Ruby looks are Nora horrified before slowly turning her head to look at May lamenting when she sees her looking nervous and confused. The markswoman opens her mouth to respond when she's interrupted first by Weiss.
"Nora I fail to see what relevance that question has to any-"
"Yea yea we get it Weiss. You don't understand culture, that's okay I've gotten over it." Nora responds idly waving her hand and ignoring the indignant sputtering of the heiress and the sudden burst of muffled laughter from the blonde. Her eyes never leaving May. "Well? Your answer is important."
"W-what?" May asks her eyes looking to her team and friends for help but finds them all stunned watching the orange haired girl in shock.
"What? What's to get confused about? It's a simple question. Pancakes or waffles, which makes for a proper breakfast?" Nora asks. Oblivious to the fact that right in front of her is a towering stack of the former slathered in dripping syrup. Jaune groans rubbing his face in embarrassment as Pyrrha covers her mouth to hide her laughter that does nothing for the mirth in her eyes. Ren however just let's out a sigh of long suffering.
May looks between the stack and the girl wondering if it's a trick question. The growing tension and feeling of impending violence should she answer incorrectly she takes a deep breath and tensing her legs to run away if she needs to before trying to answer.
"A-actually I prefer crepes t-to either of those." She offers shrinking a bit.
"Excuse me?" Nora asks her eyes glinting until Ren speaks up his voice calm and level running a direct counter point to the small green eyed girl.
"Nora, they're very thin pancakes made using wheat flour. While you can eat them in a stack like the ones in front of you, instead they are usually folded and filled with all kinds of things. Some are even simply sprinkled with powdered sugar." Ren informs her.
Like a switch being flipped Nora brightens immediately and grins. "Oh! Well why didn't you just say that?" She replies in a cheery tone that sets all of the students from Shade on edge. Ruby lets out a loud sigh of relief and Yang can't seem to get a hold of herself. Her hands wrapped around her stomach as she tries desperately to hold in her amusement.
"Ren, can you make them for me?" She asks her knife and fork cutting into her stack as the guests start to sit and eat. It isn't Ren that answer though.
"I-if you w-want. I can m-make them. It not t-to hard." May offers and it seems she said the right thing as Nora beams across the table at her nodding her head rapidly.
Pyrrha moves her hand away from her mouth and looks at May with a small warm smile. "I think you just made a friend for life. Now, I think we should all get introduced right Jaune?" She asks turning to her team leader, identifying him while also giving him control of the conversation.
Everything seemed to get better from there. As they introduced themselves to each other and talked May once more focusing her attention on following the different conversations starting up all around her. A pleased smile slowly forming even while she adds Nora's crepes to the list of food she'll need to make in the near future.
"I didn't know they served pancakes at lunch time." Octavia comments suddenly about half way through drawing everyone's attention and reminding everyone that yes, it is in fact noon and Nora is eating pancakes.
"They don't" Comes the reply from Jaune
"But then how-"
"Sometimes, it's just better not to ask." Interrupts Blake and things seem to settle into quiet for a few moments at that. Well quiet save for Nora's happy and oblivious humming.
~after class~
May doesn't know whether to feel relieved or concerned. Ruby seemed okay, if a bit more subdued around her today. And the question May was afraid Ruby would ask never came. Because if Ruby asked why May kissed her the sniper would not be able to lie to her silver eyed crush. And telling her the truth would make everything so much more complicated.
Dressed in a new outfit the light brown cloak with matching shirt and pants underneath finished with normal black boots she shifts and leans out to eye her last target carefully. 'I have a lot of baking ahead of me. Glad I planned everything for Saturday evening. I should have plenty of time that morning to get it all done. And I still need to make Nora's crepes. Maybe I can get Nolan to help me? So long as I keep him away from the stove he should be okay.'
May snickers a bit to herself before leaning out again and turning away. She remembers quite clearly the last time she asked him to help her and left him in the kitchen unsupervised. She returned ten minutes later to watch him trying to bake using a pan on the stove top. His response to her incredulous questioning? 'I just needed to get it hot enough right?'
Her warm little smile lingers as she lines up her shot. Her escape route waiting behind her so she can get away clean afterwards. The shots getting harder and harder to take without risking exposing herself. This time especially. It requires her to shoot from behind the red cloaked girl in order to hit the target. She just hopes she can get away before Ruby realizes what happened and can take that picture.
'Deep breath May, you've only got 30 seconds so it's now or never.' The sniper tenses her body to get ready before pulling the trigger. As soon as the shot goes off she is turning, and taking the first of two steps that will drop her of the roof ledge and into the tree below. Her heart hammering she makes the drop. Her cloak trailing her down as she moves from one branch to the next bleeding off momentum before landing in a roll and shouldering her rifle. Making her way to safety she falls to temptation looking back to the edge of the roof she dropped from but not seeing Ruby there
'I thought she might have made it at least that far by now.' May thinks as she continues on her way and out of sight. Absently pulling her scroll from her pocket when it starts to vibrate. She opens it and freezes. The image of the ledge she dropped from in the picture as well as a good amount of her cloak. It's trail obscuring May's identifying hair, beanie, and rifle but still there's no question of who it belongs to.
