Chapter 45: Another Act, More Action
Heya, friends! It's the conductor of the hype train here, The Draigg! Now, since the musical is in full swing now, I'll keep this intro brief. I don't own RWBY, or any songs I put in here. Now, let's ROLL OUT!
Ruby stood on the brightly lit stage with Weiss. The crowd was calling for another song. It was only fair to give them what they wanted. But, Ruby was still feeling a little nervous, even though Weiss helped to get the audience to boost her confidence a little. Her palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy.
But, she couldn't give up here. Her fear was being replaced by confidence. For Weiss, for everyone, she had to do well up here, even if she didn't sing. Raising the tambourine she was handed before she walked out in stage, Ruby prepared herself.
Weiss noticed the determined fire in Ruby's silver eyes. She gave the briefest of nods to her, and then turned to the audience.
"You ready?", Weiss asked the audience. "Let's do it!".
The stage lights lit up in many colors and danced across the audience. Since this song sounded a bit more peppy and upbeat, it helped to get the crowd into the right mood.
And the hardest part/Was letting go, not taking part
Was the hardest part
And the strangest thing/Was waiting for that bell to ring
It was the strangest start
Ruby was grooving in tune to the song, banging on her tambourine lightly in the process. She was starting to feel the beat now.
I could feel it go down/Bittersweet I could taste in my mouth
Silver lining the cloud /Oh and I
I wish that I could work it out
And the hardest part/Was letting go, not taking part
You really broke my heart
And I tried to sing /But I couldn't think of anything
And that was the hardest part
I could feel it go down/You left the sweetest taste in my mouth
You're silver lining the clouds
Oh and I/Oh and I
I wonder what it's all about/I wonder what it's all about
In the instrumental section, Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand, and spun her around in circles. Both of them were circling around each other, before Weiss stopped to finish the sing.
Everything I know is wrong/Everything I do, it's just comes undone
And everything is torn apart
Oh and it's the part/That's the hardest part
Yeah that's the hardest part/That's the hardest part
As the piano in the song faded away, the crowd replaced the empty air with cheers. That was a pretty good song! Plus, it was nice to see more than just one person up there. It would get pretty boring quickly, otherwise.
While Weiss was bowing at the end of her song, Ruby snatched the microphone from her hand.
"Thank you all! Really, I mean it!", she said, before curtseying with her dress. The crowd cheered in response.
"I mean, this has always been a dream of mine to do, Ever since…", Ruby continue to talk.
Meanwhile, while Ruby was rambling on to the audience about how cool and special they were, there was a large gathering of students and some staff around the snack bar.
Cedric the cashier was having a hard time keeping up with all the demands of the customers in line. He only had his brother, Rickert, to help him. However, he was too busy working behind him, cooking all the burgers and hot dogs people had ordered.
"We need three burgers and two hot dogs!", Cedric announced to his brother, sliding him the order ticket.
"Damn it, I'm working on the latest order!", complained Rickert. Sure, he would get a cut of the profits made, since he was helping, but this was starting to get to be too much. How many people were at this show, anyway?
Cedric cringed at the thought of delaying that order. If the food wasn't cooked soon, then the line would back up even further than it was now. There were at least nine people waiting by the side, waiting for their orders.
Turning his attention back to the register, Cedric eyed his next customer. It was some tall looking douchebag with some grey armor on. He had burnt-orange colored hair, and a shit-eating grin to boot.
"Can I help you?", Cedric asked, most of the energy sapped from his voice.
"Hey, friend. I need a boat-load of pudding. Preferably, all you have.", the customer said, smirking.
"Look, if you could stoop joking, I have real costumers to attend to.", replied a deadpan Cedric. He didn't have time to deal with stupid stuff. He had to at least serve most of these costumers before the next song started.
Something sounded off in the direction of the concert. Cedric cocked his head to the side, facing the stage. He heard another song starting in the distance. "Damn it! Oh well, I'll still get what I can.", Cedric thought.
Turning back to the register, the customer was still standing there, a bawdy smile on his face.
"Didn't I tell you to go? Beat it!", Cedric asked, now feeling annoyed at this customer. He had a whole line of people to serve, and this shithead was holding up the line!
"I'm still interested in the pudding.", the customer said, sliding a stack of lien onto the counter.
Cedric couldn't pass up the money on the counter. Picking up the bundle of cash, he counted it three times over. No, his eyes weren't tricking him. There was at least two-hundred lien here.
"All this for some pudding?", Cedric asked, now feeling a little curious. Who needed a lot of pudding, anyway?
"Right. As much as I can get with that.", the customer said, nodding.
Cedric turned around and asked Rickert, "What do you think, Rick?".
Rickert made a dismissive gesture with his hand while he worked. "Doesn't matter to me. His money's all good here.".
Cedric shrugged and said to the customer, "Hold up, let me get the pudding you can afford with this.".
Walking over to the storage closet, Cedric couldn't help but wonder why this customer specifically requested that much pudding. Surely, anyone who bought that much would get sick before they finished it all. Or, maybe he had a bunch of friends who liked pudding, and they all pitched in to buy a lot.
