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2:55 PM, Sunday Afternoon
Beacon Academy South Courtyard, The Gardens
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Unlike the Pavilion, which featured a common sitting area and a wide expanse of paths to allow for pleasant walks through flowers and trees, Blake's preferred spot was in the Gardens in the southern part of the campus. It was really more of a small park, though, which primarily featured a decent-sized lake in the middle of it. Just off to one side of this lake was a large tree with thick, low-hanging branches that was just perfect for sitting and reading books on a lovely sunny day. She often found herself coming here on a regular basis just to get some peace and quiet.
Which was something Blake desperately needed right now.
The others had elected to go to the Pavilion and watch the show, but Blake chose to stay out of it. This whole thing was getting to be too much for the faunus. First she witnesses a person vanishing into thin air yesterday, and now there's not one but two extra Ruby's scampering around campus. And to top it all off, there's still more coming?!
Blake was seriously considering running off into town for a few days just to hide. It seemed to work before, when she had come out about her faunus lineage… But no, that would be a bad idea. As much as the others had freaked out about that, there was no way she could get away this time without a much better pursuit party right behind her. None of the teens relished the idea of hunting down a runaway faunus in the city again.
In all honesty, and as insane as this whole situation truly was, the one and only thing that was really bothering Blake right at this moment was…
"Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you were hiding."
…Her.
Blake was no stranger to romantic options, a few of which had actually pursued her in recent weeks. Sun Wukong, of course, was one of them. And don't get her wrong, she was also interested in some of them (she was a faunus, not dead).
The problem was that out of all the people she had ever met and had even a mild attraction to, none of them could hold a candle to the most recent Ruby look-alike standing just below her at ground level (although Yang came close, but you'd have to torture Blake before she'd admit that). Rose, as she called herself, had evidently skipped out on the light show as well and had tracked down where Blake was hiding. The well-built teen was currently leaning against the tree trunk and crossing her arms (a pose that made Blake's heart start beating faster… good gods why was she so ripped…?)
"To be honest, I think this whole thing is crazy. I mean, …what the hell are we even doing here, you know? The other short Ruby didn't say much, either."
Must be talking about that 'Rain' person. Blake had been thinking along much the same lines. Carmine, their resident mad scientist, had thus far been rather mum about the purpose behind this whole sci-fi movie scenario. Surely she wasn't doing this just for fun? The faunus wanted to believe that there was a really, really good reason for all of this… madness…
And Blake was debating whether or not to stay and listen to Rose's voice for more than a few more seconds. Gods …she could listen to it all day. The lower tone and deeper resonance was enough to give Blake a serious case of the tingles (most likely because of her extra set of ears).
"So… you're a faunus, right? Carmine mentioned something about it earlier."
There was a pause. That wasn't really a question, but whatever.
"Do you just have… extra ears? A tail? I kinda missed the class that discussed how the faunus are different from humans, so I'm not really up to speed…" The muscular girl was scratching the back of her head now. It was kind of a cute pose, actually.
Blake took a minute to catch her breath before saying, "The majority of faunus simply have an extra pair of animal-like ears. There are a few that have tails instead, but no faunus is ever born with both. It's always one or the other."
She looked down to see if Rose was listening and her breath caught when their eyes locked. Oh she was listening, all right. "Th-there are rare exceptions to this rule, but that only includes things like horns or skin – no matter what, every faunus has just one animalistic trait."
Rose looked out over the water, apparently considering Blake's words. "And the enhanced senses, right?"
The brunette nodded, "Yes, stronger vision and a sense of smell are the main ones. Hearing is enhanced more with the larger ears, like mine…" She reached a hand up and rubbed one of her hidden cat ears beneath her ribbon. It was nice to give them some attention every now and again. She made a mental note to give them a thorough cleaning in the shower tonight.
Her arms were crossed again as Rose hummed in thought. "I was at Beacon for almost a full year, but I never met any of the faunus there. I know there was at least a few…" Her brow furrowed with thought. "Man, I need to start asking around when I get back. You all seem pretty cool…"
It was close to a racist comment, but Blake let it slide.
