Chapter 18: The Glass Gala
Viralious wakes up to his alarm going off, he shakes his head and thinks back to the past two days. Things had changed surprisingly well; Eckhart was less and less hostile and true to his words was following Viralious' lead. Not without making his thoughts known but Viralious honestly preferred that. Opening communication between the two only strengthened their team and made them closer in the process. Cocking a quick smirk, Viralious grabs his uniform from the laundry basket and enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Quickly brushing his teeth, putting on deodorant, and changing into the drab gray and white uniform he looks at his long hair in the mirror. He first tries tying it into a man bun to match Beryl's but… it looked tacky so he let it fall back down. Sighing he exits the bathroom and places his sleepwear into a small hamper and sets a reminder to do laundry after class today. He then steps out into the common room to see Winter and Eckhart chatting, waiting for Ifiral to join them.
It was a common sight yet seeing Winter and Eckhart laughing about something simple still caught him off guard. Eckhart had warmed up CONSIDERABLY to his team in the past two days. Viralious at first thought it was unnatural and fake, but Eckhart seemed sincere enough. Smirking, he waves to the two and joins the conversation. Turns out they are discussing yesterday's history lesson.
"I'm telling you It's all fairy tales, not a single thing in that lesson was fact!" Winter says.
"I normally would be inclined to believe you, but we know for a fact primitive hunters used strengthened bone weapons before the advanced smelting techniques we use today. We've yet to find a creature that shares this bone density. The only logical conclusion is either there is a strengthening technique lost to time or there really were ancient monsters that roamed Remnant." Eckhart responds scholarly.
"I'm going to have to agree with Eckhart, Winter. When Beryl gave me that book on hunting techniques, he mentioned that normal animals were being… corrupted by Grimm matter. I theorize that the merge between the two caused the increase in bone density." Viralious says shrugging.
"That's all well in theory, but where's the evidence? Surely, we would have seen a fossil of these creatures, wouldn't we?" Winter says, rolling her eyes.
"If I had an answer, I would have told you. But I think it's possible that the bones possibly could have diffused into dust. I mean we're having to mine deeper and deeper for the stuff so it's not unlikely that the pressure from the ear-" Eckhart says before being cut off.
"God damn you all love to argue about nothing in the morning." Ifiral says stepping out of his suite. His hair and clothes are the normal mess they've come to expect.
Viralious gave a shrug, "Well not much else is going on and I don't think anyone really wants to think about the exam in First Aid today. So, inaccuracies in history seemed to be perfect." His tone is joking.
Ifiral rolls his eyes and motions for everyone to exit, "Yeah, sure yah weirdo. Come on, let's get some breakfast…. Say Eckhart, when did you say the cafeteria staff was going to be back?"
"The General has just finished updating their new contracts with the board. They will be returning on Monday. They would have hoped to start sooner but there's an important 'business event' going on tonight and the council will take the rest of the day tomorrow off to recover." Eckhart says in a joking tone and gives the proper air quotes.
"Still think next week we're going to be eating real food." Winter says imagining meals that are actually edible.
"Yeah, just when I was getting used to this slop." Viralious jokes, "But Ifiral's right, let's get there and try to get some of the prepackaged stuff before they run out."
With that Team VIEW exits and rushes off to the dining hall.
"Time's up, put your pens down! Team leaders collect your team's tests and place them on my desk. Have a good day and enjoy the weather." Lute says calmly, never looking up from his scroll.
Viralious collects his teammate's tests and gives them each a cursory glance. Winter and Eckhart seem confident… Ifiral just looks bored. Viralious glances over his teammate's answers and finds that they are at least mostly consistent. Major difference is they each picked a different extended response.
Odd considering the one about the proper treatments for poisons was easy as pie… Then again, they don't incorporate it into their weapons… Maybe I'm the odd one out here.
Reaching Lute's desk, he places his team's tests on the pile and turns back to his team. They calmly exit the classroom before they are suddenly accosted by Team CARD.
"What did you guys put for question 6?" Ariel asks frantically.
"That was the one about the second step of proper concussion protocol? Well, it obviously wasn't 'wait for the cartoon birds to stop' it was light aerobic activity." Winter says confidently.
"Oh." Ariel responds defeated.
"What about the one for home remedy of ingestion of unknown mushrooms?" Russet asks curiously.
"Active charcoal, that being said it only delays the effects." Ifiral responds confidently. This gets Russet to pump his fist.
"Ummm. What…. about extended response…. option Five?" Delphi asks sheepishly.
Everyone goes pale.
"I didn't do it." Winter replies.
"Same here." Ifiral and Viralious say quickly.
"I picked option Two." Eckhart states calmly.
"I did three and Ariel did one… Which one did you do, Celica?" Russet says nervously.
Celica just has a wide grin on her face. "Well I did option Five but I know for a fact that Delphi did four, that one surprised me as we barely covered the poisons in class." This got Viralious to roll his eyes.
Everyone's a critic.
"But I really think he's going to love my answer to it." Celica says, clapping her hands together.
"I really don't want to hear where this is going." Viralious, Delphi and Winter say at the same time.
