Chapter 15: Dance Dance Disappointment
"Boys, we need a battle plan,"
Ren looked up from his textbook at Sun's declaration.
It was currently the weekend and Nora and Pyrrha were with Team RWBY doing "girl's stuff" … whatever that was.
Ren thought he'd finally get some peace and quiet to do his homework …too bad that hope got interrupted when Sun and Neptune burst into the team's room wanting to do a boy's night.
After much convincing that they should do something else, they settled on just hanging out in their room.
Neptune was currently getting his butt whooped by Jaune in their fighting game while Mori was as per usual asleep on the couch.
"What?" Jaune asked pausing his video game.
"Hey, I was just about to win!"
"Neptune, no you weren't," Jaune snarked back.
"Mori, get up, we need to make a battle plan!" Sun yelled as he shook the spiky-brunette awake from the couch.
"Finally, I made a dent!" Mori yelled as he got up in excitement, "…Wait…what's going on?" he asked as he turned to the group in confusion.
"Jeez dude, what kind of dreams do you have?" Neptune asked surprised by the sudden outburst.
"We are making a battle plan," Sun declared, ignoring his partner.
"A battle plan?" Ren commented, "The Vytal Festival isn't for a while and we aren't even on the same team."
"No, not a battle plan for the Vytal Festival," Sun replied in annoyance "a battle plan for the dance!"
"Wait, are we fighting during the dance?" Mori asked in excitement.
"What? …No," Sun said in exasperation as Mori's excitement deflated, "We need to make a battle plan to make sure we aren't losers."
"Losers?" Jaune asked in confusion
"Losers," Sun repeated folding his arms.
"I'm not quite following you," Neptune commented.
Ren had to agree with Neptune that he had no idea what Sun was talking about.
"Dates!" Sun shouted, "I am talking about finding Dates."
"Ohhh," The four other boys commented as it finally hit them.
"Mmm-hmmm," Sun nodded as his point finally got across.
"So, who are you planning on asking Sun?"
"…Are you serious Jaune?" Sun asked flabbergasted.
"Blake, he's planning on asking Blake," Mori dead panned as he pointed out the obvious.
"Ohh right," Jaune commented, "…Wait is she even going on to the dance, last I heard she hadn't even bothered to get a dress."
"…Well, I hope she does," Sun commented, "She needs to relax and not worry so much."
"Well, good luck with that man," Jaune commented, "I on the other hand plan on asking the prettiest girl in Beacon."
Ren internally rolled his eyes; he was going to get shot down again…well, at least his leader was persistent.
"You know you're just going to get shot down again…right?" Mori commented as he vocalized Ren's thoughts.
"Ok, ok, I know my previous attempts have failed," Jaune defended himself, "But this one is going to work…just imagine me, a guitar, serenading Weiss to go to the dance with me."
Blank stares were all that Jaune got from the boys.
"…Do what you want," Mori commented in an exasperation.
"Hopefully, she says yes," Jaune continued, "If not I'm probably just going to have to go to the dance alone."
At that, Ren once again just gave Jaune a flat stare. He then looked over at Mori who was giving that exact same look.
Their eyes met and a feeling of understanding passed between them.
"Has he not realized yet?" Mori mouthed wordlessly.
Ren shook his head as a response.
"How?"
Ren could only shrug his shoulders.
Jaune was a bright kid who was a great leader, but his ability to understand girls was severely lacking.
"Do you want to bring it up or should I?" Mori once again mouthed.
"I'll do it this time." Ren mouthed back.
"Jaune," Ren spoke up getting the attention of his leader, "What about Pyrrha? I don't believe she has any plans for the dance."
"Wait Really?" Jaune asked in confusion, "I'd imagine she'd be one of the first girls to be asked, I'm sure she could get any guy to ask her to the dance."
"Yeah, any guy but one," Mori muttered in the background.
Ren gave a sharp look at Mori to not say anything else.
"I'm not sure about that Jaune," Ren said as he continued to nudge his leader along, "I think she's waiting for the right person to ask her out."
"Really, who? I haven't really noticed anyone she has been particularly interested in"
*Thud*
The other inhabitants of the room looked over to the source of the loud noise.
It was Mori who just broke the wall slamming his head into it.