'RR - So does this count? We both know it's you right? :P'
'LS - I don't know... That could be anyone's cloak.'
'RR - Really?! I was sure that would count.'
'LS - Oh it does, I just wanted to tease you for a moment. Congratulations Ruby. You're only one behind now.'
May pockets the scroll as she comes up on the locker room. Her eyes moving around carefully since the competition for today is technically over Ruby could show up at any time in a flash of rose petals and bust her. She approaches the red girls locker quickly with that in mind and tapes the days strawberry rose to the front before making her way out again. Her scroll one more entering her fingers.
'RR - don't count me out yet Longshot, there's still tomorrow.'
'LS - That there is Ruby. I look forward to it. Win or lose.'
There's a long pause after that and thinking that the conversation is over May dips into a bathroom closing herself into a stall as she changes her clothing and set's back out towards the schools indoor range. Ahhh the wonderful benefits of being a school for extraordinary warriors training to kill monsters bent on murdering all sentient life in the world.
Benefits like having an indoor rifle range where calibrating and testing can be done without worrying about wind resistance. A nice controlled environment where she can usually line up targets in three booths and set them at different ranges. She starts to relax her ears protected by inserts to dampen the sounds of guns firing all around indoors where it can echo quite loudly. Aura will heal it sure. But the ringing can be painful regardless.
Before she get's off her shot a few hundred rounds sitting on the counter waiting for their turn to fire her scroll goes off again. She debates ignoring it for a short while before eventually giving in and checking the message.
'RR - Hey Longshot, How did you know you were interested in me?'
Huh? A bit of an odd question. But one she doesn't really mind answering. Curious as she is to see where it's heading.
'LS - Well, I didn't at first. I caught a look at you and it was like my eyes stuck. All I could think about was your eyes and the longer I did the warmer everything felt. At first I thought I was getting sick. Weird feeling in my stomach, inability to focus, flushing skin, quick hammering heartbeat. I might still be oblivious if I hadn't talked to a few of my friends about it. They knew right away and started asking me questions until I figured it out.'
'RR - Can you tell me what they asked?'
'LS - Sure Ruby, They only managed a few questions before I realized it but first they asked If I was thinking about you right then. Next they asked if I remember every little detail. When I answered yes, they asked if I wanted to get closer to you, as a friend or maybe more. When I realized what they were really asking I then knew what the feelings meant. My heart still races when I imagine your smile. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted to end the game entirely and just tell you. But I heard you're having fun with this game of ours. So I'd like to follow through and enjoy it with you. Even if it's only the once. You are enjoying it, right?'
May asks before putting her phone down on the counter and removing the scope from her rifle. She starts taking shots without the aid the closest target hitting dead center with ease. The middle having a tight grouping just a bit to the left, while the furthest target paper sees a few stray shots. It's after swapping out her clip that she notices her scrolls light blinking at her again with Ruby's reply.
'RR - I see, Thank you Longshot that actually helps. And yes, I'm having a lot of fun. Thanks for the rose too they're always so delicious. I've kept the sticks like you asked. :)'
'LS - You're welcome Ruby, for both of course. And thank you for keeping the sticks. I'll collect them after the game is over.'
May waits for a moment to see if there's any further response coming and when it doesn't she looks down her rifle again making small adjustments before firing into the middle target. This continues for the next hour with the shy sniper happily refilling her magazine before destroying her paper enemies with carefully placed shots. On her last magazine though she does something a little different.
Surrendering two of her booths she focuses only one paper target as far as she can get it down range before putting her scope back on her rifle. She makes no adjustments once it's been set and looks at the numbers on the dials. 'Should fire up and to the left.'
She looks down her scope again after bracing the rifle on the table and taking a knee in order to be as still as she possibly can. She takes aim at the center of the target and pulls the trigger. 'Up and to the left. Good boy Longshot.' She thinks idly running a hand along the stock of her gun as if it were a pet. There's a reason she was so empathetic with Ruby about weapons being friends.
Adjusting her scopes dials back to zero she takes aim again and puts a hold dead center on the paper. A hole that only get's bigger as each subsequent shot is put through the same spot. Some shots getting a little paper at first but after the hole is wide enough the ones to follow hit none at all.
She hits a button that draws in the reel bringing her last target, unlike the others this one she rolls up instead of just tossing it away. Finally she sweeps up her spent casings before dumping them in a bin just for them. She looks a bit forlorn at the loss of them but Longshot's semi auto design is not kind enough for her to reuse them without retooling them a little and she doesn't have the machines needed for that task. No these will get sorted, cleaned, and sent back to the manufacturer for some benefit for the school.
