Blaze1992: Well this CH was certainly filled with "feelings", also what is MAR is that a cartoon or a old game?
Re: Funny story, Weiss' "brain fart" before the start of her confession scene was actually because I couldn't think of a good way to start it off~ SO, I went with something that felt a little more natural than something forced; a stalling tactic~
As for MAR, it's a great series if you're feeling nostalgic~ Anime, manga, video game. I'd recommend the Manga, as the original format, though the Anime does stay true to about... 90% or so percent of it. Whichever you choose depends on what you're in the mood for.
LoamyCoffee: Ozpin and his weird talks. Also Berries!
Intervention but not really, due to Jack readily accepting help in lessening the burden. I mean, he ain't Jaune.
Wow, Pyrrha is excited. And I can't blame her, at long last MÄR has made it's Fanfic debut!
I've missed that series so friggin' much. I'm likely going to watch the anime again and then reread the series and it's sequel.
I'd feel bad for Jaune but it's something he brought on himself. Granted, Pyrrha being the only real one thinking positively about him is sad.
ÄRM are great, and can lead to neat little moments between love interests. Ginta and Snow can agree.
And Palutena exists here! Well, at least Jaune acknowledges this.
I think the confession went fantastic. Ha! Zero pose! Getting goosebumps and warm fuzzies~
Re: Ozpin's as-cryptic as-ever~ And since I'm throwing Toriko into the mix, Berries like out of Pokemon is another natural choice~
Eh… MÄR Omega doesn't really stack up to the original… With the "you can't move" stipulation on [Guardian ÄRM], it's basically another Pokemon knock-off...
As for Jaune, this is just another part of his "Arc"; he came clean about his duplicity, so now, he logically has to build his credibility back up. When you're at rock bottom, "the only way you have to go is up", but that "way" won't just hand itself to you; you have to actually work for it. Which overall has been such a joy to write for a character whom I have had mixed feelings for since the very beginning, given how the Canon brushed over it for half a dozen seasons.
I honestly thought I was too vague with Zero's pose, but I'm glad someone caught it, and Weiss is pretty flamboyant when she's willing to break character~
*NEW WORLD*
"I feel like I've lost out on something important," Jaune hummed as they made their way back to Beacon.
And for whatever reason Ruby was dramatically tip-toeing between the trees with Jack's rucksack over her shoulder like some kind of burglar.
"Jaune, we all feel that way sometimes," Nora said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I mean I really feel it. Deep down in my gut," he insisted.
"And what, pray tell, have you 'lost out on'?" Ren asked plain-faced.
"I… uh… I'm not exactly sure…" he said tapping his fingers together.
"Well, if it's really important, I'm sure it'll come to you later," Pyrrha said placing a consoling hand on his shoulder. "By the way, I'm very proud of you."
"Oh?"
"You asking Jack to teach you how to lead, I mean," she clarified. "Though he's the same age as us, he's far-more-experienced in the field we aspire to, so I'm sure it'll be a real learning experience to watch a veteran at work."
"Yeah…" Jaune hummed scratching the back of his head. "Honestly, I'm just glad he's willing to put up with me."
"Though he is making you pay for his time~" Nora hummed conspiratorially.
"Would you put your trust in something you got for free?" Ren questioned.
"Fair point," the ginger nodded.
"SO!" Yang said clapping her hands together. "The day's still young but it's boring out in the woods. You guys wanna head into town, or something?"
*NEW WORLD*
Meanwhile, as Weiss and Jack returned to Beacon atop a bridge of Glyphs…
"You know, I've been meaning to ask."
"Yes?"
"What is the exact nature of your relationship with Yang?"
"Oof! Loaded question," Jack winced tugging at the infinity scarf on his neck.
"Hold on, did she ask you to go steady too?" she rounded on him with her fists on her hips.
"Oh no, nothing as-formal as this," Jack said tugging a corner of Weiss' heirloom from his pocket before carefully sliding it back in. "But, I mean… We've opened up to one another with our darkest secrets. I'd say I gave her an eyeful in the shower, but that's a lazy sex joke if there ever was one," he said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Right now, she and I have the kind of friendship where… I guess I wanna say, we're familiar with one another? I've actually been meaning to put out some feelers and help her find her mom…"
"So the two of you haven't had coitus yet?" she asked academically.
