"So, umm, Winter, what are you doing in town? Shouldn't you be in Atlas?" Ruby asked her partner's sister. The pen was cool and fun, but did she know Winter well enough to justify telling her about it?
"Ruby! Don't be rude. We should be honored my sister choose to visit us. She's a very busy woman," Weiss admonished her partner.
"That's classified." Winter moved to sit in the empty chair at the desk. Her sapphire eyes danced across the room, noticing two additional team members on the lower bunk on the far side of the room. A blonde woman was sitting on the bed with a raven black haired faunus lying across her lap. The torn remnant of a bow was hanging off the one ear, the other ear was open to the world to see. "And who are you?"
"I'm Yang, and the person sleeping is Blake. So please keep it down."
Blake began to stir, stretching across Yang's lap. "Did I miss anything? And who is the woman at Weiss's desk?" She could feel the air on her ears, revealing her secret to this strange woman.
The white haired beauty greeted her, "Winter Schnee, Atlassian Specialist. Are you the one responsible for my sister's change?"
Blake jolted upright, staring into the strange woman's eyes. She couldn't see anything in the cold, hard eyes of Weiss's sister. Was she in trouble? "I used the pen. But I would like you to know she has had the power to change back at any time since we left for Vale."
"Blake, was it? I'm not mad. She is her own woman. If she wants to play as a faunus, that is her own right. She is my sister, no matter what else changes."
Blake's eyes widened a touch in shock. Schnees are infamous for being in control at all times. She had managed to squeeze enough out of Weiss to have a decent idea of what growing up in the Schnee family was like. The idea that Winter was willing to support Weiss's decision was surprising, to say the least. She couldn't remember much from the White Fang's file on Winter, save a general do not engage order. Weiss was always considered the more important target and drawing the attention of the Atlas military was too much of a threat. Was she sympathetic to faunus rights? Velvet had told her there was a faunus rally in Vale this week. Was this why she was here? Only one way to find out. "Are you in Vale to provide protection for the faunus rights rally?"
Winter reeled back in shock. Her mission was classified. Only Ozpin and Ironwood knew she was in town to provide protection for the rally. It was her idea to return to Vale without the Atlassian military's support to protect the faunus rally. She was worried the White Fang might attempt another recruitment effort. If she openly defended the rally, her name would almost guarantee some would flee into the White Fang's open arms. If this girl could guess her mission, was it already compromised? "Faunus rights rally? Is there one in Vale today? Is that why you changed my sister?"
"Blake, is there one in town? You could have told us. It would have made an interesting event to attend." Weiss sat on her bed, only to be joined immediately by her partner. "Ruby, please don't play with the ears." Ruby pouted for a moment, inspiring a chuckle from Winter.
"Ruby, how long have you been going out with my sister?" Winter was fascinated to see precisely how crimson the two of them managed to become. It might have been a trick of the light, but even Weiss's ears were tinged pink.
"WINTER! We are not dating! I have a boyfriend in Mistral. We've been dating for over a year now," Weiss concluded, as proud as a peacock. "What would make you think I was dating Ruby?" Ruby was left sputtered her denials, unable to form actual words.
"Have you? It's a shame your boyfriend couldn't have been introduced to me at the Vytal Festival. I would have enjoyed meeting him." Winter failed to hide her smirk as she looked at her sister. Weiss needed to be reminded she was human sometimes. "You seem to know your partner's tendencies so well. It would appear you spend extensive time together."
"He was busy fighting in the tournament. Ruby and I are just good friends." Her sister lifted a single eyebrow at the comment. Weiss flushed anew, then accusingly added, "You're trying to change the subject. Are you here for the rally?"
"Classified. And I believe your partner changed the subject first. When do you intend to tell me about this magical pen?"
"There is nothing else to talk about. We already told you everything we know. If we write something, it becomes true," Yang replied.
"Is that it? If you never test the limits of your gifts, you will never truly grow. This pen of yours is no different. If you settle what is safe, then how will you know what it can do when you need it the most? Test it. You are capable of restoring any changes, are you not?"
Weiss growled at her sister, "We already used the pen to change my race. It can change anything we want, and you want us to experiment with it? Are you crazy?"
"Weiss, there are dangers in this world you are not prepared to fight. It would destroy me if anything were to happen to you. That pen of yours may have the power to ensure your safety." Winter took her sister's hand into her own. "I would risk anything to ensure you have a life of your choice. Try it on something small, if it concerns you."
With a painful sigh, Weiss reached into her desk drawer to remove the quill that started all of this. "What do you want to do?" Yang swiped the pen from her hand and started writing on a scrap of paper Blake had been using as a bookmark.
With a flourish, she finished writing, triggering the change. Winter began to emit a fuschia colored aura throughout her body, squelching Winter's brilliant white aura. Unchallenged, the aura retracted to Winter's hair, turning it to raven black. Shuddering, she muttered, "That was cold. It felt like I was plunged into the icy waters of Atlas in the depths of winter." Regaining her poise, she asked, "What did you do?"
"I changed your hair black. It's simple enough to restore if something went wrong."
Smirking, Blake asked, "Does that mean we can use the pen to play with your hair?"
"Not on your life, kitten."
