Ruby dragged her feet out the door on the way to the tavern, casting a long look across the valley to the empty landing pad, "I guess Chuck is headed back to Beacon."
A warm hand ruffled Ruby's hair. "Aw, he'll be back for us before you know it." Yang smiled, doing her best to brighten her little sister's spirits, dampened as they often were whenever social functions were mandatory.
"Yeah," Ruby gave a half-hearted grin. Their mission was scheduled to last ten days, short enough to get them back in time to catch the start of the Vytal tournament. It might even end early if they managed to wipe out the Grimm problem entirely, but most likely they'd just study up on the new-ish species and knock the population down into a manageable range- whatever that turned out to be- and head back to Beacon. Ruby did have to admit it was nice being out of classes, even if she had to go to welcome dinners and planning sessions and all that.
While Ruby reconciled her anti-social self to her fate, Weiss fell in step with their escort. She had exchanged her light bolero for a sturdy jacket made of a stiff synthetic material. The edges of her sleeves were embroidered with her family's crest, and the lining of the garment showed red at her cuffs and collar as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, glancing up sideways at the brown-eyed girl, all politeness and high-class charm, "Have you lived in James Point long?"
"I was born here, so yes," the girl's hands were tucked into the pockets of her coat, "and you grew up in Atlas, right? You look ready for the snow."
"Are we supposed to get some soon?"
"Probably. There's been a ring around the moon these past couple of nights," she looked up towards the rim of the valley, but the moon hadn't risen high enough to see.
Weiss waited for her to say more, but she didn't, so she tried again, "We met Gale earlier. She acts as mayor as well as your primary defense against the Grimm? That seems like a lot of responsibility for one person."
"Well, we don't typically see a lot of Grimm. The mountains shield us from most of the larger bands, and the ones that do come through have to come through the pass there," the girl pointed towards a notch between the hills at the edge of the valley, "Or survive a drop from the cliffs. You all... aren't full huntresses yet. Have you fought Grimm before?"
"Oh, once or twice," Weiss lifted her chin with a haughty expression, resting her hand on Myrtenaster's hilt. The rapier had seen her through dozens of encounters, big and small alike. She'd taken particular care servicing the weapon before they'd set off with Chuck that morning, so the steel gleamed even in the fading evening light. "What about you? I've heard that many people living outside the kingdoms are at least passable fighters."
The girl tucked her hands back into her pockets, "Um, well, I generally try to steer clear of those sorts of situations."
Ruby hopskipped to walk between Weiss and their escort, her red cloak pulled close around her shoulders with both hands, "Are we discussing parties that involve dancing and dresses and awkwardly standing by the punch bowl for hours on end? Because I am one-hundred-percent with you on avoiding those."
The other girl laughed, "Well, I'm pretty sure there aren't going to be any punch bowls at dinner. The tavern's just ahead, see?"
She nodded towards a large, low stone and mortar building at the base of the hills. Its windows were bright and a number of people stood out on the porch chatting, smoking, complaining about the cold.
"Now this is my kind of place!" Yang grinned, waving at the bundled up townsfolk giving her and Blake strange looks. The two might have been more than a little under-dressed for the weather, but only one of them was feeling the effects. Fortunately for Blake, a rush of warmth greeted the team when they finally made it past the tavern's windowless heavy oak door and stepped inside.
The tavern was already in full swing, filled to the brim with miners, farmers, sheepherders, and what seemed to be the entire town crammed into one place, the sounds of their animated chatter drowning out whatever jaunty tune was playing over the lone speaker hanging above the bar.
"We may have been undersold on the size of this gathering," Blake observed, eyeing the crowd with no small amount of trepidation. Ruby wasn't the only one who wasn't particularly fond of social gatherings.
The sharp smell of alcohol flowing freely from the taps mixed surprisingly well with the scents of freshly baked bread and spiced meats coming from the row of tables pushed together in the center of the room, laden with an unspeakable amount of haphazardly arranged dishes. Standing near the very head of the tables was Gale, who was currently waving everyone over with a smile.
"Okay, team, stay strong," Ruby balled her fists in front of herself and shrank back towards the front door, away from the crowd and the noise. Weiss caught her cape and pulled her back into the room. "Wait! Wait, do I need to fix my hair? Is it sticking up?"
