Decided to splurge a little and bought Sennheiser HD1 headphones. My ears have been in heaven for the past few days. My wallet/bank account, on the other hand...let's just say that it's crying from the sudden lack of weight in it. As am I.
But that's neither here nor there. Enjoy reading.
. . .
. . .
"So, you're him, huh?"
Robin frowned at the man in front of him. There was a strange sense of deja vu.
"Well, I'd like to agree or disagree with you, but I'm afraid I can't since I'm not entirely too sure as to what it is that you've heard of me," Robin replied.
"Ha! The guy's got balls, I'll give 'im that! Bein' a smartass when he's cuffed to a chair?"
Another man appeared from the corner of the room. Since both he and the first man were wearing dark suits and the white mask of a Grimm, the only thing that Robin could reliably call them by was by the minute differences in their masks. And the faunus trait that they had.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," the first White Fang member with curled horns growled, contrary to his faunus' docileness.
"I'm afraid I do not, Sir Ram."
"Ram's" mouth dropped momentarily as he took a moment to connect Robin's nickname to him. The other White Fang member howled in laughter.
"I like this guy!" A predatory grin formed on his face. He unfolded his arms and Robin was able to catch a glimpse of leathery skin and reptilian pupils from behind the mask. "Goin' by that, then call me "Gator"."
"As in 'alligator'?" Robin asked. "That is quite the powerful faunus trait you have, Sir Gator."
Gator's grin grew wider. "Damn. If only I wasn't forced to follow these damned orders. I'd love to sit down and have a drink with you. Like to think I'm a good judge of character, and you? You seem like a fun bastard to drink with."
Robin noticed that Gator didn't mention anything about humans and faunus. "I'm honored that you think so highly of me already, and your proposal may be easier than you think, Sir Gator."
"Drop the 'Sir', would ya? Makin' me feel old. I ain't even thirty yet."
"As you wish, Gator. As I was saying, sharing a drink won't be as difficult as you may think," Robin smiled, purposefully ignoring Ram's growing annoyance. "I'm quite familiar with a few bars Vale, many of them having no prejudice against faunus. And I'm sure you can get a day off of work."
Gator let out a low whistle. "That's mighty temptin', I gotta admit. If it weren't for this little situation of ours, I'd take ya up on that offer."
Ah yes, the "situation". Robin was currently bound to a metal chair in the middle of a small, dark room on the outskirts of Vale. The only source of light was a dim lightbulb above his head that sputtered every few moments. A handcuff locked his wrists together behind his back and a thick chain was wrapped around his ankles. Given by the strange feeling of restraint that wasn't physical, he assumed that these were the Aura-binding chains that were mostly used by the Atlas Specialists in detaining rogue huntsmen.
"I don't suppose you could just…let me go?" Robin asked.
"As if, human!" Ram pushed Gator out of the way and glared at Robin through his mask. "The hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Is that a trick question?" Robin raised an eyebrow. "You're the ones that tied me here while I'm merely having a chat with Gator and planning a little event in the coming future." His eyes then widened in realization. "Ah, terribly sorry. It was quite rude of me to invite your partner to a drink whilst ignoring you. This may be a little late, but would you also like to join us?"
Gator howled in laughter once more while Ram's face, or what could be seen of his face, turned red from anger. And possibly humiliation. Most likely the latter. Maybe both.
"Hmm." Robin furrowed his brow as he stared at Ram. "Could it be that you are a light drinker? If so, then there is no need to worry. I am quite capable of taking care of someone who has had a little too much to drink. Years of experience, might I add."
"You damned human…" Ram curled his fingers into a fist. "I'm talking about your damned shop!"
"Is there something wrong with it?" Robin frowned. His eyes then looked up at the horns. "Oh... Once again, my apologies. I did not mean any insult when naming my shop. It is nothing more than mere coincidence, and the reason for naming it 'A Shepherd's Rest' is actually quite the personal reason."
"The hell are you - " Ram froze when Robin's words registered in his head. "You little… Making fun of my faunus trait…"
"S-Stop! Can't - Can't breathe!" Gator was in a fetal position on the ground, his fist repeatedly slamming onto the floor. "Sh-Shepherd… Ram… Sheep!"
"Enough!" Ram yelled, roughly grabbing onto Robin's collar. "I will not sit still under this humiliation!"
"So you were offended. I apologize once again, though I am unsure as to how you'd "sit still under this humiliation" when you are currently standing and I'm the one stuck to a chair."
Ram swung his fist in rage. It wasn't a bad punch. On the contrary, he actually had a good form even when holding Robin and his chair up in the air. Unfortunately, the fist was moving much too slow in Robin's eyes, and he reinforced the left side of his face with a quick Spellcraft just as Ram's knuckles collided with his cheekbone. The result was Robin (and chair) falling back onto the floor, relatively unharmed, while Ram recoiled in pain, nursing his knuckles that were probably fractured.
"The hell are you made of?"
"Is that a trick question? I'm pretty sure that you and I are made up of the same things, minus the faunus bits."
"Anyway~" Gator finally managed to control his laughter and stepped in before Ram's anger grew even more. "One of our superiors wanted to know what your plan for your shop was."
