Hey readers. WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". Last time, Terracotta had our heroes and their classmates take part in his 'Advanced Training' course and some of them discovered a few new things about their abilities. But right now, the members of Fragment Hunter are now going to spend some more time with Bianca Coloratura as she invited them to come to a photo shoot she's taking part in.
Strike a pose!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I only own my Original Characters featured in this story
Bianca Coloratura waited outside of an agency in Vale as she kept an eye out for Azalea and the rest of Fragment Hunter. Soon, a purplish-red flash of light appeared in front of her and the large group arrived with Terracotta Gaia, Ivy Dahlia Holstein, and Pinkamena Momo Quartz. Rua Amaranth fell down onto one knee and was breathing heavily while Ivy Dahlia Holstein used her Semblance to heal the girl and restore her stamina. "I think I'm getting better at this," Rua mentioned as she stood back up.
"You just transported about 15 of us to this place in one go," Silver said as he put an arm around his teammate and friend. "I'd have to agree on that, Rua."
"I'm glad that you all made it here in time," Bianca told the group. "Hi, Auntie Ivy," the Dove Faunus greeted as she hugged the older Faunus woman.
"Hello, Bianca. How's Mirabelle's little angel doing," Ivy greeted back with a smile on her face as she returned the hug.
"Great! It's been really busy, but I'm having fun with all the work I'm doing," Bianca said. "How's Mom doing? The boutique isn't becoming a hassle for her alone, is it?"
"Actually, Valencia got hired to work in your place just a week after you left," Ivy answered.
"My cousin," Azalea questioned. "Well, Valencia always did enjoy fashion," she remarked as she carrying a suitcase for her mother.
"Speaking of, let's go inside and get set up for the shoot," Bianca told everyone as she escorted the group inside. When they all walked inside, they saw that there were numerous people working to get articles sent to publishers, schedule appointments with celebrities, and submit photos for approval. Some workers greeted Bianca as she brought her friends to the main photography studio. "Kurenai, they're here," Bianca called out to her manager.
Kurenai put down his Scroll and turned to see Bianca's guests. "Excellent. I'll go talk with the photographer and have them choose who joins you, Bianca," the man said before walking over to a corner of the studio where a woman was taking pictures of a young model. "Hotaru, Miss Colortura's guests have arrived and I wanted you to see if any of them would be fine to join her."
"Take five," Hotaru told the model as she went to check out Fragment Hunter, Terracotta, Ivy, and Pinkie. Looking at each of them, the photographer slowly inspected the group. "Hm. Mm-hmm. Okay. I see. She could do," Hotaru said to herself as she checked each member of Fragment Hunter. When she looked at Azalea and Ivy, Hotaru immediately turned around to face Kurenai and Bianca. "Those two Cow Faunus are going to join the shoot, Miss Coloratura," Hotaru told the Dove Faunus. As Bianca expressed her happiness, Hotaru continued looking over the others before she pointed to certain members of the joint Huntsman team. "Flame Hair, Emerald Dress, Gem Eyes. You three will be joining them while the rest of you help me," Hotaru told Fragment Hunter as she pointed to Sunset, Celadon, and Cereza.
"Come on, let's go to the dressing rooms," Bianca said as she guided the girls joining her.
When the girls arrived at the dressing room, Bianca told them to find outfits that they liked to put them on. While they searched the racks of clothes, a few of the other models in the room looked at the Faunus girls in disgust. Sunset seemed to notice the feelings from the models and glared at them in response, earning a few annoyed glares from the models herself. Ignoring it, Sunset kept looking for an outfit to wear while the glaring models left the room. "Oh, this one looks nice, but I don't think it's my style," Cereza remarked as she looked at a dress before putting it back.
"Oh, look at this," Celadon said as she found a one-piece swimsuit that had a watermelon rind pattern. "This is kinda cute. You think that you would wear it, Azalea?"
Azalea shook her head and blushed at the idea of wearing the swimsuit. "I'm not wearing that kind of pattern... or cow print. It just isn't something I would wear. On the other hand, my mom and cousin would wear those things in a heartbeat," Azalea told everyone.
