Author's Notes
Final chapter of Interlude. Just watched both seasons 3 of Castlevania and Aggretsuko. Let's do this!
Interlude 27.77: Love conquers all… or else
Inside a pub in a sequestered corner of downtown Vale, a pair of chocolate eyes remained unimpressed above a pair of fashionable shades.
"Come on, Coco. You've been giving me the stink eye for months now! Just forgive me already."
An eyebrow to one of those eyes arched in response.
"Coco!"
Setting back the shades in place, Coco looked above the whining Ruby Rose, the girl beneath her in both height and importance.
"Pathetic." Coco packed as much derision and scorn as she could into those three syllables, before subtracting personal importance to the continued existence of whatshername. The young reaper was not worth the mental processing required to recognize her.
"Glad to see the entirety of Team Whirlpool and most of Juneberry and Kaleidoscope could make it. Pity I don't see Kohaku along, but she did mention visiting home. Cannot hold it against the girl."
"Whirlpool?" Weiss asked, not entirely against the idea of a team where she was the leader.
"Yeah, Team Whirpool. W-Y-P. Composed of Weiss, Yang, and Pyrrha and led by Weiss… the name is a work in progress, but it's looking like it's going to be the final product." Coco made it a point to grin widely in Ruby's direction, but ever so slightly off as to imply Ruby wasn't truly there.
"Coco!" Ruby cried.
"Do you hear a high-pitched sound?"
"Rose," a masculine voice called from the side. Cardin, accompanied by his team and Team MRNN, approached his fellow first year, singling out Ruby. "Are you perchance a twenty credits lien?"
"Uh… no?"
"Then stop thinking everybody has to like you."
Yang started revving up her anger. "Listen here, Car-"
"Cardinal!"
Her steam was whiffed away by Coco's commanding voice. The second-year stood tall as she looked up to the towering Cardin, who had the good sense of showing some second-guessing. Inspecting Cardin from feet to head and back, Coco nodded. "I like your way of thinking."
"Coco!"
Yang placed a consoling hand on a faux-crying Ruby's back. "Sorry Rubes, I tried. But sometimes you just need to cut your losses." With a sharp backslap that send Ruby forward in an 'Eep', Yang made her way to the bar. "Enough talking. Yang Xiao Long and team is here. Let's empty that bar and burn that dancefloor! Team ARGT promised us the first round!"
"Go Team Whirlpool!" Weiss rallied, dragging Pyrrha as she chased after Yang. Ruby, alone and abandoned, sulked.
Coco stood next to Cardin and wrapped her arm around the boy. "Come my cute little firsty! Hang with me tonight and I'll make one of the cool kids out of you." Cardin had enough self-preservation to squirm in Coco's grasp.
The fashionista's expression turned contemplative for a few seconds, before looking in direction of the pool table. "Yo, Paps. You don't mind if I steal your firsty team, right?"
The fox faunus glance from where she was preparing to take her turn. "Huh? No. Whatever. Knock yourself out."
The predatory grin Coco had on her face gave everyone a stop, but it was too late as the woman kidnapped Cardin in the direction of the table where the rest of CFVY was hanging out.
Cardin sent a pleading look at his first-year compatriots.
"Bye Cardin, don't die," Marina waved him off.
There is no honor among Hunters.
-o-
She had her reservations about coming to such a dinky place just to spy on the competition. However, she had to admit she was having fun. Unexpectedly so. And her opinion of the place changed from 'dinky' to 'rustic'. It had that charm that came from self-made businesses that pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and persevere against the dog-eat-dog economy that came from working inside a Kingdom with limited real estate.
She had even forgotten she was supposed to spy stuff. Though to be fair, the whole spying schtick was her teammate's idea. She was happy going blind into the Vytal Festival. There was something romantic about clashing blades in a spurt of blind passion that was diminished by the machinations of intelligence gathering.
Her brother would have talked her ears off, going on and on about the necessity of preparation and knowing your enemies. About how knowledge is power; knowing is half the battle; work smarter, not harder; how it's not about outplaying the enemy but working towards the enemy outplaying themselves; and a few more dozens of hackneyed idioms. But this was a tournament. Was it really necessary to take it so seriously? It is meant to be fun, after all. And what's more fun than the unknown?
Sipping from her cocktail, she lazily leaned further into the couch she was occupying and observed – not spy – the patrons of the bar. The antics of Huntsmen and Huntresses brought her no small amount of amusement. When part of your job is to shine bright in a dark world, you either developed a quirky and flashy personality or drowned into the sea of mediocrity, doomed to only contributing sharp steel against the sea of despair.
So, she observed the future Hunters of Remnant, savoring their personalities. There was the girl in the beret and sunglasses – despite the poor lighting of the place – that was making a stodgy boy squirm under her scrutiny. She could discern the faintest trait of bad blood between their teams, based on how the huge guy and the redhead boy were hesitant to join in. The bunny girl seemed more on board with the idea and, while a bit shyly and awkward, was making an honest attempt to let bygones be bygones.
Towards the stage, where a karaoke station was being set up, a lavender-haired girl she could swear she knew from somewhere – not on a personal basis, but on a famous person basis – was badgering a white-haired girl, which she definitely recognized as Weiss Schnee, into joining her for a song. On a table close by, a mourning red-caped girl and a consoling tall blond looked at the debate with amusement.
By the bar, a so-badly-disguised-that-it-loops-back Pyrrha Nikos was trying to blend with the background alongside a loud blond that made it impossible and two boys that were more preoccupied with engaging in a drinking contest out of some ill-conceived rivalry.
'Actually, isn't that Copen Kamizono, one of the heirs to Sumeragi? Wait, then that means the girl by the stage is… huh.'
She thought the girl was perpetually sick. Guess her studies at Haven didn't allow much time to keep up with the world of international businesses.
Beacon's students were a medley of interesting personalities, clashing and making poetry in their wake. Metaphorically speaking. Her brother did always say she has a habit of making a complex web of drama and histrionics out of every little detail.
Compared to Beacon, Haven was so… dreary and loveless. Sure, there were some fun individuals if you searched. From the top of her head, Haven's Anticitizen One, Sun Wukong, sprung to mind. And the rest of SSSN wasn't lagging. But if the grapevine spoke the truth, even Sun was fed up with how uneventful Haven is and was looking to move his team to Shade. Maybe she should take a page from his 'Guide to be a Nuisance' and move to Beacon. Convincing her team should be easy enough. Speaking of…
"YOU RETROGRADE DIPSHIT! THOSE WERE MY CHEESE STICKS!"
"LOL, NO ANYMORE, B-1-4-TCH"
"GRAAHHHH"
A red bundle of fury lunged across the table to the green package of obnoxiousness. Not before a yellow gift of 'I am not paid enough to care' saved his drink and her order of chips from the brawling teammates.
She loved her team. She really did! They were among the most colorful individuals you could find in Haven and she was infinitely grateful for it. Team PTGA was the greatest gift the world had given their school and she refused to believe otherwise.
Accepting her saved chips and sending a mimed 'thank you' to Asroc, Pantera curled back into her seat to enjoy the blood bath between Gibril and Teseo. Not that there was any blood thanks to Aura. And the second either of them bled, Gibril won. Probably. Teseo could pull some really crazy stuff out of his ass when he chooses to stop trolling and takes things seriously.
