Chapter 41: I'd Like To Make A Call
Knock knock. Who's there? Herpes. Oh good, I thought it was something bad, like me not uploading anything. With that shameful attempt at a joke out of the way, let's go through the motions here. I mean, by now, you should know I'm pretty much an internet hobo, and I don't own RWBY or anything of the like. If I did, then I would probably be making fat stacks of paper right now… oh well, onto the chapter!
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Weiss and Ruby had decided to skip one of their later day classes and stay in the dorms in order to work on the plan a bit more. They had the number they needed, and all the pair had to do now was actually give Ms. Han a call.
But, that's where Weiss and Ruby's courage ran thin.
Weiss' scroll, which had the number inside it, remained unmoved form where it sat on the work desk. Given the way that Team White Rose was going out of their way to avoid it, it was as if the scroll was made of spiders, or was covered in the plague, or worst of all, only had the numbers of crappy investment bankers.
The duo had been locked in the stalemate for over a half four by now. The closest they had come to making that call had only been brief glances towards the scroll. Most of the time, however, was spent trying to act nonchalant about it.
Weiss was pretending to read a book on her bunk. But in reality, she was mulling over her plan in her mind on last time. This was the point of no return for them.
"This is it. If I go over there and make that call, then I'm locking myself and Ruby into the plan. I don't want to hurt her… but this needs to be done if my father is going to be taught a lesson. I only hope Ruby can forgive me if this all leads to ruin," she mulled over to herself.
On the one hand, Weiss did give Ruby a free way out in Vale City. She did say that this plan was risky, and that she wouldn't fault the cloaked girl of she decided to stay out of it. But, she agreed to stay by her side, even if things went badly. Still, that declaration did little to make Weiss feel better about bringing Ruby into this. She was the one person she truly loved with all of her heart, and she didn't want to see her destroyed because of her. Weiss was now in-between a rock and a hard place. No, that wasn't strong enough to describe it. It was more like choosing between ditching your family to run away from a giant spider, or leading them into a suicide mission with no chance of survival. Neither was a good choice, but ultimately both could be a solution.
Ruby, in contrast with Weiss, wasn't worried about her significant other. She had full faith in Weiss' skill. However, she couldn't help but wonder if she personally would be able to keep up. Ruby had crumbled earlier under Mr. Schnee's presence, so she had no clue how she would fare actually fighting against him. All in all, she didn't want to let Weiss down in the moment of her greatest need again.
As Ruby timidly played with her hands, she was giving herself a pep-talk in her head, "I don't wanna let down Weiss again. Sure, It'll probably hurt, but I need to do this for her. Actually, it'll probably hurt a lot. Like, a huge amount. Third degree burn levels of pain. Darn it, Ruby! Stop obsessing over that part! Pain is only temporary, right? Right? …Yeah, I'm right. You can do this, Ruby Rose,". She took a deep breath and stood up from her chair.
With her pride now swollen, Ruby strode over to the desk and picked up the scroll. But, just as she opened it and was about to make the call, she froze. Her nerves had failed her at the critical moment. But, she couldn't let all this confidence go to waste! So, instead she walked over to Weiss and dropped the scroll in her lap.
"We can't keep stalling. Come on, make the call, please," Ruby said, putting on her cute puppy eyes. Those always worked with Weiss. Why else would she pay for everything whenever they went out?
Weiss' blood sugar levels rose drastically when she saw Ruby's eyes. Damn, how can she be so cute and so demanding at the same time? There was no other explanation for it: Ruby must be some sort of magician or something in order to look that cute with one look.
"A-are you sure?" Weiss asked her. "I mean, we have plenty of time to do this, of you want,".
"We've done nothing but sit around here and act awkward. It's like ripping off a bandage. We need to get it all at once," Ruby firmly decided.
"Well, I don't know about YOU, but I've been reading this interesting book. That's not awkward at all," Weiss retorted, holding up her book for emphasis.
