In honor of hitting 50 chapters, I made a new cover image with the original 16 housemates!
Its not a big deal or anything, just figured I'd put something here since its kind of an important chapter number.
Carry on.
Weiss was surprised when someone had come and knocked on the house's front door just as they were finishing storing away Nora's X-mas decorations, but was even more shocked when she heard the news that person had come to deliver:
"An inspection?" the heiress asked Qrow, who nodded in confirmation, "What do you mean by that?"
"What else could I mean?" Qrow said as he leaned up against the doorway. Ren and Emerald stood behind Weiss to get their ears in on the breaking news as well. "Good old Glynda Goodwitch sent Oz an email and this morning, basically castrating him for 'tainting' General Ironwood and 'forcing' him to participate by sending Penny. She wants to check out the house tomorrow and see if it's safe for her students and all that. Glynda doesn't trust Ozpin, and I don't blame her honestly. If this place ain't a perfect 10 on her scoring chart, she's gonna probably beat the shit outta me and Oz for makin' you all suffer, and if Oz ain't around to monitor his half then well... She wins."
"Who's she?" Ren asked, curious about Qrow's use of pronouns.
"You don't wanna know, kid. Anyways, I recommend you all get this place as clean as you can possibly make it, and hide anything you wouldn't want a bitchy teacher to see. Booze, drugs, porn, you know the rest. She's bringing someone to document her findings as evidence if she sees fit to press charges."
"Can she just come and arrest Mercury then?" Emerald shrugged, "He's been a bigger douche than usual lately."
"If she gets him in jail, then she's gonna get you, Cinder, my source of booze, and all you other former degenerates thrown in as well. Which means no cash money for you-
"On second thought cleaning sounds good."
Qrow told Weiss to say hello to his nieces and slipped out the door to return to the van. Stepping back into the lounge, Weiss put two fingers in her mouth and let out a sharp whistle to catch everyone's attention in the building. "House meeting in the lounge! Now!"
"Some people are trying to relax here," Mercury droned, his eyes half open as he flipped through his dirty magazine on the couch. Weiss threw a strand of leftover garland at him to express her opinion on his feelings as all the housemates filed into the room.
"Listen! This is very important! And put that filth away!"
With a semi-circle of housemates formed before her, Weiss cleared her throat so he could give orders in a loud, clear tone. "Alright, everyone! We need to get this house into tip-top shape by tomorrow! Glynda is coming to inspect every inch of the house, and if she finds one thing she doesn't like then its game over for us! I'm going to need you all to split up into teams of two or three and begin cleaning a portion of the house."
"Ooh! Ooh!" Ruby shouted, Weiss groaning at her frantic hand waving.
"Yes, Ruby?"
"I call dibs on being your partner!"
"Sigh… You don't need to call dibs on your partner-
"I call dibs on Ren!" Nora followed, pulling Ren by his arms and into her death grip. Someone else soon caught on to what was going on.
"Then I shall call the so-called 'dibs' on Blake-
"Shut up, Adam," Blake snapped, quickly shooting his chances down.
It hadn't taken very long for Weiss's patience meter to blow its top. "Nobody needs to call dibs on anyone! It doesn't matter who you work with as long as you get this place clean!"
"…Can I still be your partner?"
"Yes, Ruby. I will be your partner if it makes you happy."
As Ruby squeed to herself, Cinder folded her arms in annoyance. If there was one thing that wasn't going to change, it was her opinion of Schnee. "So, Miss 'I'm In Charge', can we just get started now? I'd rather not take orders anymore."
Weiss glared at her nemesis and nodded. "Then get to it, Miss 'I'm Too Good For This'."
"You know," Penny said to Yang as everyone dispersed to begin their chores, "I do not think those two like each other very much."
"Well, you could say they have a heated relationship. Heck, maybe even an icy one at that!"
"Oh, clever! However, did you know that studies show that puns are the least appreciated form of jest, according to-
"You could have just not laughed and walked away, you know."
Having decided to take the dirtiest job of all, Pyrrha and Jaune did their best to fit both their supplies and themselves into the bathroom. While the two weren't inclined to feel so awkward with each other anymore, the small work space was still troubling to them.
"Scoot over a bit," Jaune said, sliding behind Pyrrha with a taped up plunger in his hand. The girl raised an eyebrow at his choice of cleaning tool, but smiled at his unawareness.
"Jaune, I don't think the toilet is… clogged…" Though she was supposed to be cleaning the shower, Pyrrha's eyes trailed down to Jaune's behind as he shifted around on the floor. She wasn't one to stare or ogle anyone, but she'd be damned to not acknowledge the surprisingly high quality of her noodle's assets.
