The Vytal Festival was in full swing, Currently team's RWBY and ABRN were engaged in heated combat. Neo and her team sat in the stands cheering on Team RWBY when suddenly, a loud and bombastic voice could be heard on the loudspeaker, "Hello! It seems that we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor? "
The voice of the bombastic man was joined by a very energetic voice, "Doctor... And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this match may be the closest we've seen of the four-on-four round of the tournament!"
The Bombastic man continued, "For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament, broadcast live from the Amity Colosseum!"
The duo continued in their tirade, explaining all of the rules of the tournament, and then launching back into their commentary.
Elsewhere a group of 4 people sat in a high office on a large couch, "You know Oz, I didn't know you guys had such a comfy setup for the tournament."
"Yes well, we typically have a slightly bigger listening party, however this year, both Peter and Oobleck wanted to be in the announcer's box this time around and so one of them isn't present, as well as Qrow being out on a mission right now, though he's due back tonight."
"Yes, typically we have five or six people in here for the festival, since there are no classes on tourney days we teachers all sit here and watch our students perform." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch added, followed by a similar voice, though slightly higher pitched, "It's actually quite nice with just us here, everyone else makes this quite a loud experience usually."
"Well said Jay, it is a nice change of pace to have it so relaxing in here." Glynda replied to Professor Peach.
Aurum continued with what she had been saying previously, "Yeah, at shade we just watch in our own homes or apartments, it's kinda lame." She said while eating some potato chips.
"I kinda feel like an outsider here, is this why teachers don't usually join the exchange?" Aurum asked after a beat of silence,
Glynda made to speak but was cut off by Ozpin, "Nonsense Aurum, your presence is as welcome as ever, if anything i'd like it if more teachers participated in the exchange, more knowledge shared across the world can only be beneficial to the future."
Aurum nodded along, but internally raved, sharing knowledge?! Where was that talk when the world was at stake, and the only ones who trusted you were left in the dark?!
Aurum's internal malding was cut off by the soothing voice of her eternal companion, Ruby, you know what he means, his actions in a past life were fueled by eons of betrayal and scorn, he is not the same desperate man that you knew, Aurum relaxed a bit, Yeah... yeah you're right, sorry. Jeez it's been a while since I went crazy like that, at least I did it internally. I'm here if you need Ruby Thanks Rose...
"-urum? Aurum!"
"Huh, what?" Aurum said as she refocused on the world around her, "Sorry, I spaced out for a bit there, what's going on?"
Ozpin replied, "It appears Team RWBY has taken the victory, I had asked if you were going to stay for the next match, its Team BYOH (Brioche) vs Team CPPR(Copper), 1st year Atlas vs 3rd year Mistral?"
"Uh... Nah, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my daughter, I'll see you guys tomorrow unless my daughter fights then."
Aurum then got up and left the room, heading out into Ozpin's office, then down the elevator to the floor of the CCT, where she took off for the fairgrounds. Passing by a 4th year team from Shade, CASH she believed, she made her way to the fairgrounds, where she was greeted to the sight of team's JNPR, RWBY, and NSVD all hanging out and making small talk while eating noodles. Aurum approached silently, succeeding until she was a few feet from the stand.
"Hey Mom, how was the teacher meeting?"
Aurum ceased her sneakiness and approached much more casually before placing an order of noodles, "It was actually a cover so all the teachers could get together with drinks and snacks on a couch and watch the Tournament... but it was fine, I saw you guy's match by the way-" she said while changing her focus to Team RWBY, "-great work out there, though overall execution was a bit sloppy, but that's expected for a first year team."
"Uh, Hi to you too auntie?" Ruby and Yang said in unison,
Suddenly out of the 13 people sitting around the noodle stand, 6 of then were either in the midst of a spit take, or choking on some sort of noodle, Pyrrha was the first to comment, "Neo? What are they talking about?"
The two had gone on three more dates since the dance, and had found each other a good match, though that could be a figment of the so called 'honeymoon phase', only time would tell. Neo replied to her, "Oh yeah, my mom is the sister to Summer Rose, so Yang and Ruby are my Cousins, and Mom is their Aunt."
Weiss listened to this and rounded on her leader, "Exactly how many famous huntresses and huntsmen are related to you?"
Ruby shied away from Weiss as she answered, "uh, to my knowledge? Summer Rose, Aurum Lazuli, Qrow Branwen, Raven Branwen, Taiyang Xiao Long."
Weiss continued to glare at Ruby for a few seconds before continuing to eat her noodles, while the rest of the group badgered Neo and Aurum for details, which they happily provided.
The group stayed and chatted for quite some time before two voices called from the PA,
"Would Teams JNPR and NSVD please report to the arena!"
"YES! Like they were scheduled to, SEVERAL MINUTES AGO!"
The teams looked at each other, grinned, and bolted together, eager to get to the Arena.
Okay, full disclosure, writers block has been demolishing me recently, Last chapter was really hard to write, and this one was no easier, i'm going to try some new writing tactics, but for now, ill give what I can, till monday. -SniperTheNoodle