XXX - Catface

Lost my wallet, and I gotta drive cross country in a week… classic me…

~~~(XXX)~~~

Oxon took the advice he got from Yang to heart. He needed Weiss to move on from the past, and he knew just how to do it.

"What did you say, Oxon?" The girl was pushing him from Dr. Ooblecks class and to the mental relaxation class, aka Professor Port. It was in the halls that he made his move.

"I asked if you wanted to go into Vale after classes today? I need to send my armor in for repairs and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along?" This was, after all, the cause of this nonsense.

"Of course! I'd be happy to accompany you into the city." perfect, step one complete. "Do you have an armorer already?"

"I do, it's a smaller shop in the commercial district near the docks. He's who I went to for Bulls Breath to be made and he also made my armor." The last time he had been to Anglesey Arms had been at the start of the semester when he commissioned his shield function. He hoped that cranky smith wouldn't be too upset at the damage the rest of it had received.

"Well then it's settled. I'm sure Yang and Ruby would like to join us. Ruby especially due to her habits around weapons."

"Nah, just the two of us." He felt the chair jostle a bit at that. "That something that you'd be interested in?"

"Yes! I-I mean that I would be more than willing to accompany you to Vale. " He laughed at the excited response. Hopefully the afternoon in Vale will help the girl move on from the events of last week. Operation get Weiss back to normal was going smoothly.

~~~(XXX)~~~

Further back, out of earshot of the two, the rest of team RWBY looked on at the two, and whispered to themselves. Yang's advice to the chair bound guy seemed to be going to plan, just the plan that he knew about, that is. She'd managed to rope in Ruby easily enough, Blake kept being annoying though.

"Operation Frozen Beef is going as planned." Blake disagreed with the name vehemently, groaning in disgust.

"You think it'll work?" Ruby was thankfully on her side, or more likely hoping to get her partner back in tip top shape.

"Please, if there's anything I know, it's how those two are dancing around each other. Soon enough one of them is going to snap, I'm betting Weiss-cream by the way." She'd already hunted him down once before, now she just had to snare the guy.

"I don't think it's right to bet on them." Her sister's saintly virtue didn't last long. "Especially because I was going to bet on her."

"C'mon Blake, this has to be something you'd be all over. Do any of your books have anything similar?"

"Well, there was that Ninjas of Love spinoff about an Atlesian princess. I think it was called The Sword and The Tiara."

"Exactly, so what's your bet?"

"I guess I'll be the one to humor you, I bet Oxon will snap first."

