A/N:
Hello friends and welcome back to RWBY: The Selection!
I hope you all enjoyed the Salem and Nora chapters that went up last night. I turned in my LAST FINAL this afternoon, so I am now free for some good, good fanfiction reading and writing :D :D
Today we've got some excellent, beautiful Tyrian and Watts at the Capital Report ;). If it's been a while since you've read the earlier content (specifically chapters 54 and 55), here's a quick catch-up of the need-to-know points: (1) Tyrian has been tasked with finding the Winter Maiden, (2) Ciel is a spy sent by General Ironwood to the Selection to keep the Winter Maiden safe, (3) Ciel has been in contact with Marrow, one of Atlas's Ace-Ops (and canonically one of my favorite characters) about the mission, (4) Tyrian knows the aforementioned points, but he doesn't know who the Winter Maiden is. Oh, and Ruby and Yang have been annoying Watts, but that's old news by now XD
Thank you to everyone who read, followed, and favorited, and a special thank-you to HelpingHand for your sweet review!
Without further ado, enjoy the chaotic terror of Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows!
Chapter 67: Tyrian and Watts
Watts was standing at his desk when Tyrian walked in, staring at several different monitors at once. He didn't look up when the door creaked, and Tyrian grinned. Watts' room was always dark, but, in the 8pm darkness on the Isle of Tenebris, it was exceptionally black. The only light came from Watts' five monitors, and Tyrian stayed out of their light as he crept up on his friend.
"Anything good on the Capital Report?" Tyrian hissed in Watts' ear.
Dr. Watts jumped. "Tyrian!" he scolded. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
Tyrian pouted, "and here I was thinking you'd be happy to see me. Our goddess certainly was, what with the news I brought."
He giggled, but Watts didn't look away from the screen. "News?" he asked calmly, "what news?"
Tyrian giggled again. "Why don't we turn the screen off and have a conversation?"
"Maybe later, Tyrian,"
Tyrian's hand flew to his heart, hurt. "Is your television really more important than me?"
"Shh," Watts shushed.
"I come bearing news of the Winter Maiden, and you would rather watch the weather and an update on the dating show?"
"I said shh."
Tyrian humphed, gazing at the monitor that Watts seemed to be staring so intently at. Jaune, Port, and Oobleck sat on large plush chairs. One of the monitors had a closeup of Port's face, one a closeup of Oobleck's, one a closeup of Jaune's, and one of the girls in the stands behind him.
Tyrian cocked his head. One of these girls, Ciel Soliel, knew who the Winter Maiden was. Perhaps there could be some benefit to watching the update on Remnant's most popular dating show.
"With that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, let's bring out the ladies for some questions," said Port, his mustache twitching. "First off, Lady Weiss Schnee,"
The studio audience applauded in approval, and Tyrian rolled his eyes. "She's no fun," he complained.
"She'd make a good princess."
Tyrian's eyes narrowed. "No one could replace our goddess."
"I said princess, Tyrian, not queen."
When calls came in, Watts was the one who allowed them to come through. He chose easy questions for Weiss. He had no reason to punish her yet. Tyrian sat impatiently through the Twos, Threes, and Fours. When they got to the Fives, Watts's eyes narrowed.
"This one," Watts pointed to the screen where an overly-enthusiastic girl with a red hood was talking animatedly with Prince Jaune. "She's the one who overheard our… delicate conversation."
Tyrian grinned. "Should we kill her?"
"No, Tyrian," Watts drawled, bored. He looked through the question transcripts on his screen, and paused when he found something interesting. "But we can do this."
"Hi," greeted the caller. The silver-eyed girl grinned at the camera. "Caste enforcer from Vale here. I'm just wondering, you seem to be pretty adept at using a scythe. Had you accessed a weapon before changing your caste to Three?"
Ruby pulled out her scythe/sniper rifle with a grin. "This weapon?"
Tyrian laughed. "Now this girl is interesting."
