you done this in other loops? Taken the Winter Maiden's powers just to crash Atlas?"

Neo leaned back, tapping her fingers on the edge of the table.

"...Why are you such... ugh." Penny stood up, taking her book with her. "You know the worst thing is, I'm not even surprised."

[-]

179.8 Masterweaver

[-]

One Little Change

Cinder tapped her fingers together thoughtfully.

"...I refuse to starve."

She looked out the window, at the vast domain she controlled, populated by vampires and mortals and dragozaurs and droids and visorak and pennydrones and a whole host of other odd beings she'd collected or created over the course of her looping lifetime, each and every one of them knowing she was ultimately In Charge.

"Is it really that simple? Is that what it all boils down to, when we get to the base of things?"

Her hand waved over a small wooden bowl, the gems and earth within bending in reaction to the shifting of her fingers, before running along the length of the lightsaber in front of her, around the rim of her favorite chalice, and coming to rest at last on the small replica of her warframe that rested on the desk.

"Is the only true difference between me and my baseline self how I have gorged on power, where she has scrounged?"

Golden eyes drifted to picture frame resting on the desk, filled with images of herself with the other loopers-of her giving the camera an exasperated look as team RWBY bickered with each other over the sheets of a D&D session, of Pyrrha hoisting her by her collar but not quite being able to hide her smile, of her and Emerald beaming to either side of a grumpy flower-crown wearing Mercury.

"Or perhaps..." she mused with a smile. "Perhaps that is merely where the differences begin."

[-]

179.9 Masterweaver

[-]

Badge of 'Honor'

"Whose idea," Glynda ground out, "was this?"

Raven and Kali pointed at Maria. Maria grinned and waved.

Glynda took a deep breath and, slowly, let it out. "Do you know just how much of this I already get from the students?" she asked politely.

"A bunch of teenagers being taught how to fight?" Maria asked. "I'd imagine a heck of a lot. Your weapon isn't doing you any favors there either."

"Come on, Glynda," Raven wheedled, "you know it's true."

"And technically you're the only one here that fits all three marks," Kali pointed out. "Each of us just hits two."

Glynda sighed, taking the button. "I'm not wearing this," she said firmly. "I'll put it on my desk but I'm not wearing it."

Maria shrugged. "Fair enough."

"If you'll excuse me..."

The three of them watched her go walk off.

"Great," Raven muttered. "Where are we going to find any more Hot Old Huntresses?"

"Professors Peach and Greene might work," Kali mused.

[-]

179.10 Rockman1159

[-]

The Little Things

Ruby found Penny sitting on one of the many roofs of Beacon Acadamy, staring up at the stars.

"Isn't this Jaune and Pyrrha's roof?" she asked.

"It is, I just come up here to think sometimes."

"What about?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing really," Penny said.

She looked at Ruby's pout.

"Oh fine," she laughed. "It's just my eye flames, you said they were green? It just doesn't seem very wintery."

"It's based on eye color apparently," Ruby said. "According to the backups, Fria's were blue."

"It's always the little things, isn't it," said Penny.

"Heh, it always is."

[-]

179.11 Masterweaver

[-]

It was a METAPHOR, Ruby!

"Have a snickers."

Cinder blinked at the strange girl in a red cloak holding a candy bar in her face. "What?"

"You're not you when you're hungry," the girl recited with an innocent smile.

With some hesitation, Cinder took the candy bar. She looked at the girl, who was still staring at her with a broad grin. Very slowly, she took a nibble.

Then another.

The girl continued to smile at her.

"...You're not going to leave until I eat the whole thing."

"Nope!"

Cinder sighed and, as efficiently as she could, consumed the candy bar. "There."

The girl continued to stare at her. Smiling.

"...What?"

"Nothing?"

"It was delicious," Cinder deadpanned. "What were you expecting?"

"...No moral reexaminations or anything?"

"Why would a candy bar make me reexamine my morals?"

The girl shrugged. "Eh, long story. Anyway, just remember: the dark side only has cookies because they stole them, the light side bakes them fresh."

A four-legged pink thing charged out of nowhere and knocked her down. "SLANDER! SLANDER I SAYS!"

"O-kay, I'm going to go now," Cinder decided, headed back for her hideout.

[-]

179.12 Luna 2

[-]

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul."

Jaune, Ren and Nora moved away from the destroyed Atlesian robots, looking for the missing Oscar.

"Oscar! You're here," Nora exclaimed happily as she saw him in the corridor and started to move towards him.

She stopped suddenly as a desperate "Nooo!" rang out, another Oscar rounding the corner and running towards his doppelganger, moving to punch them in the face.

Oscar's double caught the fist in their hand, startling him. The double smiled, and pinged.

Oscar pinged back, a stunned look on his face, as the disguise of his mirror image dissolved into Neo.

Jaune, Ren and Nora were all reaching for their weapons.

Neo just unhooked the Lamp from her belt and threw it over to Jaune, who caught it. "You can keep it," she said. "Also, if you want to be useful, you could always go help Team RWBY fight the Ace-Ops. Ironwood's office." She gestured down the corridor with her eyes.

Team JNR shared looks of complete surprise.

"What?" began Jaune, "How? Why are you…?"

"Jaune." Oscar snapped him out of his line of questioning. "Ruby and the others need you. You'd better go."

"But she's-" Nora piped up.