"Jinx." Delphi says, looking at both of them. Winter rolls her eyes, Viralious gives the deer faunus a light shove on her arm.
"I mean truly the best way to avoid getting pregnant is to be a guy." Celica says proudly placing her hands on her hips.
"That was surprisingly less vulgar than I was expecting." Ifiral says deadpan.
"It was an exam! Did you expect me to write 'swallow' as spitters are quitters?" the fox faunus responds.
"And there's the degeneracy I was expecting." Ifiral says.
The two teams enter the combat classroom and take their respective seats. They didn't have to change today as Kaine had already announced it would be team KNGT vs the second-year team RMJT.
"To think if we had our shit together, we could've been the ones up there today." Eckhart scowled.
"Eh, no point whining over spilled milk. Besides, we get to watch KNGT get their shit rocked." Viralious says shrugging.
"AHEM." Kaine yells to get everyone's attention. Everyone in the classroom goes ramrod straight.
"Thank you. Today the lovely members of Team RJMT will be fighting the number one team of Atlas first years. So, Team KNGT, get down here. ALSO, Mr. Thistle, please keep your team's raging boner for hatred of anything that doesn't want to sleep with them in check." Kaine says in a joking tone.
This gets a snicker from the rest of the class while everyone except the T in team KNGT gets red while, meanwhile the T just looks absolutely done.
Viralious looks at the boy, Isaac Thistle. Never talked to the kid, but he seems like he hates the rest of his team. He's stopped sitting with them during meals and started sitting away from them during classes. I wonder why.
Viralious then glances over to the arena and sees team RJMT. The fuck kind of a name is Ramjet?... Then again VIEW isn't much better…. What crack is Ironwood smoking to come up with these names?
Team RJMT, the current top team for the second years of Atlas academy. They were four female students. Their leader had platinum blonde hair held in a small ponytail, her complexion was surprisingly tan for Atlas and accented her lavender eyes. Her weapon looked to be a wrist mounted crossbow. The next leader was a fair bit larger standing with her tall tan complexion, dark green hair, and beige eyes. Her weapon was a mix between a crossbow and a staff. The third member was shorter and had the typical pale Atlas complexion. She had dark blue hair and amber eyes. Her weapon was similar to the previous members. The final member was a small sheep faunus with white hair. Her ears were typical sheep ears and actually had a bell like earring, something Viralious thought was ironic. Her eyes were an olive color, and her weapon was the same as the previous two members… Or he thought it was until it split into dual crossbows.
As team KNGT lined up against Team RMJT, Viralious leaned over to the rest of his team "Any idea why their weapons are the same?"
"No clue… maybe they all went to shelter together?" Eckhart responds with a shrug.
Viralious leaned back in his seat and waited for the match to start.
The match was a blowout, Viralious didn't know how but that sheep faunus was a monster on the battlefield. She single handedly took out 2 members of Team KNGT! Surprised, all of the first years just sat there shocked at the display.
Kaine gave a light laugh "So that fight was how I expected it to go! Look, the whole point of this match was to show you that you all still have a long way to go! These rankings mean not much right now. So, what did these bunch of jokers do to get first rank? That can change in the next ranking for all we know! So, keep up the practice and move forward!" Kaine says, slamming her book onto the podium. She then turns to Team RMJT
"Great job as always girls. Also, May, please submit the proper name change form so it shows up properly on the screen." Kaine says warmly.
The blue haired girl nodded, before the blond stepped forward. "Do you mind if I say a few words?" The blond-haired leader asked.
"Sure, thing Miss Hill, as long as you don't go into a diatribe against the council for its policies in Mantle." Kaine says in a tired sigh.
The leader huffed and walked towards the locker room. The rest of her teammates followed behind.
"Well then since we still have…" Kaine glances at her scroll, "Forty minutes why don't you all discuss some simple warm-ups amongst yourselves.
Viralious turned to the rest of his team and smirked. "So next time they are called to fight our year, I call the sheep faunus." he says in a serious tone.
"Thank you all and please remember that there will be a short quiz on Friday over the use of combustion dust. Have a great day." Basil says while erasing the formulas from the board.
Viralious started packing his notes along with the rest of his team, today had been relatively short all things considered… He wasn't looking forward to tonight, however. He had less than 30 minutes to get everything back before he had to leave to follow Eckhart to get a tux for that evening.
Never in my life would I have figured I would be attending a gala… This has to be a practical joke.
"V-Viralious…. I would…. Like to sp-speak with you." Basil says cutting Viralious from his thought process. Turning he faces the timid mouse professor.
"What's up, teach?" He says as calmly as possible.
Basil takes a deep breath "It seems like….th-things have improved wi-with E-Eckhart…. I think it's impressive t-that you… were… able to get a solution…. So soon."
"Oh, well it was nothing, just a simple vote. I really didn't do anything my team decided on it." Viralious says rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, blowing up part of the combat classroom was nothing." Basil deadpans.
"I… Well…. We… This is us getting in trouble for that isn't it?" Viralious says, dropping his head low.
"I don't know what you're talking about Viralious…. Really" Basil says with a small wink. "Now then go join the rest of your team and have a good night." she says waving him away.