Robin furrowed his brow. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by that."
"They basically wanna know if you've got some sorta second objective. An ulterior motive, guess you could call it. It ain't every day that a human-owned shop opens up and starts accepting humans and faunus left and right. Personally, I couldn't give a damn, but the higher-ups are a bit…well…"
"Paranoid? Foolish?"
"Yeah, yeah. That." Gator nodded. "So, do ya?"
Robin shook his head. "Can't say I do. The only thing I plan on doing with my cafe is to continuously do what I enjoy, which is brewing coffee. The lien and interactions I have with those that come in are simply a bonus."
"Even if some of them are faunus?"
"I hold no ill will against faunus, nor do I have any ill will against humans," Robin firmly said. "In fact, I used to fight along a few faunus many years ago and they quickly came to be some of my closest friends. They've saved my life more times than I can count and I'd like to think that I've done the same for them."
"…I see."
"Now then, I believe it is nearing dawn," Robin casually said. "If there is nothing else, then I shall take my leave."
Ram snorted and crossed his arms. "Says who? I still got a bone to pick with you - " Gator snickered at the word "bone". " - and I sure as hell am not gonna release you."
"I can get free by myself, no need to worry."
"I'd like to see you try. Those chains are Aura binding chains. You aren't going to be able to do anything with your Aura and if you have a Semblance, you won't be able to use it here," Ram sneered.
"Hm. I suppose that would pose a problem, wouldn't it?" Robin shrugged. "Well, it's not as if there aren't other ways around these bindings. I'm already out, after all."
"Ha! You're a damn jokester, you know that?" Ram smirked at Robin. "I'm not sure if you realize this or not, but you're still here!"
Robin calmly smiled as he started to flood his body with mana. "Maybe I am. Then again…"
He vanished in a blink of an eye. The handcuffs and chain that once held Robin fell to the floor with nothing to hold, leaving behind a chair and a small piece of paper with three words written in a neat penmanship.
While Ram was making strange choking sounds on how Robin mysteriously vanished, Gator walked over and picked up the paper and read the words out loud.
""Maybe I'm not.""
Gator howled with laughter once more.
. . .
Robin rematerialized in his room and plopped down onto his bed.
"About time I got that test out of the way. Only took half a decade," he said to himself, pulling out a small notepad. Grabbing a pen from his desk, he marked off one of the many checkboxes on the front page. "Aura and mana are similar in many ways, but mana can't be confined like Aura." He frowned and chewed on the end of his pen. "I wonder why that is? Is mana more 'free' than Aura? Eh, more tests for a later time."
He tossed both the notepad and pen over his shoulder where they dissipated into his spacial storage.
"Gator seemed like a pretty nice guy. Maybe I can convince him to pull a Henry and have him leave the White Fang."
. . .
"Ruby, get down!"
Heeding her sister's advice, Ruby immediately threw herself forward and entered a roll. A hail of bullets whizzed overhead and hit a few of the surrounding trees, showering her with bits of wood. She glanced over to her left where the rounds came from, but all she saw was a shadow vanish into the treeline.
"Thanks, Yang!" Ruby called out, swinging around Crescent Rose and aimed it in the direction that the shadow vanished off to. It never reappeared. Instead, her sister dropped down from the trees and sprinted at the mysterious shadow.
"I've got this, Rubes! Go help Blake!" Yang yelled over her shoulder.
"Gotcha!"
Dipping into her Semblance, Ruby kicked off the ground and vanished in a blur. The only proof that she was once there were the scattered rose petals that slowly drifted towards the ground. She kept running until she burst out of the woods and entered a rocky terrain. Fissures and chasms split the ground open in various areas, mountain peaks seemed to scrape the sky above her, and she saw countless cliffs that led to a few hundred feet of freefall into a dark void of nothing.
In the center of it all was Blake, fending herself off from attacks that came from both sides. Ruby watched in horror as a round hit her teammate between the shoulder blades, causing her to stumble for a fraction of a second. But that second was all that their enemies required and Blake fell under an onslaught of seemingly endless rounds and an explosion. When it ended, Blake was already on her knees, already falling forward and collapsing onto the ground. Standing in front of her were the two assailants that caused her teammate to fall.
Ruby screamed. It was a sound that was a mix between anguish and sorrow, and she twirled Crescent Rose in front of her and fired off round after round after round.
Her first shot took her opponents by surprise. They whipped their heads in Ruby's direction as her first shot missed them both while the second round struck one of them on the arm. The impact alone caused her body to twist to the side and a third round just barely grazed her cheek. The fourth round struck her between the eyes and she was thrown backward and landed on her back, unmoving. She wasn't dead, evident from the lack of her Aura shattering, but she was definitely unconscious at the very least.
Unfortunately, the time that it took Ruby to down the first opponent was used by the second efficiently. She was already running at Ruby, expertly dodging Ruby's high-velocity rounds with ease. When Ruby's weapon clicked empty, she backstepped as she converted Crescent Rose back into its scythe form, but that brief moment of changing weapons was brutally capitalized upon by the approaching fighter.