"Is it ever not?" the heiress gave her a once-over. Stupid red cloak. Old black combat boots. Massive collapsible scythe-rifle at her back. Weiss sighed and brushed away the few white crumbs clinging in the creases of her cape at her shoulder. "It's fine. Just don't trip over yourself."
"Right. Sure." The younger girl bit her lip-because she would trip over herself, she just knew it- but she straightened up as a heavyset man with flinty-dark eyes and dirt worn into the creases in his skin addressed her.
"So you're the huntresses, eh? Welcome to James Point," his breath smelled heavily of alcohol as he clapped a huge hand to Ruby's shoulder.
"Ow... I mean, thanks," Ruby forced a grin and vanished out from under his palm, reappearing several feet away in a dusting of rose petals, "Looks like Gale's calling, so I'd better head over that way. Uh, come on guys," she gathered up her determination and struck out through the sea of townsfolk to get to the head of the table.
Yang trailed behind, eyeing the fully stocked bar, its counters lined with rows upon rows of glass bottles filled with every earthen tone from the darkest blacks to the lightest golden ambers. She slowed to a stop and turned back, speaking low enough that she assumed no one would be able to hear her, "You guys go ahead... I'm going to check out the ba-" a ribboned hand swiftly grabbed her own, immediately halting her progress. "Aw, Blake, c'mon."
"You're underage," Blake stated simply, dragging her partner along.
"Yeah, in Vale," Yang's protest was cut short as they caught up with Weiss and Ruby, already mid-conversation with Gale.
"Word travels quickly in this town," the smile on the small town leader's face was partially hidden behind a polished steel tankard that was nearly the size of her head, "we don't get many visitors from Beacon outside of Chuck."
"Well, that's good, I guess, since Beacon's a school for monster hunters. The fewer of us you have to see, the better, right? Not that we aren't glad to be here, though the thing with the Grimm is pretty bad, er, kind of bad? But not, like, really really bad, or you'd probably have more than just us out here," Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, silver eyes darting over the food and the drinks and people.
A woman with long, purple skirts spilled a plate of food that a small scruffy dog wormed through folks' legs to help clean-up. There were a couple of messy-haired kids perched up on the bar, bright with laughter, and a handful of men on the stools, singing some kind of rowdy drinking song. The room smelled like warm food and woodsmoke, and Ruby noticed the fire burning in a fireplace tucked against the back wall. Blake had wrangled Yang away from the alcohol. Weiss was scowling at someone who'd touched her coat to get her attention.
Several people were pointing to Ruby, or looking at her, talking, maybe about her. That thought had Ruby biting her lip again, but she soldiered on in the conversation with Gale, "So I guess we eat now? Or... something?"
"If you're hungry, by all means!" Gale gave Ruby a light push towards the food, motioning with her tankard towards the stack of plates on the table's corner, "Take what you like, have a seat where you wish, and a server will be along to take your drink order. On the house, of course," she added with a wink.
Blake's grasp on her partner tightened as the brawler visibly perked up at the mention of drinks. With an arched eyebrow aimed in her direction, Yang instead focused her attention on her growling stomach. Once Blake released her, Yang sidled up beside her little sister. "You know, if we shared... I bet between the two of us we could try some of every single kind of food on this table..."
Gale didn't bother to hide the skepticism in her grin, "Now there's a tall order. Our cooks pulled out all the stops for you girls," her gaze swept over the impressive assortment of delicacies, "I haven't seen them go all out like this since we celebrated landing our contract with Atlas's military."
"Well, we happen to be experts at taking down monstrous creatures, and monstrous piles of food." Yang placed a hand on her hip and threw her other arm around Ruby, striking a bold pose that elicited a bought of laughter from the elderly town leader.
From the other side of the table, Blake smiled at her partner's antics before turning her own attention to the sprawling assortment of dinner choices laid out before her. She found her appetite heavily suppressed by the cold, and there was a distinct lack of tuna, so she settled for grabbing a single freshly baked roll, letting the bread's lingering heat seep into her fingertips. Amber eyes scanned the premises for a warm, relatively quiet place to lounge, narrowing when they settled on the tables and chairs near the fireplace - packed, of course. The only empty table sat along the wall, directly in the line of fire of the icy blasts of air that swept in from the front door each time it opened.
