Chapter 3: Old And New People
Greetings, fellow readers/authors! It's the Driagg here, flinging another instalment of this story into your eyes and minds! As part of the usual introduction goes, I don't own RWBY, or anything else I put in my stories. Now, let's launch this story off!
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Mr. Victor Brass was having a dull headache that Thursday morning. It wasn't just because of the fact that he had to catch this flight incredibly early. And it wasn't because he had to go to Vale to meet with Team RWBY again. It was the conclusion of several annoying factors coming together.
First of all, he was concerned about his daughter. He dropped little Alice at her grandparent's place yesterday, leaving her in good hands. Regardless, it killed him inside how much Alice was used to him doing this. But, it was his job to care for her, no matter that he was on call most of the time. One day, he could quit his job, and spend more time with her. She needed some type of parent figure in her life. It really was a shame she didn't have her mother. Truly, it was a tragedy that she died in childbirth, but it was only to save their child. One of them was going to die from complications, that was a fact. But, his wife pulled through to give her one final gift to the world. But, he had to try to put that behind him as best as possible.
And as for the second, more direct issue, he was already having problems with the lady the Azul Concern partnered him up with as their representative. She just wouldn't stop talking! It had been three hours since she had started talking, with no signs of stopping. This… what was her name again? Jade Han? Right, that's what it was. It was like she had no off switch!
Mr. Brass stared out of his seat side window, hoping to drown out whatever Ms. Han was talking about.
"…But they just wouldn't listen! So what I did, and you're going to love this, I refused to leave the boardroom! I even stayed there even after the meeting was over! And it worked! Neat, huh?" gushed Ms. Han.
"Incredibly," Mr. Brass dead-paned, not looking away from his window. He looked at the vast, untamed country below. Man, he could really use a vacation. Just anything to get away from this conversation right now.
"Are you not paying attention to me? Because I fell like you aren't paying attention to me. Please, pay attention to me, I have cool stuff to say!" Ms. Han said as she tugged at Mr. Brass' arm.
"I am, Ms. Han." Mr. Brass lied.
"Good! So, where was I? Oh yeah, my idea to appeal to the inner city youth! So, I was thinking, we need to be hip! We need to be fly! And, we need to be relatable! So, here's what I was thinking of!" Ms. Han continued, pulling some papers out of her briefcase.
Now, Mr. Brass had no choice but to pay attention to her. If she found out he wasn't he felt like she would act like his daughter when she didn't get that ice cream she wanted. So, taking the papers, he looked over whatever Ms. Han was talking about. Apparently, they were sketches of costumes. Or, that's what they looked like. To Mr. Brass, they were so garish and ugly, they could have been some eldritch writings from beyond space for all he knew.
"…You're serious, aren't you?" Mr. Brass asked in disbelief. There was no way any of those girls he met before would want to wear these. They were offensive on many levels, he didn't know where to start.
"Oh, absolutely!" reassured Ms. Han.
Handing the papers back to Ms. Han, Mr. Brass tried to begin to explain why her designs might get them stabbed. "Okay," Mr. Brass began, "First of all, have you ever been in an inner city area?".
Ms. Han lightly chuckled before explaining, "My office is in the downtown area, silly!".
Mr. Brass sighed and then clarified with, "No, I mean a ghetto. Economically disadvantaged areas. Any of these ring a bell?".
That made Ms. Han pause. "Well… no… but I've watched a LOT of PSA's growing up, so I think I got the hang of it," she explained.
"There's no way anybody would take us seriously if they wore those," Mr. Brass bluntly said.
"But you're just judging the costumes! You haven't seen the script yet!" Ms. Han protested, as she pulled out another piece of paper out of her briefcase and shoved it into Mr. Brass' lap.
Picking up the paper, Mr. Brass looked it over. It was somehow even more offensive than the costumes. There was so much vernacular and slang in the script that it was nearly impossible to understand. There was no way in hell that the message they were trying to get across would be understood like this. Well, if it didn't get them shanked by gang members first.
"What the hell is a 'bae'?" Mr. Brass mumbled to himself as he tried to make sense of the script.
"It's what all the kids are saying!" Ms. Han declared proudly.
