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"Hey there, good looking. Wanna hang out with us?"
Hearing such a line for the fifth time since she boarded the Beacon Academy ferry, Cinder was seriously considering the positives of torching everyone on board.
Sure, there were a lot of 'innocent' bystanders but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.
Looking with open disgust at the tall, ginger haired man in full body armor, she deliberately held eye contact for a few seconds too long to make him sufficiently uncomfortable.
Then, she smiled sweetly to him, internally chuckling at the way his face immediately switched between awkwardness, confusion and then pride/cockiness/smugness, somewhere between the three.
"Thank you for your invitation but… " She started demurely with a seductive tone of voice, shifting her weight from one foot to the other while maintaining her smile and eye contact. The way the boy before her gulped audibly while his eyes clearly dropped much lower than her own made it all the sweeter. "Could you just jump off the ship for me? It would be preferable to spending time with neanderthals like you and your friends~."
Turning around she strutted away, making sure to sway her hips in an enticing manner. She could practically feel the whiplash the fool experienced, making her smile the slightest bit more genuine.
She never really thought about becoming a Huntress, for various reasons.
Most of them coalesced into the simple fact that she didn't really care for the people she didn't know.
A man dying from starvation? She would sit down with a pack of popcorn and watch the show.
Someone mugged in an alley? Should have thought about that and not waltz into that alley to begin with.
A wild Beowulf appeared and is tearing apart villagers? The only real reason she would do something about it would be if it interfered in her own plans, otherwise? Good riddance.
She was a bad girl like that.
Walking to a large window she rested her arms on a banister and looked for a few moments at the view. The slowly moving expanse of greenery looked like a sea of trees, small and large clearings dotted here and there like islands.
A nearby conversation of an overly energetic blonde girl in a skimpy outfit and a rather young looking girl in a black and red outfit gained her attention after a while. Mainly because the blonde one was gushing over the other one who judging from the topic was her sister.
Now that she looked a bit closer at the shorter of the girls she looked somewhat familiar. Cinder could see her only from the back right now but the outfit did ring some bells…
Suddenly, a rather scraggly looking blonde teen rushed between the two and her to a nearby trash can, inevitably gaining the half-maiden's attention.
He was rather tall, probably half a head taller than her. His face looked slightly sunken and pale as a sheet of paper.
With how desperately he was trying to get to the trash can and his unsteady gait Cinder connected to dots immediately unlike the two oblivious girls that were still in their own small bubble.
Sadly, for the blonde guy, he didn't make it entirely, the unpleasant noise of retching starting before he managed to reach his destination.
"What the heck!? MY SHOES!!!" The shrill, banshee-like screech of the blonde girl was probably loud enough to be heard in Vacuo.
That… that did bring a small smile to her face.
Focusing back at the scenery outside she could already see the Academy not so far away, still probably around fifteen minutes until they arrive.
Absent-mindedly, Cinder recalled the conversation she had with her master, one thing really sticking with her.
"I want you to make contact with a person of interest. He is to be assisted from the shadows, preferably without discovering too much about the fact." The Lady of Darkness spoke, gently swirling the deep red liquid in her crystal goblet.
"He's an…asset most important. His safety is paramount to my plans, do you understand?" With those words, the inhuman eyes of her master stared deep into her soul, as if daring her to have even the slightest sliver of hesitation.
"Y-yes, Mistress! I'll defend him even with my own life!" Stuttering slightly from the intense aura the malevolent being before her exuded, Cinder pledged to fulfill her task.
For some reason, her Master smiled slightly… The mistress of Darkness, the Goddess of Destruction , THE QUEEN OF ALL GRIMM…
Smiled…
Why did it only bring more dread to the teenage girl? She couldn't even try to comprehend what plans her Mistress was creating, her meager intellect not even a comparison to her Master's.
"I believe that Ru… that He will be able to defend himself just fine. I only want to make sure that nothing underhanded will be done, especially by Ozma." The sheer malice that rolled off the Grimm woman at the mere utterance of that name nearly knocked Cinder out. She barely was able to not throw up from the pressure, which were caused by the ripples in magical energy she was now able to detect with her parasite's help.
"O-of course. It will be done." Trying not to break down into a sobbing mess, Cinder squeezed an answer through her still constricted throat.
"I know it will, Cinder. I know it will." Salem replied, still having that strangely satisfied smile, as if everything was going according to plan that only she knew about.
After their conversation Cinder immediately got to work.
With Leonardo Lionheart in their pocket it was laughably easy for her to get accepted as a favor for him, even if it did put her under Ozpin's radar.
Thankfully, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy was none the wiser, not even considering the probability that his old friend Leo would betray him.
All of this was too easy.
Now she only had to find that mystery ma…
Wait…
Hold up…
WAIT A MINUTE!
What does he look like?
With slight panic stirring up inside her chest, Cinder desperately tried to remember any kind of description her Master gave.