"You'd look great in them, though," Ivy said as she managed to find an outfit that she had in her suitcase that Azalea brought for her. "Oh, this looks lovely for the occasion. I'm going to go put it on." After a few minutes, Ivy was now wearing a red dress with a matching red coat, a black belt around her waist with a crescent-shaped buckle, and a red pair of flats. With the new outfit, she also wore a large sun hat decorated with a few roses, a white beaded necklace, a pair of teal earrings shaped like spades, and a pair of purple gloves. "How do I look, girls," Ivy asked.
Sunset and Celadon were speechless when they saw Ivy's new attire, but Azalea was thankfully much more vocal. "Mom, you look beautiful in that," Azalea responded.
"She looks beautiful in everything," Bianca said. "Everyone back home knows that."
"Especially Terracotta," Ivy added as she looked at her reflection in a mirror and admired the outfit she was wearing.
"Let's get you started while the others find their own clothes for the shoot," Bianca told Ivy.
As the two Faunus went to meet up with the photographer, Hotaru, the rest of the girls continued searching through the racks of clothes for anything they liked. About halfway through searching, Sunset decided to look through the case that Ivy and Azalea brought to see if there was anything for the latter. "Hey, look what I found," Sunset said as she pulled out the green crop top that Azalea had once tried on when the girls were all shopping for her black dress. "Did your mom pack this in here?"
Azalea held the top in her hands and looked at it while the other girls all spoke to her. "You should definitely put it on," Celadon told the Faunus girl. "It's cute and stylish. Perfect for today."
"I'm... not sure," Azalea replied hesitantly.
"Oh, I'm sure you would look amazing in it," Cereza remarked as she held out a red dress similar to Celadon's usual dress as it was a sleeveless cheongsam with a golden floral design. "While I'm going to be catching eyes in this dress," she stated as she went to go change.
Soon, Bianca came back to see how the girls were coming along with their clothing choices for the shoot. "Everything okay in here," Bianca asked.
"Just trying to convince Azalea to wear something that she bought a while ago," Sunset told the Dove Faunus before turning to her friend. "Azalea, nobody's going to say anything bad about you if you wear that. Besides, I don't think they'll mess with a girl who has a dad that could bench press one of those new Atlesian Paladin mechs," she reassured Azalea and referenced the girl's warrior father.
Azalea thought it over as the others left to get changed or meet up with Hotaru. Azalea was soon alone with only one other model in the dressing room with her. "Hey, your mom and friends seem really supportive," the young woman told Azalea. The Faunus looked to see that the model had platinum blonde hair with a stripe of light blue running down one side, freckles on her cheeks, and sea green eyes. "I think you're lucky to have people like them around. My family was the worst because they treated me like garbage," she said. "You actually have people looking out for you and they try to help you out."
"Thanks," Azalea replied to the girl.
"Honestly, you can just think of the whole shoot as one big game of dress up like when you were probably a kid. Just with more options that fit you and having your best pictures on display somewhere," the model remarked. "That make it sound a little easier?"
"...A little," Azalea said hesitantly. Thinking it over again, Azalea went to get changed into her new outfit. As she left, the model's body began to ripple and change when Azalea couldn't see her. After the ripple faded, the girl's body changed into that of Veronica Moonstone, aka 'Rouge'. Rouge smiled to herself and left the room just before Azalea came out in her outfit. "Where did she go? More photos," Azalea asked herself when she saw that the dressing room was empty. Azalea turned back to look at her reflection in a nearby mirror and admired the outfit she was now wearing. She was wearing her green crop top, a pair of black jeans, and white sneakers for the main outfit. She also wore a pair of green bracelets on her left wrist, a belt with a gold-colored buckle, and a butterfly hairclip that was mostly green with a pink trim. "Maybe, I should go meet up with the others," Azalea said to herself as she left the dressing room.
Ivy, Bianca, Sunset, Cereza, and Celadon all had their pictures taken while Azalea was still in the dressing room and the rest of Fragment Hunter helped around the studio. Mostly, the boys were carrying props and equipment for Hotaru while she took photos. However, some of the girls were using their Semblances to create special effects for some of the pictures such as a smokescreen from Rebecca and Layla using her telekinesis to keep certain objects in place. While they would normally object to using their powers in a mundane way, Terracotta told them that it was a good way to get some practice in while they were off campus. "Okay, now where's that other girl," Hotaru asked after she finished taking Ivy's final photos and inserted a new memory card into her camera.
