Chapter 45: A Meeting With Destiny
With high expectations… Wait, wait, I already did the Gundam Wing homage in an earlier version of the author's notes. Umm… I can't really think of a show to reference in my opening today. So, just settle for this bland introduction. I don't own anything I put in here, whether it be RWBY or any other media. Now, get to reading before this gets weird for the both of us.
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While Weiss and Ruby were stuffing their faces with candy on an impromptu date, much more important things were happening far, far away from Beacon Academy. And much, much farther from Vale City. In a different kingdom, in fact.
Ms. Han's diligence had paid off. Well, that, and her patience. When she made an appointment to see Mr. Raines about Weiss' proposal, the best she could get was the latest period of his free time possible. It was no secret that Mr. Raines didn't like Ms. Han. That's why she shoved her meeting to the last possible moment. But, it was his obligation to act like a decent boss, so he didn't have any real chance to turn her down.
Jade held her head up high and strutted confidently down the hallway after exiting the elevator. The headquarters of the Azul Concern had ten floors, and the offices of the head honchos and important meeting rooms were located on the top floor. Mr. Raines' office was the biggest one, so it wasn't all that hard to find.
Ms. Han walked up to the double wooden doors and rapped her knuckles lightly on them. A disinterested voice on the other side responded with: "You can come in,".
Walking in, Ms. Han said, "Thanks for making time in your busy schedule, sir,".
Mr. Raines scratched the side of his bushy mustache and sighed. "I know you are…".
"Well, sir, I have good news! I have a way we can save everything! There's a plan and everything!" Jade bragged as she sat in a plush leather armchair in front of the large wooden desk.
The man in the dark blue suit with a thick grey mustache groaned. Before saying anything, he took hold of the whiskey bottle on the corner and poured himself a glass. Then, taking a quick look at Ms. Han, he quickly put aside the glass and just took a large swig from the bottle. Once the burning liquid settled down his throat, Mr. Raines' replied, "Proceed,".
Undaunted, Ms. Han asked, "Well, sir, you know those girls we got for the D.U.M. PSA's?".
"Those Team RWBY girls. Yeah, what about them?" Mr. Raines' questioned back.
"Well, they contacted me personally, and said they were interested in filming a commercial for us!" Jade proudly declared. When she announced that, she expected for the idea to be picked up immediately. Instead, she was greeted by a silent glare.
"What did you talk them into?" sighed Mr. Raines.
"I swear, it was their idea! They even said that they could get special access to dust production areas! I mean, one of them is a Schnee, you know," Ms. Han passionately cried.
"I already knew that. I could tell Mr. Schnee suggested them out of nepotism a mile away," deflected Mr. Raines.
"Well, don't you think they could do something for us?" Ms. Han asked.
Mr. Raines leaned back in his chair. Almost out of instinct, he reached over to the glass of whiskey he poured and nursed it as he thought. On the one hand, they really needed something to push their goals, ever since Mr. Schnee pulled his support out from under them. On the other hand, this was coming from easily the most annoying person in the office. Her word was as good as money made out of used condoms. But, back on the first hand, if they were willing to do the work for them (and for free, they sure as hell weren't being paid for this), then why not take the offer? But, on the second hand again, how can he just leave everything up to a group of students? MR. Raines spent a few minutes mulling over these points over and over again in his mind.
He was snapped back to his senses by Ms. Han asking, "Uhh, are you thinking about it? You've been nursing that drink for, like, five minutes now,".
"Huh? Oh right. Well, I think I need to see something to prove their dedication to what they're saying. Do they have a script prepared?" questioned Mr. Raines.
Now that made Ms. Han pause a little. "Err, if they did, they didn't tell me…" she trailed off.
"Look, I'm going to need proof of concept before I sign off on anything," firmly said Mr. Raines as he sat back up in his chair. Then, he put down his glass to fold his hands and stare at Ms. Han. It was obvious he didn't think too highly of this plot so far.
"…So, if I bring you something, you'll consider it?" Ms. Han asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"I didn't say that," Mr. Raines glowered, "All I said was to bring me something to look at. You've pitched me an idea, but if you don't bring me something to back it up, I won't approve it. Get me a script, or even an outline, and I'll look over it,".
"I'm taking that as a yes!" Jade cheered as she pumped her fist in celebration.
"I wouldn't," Mr. Raines grumbled.
Bolting out of her seat, Ms. Han declared, "I swear sir, I won't stop until I get something!".
"I know, you say that every time you get an assignment…" mumbled Mr. Raines under his breath.
"I shall return with proof of concept!" Jade called as she walked out of the office.
As soon as the double office doors shut closed, Mr. Raines felt his blood pressure drop immensely. That woman was so bizarrely dedicated, yet incompetent, it was like she was just some living joke being played on the Azul Concern. To Mr. Brass, that was a better idea to have in mind than seriously considering Ms. Han as someone hired for her talents. A joke was easier to accept than thinking that the hiring department messed up royally.
Ugh, that train of thought made Mr. Raines want to drink more. And so he did.
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Ms. Han hummed at her desk as she wondered what would happen when she unveiled the (somewhat) good news. Her work was being completely ignored as her thoughts did back-flips in her mind.
"Oh, Weiss'll be SOOOOOO happy to hear this! I should hold a party for her and the rest of her friends! But wait! I need to tell them first, before I can plan the party! Yes, they need to know! I need to tell them the great news! Meh, I need a coffee first," was her jumble of thoughts.
Going with the last thought in her rapidly spinning brain, Ms. Han stood up from her desk and made her way to the break room. Yep, coffee was definitely the thing she needed right now. After putting on her best saleswoman act really drained her of energy. Plus, she would need some for all the envelopes she needed to put stamps on and send to the mail room.