"…Sorry, I'll get that fixed." He apologized sheepishly.
"You ok dude?" Neptune asked in concern. "You hit your head really hard."
"I'm fine," Mori responded, "There's really not much that can hurt me."
"Yeah and even if something did, he heals it up like it's nothing, like his arm," Sun chipped in.
"Oh yeah," Neptune said with a tone that just realized something, "How is your left arm holding up?"
Mori raised his healed arm and performed a couple of moves with it.
"Good as new," he commented giving a thumbs up with it.
"It's only been a couple of days, how has your arm already fully healed without Aura?" Neptune asked bewildered by the brunette's healing factor.
Mori only shrugged in response.
Neptune hadn't quite gotten to use to their friend's weirdness. To be fair, it took a while for everyone else in their friend group, but it eventually got so normal that whenever Hashtag Mori things happened it no longer came as a surprise.
Nora was the one who came up with that catchphrase.
"Did you ever get an apology from the guys who broke your arm?" Jaune asked in concern.
"Yeah, apparently they all got in trouble and suspended," Mori commented, "I was called up to the office and Professor Ozpin explained what happened that caused our fight. Personally, I didn't mind as much, it was fun fighting them."
Ren could only shake his head in exasperation, only Mori would consider getting his arm broken "fun."
"I hope I can meet them again and get another fight with them," He continued with a glint in his eyes, "Maybe they'll be at the Vytal Festival."
"Hopefully not," Jaune commented, "I don't want to face guys that have the ability to break your arm."
That was another thing that Ren was questioning about, what kind of students did Atlas have that could break their friend's arm?
"Guys focus," Sun cut in, "We can talk about Mori's stupid abilities later, we need to focus on not being losers."
"Well, I'm going to just let the ladies flock to me," Neptune commented with a suave smile.
Ren really didn't care for this conversation, he already had plans to go with Nora.
"I'm probably just going by myself," Mori commented in a neutral tone, "If I get asked to go with someone sure, but I probably won't."
At this, Ren internally raised his eyebrows and looked at his friend in disbelief.
He couldn't be that oblivious…right?
"Mori the hell you talkin' about," Sun commented in disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"Dude, the girls flock all over you." Sun pointed out.
"They do?" Jaune and Mori commented simultaneously.
"Duh yes they do," Sun continued, "Like that all-girl Team from Vacuo who gave you their scroll numbers?"
"They just said they wanted to connect in case there was anywhere in Vale I wanted to show them, which doesn't make sense because I don't even know Vale that well."
"Uggh," Sun replied putting his head in his hand.
"Dude, why" Neptune also complained.
Ren could only nod in agreement, he loved his friends…but they were idiots when it came to girls.
"Dude, you are like one of the most popular guys in Beacon," Sun pointed out.
"Really?"
"Yeah, there are even rumors that you are dating all of Team RWBY,"
"WHAT!" Mori and Jaune both shouted.
"Have people not seen how Weiss treats me!?"
"And Blake doesn't really show any interest in anyone." Jaune pointed out.
"Hey, she's shown interest in me a little bit," Sun protested, "…I hope."
"Yeah, it's apparently a thing," Neptune pointed out ignoring Sun, "It's probably because you spend so much time around them."
"That's stupid," Mori snorted with a disgusted look, "Team RWBY can barely share a shower, what makes people think they can share a boy?"
Jaune nodded in agreement.
"So, are you going to take one of them out?" Sun asked, "Just please don't tell me you're going to ask Blake,"
"Blake at times is scared of me, I doubt she'd say yes."
"Or Weiss," Jaune chipped in.
"…Really, Jaune?"
"Maybe you will go with Yang?" Neptune commented, "You seem close with her."
"I'm close with Yang but not that close," Mori pointed out, "She mostly helps me with my homework, applying concepts to different things and removing stuff I don't really need."
Ren couldn't help but notice that there was one name that was missing in the guy's guesses on who would be good match to go with Mori.
Ruby had not been mentioned at all.
To Ren it was the easiest one, they already were extremely close, and it was easy to see how protective he was of Ruby.
They got along incredibly well, though, Mori didn't seem to want to bring her up.
"What about Ruby?" Jaune asked obliviously.