"Pantera, what is your read on our rivals?" Asroc asked, languidly airing the wine as he observed Teseo gnaw Gibril's skull with his faunus teeth. For his trouble, the violent girl proceeded to kick, in her words, 'the ever-living shit out of his zigzagging-teethed fuckface'. Pantera gave a discreet giggle at the insult. Her partner's insults were as colorful as they were vulgar. Lovely.
But as much fun as she was having…
"Both of you, knock it off! The employees are looking our way."
Teseo and Gibril froze midfight, Teseo still gnawing at Gibril's cranium while the punk-rock girl ranted about stabbing Teseo with a spoon. The scary thing was that Gibril would be able to do so, too. And with very little effort on her part.
"But my mozzarella sticks!" Gibril yelled.
Teseo, lacking in self-preservation, patted Gibril's head. "Haha! I did u a fave, Gibs. All the fatty food will go to your waist. Hashtag PudgyPudgy."
Let it be repeated. Teseo had no sense of self-preservation, as he proceeded to poke Gibril's tummy. Naturally, the next thing anyone knew was Teseo being flung across the table and into a couch, harshly, by Gibril, whose manic eyes promised a horrible night to whoever directed one more word in her direction.
Lucky for Pantera, she was excluded. "Gibs, stop throwing Tessie like a ragdoll."
"Ha! You got banned!" Teseo un-helped his case from his upside-down position on the couch.
"Tess," Pantera gave him the loveliest and scariest smile in the room. "You will order Gibril new sticks. You will give them to her, you will apologize, and not eat a single one. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am," Teseo saluted, bullets of sweat dropping by the gallon. "Hashtag ScaryAsFuck," he couldn't help but whisper. With a roll, he stood up and made his way to the bar to make the order.
"You're too lenient with him," Gibril muttered, retaking a seat and refusing to meet Pantera's eyes.
"And you're too short fused," Pantera scolded, earning a huff from Gibril. "Perfection is boring. Teseo's faults are part of his charm. If you played along more often, you realized he could help you achieve great things."
"As much as I loathe to agree with Pantera on this," Asroc chimed in, "Teseo can be scarily competent when he wants… you do realize he loves messing with you because you are so easy to rile up, right?"
"Doesn't mean I can do anything about it," Gibril muttered, resting her cheek on her fist and sending a glare on her faunus's teammate's direction.
"At any rate, back to your question," Pantera addressed Asroc, "our rivals are having fun and we're not because you decided we should spy on them."
"Pantera…"
"No!" she rose to her feet and pointed at her teammate. "Live a little, Asroc. Go out there. Dance. Meet someone!"
"Bang them silly!"
"Yes!" Pantera exclaimed. "See, Teseo has the right idea."
The crocodile faunus placed his spoils of war in front of Gibril. "There you go, Gibs. Fresh, greasy cheese straight out of the three days old frying oil and into your plate. Bon appétit."
Asroc scrunched his nose at the offending food. "How your palate can withstand that aberration lies beyond my mental faculties."
"You're a dick," Gibril growled, but accepted her food, nonetheless.
"And… PZ is right," Teseo said bopping Gibril's nose, much to the angry girl's chagrin. "You are F-U-N to troll." He was punched. "Ouch, Gibs. Raging much? L-M-A-O." That earned him another growl from Gibril, but Teseo just returned a toothy smile. "You heard Big Boss. It's time to mingle with pugs in the pub. Ugh. 'Operation: Let's Get in Pants' is a go!"
"…Disgusting."
"How crass."
"I love it!" Gibril and Asroc gave their leader a flat look. "Teseo has the right idea. Let's talk to people. After all," she turned her sight to Asroc, "what better way to get to know your opponent than talking to them?" Then she looked a Gibril. "And it will give you a respite from Teseo." Then she placed her hand on her chest, gesturing at herself. "And I saw a lovely target earlier that I'm going to pursue." Extending her hand, Pantera ordered, "Team Phantasmagoria, mobilize!"
She merrily skipped towards the bar, leaving her befuddled teammates to their own devise.
"You noobs realize she's playin' ya', 'rite?"
The duo sigh of Asroc and Gibril answered Teseo's question.
"Sounds like an average Saturday to me."
"Yep."
-o-
"Do I look drunk?"
"You're not drunk, Pyrrha."
"I feel drunk."
"You had HALF a Strawberry Sunrise."
"The name is actually Bitch's Sunset."
"Shut up, Copen."
"Boy is right."
"Shut up, bartender. Nobody asked you."
"I'm going to get a second opinion. GV, do I look drunk?"
"Ugh," Yang expressed as her head banged the bar's counter, making Pyrrha's Bitch's Sunset hop a little. She couldn't believe Junior's stupid name had actually caught on. And now Pyrrha, half a drink in – a drink that arguably had less alcohol than your average grape – was having a mini panic attack. Never having a drink before, the girl was in full 'Scare-tactics work' mode.
Just her luck.
She opted for an actual beer this time around. Something fruity, but with actual alcohol. A quick glance around the establishment reassured her that Ruby was not doing anything crazy. In fact, she was looking downright pitiful sitting next to Jaune, on a table close the stage where Mytyl and Weiss were setting their karaoke. Whoever was the owner of that karaoke lost said ownership when they allowed Mytyl within twenty feet.
"HELLO, VALE!"
With cheers and whoops from the audience, Yang mentally updated Mytyl's and Weiss's status to 'singing karaoke.'
"Hey there, handsome, can I get what gorgeous is having and another round for her and her friends?"
Yang mentally groaned, prepared to turn away whatever uppity frat boy thought it was a good idea to hit on a Huntress, because there was no way this guy was a Beacon student.
"Listen, little boy-"
She was stopped on her tracks by magenta eyes - very feminine magenta eyes – watching her in amusement. A girl around her age, maybe a bit older, with long, blond hair that curled along the length and that faded to pink at the tips took a sip of the beverage offered to her. She was wearing a purple, sleeveless dress that reached to her knees, ending on a combat skirt, with a white waistcoat that extended past her hips and opened up into four sections. Her legs were hidden by pink thighs and she opted for some combat boots. And she had combat experience. There was no hiding her muscles with those slender arms on display. It reminded Yang of herself, actually. Her entire body reminded Yang of Yang, but more mature. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but in how the girl carried herself.
An amused, and still feminine, laugh escaped her lips. "Well, I'm not used to being called 'little boy', but you can call me lad, lass, and anything in between, gorgeous." She extended her index finger towards to Yang's chin and traced a line from the base of the head to the tip of the chin. "True love is a notion that's hardly shackled by feeble labels such as gender."
"W-wha-whuh?"
Her eloquent response earned another teasing laugh from the blonde pinkette. Taking another sip, the new girl said, "Though I would hardly call flirting with a girl in a bar true love."
Oh, so she was flirting. Good to know. For a second there, Yang thought she was going crazy.
The girl leaned to address Yang's peanut crew behind her. "The same goes for the three of you."
"Duly noted."
"We're good."
"I'm told I'm not drunk enough for this."
The girl smiled back at Yang. "What an interesting team you got there. Pantera, by the way. Pantera Zonda."
Yang was snapped out of her shock just in time to notice the extended hand. "Oh! Yang Xiao Long. That's me, I mean." Why was she tripping over her words? "And these three nerds are my teammate Pyrrha-"
"Hello," the champion waved a salute.
