Ruby shifted uneasily in her seat. After yesterday's food-fight and the surprising lack of intervention from the local security, plus the arrival of Atlas's troops, she wasn't sure what they were gonna do here. Blake still wanted to investigate the White Fang, but she was seemingly thinking about bringing the Misfits into their little mess(Not like they had much of a choice, considering the Misfits did get involved way before them)...
She hummed and looked toward Yang as the girl poked at her food with her fork, looking rather uninterested in it. Understandably, since the scrambled eggs the lunchladies made were always either too soft or too hard. Seriously, how did one actually make scrambled eggs rock-hard? Ruby sighed, then looked to Blake and Weiss and asked, "You two still not going to tell me what's wrong with Yang?"
"Ruby," Weiss facepalmed, "You really are a dolt, aren't you...?" And, seeing the absolute confusion on Red's face, the white-haired Heiress stated, "Yang had a cr-" only to be shut up by Yang pouncing over the table and covering her mouth. Weiss cast a sideways glance at Yang with a look that simply asked a 'Really?' as she looked at her. Yang was frowning, eyes glimmering a faint red.
Ruby blinked as she looked at her sister, then asked her, "Is this about Vic?" which stunned the other three girls, with Blake covering her mouth as she let out a snort. Weiss blanked as Yang pulled her hand back, curling up in her seat like a baby. Ruby noticed the confusion in Weiss's gaze and the twitch of her facial features, before stating, "The crush Yang had on Vic...? Duh?"
"You knew..." Yang whined, embarrassedly hiding her face in her hands.
"... Is that what your mood swings have been about, sis?" Ruby chuckled, then paused and remembered that, yes, Vic was in fact getting married to the woman he had told Yang about a day or two before they found each-other at the docks. She frowned and said, "Sorry... Must've been a pretty strong crush if you've been unable to eat for the past couple days..."
"Yeah, no shit..." Yang murmured as she sighed and leaned her head back. It sucked a lot that her crush didn't reciprocate her feelings, but it was a Crush. Yang had gone through them before without much fuss. So what was so different about this one to get her this downtrodden? It wasn't just the laughter about the puns to her. Victor seemed genuine. As genuine as a soldier with an actual death under his belt would be. That and he seemed loving, like a genuinely caring boyfriend...
"Swear jar..." Ruby whispered quietly as she dug into her own food.
Team JNPR had overhead the discussion, with Nora giggling behind Yang. The blonde turned to her with a deadly glare, face still red and accentuating the scarlet eyes. The grenadier stuck her tongue out at Yang. Ren whacked her over the back of the head with a newspaper, while Pyrrha seemed to give a sympathetic look to Yang, though the blonde couldn't exactly make it out to be that.
"So," Jaune started as he sat himself down, "You guys okay?"
"Oh, yeah, we're fine," Ruby chuckled awkwardly, "Seems like the number of our multidimensional friends is growing, though."
"The Misfits grew in size again?" The blond leader of team JNPR inquired, "Thought the guys and gals from Vic's old Romanian unit were the last ones in..."
Weiss shook her head, then explained, "They just recently got members from Paul's Foreign Legion squadron, plus another armed transport," as she looked at her pasta. She hummed, clicked her tongue and said, focusing on Ruby, "I feel like they may not be the sole people transported to our world... General Ironwood announced a partnership with a Private Military Contractor group before I left for Beacon."
"Huh?" The entire group turned toward Weiss, wearing looks of surprise. She nodded and said, "He said that Atlas was not going to be able to provide security to the world while ensuring the safety of its influence, so they hired a recently-appeared PMC unit about eight months ago, long before we came to Beacon. I was there for the announcement pertaining the investment... And they carry fairly similar equipment to our beloved friends, the Misfits."
"Oh, boy. You don't think...?" Ruby gazed at her teammate and BFF(Though Weiss would never admit to that last bit) with a hint of concern. Weiss shook her head, before looking up some information on her scroll with a squint. Ruby looked to the confused Yang and Blake and told them, "Let's hope these guys ain't the big bad Russians we saw in the video Vic showed us."
Yang and Blake nodded in agreement, before turning to Weiss and asking, "What's this PMC's name? Because I saw Atlas brought over a bunch of dudes in heavy kit like that..." before, yet again, all eyes fell on the speaker this time. Yang hummed and said, "I'm pretty sure I saw Sammy talking to one of'em. Maybe their leader, don't know for sure...?"
"They're known as Valküre now..." Weiss replied slowly, extending her Scroll so both teams JNPR and RWBY could see the emblem, "But they were called a different name before... Even had a different, red emblem with a human skull on it..." She clicked her tongue again, "Ugh. Annoying. I can't remember the name, but it was still something in the same language."
"Same language as your name?" Ruby inquired with half a mouth. Weiss blanked and nodded, to which Ruby said, "Diana mentioned Weiss's name sounded 'German', so probably another country from their world, right?" to which her other two teammates nodded. Weiss hummed and kept looking to see if she had any image of the other PMC group's patch and name.
The Heiress then blinked as she remembered, "Oh, right..."