Winter walked into the restrooms to see Yang's handy work. "It really did work. I wish to use the pen for my mission if it was agreeable with you."
Weiss frowned at the question. "You're one of the best specialists in Atlas! Why would you need to use it?"
"Sometimes, disguises can be liabilities. My mission is one such occurrence. Anything else is classified."
Blake's eyes sparkled with humor. "You are here for the rally. So what type of faunus are you going to become?"
Ruby jumped from Weiss's bed in excitement. "There is a rally! Can we go?"
The door to the room swung open as Jaune entered. "Umm, hi. Sorry, I didn't know you had company. Ruby gave me a key. I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it. And who might you be?"
Weiss and Winter managed to eye roll simultaneously. "I'm Ceinwen Eira, and this is Winter Schnee. If you'll excuse us, we were in the middle of something," Weiss said.
"Oh, sorry. I just wanted to let you guys know we were going to catch a movie, and you were invited. Hey, where's Weiss?"
"She's busy," Weiss responded, dryly.
"At least, she's ok. Hopefully, we'll see you guys later." Jaune closed the door and left.
Winter chuckled at her sister's pseudonym. "Ceinwen? You chose to use your stage name?"
"Winter! No one knew that."
"Well, now they do. Yang, would you mind handing me the pen?" Yang handed the instrument to Winter. Winter grabbed a piece of paper and quickly recorded the words that would inspire the change. The fuschia aura once more rose over the specialist. This time, the aura coalesced on her back. A pair of massive raven black wings ripped through the back of her jacket and shirt. Her sapphire blue eyes darken to solid onyxes. Her body slimmed down, removing any unnecessary physical features.
"An avian faunus? You do realize they are incredibly rare, right? You'll stand out even in a crowd," Blake said while backing up. The last thing she needed right now was for her instincts to kick in. Winter might be a bird faunus, but she was still a fully trained specialist, now with the power of flight. She did not want to pick a fight.
Winter flushed. "I am aware of the demographics of the faunus races. I believe the advantages granted by my wings will suffice. If you'll excuse me, I must return to my suite to change. I thank you for your time."
"So soon? Can we see you at the rally?" Weiss waggled her ears. "I won't draw attention to you. At least more than what you've already done."
"Rally? What rally? My mission is classified," she said with the smile of someone beaten down by her sister and her team. Winter left the room, her jacket draped over shoulders.
Ruby watched her team preparing for another trip to Vale with a pensive gaze. While attending the rally would be interesting, and it would give her a chance to figure out how Winter's weapon worked, she hadn't spent any time with Jaune and his team lately. She goggled the pen lying on Weiss's desk where Winter had left it. "I'll clean the room up. You three can head down to the airship when you're ready. I'll meet you there."
"Thank you, Ruby. That's very kind of you. But we have some time before we can meet Winter. We can all clean the room up," Weiss said.
"Oh, well, I was thinking about testing the pen. Winter did tell us to test the limits of it," Ruby sheepishly replied.
"Go for it, sis. What are you planning on doing?"
"I kinda wanted to hang out with Jaune today, but I also want to go to the rally. I've never been to a rally and I think it could be fun. So I was thinking about making a duplicate so I can do both."
"Ruby, this rally is not going to like a story. It will be faunus shouting for rights, humans shouting back at us. There won't be a diabolic monster plotting to use angry people as weapons. There shouldn't be any fighting," Blake replied, looking up from her book.
"Blakey, didn't the White Fang do that exact thing last year?" Yang teasingly stage-whispered to Blake.
"Well, I'm going to do it." Ruby snatched the pen and scribbled the command to the pen. The aura rose around Ruby, glowing brighter than ever before. The aura pulled away from Ruby, holding her shape in glowing azure lights. The light faded, leaving behind a Ruby clad in her traditional hunting attire, only in black. Her hair was crimson red throughout, leaving none of her original brunette hair. The other Ruby was stripped of the black highlights in her attire, leaving her in all red. The red in her hair was gone.
"Ruby? Are you alright?" Yang asked, looking at both Rubies.
Both Rubies glanced at each other. "We're fine," the two Rubies responded simultaneously.
The Ruby in black continued, "It's a singular experience. It felt like my aura was cleaved in twain, then fabricated with pure energy."
The Ruby in red replied, "I thought it was fun. Can we do it again?"
A/N: I know Winter never shared banter on this scale with Weiss, but we need more big sister teasing! Yang can't carry that torch alone. I like the idea of Winter and Weiss trading banter back and forth. They couldn't have been proper at all times. Ravena Wolfborn, I hope the source of Weiss's cover name wasn't too boring. I have this image of Weiss performing under a stage name whenever she wanted to sing a song her father wouldn't approve.
We have another guest review! Thank you for the review! I'll be honest, when I wrote that chapter, I just wanted to tease every ship, a pattern that continues into this chapter!I can't believe I never thought about using the pen on Zwei. We are having an arc about that. It would be a crime to not do that.
I'm currently planning on a brief hiatus so I can take the time to figure out where to put everyone's suggestions in the story and to make sure I properly credit everyone who offered a suggestion. I doubt it will be longer than two weeks or so, or possibly even shorter. Thank you so much for reading this story! As usual, if you have a suggestion, let me know! In particular, I'm looking for more suggestions for Blake and Yang, but any will do.