Whatever, it didn't matter to Cedric. As long as that guy paid with legit lien, he could bathe in the stuff, for all he cared. Grabbing a large box of pudding cups, Cedric hefted it over to where the customer was waiting.
"Anything else you wanted to buy, mister moneybags?", Cedric snarked at the customer. He placed the pudding box on the counter and slid it over to the waiting buyer. The customer's eye twitched a little at the snide remark, but he let it slide.
"No, that'll be all.", the customer said, grabbing the box. He then abruptly left, disappearing around the corner of the snack bar.
Cedric looked a little baffled at the customer. That student certainly was an odd one. Oh well, he couldn't dwell on it too much. He had more customers to serve.
As time went by, another song played, and the line began to grow a little thinner. The next real customer of note was one of the staff. Specifically, one Professor Peter Port.
"How can I help you, sir?", asked Cedric, trying to sound a little proper around the professor.
"Dear boy!", Professor Port proclaimed, boisterous as ever, "Would you perhaps have some funnel cake for purchase?".
"N-no sir, we don't", Cedric replied, scratching his dark green hair. It was getting pretty long by now. He should get a haircut soon.
"Oh, well then! How about a Boarbatusk flank?", the professor asked.
"No, we don't have that, either.", said Cedric.
"How about the meat of a Roc then? Or, what about a leg of mutton?", Professor Port pressed further.
"Professor, sir, we just have burgers, hot dogs, junk food, and ice cream here. We don't have any of what you're asking for.", clarified Rickert from behind Cedric. Well, that certainly saved Cedric the trouble.
"Lads, please. How can such a fine establishment such as this not have what I request?", questioned Professor Port. Clearly, he had very 'refined' tastes.
"Well, sir, we serve mostly students, so… yeah…", was Cedric's excuse.
"Is there any possible thing you can offer me then?", asked Professor Port, his bushy eyebrows moving up and down in frustration.
"Umm… we have soft pretzels.", Cedric offered, gesturing to the hot box where they were kept warm.
"Very well!", claimed Port. "I'll take three!".
As Cedric took three pretzels from the hot box, he said, "That'll be ten lien.". Professor Port dropped a dog-eared ten lien card on the counter in response.
"Thanks for your business, sir.", Cedric complimented as he handed over the pretzels.
"No, thank you, my boy.", Professor Port said with a barely visible wink, before he walked away from the cash register. He began to scarf down the pretzels in the distance like how a Nevermore feasted upon an unprotected herd of cows.
"You're such a suck up.", Rickert commented from behind Cedric.
Cedric shot back, "This, coming from the head of the Music Club.".
"Touché.", replied Rickert, before refocusing on cooking the food on the grill. It was true, Rickert practically had to beg for funding many times before to afford maintenance for the club's instruments.
Cedric and Rickert settled in for the long haul. There was a never-ending stream of customers and the show had only started recently. This was going to be a long night for the both of them.
Cardin was chuckling to himself in the remains of the hedge maze. Since most of the people out tonight were at the concert, nobody would think anyone would be out here.
He was busy dumping the multiple pudding cups he had bought earlier into a large buck. If he pulled off this prank, then it would be his magnum opus. He would be embarrassing so many people at the same time, he felt like this was the culmination of his work.
He giggled like a schoolgirl at the thought of his prank. To douse the performers on stage with pudding? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
It, at this point, should be pointed out that Cardin Leslie Winchester didn't have a very developed sense of humor. If pudding related pranks were the height of sadistic comedy to him, then hearing a fart might as well be hearing some live classical music.
By now, he was laughing so hard that he curled up into his stomach. However, his mirth ceased as he felt a horrible stinging pain all over his body. All of those crow-related injuries he had gotten several days ago still stung badly. "Damn birds. They were lucky I didn't crush them into paste.", he thought
Whatever, he had bigger fish to fry. Then, once he climbed up onto the rafters and dumped the pudding mixture on the performers, then they would be eating crow. Cardin couldn't help but chuckle at his thought related pun.
It should also be noted that Cardin didn't have a very good grasp on sayings, metaphors, and idioms, either.
Hearing another song in the distance, Cardin bided his time. He would have to wait for the right moment to strike. But, he also figured it would take a while to climb up the light riggings, too. So, picking up the now pudding filled bucket, he headed over to the stage, planning to approach it from behind.
Walking out of the remains of the hedge maze, Cardin hoped that nobody would question why he was carrying a large bucket of dessert. Yet again, people were too focused on the concert to pay attention to what he was doing. So, if anything, luck was on his side.
This was one for the record books. He only wished he could get one of his idiot teammates to film it for him. Oh well, there were probably audience members filming the show right now. All he needed to do was find the footage on DustTube later.
Man, this prank was going to be GREAT.
Oh no! There's some trouble brewing in paradise, it seems! Stay tuned for next time, to find out what happens! Anyway, I should tell you a few things. First of all, the song in this chapter is 'The Hardest Part' by Coldplay. Secondly, I want to say thanks to my editor, JimboYokimbo, for helping to clean up this chapter. Give that man some love, he deserves it. So, this is The Draigg, signing off and rolling out!