"That's where your mind went?!"
"Well, I mean, with how much chemistry the two of you seem to have, and how you got your start 'in the field', how can I not?"
" . . . Fair point, and it's not for any lack of trying," Jack chuckled only to wince at the look Weiss gave him.
"No, no, that's fine. I don't want to be overbearing and smother you like some of the other shitshow romances I watched back in Atlas from a 'minimum safe distance'," Weiss said with a sigh. "To be honest… Yang said something to me back in your hospital room that I… can't really get out of my head."
"I temper my sense of decency in expectation."
"Ha, ha, HA!" Weiss chuckled sarcastically. "But, no, it's her place to tell you, not mine. I don't think I can even bring myself to repeat what she suggested!"
"So you're just… okay with this weird love triangle in Team Ruby?" Jack asked with a raised brow. "Because I've worked with teams before, and dating inside the team, while practical and fulfilling on a purely time management basis, never ends well."
"Never' is just another word for 'with some exceptions'," the heiress countered dramatically.
"Who says that?" the Faunus replied playing the straight man.
" . . . People. Lots of people," Weiss said with darting eyes. "As for, ahem… that… You can flaunt it, or you can hide it. It's your choice."
"Wait, I thought the whole point of this exchange was to let people know that you and I were 'off the market'."
"Only if I was pandering to high society," Weiss said rolling her eyes. "Right now, this gesture is for the two of us. Sometimes I forget this, but you were born in Atlas too, so you'd be able to appreciate the gesture as much as I would."
" . . . I see…" Jack hummed. "For the time being, I'll keep it discrete. Wouldn't want you getting disowned before you can max out your sperm donor's credit card, am I right~?"
"Hahahaha! Oh, you're serious?"
"I uh… I'm not exactly sure anymore?" Jack said after realizing just how stupid-rich her family was.
" . . . Well, if he didn't cut me off after buying those guns and ammo, he probably won't because of anything I buy," Weiss conceded as they resumed their trek over the foliage. "Come on, let's meet back up with the team before they get suspicious."
*NEW WORLD*
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"I told you sneaking out of the woods would make us look guilty," Jack whispered into Weiss' ear as Yang and the rest of RWBY and JNPR caught them sneaking back onto campus.
"Back to our dorms. Where else would we be going?" Weiss asked puffing herself up.
" . . . Touche," the blond hummed conspiratorially.
"Hey Jack! Weiss! We were thinking of heading into town today. You wanna join us?" Ruby asked eagerly.
" . . . Sure, why not," Weiss shrugged feeling quite satisfied with herself.
"Question," Nora spoke up. "How are we all gonna get there?"
" . . . "
*NEW WORLD*
After drawing straws to see who Jack would drive and who would have to "walk", Ruby suddenly pointed out that they had not one, but two cars at their disposal. Shortly after, Team JNPR was acquainted with the "old station wagon" Team RWBY brought back from their last mission, their Room Advisor in attendance to ferry the other team behind RWBBY.
Thankfully, for those uninformed, the possessed station wagon played its part without revealing its truer nature.
"So you can drive, huh?" Jaune hummed aloud.
"Yes. But not an automatic; only stick," Vincent replied.
"Why can't you drive-"
"We're in a rush, come back to it later," Ren huffed.
"Mr. Valentine," Pyrrha spoke up. "If at all possible, do you think you could help us get our licenses? As embarrassing as it is to say, we all only have our learner's permits, and while in most cases our transportation would be paid for by the client, it would behoove us to have legal ability to handle land vehicles."
"Sure thing. But I can only teach you how to drive stick."
"Okay, seriously, we're only, like, halfway there."
"Drop it," Ren reiterated.
*NEW WORLD*
"So…" Jack hummed from his own driver's seat. "Where exactly are we going?"
"I think it's finally time we went to the bakery that Arthur's uncle runs," Ruby hummed with a nod to himself.
"You mean you've known him all this time and you never asked the man's name?!" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Yup, that's Ruby for you. She can recite every caliber of bullet for most varieties of firearm, but lets the 'little stuff' like this slip," Yang nodded.
"And she's our illustrious leader?" Blake questioned aloud.