"I'm fine. Trust me. Go." Oscar smiled. "I'll catch up."

Nora and Ren looked at Jaune who shrugged but then nodded. Then the three dashed off down the corridor out of sight.

"Alright," Oscar said once they had gone, "I'm glad not to have to fight you again this time round. I Woke up not too long back. Don't think there's anyone else Awake by now except Ruby. By the way... why are you still holding my hand?"

Neo smirked. In one swift movement, she snapped the fingers of her other hand, then pulled Oscar into a waltz hold. Vibrant Classical music started blaring through the loudspeakers in the walls around them as Neo and Oscar began to waltz around the corridors.

"Neo. What are you doing?" Oscar asked, slightly wide-eyed.

"Celebrating," Neo replied.

Oscar looked puzzled.

"The fact that we're here." Neo's face lit up. "I mean, I know in baseline I took the Lamp and tried to stab you while we were fighting… but neither of us got hurt this time round. I'll admit you grabbing my ankles in the fight to try and stop me, that was a surprise-not exactly the smartest move, but also so very... you, I suppose."

"Well…when you put it that way..." Oscar smiled back. "I just… didn't expect you would do something like this."

"I like being unpredictable sometimes." Neo's face fell. "And sometimes it's nice to have something to celebrate." Her face quickly turned into a sly smirk. "Besides… I've already had my fun for one day".

"…" Oscar looked disturbed as realization dawned on him. "Neo, what exactly did you change after you Woke up?"

Neo kept smirking as they waltzed.

"Neo?"

"Well come on… how do you suppose I'm piping this music through every loudspeaker in Atlas?" She rolled her eyes.

That was the moment in the dance that it hit Oscar.

Every loudspeaker… in Atlas.

This was what she also meant by celebrating – while they were enjoying a moment of calm relief of not having to fight each other, somewhere, General Ironwood was hearing this music and screaming about the mainframe being hacked, team RWBY and the Ace-Ops were battling while the din deafened the Faunus member of each with their sensitive hearing and made it impossible for others to hear the words of their comrades. Jaune, Ren and Nora would be looking around wildly trying to figure out what was going on as they ran, the Winter Maiden would be wide awake and likely unable to hear the words of an equally confused Winter and Penny, and Cinder would be beside herself with rage at the annoying noise disrupting her concentration as she blasted at every loudspeaker on her way to the secure ward, to say nothing of the many disoriented soldiers, Huntsmen and citizens across the whole of Atlas, covering their ears or trying to break the loudspeakers...

They continued to twirl, Neo clearly enjoying herself, both in the freedom of the gesture and in the knowledge of the music's wider effects.

'She's almost certainly recording all their reactions via surveillance cameras' Oscar thought to himself, 'and maybe ours too?'

Except. She seemed to actually be enjoying 'this', not the wider schemes, just, this moment... and he was too.

Oscar didn't know where that thought had come from, but the more he tried to dismiss it, the more it pushed itself to the front of his mind. They weren't enjoying it in the way that couples dancing normally would – it was more, whatever this was. It wasn't that these expansions weren't challenging... it was going to take a long time for some to process them-to live with them-himself included. But that didn't diminish the relief. They were still alive. Whatever challenges there were ahead, they could face them.

However annoying or distracting the music was to others, it wouldn't last much longer. The loop was almost over. If anything, it would likely delay any of the conflicts in progress, not change their outcome, particularly with Ruby Awake. And compared to what Neo could do... and had admitted to him that she had done in past loops... this was not nearly as destructive.

This gesture… anyone else would have looked at it as being just a stunt, an annoyance, or a way of tormenting non-loopers during a precarious time of fear and conflict.

But Oscar was the only one in a position to see it for what it was. It was Neo's hidden way of shouting out joyfully at the world, relieved that a personal nightmare had not come to pass this time, while simultaneously keeping up the appearances everyone expected of making it look like she was sarcastically screaming at it in silence.

They both continued waltzing and smiling. Even as echoes of the coming fight thundered in the distance outside. Right up until the Loop ended.

[-]

179.13 Masterweaver

[-]

Time Travelers can make mistakes too.

"So why are you in jail this time?" Blake asked flatly.

Yang grumbled for a moment.

"What was that?"

"...fraud."

"You're in jail," Blake repeated, "for fraud."

"Yeah, you know how Ironwood gives us huntress licenses in baseline? I tried to use mine to get a discount..." Yang shrugged. "And since the permit date is... technically in the future..."

Blake snorted. "You-you're in jail because-" She covered her mouth as she started snickering.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Laugh it up, Belladonna."

"OH, oh my GOD-!" Blake slumped against a wall as she giggled. "You forgot to-oh my god of course you did! Hahaha, I, I, needed a new pic, because, hair, hahahaha, oh my god, but YOU!"

"'s'nt tht f'nny," Yang mumbled.

At this point, Blake had sunk to a sitting position. "HahahaHAhaha! FRAUD! Hee hee, fraud! Of all the things-pfahahahAHAHhaha! I, I'll pay the bail, but, oh my god, hahahehahaheahaaaaahahahahaha!" She clasped her stomach as her guffaws flowed out through the police station.

"Okay, maybe it's a little funny," Yang allowed. She looked over as Blake grabbed one of the cell bars to keep herself from sinking further, and couldn't help a small smile. "Just a bit."

