Author's Notes
*Ambles out of the mildly uneventful White Space*
Happy belated New Year! Or as I like to call it, end of 2020… though my dad says the 2020 hasn't ended regardless of what the calendar says. I'm inclined to agree.
Anyhow, this chapter took a while to publish. This is the last chapter I have actually written. From here on, it's a brave new world! Though I anticipate there are four to five more chapters to this fic.
Anyhow, the reason this chapter took so long is because on the 25th of December a game I've been passively keeping an eye on for the past six years finally released: OMORI. It's a surreal, psychological horror RPG in the vein of Earthbound. Like if Earthbound and Yume Nikki had a baby.
I finished it in around three days. I was shook. It hit HARD. You know those pieces of media that leave you with a void after you finish them? So overwhelming that you're left wondering 'what now?' This was one of those games.
So, for a week I was working on a one shot for OMORI. It is not available in FFnet because there isn't an OMORI category as of this writing. I'm working on that, but FFnet is not the friendliest platform in that respect.
In the meantime, the fic can be found in AO3. It's called Time, Wounds, and Scars . If you played OMORI, you might be interested in giving it a look. If not… play OMORI if you can stomach the topics it broaches.
One more on-topic news: this fic is now a League of Legends crossover. Discuss.
Chapter 8: Katarina and Janna
"Please."
"No."
"Please."
"I can't"
"Please."
"I say I can't!" Paprika snapped. Harsher than she intended to, but it got the point across if Cardin's immediate cowering meant anything. Who was she too argue with results?
Or not, if his attempts at puppy eyes meant something else.
"But… but… we're good acquaintances," he implored to their tenuous friendship.
"Yes, Cardin, we are friends-"
"Good acquaintances," he insisted.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever let you sleep at night. Can you please let go off my foot?" She began shaking said foot, hitting Cardin's face in the process while the boy refused to let go and stand like a respectable human being.
"I'm begging you! What more do you want?"
Paprika groaned into her hands, giving one last kick to shake off Cardin's quite frankly embarrassing spectacle. "Cardin. I wish I could help you. I really, really do. But Poppy and I promised Romero and Parsley we would meet them today for a team's day out."
"I see how it is." Cardin stood up from his undignified crawl, crossing his arms and spurning Paprika with his head held high. "You get better good acquaintances and toss me out like some dirty rag. To be forgotten in some ill-conceived landfill, to waste slowly with the inexorable passage of time, tainting and eroding the world around it, while you hang out with your Spice Girls!"
"Are you done?" Paprika asked. She didn't wait for the answer. "First of all, the fuck is a spice girl? Second, last time I checked Romero and Parsley identify as male. Third, I don't want to hear you, of all people, bitch about my entire team being themed around spices and my last name being Spice when you, Cardin, leader of Team CARDINal, lead Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, and Dove Bronzewing."
"Bird is the word." Cardin nodded sagely.
"And lastly, you are closer to chewed gum stuck under the tables in a primary school's classroom."
"Hey, at least my team is not just straight up my name!"
"Neither is mine! That honor belongs to Ruby and that guy from Haven Academy… On that note, do you ever feel like destiny actually exists and is toying with you?"
"Every single minute of these last few days," Cardin deadpanned. Then returned to his melodrama. "PLEASSSSEEEEEEE"
Paprika let out a prolonged, breathy groan in mounting annoyance. "Give it a rest, Cardin. Why don't you ask your team?"
"…They have things to do."
"It's almost like we have a life outside of you. Shocking," Paprika deadpanned in her most droning tone. She scratched her head, trying to come with an alternative for the auburn-haired boy. "How about Ruby? This is a good time to seal peace with her. Let her meet your better half."
"I wouldn't exactly call them my better half," Cardin admitted with a hint of shame.
"Better than your dad. Go ask her. You still owe me a genuine attempt at apologizing to her." She halted Cardin when the boy opened his mouth to protest. "That doesn't end in your father subtly insulting her mother. Besides, you need to pick up her weapon anyways. Two birds with one stone. And Cardinal is all about birds being stoned."
Cardin scrunched his face in confusion. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean."
"That Sky is my 'guys guy'"
"Guys guy?"
"Yeah. The guy who knows a guy. So, if I ever want to be high as a kite, he's my guy who knows a guy that can hook me up."
"For the Brother's sake… that's the dumbest thing I've heard you say!"
"Yeah, well, I don't have time to discuss this. I need to meet my guys guy to meet another guy and then hang out with the guys in their guy-partment." She walked past a stunned Cardin, patting him on the shoulder on her way out. "I recommend you ask Ruby out. You guys could use a heart to heart. Oh, and send my 'Hi' to your guys, will ya'?"
By the time Cardin's brain rebooted, the fox faunus was long gone, her only legacy being her haunting choice of words.
"I'm not asking Rose out!" He yelled at the fading smell of Paprika, fist raised in defiance. The world didn't seem to particularly care.
-o-
There was something euphoric about taking a bath with Yang at the other side of the continent. If she wasn't wasting all the hot water, she was monitoring the volume of hot water you were wasting by meticulously measuring the door's temperature, analyzing the sound of splashing droplets emitted by the bathtub and showerhead, and running everything through a self-programmed algorithm that took into account the environment's humidity, temperature, and atmospheric pressure.
Even Penny was stumped when she first stumbled upon Yang doing just that while Ruby was preparing for a girl's night out. And Penny is literally a walking supercomputer!
Ruby made it a point to waste all the hot water. She was alone and in charge. She didn't need to be considerate to Weiss, graciously save some hot water for Blake, or fight tooth-and-nail against Yang. With her lazy pants on and her comfiest shirt in place, she was ready to raid her library of geeky sci-fi soap opera by storm. And the first step was one foot out of the bathroom!
"Oh, Rose, you're out."
"GYAH!" Ruby screamed, startled, holding the door to the bathroom between her and the interloper. Said interloper, one Cardin Winchester, sat on Blake's bunk, skimming through one of Blake's book… one of the books that was holding Yang's bed. A bed that now precariously stood askew, threatening… nay, promising retribution for daring to play with things they didn't quite understood. In this case, basic architecture, material science, and gravity.
"Cardin!? What are you doing here? I could have walked out of there… GAH!" She yelled, not even able to put into words just how narrowly she avoided a bullet that would have killed her out of sheer embarrassment and shame.
"You opened the door," Cardin said, not quite understanding what Ruby was so high-strung about. "You even told me to wait her."
"Wha- I did not! Wait… you've been here since the very beginning!? How did you get in? Don't tell me you broke in!"
"You're making me repeat myself, Rose." Cardin was beginning to get annoyed. "I knocked. You opened, then entered the bathroom without even looking at me, saying 'wait here'. Beside we established like five episodes ago you have nothing to be ashamed of."
"Do not bring my mother into this! And that order was for Zwei-" Ruby stopped. "Where is Zwei?"
"Grrrrrrrrrr…"
Both Beacon students looked at the source of the sound. The door to Team Ruby's dorm.