Heaving a barely audible sigh, Blake resigned herself to a frigid fate, her desire to avoid crowds winning out over her desire to avoid the cold as she moved to take a seat at the forsaken table. With relative peace secured, Blake spared a glance at Weiss to make sure she wasn't getting too harassed.
The clash of metal on metal had bystanders stumbling away from the heiress and a solid-built man with a blue bandanna around his forehead.
So much for that relative peace.
Talk in the tavern died as Weiss held Myrtenaster poised in guard position, ice blue eyes full of cold fury as the man hefted what appeared to be an oversized claymore fused to an undersized cannon up to his shoulder.
Taking another long drought from her tankard, Gale studied the scene for a moment. Something had clearly set off her town's chief miner - a certain vein in his neck always popped out when he got worked up. No doubt the Schnee girl had expressed her less than flattering opinion on the town's mines, or something to that effect. Setting her drink on the table of food, the old town leader headed over to the livid man, placing a small hand on an arm nearly as long as she was tall. "Gregor, I see you've met one of our guests."
"Might want to back up," he growled down at her, flicking a lighter and holding it to the fuse at the mini-cannon's base.
The next string of actions occurred within the span of several seconds. The fuse caught, and Gregor brought the claymore down in a sweeping arc, cleaving through the solid wood of the table as Weiss leapt aside. The heiress's sliver of steel nicked off the bit of burning fuse, and she immediately redirected her aim, dust chamber shifting to light blue as she lunged for the miner's arm-intent on a crippling, but non-fatal blow.
The crash of combat boots among plates preceded the rush of crimson steel that knocked Myrtenaster away. Ice crystals sprang from the floorboards where the blade touched and Weiss crashed into Ruby's back, catching herself on the girl's cloak and shoving herself backwards to get enough space to wield her rapier again.
Gregor yanked his blade free of the floor, giving Ruby a surprised once-over.
Crescent Rose dominated the space between the two would-be opponents, her curve of razor-sharp steel glinting in the warm tavern lighting. Ruby gripped the shaft of the scythe-rifle in both hands, ready to move, her rose petals dissipating across the floorboards. She held her position, "Yeah, okay. Is this something we can talk about or do we need to go outside?"
"Talk."
"Outside."
The responses, from Weiss and Gregor respectively, came at the same time. Ruby looked from the miner to her teammate to Gale, who stood behind and to the side of Gregor.
The old woman placed a hand on her chief miner's back, "A wonderful idea, both of you. Let's talk outside." She walked past the three currently in deadlock and strode towards the door, trusting they would follow. Her eyes caught Yang's for a second as she passed by the wide-eyed brawler. "Would you be a dear and keep the party going for us until we come back in?"
"Uh," Yang blinked back to reality, "Sure, of course!" She jumped up on the very same table as Ruby and gently shoved her off the side, whispering a quiet "Nice save, sis," before facing the crowd. "Hey everyone! Now that you've seen an awesome display of our mad skills, who wants to try their hand at arm wrestling a real live Huntress! Winners get a kiss!" She struck a pose and flexed an arm, smiling wide as the townspeople began to cheer, children and adults alike already starting to clump together by the tableside, eager for their chance at glory.
Gale was already at the tavern's entrance, holding the door open and waiting.
Gregor attempted to stare the heiress down- he had at least a foot on her, height-wise- but Weiss didn't give an inch. The chief miner gestured to the exit with his claymore-cannon. "Ladies first,"
"Oh, after you," Weiss's mouth was set in a thin line, her tone icy, "I insist."
She didn't lower her weapon.
"Weiss, you go first," Ruby suggested evenly, adding when her partner balked, "We're the guests, y'know?"
It helped that she flourished her scythe, folding it back into its compact form in a single fluid motion, and put her arm around Weiss's shoulders mustering a worried grin that said please-don't-kill-the-people-we're-trying-to-help. At that, the heiress sighed, replacing Myrtenaster at her hip. "Fine."
The two huntresses-in-training stepped past Gale into the cold. A breeze picked up Ruby's cape, billowing it out as they adjusted to the street-lamp-dotted darkness. The chief miner followed shortly after waving off a couple of men- doubtless his employees.
"I don't know what you're playing at, Schnee," Gregor said as he ducked through the low doorway, his weapon cradled on his shoulder, "but you're not setting foot in my mines."