"-and two random bozos – not my team – I'm forced to share air with, Copen and GV."
"Bozo 1," Copen toasted.
"Bozo 2," GV also rose his beer.
"Hello, bozos," Pantera candidly joined them in their toast. On stage, a song brought to you by pop sensations Mytyl and Weiss filled the bars idle chatter. Pantera paid a glance at the singing duo, before her attention turned to Copen. "That's your sister, right? Mytyl Kamizono?"
Copen set down his drink and gave her a wary nod. "She is. Anything I should be worried about?"
"Copen!" Yang hissed in warning. Pantera just laughed before dismissing the boy's worries.
"Nothing so nefarious, I assure you. We've actually met. You and I." Copen scrunched his face trying to recall. Pantera saved him from the doomed endeavor. "More like we were dragged to the same social circles." A wink and a tease. "Don't think just because you brood in a dark corner, you were invisible. All you managed was break the heart of boys and girls alike."
"Good."
Yang snickered. "Yeesh, Tiger. Didn't know you were such a ruthless heartthrob." Her attention switched to their guest. "So, you're from Atlas?"
"Haven, actually. My brother studied in Atlas and I lived there for a while. He made a bit of a name for himself, so he is frequently hired as a bodyguard to these big charities and social gatherings events. I tagged along."
"And my sister?"
"Copen!" Yang chided again.
"Relax, Yang. I understand where Copen is coming from. Tenji can be just as zealous when it comes to looking after me." Pantera sent Copen a sly look. "Personally, I find such passionate fraternal love… highly attractive. Someone who cares about family so much is likely to be a great parent."
Copen gulped under Pantera's scrutinizing, maybe even hungry, gaze. Pantera gave a reassuring smile. "Relax. I'm not about to jump on top and dry hump you silly."
Copen relaxed.
"Unless you want me to…"
Then he tensed while she laughed. "Anyways, my brother takes his job very seriously and ran background checks on every guest. Naturally, the esteemed Kamizono cropped up."
"And you know this… because?" Copen asked.
"Sibling love."
Copen was not even going to bother making sense of that. She probably meant that her brother gave her training beyond just combat.
"You!"
GV was ambushed by a redhead with two white streaks of hair and a slightly murderous expression. Everything about her screamed short. Her short hair, her short height, her short red skirt, her short temper, her black, fur lined leather jacket and black boots that tried, and failed, in making her appear less short. Like a puff fish. Or Weiss and her heels.
Gibril glared at a bespectacled GV from head to toe. "You are the cutest guy here."
GV blinked. "Thank you?"
"You. Me. Dance. Now."
He blinked some more. Before pointing down at Gibril and asking to his group, "who let this sassy little kid into the pub?"
Two tiny hands grabbed him by his shirt and brought him face to face with two amber orbs raging with fury.
"If you want to die so badly, you didn't need go about it in such a roundabout way." She pulled him closer. "I'm happy to oblige, glasses."
"That's Gibril Metal, my partner," Pantera introduced, "she has a reptile faunus fetish."
Forgotten but not freed, GV sent a questioning look to Pantera alongside Gibril.
"Fuck you," Gibril elaborated.
"Only on Tuesdays, my dear," Pantera glibly countered. "Why do you want to break that poor boy's pelvis, anyways?"
Gibril groan, slackening her grasp on the blond boy.
"It's always a sex thing with you. I want to dance with the guy, not grind his pelvis to dust."
"Can we stop talking about causing physical harm to my pelvis?"
GV's plea went ignored by both members of PTGA. "Teseo said I couldn't get a guy to the dancefloor even if I were to strip, walk up to them, and drag them before the shock wore off."
"So, what you're saying is that Tessie thinks you would look sexy naked."
"Not the point! And wipe that smirk off your face. I'm proving that pointy-teeth asshole I can get a guy to dance with me. So you," a finger stabbed GV, "are coming with me to shred the dancefloor."
GV hesitated, but couldn't bring himself to outright say no. "I don't… I mean, the music is not really good for da-"
"THE NEXT DANCE NUMBER GOES TO MY PEEPS IN THE CHEAP SEATS!"
GV glared at Mytyl, who was pointing at the bar, at him, with a shit-eating grin on her face.
"Damnit Myt-woah!"
Alas, he was dragged to the dancefloor before he could curse his team leader.
Copen raised his drink in another toast. "There goes a man with so much to lose and too little to win. And yes, I'm talking about her height."
"Fuck you!"
"He truly was the best of all of us. A true patriot." Pyrrha raised her own drink, and with the other hand sent GV a military salute. "I zalute yeh, Jeeves."
"You're not helping, Pishe!"
"Stop ignoring me, haystack-hair."
"Haystack?"
Pantera openly laughed. "Seems like our teams are getting along famously."
"Hehe, yeah," Yang wasn't convinced. "To set the record straight, those two bozos," – Copen raised his drink again – "are not my teammates."
"You did mention that. But that's not true for bozo three, right? "
"Hello!"
"Ugh," Yang banged her head against the countertop. Her teammates were so embarrassing. And the friends of her teammates. And her father. And her uncle. And potentially her biological mother. All in front of a cute girl. Wait… oh gods…
Her chin was brought up by the same gloved finger that traced it a few minutes ago. "You are precious. This is all new to you, isn't it? Being on the defense?" Yang winced at being laid bare, but Pantera gently caressed her cheek and calmed her. "Let's take it slow and gentle. How about a dance?"
"AND THIS ONE IS FOR MY SECOND PEEPS IN THE CHEAP SEATS!"
"I'm gonna kill her," Yang stated the facts.
"Later, dragon," Pantera huskily whispered to her ears. "Now? Well… let's first dance and then see how deep the rabbit hole goes."
-o-
Ruby sulked. She sulked, brooded, and moped. This was not her scene. It was crowded and there were no gladiatorial matches. Just enough sexual tension to cut with a scalpel. As if to rail against the atmosphere in an attempt to mock her, her soda was virgin. Even if she could legally drink due to her status as a Huntress, Yang wouldn't let her get away with it. Maybe. She didn't fancy drinking anyways. She had tried once. You didn't get not to try with Uncle Qrow carelessly leaving his stashes lying around. At some point, curiosity overcomes common sense. In the end, it wasn't her thing.
"You're sulking."
She sighed and faced Jaune, who was sharing the table with her. "I'm bored. Aren't you bored?"
Her blond friend shrugged, taking a swig of his bottle. "I enjoy being around. And with Mytyl and Weiss singing, it's like we're just supporting our friends in a gig. Go, girls!"
Ruby playfully punched Jaune in Weiss's stead, who floundered in embarrassment at the encouragement from the dork. Mytyl, on the other hand, basked in it. Right before she dedicated a dance number to the 'peeps in the cheap seats'. Looking in the direction of the dedication, she was met with GV being dragged to dance by a short redhead while Yang… was she getting flustered by a blonde woman flirting with her?
Huh… ok.
"You know, I consider myself a pretty damn good dancer."
"Really?" Ruby asked skeptically. How could such an awkward guy like Jaune-
"Seven sisters?" she flatly guessed.
"I'm starting to think my life is a blessing in disguise," Jaune confirmed. "How about it? A dance for the pretty lady?"
