Yet another class over with, yet another day of break time. God, Catra was glad to be done with today. The weekend was closing in rapidly, so she figured it would be a great time to actually start leaning back and letting the kids take it easy in prep for the Weekend. Thank God she did, otherwise they'd have talked her ear off with questions. Teams JNPR and RWBY were, of course, the worst offenders in that case.
She strolled forward down the corridors of Beacon and toward the mess hall. Lunch had come once again and God, was she looking forward to it. The Cafeteria's buffet kept surprising her with newer and newer courses every day, all from different parts of Remnant. She'd learned of Mistrali, Atlesian and Menagerie cuisine. She also heard good things about Vacuo and their unholy amounts of spice, so that was next on the bucket list.
Vale cuisine remained the go-to, though, with others getting three or four recipes while it got the rest of the buffet. Made sense, this was its home country after all.
Catra strolled in, a grin on her face and determination in her eyes as she aimed for the buffet. She also noticed teams RWBY and JNPR seated at their usual seats on her left, with Adora just joining them. The blonde winked to the cat, who flashed a toothy grin at her, before bouncing all the way to the buffet... Much to the chagrin of the kitchen ladies and gents, it seemed.
"What's the matter, miss Ivory? I'm cleaning up anyways." She quipped toward the cafeteria lady serving the food.
The woman, an elderly one with greying hair, black eyes and skin of her namesake color, chuckled, then said "I'm more worried over how much you're stuffing yourself with. The cooks have had to make a double batch to feed everyone aside from you."
"Oh, tell'em to stop whining. I'm paying for it from my own stash." She shot back, taking the tray-full of food and walking toward the table.
"Again?" Adora remarked, leaning on one hand and staring at the cat person "I mean... Can't really blame you, since they're serving pretty good food, but... Seriously?"
"Hush, miss 'I hog all the grey ration bars'." Catra quipped, sitting herself down. "My metabolism's gonna take care of this food."
"Okay, first, you're misremembering. Grey ration bars were your favorites." Adora chuckled "Second, I don't think that's how it works. And third, you cut Yang off right as she was getting to the good part of her story."
"Ooh, my favorite boxer is telling a story." Catra smirked, leaning past her food. Her ears twitched as she quipped "I'm all ears, Blondie."
"Thanks, ma'am." Yang gave thumbs up and flashed a grin at that pun "So anyways, I was looking for info on..." She hesitated, "someone." Then she continued as peppy as ever "And Junior Xiong seemed the likeliest source. I've made a few friends with... Less than desirable people... For my own sake and that of my folks. So when I went to Junior's club and confronted him, he seemed unwilling to answer."
The girl smirked then, proudly "So I... Persuade him to try and get him to talk."
Catra grinned "Did you grab him by the balls?" And she saw Yang(and just about every girl, Adora included) blush, while the two boys present just cringed at the thought. Catra burst into a laughing fit at the reactions, realizing exactly what had happened going by how red in the face Yang was. The others, however, urged Yang on silently to keep on going. And of course, she did.
"... Right... So anyways... I trick the guy after he refuses to answer, punch him across the club and..." Yang continued to regale all of them with the tale of how she once knocked down the guard staff of a club owner with the underground staff and then punch him clean out of the building because he simply pulled a bit of her hair out. Christ, Catra needed to jot down bits about the hair, Yang was something else.
Then, Weiss came in and said, all serious "You really should not be proud of causing property damage."
Yang poked her tongue out at Weiss, jovially giggling as she said "Oh, come on, Weiss, it was a criminal's place."
"That sounds awesome." Nora remarked, looking like a fangirl straight out of one of those trashy boyband films. Catra and Adora looked to one-another, then both giggled. Yang always seemed the combative type, so yeah, it only made sense she'd destroy a club doing what she wanted. And Nora's reaction was justified, being who she was. Nora Valkyrie, the kickass hammer girl.
"I gotta agree with Valkyrie. Nice one, Yang." Catra smirked. And again, Yang gave a thumbs up.
"Catra, we really shouldn't encourage that." Adora whispered to her, but Catra nudged her in the shoulder with her elbow. Adora rolled her eyes, then went back to her plate of pasta. Of course, Catra would be one to rebel against authority and actually encourage property damage and physical harm. She did beat the everloving hell out of Cardin no less than a few days ago.