Viralious nods slightly before following the rest of his team out the door.
"Remember that anyone who is anyone is going to be at this gala. Don't do anything stupid." Eckhart says glaring at both Viralious and Ifiral.
"Eckhart, I know that these people are wearing jewels that cost more than my mother's house. I'm going to follow what you said and keep quiet unless spoken to and avoid insulting or implying an insult to anyone." Viralious says shrugging.
They were currently riding in the back of a small private Manta that Eckhart's mother had sent for them to ride in. Eckhart rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned to Viralious, "I wasn't only referring to you." He says sending his partner a glance, "Ifiral, for the love of all that is good and holy please don't throw anyone out of a window or burn someone if they insult your scars."
"Gonna be honest, I was considering pretending to be mute." Ifiral responds.
"Deaf might be the better one but I don't think you know sign language." Eckhart responds.
"True but why would I?" Ifiral shoots back.
"We're getting off topic. So why does your mother want us to come to this gala anyway?" Viralious says.
"She wants to meet my team… She knew I was on a team with Winter Schnee and figured she might as well meet you all at the same time. The gala just gave her an excuse." Eckhart says leaning back in his seat.
"So, no alternative motives of killing Viralious and naming you the leader of team VIEW?" Ifiral jokes.
Eckhart doesn't respond for a second, making Viralious nervous. "Eckhart."
"One moment, I'm running probabilities." He responds.
With a sigh Eckhart looks Viralious in the eye. "I don't think she will but I'll do what I can to stop her if she tries. If she summons a blade of ice, run like hell." Eckhart deadpans.
"That doesn't fill me with confidence." Viralious says facepalming.
Suddenly the Manta stopped, and the hatch opened. They had arrived at Eckhart's home. It was large, huge even. It almost looked like a castle made of ice from the pale blues and crystalline windows illuminated. Eckhart shrugged, "Oh she hasn't redone the ice sculptures yet… I'm surprised." He steps out of the Manta and turns back to Viralious, "Now then we should get moving, we only have an hour to make you both look Atleasian enough."
Viralious sighed thinking, this is going to be a long night.
It had taken the full hour, but Viralious was wearing his hair in a respectable manner and his attire was a maroon vest covering a white button down shirt and a dark red tie. He wore plain black pants and simple dress shoes. He honestly looked like an inverse of Eckhart who was wearing a fancier version of his typical combat attire. Most striking of all however was Ifiral who actually combed his hair and was wearing a black dress shirt, black tie, Black pants, and a brown vest covered by a black jacket.
The three sat in the VIP booth looking down at the stage. Eckhart had mentioned that there were three booths for performances held in Ruefeller Hall, one for the Schnee Dust Company, one for the council and another for every other VIP. Glancing to the other side of the theater Viralious stole a glance at the current Heiress of the SDC. Winter Schnee wore a simple Lilac and blue evening gown, that was about all he could make out from this distance. Sighing Viralious turned to Ifiral, "I have a feeling I look like a tool." His tone is annoyed.
"Well, I can agree that you do look a little bit like a tool with that hair style." A familiar voice behind him says.
Viralious turns originally planning on admonishing the speaker before he sees that it is General Ironwood. Viralious' words die in his mouth. The general gave him a small laugh before taking a seat next to Eckhart, "I'm not surprised that Shiva invited all of you here. She was always cunning like that." His tone is nostalgic.
Viralious shook his head and recentered himself, "I'm surprised you came to this kind of thing General." he said in a neutral tone.
"As General of the Atlas military I hold a seat on the council, and I'm expected to attend charity events like this gala. I often end up sitting in this one as normally the other council members like to talk during the performance. I, however, tend to actually like to listen to Shiva sing."
Viralious nods his head and looks at the rest of his team, Eckhart is scanning the venue and glancing occasionally to the sides of the stage. Ifiral is just on his scroll texting… Professor Kaine?
"Ah well…." Viralious trailed off.
"Something bothering you Viralious?" Ironwood asks in a curious tone.
"Well sir… This is probably the first time I've actually…. well done a lot of things. Attended a gala, heard opera singing, attended a live music performance in a theater and well I'm a VIP! I'm just worried I'm going to screw this up somehow." Viralious says in a sigh.
Just like you always do. Fuck everything up.
Viralious shakes his head to clear his thoughts. The General gives a hearty laugh.
"Viralious, I can tell you that you are just like your mother in that regard. I'm going to tell you the same exact advice Ozpin gave her when she first attended a gala in Atlas."
Viralious waited with bated breath, he was shocked that Ironwood was going to tell him something about his mother.
"Don't question the madness." Ironwood says poignantly.
"What?" Viralious mutters.
"It means you should just go with the flow and when something unexpected happens you just go along with it. That's a lesson I've learned being the headmaster of Atlas." Ironwood says staring off into space before coughing and continuing. "I'm sure my nephew has informed you on what NOT to do." Ironwood laughs looking at Eckhart giving him a side eye. "But as for what you should do, just go with your gut feeling… Unless it says punch someone but you're not the member of your team I'm worried about with that." he finishes sparing Ifiral a glance.
