Aaaaand we're back! Albeit with a shorter chapter.
Holy piss it's been too long since I've updated.
Sadly, this is the best I could do, and this is me not working on my three other projects at all... so yeah. Plans for this are shaky right now, mainly because when October hits, so will the new season of RWBY... and some updates to the game RWBY:GE (which some people call a burning, festering wreck) will also plug up some free time...
Yeah, I'll be too busy watching RWBY/killing myself with school work. Eeeeeyup.
But still though. We're back! Saddle up everybody, because this cowboy's not stoppin' the story here!
Yeehaw! (that's... that's what they say, right?)
Crack the whip, make speed! We're heading right into the next chapter of...
Ren's Dare!
*woot woot!*
Yang's Arc P. 6: Chattin'
"Hold this for me, could'ya?" She extended her arm with the medium-sized bag of Ren's clothing.
"Of course."
"Thanks!" She flashed another wide grin before turning on the ball of her foot and walking off to answer the call of nature; after all, just because they were trainees at Beacon didn't make them inhuman.
Yang had landed them in another shop this time around- the woman's clothing branch known as 'BRIGHT'- but had insisted that she wasn't looking to buy anything, instead doing some 'in depth window shopping'. Ren, finding no problem with the plan as it served as a very nice time-killer at the expense of his slightly aching legs, agreed.
Looking down at his scroll once more with both bags in the crook of his elbow, his eyes instinctively went to the notification tab before he even glazed over the time. Much to his relief, it was empty, a good sign considering that if his rambunctious orangette of a friend got in trouble, she would text or call him no matter the circumstances.
Eyes flicked upwards slightly, and took note of the time: five past four.
Perhaps in the rush of shopping, she's forgotten about the amusement park... Ren thought to himself about the possibility, and gladly entertained it. And she seems to be content to shop these aisles anyway. Maybe she really will forget about those roller coasters...
Looking back up and tucking his scroll back into its original position, he gazed around his surroundings yet again. The store itself was fairly reputable, and he could obviously see where Yang got her fashionable clothing from; the store itself seemed to hold the air of fashion itself. One could even venture into the lands of vogue if they dug hard enough, and from what Ren saw on the holographic directory at the entrance, the store itself was quite sizable.
He couldn't shake the feeling that it was different than what Yang usually wore, but he dismissed it as a first-glance hypothesis.
On the outside from first glance at the corner of Main and Violet avenue, it had two stories with each floor outlined by clear windows to allow maximum visibility and light cream-colored bricks on the outside that made it stand out from the other stores. Window shopping was undoubtedly a high-point of this store, with both floors proudly displaying their products.
Entering the building, he remembered he was initially treated with a blast of cold air, courtesy of a pumped up air conditioner that gave him a small shudder of chilling cold before he became accustomed to his surroundings. The building itself looked much larger on the inside than the outside as most buildings did, and when he found a map as Yang walked off while exclaiming, 'ooh, cute dress!', he found that there was an additional, larger level downstairs dedicated to...
Finer points of a private outfit that are not suited for public wear, Ren thought to himself as he returned his gaze to the hallway that led to the restroom. Seeing no mane of fiery blonde bounce towards him with each step, he let his mind drift again, a rare state of muffled silence while he was standing amongst the sparse flow of solos or duos perusing the aisles filling the air.
Nora, however, prefered other stores, he thought.
Forever Young was one she always adored, musing to himself. Always cared about bright colors, never about being extremely fashionable. He looked around to catch a glimpse of a woman yelling at what he could only assume was her partner, shouting several obscenities about his lack of sense when it came to matching colors.
I suppose it's a gift to me, then. He felt pity for the man; it looked like he was getting absolutely scolded into the ground. But before he could continue watching the woman's not-so subtle insinuations at the man's lack of fashionable sense, Yang's voice rang out from his right.