"Azalea's probably just getting changed now," Layla said as she stopped using her Semblance.
"There she is now," Rua stated as she saw Azalea approaching the group in her new outfit. Everyone was amazed at how pretty Azalea looked in her outfit. Hotaru immediately started taking pictures of Azalea and several members of Fragment Hunter helped with effects. "Hey, where's Slate? He might want to see her in this outfit," Rua asked as she saw Slate wasn't around.
"Oh, he was told to go deliver some photos of other models to Hotaru's boss. He'll be back in a bit if he doesn't get lost," Pinkie told the others.
After Hotaru got enough pictures of Azalea, Bianca walked over to her friend to talk with her. "Azalea, you look great in that! I kinda see you walking around Mirabelle wearing that instead of your sweaters," Bianca said.
"Thanks, Bianca," Azalea replied. "Hey, you remember all those times we went to visit Nashihana? The summer festivals were always so fun."
"Yeah. Wearing yukata was always a bit of a pain at first with my wings, but they were just so cute," Bianca remarked.
"Oh, that's a great idea," Hotaru declared. "We have three yukatas in wardrobe that you can pick from. I'll need to change the backgrounds for the photo while you two put them on," the photographer said.
"I'll go help you out. Besides, I want to wear that last one," Celadon told the girls.
After getting everything set up, Hotaru and Fragment Hunter waited for Azalea and Bianca to show up with Celadon. As they did, Slate found his way back to the group. "Hey, sorry I'm late. This place bigger than I thought," he apologized.
"Don't worry about it, dude," Vinyl told him.
"You're just in time for the girls dressing up in yukata," Sunset said. "Here they come now."
Slate adjusted his hat before he turned to see the girls in their outfits. "Well, I'm sure that they'll loo- GREAT GAIA'S BLESSING!" As Slate faced the girls, he saw each of them wearing a different yukata, mostly exclaimed what he did when he saw Azalea in her outfit. Celadon wore a black yukata with a flower pattern in a proper manner, Bianca wore a pink yukata in an off-shoulder fashion, and Azalea wore a light blue yukata in a way that exposed her cleavage.
Everyone was captivated by how the girls looked, but Hotaru asked for the three to stand in front of a backdrop that made the illusion of the girls being in the city of Mistral. Taking a few photos of the girls while everyone stared, Hotaru managed to get a number of good shots. "Alright! Excellent! Perfect! All of these are great," the photographer told everyone. "Go ahead and change back or into something new while your friend Cereza is up next."
"Okay, Hotaru," Bianca said as she, Celadon, and Azalea went to change out of their yukata while Cereza started posing for Hotaru. "Did you see Silver and Slate while we were wearing these," Bianca asked with a grin on her face.
"Slate was obviously more vocal, but I could tell they enjoyed the sight of us in these," Celadon remarked as she looked back at Azalea. The Cow Faunus only blushed at the fact that Slate was watching her during the shoot. "Come on, let's go get you changed into something a bit less revealing," Celadon told Azalea.
Reaching the dressing room, the girls saw a few other models finishing up their makeup when they entered. "Oh, great, It's the freaks and one of their friends again," one of the models said as she closed a bottle of mascara.
"Can't those animals just find some other place to be," a second model voiced as she sat down and checked her black hair.
"What was that," Bianca asked with an angry tone as she changed out of her yukata and put on her regular sweater and skirt.
"You Faunus shouldn't even be here," the first model declared. "You're not even human."
"Just go and leave our sights, you freaks," the second model stated.
Azalea just curled up in the fetal position while Celadon and Bianca both glared at the girls insulting the latter and her childhood friend. "Oh, you don't get to say that to my friend," Bianca told the girls as she raised a fist up to the black-haired model.
"What, is Bianca Coloratura going to do something about it," the first model taunted as she poked a finger into Bianca's shoulder.
"She won't, but I can," Celadon said as she used her Semblance to cover her hands in gemstone-like armor and assumed a martial arts stance while she was now wearing her usual green dress. The models scoffed and left after they finished their hair and makeup, leaving the girls on their own. "I guess that a model's life isn't all that glamorous after all," Celadon remarked as she turned to Bianca.