Ruby hammered the last nail. "And you leave my door wide open! Thanks Cardin. All of Beacon could have witnessed my shame."
Cardin raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok. That was my bad. I'm sorry."
"Grrrrrrrrrr…"
Slowly, Ruby closed the door, revealing the inner handle. Hanging from it was Zwei, mouth clamped around the metal knob like an avant-garde ornament. His beady eyes focused on his owner, then on the interloper. Seeing Cardin, the small corgi's breathing quickened, his tail waggling happily.
"Yip!" he barked; the sound impeded by the knob the dog was biting.
Just as slowly, Ruby placed the door back where it was, hiding Zwei once more.
"Grrrrrrrrrr…"
"It's my fault." Ruby's voice was hollow. "Uncle Qrow warned me not to teach Zwei how to use the bathroom, use kitchen utensils, and open doors, but I didn't listen. Nine years old me thought it'd be neat to upheave the natural balance of the animal kingdom. Now I'm paying the price for trespassing into Nature's domain."
"Bummer. You have to make amends. Come with me to Vale."
Ruby could have sworn she had seen this scenario play before. Too many times for her to care, in fact. Just replace her with Yang and Cardin with the newest boy at Signal that dreamt he had an iota of a chance with Yang 'Heartsmasher' Xiao Long, daughter of Taiyang 'Bonebreaker' Xiao Long and niece to Qrow 'I-possess-certain-skills-that-make-me-a-nightmare-to-punks-like-you' Branwen. Ruby had insisted that was way too long, but Qrow didn't listen. He was too preoccupied dealing with the mysterious disappearance of a boy, who coincidentally had asked Yang out, two weeks prior.
"Are you… asking me out?"
"What!?" Cardin spluttered. "No, no, no. By the Brothers, no."
"…You don't have to be so adamant in your denial," Ruby muttered. She wasn't as boy-conscious as… anyone, really. But she had some pride in her looks.
"I need to meet someone, and I don't want to go alone."
Ruby winced. "Can we go back to you asking me out? Sounds less painful."
"Oh come on. What are you scared of?"
"Cardin." Ruby dropped the whining and deadpanned among the best. "Last time I met someone with you, I was this close to flip a table and punch them."
The boy sighed. "I promise this time will be better than dad."
"Not a high bar to overcome," she muttered. "What about your team, Paprika, Blitz, or literally anyone else?"
"I already tried my three stooges and fox girl. They are busy and you are the only person left in Beacon I feel comfortable asking."
Ruby was taken aback by the vote of confidence. "That's… honestly, a bit sad."
"Oi!"
"Fine, I'll go with you," Ruby relented, closing the door again and picking up Zwei. Or tried to. The corgi refused to let go of the knob. "I need to pick up some supplies for my revenge and Sky knows a guy who knows a guy that is a wiz at arts and crafts."
"...did you collude with Paprika?"
With one monumental pull, Ruby managed to pry Zwei, and the handle, off the door. She held the corgi at eye level and muster all the leadership power she could. "Zwei… spit." The knob hit her square in the face. Thankfully, Aura. She'll fix the door later. Her attention returned to Cardin. "What are you talking about?"
"Sky," Cardin explained.
"What about him? He's the guys guy for everyone at Beacon. Even Ozpin." She tilted her head upon seeing Cardin's disbelief in full display. "You didn't know? I was kept away from my Beacon Experience and even I knew! Whatever. Wait outside. I need to change and prepare Zwei for a walk."
"Woof!"
-o-
It was a beautiful autumn day in Vale, if Ruby was to be honest. Chilly, but not outright cold. Sunny, with a few scattered cumulus clouds to bring some contrast to the vibrant blue. The streets were busy, but not overwhelmingly so. It wasn't a Vytal Festival year, but this period still was considered an anniversary holiday celebrating the end of the Great War. While there wasn't an upheaval of daily life like the Vytal Festival brought, many jobs gave a week off around this period as a sort reward to their employees. Being the last week of October – and therefore coinciding with Halloween, this week in particular was a popular one to take off and enjoy the holiday with family.
'Right, my birthday is this week,' Ruby idly thought. This was going to be her first birthday without Yang or any close friend, with all of them scattered across Remnant. Not that any of them would like to celebrate it with her. They made clear their stance on what they thought about her… exuberance, when they dressed her up as literal trash last Halloween.
Never again.
Zwei was having the time of his life, quickly darting left and right, smelling every pole, trashcan, and fire hydrant they walked by. Despite quickly approaching his decade of life, Zwei could be as active and energetic as a pup (thanks Aura), with the obedience of a veteran therapy dog, thankfully. Many kids and women cooed at him as they passed by. The more brazen ones stopping them and asking if they could pet him. Zwei lived for the attention. Behind his goofy dog face, Ruby knew the beast basked in all the praise and 'good boys' thrown at him. Spoiling him like that was the quickest way to get on his good side.
Which brought into question why Zwei was so smitten with Cardin. Ruby threw a side glance at her current company. The auburn haired boy had done nothing to gain Zwei's trust. Nothing that she knew of, at least. Zwei had been at Beacon for over a year now and it was entirely possible for both male to develop a camaraderie when she wasn't looking. But even then, the way Cardin acted in front of Zwei, ignoring the corgi's clingy actions, suggested otherwise.
A cool gust of wind hit them as they turned a corner and Ruby instinctually grabbed her cloak to retain a bit more heat. She had opted to switch her attire to more conventional clothes. While normally she would default to one of her combat dresses – with high chances of favoring the primary one for which she had a few copies – and save herself the headache of deciding what to wear, this time she opted for more casual clothes. A custom-made black t-shirt with red long sleeves and her scattered rose emblem printed on the front. It provided some protection from the chilly weather without being unbearably hot for Autumn. Rather than a combat skirt, she opted to spice things a bit and wear red shorts with a pleated skirt on top, a black belt holding ammunition, her scroll, and Crescent Rose around her waist, and black leggings covering her legs. She left her boots untouched. She did get into Beacon by serendipitously stumbling upon a crime and having both her weapon and her combat dress on her at the time, so she wanted to make sure she could still fight in her current outfit. Finally, to wrap all up, her omnipresent cloak provided some cover for both herself and her weapon.
All in all, her outfit now whispered "huntress" instead of screaming "HUNTRESS!".
Next to her, Cardin also opted for a more casual look. In fact, his casual clothes are what clued Ruby in that she might want to tone down the 'HUNTRESS!' factor of her attire. Drab grey jeans, pale yellow shirt, and a dark red leather jacket. Even his shoes weren't combat boots, favoring a pair of high-top black and white sneakers. And unlike Ruby, he left The Executioner at Beacon. Then again, unlike Ruby, Cardin wasn't hopelessly useless in a fist fight.
It took a while to get there, but eventually they arrived at an idyllic natural scenery. Parks were at a premium in Vale. With the need to be as efficient as possible when it came to space, wide open areas like parks were few and far between, barely enough to have at least one within an hour by public transportation from any place in the city. At least in the medium class districts and above. The poorer districts of the kingdom were out of luck in that aspect.