"What'cha lookin' at there, Ren?" Her voice made him turn, her walking down the hallway the sight he was part dreading due to the fact that when she returned, silence would leave. Again.
"I'm currently observing a couple argue over whether..." He paused, tuning his ears to the commotion. "... Lime green works with faded yellow," he said with little emotion or intonation.
She made an expression of wincing, breathing in a hiss of air between clenched teeth. "Yowch. I feel bad for the person who even suggested that idea." She looked around for a quick second, and found the couple. "That them over there?"
"Yes."
"Huh." They stood there in silence for a few more moments, both slightly tilting their heads at the livid conversation. The woman was using her hands, facial expressions, and very graphic gestures with her hand while the man was simply standing there, trying to placate the over-reacting woman.
After the silence, Yang's eyes were still looking at the couple- the woman was now beginning to stomp off- as she spoke. "Hey, Ren?"
"Yes?" His eyes were still tracing the man who was jogging after his now-infuriated partner.
"Who'dya think would make a cuter couple, Jaune and Pyrrha or Yats and Velvs?"
He shook his head in a start, composure broken for a moment before looking at Yang with a questioning look. She was already looking at him, mischievous grin on her face.
"Yang, it's hardly professional to speak of our friends like that."
"Oh, come on! It's not like you haven't thought about cute couples before. I would say that you and Nora are one, but then you'd talk my ear off about how you two," she put her hands into a puppet form, moving four fingers up and down to meet a horizontal thumb, "aren't together-together."
"Because we aren't."
"Yeah, whatever. But answer the question! Who'd you think would make a cuter couple?"
He took a deep breath in, and let it out in a long, long sigh. "Yang, why are you asking me?"
"Wanted to strike up a conversation. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
Narrowing his eyes, he chose his words carefully. "I would rather not speak of my teammates in such a manner."
"Come on! Don't be so Weiss-y!" The pun didn't fly over his head, and he slightly drooped his shoulders to show his reaction to the ice pun. She put her hands up in defeat. "Okay, so I admit that wasn't my best."
"I concur."
"But seriously! You've gotta at least entertain the idea for a split second."
"Do I really have to?"
"I mean, it'd be nice if you did. And you're a nice guy, arent'cha flower-boy?" If she ever had a jeering tone of voice, what she said was the closest thing to it.
"If you continue using that name, I'm not so sure," he retorted.
"Ooo! Bringin' out the claws now, are you?" She chuckled a bit. "Jaune and Pyrrha make for a way better couple, in my opinion."
He remained silent for a bit before he spoke, a tendency he had to pick what he said carefully before he mouthed it. "I agree." After all, Ren wasn't blind. While Yang may only know that Pyrrha had a crush on Jaune, Ren knew that the vice was also true...
But he was renowned for his ability to keep quiet, and keep quiet he did.
"So you do think about things like this," she exclaimed.
"You were the one who posed the question," he said.
"But you do agree that Jaune and Pyrrha should totally hook up, right?"
He took another sigh. "Could we please move on from this conversation? It doesn't feel right speaking of them behind their backs like this."
"Oh, it's just some friendly banter between some good buds, right?" She nudged him on the arm to elicit a reaction, but Ren gave none as per usual. "Right?"
Returning to his neutral zone, he gave a 'Ren' answer. "Mmm."
"Glad you see things my way." She stretched again for a moment, bringing her elbows behind her as she loosened her shoulder blades. "Kay, well, are you ready to go?" She took one of the bags from Ren's arm and took it in her hand, swinging it gently along her side. "Unless you wanna stand here and chat all day with little ol' me?"
"I'll opt for the former, thank you." He looked at her, then his surroundings. "Where to first?"
"Well, I was thinkin' about going upstairs first, checking out what's new. Dress to impress is something I strive for everyday, you know?"
"I do now."
She pointed. "Well, the escalator's over there."