"Where do you see a pretty lady?" Ruby asked with a smirk.
"Don't put yourself down like that. It doesn't suit you. So, what do you say?" He extended a hand, prodding her to take it and follow his lead.
"I don't know… I'm not much of a dancer. And no," Ruby stopped Jaune from the obvious incoming commentary, "fighting has nothing to do with dancing. Two very different things."
"Don't sweat it, Rubes. Just let me take the lead. Trust me, it'll be fun."
Ruby considered it. She was being honest when she said she knew nothing about dancing, but if Jaune was as good as he claimed, that shouldn't be a major problem. And she was not wearing heels, so there was no risk of skewering Jaune's foot. She looked at the stage, where Mytyl was lost singing her heart out. It wouldn't hurt to have one dance… right?
She accepted the hand laid in front of her Jaune dragged her to the impromptu dancefloor. More of a spot devoid of obstacles, really. There were already some students in on the supposed fun. Dancing. Or, as Ruby liked to call it, making fools out of themselves, because she refused to call what most of them were doing dancing.
The tomfoolery was quite varied. GV defaulted to restrained, simple moves, swaying in place slowly while his 'partner' trashed wildly. Cardin, poor Cardin, was in the middle of a three-pronged attack from Paprika, Marina, and, for some reason, Coco. He looked like a man that was dying of thirst and in an ironic twist of fate was forced to drown in an ocean. And was Velvet doing 'the GV' close by?
Weird.
Ruby wasn't allowed much more observation as Jaune forced her to turn around as he started to move on time with the music.
"Let's keep it simple. Just start by keeping your hands on mine, no other contact, and move with the music."
It was clumsy at first, her swaying slightly off from Jaune's. Her feet felt discomfortingly like lead. But even after a few stumbles, Jaune kept an easy smile, encouraging her forth.
"Now, my right hand will lightly tug at yours while I raise my left. I'm inviting you to spin. Keep track of the music so you can fall back in step. At the count of three. One. Two-"
Just as told, Ruby was sent into a spin, her skirt fluttering with the rotation. When she finished, it took her a second to recall which way she was supposed to sway, but she quickly adjusted and returned to the basic steps.
"Easy, right?" Jaune gave an infectious grin that Ruby was eager to mirror.
"Y-yeah. You're a good teacher."
"Nah, these are the basic- oh, light push with my left, move your right leg back so you end up looking right, then neutral, then same with left. Try following me."
Without warning, Ruby was pushed into the move. She tried to imitate Jaune, to some degree of success. The move wasn't complicated, but it still was more involved than a spin. Her lack of experience and her own stage fright almost made her trip over her own feet, but she managed and soon they were back to the neutral swaying.
"Can we stay here? This is comfortable. This is safe."
Jaune fake-gasped. "Rubeth Elizabeth Rose."
Ruby looked at Jaune flatly. "Ruby is not short for Rubeth; is short for Ruby. And that's not my middle name. I have none."
"I have never thought you to be a quitter! You are one of the most talented," – Jaune forced Ruby into a counterclockwise and unexpected spin, earning a yelp and leaving the young Huntress unable to do anything but to go along lest she fell – "skillful," – another spin, clockwise, while Jaune did one his own. Catching Ruby as they returned to neutral in sync, he forced her into half a spin, with Ruby's arms crossed in front of her, her back pressed against Jaune's chest, and her hands held firmly by his own – "daring," – Jaune unwind Ruby, making some distance without letting go off Ruby's hands, before pulling her closer, grabbing the small of her back, placing the hand still held by his on his shoulder, and dipping her. Instinctively, Ruby's other hand reached for his other shoulder, in fear of falling. Jaune gave her the most pompous smirk she had ever seen the boy wear.
"…and bravest person I've met. Surely something silly like dancing is well within your skills."
Ruby looked at their position, then at Jaune. There was only one thing she could say. "Huh… you really are good at dancing."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rubes."
"Huntsmen and Huntresses," Mytyl boomed on the stage, "please give a round of applause to our resident dancefloor master, Jaune Nicholas Arc!"
"That is my middle name," Jaune teased her.
"And of course, his dance partner… Ruby Rose."
Ruby, still in the dip Jaune had her, felt a chill at how Mytyl said that. She couldn't quite put it into words, but it made Ruby want to crawl into a ball, roll into a corner, and hide from the world.
"And now, how about a slow song."
Ruby eyes widened. Now she felt like she was being challenged to a game of chicken. It was weird and it unnerved her.
"Jaune, I think I had enough dancing."
"You do look sick," Jaune conceded.
Good, she felt sick. And scared, but mostly sick. They made their way back to their table. Except it wasn't theirs anymore.
"Sup!"
Ruby pouted at the sharp-teeth boy. His unkempt, pale-green hair, black and green sweater, rolled up jeans, and out of place lab coat mocked her.
"That's our table!" she demanded.
"Finder keepers, loser weepers. Colon, apostrophe, right parenthesis."
It took a few seconds to parse through the boy's words, but when Ruby managed to do it, "Did you just describe a smiley crying face?"
"Ugh! Teseo, can you please not cause a scene? You almost got us kicked once already."
This time, it was a pale-blond boy in a white, medium sleeves jacket with a brown and orange neck. Alongside it, he wore black pants, combat boots, a long yellow scarf, red gloves, and a brown and orange newsboy cap.
"Hashtag Not My Fault. Gibs is a meanie. Chillax, Asroc. Let's order some wings and enjoy the hotties on stage and on display!"
Asroc's eyes twitched. Thankfully, Sky, who apparently was hanging out with the newspaper boy, was quick to play peacemaker. "Let's all chill. There's enough room for all of us and Ruby and Jaune don't mind. Right guys?"
She minded.
"Sure, it's like my mom always says: strangers are just friend you haven't met."
"Oh Jaune," Ruby whispered under her breath. "You're too good for this world."
A shiver ran down her spine. She looked towards the stage, towards the Mytyl, but the wannabe popstar was lost in her song.
Weird.
With everybody taking a seat, Ruby took hers, but didn't start conversation. Surely Jaune could handle that.
"Teseo and Asroc, right?" A pair of nods answered Jaune. "Great, we already half the way through knowing each other. I'm Jaune, leader of Team Juneberry and this is Ruby, leader of Team Rupee. And that's Blake, my partner and the heart of the team."
Blake looked up from her book at her partner and 'brother' team's leader… as well as her classmate and two boys she had never met in her life. She blinked owlishly, looking around.
"When did our table get so crowded?"
"I didn't notice she was there," Teseo said, looking at the cat faunus with a side tilt.
"I forgot we brought her along," Ruby admitted.
Blake sighed loudly. "This last hour was so magical," she lamented, setting her book down and resigned to social interactions.
"How do you know Sky?" Jaune asked Asroc.
"I asked him to dance and he said yes." Asroc explained easily enough.
"Ah, yes, the ancient technique of 'man the fuck up'," Teseo nodded in understanding. "Truly a level nine skill only achievable by the most leet of whales."
Asroc picked up a menu and slapped Teseo on the head for his trouble. "Don't say inane things." With the deed done, he gave a quick look at the appetizer section, before groaning and throwing leathered pamphlet behind him, ignorant to the yelps of pain andindignation that followed. "The food of this dinery is an insult to all culinary sensibilities."