Families and friends loitered carefree, enjoying the Sunday to the fullest of their abilities. Among the crowd Ruby even spotted pairs that, if their body language meant anything, were definitively into the 'couples' category. Her mind couldn't help but wander back to how she was here, with a boy and their dog, aimlessly walking across the brick roads of the park. She spared a curse to Raven for pushing the idea into her head, Cardin's father for tactlessly insisting on it, and Cardin himself for not doing enough to make the idea die the gruesome death it deserved. Oh, and her stupid hormones too. And the people watching them. Given their statuses as Huntsman and Huntress, they were easily one of the best looking pair in the park and people had no qualm staring.
"Cardin, why are we here?" She asked. Again. She has been asking what Cardin is planning through the entire journey.
"We are here to meet someone," Cardin answered. Again. He has been repeating that trite answer since the very beginning. And Ruby had enough of it.
"That does it. I'm leaving." Kneeling to pick up Zwei, Ruby turned around to make her retreat. Only for her path to be blocked by Cardin's begging form, kneeled and his hands clasped together in imploration.
"Please don't leave me. I'd do anything."
Never in her life had Ruby wanted to kick someone so hard that the only reason their neck didn't gain the properties of an owl's was because of Aura. But damnit, Cardin was making it very tempting. It wasn't the histrionic. Oh no. Ruby herself loved to be melodramatic. It was where and how Cardin chose to overplay his actions.
They were in public. In a park. A boy and a girl. The boy on his knees begging the girl not to leave him. Socially inept or not, Ruby knew exactly how that looked and she could feel the gossips around her.
"Cardin," she hissed to gritted teeth. "Stop doing that this instance!"
"So, you'll stay?"
She sighed. "We've been walking through Vale for over an hour! I could be catching up on my favorite show as we speak. We're not even that good of friends. Why should I stay?"
She was taken aback when Cardin stood up and stared down at her with unflinching conviction. "Because you, Ruby Rose, are a Huntress among Huntresses. You would never leave a poor soul to their own luck. You will implacably walk forward with resolute determination to bring water to a man dying of thirst. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays your unwavering-"
"Son of a… ok, ok. I get it!" Ruby interrupted and forced Cardin to stop, dropping Zwei and covering the boy's mouth with both her hands. It was a dirty play on his part. Appealing to her pride as a Huntress like that. Worst of all, it worked. It worked beautifully. She was unable to stop the heat that crept to her face and the blush that appeared.
How many times Weiss and Uncle Qrow warned her against this particular weakness? Against how she would do just about anything if it was dressed as a call for help. This, and her natural curiosity, was how last year Blake roped her into the propaganda war the cat girl waged against her ex-boyfriend. Alvis or Adon or something. Apparently, the man couldn't take no for an answer and decided to smear Blake's name across every news outlet in Remnant willing to publish his side of the story.
Then again, Blake being Blake couldn't just do a simple 'it's not you, it's me' break up. She had to ham it up and leave the guy stranded in the middle of a Grimm infested forest, all because something about 'the White Fang losing their way'. When everyone asked for clarification, Blake just froze and couldn't provide any. No 'he wanted to explode a train full of people', or 'he was twisted by his revolutionary ideas and began to strive for oppression of the human race'. Not even a 'he's a shadow of his former self'. Nothing. Nada!
Ruby was convinced Blake lost interest and literally jumped train at the first chance. And the guy couldn't take a hint. Or took a hint and was just irked that Blake couldn't break up like a sane person. Frankly, she found the entire ordeal incredibly – and hilariously – petty. From both sides. But hey! It wasn't her war and she had no stakes. Might as well help Blake, stoke the flames, and enjoy the fireworks.
And now, here Cardin was doing the same. Appeal to her sense of justice and to their tenuous friendship. And damnit, he was playing her like a fiddle.
"Fine," she uttered in defeat, crouching to pet Zwei, who was rolling happily on the ground in a misguided attempt to catch Cardin's attention.
The next half an hour was spent in silence. Cardin continuously searched left and right across the park. There was a nervous energy to his movements that put Ruby on edge. She distracted herself as best as she could with Zwei, who remained blissfully unaware of the tension brewing. How Ruby envied Zwei's dog life right now.
No. That wasn't fair. She liked the place she was currently at in life. Two years early at Beacon. Steadfast friends that stood by her… more or less. And just enough insanity to spice her life. There were bumps on the road, but what road worth travelling didn't? In the end she just was apprehensive. She truly was at a loss of what to think of Cardin. At the beginning of this break, she was confused. Stunned by how easy talking to him and his team was. During the football game, grateful he took her seriously. The whole Yellow Brick Road Revengeance (whatever that means) debacle was just good, dumb fun. But then their fight in the Emerald Forest brought back resentment, anger, and doubt. And yesterday's meeting with Gaunt put things in perspective and make her feel a bit sorry for the boy.
So yes, she was apprehensive. Because she didn't know what to expect of today. And if the rollercoaster of the last few days was any indication, it could completely recontextualize a relation that, she felt a bit ashamed to admit, she had been completely fine leaving at distant apathy.
Another ten minutes passed, and Ruby had to ask again. "Cardin what are we-"
"CARDIN!"
Ruby had no time to react to the human-shaped ballistic missile that tackled Cardin into the floor. Zwei, bless is dog heart, believed it to be a game and swiftly ran to where his newest obsession was being assaulted by a giggling girl in a multicolored, flower-patterned blouse and light brown pants.
There was something fundamentally bizarre about seeing a man like Cardin, towering at over 190 centimeters tall and with a scowl or a sneer as his default expression, brought down by a girl, no older than six, while said girl sat on his back, his face buried into the grass. The girl ignored Cardin's silent cry for help, preferring to say hello to "Mister Dog" as she held Zwei's two frontal paws, the dog licking the girl's hands frantically in excitement.
What was even more bizarre was the animal ears, like those of a deer, that peeked through her messy, short chestnut hair where human ears normally are. The fact she was a faunus wasn't all that strange. It was that combined with Cardin's current predicament that elevated the events up to full twilight zone material.
"Why you little-" Cardin suddenly rolled so that he was facing up. His Huntsman training allowed him to catch the girl before she fell, trapping her in his arms as he began to tickle her. Zwei began circling both Cardin and the girl, aiding the Huntsman in his tickle assault every rotation with tactically placed licks. Any other time the girl's laughter might have been infectious, but Ruby was too out of it to enjoy it.
But that was her. Behind her, a rich laugh reached her ears. Turning around, Ruby saw a woman watching the events with a fond smile. Dressed in a casual dark red dress with black leggings underneath and an elegant pair of booths, the woman was pretty. Not drop-dead gorgeous like a Huntress or down-to-earth pretty like your average pretty woman. Sure, there was some natural beauty to it, but a good deal of it was a manufactured. The kind of regality someone with money can afford. It wasn't overdone though. Just tastefully applied to accentuate her best qualities while downplaying those that fared poorly.