He nodded in the affirmative, and they paced their way through. When he had come in, the initial pathing of the store made it look like a stylized runway itself, save for the hangers of clothing on the sides. Not many people were in the store, but those who were certainly looked like they were on top of what was considered stylish at the time. Those who shopped there looked like they had come straight from a catalogue, looks and style senses both. He didn't see the arguing couple as he walked with Yang, and they reached the escalator in no time.
Getting on the escalator, Yang leaned on the railing as Ren took another look at the floor beneath him. The setup was quite symmetrical, with each section cornered off into its own area, headed by large banners with stylized logos and catch phrases.
Returning his attention to the step in front of him, his eyes were met with something entirely different than the stylized, symmetrical feel of the lower level.
The first thing that made its way to his senses were the brighter, more colorful lights that seemed to glow from the upper level that he was travelling to. Next came the noise, hushed murmurs and conversations all but gone in the noise. Stepping off of the escalator, he was met with something entirely different that what the aura of the first level had suggested. The entire floor itself seemed to buzz with the electric energy of conversation, and people milled about as if they had somewhere urgent to get to. Yang looked back at him from over her shoulder and motioned with her head and hand, a gesture forward.
"C'mon!" She started walking to the left, and Ren followed. Taking a step out of the alcove that the escalator was in, he found that this floor was situated much more casually, much more like a typical store, but still fashionable. Tags didn't carry the massive prices that the lower level had, and instead offered rather reasonable prices for items that looked just as wearable as the ones downstairs.
"You're probably wondering why the first and second floors are so different, right?" She asked him as she looked over her shoulder again, but stopped and, 'ooo-ed,' to herself as she took note of a pair of shorts that had caught her eyes- blue jean with the white fabric showing at the rips that ended at her thighs.
"That was a question that came to my mind, yes..." he alluded.
"Well, the lower floor is made for people like Weiss queen. All fancy-shmancy, over-the-top... But me?" She jabbed a thumb at herself while keeping a hand on the shorts. "I don't really like that kinda environment. Luckily this place has three floors, one for people like Weiss, one for people like me, and another for all sorts." She grinned at the end of that sentence. "Wanna know more?"
He resisted the urge to nod his head vehemently in the negative, instead opting for his calm demeanor. "No thank you."
"Heh, that's what I thought." Looking at the price tag on the shorts, she winced. "Eeeeyup, I'll wait to come with Weiss for this one." Turning back around to face Ren, she kept going. "Nora ever take you here?"
"I don't remember visiting such a place as this. She prefered Forever-"
"-Young," she interrupted. "Right?"
He nodded.
"Yeah, I can see that in her. Seems like the type of person with colors, colors, and colors in mind. Right?"
"Quite."
"Figured." She started off again, but started walking deeper into that section of short shorts, Ren following behind. "I promise I won't take long!" She stopped again and turned around, smirking with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Because we're not done with the park yet."
He didn't even try to suppress an eye-twitch.
Aaaand I'll take that one too, she said to herself as she spied another pair of leather, skin-tight gloves. After all, she burned through them quite quickly... literally, on occasion, she thought to herself.
After finishing her little list in her mind, her counterpart for the day following behind like a loyal, green-clad, fairly lethal duckling with knowledge on how to kill grimm hundreds of ways, Ren spoke up.
"Yang?"
She replied over her shoulder. "Yo."
"I've noticed that you're taking quite a bit of time looking at gloves." He paused. "Is this in any way the reason for why you made me buy those black gloves?"
She shrugged. "Mayyybe."
"Mmph."
"You can't tell me they didn't look good, though!"
"They didn't look good, Yang."
"No way. Black's totally your thing!"
"I disagree."
"Oh, whatever. Trust me, you'll be the best lady-killer around with the outfit I got you."
He shook his head. "I'm not looking to become a lady-killer, Yang."
"Really?" She got a bit closer to Ren. "I think it's a bit too late for you, then."
He blinked a few times, yet again unfazed. "Yang."
