As team RWBY was entering their own dorm room after another boring lecture from Professor Port, Ruby began to complain, "Ugh I never thought someone could make us sound like such wimps.", somewhat justified as Prot had spent most of the last class going over instances where he 'ate a pack of Beowulf for breakfast'.
"I sadly to have to concur, it was one of his worst lectures yet.", the white haired heiress agreed.
"Now come on you two I got something here that should cheer at least Ruby up.", Yang said holding up a cardboard tube.
"Oh what is it?", Ruby inquired curiosity sparked, as she listened for any clue that escaped the small brown object.
"Not quite sure, but dad send it over so let's get it open.", With that the Blonde pulled of the lid and shook out the contents. What emerged seemed to be a rolled up pelt for a moment, before it revealed itself to be a small dog with a pop. The black grey and white corgi immediately looked up at the girls.
"Zwei my boy, mommy's been so worried about you", the half Grimm exclaimed, picking up and hugging the little canine to her chest immediately.
"Hey Zwei, dad's doing fine I hope?", Yang asked the dog and, to the immense surprise of the two other girls in the room, the dog gave a deliberate nod in response after he locked eyes with the blonde.
While Weiss kept observing the interaction between the sisters and their dog with thinly veiled curiosity, as she had never been allowed a pet of her own, Blake had quickly retreated as far from the dog as she could manage.
"Keep that mangy mutt away from me and my stuff."
Hearing the Cat Faunus panicked exclamation, the wolf eared redhead turned towards Blake, a burning fury lighting up her eyes, hands curled to claws after she sat Zwei back own on the ground. As she started to walk towards Blake with slow steps, her tail rose, standing stock still.
"What did you just call Zwei?", the half Grimm spat at the Faunus as she moved, Blake noticing a slight resemblance to a mother wolf defending her pup. Before the raven haired could even formulate a response, Ruby was standing before her, Silver eyes burning into amber ones.
On the other side of the room, Weiss was eyeing her team leader worriedly, unsure how to take or explain this sudden change in demeanor.
"What is going on with Ruby?", she whispered to the blonde standing next to her, hoping the half Grimms sister could provide some answers.
"I don't know for sure, but we think it's probably a Grimm thing. Ruby has been this protective of him ever since he licked at a small bleeding wound she had.", Yang replied, keeping her voice low as well before she stepped forward to keep her sister away from Blake if necessary.
Blake had meanwhile finally ordered her thoughts enough to respond, even with Ruby's death glare still fixed onto her.
"I didn't want to insult him, but please just keep him away from me please?"
This seemed to calm Ruby down just a bit as her hands relaxed, and her gaze softened up a tad.
"But why? Zwei is the nicest canine I ever met, well outside my pack that is."
Deciding not to point out that her Beowulfs aren't actually a canine species, Blake took a deep breath and decided to explain herself, "I am terribly afraid of dogs, so please can you at least keep him away from me."
"How can you be afraid of such a cutie like Zwei here?", Weiss asked as she was rubbing the corgi's belly.
With a short sigh, the cat Faunus decided to just show them before telling her story. Turning around so her back would be facing the other girls, she pulled her pants down, soon revealing a small, scarred bulge covered by little tufts of black fur. After hearing a trio of shocked breaths, the cat eared girl pulled up her pants once more and turned around.
"As you just saw, Ruby isn't the only one in this room born with a tail.", Blake began to explain, "But when I was five, I tried to befriend a stray dog. I didn't notice how it grew more and more agitated until began to bark and snap at me. When I turned around to run it bit down just short of the base of my well you can guess what happened after that." Blake finished, her eyes slightly wet and her face filled with pain and terror. But just after the words had left her mouth, Ruby was already hugging her, tears flowing freely from the silver eyes.
"Th-that's so ho-horrible, I don't even want to imagine what losing a tail feels like.", the half Grimm spoke through her sobs, her tail enveloping both girls as much as it could.
"I-I will at least keep Zwei with me as much as as I can and make sure he's not alone in our room."