"There we go!" She tried to shake on it only for Blake to walk past her and leave her hanging. "Blake, you get back here now! Nobody leaves me Yang-ing!"

~~~(XXX)~~~

Oxon never wanted to walk as much as he did when he wasn't allowed to. He was pretty sure he would be fine if it was just while in Vale, but unfortunately Weiss wouldn't let him. He's been monitoring his aura on his scroll the entire week, it was hovering around nine to ten percent the entire time. Tsune was right about his body working hard to heal himself.

He tapped his fingers on the armrest in boredom as he and Weiss made their way through the city proper. At first the trio had been going smooth, just a simple outing to get his gear repaired. He had his armor sitting on his legs, much to Weiss' complaints. He was able to get away with precious little, but he was able to convince her to allow it since it wasn't his legs that were hurt. It was that or have someone else join them to help.

Things got strange when he saw people point at them and snap pictures. He thought little of it at first, after all, Weiss was famous due to her family. As they got to more populated areas, it only got worse.

"Weiss, is it me, or is Vale acting strange?"

"You've noticed it as well then."

"Kind of hard not to. Is this normal for you? Since you're like a celebrity or something." Seriously, the amount of pictures random people were taking was getting annoying. Sure it was harmless, maybe, but there wasn't even any subtlety.

"Not always, in Atlas it's usually worse. The lessened obsession with the Schnee name was one of the reasons I came here. Though some have stopped me when I am with my team, this is an odd amount of attention." They weren't far from the docks now, soon they could escape this weirdness in Ferrus' shop.

Of course their questions about what was happening was interrupted by a man with a rather large camera taking a few photos of them with a bright flash. It didn't stop there, the man pulled out some kind of recording device and thrust it in his face.

"Oxon Adhmad! My name is Nicé Pewter of the Vale Sun!" The man flashed some sort of badge quickly before jumping into a series of questions. "Is it true that you used most of your aura to unlock a child during what is being called The Breach?"

Oxon's mind blanked at the sudden invasion of his personal space, he almost hit the guy for getting so close without warning. What was the reason for this? Didn't the article in Wednesday's paper?

"I did, but didn't you guys-"

"And that large use of aura allowed the child to make a miraculous recovery, I know the parents are very desperate to meet and thank you."

"Uh, that's not really necessary…" It was just him doing what he was supposed to do. Nothing that praise worthy.

"So great yet so humble, wonderful, moving on. It's reported that you took a hit for Miss Schnee? What is your relationship with the SDC's heiress?"

His what?

"We are friends? I'm not sure what you mean."

"Reports from unnamed sources say that the two of you shared many a dance at Beacon the other week. Is that true?" Oxon really wished he'd brought his guns, a bullet to the camera would send an appropriate message.

Finally Weiss decided to speak up and stand beside him against the reporter. "Mr. Pewter, that is enough. I don't know what kind of newspaper ambushes students in the street, but I know that what you are suggesting is far from the truth." The mic went from his face to Weiss'.

"Perhaps, but is it true Miss Schnee that the rumors about you and Mr. Adhmad hiding an illicit relationship from your father? How do you think Jacques Schnee will react to the news?"

"Again! Those are baseless rumors!" Her face was flushed in a mix of embarrassment and anger, he wasn't much better. The man made him unexpectedly furious, the deep frown was set deep in his face.

"Enough of this, Weiss, hold my gear." He placed the folded stack of armor in her arms, surprising the girl enough for her to not stop him. Oxon got out of his chair with only a slight bit of pain in his back. "The two of us get along as friends and comrades in arms, not as anything romantic." No matter what Oxon himself wanted… He also missed the sad look on his companion as he grabbed the camera from around the asshole's neck and held it firmly in his left hand.

As much as he liked the girl, he knew that getting into an actual relationship was a bad idea. He was already feeling like the absolute scum of Remnant for helping with Romans attack, but he knew he couldn't justify hurting her more. Hopefully he could ignore his feely and just remain as friends. And this prick was picking at the scab on his emotional state, it was high time to send him packing.

The reporter was visibly nervous at the sudden shift in attitude. He tried to reclaim the camera from him, but Oxon was easily able to keep it out of reach.

"This conversation is over Mr. Powder."

"Uh, i-its Pewter… And please be gentle with that, it cost me a pretty lien!"

In response to the correction, Oxon pushed a small bit of aura into his hand and crushed the image capturing machine. "Good, now I know your name, I'll be sure to remember it." He tossed the broken pieces at the feet of the dick, giving the man a nasty frown.

"I ain't exactly a saint when it comes to people who piss me off, now make like a chipmunk and scram, or I'll break something more… biological." The weak fool decided to heed the advice he gave and quickly ran off. Oxon gently put himself back in the chair and let out a sigh. That took more out of him than he thought it would, his lack of aura was made clear. He probably only had four percent max right now.

