A/N: Created 29 March 2015. It's RWBY Relationship Week on Tumblr; the challenge is to take two randomly-selected characters and explore their relationship, whether that be romantic, platonic, parental, mentor-apprentice, sibling, antagonistic, or what-have-you.

Sunday's Randomly-Generated Names: Cinder Fall, Cardin Winchester

The Queen's Plan

Summary: Cardin eavesdrops on Cinder and gets a scare.

Bruised and battered, Cardin Winchester left the locker room grinding his teeth and grumbling about smug, know-it-all redheads. He pushed past Sky, who was complaining loudly, and Dove, who was going on about synergy and tactics and all sorts of other nonsense that Cardin couldn't care less about. He entered the main hallway at the same time class let out, in time to follow two of those Mistral exchange students—green hair and silver hair—out of the coliseum for the cafeteria. The silver-haired one was chuckling about 'the joys of learning', which it seemed only served to annoy his partner. Outside, the monkey filth asked Belladonna to the dance, but she turned him down; surprising, given her usual animal-loving attitude.

It appeared the two in front of him were also ready to eat, for Cardin found himself at the table beside theirs when the rest of CRDL caught up with him. Sky took his usual seat across from Cardin, while Russel sat beside him. Cardin found himself ignoring Russel's and Sky's ongoing byplay in favor of watching the green-haired girl's expressions. She looked a good bit like the girl Cardin himself was taking to the dance. What was her name? Whatever, he had time. And if his date turned out to be uptight, maybe he could dance with this chick, he thought. She was quite good-looking; lovely russet-dark complexion and innocent-seeming red eyes… Though, at the moment, she looked ready to bite her partner's head off, a sure sign in Cardin's mind that she could be a real spitfire. Hot.

The partner in question certainly liked the sound of his own voice, and her expression grew stonier and stonier. Finally, she slammed down a fistful of lien between them and barked, "Mercury, my offer is still on the table! Five minutes!"

Cardin wasn't sure what that meant, but the guy—Mercury, apparently—just laughed. "Still no deal."

The girl appeared ready to storm away from the table, when a cool, commanding voice said, "Stay, Emerald."

Emerald—of course it would be 'Emerald'—froze, and sat back down a little stiffly. As she turned to greet the speaker, though, she showed no hint of her previous annoyance. "What's on your mind, Ella?"

'Ella' sat imperiously beside Emerald, effortlessly commanding attention even from the apparently languorous Mercury. Cardin even found himself unconsciously leaning somewhat closer, and quickly made himself sit up straight and stop eavesdropping. Well, he tried to stop, at least. Emerald's hair blocked Cardin's view of Ella's mouth, and she spoke quietly enough that her voice didn't carry, but he still found himself watching her. She had long black hair and interestingly-colored eyes—some dark shade of amber, perhaps? She was obviously the team leader. Perhaps they were discussing Mercury's short spar with Nikos? Cardin's lip curled at the thought of Pyrrha Nikos, but at least he had fought! It wasn't like it was his fault his team had decided to be a bunch of dead weight and get in his way, and hell, this silver-haired sissy had surrendered! …Was it just him, or did Ella seem more than a couple years older than her teammates?

Reining in his wandering thoughts, Cardin blinked, and realized that he had been staring. Worse, Ella was staring back. Cardin flinched, and was trying to decide how to play off that he had simply been staring into space, when Ella's eyes flashed—more, they glowed. It was like Red Dust gone rampant, like hellfire, and every instinct in Cardin's body was screaming to get away from this woman!

Cardin tumbled off his seat, his armour clanking loudly. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring his team's concerns, not even caring that people were staring. He scrabbled up his gear and garbage, dumped the latter in the trash can, and left the cafeteria as quickly as his wounded dignity would allow. He was certain he could hear the three strangers' laughter distinctly through the chuckles ringing behind him. As the door swung shut, though, he shivered. Whoever that Ella chick was, she was trouble, and Cardin would be staying the hell out of her way.

A/N: 'The King's Plan' is the name of a score from Cinderella.

What the hell kind of combination is this supposed to be ›_› *grumble grumble* Do they even have a ship name? Pretty sure they don't. I'm naming this ship Pyrolatry. (It refers to the worship or deification of fire.)

I'm like 90% sure, based on Dance Dance Infiltration, that the dark-complected girl in the blue-white-blue gradient gown was Cardin's date. You can see them together (smiling) when Jaune presents himself to Pyrrha in his dress (they are to Pyrrha's right; the left side of the shot during her reactions). So I wrote Cardin as having a thing for dark-skinned girls. *shrugs* Emerald's hot.

If it's not clear, 'Ella' here is Cinder. I just don't see someone who is apparently that big of a deal in the underworld using their own name on an infiltration.