Ruby sounded a little embarrassed for Weiss as she pointed out, "It's upside-down, you know,".
Weiss took a closer look at the book in her hands. Ruby was indeed right, it was turned with the wrong side up. Weiss couldn't help but sight to herself at how easily her deception had been seen through.
With a deep breath, Weiss then told Ruby, "This is your last chance to back out, if you want too. I completely understand if you want to…".
"I don't want to," Ruby replied almost immediately.
Ruby and Weiss' eyes locked for a brief moment, and they saw the determination behind them. It was now or never, do or die, the moment of no return, and a multitude of similar finale metaphors.
With a small nod, Weiss picked up the scroll out of her lap and called Ms. Han's number. Her plan was finally going to spring into action.
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The office of the Azul Concern was enveloped in a crisis.
For some reason, Mr. Schnee called Mr. Raines personally and told him that he was pulling all of his support from their programs, including the students he had gotten for the PSA's. As such, the Azul Concern was now stranded up a raging river without a paddle. They couldn't just hire actresses to do those PSA's, that would destroy their already thin funds. After all, somebody had the 'brilliant' idea of pouring all their funds into advertisement, without thinking of having cash for the actual project.
The 'brilliant' mind that went by the name Ms. Jade Han was sitting at her desk, trying to put as many stamps on important looking letters as possible. Well, she assumed they were important. It made sense that the Azul Concern would try to reach out to a lot of important people. It was by sheer luck that she noticed her scroll ringing.
Answering it, Ms. Han asked into the receiver, "Jade Han, who is this?"
"Ms. Han? It's Weiss Schnee," came the voice on the other end.
Jade froze in place. One of the girls from the other week was calling her on her personal scroll?! They must really like her if they were doing this!
"Weiss! I'm so glad you called! We can talk about painting our nails and cute boys together!" Jade exclaimed into the scroll.
A pregnant pause filled the other end of the call. It was as if Weiss was thinking about something on the other end. After a minute long beat, Jade could have sworn she heard Weiss lowly mumble, "Why does that phrase follow me?". But then, Weiss spoke directly into the scroll again. "…Riiiiiiiiight, we COULD talk about that stuff. But, err, I called for a more specific reason,".
Ms. Han pouted a little, but accepted what Weiss had to say. "Okay, what's the reason then?" she asked, somewhat disappointed.
"I want to work with you on a project of mine," Weiss simply stated.
"Oooooohh! What is it, what is it, what is it?" Ms. Han squeed. She was willing to grasp at any straws that would allow her to meet up with Weiss and the rest of Team RWBY again. After all, they were her friends.
"Okay, calm down, and I'll tell you," Weiss ordered. When Jade paused to hear her out, Weiss continued with, "I want to produce a commercial for your organization. After all, because of the trip we were on earlier, I can't help but feel for those who had their lives disrupted by dust. So, if I may, I want to film a brief PSA about the risks of dust, from making it to using it. As a Schnee, I can get access to certain parts of dust production, so that ought to make for an in–depth look into the proper care and handling of dust,".
"I like the sound of that! In fact, this might be just what this organization needs!" excitedly chatted Ms. Han.
"What do you mean by that?" Weiss asked on the other side.
"Well, I don't mean to gossip too much, but we're kind of in a pickle ever since the Schnee Dust Company pulled the rug from underneath us," Ms. Han gossiped.
"Pulled the—Did my father take away his support?" questioned Weiss. If the answer was yes, which it most certainly was, then that wouldn't surprise her in the slightest. Very little was sacred to her father.
"Afraid so," Ms. Han drawled as she began to play with a lock of hair.
Jade heard a sigh on the other end. "Of course. Look, do you think you can talk to your boss about this? I mean, he might be interested in my offer. Be sure to call me back when you get an answer, okay?" the Schnee heiress asked of her.
"I can definitely do that!" Ms. Han declared. But she gave a pause for thought before saying, "Wait, how am I supposed to call you back?".