Leaning into the comforting hug, Blake turned her head t Yang, "So any clue on how long he is going to stay with us?"
"Not yet, but let me check, maybe dad has stuffed something else in the package.", the Blonde replied before she shook the cardboard container once more. To the surprise of everyone in the room what seemed to be a month's worth of dog food cans and a letter fell out of the at most lower arm sized piece of cardboard. While both Weiss and Blake stared at the small hill of cans, Yang opened the letter and began to read through it.
"Well it seems that we will have to take care of Zwei here for at least two weeks, probably until we're back from our 'first' mission even, because dad is on a small excursion with his class and with a few of them allergic to dogs he couldn't take Zwei with him."
"Great", Balke muttered as her ears drooped she was not looking forward to spending two weeks this close to a dog.
As she had promised Blake, Ruby was taking Zwei everywhere with her, even to some of their classes where she sat as far away from Blake to help her be more comfortable. Right now though the girl and her companion were strolling through the dormitories hallways aon their way to the courtyard, where they would meet up with Penny to go to Vale. Walking slowly, Ruby was lost in thought about what their private investigation into the remainder of the White Fang had turned up. All the businesses that had been on the list Blake and Ruby had received where normal, Faunus owned shops or restaurants, and judging how most had reacted to the half Grimms face and what the girls could tell from looking around, none of them were actually working with the White Fang in any official capacity.
The two soup kitchens the girl had visited where a different story. When they had arrived, Ruby was more or less press ganged into helping out based on the 'mask' on her face. Not wanting to blow their cover, the wolf eared girl played along, behind the scenes she had found crates clearly marked with the 'Fangs insignia containing probably stolen food and other supplies. But even so when she started handing out food to the poor that came there, she was surprised that the Faunus were willing to give to poor humans as well.
Sure they only got the stalest bread they had and their bowls were at best half as full as those of the Faunus, but even so they got a little food, if they accepted how they were treated by the white Fang members handing out the food. In the end neither Blake nor Ruby could bring themselves to report the White Fang's involvement and risk that all those they helped that night go hungry instead.
Lost in her thoughts like that, and with the constant dark emotions pulsating out from Mountain Glenn, it was no wonder Ruby failed to notice the group of students in Haven uniforms coming the other way in the hallway. Even so it would not have ended in a collision, if the girl leading the group of foreigners had not been as focused on her scroll. But with the two girls sufficiently distracted, it came as it must and the two ran into each other, knocking bth back onto the ground. Looking at the other downed girl, the half Grimm's silver eyes met the amber ones of the Raven haired girl before her. The girl seemed to be angered by what happened for just a moment, but when their eyes made contact, she stood up quickly and offered a hand to help up Ruby, a small smile on her face and a silver rose dagling form a chain around her neck.
"Oh I am so sorry", the girl began as she helped the wolf eared girl stand up, "I was just so focused on this old legend I found and I should have looked where I was going."
After she got standing once more, Ruby looked at the small group of students, the raven haired girl she had ran into, A grey haired boy i standing next to a green haired girl. behind them stood another black haired girl, with green eyes. None of them seemed to show any surprise at Ruby's face, which seemed just a bit strange to the half Grimm. Sure most of Beacon knew about her by now, but these were foreign students.
"No problem, I was just as lost in my thoughts. But mind telling me what story you were reading?"
"Sure", the other girl replied slightly hesitating, "It's called 'the Promise of the Silver Roses'. You know what, how about you give me your scroll number and I'll send you the file over later today."
"Why not", Ruby replied, and after a quick exchange of numbers they each went their separate ways. Wavign in goodbye to her new friends, the half Grimm called her dog to her side before they finished their walk to the courtyard, where they found penny already waiting for them.
"Greetings friend Ruby and pet Zwei, how was your day so far?"
"Well except for running into a girl in the hallway it has been great so far, what about yourself?"
With a smile spanning nearly from ear to ear the green eyed girl replied.
"It has been a rather average day, but your promise to accompany me to look for and buy an appropriate dress for the dance on friday. Do you really think we can find some that keep our respective conditions covered?"