"Dammit Jaune," Ren thought to himself as his head hit his textbook.
"Dude, you ok?" Neptune asked Ren in concern.
"What about Ruby?" Mori asked back a little warily.
"You are really great friends with her so why don't you just take her?"
"…Like I said, I'll probably go on my own, if someone asks me, I'll say yes, but I doubt someone will."
"Dude, don't be a loser and go to the dance dateless," Sun commented.
"It's fine I don't even like dances that…" His scroll suddenly interrupted him, "Wait a second I got to take this."
He then left the room to answer his scroll.
Ren narrowed his eyes again, who was calling Mori at this hour, and for what?
"How do you think this color looks on me?" Weiss asked as she showed off a different dress.
"You look wonderful," Pyrrha responded back with a strained smile.
"Weiss, we have been looking at you try on dresses for an hour can we pleeease do something else?" Ruby whined at her partner.
Pyrrha had to internally agree with the fellow redhead. On the inside she was dying, Weiss had been trying on different dresses for Beacon Dance and she just couldn't find the right one.
"Hmm," The heiress thought about it, as she looked in the mirror, "…I think there's one more that'll be a better fit."
"UGGGH," All the other girls in the room groaned.
"Weiss Cream, just choose a dress so we can move on with planning for the Beacon Dance," Yang complained.
"I'll have you know that I can't just choose a dress," Weiss barked back, "It is important that we keep a proper appearance for an event as in important as this, it's also why it's better we should have Dollies at the dance."
"Dollies are so lame," Yang complained, "We need to go for a modern look."
"Fog machines are way too crass!"
Oh boy, they were getting into another argument about decorations again.
Can they please make some progress in planning?
"No they aren't, they are perfectly fine," Yang argued back, "And can we PLEASE start planning for the rest of the dance you've spent an hour looking for a dress…WHY do you need to find the perfect dress?"
"…it's cause I want to look as cute as possible ok," Weiss admitted as she sheepishly looked at the ground.
"Ah hah, I guess Ice Queen wants to impress her very own Ice King," Yang teased.
"I told you to stop calling me that," Weiss said as she gave a glare, "And No I don't"
Pyrrha knew that was a lie, ever since she met that guy Neptune, she had been infatuated by him.
Frankly, Pyrrha didn't know what Weiss saw in him…but hey, that was less competition for her.
Who was she kidding, Jaune would still go after Weiss.
"Speaking of impressing," Nora spoke up as she swung down from the bed she was hanging out on, "Who are you guys planning on going with to the dance" Me personally, I'm going with Renny,"
"This bird is flying solo," Yang confidently said, "I don't need anyone to hold me down."
"…I probably won't go," Blake said as she looked up from the book she was reading, "I'm too busy with researching."
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at this…right now, Blake was not the picture of the health. Her eyes were baggy, and her skin was pale. She needed a break from whatever she was researching.
Pyrrha noticed Yang also seemed to have that same look of concern.
"You know, Blake…I think some of the boys are looking for a date," She said in concern.
"Well I'm going with Ren," Nora declared with a smile, "We ALWAYS do stuff together."
Nora going with Ren was to no surprise to anyone within their two teams, anyone could see how close they were.
"What about Jaune?" Ruby asked innocently, "I think Jaune is looking for a date"
"…Seriously?" Blake deadpanned.
"No, I have an idea of who he is going to ask," Weiss sarcastically deadpanned.
Weiss was right, apparently, he had planned to serenade the heiress with music…Pyrrha knew because he already planned it out with her.
Pyrrha liked Jaune for a lot of things, his humility, his heart, his kindness…his brain on the hand…
Well no, that was wrong, he was good at strategy, it was just…other things that made Pyrrha want to bash her head on the wall sometimes.
She admired her partner's perseverance…but she wished he had it directed elsewhere…more specifically her.
"I don't know what you see in Neptune over Jaune, to be honest," Yang chipped in, "They both use the same cheesy lines, and to be honest, to me, they are both the same in the looks department."
Pyrrha nodded along internally with Yang's assessment. Jaune was a great guy! Weiss was lucky to have someone like him go after her.
"It's because Neptune is more of an intellectual fit," Weiss defended herself, "He doesn't waste his time playing video games and reading comic books."