"Hey, I'm learning, aren't I?" Ruby squawked, Jack chuckling as his team bickered like it were an ordinary road trip.
*NEW WORLD*
By the time the two-car convoy had finished being distracted with time-wasting nonsense and hijinks, mostly errands that the two cars' occupants "suddenly remembered" they needed doing, it was well into the afternoon in Vale; much to Ruby's consternation. Jack pulling into the well-to-do part of town, Blake blinked at the familiar buildings nearby, Weiss visibly relaxing, Yang visibly… not, and Ruby vibrating excitedly in her seat because there was the promise of cookies at the end of this 'rainbow'.
"Are we there yet?"
"No, Ruby, we're not."
"Are we there yet?"
"No, Ruby."
"Are we there yet?"
"Yes, Ruby, yes. Okay? We're there."
"Liar!"
"I have never been… more embarrassed… in my entire life…" Weiss groaned.
"You and me both, 'sister'~" Yang purred.
"Hm?" Blake hummed.
"Nothing!/Nothing," the two returned.
"Holy cats! Is that it?!" Ruby asked eagerly pressing her face to the driver's side window.
"Ruby, get out of the way! I can't see!" Jack said craning his neck over her body.
"Aaahh! Nononononononono whyyyyyy?!" Ruby wailed as they passed the Gelè Pâtisserie, Weiss' attention perking up at the signboard.
"There's nowhere to park, Ruby. You'll have to wait until I round the block and-"
"Never! You'll never take me alive!" Ruby said rolling down her window and bolting out-
*Whump*
-right in front of a fancy RV.
"Hey buddy, don't let her slow you down…" Yang said sarcastically over her shoulder as the camper kept going down the street, their 'illustrious leader' splayed out on the grill like a bug on a windshield.
*SIIIIIGH* "Let me pull around," Jack hummed making a flawless J-Turn and going after her.
*NEW WORLD*
"Sooo… What have we learned?" Yang demanded with crossed arms.
" . . . Don't jump in front of moving campers."
"And?"
"Don't climb out of the car window."
"And?"
"Be patient, even when sweets are involved."
" . . . Good enough," Yang shrugged as Ruby kneeled before her, hands on her knees and a- I jumped out of a car window and got hit by a moving RV. -sign hanging around her neck.
"You know, we would've finished up a lot sooner if you hadn't stopped to make the sign."
"Quiet, you. I'm lecturing."
"Is it always going to be like this when we go out?" Weiss asked tiredly.
"Only when sweets are involved," Blake hummed aloud.
"Joy..."
*NEW WORLD*
For those that knew Ruby Rose personally, it should've gone without saying that the gorgeous architecture of the Gelè Pâtisserie building would be completely lost on her; "like casting pearls before swine", as one would say, since Ruby's interest laid solely in the veritable landscape of delectable delights behind the display window.
Compared to it, the Pantasia building across the street, though far larger and far grander, paled in comparison to the quote/unquote "humble" pastry shop.
"Holy crap that smells good…" Nora gulped, wiping the drool trickling down her chin with her arm.
"Wh-What are we waiting for?" Jaune audibly gulped.
"Ruby got hit by a bus or something, so we're waiting for Team Ruby to get back," Ren hummed aloud.
"Yes, that's nice…~" Pyrrha said in an almost dream-like state as her eyes fell onto a tray of red velvet cupcakes that glistened like rubies.
" . . . I don't get it," Vincent blinked, looking every which way into the store, failing to see the trees for the forest.
"GAAAANG WAYYYYYY!" a familiar excitable voice cried out as a red rocket of rose petals barreled around the corner and right towards them.
"Duck!" Ren called out.
"Duck? Where-OOF!?" Jaune grunted as Ruby barreled into him, Pyrrha, and Nora, Ren the only one with the sense of self-preservation to duck while Vincent eyed the store's working hours.
"That name… Surely it's just coincidence… isn't it…?" Weiss muttered under her breath as she trailed alongside the others.
"You know, I'm usually not into sweets like Ruby is, but after seeing this… I can see the appeal," Yang hummed as she eyed the visible storefront and the delectable delights held within.
"It probably doesn't help that we're being hemmed in by two great smells," Blake added as the scent of sweets came from the left, and on her right the smell of freshly baked bread, the two combined pressing down on them like a vise.
