Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.
"Here we are."
"Thanks…" Sal said to Ruby as they finally approached the man's house. The hooded girl was carrying a basket with supplies for the injured man. Arriving at the front door, Sal slowly opened it by using his hidden blade without letting Ruby notice.
Once inside, Ruby left the basket over at the table in the middle of the room. Sal sat down on his bed and tried to relax. He wasn't feeling well, so he tried to take a few painkillers before applying the medicine he bought.
"Do you need any help?" Ruby asked.
"No. I'm fine, but thanks for asking." He said while trying to apply ointment, still hiding his appearance from the girl. He didn't want to traumatize the poor youth.
"That's odd…" She said while looking at the man in pain. "Shouldn't your Aura help you heal faster?"
"Unfortunately, no. My Aura is too weak for that. Just a bad condition I've always had." Sal said as he tried to hold his breath to block out the fumes from the ointments. The girl started to look around the house and noticed how empty it was. Even for a person who lived alone, it looked depressing.
"Sorry for asking, but are you going to be okay by yourself? Can you recover on your own?" Ruby looked concerned about the man. He only shook his head in dismissal.
"You shouldn't worry about me. I only need to sleep and eat. I'll heal up in no time." Sal took one of the apples from the basket. Ruby noticed it was probably the only thing he had for food at home.
"Don't you want to eat something else?" She asked.
"Something else? What's wrong with this? Apples are the only thing I need. I'm not much of a picky eater.." He said while he took a few large bites from the apple. Sal kept covering his face from the hooded girl. "I think you should go back home. I can take care of myself for now."
"Oh, okay." Ruby said while heading to the door. "I hope you get better."
"I will, thanks for the help." Sal said sincerely. He watched the girl leave the house from the comfort of his bed. Once alone, he started checking his Scroll for any recent news. He looked for anything relevant, like disappearing civilians in the area. Unfortunately, he found no new leads on that matter. Sal sighed and decided to open an app to play some virtual chess online. At the moment, he could only play against other players from Mistral due to the CCT's now abysmal range.
You've got a match request. The game uttered as Sal looked at his Scroll. He accepted the proposition and began playing against the player. Both of them started fast and strong. Odds were that match was going to be over pretty quick.
"Ren! Look at this!" Nora said with excitement while passing the booths scattered around the Market District. "Can you win it for me?" She asked while pointing at the darts game.
"Is there any specific prize you want?"
"That plush there that looks like a chicken. Can you get it for me? Please, please, pretty please…?" Nora started pulling on Ren's arm and begged like a spoiled little brat.
"Alright, that should be easy." Ren sighed while heading towards the booth. "How much for a game?" He asked the man in charge of the booth.
"50 Lien per round. You get three darts, and if you successfully get a bullseye on all three, you get a prize of your choice." The booth keeper explained to the quiet Huntsman.
"Alright, I want three of those." Ren said with confidence.
"Good luck, young man."
"You can do it, Lie!" Nora started cheering him on from the side. Ren took a deep breath and closed one eye for better aim. He threw the darts without hesitation, and every single one of them landed on the bullseye with terrifying accuracy. It left the man in the booth speechless.
"W-Well… Congratulations, you may pick anything from our selection." He said nervously.
"I want the chicken plush." Ren pointed at the prize. Nora grabbed it with excitement and hugged both her boyfriend and her toy.
"Thank you! I love it!" She said while still giving him a tight hug. Nora's sheer strength almost made Ren asphyxiate.
"This looks fun." A girl with red hair said while looking at the booth. She was being accompanied by a young man in a black cowboy hat. "Wanna give it a go?" She asked with a smug grin on her face.
"I don't mind. Did something catch your attention?" The cowboy asked.
"Anything is fine. As long as it's from you." She said while giving him a brazen wink.
"Alright." The cowboy walked up to the booth and looked at the prizes. Nora and Ren gazed at the girl with surprise. For a brief moment, they both had the same thoughts on their mind. They froze up for a bit.