"HahahaaaahahahahehehahHAhapffhaaaheeheehahahaHAhahahAHAHAHAHAhahahaaaaaahahahahahahah...!"

Well, Blake was still cute when she laughed. So at least there was that.

[-]

179.14 Shimmer712

[-]

Winter Talk

"Salutations, Winter!" Penny greeted her fellow looper cheerfully, having found Winter on top of the Beacon Tower. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine," Winter answered the girl.

Penny fidgeted next to her for a few moments. Winter waited patiently for her speak, watching the view in front of her. Down in the courtyard, she could an Unawake Qrow doting on his nieces.

"I'm sorry!" Penny blurted out. "You were supposed to be Fria's successor and instead it's me. I'm sorry."

Chuckling, Winter shook her head. "It's fine. My baseline self is too…" she paused, considering. "Rigid. She follows her orders without considering whether they are right or not. She would not even try to devise a compromise or an alternative, regardless of whether her commanding officer is in a stable state of mind or not. In a way, she's as much of a zealot as Tyrian, only more stable and lacking the homicidal tendencies."

"…Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on her?" Penny asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Winter shrugged.

"So you're not upset about not being the next Winter Maiden?"

"No. In fact, in a way, you taking the mantle is very appropriate," Winter mused. "Winter is the Maiden of Creation. You are a most wonderous example of creation. And it confirms that you are a person in your own right. And, in a way, it's given you a mother, I suppose. I guess we can assume Fria's template to be the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio."

"…" Penny frowned. "…I don't feel like Fria is a mother to me," she said slowly. "I don't really know her."

"Sometimes, mothers aren't really mothers to their daughters," Winter said, expression distant. "Sometimes, they can't be mothers." She shook her head. "At any rate, I doubt anyone expects you to act as though she is." Winter pulled her eyes from the sight of Qrow and looked at Penny. "Are you alright? You seemed more bothered about it than me."

Penny considered. "I think so," she said slowly. "I'm not sure what baseline me is going to do. She doesn't want Mantle abandoned but she also trusts you and Generuncle so she might be convinced to leave people to die."

"We'll probably have some major events in baseline," Winter commented. "Although, given the patterns of our expansions, this lot is done and we should have time to process and deal with everything that happened before the next set."

"You mean like with Clover?" Penny asked hesitantly.

Winter paused. "…Yes."

"…If he starts looping, will you be okay with it? I mean, I know you had some issues with him once his baseline interest in Qrow started but I'm also pretty sure you were overdoing doing a bit on purpose although I don't know how much," Penny babbled. "So, if he does start looping, what happens? Are there any loopers who are dating someone in the loops when they're with someone else in baseline?"

"I don't really know if there is," Winter admitted. "I did have issues with Clover but I worked through them. If he starts looping, I'm not rejecting the idea of sharing Qrow with him out of hand, we'll have to see what happens." Winter shook her head. "Although, given baseline developments, I feel his activation as a looper is unlikely."

"What do you mean?" Penny asked

"He's dead, Penny. He's died in baseline while still unactivated," Winter pointed out.

"So did I," Penny pointed out. "That's why I had issues for Pyrrha for so long."

"And from the beginning, your artificial origins meant there were doubts as to if you were dead or if you would be restored," Winter nodded. "Clover's situation isn't likely to turn out the same. And loopers who activate after their baseline death are uncommon."

"It would be nice to have another Atlas looper," Penny remarked. "And Clover's a nice man."

"He is," Winter agreed. "But I think James would worry about him in a similar way to how Cinder worried about Emerald when she started looping. Same with the other Ace-ops."

"Really?"

"Elm said they're not supposed to think, just follow orders. Cinder once told Emerald to not think, only obey." Winter pulled a face. "James is not happy about that parallel. If any of the ops started looping, he would be concerned for them for that alone, never mind everything else."

"Yeah, I see why that would bother Generuncle," Penny said. "I wonder how any of them would deal with Generuncle giving drastically different orders than his baseline self?"

"Maybe feel conflicted over which general to obey? Learn to be more independent and less of a tool?" Winter shrugged. "Who can say?"

Down below, Qrow separated from his nieces and looked up. A ping rang out before he broke his gaze and walked off.

"…Do you think Generuncle in be okay?" Penny asked. "He's really unhappy with his Unawake self."

Winter smiled at her. "He'll be fine," she answered. "He has the rest of us, doesn't he?"

Penny nodded, smiling before she left.

Winter stood and watched the horizon. A black-feathered avian flew up and landed next to her.

"Everything alright?" Qrow asked, shifting back to human form.

Winter smiled and touched his cheek gently. "Everything is fine," she answered.

[-]

179.15 Solomongrndy

[-]

A Real Girl

Penny Awoke to find herself a little earlier than the baseline start and as the only Atlesian Awake, at least, the only one in Atlas. It was a perfect time for her to do something she had wanted to do since she had gained the Winter Maiden Power.

She lost her tail and headed into Mantle to find the woman she was looking for. Luckily, May Marigold was already one of Robyn's Happy Huntresses, so she wasn't that difficult to find.

Penny knocked on the door to their building. "Salutations! I was hoping to speak with May Marigold?"

Fiona Thyme had answered the door, "Just a moment." She closed the door, though not impolitely. And when it opened again, the tall blue-haired and yellow-eyed young woman she was looking for had been the one to open it.