"Actually, most of his time nowadays has been spent on training and studying, he only really plays video games in his free time," Pyrrha spoke up defending her partner.
"And besides is Neptune even actually smarter than Jaune?" Ruby asked as she swung her feet from her bed.
"What do you mean by that?" Weiss asked narrowing her eyes.
"Like Neptune says all this smart stuff, but most of the stuff he says is pretty useless for a huntsman, Jaune on the other hand is a great strategist who uses his head a lot in a fight," Ruby said explaining her reasoning, "He usually has an idea of the best path and the best way to fight someone, it's just his body isn't conditioned to react to those general thoughts.
"…What?" the heiress responded in confusion.
"She's saying Vomit Boy knows what to do, he just can't, because of his lack of experience," Yang explained for her sister, "Right Ruby?"
"Yup," the girl cheerfully replied.
"Our Fearless Leader is awesome!" Nora bragged with a smile, "Team exercises are soooo easy when he takes charge."
At that, Pyrrha nodded along in agreement.
"I'm surprised you recognized that," Pyrrha said to the other team leader.
"Well to be fair I didn't really notice until Mori pointed it out," Ruby sheepishly replied, "But once he did, I could see what he was talking about, I've even gone to Jaune a couple of times for pointers."
Ahh, that made sense, Mori was really the only one outside of Pyrrha that initially noticed Jaune's potential.
Pyrrha was thankful for him, whenever she couldn't encourage Jaune, he seemed to know what to do…she just wished he stopped his habit of getting them both into jail.
"But yeah," Ruby continued, "Jaune is a lot smarter than people give him credit for, if you won't go with him, maybe Pyrrha should." She said innocently.
Suddenly all the eyes in the room focused on Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha you do need a date to the dance, right?" Yang asked with a sly smile on her face.
"I mean, they are already partners," Nora continued as that same smile appeared on her face as well.
Pyrrha could feel a slight blush appear on her face… dammit Ruby, why did she have to drag her into this.
She needed to find a way out…what could she do about it…
"Maybe," Pyrrha said with a smile, "What about you Ruby, what are you planning on doing for the dance?"
"Wha-what do you mean?" Ruby stammered,
Sorry, Ruby, her only option was throwing her fellow redhead under the bus.
"Yeah," Weiss said narrowing her eyes, "What are you planning to do for the dance,"
"I don't think she's even picked out a dress yet…" Yang murmured as she turned towards her sister.
"Well, I…I'm thinking of just staying in the room and read comic books," Ruby sheepishly admitted twiddling her fingers.
"You dolt, the Beacon Dance is one of the most important events of the year, you can't just skip it to read comic books!" Weiss angrily shouted.
"Bu-but Blake is skipping as well, why can't I?" Ruby complained.
"Don't bring me into this," Blake spoke, looking up from her research.
"And we will solve that problem later," Yang muttered, "But our focus right now is on you." She said turning to her sister.
"We need to find you a dress and some heels," Weiss declared.
"No, please no, anything but the lady stilts," Ruby cried.
Pyrrha couldn't help but feel guilty now for making Ruby the target of everyone's attention…but it was the only way.
"Don't worry Ruby," Pyrrha said as she put a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder, "Heels aren't that bad."
"Yes, they are!" Ruby complained, "And besides even if I go, I'll probably just hang out near the punch bowl with Mori."
"Actually, you may not be able to do that," Blake said as she looked up again.
"What hang out near the punch bowl?" Ruby said in confusion.
"No, hang out with Mori," Blake explained, "Ruby…you do know that Mori is actually one of the more popular guys in Beacon right now…right?"
"Wha-what what are you talkin' about?"
"He is good looking, smart and strong," Blake explained, "The only other guys our year that really fit that profile are Ren and surprisingly Cardin... but well Cardin is…Cardin."
"And Ren's not currently looking to date anyone," Nora chipped in with a glare in her eyes.
"She has a point Rubes," Yang spoke after thinking about it "Whenever Mori is training in the courtyard, the girls usually flock over to see him and I've seen this all-girl team from Vacuo try to chat him up a couple of times."
"That doesn't make sense, people didn't even talk to him at the beginning of the semester," Ruby complained.