Ruby put a gloved hand to her chin for a moment before she answered, "Well I won't need to cover my ears and tail, so if we really can't find anything else, I'll just have to get a fancy suit. I mean it's definitely better than getting on Yangs bad side for sitting out the dance."
During this exchange, the two non humans had made their way to and into, the airship that would bring them down to Vale on this Saturday, the little corgi trailing behind them all the way.
On their flight to Vale, the two girls chatted about many different topics, the robot telling the half Grimm about Atlas and all the small ways it differed from Vale, Ruby showing of her dear Crescent Rose, as much as that was possible inside the bullhead anyways.
"So where are we going Friend Ruby?", Penny asked as they disembarked.
"Velvet told me about this nice little boutique that carries Faunus friendly clothing, you know with holes for tails, fins, ears and so on.", Ruby answered as she began to lead Penny through the streets of Vale.
When they came across a recently reopened 'From Dust till Dawn', Ruby quickly stepped in for a quick chat with the old shop owner and to pick up the newest Weapons weekly and Destructively Dusty, along with some magazines of fresh ammunition.
About an hour after the arrived in the City, the girls finally entered the Clothing store Ruby had heard about. Inside they were immediately greeted by a young clerk who directed them to the correct section of the store. After making sure they were not overheard, Ruby leaned towards penny before she whispered.
"So anything I should keep in mind when suggesting something for you?"
Turning towards Ruby's ear penny replied just as silently, "Well the center of my torso and back are not covered in fake skin for easier maintenance access, what about you?"
"Well I do have fur going along my arms,legs and spine as well as some small bone and my fingers end in relatively sharp claws, so i need something that goes with leather gloves."
With their special needs known to each other, the two of them began to look through the dresses on display, suggesting one to the other from time to time or trying one on themselves. They spend most of the afternoon in this fashion, but in the ned, Penny settled on a sleeveless. lime green dress. Sadly they had not managed to find a dress that the half Grimm liked that also hid her true nature adequately enough. So instead, Ruby got herself a suit shirt and tie. The red jacket would be embroidered with her Rose Emblem on the back, while the black pants were already detailed with red roses along the legs.
As they got ready to pay, Penny interjected when Ruby wanted to pay for her own purchases.
"No need friend Ruby."
WIth that she had the clerk scan her dress as well, before she held out a credit card to pay.
"Why did you pay for me?" Ruby asked her robotic friend as they stepped out of the shop.
"Oh I did not, the card was given to me by specialist Schnee to pay for our outfits, she thought it a nice reward to you -hic- for doing this for me."
So Guten Rutsch everyone, please leave some Reviews, and also I have something more for you today, not another chapter, because that was for Christmas:
World of A Grimm Rose
T'ad
The Promise of the Silver Roses
As I told you, I attached the file I read about the Promise of the Rose to this message.
C.F.
More than twenty years ago, here in the kingdom of Vale, our kind and fair king Leonoris Valorious married one of the highest decorated knights and defenders, Lady Lilie, the youngest of the fabled silver eyed warriors who protected the city of vale with the red and black balde past down since before the Kingdoms foundation.
Not long after their Union, Lilie was pregnant with their firstborn child, but despite that she was unwilling to stop to fight against the beasts of Grimm. Even when the king pleaded with his queen to reconsider, she was steadfast in her believe that the safety of the kingdom was more important than her own. But this time, when Lady Lilie led the defenders of Vale against the Grimm, only two of them managed to return from their clash with the hordes of the Grimm. And if it hadn't been for the last of her close friends Leif Eis, who had carried the woman with a broken leg on his back, she would have perished that day as well.
While the Queen had been confined to the castle grounds with her broken leg, Leif asked Leonoris to found a new knightly order charged with protecting the Royal family, if need be even from themselves. Seeing the state his wife had returned in, the King agreed to Leif's request and named our order the Knights of the Silver Rose, after her wife's eyes and the flowers she had planted to commemorate her fallen friends. Recruiting what few of his and the Queens friends remained, Leif became our first leader.