"Yes?"

"Yes, Miss Marigold, I wanted to speak to you about something somewhat private, that I feel you may be interested in. do you have somewhere we could talk that we wouldn't be overheard?"

May narrowed her eyes, as if scrutinizing her for a moment, before stepping back and saying, "Follow me."

Along the way Penny noticed a slightly heavier footfall than normal every few steps. She almost reacted at the rather ingenious use of a secret language, or at least signal. Most would never have picked up a subtlety like it.

The pair settled in an ostensibly private room, though Penny was fairly certain it actually wasn't. Not that it really mattered, she was mainly asking for privacy for the show of it.

"Miss Marigold, do you have a favorite legend or fairy tale?"

"What?"

"A story, from your childhood. Like The Man with Two Souls or The Shallow Sea?"

"I'm not sure where you are going with this, but I always liked The Story of the Seasons."

Penny smiled, "I thought you might. What would you do if I told you that those stories are true? And I happen to know where a Maiden looking for a successor is right now."

"I'd think you were full of crap."

"That is probably the proper response, if I am being honest, and I am being honest. You can have Robyn verify the truth of my words if she was willing to do so."

"Why should I waste her time with something so obviously false."

Penny sighed, "I thought you might take that stance as well. Here, let me demonstrate."

Penny closed her eyes and reached deep within her soul, to call forth the power that she had held before and would have held once again had Ruby and herself not already interfered with the timeline. With a soft exhalation, her eyes lit up in brilliant streams of green fire. She hadn't had as much practice as Raven nor Cinder, having only just gained her ability and not yet fully incorporated it into her looping repertoire, but she had enough for this.

Penny rolled up her sleeves, to show that she had no Dust nor any mechanical devices attached to the outside of her arms, and then she focused on a shape and flowed the power of Winter into it. Focusing on the detail as much as she could, controlling the power, so that it would remain in place. And with a final flourish, she applied just a touch of magic, to make the ice rose she had made unmelting. She handed the rose to May for her own inspection.

"As you can see, Miss Marigold. I am also a Maiden, though I am not seeking a successor. That ice rose will last indefinitely, and should, in fact, be room temperature to the touch."

Marveling at the rose, May looked at Penny, "How do I know that this isn't just some Semblance?"

"Because my Semblance is Combat Ready, and it has nothing to do with the elements. I'd show you to prove it, but I'd rather not fight."

"Well… I suppose there's enough evidence that Robyn would like to know as well. Let me get her."

May walked out the door, but she only walked to the next room over before waiting 5 minutes to return, to attempt to give the illusion that they hadn't been spying on her meeting. Penny was honestly impressed that they were at least making sure to gather as much information as they could.

When May returned she had Robyn, and Fiona, in tow, "I hope you don't mind, but Fiona overheard me asking Robyn, and asked if she could tag along."

"It's fine," Penny replied, "this will need to be kept secret, but I trust all of you with Big Secrets."

She held out her hand so that she could shake hands with Robyn and allow her to use her Semblance.

As soon as the glow showed it was active Penny started to explain who she was, at least in Baseline, and what her plan was.

There was shock, but eventually they accepted it, and Penny was soon flying through the air carrying the blue-haired woman that was to be the next Winter Maiden, for this loop at least.

While focusing on her semblance to maintain the stealth they had, May asked, "So, why me? I'm sure Robyn would have been a much better choice."

Penny hummed a little before answering, "Well, I suppose choice plays a rather large part in it. I didn't really have a choice in obtaining the Maiden mantle it was thrust upon me to prevent it from falling into the hands of someone evil. Despite that, I felt that the fact that I could become a Maiden was very affirming. You know that my Aura comes from my dad, and I am synthetic in nature, so not being a 'real girl' was always secretly a fear of mine. Sure, I have friends that love and support me, but the fact that they love me is what makes it hard to believe what they say sometimes, because I know they don't want to hurt me."

"This, however," she continued, "This is metaphysical affirmation. I AM a woman, this proves it beyond anything anyone could argue. I felt that you may appreciate such objective validation as well."

"Thank you."

"It is honestly one of the first things I thought of after the initial shock of my own empowerment occurred. I am happy to help."

Penny quietly landed them in a courtyard not far from Fria's hospital room. She was already quarantined so it was unlikely to get any further without notice without some hacking.

"You can drop the stealth field, I have hacked into the local systems and assumed direct control. So long as we do not dally we should be able to walk right in."

The two made a swift pace towards Fria, all of the robot guards had green highlighting their visors, indicating just who was controlling them. They entered Fria's room quietly. Circling around so she couldn't be seen, Penny indicated to May to go to Fria's bedside.

Penny gently awoke Fria. "Ma'am? I'm here with a worthy successor, you need not hold on any longer."

"A successor?" Fria's eyes focused on May, as if seeing right through her. "Hmm, yes, is she loyal to Atlas and Mantle?"

"It would be hard to find someone who would be better suited to protecting our people. May Marigold was top of her class at Atlas Academy and has chosen to spend her time helping those in Mantle that need the help of such a skilled Huntress."

Her eyes seemed to focus on May and the here and now. "You sound like a marvelous choice. Please use this power wisely and protect everyone you can." Then the blue of her Aura collected into a ball around her hand as she reached to May's hand.

