Been a while huh? I've been distracted running a DnD campaign so that's taken up basically all of my creative time. Still, I found some and made this little thing. Enjoy!
Yang Xiao Long watched from the rooftops like a bird of prey. It was late at night in Vale, just before 3 am so foot traffic was light, even more so in the Industrial District. The air was cool enough to make her consider regretting wearing such a light jacket but anything more would've clashed with her aesthetic. And, honestly, aesthetic was at least half the fight when dealing with vampires and the undead.
She's gone out every night for the past week trying to find what lurked in the night. A vicious bloodsucker that left the corpses of puppies, kittens, and even a poor defenseless bunny rabbit. Racking up hours of scouring alleyways and examining the bodies of the monster's kills. It was starting to cut into her schoolwork if she was honest. Even worse so, the rest of Team RWBY were getting suspicious.
In retrospect, she should've seen it coming. They were some of the best and brightest to ever get into Beacon, their teammate slipping off into the city every night with nothing more than a "I'll be back in time for class tomorrow, I promise" wasn't the ironclad plan she'd hoped it would be. Still though, she couldn't tell them about what she did, it was her responsibility, her job as a Slayer. Slayers always worked alone, more in concert would draw more attention to the organization as a whole. Remnant had enough to handle between the Grimm, White Fang, and scumbags like Roman Torchwick. Vampires were her turf and she'd keep it that way.
Taking a final drag of her cigarette, she let the smoke fill her lungs. There was a calmness that came from it and it was a much more manageable habit than chewing on her nails or grinding her teeth. Was it cheaper? No. Healthier? Absolutely not. But did it ensure that the old Atlesian woman who did her nails every couple weeks wasn't chewing her out in multiple languages and talking about "kids back in her day"? Yes, yes it did. Trade Offs. She flicked the butt to her right as a mop of blonde hair crept around the corner, slinking around like a pervert in the night.
Go time.
She was across the street and caught a glimpse of him heading down the alleyway in front of her. Thankfully, she'd thought ahead and made vigorous use of the fire escape, dropping down entire floors, causing the entire structure to shake and rattle. Her boot clad feet made contact with a dank puddle, splashing her legs and making her curse to herself. It was always a puddle of dirty water, every single damn time. She could never spot them in time and always ended up with wet socks and soggy pant legs. She made a mental note to start looking before she dropped but she knew it would go unnoticed. Just like the other 4000 times.
She shook her head, she didn't have time to think about laundry, there were living creatures in need of saving! She sprinted across the street, somehow managing to nearly get hit by not one, but two taxis! Both of which leaned out their windows and shouted at her "Get out of the fuckin' road!" She threw up a hand in apology and the one scowled at her before going about his business. Yang refocused and saw that her target was gone! The alleyway she'd seen him travel down had no little alcoves or anything to hide behind, he should've been easy to keep track of. This must be another one of his nefarious tricks! Well, he won't get me!
She flexed her hands and felt Ember Celica slide into place over her knuckles. She was going to need every shell tonight; she could feel it in her bones. Ever so slowly as to not make a sound, she slipped into the alleyway, eyes darting around to any sign of movement. There was nothing, not even the rats were out now. She ran her fingers along the cold brick walls, maybe there was something she was missing. It was then though, that she noticed that one of the bricks wasn't right. Instead of its normal, well, brick red, color it was gray. Then, just a few layers up, there was another discolored one, this one a pale yellow. To her right and left were two more, just on the edges of her reach, light green and periwinkle blue respectively.
Truly deceitful! This had to be a code of some kind. If she could figure out the combination maybe a secret wall would open up! Or maybe even a false floor panel! The possibilities were endless. So, she started pressing on the bricks. She started with the gray one, after all, gray was the way. When it didn't move, she looked up the yellow and was annoyed with herself. Of course, you start with yellow, mellow yellow for a cello fellow. It was something her dad always said. When that failed, she went onto green, it did mean go.
It went in!
A wall two feet away from her slid open, the grinding stone making her wince and cover her ears. It was amazing she hadn't heard it when it first opened but she assumed that the screaming cabbies had something to do with it. Maybe they were in on the plot! No, she shook her head, that would be ridiculous. Either way, now was not the time to worry about such things, she had a vampire to slay!