With the slight panic changing into mounting horror she came to a conclusion that the only descriptive thing she remembered was the fact that it was supposed to be a man and capable of defending himself…
There were a few holes in her memories where she was nearly certain that Lady Salem was speaking but with the pressure and aura of malice radiating from the Queen of Grimm she was fighting to stay conscious, let alone listen.
Oh… oh no…
What if one of those who approached her earlier was her target?
That last douchey guy with a chicken on his breastplate did look somewhat strong…
With a pale face she could only hope that she didn't meet him yet.
"We will be arriving at Beacon Academy Airdock in three minutes, please gather your belongings and prepare to disembark. I repeat, we will be arriving at Beacon Academy in three minutes, please gather your belongings and prepare to disembark. I wish you all good luck and good day." The ship's intercom came to life, presumably one of the pilots announcing their arrival at the destination.
XxX
"Damn you! DAMN YOU!!! I'm going to rip out your spine and wear it around my neck!" An enraged Queen of Grimm shouted at her adversary, veins pulsing on her forehead with how angry she was.
"FatChance: Daaaamn, bro. You didn't have to destroy Sally like that." A small line of text showed in the lower left corner of the screen on which her glowing red eyes were reflected.
"UltrasonicFart: I just like to listen to that rage. Have you ever heard any girl promising you spinal surgery because of a ranking match in a video game? A true gamer girl here." Her adversary taunted, causing the already dimly glowing eyes to shine like red hot coals, thoughts of retribution already coursing in the owner's head.
With a loud crack the already magically reinforced controller snapped in two, finishing its rather short life at the hand of the incarnation of all that's evil.
"Squawk…" Mojo lazily replied from her perch, observing with mild interest how her master had a meltdown.
"Grrrrr… I'll show you a gamer girl rage…" Reaching to a pile of still unopened controllers Salem went through a familiar at this point procedure of unpacking and connecting a new controller to her gaming setup, the remains of the destroyed one carelessly tossed to the side on an already impressive pile of its predecessors.
"Just wait until Rusty comes online, we'll crush you so badly that it won't even be a competition!" She angrily barked into her mic, entering a queue for another match.
"EpicFudgeDragon: Did she just threaten you with a good time Farty?"
"UltrasonicFart: Harder Mommy."
Carefully setting down her new controller Salem got up from her seat and with purposeful steps walked up to the window.
XxX
"Careful now… careful…" using an extremely precise manipulator Watts was handcrafting a new motherboard for a custom droid, his hands more precise than the best surgeon.
"AAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!" A sudden beastly roar caused him to jump up, the manipulator following his movement and racking across the circuit board destroying a good twenty hours of work.
A slight vibration and a distant rumble followed, like an earthquake.
Scrambling to a nearby workstation the mustached scientist quickly switched between video feeds of all the security cameras he meticulously installed, frowning at the fact that most of the ones located on the northwest side of the Tower weren't responding.
Finding one that did his mouth opened slightly, the enormous mushroom cloud of ash and debris still rising from a distant mountaintop. He was pretty sure that at least one third of it was missing, a red hot river of magma flowing down one of the sides in a lazy manner.
"Well… that happened…" The scientist murmured to himself while still observing the strange anomaly.
XxX
Feeling a lot better after her little outburst, Salem sat back down in her red and black chair with a sigh.
Playing by herself wasn't as fun as with Rusty, even if it did entertain her a bit. Somehow, all the games they played together were more interesting, even if she made sure to not use voice communication when playing with him.
It may have seemed strange, as they were friends for over a year at this point but… She wasn't sure if she wanted to really step into his life…
Okay, that may be a stupid argument, especially as she already met with him (even if he doesn't know that) and performed a complicated magical ritual on him that linked their souls, but!
She only wanted to help him…
His story about being denied the only thing he really wanted did strike quite close to home after all.
Her own family, her father whose face she didn't even remember any more, denied her the right to step outside her tower because of the talent in mage craft that she showed even as a little girl.
She would like to think that if their situation were reversed that Rusty would also do everything in his power to help her, even if there was that miniscule voice deep, deeeep inside her head telling her that she should think her actions through before transmuting bodies of people randomly met online.
Looking at the clock on her desktop, Salem remembered that her dear friend should be arriving at Beacon to take that initiation somewhere around this time.
She was such a genius to send Cinder as a backup for him. The ravenette was shy, easily scared and jumpy but in a fight she was quite good for her age.
"Hey, Mo. Who do you think would win in a fight? Rusty or Cinder?" Looking at her pet she saw how Mojo froze for a few seconds with her beak deep in her left wing feathers before it slowly looked back at Salem, its gaze unflinching staring back.
"Squawk…"
"Why do I even bother?" Sighing, the Queen of Grimm picked up her headset and controller, returning to the game.
"I just hope that Rusty will be alright…"
XxX
Ruby Rose loves weapons.
That's a fact of life, like the fact that cookies are one of the best and most nutritious things ever and should be served to every meal if not being the meal in question.