Catra looked over to Jaune, noticing he was turned away and fiddling with his food:nuggets and mashed potatoes. She grinned, then asked "You alright, Arc? You seem off today."
He gasped, then looked to Catra and said "Y-Yes, ma'am!" and he let out an awkward, silent titter "I'm absolutely fine!"
"Ooh! Ooh! I GOT A STORY TOO!" Nora jumped in. Catra raised a brow at Jaune, who motioned to Nora to go on. She chuckled and shook her head, before leaning onto the table and staring at Nora. Adora looked between the two, then shrugged and sat in to listen intently. Ruby and Yang cheered Nora on, while Weiss went on to start filing her nails and Ren seemed distraught.
Nora started up her tale about her weird dream, with Ren correcting at each step. From Ursa to Beowolves and from a dozen of'em to two of'em. Nora loved to make it dramatic, so Catra kept drawing the parallel between her and Entrapta a bit too often. As Nora continued to talk and Ren told the team about the reoccurrance of the dream, Catra eyed a still-distraught Jaune and elbowed Adora, her left ear perking up and 'pointing' to him.
"You think he's okay?" Adora whispered.
Catra shrugged, then she heard the laughter of Cardin... And saw him and his goons surrounding a young, brown-haired girl with rabbit ears. A Faunus. Any further questions from Pyrrha herself toward the blonde boy were almost ignored, sans that last bit... "Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school." And that got her blood to boiling point... But what followed? Tugging at the poor girl's Faunus ears?
"Uh-oh..." Adora murmured, looking at Catra's balled fist.
"Oh! WE'LL BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora suggested as a finisher to the Convo. Catra laughed, but slightly strained.
"I like your spirit, Valkyrie... Not a bad idea, really. I'll be right back." Catra said, her voice concealing the seething fucking anger she was filled with as she approached Cardin and the others. She called out "HEY! WINCHESTER!" and he saw the man recoil immediately, turning to her with wide eyes. His 'posse' of idiots also noticed Catra approaching and stood almost to attention. Good, she'd drilled at least some degree of obedience into them. She had to remind herself, spitefully, one would say, that she couldn't hurt Cardin. Not physically, at least. He was still holding onto the girl's ears, though, so...
She grabbed his wrist, dug her claws deep enough into it to get him to release her, then she shoved his hand aside and got up in his face, growling "We had an agreement, Winchester... You play nice and I don't turn you into cat food." as she stared him dead in the eye. The boy grew ever more fearful as he saw her get closer and closer, until he could smell the cat fur... With another low growl, she barked "Final. Fucking. Warning. Mess with any student, whether they're under my wing or not, and I hear or see it, as was the case today...? I'm not gonna be Nice Ma'am anymore. Got... That...?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am...!" He nodded rapidly. He still stared with a degree of hatred, but she guessed he'd rather not have his ass kicked by a teacher in front of the whole school. Better that way for her too, since she agreed not to hurt him. She sighed, her ears dropping, then she showed him and his gang to find another table, before she went on to check on the girl. The bastards scrambled for another table, indeed... And the girl?
Brown eyes filled with tears stared at the catgirl teacher as she sat herself down and a face that hid pain. Catra sighed, then placed a hand on her shoulder and said "It's alright. They're gone... And I don't think they'll be bothering you anymore."
She looked older than team RWBY. Older than most First Years, actually. But still in her teens.
"T-Thank you..." She spoke, her voice trembling and a strange accent kicking in.
"No problem." Catra smirked "Name's Catra Clawdeen. I teach First Years CQC... What's your name?"
"V-Velvet Scarlatina... I'm a second year." The girl answered. She got offered a napkin and a sad smile from Catra.
"Second Year getting bullied by first years? Man..." Catra shook her head "Don't let them get to you."
"Oh, I'm... Used to it." She sighed, rubbing her arm, then added with a sullen look on her face "Props of being a Faunus."
Catra sighed, then asked "Where's your team? They would've stopped this, right?"
