Chapter 4: Meet The Supervisors
Hey everybody, didn't you know?! It's me, The Draigg, and it's time to go! I'm up all in here, droppin' the rhymes, and you fans all read all the times! But before you start, ya gotta know, that I don't own RWBY, that based on show! So it at your computer and grab a snack, and read while knowin' The Draigg's got yo back!
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Friday. The anticipated (and not in a good way) day had arrived. Normally, Team RWBY would be getting ready for today's classes right about now. Instead, they were huddled around the air dock with their luggage, waiting for their airship. The message they got from Ozpin said to get here pretty early this morning. Naturally, nobody was very happy about being out here at this hour. Some, however, were taking this worse than the others. Of course, Yang and Weiss were the ones being referred to. Currently, both were bonding over the fact that they were woken up too damn early.
"It's too cold out here…" Weiss grumbled, not even noticing the irony of her saying that.
"Yeah… and who the hell arrives here at 7:00 in the morning, anyway?" questioned Yang.
"I know! This is simply an ungodly hour!" exclaimed Weiss, agreeing with Yang for once.
Yang simply sighed and slumped down further on the bench she was sitting on. "I wanna go back to bed…" she mumbled.
"I miss my sheets," Weiss added in.
Blake and Ruby watched the exchange happen from their own bench. Somehow, they both rolled their eyes at the same time. Their girlfriends could be huge babies sometimes. In reality, it wasn't even that cold. If it was, neither Weiss nor Ruby would be wearing their combat skirts right now. At best, it was only a few degrees short of 70F right now.
However, before the whaambulance could arrive with another order of french cries for Weiss and Yang, the roar of massive engines could be heard over the distance. It sounded like their airship was coming.
So, getting up from the benches they were waiting on, Team RWBY gathered their luggage and stood by the docking ramp. Ruby couldn't help but think this was almost a repeat of the day she arrived at Beacon Academy. She had left her home for here, not knowing what to expect. But now, she was leaving her adopted home, on an adventure with an unsure outcome. The universe sure had an odd sense of humor.
So, the universe laughed even harder as it revealed a twist nobody saw coming. As the doors to the airship opened, a familiar figure and another unknown person were waiting for them.
A rather haggard looking Mr. Victor Brass was leaning against the wall, and some other woman who looked like she was from the eastern kingdoms was with him. He was wearing his normally disheveled tan suit, and his light-brown hair was messy. The woman, however, was wearing a green blouse and pants, and her dark hair had some green highlights at the tips.
The pair was the most mismatched duo alive. One was looking absolutely tired, and the other was looking like she was having a hard time restraining her excitement. And, as soon as the ramp of the airship extended to the dock ramp, she immediately speed-walked over to Team RWBY.
"Hello!" Ruby greeted, extending out her hand, "I'm Ruby Rose, and we're…". She trailed off as the strange woman walked right past her, rooting around in her briefcase. Instead, the lady in green made a beeline for Blake and Yang. The two looked positively confused as the woman walked right up to them.
"Umm, hello?" Yang greeted with a small wave. She was hoping to get a response in turn. However, the woman instead shoved a baseball cap sideways on her head. All Yang could muster was a confused grimace before the lady moved over to Blake.
As Blake was about to ask what exactly she was up to, the lady took her hand and put a neon green yoyo in her grasp.
"Huh?" choked out Blake. This was more surprising and unexpected than the time she found a mouse nest living in their drink pile back in the dorm room.
The woman in green stepped back and looked at the two. She made a frame with her fingers and peered through it. Liking whatever she was seeing, she smiled and announced, "It's perfect!".
"What is?" asked Ruby, her brain scrambling for answers.
"You're all perfect for this!" the lady declared, taking her items back before dramatically turning around to face the team leader.
"What?" Ruby questioned. She was really confused. This was worse than math classes!
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Jade Han! But, you can call me Jade!" Ms. Han announced to the group, her smile growing to unthinkable levels.
Team RWBY shot each other concerned looks. It was like Ren had a child with Nora who inherited her energy and then travelled back in time to meet them. This was going to be one hell of a tour.
Luckily for them, their savior arrived in the form of a man in a worn suit, trying to light a cigarette.
"Let 'em go, Ms. Han. You can tell them all about your ideas later," he said, taking a puff of his freshly lit smoke.
"Mr. Brass! What're you doing here?" Ruby said, waving to him.
Mr. Brass took the cigarette out of his mouth and dryly replied, "Well, I'm here on the behalf of the Schnee Dust Company. What else?".
"Well, yeah, I guess so…" Ruby said, rubbing the back of her neck. It was pretty obvious what he was doing here.
Weiss formally greeted them with, "I'm glad for you to be with us,".
"Right, right, Ms. Schnee. It's nice to see you again too. At least it's on friendlier terms this time around," Mr. Brass noted. Weiss gave a small, appreciative smile at that statement.
"So, I'm guessing we're going with you, right?" guessed Yang from behind Weiss.
"Right on the money," confirmed Mr. Brass.
