So my one-shot has become a two-shot with the potential of becoming a full series. Sorry for not posting anything in so long. I have been working on a lot of project and work and the pandemic have all been a pain to deal with. I am hoping to have some new chapters finished up soon for some of my other stories as well. Big shout out to Mikotyzini for inspiring a certain scene later on in this chapter. And another shout out to all my friends over on the White Rose Schneenanigans Discord server who have been a big help with my writing.
Chapter 2:
Shaking.
Her leg would not stop shaking. Bouncing up and down as she sat in the lobby of an office building she never thought she would ever set foot in.
A hand reaches out and pressed down on her leg. "Ruby, I get that your nervous but if you keep that up you may shake the whole building apart." Her sister Yang smiles at her, but in her sister's lilac eyes she can see the same sort of nervousness.
The third member of their trio sat a bit more composed, but the death grip she had on Yang's other hand showed how apprehensive Blake really is. If the limb in question was not artificial Yang was pretty sure she may have some broken bones from how strong Blake was squeezing.
"Sorry," Ruby whispers as she tries to calm her nerves, or at the very least her legs. "It is just, well I never expected something like this to happen. Like jamming out with the biggest new artist of the year and getting discovered! It is just, just…."
"Overwhelming?" Blake offers from Yang's other side,
"Yeah! Exactly! I keep feeling like I have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming." Ruby says as she pinches her leg.
After a few more minutes a door opens up and a woman in a black business suit and purple blouse enters the room, her hair done up in an elegant yet very professional style. "Girls my name is Glynda Goodwitch."
"Weiss' manager," Ruby says earning a nod from the older woman.
"Indeed. Because of Ms. Schnee's involvement with you all, Ozpin thought it best that I assist in the interview process." Glynda responds before gesturing to the door. "If you will follow me to the meeting room."
The girls then follow the older woman down a series of halls before finding themselves in a rather spacious conference room with large windows overlooking the city below. Inside the room sitting at the very head of a large and heavy wooden table is a middle-aged man with greying hair who is holding a steaming mug of coffee.
"Ruby Rose," He says looking up from the screen on the table and directly at the teen. "You have silver eyes." He says as his own pale green orbs stare into hers. This makes the girl a bit nervous and fidgety. "Now then I have done a fair bit of research about the three of you. There are more than a few videos of your performances out there on the web before that night with Ms. Schnee. I can say without a doubt that you have talent." He pauses and takes a sip from his steaming mug. "But my question is this. Why?"
"Why what sir?" Blake asks from her spot at Ruby's right.
"Why would the three of you form a band and make such, if you don't mind me saying quite extraordinary music. All while not really promoting yourselves." The record executive clarifies. "You have made several performances at bars and small venues. You do have quite the following if what I see from your fan page is anything to go by, that despite your band not even having an official name. You are all incredibly talented. But I want to know why you are performing and if you want to pursue this professionally."
The three girls stand there, more than a little intimidated at the man asking rather personal questions about them and about their group. Fans started referring to them as RBY pronounced the same as their lead singer's name but the three girls never really thought about it.
"We just really love performing." Yang shrugs and smiles.
"I do not doubt that Miss Xiao-Long. How about you three take a seat?" Ozpin motions to three chairs at the end of the table. "So tell me how a schoolgirl, a former youth boxing champion, and the daughter of a famous civil rights attorney got together to form a band." His eyes drift from Ruby to Yang and finally to Blake as he says this.
The girls all go wide-eyed at this. It is not like they were trying to hide their pasts before but to have it brought up like this with so much potentially on the line made them uneasy.
"The short answer." Blake pipes up finding her voice first. "Summer Rose."
An eyebrow raised by Ozpin prompts her to continue.
"She was a music teacher at Signal," Blake explains before her girlfriend cuts her off.
"More like she was the head of the who department." Yang scoffs with a smirk on her lips. "Name an instrument and she could play it and teach it to anyone."
"And the three of you were her students?" Ozpin presses.
"Well I was for a bit, but," the black-haired girl's gaze drifted to the other two members of her group.
"She was my mom," Ruby spoke up for the first time since the meeting began. Her gaze shifting over to Yang. "Our mom."
Ozpin nods. "You have my condolences for your loss. You must have been incredibly close for her to be such an inspiration to you."
"Yeah, at first playing was just a way to feel closer to her and remember her." Ruby continued her fingers twitching in her lap as if she was fingering the notes on an imaginary guitar.
"And you Miss Xiao-Long?"
Yang takes a deep breath as she sorts out her thought. "Let's say for right now our whole family situation is a bit complicated. Me and Ruby are technically half-sisters. Different birth mothers and all that. But Summer always treated me like her own flesh and blood daughter." She pauses for a moment lifting up her prosthetic arm. "When I had my accident and lost my arm mom was so patient with me helping me adjust to the new prosthetic and even used music to help me learn my fine motor control again. She was amazing like that." Yang smiles fondly at that memory.
"Before she died we would just sit in the garage and hang out and jam a bit on the weekends. She would join in from time to time after bringing us cookies." Ruby gives a bittersweet smile at that memory. "Our first real performance was for a fundraiser at our old school raising money for cancer research, and well for there we just started playing more small gigs."
