Disclaimer: Of course I don't own RWBY, its characters, or the franchise. That's all Rooster Teeth~
Story: Where James found himself with a penpal and writing back, and ended up with a strange kind of friendship that he was actually enjoying. If he found himself a Romeo, he supposed he could deal with being 'Juliet'.
Set as crack!AU (sometimes taken serious?), in which Ruby and Ironwood somehow become penpals before main series start and related to my other RWBY fic "Team RAMEN!"
Spoilers: Probably.
Warnings: Age disparity, maybe future situations if this is continued. Crack humor in abundance and absurdity rampant –probably OOC. Tons of fluff, though be warned of depressive moments because of undiagnosed depressive characters.
Pairings: Ruby/James Ironwood; IronRose pre-relationship.
The R&J Exchange
Chapter One: First Letters
Dear Director of the Weapons Advancement Division,
This is probably very random, but I would like to submit some weapon designs I hope you'll be interested in. If you are interested, please contact me back for the rest of the specs and negotiation of price.
Thank you sincerely,
R
"Specialist Schnee! What do you think of the designs this person sent? They're incredible!" the man excitedly said. "And the specifications are very innovative!"
Winter hmmed, glancing over said weapon designs and keeping a neutral face on. However, she was indeed very impressed with the weapon plans in her hands.
"I'll let General Ironwood see these," she answered him. "He'll make a decision and I'll let you know the details afterwards."
This was highly irregular and not the usual method for any weapons design to be looked at and/or admitted. They had a strict policy and process in looking and accepting designs for weapons, usually with an official submission procedure allowing for those (usually from and preferential treatment for Atlesians). Those from outside the kingdom were rarely looked at, if there were any at all.
It was by whim that Director Russet had decided to take a look at submissions himself, and saw this one letter in particular, it seemed. Needless to say, that man was so excited about it that he'd sought her out to ask about accepting the proposition and contacting this individual.
Given the unusual circumstances though, she thought the General would like to see this himself and make his own mind about it.
On a large, smooth marble desk, neat and organized, sat a tall man who was looking out of his floor-to-ceiling windows in contemplation. A plain letter was open and spread out on his desk with designs and intriguing ideas on weapons.
What an interesting surprise this was —a short, to the point letter from some island in Vale. A letter that was a submission to his military's WAD, complete with design prospects and highly curious ideas and specs that set his weapon specialists alight with excitement and debate. It was unusual to have had a submission outside of Atlas and from so far away as to be from Vale (the exact location being a nowhere island by the name of Patch), and even more unusual that it had been mailed straight to the WAD Director like…regular mail.
It hadn't been, as his WAD Director revealed to him, sent in through the division's official submission channels. He had found it in a pile containing all of his mail coming in from his work mail box, and had chanced upon the letter. Having read through and found the letter, he'd given a chance on the designs and hadn't regretted his whim to look through the plans.
The location and the method of delivery were what interested James, with the two details having caught his attention to this case. And then, seeing the actual weapon designs and the ideas, made him highly interested in pursuing the matter himself. That's why…
Swiveling his chair to face his desk, he pulled paper and pen towards himself and began to write back himself.
Dear R,
First off, I believe your ideas are very unusual and creative. It was certainly a surprise here to have received it in the way your letter came, as usually there is an official process that submissions have to go through and be received here in Atlas. Weapon Specialist Schnee will be contacting you soon about the rest of the schematics and will talk to you regarding financial arrangements, however I was curious about you and your letter. Was there a particular reason you decided to contact the Atlesian Weapons Advancement Division and why you sent in the letter the way you did?
Cordially,
J
Started 12/26/20 – Completed 12/29/20
A/n: There, the R&J penpal side-story I decided to do after all XD Team 'Ramen' isn't featured (yet, maybe, who knows later on), but for now we get fluffy rot between these too lol. Since this one's short, I'll give another chapter of this as well~ Hope you all enjoy!
Quick Points:
1. Honestly, I was going to end up writing this as a drabble-ish/vignette style thing, and then I was 'nope, gotta get some more details I want in there lol'. I ended though I would just write it out through letters and that's it –that was so not happening. This what you all get instead though: vignette length to shortish (and maybe not so short) chapters. Welp.
2. This time, all James' POV.
3. Also, was going to put this out later (much later), but seriously –the idea and things going on in Volume 8 is killing me…I need to shower James with love (like I did for Laurence Dominic of Dollhouse, Agent Kallus of Star Wars Rebels, for Nolan Sorrento of Ready Player One, Sasori and Itachi and Rasa of Naruto…I got a type, okay? XD)