"And her as well?" Blake also asked, pointing her thumb in Ms. Han's direction.
"You bet!" piped up Jade, "We'll have such a great time, you'll almost forget this is for charity!".
"Yay," Blake replied, sounding as dry as Mr. Brass.
"I'm glad that all of you are morning people," Mr. Brass snarked back.
"Can we just go now?" Yang asked, feeling impatient now. If she was going to go on some charity quest, she wanted to get it started right. And, the longer she was out in the morning air, the more she regretted her earlier excitement.
"Right. Alright ladies, onto the airship," Mr. Brass said, stamping out his smoke. By the time this trip would be over, he believed that he would smoke his lungs into black, shriveled lumps. Well, it was his one outlet for his stress, after all.
Team RWBY hefted up their luggage and boarded the airship. Ms. Han followed, looking as if she was walking on air. Mr. Brass took his time boarding, however. This was probably the last time he was going to be enjoying silence in a while.
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As Team RWBY and Mr. Brass settled into their seats, Ms. Han took no time in explaining everything she could to them.
"Okay, well, I'm glad we're all here! Come on, team!" she said, putting her hand out for a team high five. When nobody obliged her, she took her hand back.
"We'll get to that later! Anyway, here's some info on what you'll be doing," Ms. Han then said, handing out some packets from her briefcase. Team RWBY took them, and began to leaf through the pages.
"It says here we're staying in the Vale Kingdom for now. What do they mean, 'for now'?" Blake asked.
"Well, given how successful all of you are, the Azul Concern might consider taking you to other kingdoms," explained Ms. Han.
That gave Team RWBY pause. In hindsight, they really should have seen that possibility coming. After all, Ozpin neglected to mention how long they were to be away from Beacon.
Ruby piped up with, "But, what about Beacon? We can't be away for that long!".
"Ozpin informed me that he had taken care of all of your educational needs," Mr. Brass added.
The idea that she wouldn't be back for a while began to sink on for Ruby. The idea of not being to see her extended circle of friends for a while was horrifying. But, she had to remind herself that she had volunteered for this opportunity, after all. If anything, most responsibility could be traced back to her for taking this trip. After all, as team leader, her word was concrete.
Ruby grew silent as Ms. Han rambled on about how great this trip would be. Now, she was beginning to feel a little depressed. It was one thing to know that you got yourself into an unsure future. What made it worse was that she dragged her friends into going along with her. She could have gotten Weiss to refuse her dad's request, or at least tried. That might have been a different outcome because of it.
But, she couldn't regret her decision right now. As team leader, it was her responsibility to make all the calls, regardless of later results. Like what Ozpin had said to her during the first weeks of classes, being a team leader was both a badge of pride and a burden. All she could really hope for was that she could make the best out of this situation.
But, looking on the bright side, some good could come out of this. Even though the future was unclear, that didn't mean it was bad. For all she knew, this could lead to her getting a mansion or something. Or, Weiss might do the impossible and sort things out with her dad, if she ever saw him over the course of this trip. Sure, it may sound impossible, but it might happen. Anything could be possible, as long as you believed it to be so.
Ruby was knocked out of her self-reflection session by a vibrating feeling in her pocket. Her scroll had received a message. Opening it, she saw it was from Weiss. Apparently, she was using her info packet to hide the fact she was texting.
"I think I'm legitimately scared of this Han lady. Are we sure she isn't related to Nora somehow?" read the message. It brought a slight smile to Ruby's face. Hearing a joke like that from Weiss was a rare treat.
"Lok 4 ornge hair. It's a sgn," was Ruby's reply. Pressing send, she looked over at Weiss. When Weiss got the message, her eyes flicked from her screen to Ms. Han's hair.
"No orange, but plenty of green. I'm not sure that's a good sign or not," Weiss texted to Ruby.
"I hve red tips. Tht's gud, rite?" answered Ruby back.
"I suppose that's some sort of point there. And I might add, it suits your name nicely," Weiss' message said.
Ruby's heart warmed a little at Weiss' compliment. She sent back, "Luv u 2. & ur slvr hair. Its prety.".
Weiss blushed a little as she read Ruby's message. It was so awkward to not just say this out loud. But, even though Mr. Brass had proven himself to be a reasonable person, they still couldn't trust an agent of the Schnee Dust Company to know the extent of their love. So, they would have to keep their conduct non-romantic. They would just have to compensate when their guardians weren't around.
"I want to kiss you so bad right now. But, we have to careful around these people, right?" sent Weiss to Ruby. She noticed Ruby slump her shoulders a little as she read the message.
"I kno," was Ruby's text message. It was a bit of a tough task, but it had to be done. It was simply for the best for all involved parties.
Hopefully, Team White Rose could hold out until the end was in sight.
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Now the story really begins! Well, if you don't count Chapter 1, but you really should. It's important, after all. Now, I'm sure you know the usual spiel on how to leave a review and stuff. And, the usual eternal thanks to JimboYokimbo (who is very smart) for cleaning up my crappy writing. So, this is The Draigg, signing off temporarily.