"Yeees?"
He started to walk off. "Too blunt." He tried to ignore the snickers behind him as he tried to put distance between the playful blonde and him.
Yang held true to her word; she finished with the store in quick notice, speeding through the aisles with a scanning eye and a mental wish-list for when Weiss came with her.
"Alrighty! Thanks for puttin' up with me, flower-boy." She gave him another grin as she walked next to him, to which he made eye contact with and returned his gaze forward.
"Not a problem," he said, bag and hands behind him as he walked.
Yang didn't even let a few seconds pass before she started the next conversation. "Hey Ren?"
"Yes?"
"How did you and Nora even meet?" She followed up with a quick statement. "I mean, I know you said you were outside the cities, so if you don't wanna say that's fine, so..."
He tilted his head slightly to the side and forward at the question, eyes narrowing for a slight second. "It's a story for another time. I would much rather not dampen the wonderful mood right now." His voice remained nonchalant, but sarcasm was hinted; Yang noted it.
"Sarcasm?"
"About my story? No." He barely let his lips curve up as he went on. "I cannot speak for the rest, though."
"Wow, Ren! First little jokes, then a sense of sarcasm? Maybe I'm a good influence on you, eh?" She nudged him with an elbow, to which he gently shook his head.
"The exact opposite, in fact. But if you wish to see it in that light, I won't stop you," he wise cracked again with the same, calm voice.
"You've learned much, flower-boy. Maybe I'll reward you with going easy on you in the park, huh?"
"A reward system. I'm flattered."
She laughed, different than the light chuckles emitted when she teased Ren a few minutes ago. "Oh, man. Flower-boy, you're really blossoming into a funny guy!" She didn't even bother apologizing for the terrible pun. Much to her surprise, however, he heard him chuckle as well, only making her smile again.
It's just like with Blake... so quiet you have to actually try and hear it, she thought to herself as the small burst of euphoria passed.
"The escalator's that way. Are you sure you're ready to leave?"
"Yup."
He nodded in confirmation, but he was thinking only one word as he walked.
Shucks.
Stepping outside into the crowd of people, both Yang and Ren checked the time; it was a quarter until five.
"The park is still open?" Ren asked in an inquiring tone, but the message underneath wasn't that subtle.
"You're not getting out that easily, man. Course it's still open!" She started a brisk pace that forced Ren to keep up as she kept talking. "Besides, we still have a few rides that we haven't even tried yet, and if I remember, you can only ride some of them when it's night-time!"
"I'm looking forward to it," he deadpanned.
She scoffed. "Wow, another one? Jeez, you're on a roll here, Ren."
"It must be the bad influence that you're holding over me, Yang."
"Aww! I'm touched."
"Hm."
They walked a bit more before stopping at a crossways where they waited for the pedestrian light to turn green with other pedestrians.
After ten seconds, Yang broke the silence once more. "Hey Ren?"
"Yes?" His eyes were still on the sign, but Yang was just looking around casually.
"Do you think that if a car drove into us, we could stop it?"
That shook him out of his concentration again, and he looked at Yang with a set of eyes and an expression that expressed, "Wha-?"
"Yang, are you insane?"
"Relax, dude! I'm not actually gonna do it!" She wouldn't say it outloud, but she was curious now... After all, she'd taken way harder hits before.
Right?
He gave a long sigh at the extremely 'Nora' idea. "Yang, why are you asking." As the light turned green, they both started walking across the street, cars waiting dutifully behind the white line that enforced the barrier between cars and civilians. "The odds of one actually hitting a car while crossing the street are remarkably low."
"I know, I know." Her eyes looked towards the invisible shield being projected from the white line, preventing cars from suddenly bursting through and causing loss of life. Thanks to Atlesian technology, they were able to create miniaturized shields like the one that covered the top of Amity Colosseum. "But, like, if someone were to drive at us. Could we stop them?"