"…And if what Carmine said is true, then there's definitely a 'Blake' back in my world somewhere. I don't think she's at Beacon, though…" Rose looked up and gave Blake a big, goofy grin, saying, "If there was, I'm sure I'd have noticed someone who was that cute…"
Blake's face instantly turned beet red. Rose's face did the same a moment later… she obviously didn't getting the meaning of what she just said right away. Did this girl have no shame? No one could be that innocent…!
The melodic tones of Blake's scroll rang out next, interrupting any further …flirting. It was Yang. "Hey Blake, you might wanna get over here. I think you're gonna want to see this new Ruby…"
"I told you I don't want to watch…"
"No, seriously, you're gonna wanna see this…"
Blake sighed, unable to keep the boredom out of her voice, "Okay, fine. What kind of a 'new Ruby' is she?"
There was a laugh from the other end of the line, followed by, "Uh… it's not a she…"
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3:17 PM
Beacon Academy East Courtyard, The Pavilion
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Of all the things Blake was expecting, this was not one of them.
The newcomer was currently sitting in a folding chair as everyone looked on in wonder. As with the others, the newcomer's hairstyle was eerily similar to Ruby's. It was the same length, style and color. The face was also close in shape and structure, complete with the same bright silver eyes.
But that was where the similarities ended. The bright red jacket replaced the cloak and there was a pair of black jeans where there would otherwise be a combat skirt. Aside from that was the plain black t-shirt underneath and similar black and red boots. There was also a …familiar pair of silvery bracelets on both wrists. Familiar to Blake, anyway.
Oh, yeah… and then there was the fact that this was a BOY.
"Soooo…" Blake started, hesitantly. "You found a male Ruby, huh?"
The boy in question had a very dejected look on his face, much like a child who had gotten lost in the middle of the city and was waiting for his parents to come pick him up. Every time he looked around to examine his new companions (captors?), he could never lock eyes for more than an instant and tore his gaze away quickly. His feet had started twitching as well.
"Y~ep," Carmine replied, popping the 'p' sound again. "And he's from…" she quickly checked her scroll, "…Remnant-6971. According to my notes, his world is totally gender-swapped compared to this one. In fact, I've confirmed no less than 50 different worlds where the genders are differentiated…"
Yang was apparently the only one who heard that part, and she looked over at Carmine with wide eyes, saying, "…Are you kidding me? So in his world, I'm… a…"
Blake looked around, just now noticing one particular person's absence. "Where's Weiss?"
Yang shook herself out of her daze. "Ah, she went back to the dorm," she answered. "As soon as red boy here showed up, she said, uh…" the blonde then raised her voice an octave, giving a surprisingly good imitation of the heiress' voice, "Okay, that's it! I'm done! I am five-hundred-percent DONE with this shit! Mad Scientist and Muscles were bad enough, but THAT'S IT! I'm gonna take a NAP!"
The faunus chuckled, "Did she really say 'shit?'"
Rose mouthed 'muscles?' then began examining her own arms as though she'd never seen them before.
"Oh, yeah… Definitely sounded mad," Yang grinned. It was obviously an amusing sight to see the heiress that flustered.
Blake cogitated at the thought, "Hmm… That's about how I was feeling just a bit ago…"
"Um, e-excuse me…?" The boy-Ruby was raising his hand shakily. "Wh-which one of you guys- er, girls …is Carmine?"
The Ruby-clone in question stepped forward, adjusting her glasses with one hand, "That would be me, the Mad Scientist. I take it you spoke with my assistant, then?"
"Assistant?"
"Yes, she goes by the name Rain. She's been helping me for quite some time now." Carmine looked over at her large sci-fi device with an expression of wonder. "Most of this was because of her, actually…"
Blake looked over, "Was that the person you made …disappear yesterday?"
"That'd be the one. She's using one of my toys to gather the chosen Ruby's from each world and send them here. This machine…" she gestured to the large pile of metal and electrical cables, "…serves as the landing point for each transmission. It's how they all get here safe, sound, and right-side in."
Boy-Ruby was still a bit uncertain. "And, um… why am I here …again?" Rose, who was also standing nearby, perked up at this question. She, too, was interested to find out.