"I don't think a pub count as a dinery," Blake said.
"Yeah, we all know my cousin's chicken wings suck. And not the good kind. But hey, we got him to let us house this private party and you don't come to bars to eat anyways," Sky followed up.
"Wait, this is a private party?" Ruby head swiveled to take in the rest of the clientele. All Hunters-in-training. "Huh… this night is still full of surprises. So, Asroc, you are passionate about food?"
"This nerd ("Intellectual") is full-on geek for food. You won't get a finer SSR ("Ugh!") pâtissier this side of
Mistral. Or Vale, as the case may be," Teseo informed.
Ruby's eyes locked-on Asroc, who sensibly leaned back at the sudden attention. "Pâtissier? As in pastries?" – A nod – "Pastries as in cookies?" – Another nod – "Jaune! When was the last time we had cookies?"
"How would I know that? And why are you so excited about your second most favorite food?"
"Ahhhh, you know cookies are my second favorite and not my first" Ruby hugged Jaune. "You are a great friend." Why was she feeling another chill down her spine? Maybe she was catching something? "I don't remember the last time I ate cookies. Was it when Ozpin drafted me into Beacon? That doesn't sound right."
"STOP!" Teseo sprung unto his feet, demanding everyone's attention. "I know of you. You're Ruby Rose! Beacon student at fifteen, target on her back as easy picking for the Festival-"
"Wait, what?"
"Ignore him, he's an idiot."
"Oh AP, you said the most L-O-L things," Teseo tried to give Asroc a one-armed hug, but the blonde scooched away. "Look, all I'm saying is that she's a celebrity. Before her, I think old Ozpin-Head was the youngest trainee in an Academy."
Ruby paled at that. Was she really the youngest student since Ozpin himself? No pressure there.
"Control your breathing, Rose," Sky tried to calm her mounting panic. "In and out. Just because you are the perfect target doesn't mean you'll be hit."
Not helping!
"I have an idea," Teseo informed. "We should blow this joint, abuse your new boyfriend's power dynamics, raid the kitchen, and get Miss Sharp Fangs a batch of your continent famous chocolate chips cookies with a hint of strawberry."
"Oh boy," Jaune muttered under his breath.
"Not my boyfriend," Asroc warned.
"I can probably convince my cousin to let us mess around with the kitchen." Sky said.
"I've been mistaken for a wolf faunus more than once. Apparently, my canines are very prominent," Ruby said while poking said canine with her tongue. Then the conversation caught up with her. "Did you say cookies and strawberries in the same sentence?"
"Oh boy indeed," Blake echoed Jaune's distant words.
-o-
Unlike her sister, Yang wasn't as inexperienced when it came to the dancefloor and showing her moves. Which reminded her, she should schedule a talk with Jaune. Clear the air. Make sure Ruby is ok. And probably Jaune too. Something told her one of the singers for the night didn't appreciate Ruby's and Jaune's little show.
"Your side glances towards your little sister are the cutest thing ever~"
Yang blushed. Damn this girl and how incredibly easy she could crawl under her skin with her husky voice. Thankfully, with the slow song Mytyl set up to drive Jaune and Ruby away from the dancefloor, they were able to keep the steps simple, letting them dance and talk at the same time.
"This is her first time in such an environment," Yang admitted. "I worry she might feel out of place. Ruby has never really fit in."
"I must admit, it's a bit hard for me to empathize. I've always been very good at fitting in."
Pantera's eyes strayed towards the side. Yang followed just in time to see Ruby and a posse of colorful individuals sneaking into the kitchen.
"Should I worry?" Yang asked.
"Nah. Asroc is an amazing cook. At the rate the night was going, he was going to end up in the kitchen one way or another."
A feedback loop halted their dance. Looking at the stage, Yang was ready to jump in and see what was wrong, but naturally Copen had beaten everybody, even Weiss, to it. Mytyl was laughing sheepishly, trying to reassure Copen that everything was ok. The hand nursing her head and the slight slump in her posture said otherwise.
"Sorry folks, guess the spotlight got to me a bit. Maybe I'll take a break. Hydrate, let others have a chance at the stage, and stuff."
The audience seemed a bit bummed about it but were understanding.
"Don't cry for me, my beloved!" Mytyl joked, "I promised one last hurrah before the night's end."
Copen and Weiss escorted Mytyl off the stage and towards the bar, where Pyrrha was waiting with a glass of water.
The same song Mytyl had been singing resumed, naturally without the vocals.
Yang was dragged back into the dance. "Notice how her brother looks at her like a hawk versus how the Schnee just has worry written in her face," Pantera whispered to Yang, her eyes discreetly side-eyeing the twins.
Yang risked a look. Indeed, there was some worry in Copen's face, but more than anything he was scrutinizing his sister. A look he normally sported when he was lost in whatever project of the week he was working on.
"Miss Schnee doesn't know why the little stumble, but he knows. Or he suspects. And his sister is the cause."
Pantera flinched as Yang's grip on her shoulder tightened. Then she gave a pained smile to the brawler. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming her. No reason to give me red eyes."
Yang blinked, not realizing she had activated her Semblance. Gritting her teeth, she calmed down and lessened her grip. She hated to admit she was a bit curious, though. Mytyl and Copen were stubbornly silent about their past and Mytyl's mysterious 'sickness'.
"Like I told Copen, Mytyl was never in the spotlight. Her existence was not a secret and there are records of her being on a wheelchair, so it takes no genius to figure out she was a sick child. I'm happy for them; that she is well enough to attend Beacon. But not even eight years ago, she was too sick to make public appearances. A bit… miraculous, don't you think?"
Yang sighed. "I feel I'm seeing a nasty part of you."
Pantera snickered. The mirth didn't reach her eyes. "I'm told I can be a bit cold and slow to sympathize. You have to be to survive in the streets of Mistral."
"O-oh."
"That's in the past," Pantera was quick to add. "But yeah. Made the first year with my team a bit rough, with me dissecting every little fault in Gibril and Teseo."
"Meeting that Gibril girl, I can imagine. So, you think Mytyl did something and is hiding it?"
"Oh, so you are curious…"
Yang flustered at being caught. Granted, she was not really hiding her curiosity, but still…
Pantera shrugged. "I have no idea what they're hiding. But I'm willing to bet it had something to do with Mytyl's mysterious sickness and she has some control over it. Maybe her control slipped. Maybe she forgot to take her medicine. Maybe she shouldn't be singing on a stage."
"Listen up people, by popular demand, I'm back to signing!" A roar from the crowd drowned their conversation. "But by a single demand that, it embarrasses me to admit a bit, I care about a lot, it's going to be a recording." Mytyl sent Copen a saccharine smile, while her brother returned her a flat look.
Yang paled. "Oh no."
"~Come at me~"
With Yang frozen in place, Pantera paid attention to the lyrics carefully. It wasn't long before she figured out one plus one equals two.
"You had her make you a theme song?" Pantera couldn't keep a bit of incredulity from escaping her voice.
"I'm starting to regret it," Yang admitted.
Once more, the blonde-pinkette's index finger traced a path from the neck to the chin. "I think it's cute."
"Aren't you listening?" Yang defended herself, trying to wrestle some control back. "I'm not normally like this. I shine bright as the sun in the middle of July-"
"Quoting your song is even cuter. And you are not used to being on the other end. When you're forced to backpedal, you stumble." Pantera giggled at Yang's pout. "You just lack experience. Even the brightest of suns dim in a cloudy day."