"You can never be too sure," he winked, suctioning the plunger to the wall as he knelt down to lift the lid, "I know a guy back home who found a rabirat living inside his toilet. If he didn't have a plunger on him he would've been toast. I always make sure I have one with me whenever I… Pyrrha? Are you, uh, are you okay?"
Nikos snapped from her trance, turning her beat red face back into the shower. "Yes! Yes, I'm okay. Just got… distracted, that's all."
Something about being together-together with Pyrrha now awakened a sense of awareness in Jaune he hadn't discovered before. He could tell she had been staring at him, and it inflated that slight ego he let loose sometimes. He grinned as he wiggled his butt at Pyrrha. "See something you like?"
"Maybe I do…" Pyrrha smiled seductively, Jaune's face reddening this time. Noticing the shower head above her, she decided to have a little fun with him; it might make their job a bit more difficult but it was going to be worth it. Aiming the head at Jaune, the boy couldn't dodge the sudden burst of water Pyrrha let loose on him.
"Gah! Wet, wet! Stop it!"
"Just cooling you down a bit, that's all!" she laughed, hitting him with a mouthful of water. Pyrrha was unaware of the puddle forming at her feet, and felt herself slip when she stepped out of the shower to soak Jaune from a different angle. "AH!"
"Pyrrha!" Throwing his arm out, Jaune hooked it around Pyrrha's waist just before her head hit the edge of the sink, saving her from a very bad headache or worse. Breathing heavily, Pyrrha lifted herself onto her knees and closer to Jaune, pecking him with a kiss on the lips as thanks. Jaune stumbled on his words for a moment after that; it was going to take him some time to get used to her frequent displays of affection. "Not hurt, are you?"
"Safe and sound, thanks to you. And yourself?"
"Fine, fine… But I think my arm's stuck."
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked before she saw that half of Jaune's body was below the toilet seat, "Oh my… I'll go get some help."
"Anyone but Nora. I still want my arm attached to my body after this."
The moment Ruby found a Roomba stored away in a closet, she immediately forgot about cleaning with Weiss and strapped Zwei to it (with a helmet for safety, of course). Following the Corgi as he went on a small journey through the lower level of the house, she came across Adam changing trash bags. The Faunus caught sight of her before she could flee, making Ruby flinch when he called out to her. "Ruby Rose! Come here for a moment."
Not sure what to expect, Ruby approached cautiously after pushing Zwei and his Roomba in the opposite direction. "…What's up, Adam?"
"I have a question regarding the newest arrival here."
"Oh, you mean Penny? What about her?"
"I am confused as to why she is so friendly to me," Adam stroked his chin in thought, "She is human, yet does not show any signs of fear or disdain towards me. Why is that?"
"Um…" Ruby scratched her head, thinking of a way to explain things to Adam without revealing Penny's robotic secret, "Penny's just really friendly, that's all. It's kind of hard for her to see bad things in people."
"Bad things? What is bad about me?"
"…Not sure if you're serious right now, or just confused."
"I'm a passionate man, Ruby. I'm a revolutionary that uses fear as a tool. Mastery of fear is not a negative quality of mine; in fact it is my strongest! A man with power is-
"Not much, really."
Adam's eyes widened from behind his mask. "What did you just say?"
"I don't really think you'll take this to heart," Ruby said, getting as super serious as possible, "But just the other day I watched someone who was dying for the same power you say you have break down because they had nothing else other than that goal. And you know what? They realized just what really matters. It's not being strong, or owning your partner, or anything like that… It's being happy with those close to you and appreciating what others do for you."
"Appreciate? I don't understand. Who should I show that for?" Adam tightened his fists when Ruby started snickering at his ignorance. "What's so funny, girl? Tell me now!"
"You'll figure it out," Ruby winked as she went to go find where Zwei had gone next, "Both of you are pretty alike, now that I think about it. Blake mentioned once that you weren't always the way you are now. I'm kind of curious of what you were like before, and I bet everyone else is too. If you're as strong as you think you are, then I bet you could show us what you're like behind that mask."
Left standing alone with his trash, Adam stared at his reflection in the window. Ruby's words had intrigued him, nearly as much as Penny did. Contrarily, a human had given him advice! He needed no advice from a filthy human, not even…!