The opponent raised her weapon and fired. The round struck Ruby's hand, causing her to wince from the pain and loosen her grip on Crescent Rose. Before she had the chance to recover, Crescent Rose was wrenched from her hands and a blade was pressed to her throat.
"Give up?"
Ruby's eyes looked at the blade at her throat, then to Crescent Rose that was lying on the ground off to the side, back at the blade, then sighed and raised her arms in the air.
"I surrender," she said in defeat.
There was a loud buzz that hurt Ruby's eardrums. The blade was retracted from her throat and her opponent extended a hand while the arena around them reverted to its original, simplistic look.
"Good match, Ruby," she warmly smiled.
Ruby shook her hand and returned a bright smile of her own. "Same to you, Pyrrha. But next time, Team RWBY is going to win!"
There was a low whistle from behind Ruby as Yang and Ren walked up, both looking worse for the wear.
"Dang, Rubes. I didn't know you could yell like that," Yang grinned.
"Hehe, I know, right?" Ruby beamed. "Not bad, right?"
Yang shrugged and gave Ruby a smirk. "Eh. I'd give it a six out of ten."
"What!" Ruby pouted immediately. "It was an eight! At least!"
"Nope. Six and a half."
"Seven and a half."
"Seven-point-zero, take it or leave it."
Ruby pouted again. "Fiiiiine."
There was a small "Oof" from Ruby when Yang roughly wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Come on. Let's go wake up Blake. I think she's still taking a nap over - "
"I'm right here, Yang."
Were it not for Yang's arm around her shoulder, Ruby would've no doubt leapt a few inches off the ground. That didn't stop the "Eep" from escaping her throat, however. Her cheeks most definitely did not heat up from embarrassment.
"Aww, you're so adorable!" Yang squealed, tightly wrapping her arms around Ruby.
As the elder sister continued pampering the younger sister, Weiss and Jaune caught up to them, the latter carrying a still-unconscious Nora, with Professor Goodwitch not far behind. Upon seeing the combat teacher, Yang released Ruby from her hold. The two teams stood still with bated breaths as they awaited her assessment of their match.
After nearly ten seconds of complete silence, Professor Goodwitch gave them a curt nod. "I will see you all tomorrow." Then she proceeded to briskly walk away from the two teams.
"Did… Did she just…" Jaune's mouth was a perfect circle.
"Yes. Yes, she did," Weiss slowly nodded.
The eight of them all agreed that the nod of acknowledgment from the professor accompanied by a lack of critique was the closest thing that they'd all get to a compliment from her.
"Sooo…what now?"
Shrugs were tossed around.
. . .
"And that's how we got here!"
Ren had to fight down a smile. His team, along with RWBY, had used their free time to visit A Shepherd's Rest. Upon entering, they were immediately seated and when Robin came up to take their order, Ruby started telling him an extravagant tale about the match between the two teams. Nora joined in midway through and by the time they finished, Robin had an amused look on his face.
During the time that Ruby and Nora were recalling their match, Robin somehow managed to not only get the orders of the remaining six members of the teams, but also the orders of the other customers in the store, which raised countless questions in Ren's head. Not once had Robin walked away from their table, but there were customers that were suddenly drinking from a cup that wasn't there before. Ren knew that he wasn't exactly the most talkative type, but he made up for it with his insight and ability to keep a constant eye on his surroundings, and he was not seeing or imagining things.
"Well, I sure pity the team that will be going up against yours in the Vytal Festival," Robin finally said. "From the sounds of it, I don't think half of the second-year teams will be able to compete with yours."
Everyone seated at the table reacted differently to Robin's compliments. Ruby and Nora beamed in pride, Pyrrha and Blake politely smiled, Jaune sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, Ren merely nodded with the slightest hints of a smile on his lips, and Yang and Weiss looked incredibly smug.
"Out of curiosity, may I ask how many times have you fought against each other?"
As he asked his question, Robin flicked his wrist. A tray appeared in his hands with a few drinks balanced on top, and Ren slightly narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely up with Robin. It wasn't that Ren didn't trust the man; he simply found the shopkeeper and his abilities to be incredibly mysterious. Otherworldly, even. A quick glance around the table told him that Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha were all thinking along the same lines as he.
"Nine times," Yang replied. She then pointed a finger at Jaune, nearly knocking over a cup in Robin's hand in the process. Thankfully, Robin had quick reflexes and maneuvered the cup around Yang's hand to gently set it on the table. "We're going to win the next fight against your team! And then the next! That'll put us in the lead!"
"Competitive, isn't she?" Robin chuckled. "I will be back shortly with the rest of your drinks after I help a few others in the store."
Once Robin was far enough away, Blake looked at the more attentive members of the group.
"How?"
Weiss shook her head. "He lives up to his title, Mystical Shepherd, incredibly well."
"He has a title?" Pyrrha curiously asked.
Nodding, Blake pulled out her scroll and pulled up and gave the screen a few taps. A couple second later, she opened up a news page and handed her scroll to Pyrrha. Taking the offered scroll, Pyrrha held it in her hands and began to read a few of the articles' titles.
"'Vale's Magic Cafe Owner', 'The Mystical Shepherd', 'Do Magicians Exist?'…" Pyrrha handed the scroll back to Blake. "He's quite popular."