One of those best qualities was her long auburn hair that cascaded down to her middle back in soft waves and framed her face to accentuate what remained of her youth. Not that she was particularly old. Ruby would place her around her father's age, so late thirties to early forties. The other eye-catching features were… well, her eyes. They were a bright baby blue that shone like the sky and captivated anyone who stared at them for long enough. However, there was some weariness around them, as if they had been forced to remain awake for years and only now they were allowed to rest and heal.
Ruby was so captivated by the woman that she completely forgot about the good-natured brawl behind her. The woman did not.
"Ok, you two. Break it up. You're going to get dirty and throw away all my efforts to make her presentable."
Grunting, Cardin nodded and stood up, holding the little gremlin below his arm like a sack of potatoes while said gremlin held a panting Zwei like a pillow.
"Momma, momma! Can we get a dog!" The girl tried to show Zwei to her mother, but her awkward position in Cardin's arms had her raising the dog while her head looked at the ground. Like a servant bowing and presenting their queen with an offering. The goofiest offering this side of Remnant.
"Sorry, Janna. You know we cannot have pets in our apartment."
"Awwww,' the girl, Janna, lamented.
"But," the woman added, "if you ask the lady here nicely, she might – might – let you play with the dog some more."
'She doesn't have to ask,' Ruby still muddled mind thought. Not when the girl was beaming like that and looking at her with imploring eyes.
"Miss Cardin's girlfriend, can I play with your dog!?"
Ruby's mind screeched to a halt, her mouth opening and sputtering nonsensical babble. Behind her, the woman stifled a laugh as she hid the wide grin that spread across her lips. Cardin, apparently mentally prepared to deal with this, sighed and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"She is not my girlfriend. She is a friend."
Good ol' Cardin. Ruby knew she could trust him to take reign of the situation. A distant part inside her mind took note of the word 'friend', no hesitation, but too much was happening to pay it more than a cursory thought at the moment.
"So she's your friend?" Janna asked, an innocent tilt to her head.
"Yes," Cardin confirmed.
"And she's a girl."
Cardin blinked. Ruby blinked. They both blinked and mentally groaned. They knew where this was going. It was like watching a train wreck in the process. You knew it was going to happen and there was nothing you could do but brace yourself.
"Yes…" Cardin said slowly, buying as much time as he could before the inevitable follow-up.
"So she's your girl friend." The simple and sincere smile Janna had could only be achieve by a child who didn't know better.
That didn't stop Cardin, though. "You precocious, little-"
"Cardin!" The woman quickly reprimanded the boy, who raised his hands in surrender.
"Relax, I wasn't going to actually say it."
"Cardin was going to say a bad word," Janna smartly pointed out. "But is not my birthday."
Both Ruby and the woman stared, willing Cardin to succumb under pressure.
"Oh yeah, I told her I'll teach her one bad word for each birthday."
"Cardin!" The woman yelled, scandalized.
"Relax. Janna, why don't you show mom what you learned from me."
"Bugger!" the precocious child said with unwarranted pride.
The woman, Cardin's mom apparently, sighed in defeat. "Do you want me to have a heart attack? Because that's how you get me to have a heart attack…"
"Cardin says I'll move to really, really bad words when I'm thirteen!"
"That's the spirit!"
Ruby, now fully rebooted, couldn't help but giggle at that. By the time the girl was thirteen, she would have already heard a real curse word unless she was raised to be a social pariah. It was a bit of cunning and inoffensive maneuvering on Cardin's part. And the older woman seemed to agree, shaking her head in mock defeat.
"Are you going to present us?" The woman asked Cardin, gesturing a Ruby.
"Right. Ahem," Cardin cleared his throat, buying whatever time he could get. "Mom, this is Ruby Rose. She's a classmate of mine."
"Bird lady?" Janna asked.
"Me? Bird lady?" Ruby also asked.
Cardin's mom chuckled. "So you're the infamous Ruby Rose. Must admit… was expecting someone taller."
"Hey!" Ruby said indignantly. Then crossed her arms. "I'm still growing up. Also, infamous? And you talked about me?" She asked Cardin.
"Not you in particular," the mom admitted. "He talked about his classmates and you stood out. It's not every day you hear a girl picked up a giant Nevermore and ran up a cliff with it."
Did everyone know that story? Was that what she was going to be remembered for? The girl that slingshot her way up to a giant, flying Nevermore and dragged it up a cliff with her war scythe before decapitating it?
…
Actually, when said out loud, it did sound pretty badass.
"I want to see her s-s-big weapon!"
Ruby's esteem for Janna went up by 20% instantly.
"Rose, this is my mother, Katarina. And… my little sister, Janna."
Despite knowing that was the logical conclusion, given both Cardin and Janna called Katarina their mother, Ruby was still caught unprepared. Mainly due to two ears sticking out egregiously.
"But… but… how… you are human…"
"Buttery smooth, Rose…"
"Cardin, would you take Janna and play with her for a while?"
Taking note of Katarina's unspoken request, Cardin nodded. "Come on, squirt. Your Huntress training begins now with a Hide-and-Seek game. I hide, and you hunt me!"
"Yay!" Janna cheered, following Cardin to an open space a few steps away.
"Want to help me set up the picnic?"
Ruby dumbly nodded in response to Katarina's request
-o-
Ruby sat on top of the blanket, a picnic basket between her and Katarina. She continued to dumbly look on as Cardin and Janna played, Zwei switching between following either of the… siblings. She had a hard time wrapping her head around that one.
Next to her, Katarina switched between lovingly watching as her son and daughter play and watching with thinly veiled amusement at Ruby's dumbstruck face.
"It's nice to meet another of Cardin's friends," the auburn-haired woman spoke, breaking the silence. "If it wasn't because of the Vytal Festival last year, I would have thought all of his classmates were made up except Sky."
Ruby snapped back to reality and paid attention to the conversation. "You know Sky?"
"He's the only classmate Cardin has presented to me. My son doesn't feel comfortable coming alone, but neither does he bring more people. Given how Sky first reacted to Janna… I can see why."
Ruby flinched. She had forgotten CRDL wasn't the most tolerant bunch. They have mellowed out considerably, but she could see a shocking revelation like, oh, she doesn't know, CARDIN HAVING A FAUNUS SISTER, would cause a nasty knee-jerk reaction and dig up bad habits.
But looking at Cardin playing with the faunus girl like that… why was Cardin so horrid to faunus in the first place? Hell, how did Gaunt and Katarina have a faunus daughter? She highly doubted Cardin's mother was a faunus without an obvious faunus trait… right?
"Cardin himself wasn't the most tactful when he met Janna. Made her cry, in fact."
Ok, now Ruby was stumped. She was clearly missing details and context here. She tried the subtle approach. "Ummm, so Cardin didn't like Janna at first? But she's such a sweet girl" If awfully smart for her age, she didn't say. "I have a hard time believing little Cardin being so mean when seeing that." She pointed at where Cardin was struggling to pry Zwei off his face, Janna laughing at the slapstick.
"Ruby. Do you mind if I call you Ruby? If you want to ask about why Cardin is the way he is and why he has a faunus sister, you don't have to be coy about it. I don't mind revealing my secrets to my future daughter-in-law." The smirk on Katarina's face revealed she didn't mean anything beyond teasing, but Ruby didn't care.
