Weapon Play
Yang sighed as she tried over and over again to engage Ember Celica, but was only awarded with some sort of clanging sound. She knew then and there that her precious weapon was jammed and there was only one person on the entire face of the planet she trusted enough to fix it.
~ Team RWBY Dorm Room~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ruby smiled and hummed as she ran her whetstone against the blade of her scythe; her beloved Crescent Rose. The sound was like music to her and the gleaming light that bounced off the blade was like that of party lights. Her sister always teased her that she loved her sweet heart far too much, but when you built something of this magnitude and sheer beauty well, how could you not fall in love with it?
"RUUUUUUUBBBYYYYYYYY!" The loud whine and slamming door startled the young girl, resulting in her tumbling out of her chair but not before disengaging her weapon due to pure instinct. "RUUUUBY! I need you!"
Yaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined in response, not bothering to lift herself from the floor and just settled for watching her sister rush up to her and hold out her gauntlets to her.
"Ember Celica is jammed!" Yang whimpered as she looked down at her weapons and then her baby sister. "Please fix'em?"
This caught Ruby's attention immediately for Yang always took great care with her weapon. She quickly rolled over and stood up before gently taking the small gauntlets from Yang's outstretched hands. "Both? Not just one?"
"Both. I dunno what I coulda done to jam them so bad but..." Yang sighed as she threw her arms in the air. "I really need them looked at, Sis."
"I'd love to! You know I love Ember Celica too! She's like, Crescent Rose's sister!" Ruby smiled as Yang just chuckled and ruffled up Ruby's hair.
"Just no new mods. Remember last time?" Yang asked as she crossed her arms.
"Oh, come on! So I switched your caliber rounds and added some blades to your knuckle rest! It wasn't that bad and it looked really cool!" Ruby whined as she puffed out her cheeks. "Uncle Qrow thought they were cool too."
"That's not the point! No new mods, got it?" Yang placed a single hand on her hip and waited for her little sister to give her a small nod and a small whine. "Good! I'll be around campus, so give me a call when your done and if you listened to me, I'll even bring you a treat home!"
Ruby instantly perked up before turning around to her desk and placing them down. "I'll have them fixed in no time!" Yang smiled as she watched her little sister pull out a small, rolled up piece of cloth from her desk drawer. She knew her weapons were in good hands then.
~ Campus Grounds~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What lousy service!" Weiss snarled as she turned to a smiling Pyrrha who sat beside her on one of the many benches looking into the forest. "Can you believe they won't look at Myrtenaster!"
"They probably don't want to take the chance of damaging it. Your rapier is made of very expensive material after all." Pyrrha pointed out as she closed her eyes to enjoy the feel of the sun's rays on her face.
"You mean they don't want a law suit." A voice snickered behind them. The two turned to see a grinning Yang leaning on the back of their bench before throwing them a small wave. "What's up, Girls?"
"Your ability to appear at of nowhere at the most awful of times is amazing Yang, truly." Weiss snorted as she tapped her fingers against the wood of the bench. "But if you must know, my chamber is not revolving the way it should and I can't seem to get anyone to look at it."
Pyrrha smiled before tapped her chin in thought. "I must agree with you. It is their job to try and fix our weapons when we can not."
"Did you try some oil?" Yang asked as she pointed to the blade in question.
"Of course I have!" Weiss huffed before she threw her arms into the air in frustration. "I've never had this much trouble before!"
"Oh?" Pyrrha glanced over at Yang before pointing at her wrists. "You aren't wearing Ember Celica?"
Yang chuckled before she shook her head. "They're jammed pretty bad so I'm having Ruby take a look at them. She's the only one I trust to fix'em." Yang smiled before she ran a finger through her hair. "Ruby's a real weapon nerd if you know what I mean. The girl could spend her whole life working on weapons and never be bored or sad."
"Jaune did mention that Crescent Rose was her design." Pyrrha now mumbled in thought.