"He also doesn't discriminate, which greatly boosted his popularity amongst the faunus," Blake added, pocketing the device. "Most places tend to favor humans over faunus, even if they don't know that they're doing it subconsciously."
Ren noticed that Weiss looked a little miffed from Blake's statement, but opted not to say anything. Whether or not the girl had a problem with the faunus, Ren didn't know. Though he could assume, it wasn't his place to say anything or pry for information.
They watched as Robin walked out from behind the counter with a tray in his hand. He made his way over to a table on the other side of the store, where a girl and boy were sitting. The girl had blonde hair, stormy grey eyes, and was wearing an orange t-shirt and jeans. The boy had black hair, sea-green eyes, and was wearing a denim shirt with khakis. Their eyes lit up as Robin approached and the boy started animatedly talking with Robin.
"How he manages to have a conversation with his customers while running the store properly is beyond me," Weiss muttered.
"Don't most restaurants and cafes usually have their waiters and waitresses talk with their customers?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yes, they do, but those stores usually have multiple people on the floor at once and even more people in the back to handle the orders," Weiss replied. "Even then, some stores have difficulty with everything that's going on, causing some orders to get mixed up and delayed. Robin, on the other hand, is doing what they cannot; he's engaging with the customers while running the entire floor all by his lonesome."
Ren nodded as he understood the amount of work that was required. Watching the floor was one thing, but Robin would also have a number of drinks that needed to be crafted behind the counter. To run the floor alone, one would have to keep a mental timer in their head at all times while constantly improvising to make sure that any new customer that came in would not have to wait too long. And then add in the factor of engaging in a conversation with anyone and everyone…
Ren shook his head. The mere thought of doing all that alone was mind-boggling.
Time trickled by as RWBY and JNPR relaxed in A Shepherd's Rest. For a brief moment in time, they forgot all about the Grimm as they conversed with each other, talking about random things that ultimately had no meaning in the larger picture yet still held a form of significance to each of them. At one point, Ruby and Nora were arguing about which food was better, pancakes or chocolate chip cookies.
It wasn't until two trays were placed down upon their table that any of them looked up. By that point in time, a little over three hours had passed.
"Ah, my apologies," Robin quickly said as he passed a cup to everyone at the table. "It was not my intent to interrupt."
"It's quite alright," Pyrrha smiled then furrowed her brow at the drinks. "But we didn't order anything."
Robin dismissively waved his hand. "Consider them on the house, Miss Nikos. All of you seemed like you were having a good time, so who am I to ruin it?"
"Thank you, Robin," Ren quickly said before anyone else had a chance to say something. He was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"You are very much welcome," Robin replied.
The trays were whisked away with a flick of Robin's wrist and Ren shared a look with the more attentive members of the group. They all nodded and unanimously decided that it was time to address the elephant in the room.
"How are you doing that?" Weiss asked, rooting Robin to the spot before he could walk away.
"Doing what?" Robin innocently smiled. As if to mock them, he pulled out a cup from thin air and proceeded to take a long gulp of whatever was inside the cup.
"That." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Robin. "How are you taking things out of nowhere and making them vanish into nothing?"
"My dear Weiss, did my hint not do anything for you from two weeks ago?" Robin teased, pulling up a chair out of nowhere and sitting down with them. "I was sure to make it quite easy to notice, and I even gave you a display a few days prior to today."
'"Display"?' Ren wondered.
"It was because of your little "display" that my original assumptions were thrown off," Weiss huffed, a red tint appearing on her cheeks. "My team and I originally thought your Semblance to be along the lines of Imagery Projection, but the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed. As absurd as this may sound, I would guess that your Semblance is Spacial Distortion or something similar to it."
Her last line garnered the attention of everyone at their table immediately. All eyes were on either Weiss or Robin, the latter of whom raised an eyebrow at the former.
"Oh?" A small smile formed on Robin's lips, one that was a combination of pride, amusement, and interest. "That is quite the claim. Pray tell how you arrived at such a conclusion."
Weiss cleared her throat and straightened her back. It was the same posture that she'd take whenever a professor called on her during class.
"Whenever I saw you use your Semblance, the items that you had appear or disappear was related to your store, such as your cup and the chair you're sitting on," she began. "And while this may seem obvious as I've only seen you inside A Shepherd's Rest and nowhere else, I noticed that it would only be items from behind the counter. Sometimes it would be the drinks that we ordered while other times it'd be the tray that was used to carry multiple cups in at once. Even the first time that I saw you use it was for ice cream, which also happened to be used for the desserts that you made.
"With this in mind, I've never seen you once use your Semblance for anything else. Not once have I seen behind your counter, which is where I'm assuming everything is once you use your Semblance on them, whether it be trays, drinks, or menus. As such, instead of your Semblance creating something out of nothing, you are merely transporting an item from one place to another."
A broad grin appeared on Robin's face but Weiss wasn't finished.
"At least, that is what I thought until a few days ago," the heiress continued. "All thoughts of your Semblance to be related to Spacial Distortion was figuratively thrown out the window when you controlled the elements. Unless your clothes are infused with Dust, which is an extremely rare prospect, or unless you used your Semblance to transport the elements from somewhere and move them around, I'm afraid that I am not sure anymore."