This gets an uneasy laugh from Viralious, and Eckhart looks away cringing. Ifiral meanwhile rolls his eyes and looks at the stage.
"Speaking of your team. I was quite surprised to find you ranked 4th this period. Due to teamwork, I saw. Is that still an issue?" Ironwood coyly asks.
"No sir, it's already been addressed." Both Viralious and Eckhart say in sync.
Ironwood blinks twice before smirking, "A shame, I was meaning to repaint my office."
"There is really no need sir." Viralious says nervously.
Suddenly the lights dim and a cowled figure walks onto the stage. They take off their hood revealing Shiva Slate. Suddenly light piano music begins.
One hour later there was a standing ovation. Viralious was impressed he had never heard some give such an emotional performance. Her songs, while mostly ice themed, showed a story of a young woman trapped in ice before she found someone to melt it away. The two had started a family before it was revealed that the man was using her and abandoned her again. Distressed she found herself back in the ice this time for what seemed to be her final moments. It was somber to end off on until suddenly she gave a chant etching the piano and drums to kick in before unveiling a never before heard song of hers.
"Return to Oblivion, she calls it. She's had it recorded and written for months; she just never felt it was the right time to release it." Eckhart said, fully smiling giving applause.
The song was still somewhat somber but told the story of a woman finally accepting the ice and becoming one with it. Finding herself and moving forward. Viralious couldn't help but smile at it. It really was a powerful piece to end off on, though the fact of being there for the debut was nice.
"It's good to see Shiva finally moving on from him." Ironwood says quietly to himself he then smirks and turns to the rest of Team VIEW, "Now then, Why don't we get down there to the main event."
So, this is what it was like to be at a rich person's party… It's fucking boring… I have new found respect for Eckhart and Winter for sitting through these without going crazy.
Viralious thought to himself glancing around the open ballroom Viralious looked around seeing multiple of the Atlas elite just standing around talking and drinking 'acceptable amounts' of alcohol. Viralious gave a sigh and glanced over to his team. Ifiral was 100% bored judging from the fact that he was scanning the crowd no doubt looking for someone. Eckhart stood at attention waiting for his mother to finish Talking with a patron to introduce his team. Viralious shook his head before a familiar flash of white caught his eye.
Across the hall was his partner, Winter. She was wearing a lilac and blue evening gown but adorning her ears were dark blue teardrop earrings and her hair was styled into a small braid. She easily looked the best out of all of Team VIEW.
Viralious smirked before turning to Eckhart, "You think your mother would like to meet all of us at the same time?"
Eckhart nodded, "Yes she would prefer that, why do you ask?"
"I was wondering if I should see if I could get Winter to join us for a moment." Viralious says shifting his head to point towards her.
Eckhart looked in her general direction, "Yeah, good luck with that one. If you're still there I'll see If I can get my mother to save your ass." His tone is serious.
Viralious shrugged before making his way across the hall. He stops in front of Winter and her father. Stepping forward he gives a small wave before extending his hand for a handshake "Hello Mr. Schnee, I don't believe we've met." His tone is as real as the quality of Murt's cooking…. Nonexistent.
Jacques Schnee looked Viralious up and down before raising an eyebrow. "And who are you supposed to be?"
Viralious breathed in quickly, closing his eyes. Before quickly opening them again and saying, "My name is Viralious, I'm a first year at Atlas Academy and the leader of Team VIEW, I'm Winter's partner." His tone is once again laced with forced niceties.
Jacques Schnee once again examined him before giving a fake smirk, "Ah yes I've heard about you, you're that new upstart that James hasn't explained why you don't have a last name yet." He gets a cruel smirk as he finishes.
Winter side eyes her father then Viralious slightly worried that it's going to rile him up enough into sparking an argument. However, Viralious breathes in once before responding, "Well I'll apologize on the General's behalf. You see, the reason I don't have a last name is I am currently trying to prove that I am more than my last name. Something you would be familiar with, Mr. Schnee."
Winter blinks…. Not sure if that was the best or worst possible outcome. Luckily for her and Viralious, her father didn't pick up on the veiled insult in that statement.
"Ah well, then Viralious it's understandable. I'm just worried about people trying to take advantage of my daughter, you see." He gives a fake smile.
"Well, no worries about that Mr. Schnee. Winter is by far one of the most competent students at Atlas. Give her a few years and she'll be outperforming the professors." Viralious responds, with an equally fake smile.
Winter coughs recentering both of the bickering men, "It's nice that you two are getting along but if you don't mind me asking what brings you over here Viralious?"
"That would be hoping to drag you away so I could meet with the whole of Team VIEW at once." A soft voice says approaching from her left. Turning around they see the figures of Shiva Slate, Eckhart and Ifiral following behind.
Jacques' smile changes to one a real one "Ah Shiva, wonderful performance as ever. I wish Willow could have been here for it, but she said she wasn't feeling well."
Shiva waves the compliment away, "Thank you, Jacques, and give Willow my regards. Now if it is okay with you, I would like to steal these two away and get to know them a little bit. It's not every day you get to meet your son's team." She says pointing at Viralious and Winter, simultaneously eliciting a groan from Eckhart.