"There are no cloudy days in my summers," Yang challenged.
Pantera closed the distance, pink lips mere centimeters from Yang's plain own. "That just means that when you shine on a mirror, it shines back just as bright."
-o-
"These… these cookies… they are glorious!"
Ruby had a new god and his name is Asroc Pygmalion. You were supposed bow to gods, right? She was sure that's a thing. She'll just do it. Just in case.
"Please don't dirty the kitchen floor with your knobby knees," Asroc chided. "But thanks. Glad to get some respect around these parts."
The boy was rude, but if he provided her with sweets of this caliber, Ruby would allow him to call her knobby or whatever.
"Good job, using a word like 'glorious'," the redhead that had dragged GV to the dancefloor against his will – who had joined them midway through the baking – took a bite from her own cookie, "anything less and Asroc becomes a pompous ass raving about how not kissing the stove he cooks on is an insult to his divine gift to the world."
"Those are not for you!" Asroc made to swipe Gibril's cookie, but the girl kept him at leg length and stuck out a tongue before taking another bite. While he was distracted, Teseo stole the entire tray and started to share it with the party present.
GV was honestly surprised upon taking his first bite. "Wow, these really are good!"
"Good? Just 'Good'!? You uncultured swine!"
They were saved from Asroc's wrath by a new party entering the kitchen.
"Jaune! You missed my time of need," a voice cried.
Once more, Ruby felt the odd sensation of Death's hand caressing her spine. She had decided to go with that analogy.
"Ouch!"
"Mytyl, behave," Copen admonished his sister, who rubbed the area where Copen had smacked her.
"Did something happen?" Jaune asked worriedly.
"Mytyl fainted on stage," Weiss explained, looking as bothered as that sentence merited.
"I did not faint. I just felt a bit woozy and stumbled a bit. Drama queens."
"Have a cookie," Asroc handed one of the pastries to Mytyl. "Probably just an empty stomach."
Taking a bite, Mytyl eyes widened. "These are magnificent."
"Thank you!" Asroc yelled, sending GV a glare. "See, that's the apropos way to react to my cooking, you culinarily illiterate plebeian.
"Asroc, stop pestering my new hubby."
" Gibs: Kidnapping a guy does not mean you won our bet."
"I'm taking him back with me, asshat!"
"Wait, what?"
"FYI, Beacon does not count as that."
"Oh, thanks the gods."
"I meant to his room. He's the only one there apparently."
"Wait, what?"
"Remember to use protection, GV."
"Not helping, Mytyl!"
"And your bed. I will blacklight mine and Mytyl when we get back. And warn Kohaku if she wants to do the same for her own."
"And don't encourage them, Copen!"
Ruby helped herself to another cookie, enjoying the back and forth bantering as she nibbled at her filched sweet. She might not have been looking forward to this get together, but ultimately it had ended up being rather pleasant. And she made new friends. Maybe there was something to Jaune's dubious wisdom.
The new semester was already shaping up to be unforgettable.
-o-
Moniqa glared down at the two… kids. Because that's what Cinder's two lackeys were. Kids. Teenagers to be exact. One a rebel without a cause that relished on debauchery and 'sticking it to the man' out of nearly two decades of horrible abuse from his monster of a father. And a fanatical girl whose obsessiveness with her boss was a tragical and sick mixture of like seven different kinds of toxic love, each competing with the other for Cinder's nonexistent affection and all born from severe abandonment issues born from the dark streets of Vacuo robbing the poor stunted child from true human connections.
She pitied both. But she could shelve those feelings for now. Because right now, more than that, they were two imbeciles who couldn't follow the simple order of 'don't fuck up'.
Behind her, Roman, Perry, and Deery were busy taking inventory of all the Dust they had stolen. She had prompted Roman take a few White Fangs members and make them his personal assistants, in a bid to make the thief put a sympathetic face to the cause. She wasn't expecting Roman to be brought fully onboard to the White Fang, but if the thief could stop antagonizing the faunus activists, they could make this relationship work wonders.
And, lo and behold, it did. Moniqa felt more than just a bit of pride at that. In a month and pocket change, she had taken the Vale White Fang from mumbling and misguided kids to a well-oiled machine working for the betterment of faunus everywhere… and whatever evil plan Cinder had in store. She wasn't blind. She knew Cinder was a monster in her own right and had to remind herself of that every time she was in Semblance range of the woman.
In the end, that was Cinder's problem, not hers. She trusted her leader with her life. If he believed this path of blood and corpses would lead to the new world they were fighting for, she would follow him to Hell and back.
But that was a trek for the future. Right now, she needed to scold two unruly children.
"What part of 'Keep a low profile' neither of you understood?"
"The part where we were about to stop a traitor to 'your' cause from escaping," Mercury mouthed off, earning a scoff from Moniqa.
"No wonder Cindy drones on and on about you as just brawn and no brain."
"W-we were about to stop him from escaping after you failed to do your job," Emerald desperately defended herself.
Moniqa closed her eyes. The girl was rattled by the implication that Cinder would refer to her as 'brawn and no brain'. There was no guessing or reading Emerald's expression. Moniqa just knew it to be a fact. She could feel it in the girl's emotions. The self-doubt, the desperation, the fright. Another wave of pity was squashed. She couldn't let herself be swayed by her own Empathy.
"Yes, you were about to stop him from running… to Vacuo. Now, if only we knew someone, maybe a high-ranking officer of the White Fang's Vacuo sect, perhaps even a second-in-command, that was in the known about such a thing…"
She allowed her words to linger. She didn't need her Empathy to see as understanding, and a tiny bit of horror and shame, creeped into their face. They honestly believed they were doing her a favor. Or more likely, they believed they were doing Roman a disfavor. A petty act against the thief to teach him his place in the food chain.
She had no time to waste on such trifles. "You're lucky I had the foresight of having Neo keep an eye on Tukson." Or, more truthfully, keep an eye on both of them. They didn't need to know that neither were particularly good at reigning their inner emotions. And now the shame of being caught by the mute assassin – that was clearly more experienced than both of them combined – pooled inside of them.
They really were kids.
The clink of glass against concrete rhythmically made its way towards them. Both Emerald and Mercury flinched with each step. No need to see who it was.
"You called, Nikki?" Cinder sultry voice sent shivers down her two lackeys' spine. They knew they messed up.
"Cindy," Moniqa greeted, "I caught your two apprentices trying to murder Tukson. I really have no time to deal with their idiocy, so I was wondering if you can help me out with this?"
Cinder sent a questioning look to her 'apprentices'. Not that she agreed with that label.
"Cinder, Tukson was just about-"
"I'm not asking for excuses, Emerald," Cinder cut the girl off. "I'm asking why you disobeyed my order?" No response was brought up. It was clear they were hoping to please Cinder by taking the initiative. But it had backfired. Badly. "I see… I am disappointed. Maybe in more than one way."
Cinder's yellow eyes turned to Moniqa, who waited patiently for Cinder to talk. She knew what Cinder was wondering, but she was not in the mood of playing games with the pyromaniac. "Nikki, why was Tukson still alive?"