Yang and Blake both reach hands over to Ruby's lap and take one of the small girl's hands into their own giving a comforting squeeze.
"Hmm. I think I am getting a fuller picture of why you play." Ozpin nods looking across at the girls. "A way to honor your mother and the bonds you have with each other. The question now is are you prepared to devote everything you are and everything you have in order to be successful musicians? Do you really want this?"
The three girls look at each other before turning back to Ozpin. "More than anything," Ruby says with complete confidence.
Ozpin smiles. "Alright then let's get started."
Line Break
Three days.
Three days since the members of RBY joined Beacon entertainment.
Weiss could not be happier for the girl's making the leap into the industry. She knows that they will go far and eventually become very popular.
Weiss also could not be more annoyed because she had not been able to jam out with the girls since. Paperwork, contracts, setting up a studio for them and moving everything to a new condo inside Beacon Tower. The girls had been incredibly busy.
Weiss also had been busy, being constantly hounded by the paparazzi all demanding answers to questions and rumors that had been floating around.
That she was at the bar because she was an alcoholic like her mother.
That she was trying to upstage a beloved local band out of sheer pride and ego.
That she was in a secret affair with one or all of the girls.
That it had all been a stunt to drum up publicity after her canceled concert.
So many suspicions and rumors and every one of them giving her a massive headache.
Now she is making an appearance on 'Boop with Nora Valkyrie' and honestly, she thinks the hyperactive ginger late-night comedian has more journalistic integrity than all the gossip rags that have been hounding her.
Weiss stands just off set waiting for her segment. The stage manager Ren standing beside her looking as stoic as always as he scrolls through a tablet.
"Welcome back to BOOP!" Nora shouts as she spins in her padded office chair behind the stage desk coming to a stop looking noticeably dizzy and earning a laugh from the audience. "Our final guest of the evening is the shining snowy star of the stage. The musical maestro, I think I am using that word correctly." Nora turns to Ren who gives her a thumbs up. "Yay! I did! Where was I? Oh yes, final guest! Weiss is here!" she shouts bouncing up and down in her chair as the walk-on music plays and Weiss makes her way to the guest couch, a small smirk on her face as she quietly chuckles.
Weiss gives a small bow to the audience before she sits down turning to Nora who is leaning over her desk, chin in her hands, looking at the singer.
"So Weiss it has been soooooo long since you were last here!" Nora whines
Weiss chuckles. "A few months, I think I was last on right before my latest tour started." It had been one of her promotional appearances to get people excited for the tour.
"Oh yes! That was a fun show!" Nora squeals as she sits back in her chair. "That tour that just wrapped up with your… special appearance at a bar in Vale. Now Weiss we have all seen the videos." Clips from her performance that night start playing on all the monitors. "The prim and proper pop-rock star letting it all hang out at a dive bar. Tell us what happened?"
"Well, my concert for the evening got canceled so I was wandering around Vale near my hotel looking for some inspiration for new songs," Weiss replies honestly.
"Oh? And did you find it?" Nora smirks
"You could say that." Weiss nods "That is what led me to that bar and to the girls. Honestly, they were playing better than some of the backup bands I had used in the past."
"Ohhh sick burn from the Ice Queen." Nora turns to her own stage band. "You guys better up your game!" This causes the lead trumpet player to just give her a look with a raised eyebrow before the whole group busts out into an improvised jazz solo for about a minute. Nora turns to Weiss who gives her a thumbs up. "Okay, you all get to keep your jobs. But they are so much cuter than you all."
"We ain't gonna argue that boss." The trumpeter Flynt Coal says with a smirk. "Though if they ever wanna jam out we can groove with that. You too Schnee."
"I might take you up on that Flynt." Weiss nods, she had played some with the band in past appearances on the show and their jazzy, freeform style of music was always fun to just relax and play around with.
"So Weiss what can you tell us about these girls? Will they be joining you on tour?" Nora asks as she puts her feet up on her desk.
"Well, I don't know about that. I certainly had fun jamming out with them and they certainly are better company than an empty tour bus." Weiss gives a small smile at the thought of touring with the girls. Performing and having fun, talking late into the night after a concert at some dive bar or dinner. The touring experience she missed out on when her father still controlled a large portion of her life.
"So which of the girls impressed you the most? The blonde bombshell drummer? The sultry feline keyboardist? Or the goth rocking the wicked ax?" Nora spins in her chair and once more adopts the 'chin in hands pose' on her desk.
"Without a doubt it was Ruby. The power and emotion of her voice just…." Weiss paused as her gaze fell on one of the screens that was showing Ruby playing before Wiess joined the girls on stage. "That is not something that can be taught. It is a power that comes right from the soul and it spoke to me that night. I think it touched everyone in the crowd. I am looking forward to where she and her bandmates go from here. They have signed on with Beacon Entertainment and I hope to be working with them in the future."
"Well maybe next time you can bring them with you and we can all rock down the house!" Nora exclaims with a smile. "But that all the time we have for tonight ladies, gentlemen, and others." She then rushes the camera pointed at her. "And remember," She pokes the camera's lens. "Boop."