Katja marched down Beacon's walkways, rifle in hand as she patrolled a section of Beacon. She hummed, wondering just how in the hell they wound up working with people like the 'Atlesian' PMC that was totally far, too familiar for them to be anything but actual Russians, the bastards. She casually hummed 'Brother Louie', matching the tune to her footsteps as she patrolled. She looked over her Beryl, then nodded approvingly.
With spring in her step, the young Polak continued her paces, surprisingly containing her desire to shoot a pair of Ruski-Atlas Mercs that she saw hanging around Beacon Tower. The two young women puffed from cigarettes and simply turned to wave to the Polish woman, who gave them a mere nod in acknowledgement. She was going to play nice for as long as they were.
She hummed and paused as she saw a couple of the Second-Years approaching her. Coco Adel, Vic had briefed her about. With only one meeting under his belt, though, the man could never much pin anything on her. Coco, however, grinned when she saw Katja, stating, "Well, I'll be. Didn't know Vic's friends included cuties like you..." which caused the blonde Pole to blank.
"Thanks, I guess?" Katja replied, "Sadly for you, I'm straight."
"So's a noodle, 'till it gets wet," Coco winked with a grin. Katja rolled her eyes, before Coco sighed as her bunny-eared partner in the back started stammering and shouting at her in an indecipherable language what was definitely not a language, but rather just gibberish caused by the panicky, seemingly shy nature of the young woman. The Pole did, however, snort at both her and at Coco.
She replied with a grin, "Good one. Did that work on bunny buns back there?" and she pointed toward the bunny-eared girl, who instantly grew redder than a tomato, while Coco snorted and covered her own mouth and face to hide her blush. Seemed like Katja had touched a nerve, before stating, "Heh. I'm Katja Zielinska. Call me Katja, there, Coco. Vic told me about you."
"Nice to meet you, Kat," Nodded Coco, sighing deeply and looking at her with a straight face now. Or, well, as straight-faced and non-blushing as she could manage. Kat replied with a kindhearted nod, then showed them that, if they wanted to talk, they'd have to follow her on patrol. Coco shrugged and turned to Velvet, then told her, "Go on home, Vel. Gotta catch up on the sitch with Vic and everyone. Haven't really talked to them much."
"S-Sure," Velvet nodded, then bowed and excused herself, before running toward the dorms.
"So," Coco started as the two began the continuation of their patrol, with Katja hefting her assault rifle to look it over once more. Coco continued, unfazed, "D'you have the hots for anyone in your unit?" and that seemed to garner a cough of surprise out of the girl and making her stagger in her stride. Coco snorted, then stated, "You aren't the only one who can hit nerves, kiddo."
"I guess not," Kat sighed and smirked, "Also, I'm definitely older than you, kiddo."
"Heh," Coco chuckled, then said, "Fair enough, I s'ppose. Surprised Vicky didn't mention meeting me."
"Oh, he did," The girl replied, before turning to her and wearing her patented grin again. "Described you down to a T, I gotta say. Including the Coco Chanel-esque outfit, which, for all intents and purposes, is a kinda compliment coming from a guy who knows like... Two brands of clothing for women, not to mention barely knowing any designers," She frowned. Wow, she really didn't think she'd go that girly with criticizing Vic's knowhow.
"Ain't that kinda standard for guys?" The cocoa-based Huntress quipped.
"Eh," Kat shrugged, "It is, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna wanna know when he has to buy gifts for his wife..."
"Oh, hell, he's married?" Coco inquired. Kat chuckled, then began explaining to her the situation, all while the two Ruski girls from before followed them. Coco stated, "That's gonna annoy poor Vel a little. Turns out she has a thing for Bad Boys, not just Bad Girls..." then looked back to see the two girls following them. One waved, while the other slung her AK onto her back and smiled.
Katja snorted, then burst into a full-on laugh, "Pff! Calling Vic a bad boy is like calling any of us sane! It just don't fit!" thus making Coco laugh, too. The Polak and the local, however, soon stopped and turned toward the two women, with Katja asking, "Can we help you, Ruskies?" with the slightest hint of a threat under her otherwise calm demeanor. She slung the rifle's sling over her shoulder and took her hand off the grip, but kept the safety off, just in case.
"Yes, hello!" One of them, a blonde with green eyes, clad in Russian EMR camo, greeted with a heavy accent, "We heard you were talking about a certain someone named Victor! That wouldn't happen to be Victor Toma, right?" And she seemed fairly jovial about it. Katja blanked, then looked to the just-as-confused Coco and back to the girls, nodded and waited to see where this was going. The blonde smiled and said, "I knew we recognized you from somewhere! You're one of Vesna's friends! A Misfit!"
Katja hummed, then turned toward them, "Wait..." before examining them and grinning, "Well, fuck. You two are from Vesna's unit!"
"We are!" Declared the other, a girl with light-brown hair and swampy brown eyes, a smile on her face as she held onto her AK's sling. She blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm Lena and this is Nat. We're friends of Vesna's, too, from her platoon, specifically. Are they here, too? Y'know, Ayesha and Lita?" and, upon receiving another nod, she beamed, "Slava Bogu... Good to know..."