"Yeah, they would've... But they went to get us some more food..." Velvet responded, wiping away the tears with the napkin "Guess those boys just took advantage of that." and Catra watched her team approach. She stood up, noticing the very well-dressed girl in the gang, with a beret and sunglasses, while wearing a school uniform. The Catgirl grinned, then offered a curt nod to the woman, her dark-skinned, blind friend and the...
"... Jeez, dude, what do they feed you?" Catra asked, looking up at the tall boy on the right of the girl with the beret "You look like you could slap Winchester and his gang around without problem."
The girl before her chuckled, then asked "What did they do this time?"
Catra shrugged, then looked to Velvet as she shook her head, grinned, then said "They were messing with Velvet. Pulling on her ears and the like. I got Shitbird Winchester to back off, though."
"..." The girl pushed down her glasses, to reveal shimmering, coffee-colored eyes. "They what?" She growled. Velvet sighed, then planted a palm on her face, while Catra crossed her arms. Hey, may as well get others to beat the loving fuck out of bullies if you couldn't. She simply gave a nod to the girl, who hummed, then said "Name's Coco Adel. The guys beside me are Yatsuhashi and Fox. We're team CFVY, second years." and she motioned to the tall man and the red-haired boy respectively. "Thanks for letting us know about this little incident. What's your name?"
"Coffee, huh? Catra Clawdeen. I'm the First Years' hand-to-hand instructor." Catra gave a nod "Just call me Catra."
"Our pleasure to meet you, Catra. And thanks for taking Vel's side in that dispute." Coco gave a nod "You're cool."
"Not as cool as those shades. See you all around... And you didn't hear about Winchester from me." Catra smirked, to which Coco gave her a cocky half-smile, nodded and excused herself, walking to Velvet to comfort and apologize to her. Several students cheered as Catra proudly strolled back to her seat, with Adora grinning dumbly at her girlfriend as she sat herself down. She showed an open palm to Catra, which the catgirl immediately slapped in the motion of the high-five.
Jaune, Pyr and Nora looked happily at her. She gave them a wink and a nod, before digging back into her food.
Ruby looked to Adora, then gave a thumbs up and a smile, while Adora shrugged, smiling back.
Blake had to admit, she saw Catra in a new light, too. Maybe she was trustworthy.
Weiss? She didn't quite know what to think... But if they were stopping bullies? She couldn't say no to trying to know ma'am a bit better. She was different to other Faunus.
After lunch had ended, the two Etherian teacher girls walked down the hallways of Beacon, silently. Adora wanted to enjoy Beacon's scenery and the halls that had windows provided plenty of that. The courtyard itself was a beautiful sight to behold. All the greenery outside was warming to them. It reminded them of Bright Moon, of the final battle... Of home, of their victory and their friends. God, they hoped they were okay.
The sound of running footsteps put the two on alert, bringing them to a stop. Catra brandished her good hand's claws, turning around, while Adora wanted to summon She-Ra, then remembered she couldn't. So she took a hand-to-hand combat stance. But, the sight of a red cape fluttering in the wind and silver eyes staring at both of them calmed them down as the owner of the cape skidded to a front in front of them.
She panted, tugging at her collar, while Catra walked up to her and, with a confused look on her face, asked "Why the hell were you running so fast, Ruby?"
"Sorry, I..." She coughed "I was trying to catch up to you..." And she seemed unsure how to call them.
"We're just Adora and Catra out of class, Ruby..." Adora offered, taking a knee "Sit down and rest."
And Ruby plopped herself down on the floor, legs crossed. She wiped the sweat off her brow, then asked "Do you two have weapons?" with a glimmer in her eyes that both of them had only seen in one person:Entrapta. The two looked to one-another, then shook their heads at Ruby. The redhead girl smiled, then yelled "Perfect!" in that similar shrill tone. Catra chuckled at the sight as Entrapta took Ruby's place for a sec in her eyes. Ruby then continued, with a healthy blush on her pale complexion "Sorry, sorry, I mean...! It's not good for Huntsmen and Huntresses not to have weapons." She looked to Catra then "Uh, sorry, miss Catra, you... You fight with your claws, right?" and she took out a notebook.
Catra nodded "Yeah, but one set of them is broken." And she pointed at her hand "They're growing back, though."
"Alright. Got it..." Ruby said, jotting down the details in her notebook, then she looked to Adora "Sorry... And miss Adora... What do you fight with?"