"Yeah then he one-shot Cardin," Blake replied back, "And then the guy after that and the guy after that."
Pyrrha nodded along, she always had a feeling Mori was a lot stronger than he showed during their first semester and his fights during the second one only proved that he was a top-class fighter.
"Well just because he started to win a lot of fights doesn't mean he'd suddenly get popular," Ruby said in a panicked voice.
"No, but it does get people to notice him more and notice his other traits," Weiss spoke up, "I complain about him all time but he is well built for even a huntsman, and also despite my…reservations about his intellect, his grades are surprisingly high…for a buffoon" She quickly added on.
"Yeah he even outscored you in our last Grimm Studies test Weiss," Nora chipped in.
"I…I demand a re-grade," Weiss cried while putting her head on the desk, "How did I lose to a guy who sleeps in class all day."
"But yeah handsome, smart, and strong is a rare combination at Beacon," Blake continued her point ignoring Weiss.
"Jaune's also pretty handsome and smart," Pyrrha pointed out defending her partner's honor once again.
"But he's not strong," Yang pointed out, "Yet anyways, he may be a future catch, maybe I should get my hands in that cookie jar, ehh Pyrrha," She then gave a sly smile again nudging her in her side.
Oh, shoot, the attention was back on her again., she needed to quickly throw them off her.
"But yes, Ruby, your plan to just hang out with Mori may not work out," Pyrrha said as she threw the redhead under the bus again.
"Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if someone's already asked him out," Yang added as her attention went back to her sister.
Ruby suddenly paled.
"I uhh, I got to go check out how my cookies are doing!" Ruby said as she ran out of the room.
Silence filled the room as the youngest girl left.
"Why do you do that?" Blake said as she turned to her partner.
"Ehh, she needs to get more assertive, and look, now she's not focusing on just reading comic books during the dance," Yang explained, "Now we just need to focus on one more person for the dance,"
Suddenly all the eyes in the room went back on to Pyrrha. Shoot, what could she do? Ruby wasn't here to throw under the bus for a third time.
"So, I've been thinking about it and I think Weiss's dollies idea is wonderful."
"See! I told you!"
Ruby ran down the hallways to quickly reach the boy's room.
It wasn't because she wanted to ask Mori out, no she just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be alone at the punch bowl.
If she was going to be forced to the dance, she'd wanted to make sure that she at least had a buddy to hang out with.
Knocking on the Team JNPR room a familiar blond face greeted her.
"Ruby?"
"Hey, Jaune" Ruby replied back, "How are you guys?"
"Doing pretty good just finished wiping the floor with Neptune and Sun,"
"I demand a rematch!" A voice from the back of the room yelled.
"You cheated there's no way you could have beaten us both that fast." Another voice added on.
"The results are still going to be the same and it's not cheating it's skill!" Jaune yelled back, "What's up Rubes?"
"Ohh, nothing much," Ruby replied, "We are just still planning out the decorations for the dance."
"You've spent the last three hours on planning decorations?"
"Welllll…Let's just say there's been…creative differences."
"Creative differences?" Jaune repeated with a confused look.
"Creative differences," Ruby reaffirmed nodding with a smile.
"…Oook, what brings you here?" Jaune asked moving on from the topic.
"Nothing much, I just wanted to talk to Mori for a little bit."
"For, what?" Jaune asked.
Ruby panicked, why did she want to talk to Mori again, she wasn't asking him out, no she just wanted to make sure she wasn't alone at the punch bowl…but wait telling Jaune she doesn't want to be alone at the punch bowl would make her look so lame, what could she tell Jaune? …She needed help with homework? …Yang was going on a pun rampage? …Blake ran off again?
"If you are looking for Mori, he's not in the room right now," Ren suddenly chipped in, interrupting Ruby's thoughts on what she could use as an excuse.
"Do you know where he is?" Ruby asked.
"Hold on let me text him," Jaune replied taking out of his scroll.
A couple of seconds of awkward silence filled the hallways as they waited for a reply back after he sent his message.
"Soo, what do you need to talk to him about again?" Jaune asked, repeating his earlier question.
Once again Ruby's mind went into a panic on what she should say.