When their hands met the ball of power traveled from Fria to May. with that last action, Fria smiled as her life faded and she lay back, her life force no longer there to sustain her.

May held tears back as she felt the mantle of power settle upon her, the enormousness of what just happened stunning her.

"She trusted that power to you," Penny whispered. "And I know that you are more than worthy of it, May Marigold. Now, we should leave before anyone finds out you were here. I also recommend coming with me to Vale, there is a threat there that will affect the entire world if we do not stop it, and you can be instrumental in removing that threat, but only if we are not detained by General Ironwood and his men."

Collecting herself, May agreed. "Let's get out of here. I need to learn how to control these powers anyway."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

(roughly a month later, in Vale)

Ruby had just kicked Roman's butt out of From Dust 'till Dawn and had followed him up to that roof where she knew he'd escape and Glynda would show up to give her her invitation to Beacon.

But, instead of a telekinetic barrier, a wall of ice sprang up to intercept Roman's shot.

She turned to look, and behind her were three figures. Two of whom she was very very familiar with, the third she had only met recently in the Loops.

With blue fire springing from her eyes and a smirk on her lips, May Marigold stood between Glynda Goodwitch and Penny Polendina (in her upgraded form).

A scream of rage, somehow heard over the roar of the bullhead, brought everyone's attention back to said bullhead. Fire streaming from her hands, the unAwake Cinder hurled fire at May, only for it to be snuffed out by a stream of ice from her.

Without wasting much time, May pulled on her mantle's power and caused a cone of frozen magic to erupt, going over Ruby's head, and completely freezing the systems in the bullhead causing it to stall out and begin falling from the sky.

That was when Penny went into action, flying up under the bullhead to catch it and lower it to the road where the occupants could be easily recovered and locked up before they would be able to regain the consciousness that hypothermia had stolen from them.

Ruby went starry-eyed. "That was so cool! Both of you!" Then she calmed a bit. "Has Penny told you about me?"

May laughed. "I don't think she's shut up about you since we got here yesterday. She was very excited to introduce me to her girlfriend."

[-]

179.16 Masterweaver

[-]

A Unique Club

"Villain," Cinder intoned gravely. "A word with weight. A word with meaning. A word with intent."

She gestured at those gathered in the lecture hall. "We are, each of us, villains. Some of us are minor. Some of us are major. Some of us are lightly shaded, and some deeply dark. Here in Remnant, a world of fearsome fantasy and fractured fairy tales, villains are as much a part of the realm as the realm we threaten. We do not exist in void, but in tandem with those around us. And it is that tandem, that connection to others, which makes us villains."

Her hand curled around the dark helmet on the desk in front of her. "We may pursue our own goals, but our role is ever in service of the heroes we oppose. We are the fire within which they are melted, the anvil against which they are beaten, the acid into which they are submerged, the tools of the forge that makes them as excellent as they are. Our task is to find their weaknesses and assail them, be they physical, mental, or of the heart-and in so doing teach them not only to defend themselves but those around them. It is a task we drift toward without conscious thought in baseline. Here, in the loops, it is the way we guide the urges that would make us otherwise become... too hostile to our fellows."

She took a moment to allow her words to sink in.

Then Cinder stepped forward. "We are... perhaps, not as unified in our thoughts as I make it. I know that some of us are present only by technicality. And others serve their role through not ambition, but simple practicality, or survival... or loyalty." Her path took her through the arched seats. "Still, still... we each of us know the strange mix of pride at our baseline accomplishments and regret at how they affect our looping family. It is a unique burden. And though we may squabble amongst ourselves, we know how important support is for such a thing."

Her hand reached out to the man standing in the back. "So, know this: The invitation to this group is not a mark of shame, but of understanding. Of dignified suffering, shared in silence by all present. Today, we welcome a new villain, a new challenge for those who claim heroism, and in so doing we mark both his purpose and his needs. James Ironwood, what was done has been done, and what will be done shall be done. Let us be the shadows cast by the light."

"Yap, yap, yap." Neo yawned dramatically. "This is such a load of bullshit you're spewin', Cindy!"

Roman nudged her with a playful grin. "Now now, it takes an expert saleswoman to dress up that sort of crap so pretty."

"You've got to sort of get where she's coming from," Emerald pointed out grumpily.

Mercury chuckled. "Of course you'd say that. What I want to know is why Ilia is even here."

"I kinda diiiid cause some trouble in Menagerie," Ilia mumbled. "Like, a lot. I think I'm the one that's here on a technicality?"

Raven slumped in her seat. "I'm missing barbecue night for this..."

James took it all in, slowly turning toward Cinder and raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, so it's not the best support network. But it is one."

"I'm leaving," he said flatly, turning around.

Cinder pinched her brow with a sigh. "Why is it so hard to get people to respect genuine evil these days?"

[-]

179.17 Shimmer712

[-]

Bad Parenting and Assurance

"Hello, Taiyang," came the greeting.

The looping signal teacher looked up from his garden. "Hello, Winter," he answered. "Looking for Qrow?"

Winter shrugged. "Just dropping by on my way," she responded, gracefully taking a seat on a box. "Is something bothering you?"

Tai sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes," Winter said bluntly. "Do you want to talk about it? I could listen or go get someone else."

Tai considered her offer then sat back with a sigh. "It's nothing big. Just...what sort of father am I in baseline?"

Winter blinked at him. "One that is obviously loved," she answered.