"Oh. No wonder parking was so hard to come by," Vincent hummed. "So, shall we go in, or do we leave them here for a while?" the RA asked as Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora pressed their hands and faces to the glass, fogging it up.
"You guys… You guys tell me when they become a little less embarrassing," Weiss said turning on her heel and crossing the street. "If you need me, I'll be… I'll be getting some bread," she hummed distractedly as she strode toward Pantasia, even as she warred with her tumult of curious feelings.
"Hey, you four! If you aren't going to buy anything, stop fogging up the-! Ruby?!" Arthur squawked as he came out the door with a broom in hand; likely meant to shoo away any would-be loiterers fogging up aforementioned glass.
"A… Arthur?" Ruby blinked, bringing her glazed eyes into focus to see her apron-clad boyfriend before her in white with pale blue pinstripes, a bright red scarf to match his eyes keeping his hair out of his face.
"R-Ruby, you didn't tell me you were coming here today…!" Arthur gulped, cheeks reddening as he flattened the creases in his apron unconsciously.
"Y-Yeah, um, well, it's… It was a last-minute… um… thing…" Ruby said distractedly, her eyes flitting between Arthur and the other object of her affections.
"Would you… um… Would you like to come in-UWAGH!" the Rabbit Faunus cried as three heads of red and one of blond bowled him over.
"Guess that answers that question," Jack hummed as he peeked into the store, a steady stream of well-dressed people purchasing a sinful glut of pastries and other baked goods.
"Hey Jack, you go keep an eye on Weiss, I'll stop Ruby from completely embarrassing us," Yang hummed as she followed after.
"Sure thing. Ren, you coming along?" the Faunus asked as the Mistrali trailed back.
"No… No, I should probably stop my team from completely embarrassing me," Ren hummed idly.
"Well… Good luck with that," Jack hummed as Pyrrha started drawing looks; and not just because of her current countenance.
*NEW WORLD*
"So," Jack hummed as a tidal wave of fresh bread-scent washed over him, "you wanna tell me what has you so distracted?"
"H-Huh…?" Weiss blinked. "Oh, um, it's nothing… Nothing…"
"Really? Because it doesn't sound like nothing to me," Jack hummed as he eyed the French bread alongside Weiss. "I saw something in your eyes when we passed that storefront."
"How would you know?"
"Rear-view mirror."
"Oh… Right…" she conceded.
"Was it the name?" the Faunus asked. "As I recall, no matter how much he tries to hide it, your sperm-donor wasn't always a 'Schnee'."
"Schnee?"
"A Schnee is here?"
"Ready the Sun Gauntlets!" were the muttered voices in the background.
"Yes, that's right. My father was originally Jacques Gelè," Weiss nodded. "He said it was for the 'sense of solidarity' it would project, Schnee Dust Company and all that… But honestly, I started to see the cracks in the veneer after my mom died."
"And you think the store might be related?"
"I mean… It's possible… but I don't want to get my hopes up," Weiss answered. "I mean… what're the chances, all the way out here in Vale when my sperm-donor's family could be living in the lap of luxury back in Atlas? He never introduced me to the in-laws, but I know they exist."
"The rich life isn't for everyone. Maybe they chose to get away from it all, maybe they didn't, but you'll never know if you don't take that first step."
"I guess you're right…" Weiss hummed aloud.
"But first," Jack interrupted as the bakers panicked in the background. "Let's get us some bread. What do you say?"
"Your treat?"
"Sure. Why not."
*NEW WORLD*
"Oh god…! It's like an orgy in my mouth…!" Jaune moaned as he slowly ATE the triple-chocolate chocolate chip cookie in his hands, a nearby mother covering her child's curious eyes from the sight.
"J-Jaune, please try to comport yourself with a bit of… dignity…" Pyrrha gulped as she visibly held herself back from diving in, knees trembling as she fought to keep them stationary.
"I'll have what she's having~" Nora grinned as she peeked over the counter, Ruby having moments-before dove over the glass display case to play a very heated game of tonsil tennis with her boyfriend.
Right now they were in quadruple deathmatch overtime!
A truly awe-inspiring feat among sporting events.