"This is Crescent Rose," Ruby said, cuddling the scythe close to her. "She is my favorite thing in the whole world, and I love her so much! Weapons are cooler than people. No offense, Jaune,"
Jaune laughed, "none taken, and I think it's important to note that on smaller, grimm-infested islands like Patch without a large Huntsmen population it's necessary to be able to defend yourself. Owning a weapon out there isn't a matter of caste defiance. It's a matter of survival."
Watts's jaw dropped, and Tyrian couldn't help himself but giggle. "Looks like Princey's gotten a bit of a mind of his own since I've been gone..." he mused.
"And fun," Ruby grinned. "Weapons are also fun."
Without looking, Watts angrily pressed another call. He was enraged to realize that he had selected an easy question as Ruby and Jaune quickly devolved into geeking out over their favorite comics. Watts's anger only grew as Yang Xiao Long walked on stage.
The audience roared their approval, and Yang winked and dabbed. Tyrian cocked his head. How had someone with social skills like that amassed such a fan base so quickly? Then again, Tyrian realized, he probably wasn't one to talk.
"This is the contestant who annoys me the most," Watts explained as Port and Oobleck asked Yang their preliminary questions.
Tyrian giggled. "Can we kill her?"
Watts sighed. "No, Tyrian."
He scrolled through the question transcripts on his screen, selecting one with a smirk.
"Calling from Atlas here. What exactly are you trying to say by sending in pictures of your dog as your profile picture? Are you trying to draw a connection between you and your dog, or…?"
Yang shrugged. "Hey, Zwei is what everyone should aim to be. He's loyal. He gets treats. He gets into fights. If you're trying to insult me by comparing me to my dog, you've picked the wrong dog, and the wrong bitch."
Watts rolled his eyes, and Tyrian cocked his head. He could hear Watts muttering to himself as Jaune and Yang exchanged a few puns, before he saw Watt's eyes light up as he selected another question.
"Hello world, Little Miss Malachite's back with more drama," said a southern-twanged voice from the screen. "I was wondering, Yang, what do you say to rumors going around that you are actually a flaming homosexual?"
Watts smirked. He had her. He had her now.
Except Yang hardly seemed to care. She laughed, and shrugged, and replied, "to rumors and haters, I say 'pfft,'" and she gave a rude hand gesture on national television that made Tyrian cackle. "But if anyone's legitimately interested..." Yang winked, "I'm afraid I'd have to turn you down. I mean, I can hardly get by with one relationship."
Port, Oobleck, Jaune, the stands, the studio audience, and Yang herself laughed at her pun. Watts growled. This girl was infuriating.
"I think it's important that we have LGBT+ representation in the show," Tyrian mused.
Watts's eye twitched. Tyrian hardly listened to the Sixes that followed Ruby and Yang. His eyes were glued to the remaining girls in the audience. One of them was Ciel Soliel. What did she know? What was she hiding? Where was the Winter Maiden? When Ciel was finally called up after a Faunus named Velvet, Tyrian giggled in anticipation.
"How does this call-in thing work, Watts?"
"No," said Watts firmly.
Tyrian glowered at him, staring at the quiet Atlas spy as Port and Oobleck asked stupid, useless questions until he couldn't take it anymore. When Oobleck announced that they would go to call-in questions, Tyrian made his move. He shoved Watts aside, wrenched the scroll from his protesting hands, selected the Line 1 button on the monitor, and dialed in.
"Hello," Tyrian cackled, smirking, "I had a tiny question. How close are you to the other contestants, are there any that you know better than others?"
"I tend to keep to myself," Ciel admitted.
Tyrian's eyes narrowed. "But if you had to pick one, who would you say is your best friend? Friends are important, you know," he rambled. "They care for one another. They protect one another. They tell the truth for one another. They lie for one another."
"If I had to pick a best friend. I would probably say Jaune,"
Tyrian snickered. "Of course you would…"
Port and Oobleck exchanged awkward looks, and the glare Watts was giving him looked positively murderous. "One quick thing then, before I hang up," said Tyrian with a shrug, "Marrow Amin says hi."
Ciel's eyes widened, and Tyrian smirked. She knew, she knew that he knew, and he knew that she knew that he knew. It was only a matter of time before she cracked.