"It really isn't," Bianca confirmed. "You okay, Azalea?"
"I... just need a little time alone," Azalea answered her friend while she was still in the fetal position.
Bianca and Celadon looked at each other in concern before they started heading back. "Hey, some outfits I made are on that far rack if you want to try them out," Bianca told Azalea just before she exited the dressing room.
"Thanks," Azalea quietly replied back while she looked at her feet. After a few silent moments, Azalea went to find a new outfit to wear. She soon found a long-sleeved red-colored scoop neck shirt with a small keyhole on the chest area. Finding a light blue skirt and a pair of boots to go with it, Azalea finished changing into the new outfit just as she heard a knock on the door. "Hello," Azalea said as she faced the door.
"It's Slate. Celadon said you were upset," a voice said from the other side of the door. Opening it, Azalea saw her teammate with his hand behind his head. Letting him in and shutting the door, Azalea sat back down and looked at her reflection. "That's a nice top you have on," Slate told her.
"Thanks... Bianca said she made it herself," Azalea replied.
"Are you okay," Slate asked as he tried to look Azalea in the eye. "Bianca said that some other models called the two of you 'freaks'."
Azalea sighed and moaned before turning to Slate. "I keep making nice friends that don't mind my heritage, but there are still people who hate the Faunus just because we aren't like them," Azalea said. "I keep hearing that kind of stuff and worse directed at me, but I didn't think Bianca would be discriminated like any other Faunus. She's this amazing girl with a load of talents that she shares with everyone. Her singing, her dancing, her fashion. She's trying to share it all with Remnant and mostly ignores whatever bad things people say about her," she said with a sad smile when she listed everything about Bianca. "But, what about me? I'm just a farm girl that people call a 'Dairy Cow' because of my horns, figure, and home," she voiced sadly as she slumped in her chair again.
Slate looked at how upset Azalea was, Slate put his hand on his shoulder and his hat on her head. "Azalea, you need to think of yourself in a more positive way," Slate told her. "You're smart, strong, skilled, cute, beautiful, and can be stubborn at times when you set your mind to something. You just found out that lasers don't even hurt you. Do you even remember your fights with Grimm like that King Taijitu, the Pendra, and even the Leviathan? And don't even get me started on your fight with Tremor," he listed as he counted on his fingers. "You're an absolutely amazing girl that I've gotten to know and if people don't see those things about you, then you've got to prove it to them!"
Azalea watched with tear-filled eyes and a growing smile as Slate said all those nice things about her. To Slate's surprise, she suddenly hugged him tightly. Slate was caught off-guard by the strong and sudden embrace, but didn't reject it as Azalea's tears fell onto his poncho. "Thank you. I needed that," Azalea told him as she looked him in the eyes. Slate only smiled back as the two held their gaze and began to inch closer to each other. Soon, their lips met and the world around them just faded away as they kissed. After what seemed like a magical moment that they didn't want to end, Slate and Azalea separated from each other. "That... felt right," Azalea managed to voice as she looked at Slate.
"Y-yeah," Slate agreed as the two blushed and shyly looked at each other. "Well, I suppose we should get you back to the photo shoot. Otherwise, people are going to ask where we are," Slate said.
"Oh, right," Azalea acknowledged.
As the two left the dressing room, Azalea still had Slate's hat on her head. "You know, my hat looks great with that outfit you're wearing," Slate said as the two made their way to their destination. As they were walking and speaking with each other, Sunset was hiding in a corner alongside Terracotta and Pinkie. The three smiled as they watched Azalea with Slate, fully knowing what happened thanks to Sunset's Semblance. At the same time, a disguised Rouge smirked to herself as Azalea passed by her.
As the photo shoot went on, some of the other members of Fragment Hunter joined in the pictures with Bianca. Several of the girls changed outfits throughout the rest of the shoot, but the ones that changed clothes the most were Azalea and Ivy. When Hotaru got enough photographs of the group and Bianca, Azalea went to go change out her current outfit. She was wearing an off-shoulder black top with a pink butterfly design on the chest, her butterfly hairclip and white sneakers from earlier, a black and red tiered skirt over a pair of jeans, and a pink belt with a silver butterfly belt buckle. "This outfit is so cute," Azalea said to Bianca in the dressing room. "I'm still amazed that you made it yourself."
