"So something about this working for free deal you have going with Cinder has been bothering me." said Blake as she flopped down on to the chair she had previously been sitting in before the rush had swarmed them. Emerald had agreed to take care of customers as Blake and Ruby rested for a few well deserved minutes.
"What about it?" responded Ruby as she sat down in the chair across from Blake.
"Well for one thing, why are you working for free? Everyone needs money. How do you mysteriously have the time and money to work here full time?"
Ruby shifted uncomfortably and avoided Blake's gaze, "I um… well you see I'mkindareallyreallyrichbecauseIsoldsomanypatentsstraightoutofhighschoolthatI'mkindasetforlife." Finished Ruby in one long breath. She hated explaining how she got her money. It tended to scare people away, whether they were intimidated by her smarts or her early success, she did not know. All she knew was that it ruined every healthy relationship she's been in.
"Wait wait say that again the only words I caught were rich, sold, and high school."
Ruby sighed and crossed her arms across her chest, she really didn't want to tell Blake this soon in their friendship, but there was really no way to avoid a direct question without lying her. Man I'm fucked, I can't lie to her. Especially not with those eyes staring at me, gosh they make me feel like I'm melting. Thought Ruby before saying, "W-well when I was in high school I invented a few things and then sold the patents to the Schnee Company along with them giving me a few royalties here and there. I'm kinda set for life, but I still invent a few things here and there for them upon request but I haven't made anything for them since…" Ruby closed her eyes and tried to shut out the images of anger and spite directed at her from the Schnee family.
"Schnee's you say? I actually know the current co-owner."
Ruby's eyes widened, "H-" she was cut off by looking at something behind her and smiling.
"Speak of the devil." said Blake as Winter strolled in through the front door of the bakery, ringing the tiny bell atop the door as it opened. "Hey Win. I think this is the first time I've seen you out of your uniform in a while. Where's Cin?"
Winter limped over to the table Ruby and Blake were sitting, her heavy boot thumping heavily against the floor. "Hello Blake…. Ruby…." Spoke Winter with a nod in both the girl's directions. Ruby nodded in response and Blake immediately sensed the tension between them. "To answer your concerns Blake, these are Cinder's clothes. She longer wished to see me in my uniform and also did not want to take off my hat… so I was forced to borrow some of her clothing and as to where she is, she did not want to leave her bed so I was forced to retrieve breakfast for the both of us." Winter winced slightly as she attempted to lean on her injured leg and was forced to lean on her good leg.
"I wonder why she likes that hat so much." Wondered Blake as Winter's mind began to wonder to the activities they were up to as Cinder wore the hat.
"Yes she really does." Muttered Winter as Ruby looked between them confused.
"Um. Question. Do you two know each other?" said Ruby.
"Yes Ruby we do. I've known Cinder and Blake since I was in middle school. Our parents sent us to the same boarding school that went from grades one through twelve." said Winter in a bored tone. "And as for how I know Ruby. Her sister used to date my sister." Continued Winter as if reading Blake's mind. "I must leave now, if I remember correctly Cinder tends to get a bit pissy when she is left waiting for food for too long." With that Winter left their table and made her way to the front counter.
"Oh hell no. You're back." Emerald said through clenched teeth.
"What is up in the his-ous E-dawg." Winter said in a similar monotone voice she used to speak to Blake and Ruby.
Emerald closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before addressing Winter calmly. "Winter will you please order something and leave."
"What is up Mint-Chocolate? Do you not want to chill? Is da crew on your case about me and that is why you do not wish to chill wit me like the home-slice you are?"
Emerald's thin patience began to wear, "Please. Just. Order. Something."
"Hit me up with dem mad breads, E-Fizzle."
"Whi- You know what? I'll just get you something random." Emerald sighed, grabbed a bag and began to fill it with an assortment of breads.
"Fo-shizzle" was all Winter said as Emerald filled the bag and was forced to resist the urge to throw it in her face.
"That'll be twenty bucks." Muttered Emerald as she began to charge Winter for the bread.
"Thanks Chocolate thunder, you are da homie." Emerald just nodded and accepted the money she had been given. As Winter walked away she said "It was nice to see you again young blu."
The snap of Emerald's patience was almost audible, "Oh my fucken god! Do you even know what that means!?" yelled Emerald, catching the attention of everyone in the bakery.
"…no." was all Winter could say before Emerald's eyes almost seemed to burn holed into her as she faced darkened with anger.
"Get. The fuck. OUT! Don't come back! I don't care if you are a customer or Cinder's… Whatever you two are. Do not come back ever or I swear on the river of Styx that I will stab you repeatedly and watch in merriment as the blue from your cerulean colored eyes fades and dulls as your soul wanders to the hell of which it came." Emerald's eye twitched as she continued to bore into the seemingly unfazed woman.
"Alright home-snizzle, I'll come back tomorrow to chill wit you da crew. I'll see you later." With that Winter made her exit and Blake began to worry that the vein in Emerald's forehead would pop.
There was a beat of silence before Blake stood up and said, "Alright Em, you can go off register duty for now. Emerald just nodded before making her way back to the kitchen and began to mercilessly beat the bread dough. They had a few machines that mixed the dough for them before they kneaded them a bit more and shaped them into the necessary shapes or placed it in their designated pans, but it seems Emerald took to attempting to make bread the way they used to before they had had the money to buy an expensive machine. The angry sounds of skin hitting innocent dough almost made Blake flinch, she did not know the history behind the way Winter spoke to Emerald but she sure as hell wasn't going to ask and receive the same treatment as that dough. Sure they did make hand kneaded dough from time to time because the customers enjoyed the novelty of it, but Blake had yet to see Emerald abuse bread in this manner.