"Oxon what was that!?" The girl seemed stunned and was watching the man flee. "What if he sues you for damages?"

Oxon could only laugh at the idea. Like that was going to happen, besides, it wasn't like he had any money to take. "I'm sure it'll be alright. Let's get moving now that powder boy is gone."

She looked at him with a mixed expression, but nodded and resumed their journey to the armorer. The scene he'd caused at the end made a few people put away their scrolls in hopes he wouldn't target them next, he wasn't going to, but he was glad anyways. The last thing he needed was people thinking they could approach him.

Eventually they made it to the armorsmith. Upon entering the store, the older man behind the counter got to his feet immediately.

"Great stones kid! I heard about the accident, but I didn't know it was this bad!" Like everyone else so far, he was over exaggerating the extent of his injury.

"I can walk, this is just for recovery purposes. I was wondering if you could repair the damages on my gear?"

"Of course I can, I take pride in my work, so seeing that it failed you so badly is something I need to amend."

"No, your armor worked great, it was my fault it got so roughed up." If he'd paid more attention during the fight, that ursa would not have scored the hit it did.

"Regardless, I'll be sure to put it back together stronger than before. The materials I used last time were alright, but not as good as they could have been. Your budget wasn't exactly deep the first time." That made sense, if he'd had proper funds, then maybe his gear would have held up better. It's not like he could blame the guy, he had a business to run.

"How much would better materials cost?" He definitely needed them, though his personal funds were dry, he could probably ask Cinder for a favor. He didn't want to, but she seemed to have deep pockets, he just hoped the repayment wasn't too costly.

"A fair bit normally, but for today it's on the-" The owner of the shop was interrupted by the girl he came with.

"I'll take care of any costs." She held out a fairly shiny bank card out towards the man. "I'll cover whatever down payment for the cost of materials is required, and once it's finished, you can bill me for the rest."

"Weiss, it's fine, I'm sure I can handle it." He didn't want the girl to be put out like this, he wasn't exactly keen on relying on others much.

"I'm sure you can, but this is something I wish to do. I have the funds available for whatever things I need or want, and I'd like to use them to help someone I- to help a friend." The shopkeeper looked between the two a few times before chuckling.

"Well if you're sure, I'll make sure it's my best work, I'll even throw in a discount for your consistent patronage."

"Oh, uh, alright?" He wanted to argue a little bit more, but the winning smile on her face stopped him. He was with her today to cheer her up, and if this is how it happened, well he wasn't going to complain. Oxon had nothing else he could say or do, so he handed Ferrus' the armor that he brought. "Are you sure about the discount though?"

The owner laughed at Oxon's question as he inspected the extent of the damages. "Pretty sure I can use the fact that Weiss Schnee is paying me for work, not to mention "The Hero of The Breach" coming here could boost sales. So don't worry about it. I'll have a picture of you in my work on the wall here."

"Oh not that again, please tell me you're not buying into that crazy paper article as well?"

"Eh, if I didn't know you and your scruffy personally beforehand, I might've. But I know you well enough to guess that any hero worship is the opposite of what you like." Finally, a reasonable person who understood. "That doesn't mean you should fight the praise, the kingdom went through something we thought was impossible, and the powers at be want to reduce any negativity. So using someone that did what you did is a no brainer, they get to craft whatever propaganda they want to keep the citizens from freaking out."

That was something he hadn't taken into account. Of course the kingdom wanted to reduce Grimm drawing emotions. It made sense, he just wished people were focused on someone else.

"I'd take advantage of it if it were me, I bet if you were to go to a bar or a club, a bunch of folks would be fighting over each other to buy you a drink so they can feel happy at repaying you or brag to friends. I'm sure a few girls, or guys; no judgment, would be willing to give you a more personal thanks." The implications of that turned him beet red and had him sputtering denials.

"Hahaha! Got you good with that one, ay?" The older man took way too much pleasure at embarrassing Oxon. "Well whatever it is you want to do with your moment in the sun is up to you, I'll make sure to give you an update on when I get the materials in, then another once it's done."

"Thank you sir. I'll be sure to transfer the funds when the time comes." The two of them hashed out a few more details that went over Oxon's head. He knew he wasn't known for his understanding of a lot of things, but it still annoyed him that he was useless here.

Once they were done and Ferrus took his gear back into his workshop, the pair finally left for Beacon. Weiss and he talked about a few things, classes and the festival mostly. Eventually the topic of the upcoming summer break came up. It was the last week of July and the first week of August. Apparently most students took that time to visit family, be it in Vale or other kingdoms. And once everyone came back, the tournament would begin in September.