Mr. Brass was really tempted to say something about this… this abomination she had presented to him. But, he hesitated. Ms. Han had a look on her face similar to one her daughter would usually have. It was the look of a child who was so proud of their macaroni art, even though the glue wasn't very good and pasta pieces were falling all over the ground.
So, resigning himself to his fate, Mr. Brass simply said, "It's… fine,". He hoped that Ms. Han wouldn't pick up on the strain in his voice as he lied through his teeth.
Ms. Han smiled proudly as she took the script back. "See? I told you!", she said, her voice filled with mirth.
Right now, Mr. Brass wasn't feeling any of that mirth for himself. What he was feeling was very tired right now. He had to get up early for the express flight, after all. So, he put on some headphones he found next to his seat, and reclined the chair to rest.
"Great. I'll just leave you to your work while I sleep," announced Mr. Brass, closing his eyes.
"Okay, have a good rest!" Ms. Han said, winking. Mr. Brass didn't see that gesture at all as he began to fall asleep.
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Mr. Brass got at least a good five hours of sleep before being jostled awake. Something had jumped into his arm roughly while he slept. Groaning, he looked around. Outside the window, it looked like it was the afternoon. Well, at least that meant he got some amount of rest.
But then, he looked over to his side. Ms. Han was laughing loudly at a movie she was watching (more specifically, Spooky Film 3), with the volume turned down low. Well, at least she was considerate enough to do that. He couldn't say the same about her wild movements, however. Her feet were stamping at the floor, and she was banging her hand hard against the armrest.
"Geez, what are you, twelve?" Mr. Brass muttered as he removed his headphones.
Hearing Mr. Brass' comment, Ms. Han replied, "I'm 28, actually,".
Now that sentence took Mr. Brass' mind for a loop. Jade was only 28? Granted, he already thought she looked pretty young considering her position, but he didn't figure that she was that young. Heck, he was only 31, and it was a long, hard crawl to get to where he worked! Well, that and the fact that his boss before him was being an unfaithful jerk who stole from the company. But that was a stroke of luck. If he had to guess how she got her job, Mr. Brass had to guess that she went to a big-name school or something.
"28? How'd you get this job, anyway?", asked a surprised Mr. Brass.
"Oh, well, actually, they hired me right out of college. I have a degree in communication!" Ms. Han said, her attention taken away from the movie. She then pulled out her scroll, and opened it up to show Mr. Brass something. It was a picture of her in a hat and robe, receiving a degree.
"Really? And here I thought they hired you for your pretty face," Mr. Brass snarked. However, Ms. Han didn't pick up on this. Instead, she slightly blushed.
"Aww, thanks! I think you're handsome, too," she complimented back. Mr. Brass raised an eyebrow in response.
"Uhh, thanks?" he said back. Was she trying to flirt with him? If she was, then this trip would feel way longer than it was already. And he wasn't even in Vale yet. If he wasn't on an airship right now, he would be smoking like a chimney to cope with it.
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Meanwhile, in Vale and actually on the ground, Team RWBY was already done with their classes for the day. Today, they decided to take their relaxation session outside. They needed to mix up their routine now and again. That, and Weiss thought it would be a good idea to try her hand at cooking for the team, and borrowed Team JNPR's hotplate. After she tried making her beef and grapefruit salad, the room needed to be air out for a while.
However, Team RWBY wasn't letting Weiss' gaffe slip by so easily, as they sat on a bench near the large fountain in the botanical garden.
"Seriously, where did you even GET that recipe?" Yang couldn't help but ask in disbelief.
"It's been a well-established recipe, used by the finest chefs from around the kingdoms!" Weiss said, trying to defend herself. To be fair, that was a blatant lie. But, she had to defend her honor.
Blake rolled her eyes and chimed in with, "She didn't ask who made it. She asked where you got the recipe from,".
Weiss had really ran herself into a corner. She was hoping they would fall for her deflection. As such, she didn't have a plan for if they called her bluff.
"…The internet," sheepishly replied Weiss. They had caught her, alright. In truth, she had gotten the recipe from some internet forum she was fond of. It was fun to be anonymous and say whatever you felt like saying. She must have gotten tricked by a troll, she guessed.