The girl's red hair and green eyes were enough to fool them for a moment, but the facial features and hair length were completely different. They thought it was the same person, and they clearly mistook her for someone else.
The cowboy decisively grabbed the three darts with his left hand. He started aiming all of them at the same time. It looked insane. One would think it was impossible to get a bullseye with that method. The man in charge of the booth chuckled at the way the serious-looking fool was trying to do it.
"Hey." The cowboy asked. "How much for the prizes?"
"Well, if you get all three darts in the center, you get the Tier 3 prizes such as these plushies. You get Tier 2 prizes like jewelry and toys if you manage to get three close ones, For Tier 1 you get things such as candy, but that's if you are way off your mark." The man explained in detail. The cowboy gave him a look and raised an eyebrow.
"Just like that? Well, now I know exactly what I want." He smirked and firmly placed all three darts between his fingers. He closed his right eye and took small breaths to boost his concentration. A technique he picked up from one of his teammates.
In a single second, he threw all three darts into the dartboard. "Ohhhhh, too bad. It was a nice try though." The man in the booth said with a satisfactory sigh. It was clear he didn't believe what he said. To no one's surprise, none of the darts landed in the center.
For Ren and Nora, however, were not so easily fooled. They looked carefully at the darts. They noticed something unusual about them. While there was no doubt that he didn't hit the mark, they knew that he didn't really fail. The position and distance between the darts were a little too symmetrical for any regular person. A Huntsman would be capable of such a feat. The darts were forming an equilateral triangle not too far from the target.
"You may get some Tier 2 prizes. Choose whichever you want." The man said as the cowboy picked without hesitating. He looked at the selection of jewelry, which wasn't anything too fancy. They weren't made of precious stones, and the metals were just sprayed gold.
"I'll take this one." The cowboy picked a necklace with a small bird on it. It had a simple design, but it was heavy enough that one could almost confuse it for actual gold. He handed it to the redhead.
"Awww, thank you for the 60-lien necklace." She said sarcastically while smiling.
"You said anything about my choice. I thought it could be something that you might want to wear." He replied while tipping his hat.
"Well, at least it looks cute." The girl kissed the cowboy on the chick and hugged him around the neck. The cowboy noticed Ren and Nora were looking at him with suspicious eyes.
"Can I help you with anything?" He replied with shifty eyes.
"Not at all. We were just looking at how you threw them." Ren backstepped so he wouldn't anger the cowboy on accident.
"That? It was nothing. I didn't even get the center."
"Yeah right, you probably got a better chance with that neat arm of yours." Nora said while looking at the cowboy's right arm. He tried to cover it with his sleeve to cover it up even more than it already was. "Why not use it?"
"I don't need it. It wouldn't be fair if I'm using it on some childish games." He and his girlfriend turned their backs to walk somewhere else. They don't want to attract too much attention.
"Show-off…" Nora begrudged. It wasn't very subtle since everyone could hear her. The redhead suddenly stopped and turned to face the rude orange-haired girl. She stared Nora down with anger in her eyes.
"Excuse me? What did you say?" The redhead asked Nora with a tone that made the cowboy shiver.
"Lucy, calm down. I don't think she said anything." He tried to calm down his furious girlfriend.
"I said, he was a show-off!" Nora replied in a louder voice. The only way for Ren to respond was a disappointed facepalm.
"Nora! Don't make it worse!"
"Is that so? I bet you can't even go outside without your megaphone voice."
"Lucy, that's enough." The cowboy tried to defuse the situation before things could escalate.
"Are you going to let her keep talking trash about you, Jack!?" The girl named Lucy asked her boyfriend while he tried to restrain her before she could do something regrettable calmly.
"She just said what was on her mind. It doesn't matter for me." Jack tried to reason.
"I-I know, it's just…" Lucy sighed. "I'm sorry, I guess my temper got the best of me. But still, those were some very bold words. I bet she's all talk and no bite.