"Ah not at all, please take your time after all it is your night, Shiva." Jacques says before wandering off to talk with Professor Kaine and a younger man with dirty blonde hair and a white and gray suit.
Shiva turns on her heel and addresses the entirety of Team VIEW, "Please follow me." She then steps forward guiding them away from the crowd of people and towards her private dressing room. She then takes a seat on the stool in front of the large mirror before facing them. "So please introduce yourselves." Her tone is soft and harsh at the same time.
This gets Viralious and Winter to flinch, Shiva seemed like a warm person, but her tone was surprisingly harsh. Winter Took the initiative and gave a small bow, "Hello Ms. Slate, it's great to see you again, your performance was exemplary tonight."
Shiva gave a smile that they couldn't tell if it was warm or cold as ice, "Thank you Winter, now what about the other two?"
Ifiral stepped forward with a shrug, "Name's Ifiral Phenrix, great performance as ever."
Viralious quickly introduced himself to try and draw attention from Ifiral being rude, "My name's Viralious, I'm the leader of Team VIEW. I have to say Ms. Slate, Eckhart is a wonderful teammate."
Shiva glances at Viralious then scans the whole team. Her face shows as a militant glare. She then shifts her gaze to Viralious and stares straight into his soul. Staring back at her, Viralious closely watches her hands expecting a blade of ice to appear as his signal to bolt.
Shiva suddenly starts breaking down into laughter. Each member of team VIEW sans Eckhart looks at each other confused before Shiva responds through laughter.
"I'm sorry…. I couldn't help it. *Ahem* It's great to meet all of you. Please call me Shiva." Her tone is much warmer than before.
Eckhart rolls his eyes, "Mom. leave the drill instructor act to Uncle Ironwood he does it LEAGUES better."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I figured you would appreciate me not embarrassing you in front of your friends. I could break out the baby pictures, you know." Shiva responds sarcastically.
"NOPE THAT'S FINE!" Eckhart responds quickly.
Winter gives a small laugh "it's all fine Ms. Slate, you're a wonderful host."
Shiva turns her attention to Winter and smiles "And you've grown so much since the last time I saw you, Winter."
Winter blinks before getting a little embarrassed herself "I well… it'-"
"Did you all know the last time I saw Winter she asked me if I was an angel? She thought someone this-"
"THANK YOU, SHIVA, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Winter responds even quicker than Eckhart.
This gets everyone to give a small laugh, Viralious gives her a shrug.
"I guess now isn't the time for embarrassing stories… I'll wait until I learn more about you two first." Shiva responds pointing to Viralious and Ifiral, then winks.
"If you don't mind me asking Ms. Slate, what's the reason you invited all of us?" Viralious ask earnestly.
"Well Eckhart told me about your agreement for deciding the team leader. I wanted to first see the outcome and second learn who's bunking with my son." Shiva responds warmly.
"Ah well, I'm still the leader of Team VIEW. That being said I'm open to suggestions and encourage everyone to make calls. As for his partner, that's Ifiral." Viralious finishes pointing a thumb to his auburn-haired teammate
Shiva turns and looks at Ifiral and stares at his scars. She then coughs and gets serious "So Ifiral, has Eckhart been sleeping? Has he been eating enough? How's he doing in his classes? Is he making friends? Is he behaving? Wait of course he's behaving. Is he-"
"MOM!" Eckhart interrupts her. Everyone in the room except him gives a small laugh at Eckhart's flustered response.
Ifiral grins, "Well I can say yeah, he's been getting at least 6 hours of sleep, he's eating the slop Murt's been cooking up. He's probably top of his class in everything except Dust application and as for making friends…. He's got us and he's warming up to Team CARD."
Shiva beams with happiness hearing Ifiral's response. She smiles and addresses them all, "Thank you. Thank you for giving my son a chance. I know he can be a bit stuck up." Eckhart gives her an annoyed stare, but he doesn't disagree, "And Viralious, thank you for preventing him from making the same mistake I did."
"And what mistake would that be?" Viralious asks confused.
"Abandoning my team until we lost someone." Shiva responds darkly.
The room goes silent. They simply stand there for a minute before Winter responds "We're sorry for bringing it up Ms. Slate."
Shiva shakes her head, "No it's fine… The remaining time I spent with my team was great but… No, It's not worth living in the past." She stands up and walks towards the door, "I would love to stay and chat with all of you longer, but I really should meet with more donors. Thank you for coming and I hope you can enjoy the rest of the party." Her tone is slightly more cheerful.
Viralious and Winter give respectful bows. Ifiral nods and Eckhart starts leading them back to the banquet hall. Upon reaching the hall Winter says her goodbyes before returning to her father's side. Eckhart shrugs and leads them over toward Ironwood again.
The night was going fairly well, Viralious talked to a few familiar faces and actually caught up to Professor Kaine, turns out she's engaged to the CEO of Sherfira industries and she's scoping the place out for a wedding venue.
The price tag must be one hundred times more than what Mom and Tai made in a year.
Viralious smiles and gives her congratulations before he's caught off guard by one question.
"Where's Ifiral? I saw him earlier but didn't have a chance to talk with him." Kaine asks curiously.