Gale shut the door behind them, sealing off the warmth and light of the tavern before moving to stand beside her old friend. "Gregor," her tone was gentle but edged with warning, "These girls are here to help us. Beacon wouldn't send us a huntress with ulterior motives," she leveled an even gaze at Weiss, "would they, miss Schnee?"
"How should I know?" Weiss scowled, her posture rigid. The paperwork and release forms they'd signed when accepting the missions were peppered with check-boxes for alerting instructors to physical or medical conditions, but had been devoid of any labeled 'ulterior motives'.
"See?" Gregor jabbed a finger at the defiant girl, "She's probably spying for her father. Is that it? Didn't get enough info from the last suit-and-tie we sent packing?"
"Yes, right, because clearly dedicating years of one's life to studying and learning to fight Grimm is the most efficient way to learn the trade secrets of a tiny nowhere mining operation," the heiress shot back, temper flaring.
"Weiss," Ruby caught the older girl's eyes and stole a motion from Blake, holding her hand at a level above her head and then moving it down to her chest. Take it down a little was the message. To Gale and Gregor, she said, "We really are just here to take care of the bat issues."
Gale's lips were pursed as she stared Weiss down in the face of yet another insult to her hometown's very heart. Backhanded though it may have been, her compliment to Weiss when they'd first met had been sincere. Unfortunately, however good the girl's intentions might have been in choosing the path of a Huntress, it seemed she still possessed that legendarily acerbic Schnee temperament. Gale crossed her arms. In the interests of diplomacy and good relations, she knew she should step in, and yet... In the interest of getting a better read on these huntresses, she held back, giving Gregor space to speak his mind.
He addressed Ruby first, "You can help. She stays out," the chief miner set his jaw and stepped forward so he loomed tall and broad-shouldered over Weiss, his voice low and brimming with threats, "And if I find you've been talking to any of my men, I'll pitch you out the east pass so fast it'll make your speedy little friend here dizzy. Got it?"
Ruby held an arm across Weiss's chest, both shielding and barring action. The heiress glared daggers up at Gregor but said nothing.
Gregor spat on the porch step without breaking eye contact and strode back into the tavern, his boots heavy on the floorboards as he burst through the door and made a beeline for the barside.
Yang glanced up from her current match, eyes narrowing at the lone figure. Where were Ruby and Weiss? Still with Gale? The crowd around her didn't pay much mind, focused as they were on her current opponent, a handsome young man with a lanky build, dark skin, and even darker hair. Probably a local heart throb, if she had to guess. He seemed nice, so she held him in an even stalemate, giving him a few more seconds of false hope before slowly and relentlessly pressing his arm into the table.
More raucous cheering erupted and people patted the poor boy on the back as Yang scanned the tavern for any of her teammates, finally spotting her partner at a table by the wall. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the sight of Blake sitting alone, of course, quietly reading - where had she even gotten a book? - and nursing a hot drink. One of these days, she was going to teach that girl to party properly.
"Um, miss Huntress?"
Yang whirled her head around, blinking in surprise at her newest opponent. A small girl with lopsided pigtails who couldn't have been much more than 6 or 7 beamed up at her with piercing brown eyes, wide and earnest. She stared in awe for a few moments before finally working up the courage to speak again. "When I grow up, I wanna be a huntress like you."
The brawler's heart seized - this was it, she was going to die - she'd always had a soft spot for little kids and this one was really cute. "Well then," she grinned, taking the little girl's hand in her own, "Show me what you've got!"
If the crowd had been cheering loudly before, they were almost deafening now, and Yang put on the biggest show of her life, contorting her face in all manners of concentration and strain, nearly pinning the young girl's arm once or twice before finally relenting and letting her arm slam back into the table, defeated. It was worth it for the little girl's blinding smile of surprise as she threw her tiny arms in the air in victory.
"I did it! I win a kiss!"
"You sure did!" Yang stood and bent low, placing a gentle kiss to the top of the girl's head before pulling back and ruffling her hair. "You're gonna be great, kid," she winked.
As the little girl scampered back to her parents and a new opponent took her place, Yang glanced back over to Blake to find the Faunus already staring in her direction, a single brow arched over a small smirk, one that remained even as amber eyes turned back to her book.
Outside the tavern, Gale quietly watched the door slam shut behind Gregor. In hindsight, she probably should have kept him from meeting the Schnee heiress as long as possible, but if it hadn't happened now, it would only have happened later, perhaps when she wasn't around to keep him from attacking the girls that had been sent to help them.
