Chapter 25 - Paintings
"Any luck with finding the contest winner, yet?" Blake asked, admiring the feel of Weiss's blade in her hands.
The sword was sharp at the tip, having poked herself one too many times on accident. It felt much lighter than it looked. Though Blake could not tell if that was due to the material used, or some masterwork done by the weapon-smith. She spun the revolving cylinders, listening to the click and frowning at the sound. She could not enjoy the metal clanging and how it made her ears flicker erratically on her head.
"I don't know why you chose this one. It sounds so annoying."
"Pray tell what you mean by that, Blake?" Weiss said in a faux stuck-up voice, all the while her attention remained on the forever unfinished painting in front of her. "I quite like the sound. It sounds… familiar in a way. Like a train along its tracks. Or a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle."
Blake snorted, "you put playing cards in the spokes of your bicycle?"
"Mother and father would have disowned me if I ever attempted to do such a thing," Weiss responded with real seriousness. "But, I've seen the movies. I know the sound. And what it's supposed to represent. Do you think I need more red in the hair?"
Weiss placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head to get a different look at her piece of art. In the last few days, she had an explosion of inspiration when it came to the face of her dreams. Lately, it seemed like she added more to the portrait every day, when before it was days or even weeks between painting sessions.
"Didn't his hair used to be closer to a dirty blonde?" Blake asked over her friend's shoulder.
"He did, but lately I've been thinking he was more of a redhead. Or very dark crimson."
"Your man's features are also rounding themselves out a bit as well."
"What do you mean?"
"The male of your dreams is starting to gain a little too much iron," Blake smirked.
"Fe-male. Hardy harr harr. Very funny. I don't know what has gotten into you over the last few days."
"I guess my girlfriend is starting to rub off on me lately." Blake blushed as she spoke.
It brought a smile to Weiss's face, seeing how happy her best friend was. Especially now that her and that Yang Xiao Long had officially become a couple. Truthfully, it had taken those two far too long to play the girlfriend card, in Weiss's opinion. If it were Weiss, she would have taken to calling her significant other her boyfriend or girlfriend, the moment the two decided to go on a first date.
She could not fathom the idea that someone would go on dates with another person, before becoming 'exclusive'. But at least Blake or Yang had mustered up the courage to ask.
"I'm glad you're doing well Blake. I really need to meet this girlfriend of yours already. Give her the Schnee stamp of approval."
Blake chuckled. "I wholly doubt she will receive the Schnee stamp of approval. Maybe the Weiss stamp, though."
"That's good to hear," Weiss said, dipping her paintbrush into the silver paint once more. With a delicate hand, she dotted the iris of the portrait with the colour, hoping to give the eyes pleasant silver flakes. But as she began dotting it, inspiration took hold once more and the eyes began to take on the unique colour.
"I like it," she said to herself.
"Anyways," Weiss spun to look at Blake, "I have no idea where to go next to find the sword's owner. It's not like Myrtenaster is a common name for a weapon, but when I looked the name up, nothing of relevance appeared."
"Can't you just check the list of contestants for a Myrtenaster?"
Weiss frowned and shook her head, "I'm afraid I cannot. My mother's been keeping a firm hold on the master list and I have not been able to find out who was there on my own. It's not like I would remember anyone that attended by name. Except for Cardin."
"And Ruby."
"Right, and her."
"Myrtenaster seems to be a mostly made up word. Most likely chosen because it sounded unique and noble with which to fit the Schnee name. And not so much as an ode to the blade's creator."
Weiss sighed, only perking up at feeling Blake place a gentle hand on her back.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you will remember something about the contestant eventually."
"it's an impossible task," Weiss said exasperatedly. "I should have realized it sooner, when mother allowed me to do it in the first place. Of course I won't find anything of note about the person, except for his last name. And even that has no use! Do you know how many individuals with the first, middle or last name Rose, in this city alone, not to mention any of the other cities or towns people may have come from?"
"I do, because you ranted this to me before, but I know you aren't listening while in this state-"
"-Eleven thousand, Blake! A thousand I could handle. Maybe two thousand. But eleven thousand? And those are just the names which appear in online directories. There are most definitely plenty more which I don't know about. And it's not like I can look up their names in our own databases, or economic portfolios, because of course mother thought ahead and locked them all away from me."