Tai snorted. "Being a loved parent isn't the same as good parent," he pointed out. "Baseline, there are mentions of me leaving Yang to look after Ruby. And there's the whole incident where Qrow saved them from beowolves, which would have involved me ignoring them long enough for Yang to load up Ruby in the wagon and leave. Not to mention Yang feeling like she couldn't leave Ruby behind with me anyway." He shook his head in disgust. "Most loops, Qrow is gone on missions plenty of times, and his baseline self feels that his semblance makes him a danger just by being near so his distance is justified."

Winter frowned. "Isn't he also a teacher at Signal?" she asked.

"Yeah, but he usually teaches a course that only lasts some months. Usually a survival course for when you're traveling outside the kingdoms and stuff. Qrow says it used to included things like weapon making and other longer courses in different loops but once his semblance and role as Ozpin's spy solidified, he hasn't really had a role teaching an all-year class besides the rare variant," Tai said. "Only short course ones."

Winter drummed her fingers in thought. "Grief can be difficult to deal with," she said slowly. "At any rate, Yang and Ruby grew up fine, so while it is possible you weren't the best father you could have been, you were a good enough parent that the girls were receiving the care needed."

Tai sighed. "Yeah, but how much of that was because of me is variable," he muttered. "Some loops, I'm too caught up in my grief over Summer vanishing after I've already lost Raven, I just... shut down." He pulled a face and glared at his hands." In some loops, I blame Qrow for it. And sometimes I never apologize or anything and things stay bad. And even when I do, the damage is done and I just reinforced Qrow's baseline belief he's a curse."

Winter patted his shoulder. "I can't say how things are between you and your family baseline. You and Qrow raised the girls together so there's some positivity there in your relationship there. And the girls do love you. Remember how thrilled in baseline Ruby was when Yang told her about you sending mail? When Zwei first came to Beacon? Maybe you did collapse into your grief baseline, but you obviously recovered enough to give the girls a reason to view you as a beloved parent rather than a miserable deadbeat."

"I supposed so," Tai conceded, feeling a bit better.

"Besides, for being a bad father, Jacques and Marcus Black have raised the bar pretty high in that regard. You just don't count as a bad parent simply because you grieved for lost love," Winter added.

"...Okay, just so we're clear, saying I'm not a bad father just because there are worst parents out there is not helpful," Tai said. "Your earlier rationale was much more persuasive."

"Good point," Winter admitted. "Is there a specific loop that brought this on?" Winter asked.

Tai huffed out a long exhale. "Last loop, Qrow came home, told the girls stories and stuff, the usual. Unawake me slipped him a drugged drink and took off while he and the girls were asleep, leaving only a note and some adoption forms. Because Unawake me decided that looking at his daughters hurt too much because of how they looked like their mothers. Never mind that they had lost their mommy. Never mind that Unawake Qrow's issues regarding his semblance and self-worth meant he wasn't really in a good head-space to take care of two girls." Tai shook his head in disgust. "I went back once I Woke up but man, were Qrow and the girls upset at me. I think the only reason I got forgiveness from Ruby that loop was because she Woke up and if it had been an Anchor from another branch, she would have kept holding the grudge."

"Maybe that Taiyang had a poor relationship with his family because of the choices he made regarding his grief," Winter said. "But your family loves you and won't hold what he did against you." Her expression softened. "You know that, Tai."

"Yeah, I do," he smiled, leaning back, hands braced on the ground behind him. "...You know that same applies to you with Qrow, right?" he asked. "He loves you, regardless of what may happen baseline."

Winter smiled. "I know," she answered. "It's hardly one-sided."

"...Given that expansions usually lead to new loopers and one of the most likely people to activate is Clover who... uh..."

"...I personally feel that certain events towards the end of expansions mean Clover's activation is unlikely. And if he does start looping, we already decided to give him a chance and maybe have a three-way relationship," Winter told him. "I also had planned to explain this to Clover and explain that if he is strictly monogamous, he is very unlikely to win Qrow away from me." Winter lowered her eyes, staring at the ground. "Not after everything that's happened since we've started looping."

"That's right," Tai recalled. "You and Qrow started out isolated from everyone else. You only had each other for hundreds, maybe thousands of loops."

"That's right," Winter murmured, thinking back to her early loops. Not knowing about the others, only Qrow. The frustration and fear. Qrow's reports about what his baseline memories have him finding out. The discovery that some loops had him caught by Salem and put through cruelties before escaping.

"I've been out there and seen the things she's made, and let me tell you, they are fear." The loops had provided many interpretations so to what Qrow had meant. So many abominations and nightmares, many of which Qrow didn't tell her much about.

The first time Qrow had slept in her arms, feeling safe from the horrors of the world. A memory that, for all the lack of sensuality and nudity, still felt incredibly intimate.

"At any rate, Penny has already spoken to me about this, and if I am proven wrong and Clover starts to loop. And I have already stated that to her that I know Qrow won't leave me on a casual whim," Winter said. "I'm not worried."

"Good," Tai sighed. "If you're wrong and Clover starts looping, if he tries to start something, I've got your back. Clover may have been good for Qrow baseline but you've been good for him thousands of years. So, I'll be on your side, no matter how nice he is."

"I appreciate it," Winter commented, wondering if everyone was going to be talking to her about this subject.

Maybe she overdid it with the jealousy shenanigans?