"Yes, that does pose a problem, does it not?" Robin chuckled. "It also does not seem to help that Team JNPR here has experienced something different with my Semblance last week. Although…" He paused when the girl and boy from earlier got out of their seats. "Leaving?" he asked them.
The boy nodded. "Yeah, just got an IM from Grover. He found two northeast of here."
"I see. Best of luck to you both."
"I'll give Thalia your regards when we meet up with her," the girl said.
"That'd be much appreciated, Annabeth," Robin smiled.
With a final wave, Annabeth left the store alongside the boy, closing the door behind them and leaving the two teams as the last ones remaining in the cafe.
Yang's eyes followed the boy for a few seconds before looking around the empty store.
"Slow day?" she asked and Robin merely shrugged.
"I would like to blame the poor weather," he replied, gesturing out the window. Dark clouds were gathering overhead. "I believe that the reports said that there's a heavy storm coming tonight. Might I suggest that you return to Beacon before - "
*BOOM*
There was a crack of thunder and a torrent of rain fell from the skies. The ground was soaked in an instant, and the heavy rain made it difficult to see just across the street. From outside the store, screams could be heard as people ran to take shelter from the sudden storm.
"I would like to retract my previous suggestion and offer a new one; might I suggest that you remain here until the storm passes?"
More thunder rumbled in the distance.
"That…does seem like a good idea…" Jaune agreed, opening up a weather app on his scroll. "Turns out the storm isn't going to let up until at least 5am, and it's still a seventy-one percent chance of raining then."
"No, it does not seem like a good idea! We have class tomorrow in the morning!" Weiss argued, rising from her seat. "I will not let a little storm be the reason why I arrive late to class!"
"But you'll catch a cold if you leave!" Ruby worriedly said.
That caused Weiss to pause for a moment. But only for a moment.
"And if you catch a cold, you'll bedridden, which by extension will make you definitely miss class," Blake added.
"No common cold is going to stop - "
"You could potentially get the others sick as well," Pyrrha joined in.
That was the nail in the coffin. Weiss was many things, but Ren knew that she'd never hurt someone that didn't deserve it. By walking around with a cold, she could very easily inflict that same sickness onto anyone else that happened to come near her, especially her team.
"…Fine." Weiss sighed as she took her seat. "Then what do you suggest we do? We don't know how long this storm will last exactly and I do not wish to miss class."
"I believe I may have a solution to that."
Robin was tapping away on his scroll's screen. A few seconds later, he put his scroll up to his ear.
"Hey. Yeah, it's me. I know, I'm actually calling you instead of you calling me for once. First time for everything, right? Anyway - no, don't expect this to be a routinely thing. scrolls are annoying, but I won't deny their efficiency… I sound like an old man? Look who's talking, you four-eyed coffee addict!"
The eight students all looked at one another with the same look of confusion on their faces. The man's current manner of speech was a far cry from what they were used to.
"As I was saying, I've a question for you. Notice the storm outside? Yes, I know you live in a damned tower with obnoxiously giant windows; I'm just making sure that you're not off your… Just shut it and let me speak, Ozpin."
If they weren't surprised before, they definitely were now, though RWBY to a lesser extent. No one ever spoke to Beacon's headmaster in such a crude manner. Yet here was an owner of a coffee shop talking to Ozpin in a sarcastic and condescending tone.
"Two of your student teams, RWBY and JNPR, are currently stranded in my store due to the storm. Since - no, I didn't kidnap them. What kind of person do you take me for? Anyway, since I'd much rather not have them traverse this weather, I figured that I'd let them stay the night here," Robin explained. "Obviously, this'll mean that they won't be able to make it back tonight but they'll be there tomorrow morning. How's this sound to you? Good? Good. I'll talk to you later."
After that, Robin hung up and tossed his scroll behind him, where it vanished into motes of silver light. He then brought his hands together in a clapping motion with a victorious smirk on his face.
"Good news. I just spoke with Ozpin, and he…" His smile morphed into a frown as his eyes scanned the table. "Why the incredulous looks?"
Ren was sure he had an impassive look on his face, but the same could not be said for the others. Jaune especially kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
"We didn't realize that you were familiar with the headmaster," Ren finally said.
Robin nonchalantly shrugged. "That would be one way of putting it."
"He's casual enough with Headmaster Ozpin to punch his shoulder," Yang drawled. "Oh wait, sorry, lemme correct that; he's casual enough with punching a person who was very much the headmaster but was currently not the headmaster at the time."
Another shrug. "Guilty."
Jaune held his head in his heads. "What is with this guy… First, he beats our team like nothing, then talks back to Ozpin over a call and hangs up on him, and now I find out that he punched the headmaster?"
"Wait wait wait." Yang leaned forward over the table. "Repeat that first part."
"Um… What is with this guy…?" Jaune slowly said.
"No, not that, you dimwit. The other first part!"
"Mister Arc, Miss Xiao Long, perhaps you like to discuss this elsewhere?" Robin interrupted as he got out of his seat. "I'm afraid that I'll have to close the store an hour early tonight."
As if on cue, a sudden bolt of lightning lit up the sky followed by the deafening crack of thunder.