"Oh, yeah. Uncle Qrow might have inspired her to use a scythe, but the thing is completely Ruby's idea. You should see the blueprints she's got on it! All those gears and thingamajigs she's got packed in there makes a factory look outdated." Yang laughed as she watched their eyes widen in wonder. "Now that I think about it, she's been wanting to get her hands on your rapier for a while now."
"You aren't suggesting I let her work on Myrtenaster, are you?" Weiss asked as a small hand went to her chest as if to show she was wounded by the thought.
"Well, yeah. Look, I know Ruby can be a bit air headed and she can get distracted easily but-" Yang's face turned deadly serious as she stared at the two. " She's a genius. A mad, mechanical genius whose power should never fall into the hands of evil."
"Wh-what do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, now a bit worried by Yang's words.
"Just imagine her knowledge and skills working for, let's say, an anti-government organization. Now imagine her building some sort of death ray..." Yang smirked as the other two shivered. "Or what if she sold her designs to the Black Market? What then?"
"You've made your point." Weiss sighed as she stood up and smoothed out the ends of her dress. "I'll go see if she could indeed help me."
As Yang and Pyrrha watched Weiss walk off, Pyrrha had another thought. "Yang, is Ruby only good at designing weapons?"
Yang burst into fits of laughter since she knew exactly where Pyrrha was going with this. "So you figured it out, huh?" They were, in fact, referring to a small paint bomb that was planted in Team CRDL's room a few weeks ago. "Pretty cool, huh? I didn't know paint could do so much damage!"
~ Ruby's Room~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The small mechanic sighed happily as she polished her sister's gauntlets before setting them aside to admire her work. The jam, so it seemed, was a simply worn out cocking pin that needed to be removed and replaced. Ruby then noticed the barrels of both gauntlets were quite dirty and decided to fully clean, oil, and polish the weapon inside and out. She smiled to herself as she watched them shine in the light of the sun before she began to wipe her hands on her work cloth.
"Ruby?" The girl in question turned her head to see Weiss standing there, her face a mixture of different emotions. "I...have a favor to ask of you."
"Okay, shoot." The girl smiled as she glanced back out of the window to see a small bird chirp on one of the nearby branches.
"I...Myrtenaster's revolving chamber isn't working right and I was wondering-" Weiss stopped as the young girl whipped her head around to stare at her, her eyes wide and shining. "...Uh..."
"You're gonna let me touch her?" Ruby asked, her voice soft and wishful.
"D-don't say it like that!" Weiss snapped, her cheeks burning with a deep blush that was slowly making its way to her ears and neck. "I was just wondering if you'd help me fix her since no one else will." Her vision was then obscured with a flash of black and red before she realized she was ensnared in a tight hug.
"Oh thank you! I've been wanting to look at Myrtenaster since I first saw it! It's so cool how you load dust powder into it and then BAM! You totally destroy the enemy with fire or maybe freeze it and then you can shatter it into teeny, tiny pieces and-"
"RUBY!"
Ruby blinked before she smiled. "Yes, Princess?"
Weiss blushed again before she glared at the grinning fool. "Let me go before I shatter you into teeny, tiny pieces."
"Opps! Sorry about that! I forgot I was even hugging you! Wow your light." Ruby laughed as she sat back down at her desk and tapped the surface with a short nail. "You can set her here."
Weiss nodded before doing as she was told, gently laying her most precious item on the dirty desk. "I hope you know that I plan on watching you do this. I don't want anything bad to happen after all."
Ruby chuckled before she sat down again. "I figured as much." She then gently lifted the blade to inspect it further. "This is some really fine metal work here! The etched runes are beautifully carved and I must say, the creator tempered this metal perfectly."
"Well, yes, of course. I paid a lot of lien to have it made for me." Weiss stated as she watched Ruby look over the workmanship of her tool. "You really do seem to know your stuff though. I'm very impressed."
The younger just smiled as she placed the artwork down, her hands reaching for a pair of goggles with many different lens in front of the eyes. "Yes, well, I have a thing for weapons, you know. A huntress can't be at her best with a sub par weapon after all."