"Well, if you want to prove me wrong, how about a little competition?"
"Nora, please. You're better than this." Ren said, but she refused to listen.
"No, no, no. That sounds perfectly reasonable." Lucy smirked. "What exactly do you have in mind?"
"Hehe, okay. Let's see who can win the most prizes on every single festival game! You and me! Mano-a-mano."
"Are you kidding me? We don't have all day!" Ren refused to comply.
"I accept." Lucy said without hesitating.
"Are you sure? We still have the stuff to do." Jack wasn't keen on the idea either but couldn't really bring himself to go against Lucy's choices anyway. One thing was for sure. Jack and Ren both saw their girls had sparks in their eyes, determined to beat the other. "Why do I always get into this sort of situation?"
"That makes two of us." Ren nodded while standing next to Jack. "I'm terribly sorry. I'm Lie Ren by the way."
"That's alright. I apologize too. Call me Jack, nothing more, nothing less." Both men shook hands while Lucy and Nora got ready for the first competition. Dart throwing.
While it was the most straightforward round, Nora was struggling a bit because most of her throws weren't precise and some of them didn't even land on the dartboard. Lucy, on the other hand, had an easy time. She pinned most of the darts close to the bullseye. That round was a clear one-sided victory for the Lucy.
The next round belonged to Nora. It was a strength tester you'd find at your usual carnival. Lucy was the first to go and lifted the hammer with both hands. She found it difficult, as it was much heavier than what she usually dealt with. The moment she finally hit the tester, the machine's puck only reached the middle of the tower. She looked disappointed while Nora snickered.
When it was Nora's turn, she lifted the hammer firmly with both hands without struggling with the weight. Nora yawned, holding it as if she was holding a toy. She used all her power into a strike that not only rang the bell but broke the game. There was no doubt that Nora won the round.
"It looks like a tie." Ren commented to Jack, both of them still acting as spectators.
"Too bad. Unfortunately, they're still far from over." The cowboy lowered his head while covering his face with his hat in shame.
The two girls started the next round. A classic Mistral carnival game called Bottle Bash. The premise was simple. Throw the ball into the bottles and destroy as many as you can. At first, it looked like it would be an even game, but Nora had a better chance. She went first and shattered the bottles. Lucy tried to think of a better way. She knew she would require a lot more finesse than the other girl.
Lucy threw the ball in an angle that seemed like a clear miss. Ren and Jack, however, quickly noticed that she was up to something. She hit the bottles from the bottom. The pyramid of bottles collapsed to the left, right next to the other pile of bottles via a domino effect. The man in charge of the game had a surprised look on his face. He expected that after 30 years of watching people throw a ball at a bunch of bottles, nothing would shock him, but that day he was proven wrong.
"Oh no… there goes my evening." He said with a muted angry sadness in his tone.
"Well, it looks like I have to make a few last-minute changes." Ren pulled out his Scroll and started typing at high speed.
"Who are you texting?" Jack asked.
"A few of our friends. I was supposed to make dinner tonight, but I'll have to leave it to them instead."
"Sounds like a pity. How are they doing?"
"Right now they're at the shooting gallery." Ren pointed to the two girls from a distance. They could feel the intensity of their determination from any distance.
"It's gonna take a while, right?"
"Yeah… want to get something to drink in the meantime?"
"Sure, why not." They walked away to go look for a booth that would serve them drinks. Ren ordered some green tea while Jack got some cold apple soda. They drank it in one sitting. They looked exhausting even though they weren't doing much. "Hoo boy… I guess I owe you an apology for ruining your shopping date."
"Don't be sorry, it's alright. Nora can sometimes lose some of her cool when it comes to people being pretentious."
"I get from people at times. I'm used to it. Lucy just gets really defensive on my behalf." Both men chuckled at the attitudes of their beloved companions. "You know, it's been a long time since I've seen her so worked up with someone else."
"Same, Nora hasn't been this competitive since…" From one second to another, Ren's smile vanished as bittersweet memories from his time at Beacon Academy started flooding in.