But, just to be safe, she decided to send a quick message to the number Weiss provided for her scroll. She could at least tell them something.
It read: "Total success! Will ttyl! :))".
xxx
Back at Beacon Academy, Weiss and Ruby were enjoying their sudden date. Ruby was enjoying it more than Weiss, but that was probably due to the massive sugar rush she was feeling right now. As it turned out, Ruby had a massive stroke of luck when Rickert, the temporary cashier, grabbed a lot of the candy she liked. But, as it stood now, there was so much sugar flowing in her veins, they could form large crystals and give her an actual stroke. Not that Ruby minded at all.
"Ruby, you should probably slow down," Weiss suggested as Ruby shoved a handful of gummy worms into her gaping maw. Normally, Weiss liked the look of Ruby's mouth, with it being small and soft and all that. But, its appeal was slightly diminished when it was all sticky with a mix of saliva and sugar. And the food coloring smeared all over her mouth didn't help in the slightest either.
"Ahm ffine, Wheissh," Ruby reassured her with a mouth filled with food.
Sighing, Weiss scolded, "What did I tell you about swallowing?".
Ruby gave a small, quick nod and swallowed the collected lump of gummy worms in her mouth. The large bulge was visible as it traveled down her throat. If Weiss didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Ruby was a snake Faunus because of that. It was only a step away from eating a field mouse whole.
"I said I'm fine, Weiss" Ruby said with a smile. It wasn't a very pretty one. Her teeth were stained with dye and Weiss could smell the unholy mixture of various, tooth-rotting candies on her breath.
Weiss pinched her nose and said, "You're brushing your teeth back at the room,".
Disregarding that statement, Ruby couldn't help but point out, "Aren't you going to eat your share? You haven't touched it,".
The heiress cast a dubious look at the bits of candy in front of her. She wasn't a fan of any of these brands. But, Ruby had paid for them for her to enjoy, so she ought to at least make a show of enjoying the purchased goods.
Slowly, Weiss opened the wrapper of a chocolate bar and took a bite of it. Ugh, it was made with the worst milk chocolate imaginable. And it was partially melted and mushy. Weiss wouldn't rate this bar anything good. But, she tried her best to look like she enjoyed it.
"Mmm… tastes good!" Weiss lied. At least Ruby bought it. She was much more open to suggestion in her sugar-addled state.
"I know, right!" Ruby agreed with her. Then she got an idea. She took all of the chocolate bars she had and handed them to Weiss to enjoy. It was a nice gesture on her part. "Here, you can have mine. I insist!".
Weiss' left eye twitched slightly as she saw Ruby pile that bad chocolate in front of her. She couldn't stop her now! That would break her big heart! So, Weiss had to woman up and take it.
"W-wow. Thanks…" she managed to force out. Ruby beamed at her when she said that. Well, at least her positive attitude towards all this made her feel a little better. It was a very nice gesture of hers, so in an odd way, it was appreciated.
Ruby looked a little expectant at Weiss. Ohh, Weiss got it now. She wanted to see her enjoy all those chocolate bars. Oh, joy.
So, for the next five minutes, Weiss tried to eat as much of the bars as she could. On the fourth one, her stomach began to feel ill. This candy was starting to disagree to her body now, not just her intuitions.
Abruptly, she excused herself. "I have to go… bathroom…" she groaned as she staggered over to the nearby bathroom. She didn't hear her girlfriend's distant reply as she sealed herself in the snack bar bathroom.
As it turned out, excessive amounts of bad chocolate bars made for a good way to flush out a digestive system. Luckily, it wasn't out of the back end. Unfortunately, Weiss was now chucking up brown chunks of the bad candy. Her face was beet red as she threw up Ruby's well-meaning gift.
Suddenly, Weiss heard a knock at the door.
"Hey, don't make a mess in there. If you do, you're cleaning it," came Rickert's annoyed voice.
"Oh, buzz off!" Weiss cursed at the door. She was very close to flat out swearing at Rickert, but that would be unladylike of her to do. But, the temporary cashier certainly deserved it for the way he had acted earlier. Weiss' temper could be a force to be reckoned with whenever it managed to be fully summoned.
She could hear Rickert stomp off, away from the door. At least that was one less infuriating thing to deal with right now.
Now that her retching had stopped, Weiss ran the sink and cleaned her mouth up.
"I guess I won't be the only person to brush their teeth later," Weiss ironically observed. Who could have guessed that she would give her own ironic echo?
Wiping her mouth off with a paper towel, Weiss tossed away that trash and walked out of the bathroom. Suddenly, she felt a vibration in her pocket. It was her scroll!
Her excitement reawakened, Weiss eagerly opened it to see a text message. It was from Ms. Han! The message said: "Total success! Will ttyl! :))".
She had won out! It had happened! Her plan could get on track now! Weiss' excitement sent energy to her legs as she happily speed walked over to where Ruby was sitting. How could be just be sitting down at this good news!
Ruby was licking some sugar residue off of a wrapper as Weiss proudly announced, "Guess what? Ms. Han came through! We're going good now!".
Dropping her wrapper, Ruby leapt out of her chair to tackle Weiss with a hug. She could feel the happiness radiating from her girlfriend right now. The massive sense of pride and accomplishment flowed through the core of Ruby's empathy, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
To the pair of them, everything was going to be fine now, and nothing could stop them.
…For now anyway. Fleeting feelings should be appreciated while they lasted, after all.
xxx
Ha ha! Plot stuff! Excitement! Now you know the ball is rolling now! All that needs to happen now is for the real talk to begin! So, if you may, could you tell me what your thoughts are so far with a review or a message? Writing is an ever evolving process, and any developments on your end are appreciated by me! This is The Draigg, signing off, partners!