"Wait, if you two were talking about Victor..." The other blushed, "Is... He here, too...?"
"... Uh-huh?" Katja blanked, concerned. She blanked even harder when she saw them both blush.
... Oh, God...
Anja and Saila had taken it upon themselves to prepare a meal for their extended family yet again. 'Extended family' being the Misfits themselves, anyhow. With a message that Victor and the others were returning from their apartment complex to the Beacon house, so they needed something good to eat. God bless Anja for deciding to intervene before Saila made another elk stew, too.
This time, they were frying chicken wings with an old family recipe of Anja's it seemed. Saila, meanwhile, was dealing with cooking the potatoes in the oven, which were cut like French Fries. She hummed and gave a thumbs up to Anja, who replied in kind, before rotating the frying chicken pieces with a pair of tongs. She hummed and turned to see Alex playing video games with Paul. She grinned.
Noting this, Saila tilted her head at her probable twin and followed her gaze, before snickering and giving her a thumbs up. She motioned to the food and tugged at her shoulder. Anja looked to her and tilted her head right back, as if asking Saila if she was sure she could handle the food. Saila nodded with a smile, then gave a quick tilt of her head toward Alex, with a grin.
Anja's cheeks glowed the same color as their hair. She sighed, shoulders sagging, before punching her totally-not-twin in the shoulder and walking off toward Alex. Saila giggled, then continued cooking their food as Anja decided to step up to Alex. The boy looked away from the game and up at her, before smiling and greeting happily, "Heya, Anja! How're you?"
She gave a nod to signal she was okay, before gently plopping herself down next to him. Paul snorted, then asked jokingly, "You two want me to give you some privacy?" which caused both to blush just a little. The Hungarian man could only let out a short laugh, before shaking his head and saying, "Or do you wanna join in on the game, Anja? We're playing Mario Kart."
"... Talk about friendship suicide..." Murmured the Finnish medic, giggling. She nodded and Paul immediately handed her a controller. She looked to Alex and gave the Pararescueman a wink, which caused him to blush heavily. She thumbed the power button on her controller and selected her character. She told the two of them with a serious tone, "Don't go easy on me..." before grinning.
The two lads looked to one-another, shrugged and posted up to play, smiles on their faces...
... Those smiles soon faded as they remembered Anja was quite proficient at racing games. With a thorough lead of 5 won games versus Paul's and Alex's tied 3 games, the girl was gonna be in the lead for a while. And that lead further solidified when Paul yelled, "Fuck, fuck, FUCK! HOW DO YOU KEEP GETTING A BLUE SHELL YOU SNEAKY-?!" And... The Blue Shell slammed dead into his vehicle, "MOTHER-..." He breathed in, then out and sighed, before letting out a strained "Good game..."
Alex sighed and rubbed his face, "Holy shit, I forgot why we don't play video games like this together..."
Anja giggled, before leaning against Alex and wearing her victory smirk. Alex blushed, however, instead of getting mad, which Paul had to admit was adorable. Guess it might've just been a ploy for Anja to get back into the friend group properly. However, his thoughts were put on pause when the door behind them opened. Vic strolled back inside with Vesna, Ayesha, Lita and Jim.
He inhaled, then said, "Well, smells like Korhonen-Leppäniemi cooking..." before noting Saila pulling the baked potatoes out of the oven, a smile on her face. The chicken was already patted down to remove the outer layers of oil and the oil itself had been taken off the fire to cool while Saila set the food aside. He smirked, gave a thumbs up to their housewife-like redheads and turned to see Anja leaning against Alex, a smirk on her face while their Pararescue lad blushed.
Dushman stepped out and said, "I smell fried chicken," with a grin.
"Don't start with us, man..." Chuckled Ayesha. She walked up to the couch and jumped onto it, grinning. Vesna and Vic, meanwhile, shyly looked to one-another as Lita and Jim walked past them, then turned to Saila to help her set the table for dinner. The redhead Chechen called out, "Has anyone seen Sam, Diana or the Frenchies?" before turning to Paul.
"Sam, Di and my platoon are interrogating Torchwick," The man replied, leaning back against the couch.
Lita snorted, "Oh, ginger cyka is fucked."
The rest of the group laughed just as Katja strolled in. She hummed, grinned and went straight for a potato, nabbing it and sticking it in her mouth. She marched up to and jumped on the couch next to Paul, before stating, "So I met an interesting group of people today, a couple of which were part of our 'beloved'," and she made the air quotes, "Valkyrie comrades. Turns out two of'em are from Vesna's Platoon."
"Oh?" Vesna, Ayesha and Lita looked to her.
"Yep. Yelena and Natalia. Lena and Nat," The girl replied jovially, before uncapping her flask and taking a swig of the alcohol. Ayesha, Li and Ves all smiled to one-another, before Katja murmured, "Seemed to have an interest in meeting Vic..." as she let out a giggle and looked to Paul. The Hungarian blanked, snorted and covered his mouth, then looked to their Romanian and his fiancee.
This was bound to be awkward...