She slipped into the darkness without another sound, drawing out her Scroll. She flicked it open and turned on its built-in flashlight. Immediately, she was met with something so sinister. So dastardly and evil she immediately cursed the names of every holy deity should could think of and then some more she only had a passing memory of.
Stairs…
Stupid, ugly, annoying, stone stairs. Letting out a sigh she started upwards. Her mind wandered about all the ways she could deal with her nemesis. She could simply blast holes in him with Ember Celica until he was turned into a fine mist. Or, she could drive her trusty blessed iron stake into his heart. Or douse him in the mix of garlic and holy water she kept in a flask on her hip, something she dubbed a Xiao Long Goner (patent pending). So distracted was she that when her feet reached the apex of the stone devils, she kept trying to ascend and fell face first onto the cold ground below.
Pushing herself to her feet, she hazarded a look around the room and was met with arcane scrawlings all along the walls. Symbols and equations all drawn in red. Blood. She was familiar enough with magic to know that those writings had power, maybe even enough to enslave the populace and blot out the Sun! With a shake of her head, she saw her target. 6'2, shaggy blonde hair and a stocky build, all clothed in ratty blue jeans and a stupid Pumpkin Pete hoodie. He was bathed in the soft red glow that emanated from the altar in front of him. He was someone she was intimately familiar with. In fact, he lived just across the hall from her at Beacon Academy. The leader of Team JNPR and her baby sister's first friend; Jaune Arc. He turned to face her, letting Yang see the poor defenseless girl that was sprawled across the altar in front of him. Velvet! She looked unconscious and, judging from the drool on her neck, Yang was just in time to save her from having her throat torn out.
"Step away from that innocent girl you vile demon!" She thrust her chest forward, letting her voice bellow from deep inside. Jaune pulled away from the girl and hissed, a pathetic noise that sounded more like a cat hacking up a hairball than a deadly denizen of the night but still, he was dangerous. Like all vampires, he had a wicked set of teeth, two rows of gleaming white daggers. On top of that, their extended nails were like razor blades and their strength and speed easily rivaled that of fully trained Huntsmen.
"You're too late Slayer! I have my prey and, now that you're here, I'll even have leftovers!" He rushed forward; his engorged canines brought to bear when a voice rang out.
"CUT!" Velvet popped up, wiping off her neck and moving to rub her temples. "How many times do I have to tell you Jaune, the line is "now I'll have desert"! Nothing to do with leftovers or a midnight snack! Why is this so hard for you to remember? Gods!" Jaune blushed a deep red and scratched his cheek.
"Sorry, I just… I get nervous trying to stay in character and just forget the exact wording. Then I panic and say the first thing that comes to mind. I won't do it again, you have my word." Velvet brushed off his apology. It was the third one tonight and even Yang was starting to get annoyed with her boyfriend. Velvet pushed herself to her feet and jabbed a finger at Yang.
"And you! What took you so long? You should've gotten here 10 minutes ago! Don't you know anything about scene cohesion!?" Yang gave an awkward laugh and ran a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I… uh, didn't look where I was going and nearly got hit by 2 cabs and then I couldn't remember the door code and had to just hit them until I got it right."
"It's green! Just hit the one green brick and the door opens. Come on Yang, it's not rocket science!" Yang rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. If she'd known Velvet was going to be this much of a taskmaster, she would've never agreed to help with this silly project. She could admit she screwed up a bit but Velvet could at least pretend like she was worried about her almost getting hit by a car.
"I said I'm sorry, did you miss the part where I was nearly run over in the street?" Velvet waved her off.
"You have your Aura; you would've been fine." Now it was Jaune's turn to step in.
"That's not fair, Velvet, and you know it. We're all working really hard here." He walked over to Yang and threw an arm over her shoulder before planting a kiss on her temple. She leaned into her side and yawned. Jaune did the same and then sighed. "Let's just call it there. Everyone's exhausted and we've all got class tomorrow." Velvet looked like she wanted to fight him on the idea but, from the corner, Coco Adel nodded, yawning herself.
"I'm with them Bunbun. We've been at this scene for six hours, give it a rest." Velvet's ears drooped and her eyes found the ground before she nodded. Immediately, Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Pyrrha began packing up camera equipment and lights, a collective sigh releasing. Coco sidled over to her girlfriend and rubbed her shoulder while whispering something in her ear.