"It's not like that!" Ruby shrieked, blushing furiously at both the commentary and being discovered so easily. Subtle was not her thing. It was Blake's and the reason Ruby had been in charge of the overt propaganda during Blake's month long cold war against her ex-boyfriend.
"I surmise you met Gaunt." Katarina said, not really a question. "I can tell from your little sputtering before, about me being human." She looked back at the siblings. "To be more precise, she is Cardin's half-sister."
"Oh." Ruby's mind went to her own half-sister in Yang. "So, you and Gaunt…"
"Are no longer together," Katarina confirmed. "We divorced around the time Janna was born."
"I… see…" Ruby really didn't know how to respond. If Janna was born around the time of the divorce, it didn't take much to figure out at least the most superficial reason for the divorce.
Katarina, for her part, looked on sadly. "Humor me, Ruby. Do you believe in destiny?"
An artic chill ran down Ruby's spine. For whatever reason, something about those words haunted her. Something otherworldly, as if those words promised pain a suffering in another time, in another place.
"I don't think so," she carefully answered.
"I like to think it exists," Katarina responded. "It made me feel a bit better to pretend I'm some puppet to a higher power than admit I was really, really stupid in my youth."
A beach ball impacted Ruby right on the face.
"Rose, stop attracting balls to the face," Cardin shouted. More than a few curious eyes swiveled to meet Ruby's flushed face.
"Don't say stuff like that!" She yelled back, throwing the beach ball strong enough to hit Cardin and launch him back. Katarina laughed next to her.
"Your son is a dick," Ruby muttered as she sat back, feeling the foul language was appropriate.
"He got that from Gaunt. I never really agreed with some of my ex-husband more… conservative beliefs. But I loved him and Cardin all the same. I tried to veer Cardin down a better part, but… I would never accuse Gaunt of being a neglectful father. Cardin was his pride and he held an iron grip in how to raise his son."
Ruby was baffled. "No offense… but how could you ever love a guy like him?"
Katarina chuckled. "None taken. It's not like Gaunt is always disagreeable. When we met, I was young and from a well-off family. He was older and knew how to sweet talk a woman. We caught each other's eyes, fell in love, and eventually he proposed, and I accepted.
"And that's the issue," Katarina despondently said. "I was too young. Gaunt never really changed. Since I met him, he has always been the same strict man with an iron-clad code of conduct and controversial political stances. There were times of intimacy, but his way to show love was… distant. He's not an emotive man, only showing his tender side on occasions like our anniversary.
"He remained the same, but as I grew older, I changed. The occasional affectionate gesture wasn't enough for me and as time went on, I found myself craving for more. And as you can probably see from my daughter, I don't exactly share some of his more disagreeable views."
With how much Katarina had revealed, Ruby felt confident saying the conclusion she believed the story was leading to. "So, you cheated on him."
"I cheated on him," Katarina confirmed. She didn't sound particularly broken about the fact. "We drifted apart and when a strapping stag faunus I met at a social event talked to me and we hit off, I decided to say 'fuck it' and threw caution to the wind. That was a mistake."
"You regret it?" Ruby asked astonished. Seeing how fondly Katarina looked at Cardin and Janna, she wouldn't have guessed.
"I don't," Katarina was quick to clarify. "I regret how I went about it. I shouldn't have cheated on Gaunt. If I had asked for a divorce beforehand, things would have been fine. But I didn't and… and that's where Cardin comes in."
The defeated way she said that had Ruby already dreading the results of her action.
"When I got pregnant with Janna, Gaunt found out. There was no way I could pass a faunus as his daughter. That gave him complete leverage and the full weight of Vale's law. After a messy divorce, he retained full custody of Cardin and I was barred from interacting with him."
"What!?" Ruby couldn't believe a mother would be keep a mother from her child in favor of someone like Gaunt. "What were they thinking?"
Katarina shrugged. "From their point of view, it was a clear-cut case. I had an affair. I broke my vows. I endangered the family. Gaunt didn't."
"But… have you met him!?"
"I married the man," Katarina deadpanned. Ruby bashfully eased on her questioning. "You have to understand. Gaunt is many things, but like I said, I wouldn't call him a bad father. He always cared for Cardin. He was never physically abusive. And while there is an argument for his detached demeanor to be considered emotional abuse, even I would have trouble arguing that given the burst of supports he gave on special occasions. Many would just chalk it up to being stern but fair."
"He didn't look fond of Cardin yesterday," Ruby pointed out.
"He isn't fond of a nineteen years-old young man that is going behind his back to meet his cheating ex-wife and her bastard daughter. The same doesn't hold true when it comes to a thirteen years old boy who saw her mother go away with another man." Katarina pointed out, carefully choosing her words to properly portray Gaunt's state-of-mind. "I'm not excusing him. I'm explaining why, to the law, it seems like I was the one in the wrong. Gaunt is a horrible man to other people. He's horrible to the poor, to the faunus, to anyone he considers below him. But not to his family.
"In the end, I did cheat on my husband. If I had divorced him before conceiving Janna, I could have forced shared custody. Instead, Gaunt put the entire weight of his family's political and economic power into making sure I couldn't even get close to Cardin."
And yet, here they were, in the middle of Vale spending a family afternoon. "What changed?" Ruby asked.
Katarina looked longingly where the pair of siblings were playing volleyball with the beach ball; them against Zwei. Zwei was winning.
"He went to Beacon," she stated. "Gaunt doesn't hold any legal right to bar me from seeing my son."
"The emancipation clause," Ruby muttered in understanding. The same clause each Academy stipulated that allowed her to be treated as an adult in every sense. Students risked their life as part of their profession. Beacon or any of the other Academies couldn't have the parents breathing down their neck every time something went wrong, so entering an Academy made one thing clear: parents forfeit any legal standing on their children's life.
"When the Vytal Festival opened Beacon's doors to the public, I took my chance and met with Cardin."
Ruby scowled. "Cannot imagine that was a nice reunion."
"Oh Brothers, no," Katarina was clear to confirm it, a light tilt of her voice suggesting that what once was a harrowing experience was now a funny anecdote. "Cardin was livid. It didn't help that I only got to him after he got eliminated in the tournament. I spent the better part of two days chasing him around the entirety of Beacon. He can be remarkably elusive when he sets his mind to it."
And wasn't that a recurring theme with him? He could be remarkably good at things when he actually tries.
"Eventually, I cornered him thanks to that fox faunus he spends time with. There was a lot of shouting. A lot of tears. I convinced him to meet Janna and had to play damage control when his worst tendencies got the best of him." She sighed. "If you ever have more than one child, I hope you never find yourself in a position like that."
"If it helps, siblings have fight," Ruby said, looking at the siblings in question conspiring against a corgi. "I'm currently feuding against my sister. She doesn't know it yet, so my move will hit her like a wrecking ball. She's going to wish she was that stupid bird from Initiation."
Katarina raised a brow. "She's going to wish she was decapitated?"
