Chapter 7
Not every moment was remembered fondly amongst the family. There were times that they all had regretted ever occurring. Oddly enough, they never had a moment that they all disliked, though there were many they all did enjoy. This particular memory was perhaps the most chaotic for the family thus far. And it all started with a playful little joke, ending with what became known as the Great Prank War.
It started with Ruby placing a bucket of ice water over the bedroom door. An idea that she got from Blake, the mischievous sister, a while back. Thankfully Blake, and Yang were more than willing to help Ruby set up the prank since they obviously weren't the targets. This was a prank set up for Weiss, and it was basic enough that it might actually work. And it certainly did work when Weiss entered the bedroom, leading the bucket to splash on her head.
After her brief scream in surprised, the shivering girl watched as her sisters appeared from their hiding spots, and began pointing and laughing. The one laughing hardest of all was the little pup Ruby. The ladder that she found behind their door also indicated that the little wolf Faunus managed to set up the prank herself. She almost felt guilty thinking that Blake was responsible for the mischief until the laughing occurred. After Ruby calmed down a little, she pointed at Weiss and said, "Ice water for ice queen."
Weiss growled at the remark, "You wait little pup. I'll get justice on you soon."
Since Weiss was typically the more well-behaved of the three, it took her about a week to formulate a good plan. Also getting back at a person who has enhanced hearing and night vision was a pain by itself. Thankfully, Ruby was a little more naïve than the other Xiao Long-Rose children. And by the end of the week, Weiss had her plan to get vengeance. If only she knew what would happen later because of it.
Weiss was in the middle of helping her mom make some sweets for the others. Usually the snow haired child would adamantly protest that she dislikes sweets, even though Ruby actually found her hidden stash a couple months back. But she certainly has a talent for cooking that took a while to work at. This time she hid a little surprise in Ruby's cookies when Summer wasn't looking. And as expected, as soon as the cookies were done, Ruby sprinted downstairs shouting, "COOKIES!"
"Just one Ruby," Summer said, "We'll be eating soon."
Ruby grabbed one cookie, but as usual, she managed to sneak four more in her little hood. She managed to eat all five before Yang and and Blake even made it downstairs. However, when they saw their little sister, they began to worry. Because they noticed that Ruby's eyes were watering and not out of how delicious the cookies were. Just as they were about to ask Ruby what was wrong, the little wolf Faunus ran to the fridge and began drinking milk excessively.
"Jeez Rubes," Yang said as she walked over to the child, "Are you okay?"
Ruby stopped drinking the milk so she could breathe and began answering in between her panting, "Cookies…were burning…my mouth."
Blake grabbed one of the cookies, and began examining it. It took her a It took her a second to figure out the issue, "Mom did you confuse cinnamon with that spicy stuff?"
One of Ruby's favorite foods was cookies but her least favorite was anything spicy. For some reason, Ruby ended up being the only one in their family who was sensitive to spicy things, which was actually Yang's favorite. Weiss had a low tolerance for spice and Blake was unfazed by it. Even Summer had less of an issue with spicy foods than her daughters. Ruby was the only one that can't handle even the smallest amount of spice well.
At first it was thought to be an accident until Ruby noticed the smug look on Weiss's face. Then the other sisters noticed it as well. Weiss simply replied with, "Oops. Silly me. I must've gotten the ingredients mixed up. Sorry Ruby."
Ruby simply grumbled as she stomped off to her room. Weiss went back to the treats feeling proud of her accomplishment. The older sisters however took in the whole situation and walked off to the living room to speak in private. Once they were alone, Blake began speaking, "This feels like it could get ugly quick."
"Yeah," Yang replied looking concerned before her expression changed to excitement, "You want to watch how this goes?"
Blake smiled with equal enthusiasm, "I'll get the popcorn if you get the soda."
The pranks between Ruby and Weiss went on for a while. And as time went on, the pranks became more frequent. Some of them were even pretty elaborate for girls their age. But eventually things went too far and their parents ended up getting simultaneously caught in the crossfire of the pranks. So when all four girls were summoned to the living room to discuss matters, it was agreed that the pranks would stop now.
Blake and Yang were the first ones in the living room while Ruby and Weiss entered afterward. However the state of the two younger sisters shocked the older two. Ruby's hair was a poofy mess as if she had been struck by lightning. Weiss on the other hand was covered from head to toe in soot which thankfully didn't look like it would stain. Both older sisters requested an explanation as to why they looked like that.
"Too much static in the room," Ruby answered as she felt a slight jolt from the remaining static running through her system.
"Dust experiment gone wrong," Weiss replied as she brushed off the soot, with no success.
Obviously, they both knew that it was at least partially a lie. Ruby is very sensitive to electricity after she was shocked on her wolf ear once so she avoids doing anything that'd cause her to get shocked. And Weiss did enjoy playing with Dust but she was always careful not to do anything too dangerous with it. But it was clear from their expressions that they didn't want to say what was really going on. Not that their attempts to hide the truth really mattered since Summer and Tai knew what was going on.
"Girls, this prank war of yours has to end now," Tai commanded, "We already had to replace a lot of things in the house, and now Zwei is chewing on practically everything."
For a second, both girls looked at each other with confusion. Neither one of them had encouraged Zwei to treat everything around him as a chew toy since the incident a couple of years ago. It was something they all agreed to work on to avoid losing their things, and destroying their mom's hood again. So when both Ruby and Weiss noticed their items being damaged, unknowingly by Zwei, they had assumed that it was done by the other sister. Since Blake was more discrete with her mischief, all three girls turned to look at their feline sister sitting on the end of the couch.
However, before the younger girls could scold her on Zwei, Summer looked at them all while firmly stating, "The pranks end now. Understood?"
"Yes mama," all four girls replied simultaneously.
Once the discussion was finished, all four girls left to their room. Both of the younger sisters were apologizing to each other for the pranks after already reaching the conclusion that they had went too far. Little did they know, Weiss had forgotten that she had hung a bucket of water mixed with ice and salt over the door of the bedroom before coming downstairs. So it surprised them all when Ruby opened the door and immediately got soaked. The shivering wolf Faunus was immediately surrounded by her older siblings covering her with towels while Weiss apologized for the last prank. Though in the back of her mind, one thought was present, Now that is ice water.