Both Eckhart and Viralious go pale and look around. Ifiral is nowhere to be seen.
Character Change: Viralious- Ifiral Phenrix
Location: City of Atlas: Ruefeller Hall: 2nd floor balcony
Ifiral stood staring down at the city of Atlas, the glistening bright lights, cars moving in the distance, the people happy in their homes. Gritting his teeth he pulls out his scroll and glaces to the time.
10:35 PM
6 Clear
1 Reminder set for 11:15 PM
Exhaling Ifiral puts his scroll back into his pocket and returns to stare at the city of lights in front of him. He doesn't know how long he waits until a man with dirty blonde hair and a white and gray suit.
The man gives a long sigh before turning to Ifiral, "Jacques loves to hear himself talk wouldn't you agree?"
"You're late Regis." Ifiral says in a normal tone.
Regis gives a laugh, "Well excuse me for being the CEO of a successful industrial company, it's almost like I have an image to keep."
"Whatever." Ifiral huffs
"You need to lighten up Ifiral. Really, it's not healthy to keep yourself wound up all the time." Regis says in a little bit of concern.
"I'm fine. Now are you going to waste my time or just give me the scroll?" Ifiral responds.
"I haven't seen you in 3 months, Ifiral. I would like to catch up with my brother." Regis smiles.
Ifiral gives a sigh, "Fine."
Regis rubs the bridge of his nose, "I miss the not pissy Ifiral." he says quietly so Ifiral can't hear, "*Ahem* So how goes your search?"
"It's not successful, hence why I'm meeting you." Ifiral says rolling his eyes
"Well, any clues?"
"No."
Regis sighs, "How's the Academy? Tali says that your team is doing well and surprisingly staying out of trouble."
Ifiral cocks an eyebrow, "I got chewed out by her on the first day of classes for punching my teammate in the face and giving the number one team a beating. What is she talking about with 'staying out of trouble'?"
Regis blinks twice, "Tali you sneaky little…. Ahem, well I am going to have to talk to Tali about that one. But back to the real question, how is your team?"
Ifiral breathes in for a minute, "They're good people. Eckhart can be a little stuck up, but his head is in the right place. Winter is not as much of a spoiled bitch as I pictured, she's quite competent. Viralious…. He's got a good head on his shoulders, but I can see he's out of his element and doing what he can to keep up afloat. Still, they are all skilled huntsmen and I'm glad to have been paired with them rather than anyone else." His tone is surprisingly happy, and he shows the hint of a smile.
Regis gives a smile at his brother's words, "You make any other friends?"
"Yeah, actually the team right across from us. Team CARD they are good people but an average huntsmen team. Celica is a degenerate but has a good heart, Ariel is a chatty Kathy but knows what to say. Russet's a bitch to fight but a smart guy and Delphi's a little shy but has a great head on her shoulders." Ifiral says with a smile still on his face.
"Sounds like you're enjoying it." Regis responds.
"Yeah."
"Ifiral…. You should give up the search." Regis says more serious than before.
Ifiral snaps his head to look at his brother barely holding fury back, "What?"
"You should give up your hunt. Ifiral, finding them isn't going to bring mom and dad back!" Regis says in conviction.
"Fuck you." Ifiral says starting to walk off. His arm is suddenly grabbed by Regis
"Ifiral listen."
"No, fuck you." Ifiral says in rage.
Regis sighs, "You're just like Mom you know." He lets go and motions for Ifiral to join him back against the railing, "She was always so stubborn and set in her ways. Do you remember what she told me when I started dating Tali?"
Ifiral leans back onto the railing "She said something along the lines of she was a pink devil and to stay away from her."
"There were a lot harsher words than that. But she held firm, she HATED Tali until she found out she saved my life on a mission. She then begrudgingly admitted that Tali was a decent person. Still told me I should marry someone else… Did I tell you she at one point tried to set you up with Winter Schnee?" Regis says with a laugh.
"WHAT!?" Ifiral yells shocked
Regis laughs, "Yeah, she didn't because I told her that Jacques would use it as an opportunity to gain control over the manufacturing plants. She changed her tune real quick after that."
Ifiral rubs the bridge of his nose, "Well thanks. Now if we can get back on track that would be great."
Regis sighs, "I shouldn't be supporting this Ifiral. It's going to get you killed."
"So what? I just leave our parents' killer to run free?" Ifiral retorts.
Regis digs around in his suit pocket before pulling out a plain looking scroll. He punches in the password of 1234 and holds it out in front of Ifiral, "No, what I'm saying is you should live your life. This scroll has the names and schedules of the next 100 people from the Glass Unicorn the night it went up in flames."
Ifiral grabs the scroll and looks it over. The names each with a little carrot for him to press to see roughly their weekly schedule. Smirking, he puts the device into sleep mode and puts it into his pocket.
"Thanks Regis." He then begins to walk away.
"Ifiral, it sounds like you have some good friends… you should consider asking for their help if you are really going to do this. I'm sure they'll understand." Regis says sorrowfully.
Ifiral sighs, "Regis, you know I couldn't…"
"I know… just come home… alive Ifiral." Regis says, closing his eyes.