"Yep." Ruby popped.
"…I'll never get used to Hunters' morbid sense of humor."
Ruby shrugged. "It's par for the course for us. My uncle made sure I understood that." She cleared her throat, her voice becoming raspy and deep, but still with a distinct feminine tinge she couldn't fully eliminate. "If a part of you cannot laugh in the face of death, Kiddo, you have no business being in this line of business."
Katarina discreetly giggled. "I have no idea who you're trying to imitate, but I feel like you nailed it."
Ruby preened. "I dabble in a bit of voice acting." She frowned. "Then again, he did say that while Yang was wrestling a young Ursa, both of them laughing maniacally through all of it. Dad was panicking, though I'm not sure if it was in fear of Yang getting hurt, or the Ursa."
"Gaunt did always say being a Huntsman necessitates being a bit off in the head," Katarina commented.
When the beach ball threatened to bludgeon her again, Ruby was prepared. Raising a hand and catching it with practice ease, she lowered it a send a glare at Cardin. The boy looked spook, and pointed a finger at Zwei. She couldn't tell if it was Zwei understanding what was happening or simply mimicking Cardin, but the dog raised a paw in Janna's direction.
"…Seriously?" She asked.
"Miss Cardin's girlfriend." – Ruby gritted her teeth through Janna's remark, reminding herself repeatedly the girl's age was still years away of being double digits. – "Let's play tag!"
"Janna," she said with infinite patience she didn't know she could muster, "my name is Ruby. And I'm not Cardin's girlfriend."
Janna tilted her head. "Cardin's boyfriend?"
Katarina snorted next to her, while Cardin suddenly found the sky to be incomprehensibly interesting.
Ruby took a deep breath, recalling one of her uncle's dubious words of wisdom.
'You know how they say that 'if you cannot dazzle with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit"?'
'Uncle Qrow! You aren't supposed to swear!'
'Focus, Ruby. What they don't tell you is that if both of those fail, you can rattle them with your knowledge just long enough to stab them… right here. A dagger here will incapacitate them for good. A punch will, too.'
'Why are you telling me this?'
'It's a useful factoid if you ever need to get away from a handsy boy. Also, it's the reason why you have to study and gain knowledge. And the reason I'm not training you until you do. Do you think you can protect that spot during our spar?'
Ruby returned back to reality and blinked. Uncle Qrow is so weird. But maybe she could use that here. Not the stabbing part.
"Janna," she carefully said, catching the girl's attention. "You do know genders are not only boys and girls, right?"
That line of thought should guide the conversation away from the whole 'girlfriend/boyfriend' thing. Next, she will ask what she means.
"Gender-fluid friend?"
Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. Ok. Maybe Qrow wasn't as crazy as she gave him credit for. Consider her officially rattled. How does a six years-old know that term? Does she even understand what it means?
"Mom… how long did it take you to teach her that?" Cardin was asking the real, tough questions.
"It took an entire evening!" And Katarina was matching his skepticism with her own pride blow by blow.
-o-
The humble ice cream parlor. A neutral ground where tough talks about the transmutability of sex and gender could be placed aside for a scant amount of time in the greater whole in order to enjoy one universal truth.
Ice cream rocks.
"You tell them, sister!"
Ruby froze. And for once it wasn't due to the unavoidable brain freeze she always gets. Yang and Weiss insisted that it happened because she inhaled her first scoop as if she was fearing it would grow feet and ran away from her. She insisted that was a distinct possibility and the living moss monster Cardin murdered in the cafeteria a few days ago was proof of that.
She looked behind her, where the mechanical voice originated. A girl that looked like neapolitan ice cream waved her scroll and gave her a thumbs up. She turned back and finished eating the spoonful she had inh- ingested.
"Did I say something out loud?" She asked her fellow patricians. What else could they be if they enjoyed the creamy ambrosia of the gods?
"Preach it like it is!"
She pointedly ignored the ice cream girl's scroll on the other table, focusing on her strawberry ice cream.
"Well, if you stopped waxing lyrics about ice cream out loud, you wouldn't have people looking at you like some kind of snob," Cardin explained as he did the gods' work on Remnant by bringing divine retribution on his Rocky Road sundae. "Seriously, stop. You're embarrassing me." He looked at Janna, who was enjoying the humble, but nevertheless important, Cookies 'n Cream kiddy cup, while recounting one of Cardin's fight during last year's festival.
"Don't listen to him," Katarina assured her, her sorbet – a distant cousin to the ice cream that still played its role in the grand scheme of things – already having met its noble end. "Cardin can be just as dramatic when he puts his mind to it."
"Don't have to tell me about it," Ruby said, recalling the week and all their misadventures. She took Cardin on his silent offer and listened to Janna deify her brother, replaying with scarily accurate – if childishly depicted – the single fight Cardin participated in. Since CRDL got disqualified on the second round against Penny's team and Cardin didn't participate, Janna could only recall the one fight from round one.
"Can you teach me how to beat bad guys like you?" The little girl eyes shone with adoration.
"Later. Much later. You need to eat well, do a lot of physical activities, and grow strong before we can start making a Huntress out of you!"
"But I want to do it now," she insisted.
"And I'm telling you that is not how it works," Cardin responded. "I didn't get this strong by rushing things. It takes time. You understand, right."
"…Yes," Janna sulked, going back to glumly eating her ice cream. Zwei, who had been meandering around the table, seemed to have sensed her lowered spirit and rushed to comfort her, reverting back to his role as a therapy dog that had been left forgotten for years.
It was… so strange to see someone worshipping Cardin so transparently. It reminded Ruby of her own childhood looking up to Uncle Qrow.
"Rose, I know you're self-conscious about your face's proclivity to attracting spherical objects, but your ice cream is melting and I won't have you wasting my money like that. Eat the balls."
And just like that, the magic was gone. "Really, Cardin? You are a horrible influence to Janna and I cannot fathom how your mother allows you to be within twenty kilometers of that angel."
"I'm an angel," Janna cheered.
"Rose, please," Cardin said. Just from that Ruby knew that what would come out next out of his mouth was going to haunt her for years to come. "It's all part of my master plan. As a girl you wouldn't understand."
"Genderfluid," Janna corrected. Precocious little…
"I stand by my words," Cardin insisted. "I'm grooming Janna."
"Like a dog?" the girl in question asked. "I like dogs!"
Zwei barked.
Cardin shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'm aiming for her to become a dudette. The kind of girl potential suitors see as 'one of the bros.' Save me and mom all that icky business of beating boys off with a stick."
"Cardin will teach me how to beat them!" Janna clarified.
Katarina nodded approvingly.
Ruby… Ruby was horrified. "You cannot do that!"
"Sure I can," Cardin said. "I'm doing it."
"It's wrong! You cannot force her to be something she doesn't like."
"I'm not forcing her. I'm nudging her. As opposed to, you know, letting outside societal factors do exactly that." Cardin narrowed his eyes. "I don't see what's your problem. You were groomed to be a dudette yourself and you seem happy enough."