Weiss only gave a small 'hmm' in response, her thoughts else where at the moment. The older girl couldn't help but watch as Ruby glanced at the chamber, slowly spinning it and looking over each part. In truth, Weiss wanted to chuckle at how ridiculous the other looked wearing such a contraption but when she saw how serious her face was, how much older she appeared as she flipped through the different lens with such practiced ease, well she just couldn't do it.
It was then she noticed just how rough and even slightly cracked Ruby's fingers were, the oil staining her naturally pale skin. The sight was an odd one, for her own hands were well taken care of. She couldn't help but wonder if they hurt, or if she could even feel the metal that seemed to glide under those calloused fingertips. If her hands were so important to her, then why didn't she take care of them? "Ruby?"
"Hm?"
"Don't you use a lotion for your hands?" The quirked eyebrow Ruby quickly showed her made her feel silly for asking.
"No." Ruby removed the goggles and rubbed her eyes before she turned to look at Weiss. "Your chamber is off its pivot point by a bit. The metal isn't bent or anything so we can count our blessings for that, but I'm going to have to remove it to clean the nodes and see why it rocked loose like it did."
"And you think you can do all of that better then a trained blacksmith?" Weiss asked, though her words sounded sharper then she really meant them to be.
Ruby stared at her before she let loose a breathy laugh. "I guess I should of worded that better. You see, I was asking your permission to remove the chamber. I figured I'd ask out of respect and all."
Weiss blushed deeply before turning her gaze away from the other before nodding. "I...I didn't mean to come off so rude." Ruby simply grinned before she began her work again.
~ Outside in the Courtyards~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Team JNPR along with Blake and Yang sat in the grass forming a circle, their voices a hushed whisper as they spoke to one another.
"So, here's the plan so far: I trick Ruby into building a bomb that knocks Team CRDL out, right? Right. Then we cover them in syrup and feathers and when they wake up we all chase them while wearing ursa skins!" Yang laughed evilly. "It's perfect! They won't know what hit them!"
"Oh! And we can break their legs afterwards!" Nora cheered, making Ren shake his head slightly.
"Nora, I don't think that is part of the plan. A plan that might not even work mind you." Ren then turned to see Pyrrha rubbing her chin in thought. "Pyrrha? Is something the matter?"
The amazon blushed before she shook her head. "No, it's just...I was thinking that...instead of doing that...maybe she could make a...stink bomb?" As she felt everyone look at her with shocked eyes and slacked jaws, she quickly threw her hands up in the air in defense. "I-I mean, well, it's just..."
Yang slowly placed her hands on the other's shoulders before shaking her slightly. "That. Is. BRILLIANT!" Yang then turned to Blake, who was hiding her face in a small book. "We gotta do a stink bomb! What's the smelliest thing you know of?!"
"Why are you asking me?!" Blake hissed in return.
"Because you read all sorts of books! There has to be at least one that talked about some sort of awful smell or something like that!" Yang explained as she waved her arms in the air. She calmed down when she saw Blake tap her chin before nodding.
"Well, yes...I've read a few now that you mention it. However, I think we should lay low for a while before we put this plan into action. Everyone is still reeling rom that paint bomb Ruby made." Blake stated as she licked her thumb and turned the page of her book.
"True. I guess that gives us time to gather materials and further etch out the plan!" Yang snickered before she clapped her hands together and began to rub them. "This will be the best prank ever!"
~ With Weiss and Ruby~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In all her years, Weiss had never been so surprised. She had just watched Ruby not only remove the revolving chamber from her rapier, but she did it within minutes! She knew that her weapon was a simple design, unlike the scythe the other carried, but it did not make it unless complex. She was about to ask how she went about doing that when she saw Ruby poke her cute little tongue out of the corner of her mouth before she began speaking.
"You know...I could...add another dust chamber or two...maybe even add some mechanics to make it turn into a whip of some sort. Yeah! A whip! One you could feed dust all along the length of it! Oh, that'd be so cool!"