The bespectacled redhead lowered her voice a few octaves and tried to sound like an older man, "Tut-tut, my boy. Time enough for explanations later! First, we must collect the two remaining subjects!" She managed to pull off a good impression of Peter Port, the large mustache-bearing teacher.
Blake intoned flatly, "…That way you only have to give one explanation, right?"
Carmine simply smiled her cheshire grin, "Ma-a-a-y-be… :3"
Yang finally glanced down and noticed the boy's accessories. "Hey, um… what are those?" She pointed to his hands. "They look awfully familiar…"
"Huh? You mean these?" The boy raised one hand and the silver finish of the bracelet glistened in the afternoon sun. "They're actually my weapons. I call 'em Amber Celica…" He jerked the raised hand downward, causing the weapon to expand in a series of whirs and clicks until it was fully formed – and other than the color scheme, it was identical to Yang's own gauntlets. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Yang grinned, "Yeah? Well I call mine…" She unleashed her own weapons, the machinery making the same noises and movement as the boys', "…Ember Celica."
Boy-Ruby's jaw dropped. He pointed at Yang and said, voice stopping every few words, "That name is… so much… better than mine… no fair." He was actually pouting now.
With a small gesture, Yang withdrew her golden gauntlets once again, then stepped closer to the boy version of her little sister. "So what do we call you? Rube? Garnet? Maybe just Bob?"
"Well, I… uh… I guess you …you can just call me Red for now… that's what they call me back home…"
Carmine the Mad Scientist clapped and rubbed her hands together in a little show to get everyone's attention. "Well… now that our boy here is acquainted with everybody, what say I show you two where you'll be sleeping for the next week or so?" She walked forward briskly, not bothering to check if anyone was following her. Rose and the new arrival called Red quickly trotted after her, afraid of getting lost in her dust.
Blake was sure she could hear Red muttering to himself as he walked away, 'Garnet? Damn... why didn't I think of that? That's SO much better than Red... Dammit...'
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7:22 AM, Monday Morning
Beacon Academy Dormitory, Fourth Floor - Team RWBY Dorm Room
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Because of the onset of the Vytal Festival, most of the classes at Beacon had been either postponed or cancelled. There were still a few places where the die-hard students could go to continue their formal education, but most were (strongly) encouraged to relax and enjoy the festivities. As such, Monday morning found all of team RWBY sleeping in. Oddly enough, that even included Weiss – but Blake suspected that was more due to the nature of their situation.
The three extra Ruby Roses had been given the dorm room right next to the team RWBY room for the duration of their stay in this world, which mainly meant they wouldn't be very far away. Blake was laying in her bunk with her ribbon removed, so she certainly would have heard if there was any activity next door at this hour. All was quiet.
She shifted her head just slightly on the pillow for a better position, being careful not to disturb the little redhead who was snuggled up against her beneath the covers.
…
Wait a freakin' minute…
Now wide awake, Blake threw back the covers to reveal a child that was far too similar to Ruby Rose for Blake's comfort. As usual, there was the same short, dark red hair, and she could only guess the color of her eyes, what with them being shut in peaceful slumber… but this girl was …really small. Blake could only guess she was the size of a 7-8 year old at best. Big head, small body, tiny hands… she almost looked like a normal little kid…
If not for the obscenely large cat ears sticking out of her head.
Oh, and the fluffy cat-like tail that was curled up around her legs.
The ears and tail were all the same dark red color as the girl's hair.
Ears and a tail.
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'And.'
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This was not a faunus.
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No longer caring about the time, nor about her teammate's desire for sleep, Blake slammed a fist against the wall and shouted, "CARMI-I-I-INE!"
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Chapter 3:
A Bit Unexpected
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Meet the Rubys:
Name: Red
Age: 16
Home World: Remnant-6971
Description: Slightly shorter than Ruby, wears a red jacket and black jeans. Other than the different gender, looks just like Ruby. Wields a pair of gauntlets called 'Amber Celica' that are slight re-colors of Yang's weapons.
Backstory: Concurrence, Chapter 3.
Red started as a simple gender-swapped Ruby, but then I randomized the weapons of everyone in his world to give it some flavor. Adding a few other odd quirks along the way turned him into what we see here.
=^w^=