Oxon, of course, had none of that. Even if somehow his home, against apocalyptic odds, had survived, he didn't know how to return. He'd had a rudimentary map of his home on the mountain when he left, but that dumbass Grimm and that dumbass river washed it away. Returning home might have given him some closure, but he knew it was unreachable.

He didn't really have a plan for the weeks off, he'd have to talk with Cinder, though it's not like he could take a vacation. He was basically broke, so the thought of working at his old club sounded nice. After the near constant stress of this semester, a little monotony would be nice.

The whole of team RWBY were invited back to the sister's hometown of Patch. Weiss said that Blake accepted the offer pretty quickly, apparently she wasn't prepared to visit home for whatever reason. Weiss, though, had to decline, much to her apparent distaste.

Weiss was practically ordered by her dad to return for that period, something she was pretty bitter about. Which was pretty surprising, bitter wasn't an emotion he would normally associate with her. Her relationship with her family was a fairly strained one. The only one she had any love for was her elder sister who was an Atlesian Specialist directly under the General.

"Directly Under General Ironwood? That sounds pretty impressive." And scary, he kept to himself. He was just glad this sister of hers was far away in Atlas.

"Yes, Winter has been an inspiration for me. She helped me realize what it is I wanted to do, and the training she gave me has been invaluable."

"I can imagine, my older brother tried to make me proficient with the bow, but sadly I had little aptitude. I was decent at guns though, so we switched to firearms training."

"So we can agree that older siblings are the best?" He could practically hear her smirk. "I wonder where Yang went wrong? Poor Ruby."

"Hah! I guess that's true. Perhaps not every sibling is perfect, I know I sure as hell wasn't." He'd been more mischievous when he was a child, pranking just about anyone. He'd gotten away with precious little when his brother or father caught him, but it never really stopped him.

"It's hard to imagine you as anything other than what I've seen. Oxon Adhmad, pulling pranks?"

"You better believe it, I once replaced the food for all of the guards in training with oats meant for livestock. It was their first day, so they thought it was normal!" Oh his father had been pissed, beat the shit out of him in a "spar", but eventually he laughed alongside him at how gullible the kids were.

"Not a single one questioned it?"

"Nope, I think they thought it was hazing by the older guards. So they just shut up and suffered through it." The two shared a laugh as he reminisced about the stunts he'd pulled. Sadly his youthful tricks had ended once he devoted himself to supplying firewood for the settlement.

"It was always fun seeing their reactions, most were good sports about it. I never did anything that caused real damage or preyed on people's fears or hearts. My goal was laughter, not anger."

"Still hard to picture." He shrugged at that, it was fair. He'd moved on from childish pranks to international terrorism, not exactly a logical next step.

"What, was little Weiss too proper to play any pranks?"

"I will have you know that I was a little angel all my life."

"Ahh yes, Weiss Schnee the snow angel, how could I forget?" Teasing her with the nickname used by both Jaune and Neptune seemed to elicit a positive response. She let out a small giggle as she let go of the chair and moved in front of him with a playful smirk.

"So now you're going to be using that as well? Maybe I should just leave you here, maybe call in a tip to a few news agencies. I'm sure they'd love to have an interview with you."

He did not like that idea, not one bit. He raised his hands in surrender hoping to appease her. "Now Weiss, let's not get hasty now. I'm sure there's no need for something so drastic."

"Hm, if you say so." She moved back behind him and started pushing him again. "Though to be honest, it's not like I hate it."

He sighed in relief, both at not pissing her off and not being left alone with journalists. The two of them made their way back to the school in a more comfortable mood, a stark contrast to the last few days. Yang had been on the mark with her advice, he'd need to thank her for it.

I wonder what kind of carving she'd like?

~~~(XXX)~~~

Dinner was a more lively affair for the nine teens. Wiess had shared his history of mischief with her team, and of course Nora couldn't let it go. It seemed like the girl was trying to get his and Yang's help in something.

"It's been a long time since I've done anything."

"Nonsense! It's like riding a bike, even though I can't ride one, but the principle stands! Besides, we can use you as a perfect agent, nobody'll suspect the broody bull."

Didn't she tell a story about riding an URSA at initiation!? How is a bicycle any harder?

"First off, My face just naturally rests like this. Second, I resent that nickname." He really didn't, but it was fun to go back and forth with the girl like a normal person.

"But you didn't deny the other parts." The scheming look on the pancake menace got more sinister, in a comical manner. Yang also has a spark in her eyes as she was no doubt planning something.

"There's nothing I can say or do to prevent this, can I?" The hands that were placed on his shoulders confirmed it.

~~~(XXX)~~~

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