[-]

179.18 Masterweaver

[-]

Asking the important questions

"...Weiss?"

Weiss looked up from her flasks of Dust and other exotic materials, lifting her safety goggles. "Penny, hello! What do you want to talk about?"

Penny wrapped one of her hands around the other. "Have... you lived through the last expansion yet?"

"Ah, no." Weiss shook her head. "Ruby did give me an overview, though. I am-well, ordinarily I'd offer therapy but a certain vampire told me to go on sabbatical for my own health and Ruby still hasn't let up-"

"It's not that," Penny said quickly. "Well... it's... not that for me, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if..."

She trailed off for a moment.

"Penny?"

"Well. Ah... well, first of all, I have... lived through it," Penny explained hesitantly. "And, well, even with Ruby's warning... there were things I wasn't, um, expecting."

"Of course. And... one of these things, I take it, caught your attention?"

"I mean, I had a desperate fight with the woman who basically had me killed, Winter nearly died and... seemed remarkably fine with that, then I became the new maiden and basically walked out of my old life."

"A very stressful series of events," Weiss agreed, though there was still some puzzlement on her face. "And you didn't figure it out from what Ruby warned you?"

"No, not all of it, but that's not what I'm getting at. I mean, well... obviously, once I got on the airship Ruby was there to hold my hand. But, um... you-your unawake self... she did too."

"Ah," said Weiss.

"And... um... maybe this is me sort of reading too far into hub internet memes and 'handholding' but, um, well," Penny took a deep breath and steadied herself, "Ijustwanttoknowifyouhaveeverhadanyromanticattractiontomeinanymannerwhatsoever."

"Hmmm," said Weiss.

"Well," said Weiss.

"Hrm," said Weiss.

"Can I have a bit of time to consider your question?" she finally asked. "And are you quantifying 'unawake selves' into this question?"

"Yes and... maybe. I don't know. I mean I appreciate what you did but it was unexpected at least from you because me and Ruby are dating but that hasn't happened in baseline and maybe I'm just overthinking this because you're basically Ruby's partner and-"

"How about," Weiss interjected, "you go talk to Ruby about this while I figure out what this means on my side of things, alright?"

"Okay. Um." Penny paused as she turned to go. "...Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"I... just want to say that-and this isn't a statement that comes attached with any expectations-that, uh, you would be... you would be first on the list of people who I feel, you know, comfortable sharing Ruby with."

"I... suppose I should accept that as a compliment," Weiss admitted.

"Right. I'll... I'll just be going now..."

Weiss waited until Penny had vanished down the hallway before turning back to her flasks. "Shipping drama. Of all the friggin' things the expansion could have dropped on us, it's shipping drama." She rubbed her temples with a groan. "I can handle Salem invading and Ironwood going crazy but now this..." A long, low groan came from her as she lowered her goggles again.

[-]

179.19 MaracaRin

[-]

Seasonal Shindig

Raven stepped through the portal. "Alright, Penny, what was so important that I needed to get here immediately?"

"Oh! We're so glad you could make it, Raven!" Penny said as she looked up and smiled. She gestured around. "Welcome to the Looping Maidens Convention!"

Raven blinked, then groaned. "You can not be serious."

"Oh, quite. Now, we're not fully ready yet, but it should only be a few minutes. Feel free to sit down and-"

Before she could finish, a slicing sound rung out. The bandit queen tried escape through her new portal, but found her legs encased in a thick layer of black glass.

"Now, now, it's not polite to run out on your hosts that fast. Sit down and stay awhile, why don't you?"

At Cinder's voice, Raven tensed up, then sighed. "Fine, I'll entertain this. Just don't make it a waste of my time." Her legs were released, and she sat down on a nearby couch. Cinder stepped back into the kitchen, while Penny smiled at the newcomer.

There was an awkwardly long pause, before Raven spoke up again. "So...what's the point of this? Just 'we're the seasonal Maidens and that's a good enough reason to start a group'?"

Penny shrugged. "We Remnan Loopers have made groups on less. The Blonde Brigade is just that-all the blondes together-and the Dead Loopers Club is pretty similar. And now, there are less Loopers in that than there are Looping Maidens, so why not?" She smiled. "It could even be fun!"

"...Sure, I guess. That doesn't mean I won't think it's stupid until you prove me otherwise." Raven crossed her arms.

"Aaaaand... done!"

The bandit queen jumped at the sound of Ruby's voice. She watched as the Anchor came out of the kitchen, carrying several trays of freshly baked cookies. Cinder followed behind her.

"...Ruby, why are you here? You aren't a maiden." Raven squinted at the newcomer.

Ruby frowned, then placed the trays on the table. "Just because I'm not a seasonal maiden doesn't mean I don't belong here. It doesn't specify that in the name! I'm a traditional maiden, through-and-through!" She put her hands on her hips and pouted.

Raven looked at her for a moment, then gave Penny a flat stare. "You're just letting her do this because she's your girlfriend."

"As well as my sister. It would do you well to remember that," Cinder added. "Besides, are you really going to reject some of Ruby Rose's freshly baked cookies?"

Raven said nothing. After a moment, she slowly reached over, grabbed one of the treats, then took a bite.

"That's better. Now, what should we talk about first?"

[-]

179.20 BIOS-Pherecydes

[-]

The First Step Is Admitting You Have A Problem

In... and out.