Weiss scowled loudly before tucking her head between her legs, nearly throwing paint on herself from the brush still held in a tight grip in her hand. "How is one person supposed to remember everybody that attended…"
"Maybe… maybe you don't need to remember everyone," Blake said slowly. "Maybe you don't need to be the sole person to try and remember everybody at the competition."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"Ruby."
"Ruby?"
"Yes, she was there too. And I got the impression that she's fairly intelligent. Enough to remember some names or faces at least."
Weiss smirked, "how could you tell she's intelligent?"
"Weiss, I'm dating her sister. She gushes nonstop about the girl. She's two years younger than us and already applying to the weapon-smith program at Beacon University."
"Impressive."
"No Weiss. Impressive is that she's expected to get in. With a full tuition scholarship. Trust me. According to Yang, that girl knows her stuff."
Weiss was silent for a moment as she took in all that new information. "Wow. I did not expect that out of the dolt. She appeared to be a bit more of an adorable scatterbrained moron, than a gifted prodigy."
Blake chuckled, "adorable?"
"You know what I meant," Weiss said with a scowl. "Maybe I could ask her…"
After a moment more of thought, the white-haired heiress groaned. "And I still haven't found her stupid metal pin. I've been looking for that thing everywhere. It could have been tossed out with all the scrap, for all I know."
"Maybe we should go visit her to ask more about the piece. And you can ask for any information about your allusive contest winner."
"That's not a bad idea, Blake."
The two fell back into an easy and familiar silence. Blake went back to flipping Myrtenaster in her hands, admiring the feel of the blade and etching her fingers along the fine and finely incorporated details. And Weiss, back to her painting, adding in more hints of red and silver, now working on the lips, tilting them from their previous stern gaze into a more pleasant uptick. Just the barest hint of a smile. Taking a step away from it, she realized Blake might be right.
The face truly was looking a touch more feminine than it had been before. Not that she minded. She felt like the portrait of that person in her dreams was finally taking shape. Maybe not that day, or even in a month's time, would she be finished, but it was near to the end. She could almost taste its completion.
"You just want me to agree to go visit Ruby, so that you can go see Yang again. Isn't that right?"
Blake had the decency to blush. Yet still she remained silent on that regard. "This really is quite a beautiful weapon."
"Blake."
"The etch-work is quite spectacular."
"Blake."
"And can you see the detail in the handle? Hilt? It's leather but there's just a little bit of colour splashed into it. Different enough to stand out, but not so different as to look weird."
"Blake!"
"Oh alright. Fine. I want to see Yang again and I want you to meet her. Happy?" Blake acquiesced with a huff.
"Very much so," Weiss replied with a lofty smirk.
"And maybe I think you and Ruby can hit it off."
"And what pray tell, is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know exactly what it means."
"Blake, you read too many fairy tales. Maybe I should actually give you some work to do as my servant instead of letting you lounge around and read. Get you to clean my room or something."
"And then you will have no idea what to do with your own free time, Weiss," Blake's smile was all Weiss needed to know that she was not going to fall for the bluff.
"Fine, call Yang and see if they're free this weekend."
Another day, another chapter. But, please read until the end of this A/N, as I have some incredibly sad news for you all in regards to this story... But first, comments!
iamking - Thank you!
Read and stayed - You'll just need to wait and see ;)
Darknight2124 - Yang being a true G.O.A.T. and saving her sister like that from the mean and evil, wicked step-mother-er... I mean evil, wicked landlord.
Dragonqueen1993 - Because tension! Also, I can see Cinder having her ear to the window, cackling maniacally about how she was going to get that little girl ('and her dog too!')
And now... it is with a heavy and humble heart that I tell you this somber news. As of this week, I will no longer be posting Rhodopis in Remnant.
on Mondays.
Ha, you think I'm going to stop this party? As of the posting of this chapter, I am halfway through writing the penultimate chapter to this story. Yes, it's almost done being written. As such, Rhodopis is no longer going to be posted every other week, but instead every single week! Yes, you guys are going to get a brand new chapter every Thursday until completion The new rotation will start next week, so stay tuned!
PS. The official total chapter count is 35 chapters, so you still have plenty more Rhodopis left to go. Peace out!