She created her own baby, Crescent Rose, with tons of hard work, sweat, blood, tears and other bodily fluids. It was a masterpiece made from one hundred thirty seven moving parts and the smooth transition between its forms was simply glorious.
She designed and helped in the creation of Ember Celica, her big sister's personal weapon of kick-assnes and raw epicness. Yang wouldn't even go anywhere without her bracelets, to their father's chagrin.
She even helped her Uncle in maintaining his own weapon, the Harbinger. It is officially the coolest sword/scythe/shotgun ever!
She lives weapons.
She breathes weapons.
She loves weapons.
So… in the light of all that it was only natural that she couldn't comprehend how the blonde vomit-boy standing beside her could be so calm.
"You… you…. You are a madman! How are you even going to survive without a partner?!" She exploded, not being able to comprehend her new friend's actions.
"I thought that we will be assigned partners tomorrow?" The clueless blonde asked back, scratching his head as if he didn't just tell her that he didn't use ANY weapons!
"I've meant a real partner! Life Crescent Rose right here!" The much smaller girl took out her baby, unfurling it for emphasis… and cool points.
Smiling at the flabbergasted look the clearly uncultured guy in front of her sported, she relished in the awe filled eyes that roamed across her body. Crescent Rose's body that is… not her own. That would be ridiculous.
"You dolt! Are you going to attack someone with your oversized gardening tool now too?" A rather melodic, if a bit high pitched, voice of a white clad girl stopped her from the lecture about high impact anti materiel scythe gun sniper rifles that was practically already leaving her mouth. Closing it with an audible click she looked with horror at the demon in white that drilled holes into her very soul with those icy cold, blue eyes.
"Woah, woah. Relax. Ruby here just wanted to show me her weapon, she's just excitable like that." Her new weaponless friend, Jaune, immediately tried to appease the angry demoness, the brave soul that he is.
"Is that supposed to be an excuse? One does not whip out their weapons in public just like that! Especially ridiculous ones like this one!" The white themed girl didn't back down, this time directing those ice chips she called eyes at the brave blonde.
"Ridiculous?! Take it back! Crescent Rose is the epitome of baddasnes and butt-kicking! If anyone here is ridiculous then it's Jaune! He doesn't even have a weapon to begin with." Feeling deeply offended, Ruby did what any younger siblings would do in her place, pushing her new friend under the bus. Now, Jaune wasn't in any way related to her but he was a blonde and available so it was good enough.
"Ruby… I told you multiple times that I'm an Aura user. There's no need for me to carry any physical weaponry." The blonde traitor to the weapon kind spouted from his filthy mouth, further slandering the gift from the gods that was mechashift goodness.
The distraction of the white menace proved to be successful as her eyes changed from the frozen chips of hell itself into a much more welcoming glacial cold expression. "An Aura master? That's really rare nowadays. Could you demonstrate something? My own abilities heavily rely on Aura manipulation and techniques. It could prove beneficial to exchange the proverbial notes."
"Oh, really? That would be marvelous! Beside my friend Sally I never met any other Aura users! I'm Jaune Arc, it's nice to meet you." Ruby with surprise observed how Jaune extended his hand to the white devil, the madman.
"Weiss Shnee." And to the hooded girl's surprise the now named Weiss didn't rip the offending limb off of the poor man, gently grasping his much bigger hand with her own.
"Hmm… Weiss Schnee… Weiss Schnee… where did I hear that name?" Jaune mused to himself looking to the distant ceiling of the ballroom they were going to sleep in.
Sighing, Weiss looked a bit dejected but nevertheless started to explain. "I'm the heiress to…" Only to be interrupted by the snapping of fingers and a smile from the tall, blonde man before her.
"That may be a strange question but… are you a singer by any chance? I think that my youngest sister went crazy with one of your songs about mirrors or something a few months ago. Kept listening to it on repeat for hours… don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful song and tells a sad tale but one could hear 'Mirror, Mirror, what's behind you?' so many times." Jaune talked, or rambled if one would be more precise. He even sang the little fragment of the song while imitating a high pitch female voice, quite skillfully too.
Observing the white demon named Weiss, Ruby could see how her face rapidly switched between anger at the start, then switched to a tinge of bashfulness and stopped at a small smile when Jaune mercilessly butchered the lyrics to her song.
"You only know about me from my songs?" The heiress asked, raising a brow.
"Well, Viola is a fan so I had to listen to her playlist. Should there be more?" Seeing that the white themed girl was expecting some other reaction the blonde started to sweat slightly. "Oh man… are you an actress or something? I'm really sorry, I don't watch movies or TV that much… or at all…" He continued bumbling, scratching the back of his neck.
To be completely honest, Ruby didn't really know what she was looking at at that moment.
The slight snort of a giggle that escaped Weiss was immediately and mercilessly snuffed out, the only evidence of its existence on the marble like unflinching face of the white haired girl was the slightest of blushes.
Observing how the two people before her started to converse about music, aura and the like, Ruby couldn't help but ask herself one thing in the quietest of whispers.
"Did he just flirt his way out of being eaten alive?"
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