In... and out.

Clear the mind. Focus.

In... and out.

In... and out.

"You're not leaving me. I'm giving you a headstart."

Weiss flinched, and lost control of the meditative calm she had been attempting to maintain. Opening her eyes with an irritated huff, she shifted towards a more relaxed position. It really was easier to meditate when surrounded by, and immersed in, the Force. Although it lacked some of the depth and complexity of its greater counterpart in the actual Branch, the Force she carried with her as a Looper still maintained the same sense of presence and almost living awareness she had come to know so well. It soothed and eased her mind, in a way that couldn't honestly be explained to anyone not familiar with it already. And when she practiced her Force Meditation, it welcomed her problems and worries; took them, pacified them, and washed them away; A comforting release of negative emotions and strain.

Regular, non-Force, meditation was nothing like that.

She had only herself, and her thoughts to keep herself occupied. There was no background radiation of acceptance and peaceful serenity. There was only her own mind, and memories.

And right now, the only memory she could focus on, was of the latest Expansion which she had finally gone through.

She shouldn't have been so fixated on a single moment, but try as she might, she couldn't stop thinking about it. About Winter's decision to follow Ironwood into the brink of madness, in the name of 'The Greater Good.' Her choice to, not so much turn against her own sister, but to not stand in support of her.

Part of it was the shock of it in general. But, if she were being completely honest with herself, the larger part of it was the fact that she had Woken late — as in only the last few seconds of the Loop late — and her Loop Memories of the event had shown that the Unawake Weiss had actually been less affected by Winter's words than she herself was.

It had called into question some of the things she had once believed about the differences between Loopers and their Unawake selves. Namely, whether or not Looping actually did make them more capable of withstanding the issues their Baseline put them through. The conclusion she had come to was that she, the Looper, had grown significantly more familiar with, and more emotionally close to, her sister than she, the non-Looper, had. They saw each other nearly every Loop, talked with one another whenever possible, made time for each other, had fought beside each other, cried, bled, and even died for one another.

The end result being that the not-quite-betrayal of the Unawake Winter had been less painful to the Unawake Weiss; because, in a way, she had come to expect that it was her team alone who would stand beside her and support her. There was a distance between the other Weiss and Winter, that had long since ceased to exist between the Looping versions.

Which made her question exactly what the relationship between Loopers and their Baseline was. Something which served only to result in more questions, mostly of the philosophical variety, than answers. Hence her attempted meditation.

Sighing, she resorted to her last-ditch final recourse. Stuffed animal therapy.

Not feeling like getting up, she used her Pocket to do a quick clothing change into her pajamas and shifted her hair from its elaborate braid straight into it's unbound state. Then, she pulled out a giant stuffed dolphin and curled up on her bed. She smiled in slight amusement. 'Well, I suppose if nothing else, the Unawake me will never be able to pull of a trick like that.'

Her brief moment of levity passed, and she returned to the thoughts she'd been grappling with since the last Loop ended.

In the end, it all came down to a simple consideration. Her semi-obsession with Winter's actions, and her own Unawake self, could both trace their roots to the same basic problem. Baseline, and their reactions to it.

When Alucard had pointed out that they, the Remnant Loopers et al, had an unhealthy fixation on the events of their Baseline, Weiss had been willing to concede that he may have had somewhat of a point. She hadn't really felt like he was giving them the benefit of the doubt, but she could at least see where he had gotten the impression.

Having now gone through the last Expansion, she was forced to admit that his assessment had been spot on. Or very nearly so. Ruby, Penny, herself. Oscar as well, though his reactions were far more justifiable given his near-death and the outright betrayal of someone he had grown to respect. It was his first Expansion where things really, truly hit home; he could certainly be forgiven for not being able to separate his own reactions from his Unawake self's.

The rest of them had less of an excuse.

She'd have to actually bring this up with the rest of the Loopers at some point in the near future, wouldn't she. That was not a conversation she was looking forward to. Especially given her prohibition from psychologically helping her friends and family disentangle the giant ball of mixed emotions and attachments that was sure to involved.

Worst of all, was the fact that she had been blind to this. She reminded herself that she was not responsible for every little thing that happened, that diagnosis she fully agreed with Alucard over, but it only helped ease her mind a little bit.

She growled to herself in irritation, and buried her face in the back of her stuffed toy. Why did emotions have to be so completely disconnected from logical thought? She knew she wasn't at fault, or at the very least not solely and completely at fault, but that didn't stop her stupid idiot brain from lying to her about her guilt anyway.

Emotions were nothing but trouble.

As if to prove her thoughts correct, her mind conjured up another memory. 'I... just want to say that-and this isn't a statement that comes attached with any expectations-that, uh, you would be... you would be first on the list of people who I feel, you know, comfortable sharing Ruby with.'

Her cheeks flushed, and Weiss shook her head rapidly. 'No. Alucard may have been right about Baseline, and possibly about my own mental imbalances, but he's wrong about me and Ruby. There's nothing between us, nothing beyond our friendship. Ruby is with Penny, and that's the way it should be. They're happy together, and I'm happy for them. He's wrong.'

A yawn broke her train of thought, and Weiss adjusted herself to a fully relaxed position; hugging her dolphin and allowing her eyes to drift shut. "He's wrong. Completely wrong," she mumbled softly.

'Right?'