Weiss let out a hard exhale before instructing Ms. Han. "If I called you, you can save my number on your contact list. It's the little plus sign in the upper right hand corner. See it?".
Jade held the scroll away from her face and looked for the button. Seeing it she reported, "Yeah, it's there," to Weiss.
"Alright. Well, it was nice talking to you again. And remember, be sure to call once you talked to your boss," Weiss repeated.
"You got it! Talk to you soon, Weiss!" Ms. Han cheered into the phone rather loudly.
"I look forward to talking to you again!" Weiss said back. She secretly hoped that her acted excitement sounded convincing enough. Luckily, Ms. Han was dim enough to fall for it.
"Bye-bye!" bid Ms. Han.
"Goodbye!" replied Weiss. Then, the line clicked off.
Ms. Han sat in her desk chair, satisfied with herself. She had not only managed to get back into contact with someone she liked, but she also had a possible plan to save the Azul Concern! She needed to schedule an appointment to see her boss right now! She just couldn't wait a minute longer!
So, on her work phone, Ms. Han dialed the number for Mr. Raines' secretary. She was SO going to save the organization!
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Weiss had an almost smug smirk on her face as she put away her scroll. Everything was going according to her plan. If anything, it would go even better, considering the sorry state her father left the Azul Concern in. And, Ms. Han was like putty in her hands. She would be the perfect person to act as her mouthpiece in that organization.
Turning her face to Ruby, Weiss declared, "We're in it now,".
"She's on our side?" Ruby asked.
Weiss nodded. "She's going to talk to the head soon… I think we can have a real shot at this now. It sounds like they're desperate over there," she reported.
"Us leaving affected them that much?" Ruby asked further, almost in disbelief. How can four girls leaving cause such an uproar?
"My father had a hand in it," explained Weiss as her face grew little darker.
"Oh…" Ruby groaned as she sat next to Weiss on her bunk. "Well, are you feeling a little better now that you made the call?".
"Yeah. I can finally make my father pay for what he's done to all of us," Weiss growled.
Ruby was a little scared at how Weiss grew darker when she mentioned vengeance. She hoped that she wouldn't be consumed by revenge, and be turned into some horrible, twisted shadow of her former self. But, that's why Ruby decided to stay by her side. She needed her morality and love to balance out her plans.
"Look on the bright side. We can relax now. You know, until Ms. Han gets back to us," Ruby cooed at Weiss. She noticed Weiss' shoulders lose their tension.
"I suppose you're right… Want to do something, then?" Weiss asked in a silky, sultry voice.
Of course, Ruby didn't pick up on Weiss' blatant flirting. "I think they're running a movie marathon on the Cartoon Channel!" she declared as she quickly stood up and turned on the small television on the desk.
Weiss sulked a little to herself. What she was going to suggest was that Ruby and her passionately make out in front of the window for everyone to see. Hey, she was allowed to indulge in her exhibitionist fantasies once in a while.
But, she was okay with just hanging out with Ruby. The excited red (Brunette? It was both, Weiss guessed) head plopped down next to her, a sparkle in her eye as she began to watch some animated movies.
Weiss couldn't help but be drawn into the movie on screen. Some man with green hair wearing a casual suit was fighting a man in a black trench coat on a monorail. That fight was intense, using a combination of fist-fighting and gun play. Apparently, the man in the suit was a bounty hunter, and he wanted the cash for bringing in the man with a trench coat. Weiss couldn't help but feel impressed by the fight choreography and animation quality.
So, Weiss and Ruby enjoyed each other's company, watching a good movie together. It was the most normal thing they did as a couple in a while. So plans, no sorrow, just two girls who valued each other's company. This Monday wasn't that bad for them at all.
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Behold! The plan is unveiled! Now, while it doesn't sound like much right now, trust me, it's going to be good. How can Team RWBY planning to film something NOT be good? Well, I'll leave that one up to all of you, readers. So, tell me your opinion in either a message or review. This is The Draigg, saying see you later, space cowboy.