"Hey Jaune, can you help me with this problem?" Ren suddenly asked, again bailing Ruby from answering his question.
"uhh, sure," Jaune answered, heading off to Ren, "Ren why do you need my help for this? You've already got it."
"Oh, you're right," Ren replied with a blank tone, "I guess I didn't need your help."
Right as Jaune was making his way back to the doorway his scroll suddenly rang.
"That was Mori, he's right now near the library," Jaune said after checking his scroll.
"Thank you Jaune," and with that, Ruby was off to the library.
"I still don't know why she wanted to talk to Mori," Jaune said as Ruby was leaving.
"Don't worry about it Jaune," Ren replied.
Ruby now began to make her way to the library.
Again, this was to make sure she wouldn't be alone at the punch bowl.
She didn't want to ask Mori out; this was clearly her trying to make sure she had at least one friend she can suffer with.
Besides if Mori was going to go out with anyone it should be with someone who was actually his friend.
Someone who can appreciate Mori outside of him being ridiculously strong.
Like yeah, Ruby was happy that Mori was being recognized for how awesome he was. But it still bugged her that people only saw him for his fighting strength.
They whisper about his natural talent and how completely unfair his abilities are, but don't see the countless hours of work he put in his martial arts.
They whisper in awe in his ability to dominate his opponents in a fight but don't see him afterward go up to them, congratulate them on the fight, and offer tips to get better.
They talk about how easy it must be for him but don't see the burden he puts on himself to get stronger.
All they see in him was just someone who kicked a lot of butt and was good at it.
Mori was so much more than that.
That moment when he saved those people with the recoilless kick had been all Ruby had filled Ruby's dream's these past few days.
It was such an amazing kick… his usual kicks were pretty cool but this one was just on a different level compared to them, and the way he just stood there with a determined face after he saved all those people's lives was the coolest thing she had ever seen.
Once again visions of a woman in white overlapped with him.
Mori really was an amazing hero; it was like he was straight from the fairy tales Yang read to her as a child.
Someone who won the fight no matter what and saved everyone.
Ruby hoped she'd reach that level of being an awesome hero.
If Mori was going to date anyone it shouldn't be someone who only liked him for his physical strength, no, it should be a friend who appreciated him for his strong heart and his kind personality.
Someone he was close to, like, like Yang! He was close to Yang and they always studied together; they would get along great…except Yang said she wanted to go by herself. Or he could go with Blake she was always paying attention to Mori and she needed to go to the dance to relax… but Sun was also interested in her though,… or Weiss!... actually no, that ship was pretty much sunk.
Yeah! That's why she was going to Mori right now, she wanted to make sure that he would find the right girl to go with the dance with, and if none of her teammates wanted to go with him than Ruby would hang out near the punch bowl with him, even though her feet were going to be in pain from the lady stilts.
Rounding the corner to the library in her carelessness, she ran into a brick wall.
"Oooh," Ruby commented as she could feel her aura drain from that hit.
What kind of brick wall did she run into.
"Ruby?"
Oh, it wasn't a brick wall she hit it was Mori…no wonder she felt worse.
"Hi, Mori why are there three of you…are you performing a triple kick?" Ruby responded as she looked up, her vision in a complete daze.
"No, you are just dizzy," Mori laughed as he helped her up, "How's the planning been so far?" He asked once Ruby got a hold of her bearings.
"Ehh," Ruby responded.
"That bad huh?" Mori chuckled.
"Let's just say there's a civil war going on right now between Fog machines and dollies."
"Fog machines and dollies?"
"You don't want to know," Ruby responded with a flat tone, "Then Weiss spent an hour trying to choose a dress."
"An hour?"
"An hour," Ruby repeated, "And she still hasn't found the 'right' dress"
"How many dresses can she have?" Mori asked incredulously, "Actually don't answer that, I'm pretty sure I have a section of my room labeled dress plateau."
Ruby giggled at the joke.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you had our stuff."
"Speaking of which Ruby, Mt. Cookies, starting to get awfully stale," Mori deadpanned.
"Oh no!" Ruby shouted her eyes widening, "I need to save the cookies!"
"Don't worry I wrapped some up and put them in the fridge,"
"Oh whew," Ruby replied her panic stopping.