"Not that I mind, but where exactly are we supposed to go?" Yang asked.
Robin smirked. "Well, I'm glad that you asked that, Miss Xiao Long, because I just so happen to have a small lounge just behind those doors over there…"
. . .
"…This…is by no means…a "small lounge"…"
Ren numbly nodded, silently agreeing with Yang's statement. It was nearly five times the size of the student dorms and he wondered how this was all able to fit inside an average sized building.
Ceiling-high bookshelves lined one of the walls, a grand piano was placed by a window that Ren couldn't see a few feet out of due to the heavy rain, a lavish couch on the adjacent wall, and a set of stairs to his right that most likely led to more rooms upstairs. There was even a fireplace on that very wall. How in Remnant that fireplace would properly function without burning the entire place down, Ren didn't know. There didn't even seem to be a chimney.
He simply chalked it up to one of the many mysteries that was the owner of A Shepherd's Rest. Mysteries that he'd solve sooner or later.
"Actually, it is," Weiss said as she took a seat in a strange, circular chair by a table. "Compared to the lounges back at my manor, this is relatively small."
"We don't all live in a mansion, Weiss," Yang retorted.
"Umm…Weiss?" Ruby was fidgeting with her fingers as she nervously glanced around the room. "A-Are you sure you should be…you know…sitting in that chair without permission?"
"You seem oddly comfortable," Blake noted, voicing the thoughts of everyone in the room.
Weiss simply shrugged. "This isn't my first time here and I'm sure Robin won't mind. He even told me before we left the shop to take a seat wherever we'd like in the lounge. To not accept his offer would be considered rude."
"Then I call the couch!" Nora gleefully yelled and ran across the room. She leapt into the air and onto the couch, landing with a WOOMPH.
After hearing Weiss' words and seeing Nora's action, the remaining members grabbed seats of their own. Nora moved aside a bit to allow Ren to sit on the couch with her, Ruby flumped down into a beanbag chair, and Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha grabbed a couple of stools. Yang, on the other hand, walked over to a speaker set by the bookshelf and pressed a button. Nujabes started playing from hidden speakers and Yang had an appreciative look on her face.
"So, Weiss. What did you mean when you said that Robin controlled the elements?" Ren asked once everyone was comfortable enough.
The girl took a second to clear her throat before speaking. She told them of the events that transpired a few days ago. A couple of accusatory glares were thrown at Yang when Weiss briefly talked of their little fallout, but given by the tone that Weiss had, it was considered to be water under the bridge.
Just as she finished recalling how Robin conjured, froze, and then shattered a flame in his palm, the man in question stepped into the lounge with a large bag in his hand. He raised a quizzical brow when he immediately became the focus of attention.
"Is something troubling you all?"
Nora jumped to her feet and jabbed her finger in his direction. "I KNEW IT! MAGICIAN!"
As if that single accusation explained everything, Robin sagely nodded his head.
"You're not going to deny it or anything?" Jaune asked. There was a hint of eagerness and anticipation in his voice.
A suspicious smile formed on Robin's face. Ren could practically see the man think of a devious idea in his head, and before Ren had a chance to do anything, Robin began walking across the room and set the bag onto the table.
"It is quite late into the night and all of you have class early in the morning tomorrow."
Ren's eyes widened as he realized what was going on. Yang must've noticed it as well as she tried to prevent it from happening. Keyword: tried.
"Oh no, don't you dare avoid - "
"I do believe a few sleeping arrangements are in order." Blatantly ignoring Yang's outburst, Robin snapped his fingers and Weiss disappeared beneath a sudden assault of numerous unrolled sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows with a muffled squeak of surprise. "The couch can be pulled out into a bed if you so wish. Feel free to rearrange the room to make yourselves more comfortable. I only ask that you do not scratch my floors when doing so."
At this point, Weiss managed to free herself from underneath the pile of sleeping supplies and glared at Robin with flushed cheeks. "And why, might I ask, was that necessary?"
"You sat in my favorite chair," Robin playfully replied.
"Are you a child?"
Robin casually shrugged. "You are only young once in your life but you can be immature forever."
That was, without a doubt, the most profound words that Ren heard from someone who just dumped a hefty pile of blankets onto another person because the offender sat in their favorite chair.
Robin then held out his hand a flame appeared in his palm. He casually threw it across the room and into the fireplace, igniting the wood instantly and casting a warm glow over the room. Nora yelled out a few more magic-themed words at the man and began shaking Ren's shoulders.
"In case it gets a little chilly," he casually said as if magically creating a fire was no big deal. He pointed at the bag on the table. "There is an assortment of food in that bag while drinks can be found…" Robin snapped his fingers once more and a few bottles of two-liter sodas and iced tea appeared on the table along with eight cups. "…next to the food."
Ren's eyes danced from Robin, who was currently toying with a tiny fireball in his hands, to the table, the fireplace, and then back at Robin. The fireball was gone now, replaced solid orb of lightning. "How?"
A definitely-not-smug grin was Robin's reply to Ren's question as the lightning ball transformed into ice. "Whatever are you talking about?" He then clenched the iceball in his fist and it promptly vanished.