"Is still alive," Moniqa corrected, "and because he is more useful to the White Fang alive rather than dead. He is escaping to Vacuo. Upon arrival, he is not our problem, but my people's problem. I had Neo keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't spoke out of turn. It's how I caught these two kids sticking their noses where they shouldn't."
The answer satisfied Cinder, who sent her own scowl to her subordinates. "We'll talk about this later."
Another pang of pity brew in Moniqa as she felt Emerald's world crumble a little. Once more, she squashed the feeling. "Since you're already here, I might as well report our progress."
Cinder observed the orderly fashion in which Roman – happy about not dealing with Cinder – and the rest of the White Fang moved about. "Fine. Let's hear it."
"With targeted attacks from the White Fang, we managed to keep the VPD and Beacon's Hunters spread thin and away from our true goals. Our thievery has been focused on stores, but we have managed to hit a few transports. With the Vytal Festival on the horizon, security is thinning in low priority areas, refocused towards the festival itself, so our attacks are more effective. But if our sources are correct, the arrival of General Ironwood and his fleet will change that soon."
Cinder nodded and sent her a rare smile. "As efficient as always. Who do I have to kill to make you work for me?"
"Either my boss or racism," Moniqa informed. "Either way, good luck. You'll need it"
"Pity," Cinder lamented with a chuckle. "You can stop collecting Dust. We're ready to move to phase two."
"There's a phase two?" Roman asked in the background. And he was doing so well at not reacting…
"Don't be dense, Roman," Moniqa spoke up before him and Cinder could get into a spatting match that couldn't possibly end well for the thief. "Boost our recruitment drive and then make our way to Mount Glenn, right? I already had a few Fangs start the recruitment process, since we were ahead of schedule. However, without something to bring legitimacy to our cause, Vale is a bit of a dry well when it comes to new recruits. Not enough bigotry compared to Mistral or Atlas, not a tight ship compared to Vacuo. We are working on plans to counteract this, but…" Moniqa hesitated on the next part, "…admittedly, other than increasing attacks and driving anti-faunus sentiments up, we are coming up short on ideas. Personal reasons aside, not many of our current members are keen on that plan either. Any suggestions?"
Cinder considered the question for a moment. "I think I can work something out. Good job, your skills are truly wasted, my dear."
"Let's agree to disagree on that. I believe that's all I needed to report on my part. Need anything else from me?"
"No, everything is going splendidly. Regroup and move to the next safehouse. Saw a few rats meandering about on my way here. I'll contact you once I secure your recruitment incentive. Emerald, Mercury, come."
Moniqa calmly observed as Cinder reinforced her order by signaling both her lackeys to follow. Reprimanded enough, neither dared to do more than just sent her a dirty look. Let them. She had other things more important to worry about than two lost souls.
"Neo," the mute assassin skipped towards her at her command, "go out, identify those rats Cinder mentioned, and draw us an escape route."
The ice cream colored girl was happy to oblige, skipping to the exit before shattering to pieces, per her Semblance. Moniqa was a bit relieved she had managed to establish a camaraderie with the assassin. Of everyone involved, she was the one she was truly scared of. Cinder wouldn't dare to touch her, and by extension neither Mercury nor Emerald. And murder just wasn't Roman's style. Plus, after their shaky first meeting, she and the thief got along well enough. That probably helped. And the White Fang loved her.
But Neopolitan… she was a wildcard. More than being loyal to Roman, she thought the world of the man and that was dangerous. Moniqa knew from personal experience just how dangerous that kind of devotion could be. In an unexpected boon, her Empathy allowed her to keep up with Neo in a conversation. Not as well as Roman, but well enough that the assassin seemed to enjoy her company.
"Thank the gods she's gone," Perry muttered for everyone to hear, in reference to Cinder. Not that anybody was thinking otherwise, Moniqa noticed.
"That woman gives me the creeps," Deery admitted. Again, nobody seemed to disagree with the sentiment.
"She is always a hell pit of fun. Remind me how are the two of you friends again?" Roman asked, walking to stand beside her.
"More like acquaintances," Moniqa sadly admitted. "We worked together a few times. My boss and her are colleagues of sort, so I'm often at hand to help with logistics in their joint ventures," she smirked, "and I'm a joy to work with, as you can attest."
Roman was dumbfounded upon realizing he was actually receiving answer. Moniqa figured that given his role in phase three, she could throw the poor man a bone. "Since I've met her, Cinder has always been… bitter. Take solace in that. You are a happier person than she could ever hope for."
Author's Notes
Oh shit! Pantera is here. Hide your humans and hide your Mytyls, heads are rolling over here!
Recalling what I said about Moniqa's appearance meaning the floodgates are opened for ASG characters, here we introduce Team Phantasmagoria (PTGA), consisting of Pantera, Teseo, Gibril, and Asroc.
We also touch upon the whole Tukson thing and see what our favorite band of criminals is up to.
I want to touch upon Pantera. So, let's do a rundown and wrap this up with a golden ribbon. There's a lot to cover
Gunvolt Spoilers ahead!
Moniqa: Just wanted to quickly cover Moniqa at the end. We see how she's getting along with Roman, Neo, and the Fang. I like how that section went down, if I'm being honest. I think it does give a good view at my interpretation of the character
Asroc's cooking: Canonically, Asroc is a massive jerk when it comes to his cooking. He once yelled at a small kid for saying his pastries were "yummy", and nothing more. So, I had fun with that.
Sky knows a guy: This is the second time I write Sky as the guy who knows a guy. I like that interpretation. Also, yes, I made him gay alongside Asroc.
Peeps in the cheap seats: Actually, a Fire Emblem Heroes joke. And a very funny one at that. In the official comic for the game, Azura laments how 'Lost in Thoughts All Alone' the Fates' theme (~Youuuuuuu are the ooooooocean's gray waaaaaaaves~) is getting old by now. Which to be fair, is a legitimate complain at that point in real life. So, she drags Fallen Hardin and Reinhardt, creates a rock band, and perform a rock version of the song, dedicating it to "All the peeps in the cheap seats", while pointing her staff at Michalis (who is on a wyvern and takes offense being referred as such) and granting him the extra movement from her Sing ability.
On another note: That 'peeps in cheap seats' joke led to listening to a few versions of Lost in Thoughts All Alone. And that led me to stumbling upon Red Like Roses Part 2 and I was like "Sure why not. I haven't listened to this in a while". I knew the song is told from Ruby's and Summer's PoV. What I didn't realize was that Ruby actually says "f'ing" in the song. It's something I never paid attention to before. That's just such an un-Ruby thing.
#$% Gibril: Here's the thing. The ASG games are rated *checks* Teen. Or at least Luminous Avenger iX, which is the only one for which I have a physical copy lying about, is rated Teen. That means in-game Gibril cannot curse. But here's the thing: Gibril is DEFINITELY the kind of girl who would curse up a storm of derogative, and probably racists against humans, remarks. She's a very angry person.
Fun with Eden: While researching the characters, I came up upon Eden's sitcom side. There's too much to say, so I'll just summarize all of it to saying that, when off the clock, Eden are a bunch of dorks.
PTGA: I originally had no idea of my plans for this chapter. I couple of chapters ago I threw the idea of Coco inviting our main cast to a get together. I thought of just further exploring those relationship, but when it came to write this chapter, I wasn't convinced about that plan. Then I remembered I have some characters I need to introduce. Why not start now?