Making it across the street, cars started moving as soon as the last pedestrian had made it across. Ren looked at Yang, who was already making eye-contact with him. "If a car were to try and hit us, our aura would take a rather sizable blow." He took another few seconds before responding, playing out the unlikely situation in his mind. "But we would survive. Bruised, but alive."
She nodded. "But what about you? I mean, I can't do that aura channel thing that you can do." She kept on her point by doing a punch forward, and brought it back. "Could you stop it?"
"The force from my projection of aura would stop the car, yes." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "And likely wreck the front of the car itself."
"Eh, that'd happen anyway if it hit either of us. But hey," she supplemented her words with hand gestures, "at least it's not us getting wrecked!" She nudged him with her elbow again. "Eh?"
"... If you're looking to find a play on words with our topic with 'wrecked', Yang, it's not really working."
"Ow. Could've at least told me to bring some aloe vera for that burn you just put on me, man."
He put an index finger up, other hand still behind his back as he walked. "Actually, studies have proven that specific types of seaweed treat burns bett-"
"Neeeeeeeerd."
Scholar-mode Ren blinked a few times. "Excuse me?"
"Nerd."
He looked at her, deadpan with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" She shrugged with palms up and bent arms. "It's just sooooo boring when Weiss starts talking about dust," she starts counting on her fingers, "Rubes with her weapons, or Blake with her books all the time. Now there's you with your..." She waved her hands vaguely in the air at his general direction. "Seaweed and algae and other gross stuff."
"It's not 'gross.'" He narrowed his eyes for a second. "You and Nora have rather similar reactions to natural treatments," he thought outloud. "Why is that?"
"Maybe 'cause stuff like that is supposed to stay in the seas of Remnant, and not on my face?"
"It's not as if they bring you bodily harm..."
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, flowerboy."
"Yang, studies have proven that-"
"Algae and seaweed and rocks are supposed to stay on the face of Remnant, and not the face of Yang Xiao-Long!" Gesturing with open hands as she washed over her face with said appendages, she finished his sentence for him; it was much to Ren's silent ire, but he just kept quiet. "That's that, Ren."
He sighed. "Is there no getting through to you?"
"Nnnope."
Shaking his head, he just kept walking. "So be it."
More conversations. I'll admit, this is rather empty fluff, with little in the ways of plot, but when I think of moments between platonic sunflowyr, I just... go for it, man. 'Specially because I can't think straight when my mind is filled with precalc and biology all the damn time now.
Sigh.
But, I won't leave you unfulfilled! Take this super flipping long omake, and shove it up someone's rear!
Don't actually.
...
Seriously, don't.
Setting: They're still in the store from the beginning of this chapter: "Bright." Remember how Ren saw that the lower level was dedicated to... finer points of an outfit? Pretend he never saw that. Pretend he's going in blind. And pretend that Yang felt a little... sultry today.
The rules of an omake apply to this. It's weird, it's all over the place, and it's just... bad. Bad. But hey, are you craving some sunflowyr? (cough dark deceiver cough cough)
Don't worry, I am too.
ALSO, CREDIT TO KING EDGAR FOR SPROUTING THIS IDEA WITH THAT FATED REVIEW. YOU MAGNIFICENT, GLORIOUS, (enter synonym to previous two words) BASTARD.
Too lazy to look at his review? Well, his prompt was for Yang to go on a lingerie shopping spree. I'll leave it there.
"Alright. First stop, the lower level." Her partner for the day couldn't see it, but she smirked as she started her march towards her destination.
Ren didn't really mind where he was going; right now, his attention was focused on examining the items around him. "Sure."
Following behind, he could help but notice that she seemed to be walked with a rather brisk pace and was purposefully trying to sway her hips, more than she usually did. As per usual, however, he ignored it as her savvy to show off in stores and public areas, and kept walking close behind. The walk to the escalator was a quick one, but as she neared the entrance, Ren still walking close behind her, she stopped.