"What the - how?! Why! When!" Ruby's questions were more exclamations than questions.
"Now that's the million lien answer, is it not, Miss Rose? Which, of course, ties back to what my Semblance is." The smug grin lingered on Robin's face as he made his way towards the stairs. "If there's nothing else, then I shall be upstairs. Do not hesitate to ask me for something if you are in need of it."
His foot didn't even land on the first step before the air folded around him and Robin was there no more.
For nearly a minute, it was as if his sudden vanishment placed a sort of silencing spell on everyone in the lounge. There was only the low rumble of thunder and the crackling fireplace until Ren managed to find his voice.
"He can teleport?"
"Why does he have stairs if he can just teleport everywhere," Yang grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"That…definitely explains how he approached us multiple times without us noticing," Blake mused. "I heard rumors that even Professor Goodwitch was caught by surprise during her first visit."
Jaune's brows shot to the roots of his hair. "Are you serious?"
"I have no reason to lie to you, Jaune. And they were rumors, nothing more than that," she reminded him.
"Rumors are often ill-founded," Pyrrha added with a sad expression on her face. "It would be best to pay them no mind until you find solid proof of whatever the rumor stemmed from."
"On the other hand, all rumors have to start from somewhere, right?" Ren pointed out. "Just like how every joke has a bit of truth in it, no matter how slight."
If Pyrrha was going to reply, or if someone else was going to join in on the conversation, the chance never arrived. There was a loud tearing sound as Nora ripped the food bag apart. When she noticed the sudden silence, she innocently looked up at them. "…What? I haven't eaten anything in hours and it's free food!"
No one could really argue with that. The last time they ate was before their teams sparred against one another, and that was nearly six hours ago. A few stomachs growled when the aromatic smell of food wafted out from the open bag.
And that's when Ren noticed something attached to the topmost to-go food box.
"A note?" Ren picked up the paper, drawing the attention of the others.
"What's it say?" Yang curiously asked.
"It says, "Perhaps you are asking the wrong questions about my Semblance. Think simple."" He looked up at his friends. "Thoughts?"
There were only shared glances and confused looks from everyone. Well, mostly everyone. Nora was greedily eyeing the multiple boxes of food on the table.
"Perhaps he's a Dual-Semblance wielder?" Pyrrha guessed. "One being something related to spacial control while the other is elemental control?"
"Unlikely." Weiss adamantly shook her head. "There hasn't been a Dual-Semblance wielder since before The Great War."
"All the more reason for one to pop up now. A lot of time has passed since then," Pyrrha reasoned.
"Maybe…"
The voice was so quiet that Ren almost missed it. Heads turned to the speaker and Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"Rubes? What is it?" Yang worriedly asked.
The young girl averted her gaze and scratched her cheek with a finger. "N-Never mind. It's a really dumb thought."
"Foolish it may be, but anything is better than nothing at this point," Weiss said. Her words were harsh, but Ren noticed that the heiress' eyes were much softer than they were a few days ago.
It took Ruby a few seconds and a deep breath before she spoke. "Maybe he…doesn't have a Semblance?"
Another brief moment of silence followed her vocal thought. Could that be the case? It was just as likely to be true as Robin being a Dual-Semblance wielder. But, then again, the chances of that happening was…
"Naaaaaahh! That's impossible!" Yang's haughty laughter broke the silence. "Now, let's eat!"
. . .
One floor above them, Robin shook his head as a laugh escaped his lips. He managed to overhear their conversation and did his best to contain his amusement as the Beacon students struggled over the topic of his Semblance. He opened the door to his room and closed it behind him. And then he heard a voice that ran his blood cold.
"What's so amusing, Robin?"
The Shepherd turned around and raised an eyebrow when a figure stepped out of the shadows. Silky black hair cascaded down her back, stopping just short of her waist. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight that seeped in through the windows, and a black coat tightly hugged her curvaceous figure. Her black leather boots seemed to hover just a margin above the ground as she walked forward.
"Lady Death. To what do I owe the…honor of your visit?" Robin stiffly greeted.
"Hmm. You just had to avoid saying 'pleasure', didn't you?" Death frowned. "I was hoping that you'd say that instead of 'honor'."
He shrugged. "I'm afraid that I'm a rather fast learner."
Death rolled her ivory-colored eyes. "So it would seem. Though, I still wouldn't mind spending the night with you. You're quite the…" Her gaze moved up and down Robin's body and licked her lips. "…interesting soul. Truly one of a kind."
"I'm flattered." Robin had to fight the shudder that threatened to run down his spine. "I take it that you aren't just here for a friendly visit?"
"Hmph. Ever the serious mood when I'm around. I've seen you hang out with the others, like Ozpin and Qrow. You even treat the students more nicely than me! Why is that?"
'It could be the fact that you're literally Death itself. Or herself,' Robin deadpanned in his head. He realized his mistake when Death narrowed her eyes at him.
"I heard that. Did you forget that I can read minds?" She shifted her weight onto one leg and placed a hand on her hip. "And you said that you're a faster learner. I'm starting to doubt that if you've already forgotten what I can do."