"I was not!" Ruby shrieked. "I'm not a 'dudette'"
"Ok, but hear me out… aren't you?" Cardin looked at her intently. "Think about your childhood. About Yang and your dad or whoever raised you. Didn't they raise you to be… well, a weapon-obsessed girl that rather geek out a with the bros than do makeup with the girls?"
"I…" Ruby stopped.
-o-
"Uncle Qrow! I want a doll house."
"Ok. But, and listen carefully, how about a bolt-action scythe rifle!?"
"B-but, doll house…"
"Trust me kid, my gift is cooler"
-o-
"H-hey Ruby, I brought you a flower…"
"Oh. Thanks, Se-"
"Ruby doesn't like flowers!"
"Yang! I do like flowers."
"No, you don't. Flowers are stupid. Now earthworms! Those are cool."
"They… are?"
"Sure!"
"Hey Yang, I brought you an earthworm!"
"…thanks… Mike. See Ruby? Fun…"
-o-
"But Dad! I like pink!"
"But sweetie… red is cooler pink. Is bold. Is brighter. It goes with both your name and the blood of your enemies!"
"The blood of my what?"
"Look, just wear the red hoodie. I promise it'll grow on you."
-o-
Ruby's face redefined the meaning of absolute horror. "Oh gods, you're right! I was raised into a dudette!"
"I want to be a dudette!"
"Janna, no!" Ruby cried.
"Janna, yes!" Both Cardin and Katarina insisted.
Ruby, seeing the united front, sighed. "For the longest of time, I blamed Cardin's father for his upbringing…"
"Rose, it has been one day."
"…But now I understand. Your mom is as much to blame."
Someone tapped Ruby on the shoulder. Looking back, Ruby met brown and pink heterochromatic eyes. The woman offered her a business card and winked, sauntering to the exit. Numb, Ruby looked down at the card. The front was a pretty standard business card for a club downtown. The back, however, had a handwritten scroll number punctuated with a heart.
"Statistically speaking, that card definitely marks you as one of the dudes," Cardin unhelpfully pointed out. "And a sub, too."
"I am not a sub!" Ruby hissed, catching herself just before she screamed out those incriminating words.
"Oh Rose, you are totally a sub. The alternative is being a dom and… have you seen yourself in the mirror?"
"I WIELD A SCYTHE TWICE MY SIZE. I'M A DOM!" Ruby slapped her mouth shut with both hands. She was not going to look around her. She was not. She refused to acknowledge she screamed that in a public space. Or that she was hearing snickering. Nope. That was not a thing.
"Momma… what is a sub and a dom?"
Ooops.
"Thanks, both of you." With the glare Katarina was sending at them, Ruby silently thanked whoever was listening that the woman wasn't a Huntress. "I will implore you to keep your bed talk on the bed."
"It's not like that!" Ruby insisted.
"It totally is," a voice responded somewhere behind her.
"Who said that!?" Ruby glared at the other customers, daring them to repeat that to her face.
"Well, it has been fun," Katarina said. "But Janna and I need to meet up with her father at his working place. And then we have to explain to her to intricacies of… birds and bees."
She looked at Cardin. "Have you decided what to do during the Holidays? You know that if you don't want to spend time with Gaunt, you're welcome at our apartment. We have enough space to accommodate you."
Cardin averted his eyes. "Thanks. I'll… think about it."
Katarina didn't look happy with the answer, but nodded. "Say goodbye to Cardin, dear."
"Goodbye Cardin," Janna waved.
"And to Zwei and Cardin's wife-to-be."
"Goodbye Zwei," – the dog barked – "goodbye Cardin's girlfriend."
Ruby sighed despondently. She deserved it. She did not envied Katarina's future conversation with her daughter. "Goodbye, Janna. It was nice meeting you." She looked a Katarina and flinched. "It was nice meeting you too."
"Likewise… right until the last three minutes. Then I regretted every choice in my life that led me to this moment."
Ruby could tell Katarina was being melodramatic. She still winced in shame.
"Don't be strangers." With those words, Cardin's mom and sister departed.
"That could have gone a lot worst."
"You're a dick, Cardin."
"Guilty as charged. But ask yourself this. Are you mad at me, or are you projecting your anger at your family on me?"
"Yes," Ruby answered with zero hesitation.
"Well, I could use a drink and we still have money left on Ozpin's account. Care to join me?"
Ruby shrugged and picked up Zwei. "As long as they accept dogs."
Leaving the parlor, the two of them slowly made their way through Vale. The sun was beginning set down. Slowly but surely the night life in Vale began to pop up.
They walked in silence. Ruby wasn't sure what to talk about. The entire day has been a fever dream. Never, in her wildest imagination, she thought she'd meet Cardin's family in the span of two days. And now she knew more about the boy the boy's family than she did about Weiss's or Jaune's, her supposed best friends.
She couldn't deal with the silence or her thoughts. "Cardin?"
"Hmmm?"
"Are you… ok?" She looked for any thread she could follow to add to that question. She picked the first she saw. "You didn't look… thrilled about your mom's offer. The one about staying with them."
"…Rose, you really have to make up your mind about whether you're perceptive or naïve."
"I thought you like them."
"I do," Cardin said quickly. "But my mom's married to another man."
"…I see." Ruby tried to imagine her own dad marrying another woman after Summer's death or when Ruby was still a thirteen years-old brat. She liked to thing she wouldn't mind. That she would be happy for him. But really? She didn't know how exactly she would have reacted. And she imagined it was harder for Cardin, whose parents were still alive.
"You know I made Janna cried when I first met her?"
She was taken aback by Cardin freely offering that bit of information. She knew of it, but still. 'I do."
"It took me a while to accept her. To accept that my mother and father were no longer together. That she had moved on. When I was younger… I hoped they could reconcile. That they could see they still love each other and we could be a family together. Despite him being an asshole… I still love my dad. I wanted my family together. " He scoffed. "Of course, that was wistful thinking. Mom cheated on dad and if there's one thing Gaunt won't tolerate, is disloyalty.
"When I first saw Janna... all I saw was physical proof of mom's infidelity. I'm not proud of it now, but I didn't react well then." His frowned deepened. "Rationally I knew it wasn't her fault. And now I can act on that. But I'm not sure I extend the same courtesy to her father."
Ruby nodded. "And I imagine her and her father being faunus didn't soften the blow."
"Seriously, Rose?" Cardin sent her a critical look. Ruby flinched, suddenly feeling like some fungus-mass thing scraped from Sky's Beacon's plate.
"S-sorry. That was uncalled for."
He sighed. "Why must life be so difficult?"
She smiled ruefully. "No road worth travelling lacks its bumps."
He snorted. "Powerful words to live by." He opened the door to a proper restaurant for her.
Her smiled became a smirk. "Yep." She accepted the chivalrous gesture and entered.
-o-
*Knock Knock Knock*
Carding grunted. "Russel, open the door."
"…"
"Russel?"
"Ignore them, Yang, I… I…"
Cardin, along with two other men, groaned.