Hence Team Phantasmagoria, a team from Haven led by Pantera. From the start of this fic I wanted the name to be Phantasmagoria due to that being one of Pantera's ultimate skills in the fights against her. Pantera is also partly the reason I opted for the name Kaleidoscope for KVKC, since her haikus mention the word.
I chose the members of Eden based on their age. Since Pantera, Teseo, Gibril and Asroc are the youngest of Eden's top brass (11, 14, 14, and 15, respectively), they make Team PTGA. They have all been aged to 18-19, making them a second-year Haven team.
Let's go over each member, leaving Pantera for last:
Teseo: Not mentioned here, but in my notes his full name is Teseo Serial. None of the members have last names, but I gave them one to help me both with team naming (though in this case it doesn't matter) and help me get in the mind set of fleshing the characters further. I chose Serial for his last name mainly because of his villainous title in the games, "The Serial Experiment".
Teseo, at least in the localization, speaks in internet 1337 speak and is very obnoxious. I watered down this idiosyncrasy of his. He's still obnoxious, but I guess that's part of his charm. Visually, he, alongside Gibril and Asroc, just looks like an older version of his unarmored self.
Eden's members are named after missiles, not colors. At best you could argue Serial references bar codes, but eh. This is where the limitations of crossover in RWBY comes in. Funnily enough, the other oddity of RWBY, the references to fairy tales, is in full swing for all Eden. In Teseo's case, he represents Sleeping Beauty… and a myriad of other TV shows and movies, but mainly Sleeping Beauty. Also, I made him a crocodile faunus because why not? He has the teeth for it.
Gibril: For her full name, I opted for Gibril Metal for obvious reasons. She's a foul-mouthed, short girl that hates being called short or tiny. Funnily enough, in the original games she's taller than Mytyl (who's sick, so whatever), Cyan (who's a Mytyl of life), and Zonda (who's eleven). So never mind, she's short. She clocks at around 5'1", so shorter than Mytyl but still taller than Weiss when not on heels.
In game, she "falls in love" with GV after GV kills her. Yeah… I decided to play on that and have her find GV cute.
She's a reference to Ruby- I mean, Little Red Riding Hood. But she also gives heavy Dracula vibes, so I'm going with that.
Asroc: Full name (for this fanfic): Asroc Pygmalion, based on his title: The Pygmalion Furnace. Pygmalion was a Greek sculptor who fell in love with his statues. So yeah. Marble it is. He is a French that would have seen his head roll in the French Revolution given how he speaks to humans. Also, he cooks and is offended if you call his food just 'yummy', the 'you' in this scenario being a traumatized little girl.
He is based on Penny- I mean, Pinocchio and Hansel and Gretel.
Lastly, Pantera. (Sigh) Do note that due to who Pantera is, talking about the character without spoiling Gunvolt is pretty damn hard. You've been warned
Pantera: Oh boy, this one is a doozy. Where to start? Let's start by Pantera's name:
Pantera is the character's Japanese name, localized to Zonda in English. Hence, the full name in this fic is Pantera Zonda. Thankfully, Pantera alludes to an animal, so I have that going for me in the color department. Also, I opted for Pantera as first name and Zonda as second because I speak Spanish and the other way around sounds, to my ears, like a misogynistic insult. And not even because it sounds like an actual insult, it's just the cadence of the words arranged like that.
Now, noticed how I avoided gendered pronouns in my last paragraph? I imagine this is the most contentious (or second most contentious) point about the character. I actually combed through the ASG1 and ASG2 script, Japanese and English, just to verify what I already suspected: Pantera doesn't use gendered pronouns when referring to themselves. Let me give a bit of background: In the first game, Pantera is literally genderfluid Adept that appears only as male but who has people claiming that also appears as female. And we're not talking an androgynous character. They have two-character designs that make a point of hyperbolizing sexual characteristics: a male design with a crotch lance of all things and a female design with a generous bust, curves to kill for, and a skintight bodysuit.
In the second game, we find out the first's game's design is a disguise used by the real Pantera, who is an eleven years old, seemingly biologically female child in a dress and with a heavy-handed Alice in Wonderland motif. This is not helped by the fact that the 3DS version of the first game goes out of its way to use super gender-neutral pronouns such as 'xem' when referring to the character.
Also, the character is obsessed by the concept of love, so whatever gender they identify as, I'm just straight up making them bisexual (or whatever categorization you want to give them as long as it means they swing for everybody).
You noticed that in this fic I decided on referring to Pantera as a girl. In the end, this is for several reasons:
1) It just makes my life easier. I naturally refer to Pantera as 'her' due to my other reasons, so correcting myself constantly for the sake of a fictional character that might as well identify as female is too much of a hassle.
2) For all her gender fluidity, Pantera shows a clear preference to social conventions commonly associated with females, while not using her disguise. Her real form is that of a female looking child and her final form is that of a skimpily dressed female child.
3) By far the most important nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned:
Tenjian refers to her as his sister.
This is what convinced me. The person that Pantera literally calls for with her dying breath refers to her as 'my sister'. Her last words are literally "Onii-sama", and if you know anything about Japanese culture (or at least anime culture) this is a big indication of how the devs see the sibling relationship between Tenjian and Pantera.
For the purpose of this fic, Pantera/Zonda really doesn't care if you call her a boy, a girl, or anything in between. But if you ask them to pick one, she'll default to female.
Now, the other big thing about Pantera is that… well… in the games she is sort of a psychopathic cult leader, to the point that life is an expendable currency (even her brother's) as long as she achieves her goals of Paradise, doused with a good amount of God Complex. She is one of three people who makes it their life goal to make Mytyl as miserable as humanly possible. Thing is, her Freudian excuse doesn't exist in this fic, so here we find ourselves with a villain turned pretty cool, if playful, Huntress-in-Training. Let's see how that works out.
Oh, final thing: in the original game she's eleven years old. Let's address this. I didn't want another Ruby Rose of life dicking (perhaps literally) around Haven. Being a fifteen years old quote-on-quote "prodigy" is meant to be rare. So, I aged her way beyond what we can reasonably extrapolate from her eleven years old self. Thankfully, just like Mytyl, we have a cheat sheet: her grown up male/female disguises. I describe it in the story, but to describe it by breaking the fourth wall: she looks like her eleven years old version as far as clothes and color scheme go, BUT she has the body of her female disguise with a bit of the musculature of her male disguise. If you look at her gallery in the wiki, there's a concept art of her female adult form that makes a good case for how she looks, although I still imagine her a little bit more masculine in terms of muscles and dressed in an adult version of her child form's dress, bunny-like ribbon included.
Reviews
The Walt: There's a context where Cyanotype doesn't hurt?
PikaKnight: It's weird. On one hand, the story should speak for itself. But on the other, the structure of fanfics (and other serial publishing) allow for Author's Notes that can delve into things one cannot put into the story. Things like "Oh, Pantera looks like this concept art" and "This was my thought process behind Cyanotype" are things that an author must do, but they can't explicitly mention in the fic itself. Basically, you can provide a director's commentary as you post new chapters. I won't call it a strength of the media necessarily, but is definitely a tool not available for more traditional publishing methods.
I sometimes worry I write too much in my author's notes. I'm glad to receive some confirmation that people read them and happy you're liking the story so far.