"Something wrong?"
"Not at all. But I do have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Your girlfriend, Lucy right?"
"What about her?"
"Does she have a twin? Or any relatives that might look like her?" Ren's question made Jack raise an eyebrow.
"I don't think so… From what I know, it's just her and her father. Why do you ask?"
"No reason in particular. Just curious." As the boys were finishing their drinks, they spotted the girls approaching them with tired looks.
"Oh, hey. Who won?" Jack asked.
"Well…" Lucy was hesitant to speak.
"We… got banned from all the games." Nora said with an embarrassed look.
"Our competition went a little too far, and we scared the people around us." Hearing Lucy's explanation was enough to make Jack rub his eyes in frustration. Ren too happy either but there wasn't anything that they could do.
"I hope you learned your lesson." Ren said while staring, Nora dead in the eyes.
"I did... mostly."
"I'm beaten. I'd kill for some ice cream." Both girls were too tired, but for once they looked to agree.
"It's getting late. Maybe we should get some next time." Ren said while checking the time on his Scroll.
"Agreed, it was nice talking to you." Jack saluted by tipping his hat to the couple.
"Don't think you're off the hook just cause it's a draw. I'll win next time!"
"I was thinking the same thing. Don't disappoint me!" Nora and Lucy still couldn't stop with their competitive urges, but at least they were on more friendly terms now.
They parted ways and walked in opposite directions. It was a long day for Ren and Nora. As they headed home, they hoped that their friends didn't have any problems cooking dinner without them.
"Oh boy! Let's dig in!" Ace shouted in excitement as he opened the pizza box. He was staying at a hotel room, which he was sharing with Quinn and Diamo. The jovial guy sat on the floor like a child and started devouring his first slice of pizza. Quinn was sitting on the bed, and Diamo sat on a chair next to a desk.
"Hey! Don't take all the Hawaiian slices for yourself!" The bruiser yelled at his teammate to warn him. Quinn peeked at Diamo, who was quietly tinkering with his equipment.
"Hey partner, want some? There's plenty."
"Sorry, I'm not very fond of pizza." Diamo politely refused and got back to doing maintenance on his weapon.
"Good. More for me." Quinn gave a snide glare to the silent sniper. "Also, don't do your freaky maintenance while I'm eating, Four-Eyes! You're gonna spill your crap all over the grub!"
"You can go outside if it bothers you. My weapon needs regular maintenance. It has history."
"I'll break that piece of trash if you don't get out right now!"
"At least it looks better than yours." Diamo replied coldly as he looked at Quinn's broken weapon.
"Why you son of a…" Before the bruiser could say anything, his Scroll started ringing loudly. "I'll wipe deal with you after this." Quinn responded to Diamo and proceeded to answer the call.
"Who's calling?" Ace asked with curious eyes.
"Shuddup, I'm talking to Jack… Aha… yes… We are at the Windy Wheel Hotel, room 207… yeah, we're all here… Okay… we'll be waiting." Quinn ended the conversation and looked at his teammates. "Jack's coming here. He wants to discuss some important stuff with us."
"Really? Does it mean we're having... a sleepover?"
"How the hell should I know? He said he wanted to talk since he was close by." Quinn took another bite of from his slice.
"Dude, I love eating Hawaiian-topping pizza. Mistral's pineapples are really juicy. I wonder why they call it 'Hawaiian,' though."
"Don't know, don't care. People come up with weird names for food all the time. Like French fries or Danish bread. What the hell is 'Danish' supposed to mean!?" It didn't take long before the biggest member of Team JAQK went on a rant about trivial topics as usual.
Minutes later, someone knocked on the room's door. They got cautious. Ace stood up. He grabbed one of his regular knives with the slice of pizza still in his mouth and walked towards the door to check who was outside. He slowly waited for the person to knock again before doing anything else.