"Usually a sword in my magic form?" Adora shrugged "But I can do ranged fighting too... Though I generally prefer stuff that hits hard."
Ruby tapped her chin with her pencil, then hummed and smiled, writing up a few more things in her notebook. She stood to her feet, then said "Thanks! See ya!" And she dashed off, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her before either Catra or Adora could say anything. The two looked on, confused, then shrugged and continued walking, not knowing how to take Ruby's little intrusion.
As they walked, Catra hummed "Think Ruby's alright?"
"No idea." Adora stated bluntly.
Catra shrugged and disregarded it "Eh, she'll be fine... Tell me she didn't channel Entrapta there, though."
Adora sighed "Nope. I'm not gonna tell a lie."
"Pfft. You couldn't. Not even to save your life." Catra quipped, crossing her arms as she walked ahead
"I could, if I wanted to!" Adora barked, glaring daggers at her girlfriend and trying to catch up. Catra wiggled her brows at her, grinning deviously... And Adora asked "What?!"
Catra chuckled "Adora, Adora, dear, stupidly honest Adora. You couldn't lie, nor act to save your life. Glimmer and Bow told me what happened during your meeting with his family." and she smirked at Adora groaning. Of course, they'd have told Catra. They were fairly close nowadays, so Adora figured they must've told some stories about their early travels to catch her up.
"Dammit..." Adora whined.
"Aww. There, there." Catra wrapped her arms around her shoulder and patted her "I can teach you at some point."
Adora playfully shoved Catra as she laughed aloud "Of course you'd know how!" and Catra laughed with her. The two continued walking down the hallway, smiles on their faces. Adora's face turned smug for a moment, while Catra yelped in surprise, when Adora took her hand. The smug blonde looked to her girlfriend, then winked, while Catra blushed furiously.
The two strolled into their apartment and heard the pit-pat of paw-steps again, before turning back to see Melog reappearing. Catra chuckled awkwardly while Adora stared, confused, at them. The catgirl knelt in front of Melog, then let it meow at her. It'd found exactly nothing so far regarding Ozpin or what he'd been doing, except overhearing him mention something about a book today. Melog must've caught him reading.
"Huh." Catra hummed "Good job, Melog." And she pet it, then stood up and smiled broadly and awkwardly at Adora "This is... A lot to explain."
"I'll bet?" Adora crossed her arms. "Do I wanna know?"
"Probably not?" Catra returned hopefully.
... And Adora sighed. It was probably important, then.
What did Catra do this time?
AN:Hey, folks! Johnnie here! I'm really happy to see so many people are enjoying The Princesses of Remnant and hope to keep writing it for a very long time from now until RWBY itself ends... With my own story beats instead of RWBY's alone, don't worry, that one reviewer that asked about this, the Princesses will change this story.
With that being a good enough segue into what I wanted to say... I have decided today, Thursday, 13th of August, that I'd be setting myself up a schedule for posting chapters for this story.
To explain what I mean by this, I really do love writing The Princesses of Remnant, for some reason. I really do. It's like... That one story that I somehow knew I'd enjoy writing, especially with She-Ra and The Princesses of Power so fresh in my mind. Since I finished the show... 3 or 4 days ago, I think, after binging it, I've been posting chapter after chapter ranging from 3,000+(Like this one. Sorry it's so short) words to straight up double that, at 6,000. She-Ra was an amazing show that reminded me of my childhood with how its story went and how... Fantastical it all seemed. From characters to character arcs and development and to story, everything was top notch. And I love RWBY for what it is... A similar show to She-Ra, to some degree.
And it's because I love The Princesses of Remnant as a story I write and am invested in and She-Ra and RWBY themselves as shows I enjoy that I'm giving myself a schedule to write in, to keep myself fresh, to have time to hopefully update other stories on this account or better flesh out the scenes and plans I have for this one and... Not to burn myself out and leave it on an unspoken hiatus, like I've done with several of my stories so far, because I don't want that. I wanna change that about my writing style.
So, hopefully, you can expect the next chapter to appear either next Thursday or next Friday, sometime Central European Time. Until then, I'll be thorough in working on its chapters and other stories of mine.
'Till next time, Johnnie out!