The remainder of the Queen's pregnancy passed without incident, much to the silver eyed woman's annoyance. But when the child was finally born, everyone was shocked at what they saw before them. The little girl that had emerged from Lilie's womb had the same silver eyes as her mother, but they were set in a Grimm like face. The fingers as well were not quite human, as they ended in the sharp white claws of a beast.
While the king demanded the abomination be slain at once, his close advisor and the queen pleaded him to reconsider. Swayed by the words of his wife and close friend he agreed to let the girl live, but she would not be allowed to be seen by the public.
Much to the King's surprise, his firstborn daughter grew up much like any other young girl, except for the feathers growing between her normal near black red hair and the tail feathers hidden beneath her skirts. Salem, as Lilie had named her daughter, always came crawling, and later on walking or running, when someone in the castle felt down or frustrated, always hoping to make them feel better.
When the princess was a few years old, her little brother, Leonard Valorious was born. As the pair of siblings grew older, Salem began to resent her brother for the freedom he enjoyed. Where she was confined to the palace ground at all times, her brother only needed to wait for an escort to go where ever he wanted. Her freedom was further curtailed after arms began to grow feathers as well until they resembled a Nevermores wings. This occured during her 17th winter when tensions run high as the public was suffering from a severe food shortage. With the rising death toll, so too rose the people's negativity as they grew more and more outraged how their king had let something like this happen.
Meanwhile, Salem's arms began to first sprout feathers just like those intermingled with her hair. Soon new bones grew out of her wrists and maybe a week later, her 'arms' were able to stretch form one side to the other in most hallways in the castle. Salem's steadily growing desire to test out her wings and fly, or atleast glide for a bit, was immediately stopped by her father's orders to not let her leave the castle itself, lest his monster of a daughter be seen by the public, under the pretense that she might be mistaken for a grimm by outsiders. Begrudgingly we agreed, as a panicked hunter shooting her with his bow was a slim but possible threat to the princesses live.
This tense atmosphere lasted until the princesses 18th birthday a few months later when a dispute between the king and his daughter escalate until she ripped open his cheek with her claws. Enraged how his daughter had dared to wound him, Leonoris decided to banish Salem to the young colony on the continent of Draconis.
Once she arrived there, Salem had to work hard for the most part of each day, tiling the land alongside of convicted criminals and hopeful settlers, dealing with strange looks to both her Grimm liek and womanly features from the males around her.
Even so for the first time in her life Salem felt free, sure she had to keep up her work quota but once she was done with that, she could spent the remaining hours of daylight however she wanted and nearly everywhere in the colony, sometimes stretching her wings out to their full rather impressive size and fly for a bit, other times she sat down with some of the other workers and just chatted about their past. Over the years she spent there, she became close friends with a few of them, mostly criminals who had stopped caring about her monstrous appearance sooner than others, after all they all had been branded as monsters just the same. But it seemed like fate itself had sworn to keep the young woman unhappy, as two years after she had arrived, a ship arrived with urgent news from the homeland. Soon a public announcement was set up at which the inhabitants were informed that their ear king had past away. As sorrow gripped most of the non criminal settlers, the young Grimm like woman was seen running into her hut, presumably to grief for her father or pacl ehr things to return and take her place as queen.
As the speech continued, people were informed that the King's son Leonard would take over the throne. This caused outrage to start with the criminals who had grown close to the exiled princess, which soon devolved into a full on riot which was quickly subdued. Even so it attracted an immense horde of Grimm which soon overcame the colonies weak defenses, causing a mass panic to start as people rushed to the docks and onto the few ships anchored there. Survivors who had boarded the last ship claim that they saw the horde of Grimm part as they took off, a white skinned woman with black wings walking through the cleared space with quick stepps.
We believe this woman to be our dear princess and rightful ruler. Because of this we, the knights of the Silver Rose swear to return to Draconis and search for Salem Valorious the third as soon as Vale has won this war Mantle and Mistral started in our presumed hour of weakness.
Now I hope you enjoyed this story so far this year, and see you all with the next chapter in 2018.