"Excuse me sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you but I've have a few ideas I would like to discuss with you." A new voice says cutting through the emotional moment.
Regis whips his head around and smirks, "Ah Juno, I'm surprised you made it! These galas aren't normally your thing."
"Yes, well I figured it would be important to attend. After all, everyone is here." Juno responds with a smile.
"Who's this?" Ifiral asks
"Oh Ifiral, this is Dr. Juno Gauss. He's one of our head researchers at Site 7. Dr. Gauss, this is my younger brother Ifiral." Regis says in a businessman's voice.
"The pleasure is mine Ifiral… It's all nice to meet you but I was hoping to discuss some classified information with your brother. Do you mind if we get some privacy?" Juno says respectfully.
"Juno, this is a night of celebration. Work can wait until tomorrow. I'll tell my secretary to expect you and clear my morning schedule." Regis responds calmly.
"Understood, sir. I tend to get excited when new ideas are involved." Juno responds.
"It's fine Juno. Now please enjoy yourself."
Juno turns away and walks back into the party. Ifiral stares at the man as he walks away, "Is he a new hire?"
"No, mother and father hired him to oversee research site 7. He's a brilliant mind, he actually came up with the idea for the railgun system we just sold a quarter of a million units to for the military." Regis responds with a smirk.
"How come they never mentioned him?" Ifiral says confused.
"He runs site 7 fairly secretly, you know the SDC and the Human Nextwork would love to get access to our prototypes." Regis responds smartly.
Ifiral shrugs "Alright… well have a good night, Regis…"
"Ifiral… you can give me a call. I would like to hear about your life from you instead of Tali at some point." Regis says in a caring tone.
Ifiral nods before walking back into the party.
Character Change: Ifiral Phenrix - Winter Schnee
Location: City of Atlas: Ruefeller Hall: Banquet Hall.
Winter sighed; this gala was just as boring as she expected. Sure, the interruption to talk with Shiva was nice but it would be a footnote in the long list of things that had happened that night. She had been around the entire hall with her father, politely greeting other members of the Atlas elite, politely declining dates with potential suitors and surprisingly her father actually shot down a marriage proposal for her. She figured it was because the mother of the suitor was a faunus.
Her eyes glanced around the hall. Ifiral and Eckhart were chatting with both Professor Kaine and Ironwood. Viralious was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she looks back to her father talking with some researcher from Sherfira Industries and some woman in the textile industry.
"I must say Jacques, your refining techniques are getting better and better every year." The woman says.
"Thank you, the SDC does everything it can to improve the lives of people on Remnant. Now I must say your suits are as amazing as ever. Willow actually bought this one from you as a gift." Jacques says
The researcher turns to Winter, "Ah Ms. Schnee I heard you were enrolling at Atlas this year, how's that going?"
Winter perked up slightly "It's going well Mr.?"
"Gauss, Juno Gauss." the man responds.
"Thank you. It is going well Mr. Gauss; I am happy that the SDC and Atlas military were willing to allow for me to continue my training to be a huntress"
"Ah it's so nice that young people like you are willing to take an active role in the defense of Remnant. There are many who no longer fear the Grimm, but the truth is they are ever evolving along with us." Juno responds smartly.
Jacques stares at her and Juno for a second before his smile reappears, "Yes… Well the Grimm are quite dreadful but now is the time to focus on more joyous topics. Such as the SDC's record profits."
This gets a small clap from everyone around them. Winter simply sighs before suddenly.
"Excuse me Mr. Schnee, I have a question for you and Winter." Viralious says from her left.
Winter turns and Jacques follows to meet Viralious' gaze. Coughing Jacques says,"yes how can I help you?"
Viralious nods, "Well the general was saying that the students should return to the academy since it is getting late, and we do have class in the morning. We will be taking a Manta back to the dorms. I was asked to extend this offer to Winter as apparently Professor Murt is expecting everyone in class there in the morning." His tone is genuine for once.
"Aren't you an errand boy today?" Jacques responds again genuine before thinking for a minute, "I suppose Winter can ride back with you. It is getting late and it would be irresponsible for me to harm her academics for a small party like this." he says in a fake tone.
Winter caught it immediately.
Viralious caught him in a trap, he says no, and it makes him look like a bad father or at least one with an ulterior motive. Saying yes is his only good option here.
Viralious smirks, "Thank you Mr. Schnee, I hope you have a good night." he says with a bow.
He then motions for Winter to follow behind. She does with a small smile.
Team VIEW reenter's their dorm room utterly exhausted.
"Who thought a Manta ride with Ironwood would be so nerve racking." Winter says.
"I know he kept hinting he knew about this weekend but never outright said it." Viralious responds.
"He knows… but he doesn't have concrete proof that it was us. Apparently, the camera footage from the combat classroom was deleted and shut down at that time." Eckhart says.
Winter cocks an eyebrow at that statement, "That's a little too suspicious, isn't it?"
Eckhart nods, "Extremely. I think it was Russet messing with the camera system after Ifiral caused that explosion as they would get in as much trouble as we would have."
Viralious nods before sitting on the couch, "Well then, we just don't do anything to get his attention. Okay let's be honest here let's just not get caught and cover our tracks better."