Yang leaned up and kissed Jaune on the cheek.
"Have I ever told you that you look sexy as hell in those vampire teeth?" He rolled his eyes and nudged her with his hip as he pulled the prosthetics out of his mouth. Thankfully, Fox was quick to take them off his hands and placed them in a container.
"Every day this week actually. Have I ever told you how much I hate you actually decided to start smoking when Velvet asked you to play the role?"
"Every day this week actually." She stuck her tongue out and reached into her coat, taking out the pack and tossing them on a nearby table. "There, happy?" He reached down and took hold of her hand, interlacing their fingers before kissing the outside of her hand.
"When I'm with you? Always." She felt her cheeks heat up and she mumbled something under her breath about getting fake ones for the next shoot.
The two of them said their goodbyes to the crew, Jaune telling Pyrrha he'd leave the door unlocked for her in their dorm, and headed out into the cool night air. Yang shivered and wrapped her jacket tighter around her torso.
"You know, I never would've pegged Velvet as being such a hard ass when we started." Jaune let out an affirmative noise before yawning again.
"Yeah, she works us hard but it's just because she's passionate about cinema and really wants a good grade from Professor Quartz." Yang scoffed.
"'Cinema' he says. Don't you start getting all high and mighty about this stuff now babe, this isn't exactly high art we're recreating."
"I dunno, I always thought Bunny the Vampire Slayer was a pretty good show." Jaune shrugged.
"It's fine but you can't tell me the love triangles aren't the most annoying things in the world. Not to mention all the crap about misunderstandings. Ugh, so annoying." She shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Is a dumb misunderstanding not exactly what happened to us?"
Yang opened her mouth and then closed it. Then she did it again.
"Shut up." He stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes. "Still, Velvet needs to ease up on us, just a bit."
"We could start a union."
Yang let out a short bark of a laugh and shook her head. Like they didn't have enough to do. She took his hand in hers again and they made their way to the garage.
It was a short ride back to the Bullhead station thanks to Bumblebee. She could feel Jaune tense up as they strapped in and prepared for takeoff. But, thanks to some strategic handholding and gentle winds, they managed to avoid any digestive pyrotechnics this evening. The walk back to their dorms was uneventful until Jaune looked over and groaned. On the Team JNPR door handle was a single, solitary sock, specifically one of Nora's.
"Oh, come on." He turned back to Yang. "Can I sleep in your room tonight?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"Oh, how forward of you Lover Boy! Asking to share a bed with a lady such as me. Still, I am a gracious girlfriend and you may partake in my presence this evening." He flicked her shoulder as she opened the door. She held a finger over her mouth and he nodded. She threw off her coat and ditched the tight leather pants she'd been given by Coco before freeing herself from the prison that was her bra. She turned around, expecting to tease her boyfriend but instead, met with the sight of him lying face down in her bed, snoring away. To top it off, he was hogging all the blankets! With a dejected sigh, she half shoved half maneuvered her way into her own bed and kissed Jaune's forehead.
"Goodnight Count Arcula." She snorted to herself. That was a good one, she'd have to tell him tomorrow.
-/-
Rutherford M. Slate pulled his taxi cab into the parking lot of an abandoned strip mall and opened the center console. He pulled out a set of midnight black robes and a large pointed hat. As he stepped out of the cab, he slipped them on over his clothes and took a deep breath. That silly girl that ran out in front of him nearly made him late! Tonight, all nights! With a shake of his head, he composed himself.
Tonight was his big night. Tonight, he formally joined the Brothers of the Fallen Taxi! It was his life's dream even since he read about them in the back of the Hexocomicron. As a member he'd get so many new privileges! He'd have arcane power at the tips of his fingers, more money than he'd know what to do with and dental insurance! It was perfect. He slapped himself on the cheek gently and walked to the front door, knocking twice on the glass and saying the pass phrase.
"Mellow yellow for a cello fellow." The door opened and he stepped inside towards his destiny.
I hope you all liked this silly little dive into what our favorite blonde couple have been doing in their free time. If you did, let me know in a review. If you hated it and think this is utter garbage, also tell me. Either way, Happy Easter and may Fortune favor you all.