Doesn't stop the tiny spark of envy at Ruby's bolt action Crescent Rose and consternation at the fact the smaller girl doesn't load her own rounds meaning she's been tossing reusables all this time. Still, that's going to change. May already has plans in motion. With that she nods firmly and starts to make her way back to her room for the night. Inhaling deep the scent of the night air mixed with gun smoke and spent dust. Already looking forward to the good cleaning she's planning on giving her rifle after she get's back.
AN:
So a few quick things since I'm only writing this note like half an hour before I leave for work. There are a few things that will effect this story and where my writing goes from here. For this story. The well is drying up pretty quick. My ideas are primarily focused on the ending and the scenes I want to put up after that with snippets of what to do ahead. so since this chapter closes the stories Thursday expect Friday to go by a bit quicker. possibly all in a single chapter mostly emphasizing the end of the competition and May's preparation for Saturday where we'll finally catch up to that snippet at the beginning of chapter two.
Now the poll. the new poll is asking about Faunus!Ruby and whether you my wonderful readers want to see me include it in my writing. in the two days it's been up it's gotten more attention than the previous poll in it's first week. Guess I just need to ask the right questions hmm? So far it's been pretty even that voters either want to see it or dont care so long as it doesn't detract from my writing.
I've got the first chapter of MUST KILL: May Zedong written out. I'll be looking it over when I get home and maybe posting it up sometime tomorrow afternoon. That's a maybe, there are still a few things surrounding it I'm uncertain of. I've also started work on "Jewels in the Rough" don't worry I'm typing up that one on my new shiny tablet and I only use it in places where I can't use a real computer.
"But Blac, why don't you just plug in your portable hard drive and work on MKMZ on the go instead?"
Because nameless naysayer I goofed when I bought the tablet and the OS isn't compatible. If I wanted to use my portable hard drive with it I would have to reformat it and lose all the files I have for not only MKMZ but also In My Sights and a mountain of personal work. Stupid android OS being incompatable I can mess with the files on my phone and it's an android why can't I move files on my Portable HD to it? so unfair.
Okay running a little lower on time but whatever REVIEWER RESPONSE TIME
Archer1eye: Don't tell me! Let it be a surprise :3 I'm excited to see it though. needs more Long distance. and yea, Nora isn't... I can't write her serious enough for long enough to be the big sister. Pyrrha maybe, Yang definately, Nora... Nora can protect people sure, she can be all manner of caring and sweet or threatening. but she's a very fluid character. it's hard to keep her in one position for long enough to have her in a role of responsibility.
Imoshen:Yea this Chapter wasn't as fluffy, but it pushed the story forward and that needs to happen before I write myself into a box without any exits. and Yes. I have a new found respect for Blake. I enjoy Ladybug pairings it being pretty up there on my list but never really thought to much about her in one way or another. Thank you for the support.
Dalastjedi: A few things, one, you just compared me to Tolkien, and in a positive light. I am so flattered you have no idea. Next, Yea I proof read but I can't catch them all down side of being a solo act is that a few more mistakes slip through the cracks since I don't have another writer looking over my shoulder. the benefit is that I'm able to keep up with this insane not-a-schedule I've been keeping for myself on this story. The ending is comming up on us I won't spoil it. I wouldn't say I'm running in circles. but I agree I have been dragging my feet a little I adressed that in the authors note. and finally, yes I know. I mean so far it's been thirteen shots and I'm still not done. how many bullets are in this clip? I dunno I didn't check before I started firing.
RatedRSuperstar: Yea well, you were right. not completely right but you were right. besides chocolate chip pancakes ended the war between cookies and pancakes centuries ago. Don't stir that pot.
Boliechr: I'm honored you think so. I mean, i've never read a story about Neon. I know there's one about her and Reese that looks interesting but I haven't taken the time to read it with the growing backlog of other stories and my own to write. but it seemed like it would read well from the summary.
Guest: god... god dammit I don't know if i'm getting predictable or what. I'm just... I finished writing the pancake and waffle question, hit SAVE went to get a drink and came back to read that review and spent the next twenty minutes glaring balefully that I was seen through so easily and laughing to hard to keep typing. I have never wanted a guest to have an account more so I could talk to them than I did reading this review.
LordNodrogLock: Sloths would have been good too. I really haven't given much thought to the skill set of the children. I reserve OC's for stories whose settings I own. I'm not planning on writing a story about them so at best they're side characters to me.
Inkboy: Well good job sir, you get a brownie point.
CinderBurn: i agree, Usualy Blake is portrayed as angsty and anti-social. but she's just quiet in my opinion. She spends a majority of her time around her team participating in their antics. She just also likes to read. Also this story isn't about her. and I needed a character capable of finding May without May noticing them right away. Blake fit that bill and having Blake be how she's typically portrayed by others would have made her more or less useless to me. I understand where people get the idea from. But being worried how yor team will react to the knowledge you were in a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION before joining up with them I imagine is a very understandable thing to be worried about. and worrying about it does not make one angsty. Nor does fleeing once your team finds out in very much less than desireable conditions.
That's all! Now I need to get to work. I love you all, and see you next time!