Robin bit back a curse. He had forgotten about that irksome ability of hers and the other immortal beings he met in the Otherworld during his brief time with death. Lowercase 'd' death. Not Death.
"Anyway, contrary to your belief, I'm actually here for what could be considered a 'friendly' notion."
That got Robin's attention. "Well, this is certainly a first. The previous times that you visited me was because you wanted me to do some ludicrous job for you."
"Ludicrous for you maybe. Not for me," Death retorted. "Back to what I was saying; I'm here because an old friend of yours wanted to see you."
Before Robin had a chance to cycle through the small list of those that he considered his friends in Remnant, the shadows rippled beside Death and a woman in a white robe came stumbling out. Due to her hood being up, Robin couldn't make out her face, but he was able to catch a few strands of stark white hair poking out from beneath the hood.
"Ow ow ow, stubbed my toe on something," the woman whined. She threw off her cowl, revealing a slender face that looked somewhere between mid-late twenties to early thirties (a lady's age was difficult to discern, not to mention a dangerous topic to approach), and medium-length white hair that rolled down her shoulder. Her mouth split into a bright smile when she saw Robin and she tackled him in a hug. "Robin! It's so good to see you!"
It took Robin a second to gather his thoughts and regain control over his body from the unexpected assault. He slowly returned the hug. "S-Snow?"
Snow looked up at him with shining eyes. "Well, duh! Who else could it be?"
Robin shook his head and chuckled. "Forgive me. It was a mere slip of the tongue."
"Better have been," she cheekily grinned. When Robin held her gaze, she broke down into a fit of laughter. "Darn it, how are you so good at this?"
His brow furrowed in mild confusion. "Good at what?"
"Staring contests! I've never beaten you in like…ten, eleven…twelve years?"
The furrowed brow furrowed even further. "Staring contests?"
Snow's jaw dropped and she let out a strangled squeak. "Wait, so…so you mean that for all this time, you weren't even trying? I've been losing staring contests to someone who didn't even know we were playing!"
As Snow fell to her knees in an exaggerated manner, Robin quizzically looked at Death. "Don't you have death-like things to do? Worlds to visit? Souls to grant peace to?"
"Eh." Death nonchalantly shrugged. "I've a few helpers to do that part of my job, Snow being one of them. Though I'm giving her some time off and decided to drop her off here."
"…Why?"
"Because she's one of two souls here in Remnant that can truly get under your skin and I enjoy watching you suffer. The other is…well, I'm sure you know her better than anyone else."
"You sadistic, demonic witch."
"This sadistic, demonic witch can kick your ass to the Otherworld and back without breaking a sweat. I can kill you and bring you back as many times as I want and make you feel the pain of each death. I'll leave you in limbo between worlds for a thousand years and prevent you from dying while your body continuously gives out and fails you, leaving you in a constant state of suffocation."
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Robin's back. Her words were no empty threat.
"Obviously they aren't," Death said, reading his thoughts once more. "Anyway, I just came by to drop off little Snow here. Now that I'm done, I'll get going now. Ta-ta!"
Death melted into the shadows before Robin had a chance to reply. Letting out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding, he looked down at Snow. She was still on her knees, theatrically wailing about her defeats at his hands. It was a miracle in itself that none of the students downstairs came up to investigate the shrieks of this white-robed banshee in front of him. He hadn't even put up a noise-isolation spell.
Speaking of students, Robin noticed that there was little to no difference in the mental maturity levels between Snow and a few members of RWBY and JNPR. And a few members of the Shepherds. His face suddenly paled as a horrifying thought dawned upon him.
'Oh gods above in the seventh heaven. I'm going to be dealing with another child for an unknown amount of time, despite this one being physically older than me.' He swore he could hear Death laughing in the distance. 'I'm getting too old for this.'
. . .
. . .
Although most of this chapter was from Ren's point of view, it's not exactly a Ren-focused chapter. He's difficult to get down properly since he's quite the complex character. Either that or I just suck at writing Ren. And Jaune. And Ruby. And Nora. Just realized that's like half the main cast. I should remedy that ASAP…
Ren and the others will get a chapter focused on them like how I did with Weiss and Pyrrha once I get a better grasp on writing their characters and personalities. Messing up an already-established personality of a character is something I want to avoid, which is why the aforementioned characters scarcely had any lines in this chapter.
And there honestly isn't much to say about this chapter. I tried to focus on the cast of RWBY unraveling Robin's mysteries, hence this chapter's title.
The fight scene early in the chapter was (and still is) a portion of the story that I was contemplating on cutting completely. A Shepherd's Rest's tone doesn't fit well with scenes of that nature, so I tried to keep it as brief as possible while also progressing on their skills towards the upcoming Vytal Festival. It worked as a transition to the teams' arrival at Shepherd, but if I can manage to think of a better transition that doesn't mess with the story's flow while still wanting to cut the scene, the possible-newly thought scene will take its place.
Death won't be playing too prominent of a role in this story. Her thing is that she's been "living" for so long that she's seeking out ways to keep herself entertained, and Robin just so happens to be the poor individual that caught her eye.
As for Snow? Well…
Thank you all once again for the reviews, follows, and favorites. You are all fantastic and I will see you in the coming chapter(s).