Weiss shoved Ruby's arm aside, storming down the steps and into the darkened street, "I'm going back to the cabin."
"Weiss..." Ruby started, but her partner didn't turn. The young team leader sighed, rubbing her neck as she turned to Gale. Her silver eyes dropped. "Well, uh, sorry about that. Sorry for my half, anyway. You... all really don't like the Schnee family, huh?"
Gale mirrored Ruby's sigh, watching as Weiss made her retreat before shifting her gaze to the downtrodden young team leader still standing before her. "No, I can't say that we do." She frowned, wishing she had something positive to say, as the red-cloaked girl really did seem to care about her teammate, but truth was truth. "That family has been nothing but trouble since they first approached us about acquiring the mine decades ago. What started as perfectly civil negotiations eventually twisted into intimidation plays, petty scare tactics, underhanded threats..." The corner of her mouth lifted just a hair. "...That's the short version of things, anyway."
"Gee, yeah, that does sound pretty bad," Ruby searched the darkened street in the direction her teammate had gone. There had to be a way to fix things-after all, the stuff Weiss's family had done wasn't her fault, was it?- but she wasn't sure how to make it right. She grimaced, "You know, if you really don't want us here, I'm pretty sure we could swap out for another team. It might take a little while to get it all straight, but..."
"That's kind of you..." Gale paused, choosing her words with care, "But, I've always believed a child shouldn't be bound by the deeds of their family." Brushing an errant snowflake from her sleeve, Gale stepped forward and reached up to place a surprisingly warm hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'll talk to Gregor. But for now, go ahead and start your search with the mountainside, instead of in the mines..."
"Yeah, okay. We can do that," Ruby rubbed her arms under her cloak. Her breath misted in the air in front of her face. "So I'm going to check in with the others real quick, but then I should probably go after her, so... uh... thanks for the food? Those cheese pastry things were awesome. Sorry for jumping on the table."
Gale nodded, giving the young girl a small smile, "It wouldn't be the first time those tables have seen the soles of a shoe." With that, she turned and slipped back through the tavern door, holing it open behind her.
"Oh, whew, haha, I feel way better now," Ruby ducked through the door, sheepish and intent on finding her teammates.
Yang was sure easy to spot- well, it was hard to see through the crowd but where else would she be? (Plus, who else had glowing gold hair? Pretty safe bet that the answer was 'no one'.) The raucous cheers and fist pumps from the spectators signaled some kind of victory, probably on her sister's behalf. Good old Yang.
In any case, she was busy, so the young team leader glanced around for Blake instead, nearly jumping out of her skin when she spotted her seated at the table literally two inches away. Ruby flailed her arms, "Whoa! Blake. Hi," she brought a fist to her mouth to clear her throat, spirits dropping to her boots as she explained, "Weiss kind of sort of... got banned from the mines and from talking to mostly everyone in town. So I'm going to go."
Blake glanced up from her book with a darkened expression - she had suspected something was up when the visibly strained group of four had passed her to leave the tavern, but the roar of the crowd around Yang had made it impossible to hear anything being said outside. For a brief moment, she considered offering to join Ruby, eager to leave the crowded tavern, but a smile and wave from Gale passing by made her falter. It really wouldn't make the best impression to have all of them but Yang skip out on the party being thrown in their honor. With a resigned sigh, Blake nodded, "OK. Go keep Weiss company. You can tell us what happened later..." she glanced at the crowd and smiled as another cheer surged through the air, "Yang and I will stick around and keep up appearances. We'll head back when the festivities die down."
"Sounds good. Maybe sneak us some food if there's any leftover?" the silver in Ruby's eyes lit up a little, but only a little and it faded quickly. She gave a last wave and slipped back out the door into the quiet night, taking a breath through her teeth to steel herself for the inevitable storm that was Weiss. She gathered her cloak around herself, "Just... gotta go do some damage control. No problem."
A/N: Ah, yes, definitely no problem, Weiss is just giving Ruby a chance to polish her damage control skills of course. ;3
Sorry this chapter is a bit late, I was helping Fiercesomest with her taxes and oh my goodness self employment taxes are a nightmare everyone please send her hugs and well wishes because wow o_o
Stay tuned for the controlling of damage and shenanigans!
HUGS,
Defenestrator