Not even if it made just a small amount of sense…
It made Weiss happy to see everyone had been so diligent in their cleaning as she made her final round around the house to make sure they had all completed their tasks. All the pine needles and decorations were gone from the lounge thanks to Yang and Penny, Neo and Roman had finished the dishes, the Lieutenant had done a fine job in mowing the front lawn (though she wished he hadn't trimmed the bushes into suspiciously phallic shapes), and even Mercury had shoved his filth far beneath his bed!
And now, with the sun setting on the horizon outside, it was Weiss's turn to get started. With Blake having helped Sun clean the windows, Ruby bailing out on her for Zwei, and Ren having scrubbed the kitchen floor with Nora, no one had been assigned to clean her own room. She would ask Cinder, but Weiss would rather pet a Nevermore than talk to her. Therefore, she'd take on the duty herself.
Wheeling a vacuum cleaner behind her, Weiss struggled to carry her assortment of cleaning supplies down the hall to her room. She noticed that the upstairs was surprisingly quiet, minus the sound of speakers playing from one of the rooms. She then saw the clock, seeing that it was dinnertime. There was only one place everyone could be right now, and it wasn't here.
Weiss couldn't help but sing to herself the song playing from one of the rooms; it was a favorite of hers, and she knew every word. As she approached her room, she realized that the music was coming from behind its closed door; she was even more shocked to find that she was not the only person singing right now.
Someone was singing in her room, and they sounded wonderful.
Lowering her own voice, Weiss leaned up against the wall and listened to the mystery singer intently. Their voice wasn't as polished as her own, and a bit softer in comparison, but with a bit of training they could rival her own vocals. Perhaps she could give them some impromptu lessons…
"Well look who's a closet sing-
The last person Weiss had expected to see after opening the door was Cinder. Fire and ice met eyes silently as the music continued to play. Cinder reached to shut the speakers off before she would show Weiss back the way she came, but didn't expect Schnee to hold up her hand to stop her.
"Don't turn that off," Weiss urged, pulling the door closed behind her, "How long have you been practicing?"
"Why do you care?" Cinder snapped back, "We're not exactly friends, you know."
"You're right. We aren't. But I'm not just going to stand around and keep someone with talent from letting others see."
"Don't talk that way. I'm not that good. I can't even hold out long notes."
"That's because you're standing wrong."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Look," Weiss demonstrated, straightening her body and back, "You can't sing hunched over on your bed like you were. Let the air flow in through your nose, fil your lungs, and then… Let it out ~."
Though she was impressed by Weiss's vocal demonstration, Cinder wasn't going to show it outright. She folded her arms in a huff, turning her back to her. "If I wanted singing lessons, I would have asked. I don't need you pitying my terrible voice."
"You're not terrible! Not at all!" Weiss assured her. It was then she felt a feeling she had felt a long time ago, when she had first met Ruby back at Beacon. She had misjudged that dolt of a girl at first, treating her poorly and as if she was something below her. It hadn't taken Weiss long to notice that Ruby was not all she seemed to be. In fact, she really did turn out to be her best friend.
Looking at Cinder, Weiss realized she had made the same mistake again.
"I know…" Weiss started, holding her hands behind her back, "We didn't start off on the best of terms. I have a tendency to misjudge and make enemies quickly. And lately, you've seemed… different. A bit more open. And I think now might be a good time for us to start over."
Cinder hadn't expected this at all. Why would a Schnee act in this way? They were cold, stuck up rich people who thought only of themselves. Unless…
Of course. How could she have not realized it yet?
"…Do you know what I didn't like about you when we first met?"
"…What?" Weiss's eyes widened at Cinder's bold declaration.
"You reminded me of them. My step-sisters. They acted so nice on the outside to others, and treated people below them – as in me – like garbage. They thought they were so high and mighty, angels on Earth, when they were just hags in rich fabric. They worshiped the Schnee name. They aspired to be like your kind. But you know what?"
Cinder turned back to Weiss, a small smile in the corner of her mouth.
"Someone like Ruby Rose wouldn't choose someone as terrible as that to be her friend. That girl has an uncanny ability to make people change completely. I know that first hand, and I think you might as well. You should really be glad to have her, you know. There aren't enough people like her out there anymore. "
An invisible pressure was lifted from Weis's shoulders as the possibility of Cinder tearing into her vanished. Cinder paused the music and set the song back to the beginning before she continued speaking.
"So, if you really want to try and start things over, then I suggest you skip dinner and show me just what my weak points are, 'Your Highness'."
Scoffing at Cinder's teasing haughtiness, Weiss let a comforting smile come over her immediately afterwards. "Okay… But I still get to use the shower before you do from now on."
"Yeah, we'll see about that one."