"So, what did you need?" Mori asked.
"Huh?"
"Jaune texted me and said you were wanting to talk to me."
What was she needing to talk with Mori again? Oh yeah, punch bowl.
"Well I just wanted to talk to you about the Beacon dance,"
Mori raised his eyes waiting for Ruby to continue.
"I'm being forced by Yang and Weiss to go and I really don't want to, but they are saying it's important that I go."
"You could just do what you want and not go?"
"I wish but they'd kill me if I don't."
"So, do you want my help to get out of it?"
"Well…not exactly," Ruby responded as she looked up starting to feel embarrassed.
She was not asking him out to the dance. She was not. She was just making sure that she won't be lonely at the punch bowl…that and she was making sure that Mori was not going to be taken by someone who didn't care for him, she was not asking him out.
"I was just wondering if wecouldhangoutnearthepunchbowlduringthedance." Ruby said as she quickly spat out her request.
She could feel her face start to heat up and her heart start to rise as she said it. Would he accept being her punch bowl buddy?
"I'm not asking to be your date," she stammered out, "I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be by myself standing on the edge."
A couple of seconds passed before Mori gave his answer.
"…Sorry Ruby…," He said sheepishly rubbing his head, "…I've already made plans with someone…"
"Oh no, I really am going to the punch bowl alone," Ruby thought to herself as her heart dropped to her stomach
TMT here again hope you enjoyed this recent chapter. A quick word of warning I may not post next week due to mid-terms however I will still try to get a chapter out. Other than that I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.
Daegrors: This version of Ozpin has been a bit more trollish if you find that ooc than that's fine. As for the Glynda comment, the point of that was to show how Mori's emotions of how he feels about his friends are hard to hide so they doubt it's a lie.
Andielgranrayo: Thank you I'm glad you like the chapter.
DavidalejandroGmezFernandez: I'm glad you liked the AceOps fight. With the Glynda part I agree too much we see her be strict with her students we don't really see her praise students that much.
Wizardwolf1020: I'm glad you enjoyed the fight. Those are some fun ideas you have, But yeah, Ruby definitely has similarities with GOH Xuanzhang.
Hashirama 1710: It would be interesting if Ozpin knew the full truth.
Kalbario: Yeah, he hasn't found his staff yet hopefully he finds about it soon.
Bio RL: Eh I doubt Mori would kill Ozpin, my view on him is that I feel bad for him to be in a constant fight with his ex.
Dxhologram: Blake is being hypocritical I agree, but Vlume 1-3 Blake has always been a bit of a hypocrite and that's what makes her an interesting character imo. But Yeah Ironwood had that backfire badly on him.
Gen2324: Yeah he's getting one step closer to learning recoilless renewal
victorsan12345: The purpose of that pov was more to show how much of a threat Ironwood considers Mori while at the same time showing that Ozpin considers him vital for Remnants survival. I tried to show that there were some consequences this chapter.
Guest1: As I said above the focus of that pov wasn't to show reprimand and they did get punished this chapter.
Guest2: Maybe, if the story allows a way for Xuanzhang to fit she may make an appearance.
Luke: It will be interesting to see how that will pull out, I hope you stick around long enough to see it!
Netalpel: ONE KICK!
Lashamore: Thank You! I'm glad you liked the chapter.
Guest 3: It's been fun to write their relationship I'm glad you find it adorable
Aby001: Thank you, characterization is very important to me in this story, I try to make sure I have an accurate character and I constantly ask my beta's if I'm doing the character justice.
CoG. Emiya: I'm glad to see you are enjoying the story so far, as for the scene in chapter 4, I think Glynda considered Mori strong but not special enough to warrant an exception like the one Ozpin gave. As for the broken arm...I look at is as during that scene it wasn't important, it was more convincing ironwood that Mori was needed.
808joker808: I'm glad the story made you want to pick up GOH again, I really liked the last part so far so I hope you enjoy it as well. As for shipping I don't really consider Mori a thousand years old, biologically he reverted to a kid again and mentally he seems about 17 during the webtoon but that's probably more up to interpretation. Don't worry though if I do something with Ruby it will be when she's older.
Beta'd
Woof28
Eliad91
Patrician Lurker