Ren didn't quite stop fast enough, and he bumped into her, eliciting a...
Purr?
He was still confused about the noise, so much so that he wasn't able to form the word, 'sorry.'
Yang looked over her shoulder and rose an eyebrow. "Watch it there, Ren," she said. It didn't sound like much of a threat, though, as she kept walking and stepped onto the escalator. Looking over her shoulder as she descended, the hallway the escalator was concealed in was pitch black, and he couldn't see what was at the end.
He blinked a few times, but hurriedly followed her onto the escalator to apologize anyway. Stepping on, it wasn't long before his head was filled with nothing but black. However, lilac eyes popped out in front of him, but they were closer than he expected. In fact, they were on the same level as his... which meant...
She's on the same step as me? How?
"Oh, hey there, good-lookin'." One lilac bulb vanished for a moment as she winked in the dark. "Come round' here often?"
"Yang?" He looked around him, but he couldn't see anything except black. "Why are we not moving?"
"We're not moving?" He heard a foot step, and something brushing up against his right arm. He knew it was Yang, and that didn't make it any better. "You're moving my heart right now."
He blinked. "Yang?"
"Yeees?"
"What are you doing?"
"Preparing you."
"Preparing me?" He repeated the words in a questioning tone. "For wha-"
His eyes were blinded by a flash of red light, disorienting him as he felt arms push him off the escalator. Years of training paid off, and while he didn't fall flat on his face, he made a rather ungraceful exit from the strange escalator. Shutting and reopening his eyes a few times, he looked around him.
He regretted doing so immediately.
Yang sidled up next him without the strange arm to arm contact, and made a wide gesture. "So, ready to get to work?"
He looked at her. "Yang, I have many questions."
"I bet you do, bud. But hold off on em, could'ya?"
"Yang, why did you bring m-"
"Shhh." She put a finger on his lips, which he recoiled from immediately. Yang didn't seem fazed as she retracted it, the gesture doing its job. "I'm just doing some shopping! No harm, right?"
"Yang, the clothing here isn't... meant for me to be..."
"Oh, come on Ren. You're a grown man. You can handle looking at some of this stuff, right?"
"I feel as if it's not appropriate for my person to be here right now."
"And why's that?"
"I am a male."
"Are you sure?"
He ignored the jab at his decidedly unisexual attire. "This is meant for females."
"Hey, it's not like there's only stuff here for ladies!" She jiggled her eyebrows. "Some stuff for guys is here too..."
He felt a twitch coming on. "Yang."
She didn't even respond as she began to walk off with a giggle. The walk escalated into a jog, a sprint, and she vanished around a corner in no time.
"Yang!" He called after her, but nothing replied. Looking around, he noted that there was... nobody else here. No employees, nor other store-goers were frequenting the aisles. It was quiet...
Too quiet, he thought to himself.
"YANG!" He called again, louder. Yet again, no response came in the form of a blonde's voice. He made the executive decision to follow behind her, trying to preserve his gentlemanly status by refraining from looking at as many products as possible, opting for looking at the ground mostly as he looked up occasionally to scan his surroundings. All around him was the literal definition of risque, x-rated clothing. It was terrible.
He didn't deserve this!
What did I do to deserve this punishment! His thoughts echoed again and again as he walked, white tiles his only salvation as he walked, and walked, and walked...
Right into something soft.
Looking up with a jolt, Yang was there.
Without a top.
Without a top.
Without a top.
Wait. Then what did I run into?
Ren blinked. He made eye contact, and looked down.
He pointed, and Yang just nodded, the grin of the (sultry) devil looking back at him.
He twitched.
A bit of blood might have leaked from his nose.
And he fell over, eyes glazed over.
I am considering re uploading this later on if I continue this little omake as a chapter of its own if I feel like it. I mean, come on. This added, like, 1000 words to the word count.
And it's damn funny, imo.
Until next time, fam!