Ruby feeling that Yang and Blake were ganging up on Weiss, leapt to her girlfriend's aide.
"Well, I thought it was very sweet that you tried to cook for us," offered Ruby to Weiss.
"Thanks, Ruby," Weiss said while Ruby nuzzled her face against her shoulder. Weiss blushed heavily. Just because they had been dating for a while, that didn't mean that she felt comfortable acting like a couple around others. She was still getting used to the idea of public affection.
"D-don't do that, you dolt…" Weiss mumbled as she gently pushed Ruby off of her side. Ruby made a slight pouty face, but didn't protest. She knew Weiss still had emotional hang-ups.
Blake and Yang, however, were just eating this little scene up.
"What's the matter, Weissy? Are you a little shy?" teased Yang.
"You're just a typical tsundere, Weiss," Blake added in.
This got Weiss' goat. Even though she only had a basic grasp on what a tsundere is, she still didn't like the comparison. Well, because it was pretty accurate, actually. That's what embarrassed her about it.
"I'm not a tsundere!" protested Weiss, while scooting away from Ruby rapidly. She had no clue she was only proving Blake correct. That caused Blake to laugh, which then made Weiss blush harder.
"It's not funny…" Weiss protested weakly. Now she knew that her position was rapidly crumbling.
"What next? Are you going to call me 'baka'?", Blake teased further. This was simply too much fun to give up. Now she could see why Yang liked teasing people so much.
By now, Weiss' face was growing red with anger, in addition to already existing embarrassment. Ruby could have sworn she heard a screech being restrained in Weiss' throat.
"Come on you guys, stop it. Weiss has had a hard enough day as is," Ruby said, hoping to defend her girlfriend again.
Yang and Blake chuckled, and Yang replied with, "Oh come on, we're only teasing 'cause we like you,".
"Yeah, it's just a joke. You don't Schnee-d to take it so hard," Blake punned. Her girlfriend was rubbing off on her in more ways than one (not in the sexual way… for now). Yang held out her hand for a high five, and Blake obliged her quickly.
"BOOM!" cheered on Yang. Blake gave a sly grin in response.
"You two are literally the worst…" Weiss complained. Ruby gave a sympathetic nod and glared at Team Bumbleby. Their teasing was starting to even annoy her, and she grew up with Yang's bad jokes and teasing. As such, she tried to fire back at them.
"I'm going to shave your head tonight, Yang," Ruby threatened. That put a stop to Yang's laughter.
"You wouldn't dare," Yang breathed out, taking Ruby seriously. To her, messing with her hair was roughly the same as threatening to kill and eat her favorite dog. She began to unconsciously stroke her hair, as if she was trying to calm it down.
"Watch me. We've still got the leg razors in the shower," said Ruby, her voice full of menace. Yang's eyes widened at the thought. She didn't want a bald head! She didn't want to look like some weird monk woman!
Blake was about to say something, but Yang hastily covered her mouth. "I think we should stop now," she said, looking around nervously. Ruby had hit her in one of her few weak spots. Leave it to her sister to best her in the field of verbal combat.
Ruby smirked at her victory. Then, standing up, she announced, "I'm gonna get a drink. Anyone want anything?".
"I'll take a coff—tea," requested Weiss. Damn, she really needed to kick that habit once and for all.
"We'll take a soda each," Yang said, also answering for Blake. She still kept her hand clamped over Blake's mouth, so that she wouldn't get her hair chopped off. Those golden locks were too rich to let go to waste.
Ruby waltzed her way away from the benches where her team was sitting, over in the direction of the snack bar. As she made her beverage quest, she softly sang to herself.
"Turn A Turn, Turn A Turn, Turn Aaaaaaaaa…/Turn A Turn, Turn A Turn, Turn Aaaaaaaaa…" she murmured quietly.
All in all, it was an average day for Team RWBY. It was nice to have one before their charity journey.
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Damn, that Turn A Gundam theme is too catchy! I've had it stuck in my head for about a week by now! It's by Hideki Saijou, so go check it out! Also, shoot some thanks over to JimboYokimbo for editing this chapter. Without him, this chapter would sound a little worse. And finally, you know, leave me some comments in the reviews section! This is The Draigg, signing off to get to work again!