The person at the door knocked three times. Ace replied by knocking twice. Soon enough they heard four knocks outside, which made relax. Ace opened the door and saw Jack was waiting outside, casually standing with his backpack.
"Sup, bro! What brings you here? Want some pizza?"
"I'm not hungry, but thanks." Jack walked into the room while Ace checked the halls in case someone followed their leader. He closed the door carefully as he finished off his slice.
"Hey Jack, what's with the backpack?" Diamo asked.
"I came to sleep here."
"Ok, but why? I thought Lucy's dad didn't mind letting you stay." Quinn looked confused as he chugged a big bottle of soda.
"He doesn't mind, but I told Lucy that I would need to discuss tomorrow's plan with you. And also, because it's been a really long time since I've slept on anything comfier than a couch." Jack dropped his backpack on the floor and sat on the second bed. "So, how's everyone doing? Everything coming along? Lucy and I managed to get a house, but it will need some cleaning before we can all move in."
"How big is the place?" Ace asked.
"I don't know the exact measurements, but it's just one story with three rooms and a bathroom. Basically, it's spacious enough for a few Huntsmen and a dog."
"That doesn't sound half bad. Most of the houses in Mistral tend to be like stables. Smell like them too." Quinn commented.
"However, as we inspected the place, we discovered something strange underneath the floor. We thought it was a basement or something, but the landlord says there isn't one."
"So, you think that the previous tenants did something there?"
"Precisely, Diamo. Tomorrow I'll need your help. We need to not just clean but also inspect what's down there if you're available early in the morning, which brings me to my second point. Anyone land a job?" Jack looked at his team with disappointed eyes. "No luck, huh?"
"I tried looking I was in the Arts and Entertainment District, but some of those wimps ran off in fear when I approached them." Quinn sighed.
"That sucks."
"Quite an understatement, but I'm not surprised." Diamo said in a tone calm enough to irritate the Quinn even more. The muscular Huntsman felt like a cobra, and Diamo's emotionless words were like a stick poking into him. He managed to restrain himself for once and take the verbal approach.
"Oh yeah? What about you, Four-Eyes?"
"I wouldn't say I had better results. I only got a one-night job from Dana's employer."
"Really? What's the gig?" Jack asked as he took a sip of water.
"A formal event that needs a lot of hands." The sniper started cleaning his glasses and continued to explain. "I'll only assist as a waiter for the White Fang Gala that'll be happening in three days."
"Well, at least it's something." Jack nodded as he was thinking about the week.
"Hold up a second… Did you say 'Gala'…?" Ace asked with large grin. The rest of the team witnessed his not-so-subtle reaction.
"Oh no, don't you dare say whatever it is you just thought of, dimwit!" Quinn looked at the jovial guy with angry eyes.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about." Ace shrugged.
"Ace, you aren't fooling anyone." Jack said with a glare.
"Oh come on, bro! We've been running away from Vale for almost a year! We should have some fun once in a while now that the gang's all together."
"As much I appreciate the suggestion, we have more important matters at hand than trying to attend a party for sheer amusement." Diamo kept working on his weapon while his partner looked onward in disappointment.
"B-But what about…?"
"Just give it up already, dumbass." Quinn was done eating the last slice of pizza. Ace yawned and could feel his eyelids start getting heavy.
"I think we should go to sleep early for housecleaning." Jack said with a somewhat tired tone as he reached for the dreamcatcher in his backpack. The rest of the team were getting ready for sleep, as well. Quinn and Ace played rock-paper-scissor to see who gets the second bed. While they were distracted, Diamo sneakily crept into the empty bed and called dibs on it. In defeat, Ace extended some blankets on the floor while Quinn took the sofa for himself.
"Lights out, everyone." Jack gave the order to his team like some military commander. Really brought back a few pleasant memories from the past. They fell asleep in no time.
Maybe not all of them.
Covered in blankets, Ace used a flashlight reading an 'X-Ray& Vav' comic book. Quinn noticed him. Annoyed at his childish behavior, he grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "Go to sleep already!"