Ruby walked closer to Blake and whispered "What the hell was that?"
Blake turned her head towards Ruby, while simultaneously not letting her eyes leave Emerald. "I honestly don't know, I'm usually not around when Winter is in town. I'll have to ask Cinder about it later."
Ruby nodded and went about her day, cleaning tables and occasionally helping Blake take care of a few customers. She soon began to notice Blake glance nervously at the clock every so often. "Hey Blake are you okay you seem a bit off." Ruby said as she finished charging their most recent customer.
"Well... it's just that I have to meet with my group for rehearsal but I'm just a tad afraid to ask Em for the rest of the day off."
"Why don't you just ask her? What's the worst that can happen?" just as Ruby finished her sentence she remembered the image of Emerald mercilessly beating the dough. "…scratch that what's the second worst thing that can happen?"
Blake shifted and gave Ruby a small smile, "You're right Ruby. As a reward, why don't you accompany me to rehearsal?"
Ruby was forced to contain her squeal of delight at the thought of seeing Blake perform before the actual show. They soon worked up the courage to speak to Emerald and convince her to give them the rest of the day off without much of an argument.
Ruby soon found herself skipping out of Blake's car and into the large simple designed amphitheater Blake was going to perform on. They only had this week left to prepare the show for this venue and that meant a bit of trial and error with certain songs and dance numbers. Blake had instructed Ruby to just sit in the front row since there really aren't too many rules about bringing guests and what to do with them if you do bring one. Much to Ruby's surprise she found Sun lounging in the middle of the front row.
"Hi Sun. What are you doing here?" asked Ruby as she sat next to Sun.
He shrugged, "Neppy is in this musical and this is the first time I get to see it since it's almost never in Vale. What about you?"
Ruby smiled a bright smile that reminded Sun of happier days alongside his best friend. They had been friends for as long as he could remember. They had even been and still where each other's beard during family events that involved certain religious family members of theirs, but that didn't happen too often and that part of their families lived very far away, much to their delight.
They soon began to talk in order to pass the time as the performers warmed up for their practice routine, but it wasn't long before they heard the deep voice of a red haired man with rimmed glasses call for everyone's attention. "Alright everyone let's do a run through of all that jazz before we do a practice run of Velvet's solo, Roxy."
The crew on the stage nodded before more people filed into the point where it looked like everyone in the play itself was on stage. The sound of a lone trumpet began to play as the lights dimmed and everyone onstage swayed slightly with the music. "Five, six, seven, eight!" was yelled through the speakers and the music suddenly sped as the performers began to move away from their places and dance along to the upbeat jazzy tune that began to play. One by one a few people danced across the stage, showing off their best moves. It almost seemed like a foreshadowing of what's to come in the play. They soon formed two rows on either side of what seemed like an entrance, the music began to slow as the lights beamed down on the mystery spot to revel Blake.
After a few beats she slowly walked forward began to sing in a smooth sultry voice, "Come on, babe. Why don't we paint the town? And all that jazz"
She bent to touch her knee as she continued, "I'm gonna rouge my knees. And roll my stockings down. And all that jazz."
"Start the car, I know a whoopee spot. Where the gin is cold, but the piano's hot!"
It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl. And all that jazz." At the end of that of the last lyric Blake kicked her leg out and began to walk once more. She danced along with some of the other performers that Ruby had paid no mind to because she was watching Blake and the way her body sawed along with the lyrics of the song.
Blake stood in front of the group as she made eye contact with Ruby. "Slick your hair and wear you buckle shoes. And all that jazz."
"I hear that Father Di, is gonna blow the blues. And all that jazz," Blake winked at Ruby before the song slowly began to pick up.
"Hold on, hon' we're gonna bunny hug, I bought some aspirin. Down at United Drug" Ruby soon began to feel uncomfortably warm as Blake continued the song staring mostly at her "In case you shake apart
And wanna brand new start, To do that- jazz!"
After that it was difficult for Ruby to really pay attention to what was going on, all she knew was that Blake seemed to be flirting with her throughout the song, but she wasn't sure if she was just really in character. Eventually Ruby chalked it up to Blake just really being in character and that she must have needed an audience member to stare at as she did the song, but that didn't stop Ruby's mind from drifting off to more naughty places as she watched Blake practice in her workout gear. After the dance sequence Ruby watched as the rest of the rehearsal went off without a hitch.
By the end of the night Blake had driven her home after she had said her goodbyes to Sun. Once Ruby had been dropped off she watched Blake's car drive away with only one thought in her mind. I'm fucked.
…
~A.N.~
Okay time to explain some stuff, the way Winter was acting was more or less inspired by SAO abridged. Oh and Winter referred to Em as a 'young blu' and that is just a shortened term for 'young blood' which is the term for a younger member in the gang 'Bloods' which is originated in southern California but had spread to other parts of the U.S. you guys do your own research if your that curios. Also in chapter 6 I forgot to put the translation for 'mi adorada esposa' it basically means 'my wonderful wife' or 'my loving wife' it can be either or. As for the song Blake sang it's the first song in the musical 'Chicago' it's based off this vid of a high school doing the musical and since its one of my favorite interpretations of the musical I decided to use it for this because why not? I also put the link to the youtube vid at the bottom of this if any of you wanna see what the dance sequence should look like. Anyway I hope yall enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review telling me what ya thought and if you have any questions. So anyway, till next time peoples!
Sorry you guys it didn't let me post the link properly just look up 'Chicago the Musical (Part 1/7) Deer Park High School' that's the exact name of the vid so it should be in the top results.
p.s.- I don't own RWBY or the musical Chicago.