Ifiral nods, Eckhart rolls his eyes and Winter just stares blankly at him.
"Well then, it's late and we unfortunately have class in the morning. Winter you can go ahead and take the first shower. Also, Eckhart what do you want me to do with these clothes?" Viralious says pulling out his scroll.
"Keep them. I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to get dragged to more of these and better to have a pair rather than going to my home every time." Eckhart says already getting ready to shower in his suite.
Viralious blinks for a minute before saying, "Uhh thanks. If I had known, I would have picked something purple."
This gets a small laugh from Ifiral and Winter. The former bids them good night and closes the door to his and Eckhart's suite behind him.
Winter then gives Viralious a curt good night and silently thanks him for keeping his cool during the gala with her father. She sighed as the door to the bathroom closed knowing that tomorrow would be better.
A/N
Quick heads up FFnet changed their Email notification system to be opt in so if you are not seeing updates make sure you enable that. I would also like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story it really means a lot to me that people are enjoying it!
This chapter is a bit of set up and a bit of relaxation from the first half of this arc. It shows that Eckhart is working a bit more as a team player with Viralious and is being less of a total prick. He was still somewhat stiff to write for but considerably less so than before. So then let's break down what happened in this chapter.
The conversation in the dorm room is simply me poking fun at myself with my Grimm hunter's Oztel story. As since it's based off of Monster Hunter there are BFM's (Big fucking monsters). Since they don't show up in RWBY proper, I had to come up with a way to explain why they are no longer there. This also comes into play with the bones as I'm following the MH example of hunting to improve gear, so I needed to explain why these materials were better than metal.
This leads into the classes. Firstly, the first aid exam is just to show that they are actually in school and will be taking exams. Why I had the first one in two weeks is because I imagined Lute would do an exam over every 2-3 chapters. In my fake lesson plans for each professor, he's covering chapter 4 starting next week. That and I had to follow up on a joke said in a previous chapter. This leads us to the hallway which is just fluff and banter. Following that is the fight against team RMJT is just world building and introducing the happy huntresses into the story. They will not play a huge role in the plot but it's better to have them there in the background in case I want to pull them in. The Basil section is just playing into the future.
This leads us to the Manta ride and the gala itself. So, the Manta ride is just for comedy, something that Eckhart joins in for a second. Now the opera part of the gala itself. The songs referenced in this chapter are a few from Final Fantasy XIV specifically Return to Oblivion which is mentioned by name. Please support the official release. They don't appear in this story in their general state as I don't want to push Square Enix's and FFNet's copyright laws.
Ironwood being at the gala just makes sense. He's the general of the military, the headmaster of the Huntsmen academy and a council member having him show up and be Team VIEW's pseudo guide just made perfect sense. So fun fact, I have two sayings that I commonly use. The first is actually from Monty Oum so it ends up coming full circle, that quote is: "Keep moving forward." It also falls in line with the other one which Ironwood straight up says "Don't question the madness" as someone who works tech support trying to find reason in some people's problems will drive you mad. Just don't question it and just go with it. Or as I like to say, "keep moving forward."
The gala itself is just me trying to show the upper crusts of Atlas, Jacques is meant to represent that to a T. I had a fun time writing thinly veiled insults between him and Viralious, but that's just minor in this chapter. So we got more of a look into Shiva Slate. She's meant to be a caring mother who wants to care for Eckhart but still wants the best for him even if it means he doesn't always get what he wants. She is a fun character, and we will see more of her. Now then let's address the elephant in the room.
Ifiral is the brother of the CEO of Sherfira Industries, I mean to be fair there were clues in the previous chapters such as Kaine announcing her engagement the same in the short story of the chapter that Sherfira CEO announces engagement. Also the connection between Kaine and Ifiral. I thought the context clues were good. This brings us to Regis himself. He's based off of Rufas Shinra from Final Fantasy VII (Specifically the Remake). We will see more of that connection later. So Ifiral has some hunt he's doing with the Glass Unicorn, I'm sure can guess what it is based off of the context clues. It's going to be the spark that moves the second half of this arc forward. Simply put THIS is the whole reason the gala happened. This one scene is the whole reason all of team VIEW came because it could give plausible deniability for Ifiral showing up. Anyhow enough about that we meet and learn a little bit about Juno in this chapter and it's totally not set up no I don't know what you're talking about.
The rest of the chapter is simple world/character building and leaves us off onto where chapter 19 will go. I must say I do think that the second half of this arc is going to be shorter than the first (So technically it started chapter 9 (more like 12/13) and moved until 17, I believe this one will be 4-5 depending on how sidetracked I get while writing it.) Overall, the pieces are set for the second half and I cannot wait to start writing about something other than Eckhart's problems. (The reason why there were two short stories back to back I really needed a break from that mindset.)
I'm sure my editor will love two long chapters back to back. : ^ )
AmoebaHewdraw's Note: Shoehorn in a karaoke scene and we'll call it even.
This is where I would like to thank my editor AmeobaHewdraw who makes this story actually legible. Without it well… you would probably get a headache from all of the grammar mistakes.
Until Next Time Xcom Out.