Weiss began to imagine herself snapping a whip around, slicing foes left and right...and then using it to try and get Ruby to do her homework on time. Though the thoughts were appealing, she shook her head. "Myrtenaster is just fine the way it is, thank you."
Ruby sighed before she turned over to her partner, her hands now covered in more grease and oil. "She's a beauty, Weiss. I mean that. It's just...I could do more to her. Make her a long and close combat weapon without you having to rely solely on dust for your long ranged attacks." She then slapped her hand on the table, making the other woman jump. "You could just slice and dice'em with the flick of her dainty, little wrist!"
"My wrist is not dainty!" Weiss huffed as she poked Ruby in the middle of her chest as if to drive home her point. When she felt Ruby circle her index finger and ring finger around her wrist she was confused but then quickly noticed that her fingertips touched, making her blush and jerk her hand away. "Well, your wrists aren't much bigger!" She snapped and quickly did the same thing to Ruby's small wrists. "See?"
Ruby laughed before she gently coaxed her hand away and turned back to the blade on the table. "Yeah, yeah, Princess." After a few more moments of silence, Ruby reassembled Myrtenaster and handed it back to Weiss. "There you go! All fixed."
Weiss inspected the weapon, noticing that along the way of fixing the chamber Ruby had even polished it without her knowing. She gave the chamber a spin, smiling as it spun with no problem at all. "Thank you."
"I should be thanking you! I've been wanting to play with Myrtenaster for the longest time!" Ruby laughed as she began to rub her hands on an old work cloth. "Do you want to go try her out? I'm about to head out and find Yang to give her Ember Celica and then take Sweet Heart to the shooting range."
Weiss covered her mouth in attempt to hide her giggle before regaining her posture. "You seriously call her 'sweet heart'? It's a giant scythe for goodness sake."
"What's wrong with that? She's my baby!" Ruby whined as she picked up the red and black weapon and began to stroke it as if it were a pet. She watched Weiss shake her head, a small smile on her lips, before collecting Yang's weapon and began to make her way to the door. "I'll even let you shot her once or twice."
"Oh, how kind of you." Weiss teased.
"What? It's not like it's some sort of mega ray or anything. She's just got a bit of bite to her." Ruby quickly grabbed a hold of Weiss' hand and began to drag her out of the dorm room. "Come on! Let's play for a bit!"
~ Bonus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No. No. No. No!" Weiss shot up, her body covered in a cold sweat and eyes wide with terror. It took some time, but she finally realized that she was safe and sound in her own bed. "It was just a nightmare." She sighed before throwing a glare at the snoring blonde across from her. That nightmare was all her fault! If she hadn't of mentioned Ruby making a death ray then she wouldn't have dreamt of it!
The mere thought caused her body to quake in fear. It was horrible and to make it worse, Ruby was smiling and laughing the whole time with Yang 'whooping' in the background as she collected loads of lien from those gangsters.
She, as a responsible human being, needed to stop this madness before it even began. Weiss climbed out of her bed and hoisted herself into Ruby's. She paused, staring into that innocent face, but she knew what was really under there. Grabbing her shoulders and shaking the younger girl she growled. "Wake up. Wake up!"
"Huh? Weiss? Wh-what's wrong?" Ruby slurred as she rubbed the crust from her eyes. When she removed her hands she was face to face with Weiss, her features serious and stern, cold even.
"Never, I mean never, make a death ray or power beam or whatever you'll call it. N-E-V-E-R. Not if people ask you to, not if Yang begs you to, not even if a magical fairy told you to! Got it?!" Weiss smirked as she watched Ruby slowly nod. "Good. I'm glad we had this talk." With that, the older girl slid down from the top bunk and back into her own bed with a happy sigh. Ruby was not so lucky.
"...What was that all about?"
A/N: Thanks for all those whose reviewed so far! I love to read them and some even make me laugh! And for my followers...you all know where it's at! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! XD