"I think that I had you in mind when I designed it," Bianca remarked. "You always did love butterflies."
"Yeah. They're always so pretty," Azalea agreed as she started changing back into her usual clothes. "Guess you'll want this back now that the photo shoot's over?"
"Nah, you can keep it. The outfit with the red top, too," Bianca told her friend.
"Really?"
"Of course," Bianca replied as Azalea put her sweater back on. "You looked too beautiful in them to only wear them once. Besides, I actually have something else for you as well," the Dove Faunus said as she went to a corner in the dressing room and picked up a large bag that she handed to Azalea. "Consider this a gift for getting into Beacon like you always wanted."
Azalea took the bag and looked inside to see what Bianca had made for her. "Oh my god... You made this," the Huntress-in-training asked as she looked at what was in the bag.
"Yeah. It took a long time, but I think it's worth it," Bianca stated as she smiled to herself.
"I... I'm not even sure when I would wear this," Azalea remarked as she placed the other outfits Bianca let her keep in the bag and closed it.
"You can find the right opportunity to put it on," Bianca said. "I know you can. For now, the concert's coming up soon and we need to get ready."
Azalea looked at her friend as she started to speak about details for the concert she and Fragment Hunter were going to be involved with. "Bianca, I think that you're doing a bit too much. Maybe you should take a break from it all," she suggested.
"I can relax after the concert. After all, the Vytal Festival is soon after it. I'll be watching the fights and enjoying the fairgrounds then," Bianca told Azalea. "I just have to make sure everything goes well until the concert's over."
"Alright. If you say so," Azalea said with a little concern for her friend. "I'm just worried you might exhaust yourself or the stress will get to you."
"Don't worry about it," Bianca stated. "You just worry about yourself for now. Go on and head back to Beacon. You'll need your rest for the concert."
"Okay, then. See you then," Azalea replied and walked off with the bag of clothes in her hand. As she left the building, her thoughts turned back to the gift that was in the bag. "Maybe I should get a few things to go with this," Azalea said to herself.
Okay! Now we're finished with this chapter! It may have seemed like a small breather thing, but the gift Azalea received is going to be super important for later! You'll find out eventually. As for some of the other outfits in the chapter, I'll get to explaining where I got the inspiration for them.
Azalea's crop top outfit was already mentioned before in a much earlier chapter when she and the other girls in Fragment Hunter were out shopping for any outfit they could get her for her date with Slate. Her red top and the butterfly decorated outfit were mostly inspired from the "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls" series where Applejack wore a similar outfit in the "Legend of Everfree" movie and Fluttershy's dancing attire for the "Dance Magic" special. Personally, I see Azalea being a huge fan of the series and the "Friendship is Magic" show, being a major fan of Fluttershy and Applejack because of her childhood. Side note on this same topic, Terracotta would ABSOLUTELY watch the shows with his wife and daughter.
As for Ivy's outfit, that is mostly inspired by the character I picture her having the same voice as, Queen Eclipsa Butterfly from "Star Vs The Forces of Evil". Specifically, Eclipsa's outfit during the Season 3 episode, "Butterfly Trap". I thought that Eclipsa's voice being used for Ivy made sense because of Eclipsa always having this air of class and charm whenever she has a scene in the show, which is how I like to picture Ivy having in her scenes.
As for the cameo by Veronica Moonstone/Rouge, you can't expect a thief to always go for a big heist. Sometimes they just need to relax or earn money some other way. So, Veronica was disguising herself as a model to earn some cash between thief jobs. I bet that you can likely guess her disguise's influence, so kudos if you do. However, this cameo wasn't just to show that off because I wanted to share a little more of Rouge's backstory. What she said to Azalea was absolutely true, just so you know.
And for those of you who have been enjoying Slate and Azalea as a ship, we now have their first real kiss! Things are probably going to be less awkward for them now that they had that moment.
Anyways, next up is the concert with Fragment Hunter and Bianca Coloratura. When that chapter's over, I'm going to try and figure out how to get everything set up so that Chapter 40 is at least the start of the Vytal Festival Tournament because I've been planning a few of these fights for a good while and I really want to show off the battle I have planned for Team FCSA. I'm sure that you'll like it when I get to that point!
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out!