"Damnit Russel," Sky cursed from his bed, hands covering his eyes in equal part fatigue and frustration. "We seriously needed to talk to Russel about his sleep talking."
"We are going to be witnesses to his murder, aren't we?" Dove whimpered.
*Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock*
Sky raised his hand. "Anyone who votes for our fearless leader to brave the annoying unknown, say 'Aye'"
"Aye"
"Aye… Yang…"
"…Screw the three of you," Cardin growled as he slowly woke up.
"Only on Tuesday, Cardin."
*Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock*
"I'm going! I'm going." Cardin yawned. "Also, go to hell, Sky."
Sky gave him a thumbs up.
Shambling towards the door, Cardin leaned against it hard, with a powerful thump informing whatever ungodly entity would wake him up at… 3:11 AM? He might just commit murder…
He opened the door.
Cardin already squinting eyes squinted even harder.
"Cardinal… why is Ruby in my room asking me if she is a sub or a dom?"
He slowly closed the door. Making sure it clicked properly and the lock was engaged, he shuffled back to his bed and fell in an unceremonious heap.
"Who was it?" Dove asked.
"Death," Cardin mumbled. "Told her to wait until I was awake to deal with her shit."
"Understandable," Dove said.
"'Nite guys," Sky slurred through his tired form.
"Good night," Dove answered.
Cardin grunted.
"…'Nite… my little dragon."
Author's Notes
And done! This was an easier chapter to write than last one. Mostly because I could be more comical with this chapter.
There are a few things to discuss here, so let's do this!
The Fuckin' Spice Girls: Actually a The Boys reference XD I know nothing about them. I was too young to care at the height of their popularity. But with Paprika's team being named after spices, I couldn't help myself.
Guys guy: I feel like I've heard this term before, but for my life I couldn't tell you where.
Zwei: I know it is for a joke, but seriously: Yang was ready to leave Zwei with canned food and a can opener for an entire weekend. Just how trained is that dog?
Guy-partment: The long lost cousin of the mancave! Also, if you misread this word, that's acceptable too.
…like five episodes ago: I like this particular joke. Leaning on the fourth wall to the point of almost breaking it, but given the wackiness of this fic, just not quite.
Trashcan!Ruby : I know RWBY Chibi is hardly the epitome of canonicity, but I like to believe that if Volume 3 hadn't happened, this would have actually happened on Halloween.
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom…: For those of you that don't quite know, this is part of the U.S. Postal Service unofficial motto. Honestly, it's a pretty badass creed.
Adon or Alvis…: Or Adam. Again, happy thoughts. This is a happier AU full of hijinks. I have no patience to deal with Adam's broodiness. BUT BUT BUT… if Adam were to wage war with Blake over Blake's over-the-top way of saying it's over… don't mind if I do.
Katarina and Janna: Oh boy. Let's do this.
Why a faunus half-sister? Because I wanted to put Cardin on a difficult situation. I don't think Paprika's friendship is enough to fully put him in an uncomfortable place. But a sister? Someone who shares his blood? That is harder to ignore. Especially since the sister has no fault of being who she is. I wanted to show a plausible event that would force Cardin to reevaluate his racism. And frankly, facing the reality that there is a faunus who shares his blood is pretty chocking.
From the start I had decided that Cardin's father would be the prick, but his mother would be the unfaithful one. Portray a messy situation that isn't black and white. I can see arguments for both side. But at the end of the day what we're left with is a broken family with the children suffering the most. Hope that got across. Is a heavy topic to broach in a comedy fic.
But you know what they say about comedy and tragedy: two sides of the same coin. They actually say a bunch of other things, including that, but they all can be summed up into this.
As for the characters themselves:Katarina's name was derived from Katherine, which invokes pureness and clarity. So I'm going with the visual of clear water or sky. Hence her baby blue eyes. Like Gaunt, the name is based on Katherine Swynford, the mother to the Cardinal of Winchester. As a side note, names that start with A, K, or R are my jam… and one of the reasons my username is Raak.
Janna is based on the name Joan… but not Joan d'Arc. Instead, the name comes from the Cardinal of Winchester's sister, Joan Beaufort. The name Janna can mean 'flourishing', hence her flower-patterned dress. And I selected making her a doe faunus because when I think of flowers, I think of Bambi (so she would be a genderbent humanized Bambi, I suppose)
It was only after the facts that I realized they both share names with League of Legends characters.
Genderfluid: I'm almost thirty and I have trouble wrapping my head around this. But I suppose what's important is to accept regardless of understanding.
Dudette : Ruby is totally a dudette. The only reason she's not an even bigger tomboy is because she likes skirts… maybe she's Irish or Scottish...
Sub and dom: Ruby is totally a dom. Please take this as a joke and nothing more. There's no deeper meaning to it.
It's her!: It totally is!
Reviews
Oh boy, Got a lot this last chapter. * Cracks knuckles* Let's do this.
Zifryt: I'm sure others have broached the selfish!Jaune topic. And I love Ruby too.
Yisuslol23 : Que bueno que te este gustando la historia. Trate de dejar claro que Ruby reconoce que Jaune hizo mal, pero que no le importa a fin de cuenta. (Glad you liked the story. I tried to make it clear that Ruby recognizes that what Jaune did was wrong, but in the end she doesn't care.)
ReDestrobo : I can understand RT to some degree. Especially early on when their budget was a shoestring and two dented nickels, they were limited in what they could show. But yeah, it would be nice if they had time to meaningfully let their characters breathe. And hope your holidays were good too.
Vostok2142 : Avoiding bringing IRL examples, racism doesn't always come from a lack of experience with 'the other'. Racism is not rational. For Gaunt, at least how I see it, serving alongside Faunus only means 'animals can bare their fangs in the right direction.' Could he change? Sure. I believe people can change. But such a change can require a bit more than simply sharing some hardship. Hope this chapter showed that. Ultimately, those vibes were what I was aiming for. Gaunt is not "evil", but he is a prick.
Flaberjaber : Nah. It's properly rated. Thanks for the kind words!
Hellbreaker: Glad you like Russel and Sky. I try. Yeah, "big bad father figure" is hardly original. But hey, tropes are meant to be used! There is a sentiment that goes something like "I rather an empathetic doctor to hold my hand while I die than an apathetic doctor while I heal." A hyperbole, but it transmit the idea well enough. People underestimate how much empathy can do for people. Gaunt might be right, but his lack of empathy wins him no favors.
ccl1995 : A balance between pragmatism and optimism is needed. Or, more than optimism, empathy. Also, Paprika best OC.
Knightwalker405 : Yikes indeed.
AxDevilman: Glad you liked my handling of Jaune. Hardly innovative, but I suppose it's up to the execution. Glad my portrayal of Cardin's father came across. Yes, he is a dick and partly the reason Cardin grew up to be like he is. But he is not cartoonishly evil. He is a man, with good and bad qualities (though the bad are really bad). Alas, I don't think there's much more I can do with him on this fic.
ranjira1988 : Yep, he is a jerk.
Lazylifeguard : Having your work binged is the life goal of anyone with a serial publication XD.
Darkdrago12 : That's the plan