"Well, I mean… It probably helps that he baked them," Ren said averting his gaze to offer them some semblance of privacy.
"This is only somewhat like that old gypsy woman said," Vincent hummed idly as he and Blake eyed the decorative slices of cake off to the side.
"Well… at least he always has a cheat code if he wants to get Ruby… 'in the mood'~" Blake hummed as she not-so-discretely took notes.
"MWAH! You are the best… boyfriend… ever!" Ruby gasped as she came up for air, hers and Arthur's lips deeply bruised.
No wait… That was just chocolate.
The blushing was real though.
"Ahem. As entertaining as this is, could I have my nephew back? We have a big event to cater for later, so I could use the extra hands if you don't mind," a deep, richly-accented fatherly voice asked from above, Ruby looking up in embarrassment at getting caught with "her hand in the cookie jar".
And isn't that a lazy sex joke waiting to happen.
The man standing above her was clad in a uniform like Arthur's with a baker's hat atop his head instead of a red bandanna. Middle-aged, tall, and broad-shouldered, from Weiss' perspective the man resembled a happier Jacques Schnee with a stronger jawline, deep blue eyes, calloused hands from a lifetime of labor, his mustache, eyebrows, and visible hair black with the latter graying at the bottom.
And why was Weiss' interpretation relevant, you ask?
Because she was standing right in the doorway.
"You… You look just like…" a certain heiress muttered.
"Ah, so you do recognize me!" the man said with a smile as he turned to face her, Ruby and Arthur tiptoeing away in the background. "Excellent! That makes this a lot less awkward; how are you, my little niece!"
"You… are you really… family…?" Weiss blinked, the man's resemblance to her father uncanny.
"On Jacques' side… unfortunately," the man said in a somber tone.
"But, your nametag doesn't say-"
"Gelè? No, of course not," the man replied as he adjusted the nametag on his apron which read Sasha Snow. "Unfortunately, your father took much umbrage with my marital choice after he became the Schnee patriarch, so he 'convinced' me that it was in my best interests to take on our mother's maiden name," he hummed, the quotes going un-air'd.
"Marital choice? Why would he-?"
"Sasha, the brownies are done~" a motherly voice said from the kitchen as their owner came up with a pan of aforementioned, fresh-baked brownies. Weiss' eyes panning over to the kitchen entrance, beheld a middle-aged woman in a skirt-clad version of the Gelè Pâtisserie uniform, the skirt going down to her knees. Her skin was fair, her hair was a light shade of brown bordering on blond, as were her eyes, and protruding from the top of her head were a pair of floppy rabbit ears. "Why hello there, young lady," she greeted, feeling the heiress' staring eyes.
"You… You're a-"
"Oh dear," the woman replied serenely, pressing a hand to her cheek. "Don't tell me she takes after her father."
"N-No! Of course not! I've grown past that!" Weiss said frantically raising her hands. "It's just… I guess I'm still in shock from finding my uncle here, and in Vale of all places. That's all."
"Ah, good~" she replied with a smile. "Have a brownie, you're awfully thin," she said walking up to her and placing a bar of steamy, chocolatey goodness into her gaping mouth, the heiress' eyes dilating before she devoured the tasty treat ravenously.
"No fair! Why doesn't she have to pay for it?" Ruby whined.
"Because she's family and you almost suffocated my nephew~" the woman, Venetia as her nametag read, replied sweetly.
"Oh my gosh! It's like a soap opera!" Nora said around a large butter-nut muffin.
"Nora, don't talk with your mouth full," Ren sighed.
"Wait, Sasha Snow is your uncle? One of the most-famous pastry chefs in the entire world?" Pyrrha blinked in shock. "How don't you know this already? Why does no-one else know this?"
"Jacques can spin it however he pleases, but anyone with a working pair of eyes can see just what he'd think about my wife," Sasha hummed. "Not that I mind changing my name. What he's done all these years, what he's doing even now, mother would be rolling in her grave if she could see how far he'd fallen."
"What? You going to say 'Jacques used to be such a good boy'?" Jack asked dryly.
"Once upon a time… But 'once upon a time', was a long, long time ago," Sasha said morosely before he loudly clapped his hands. "Anyway! What can I get for you?"
"I think he would appreciate a fresh pair of tonsils. Just saying~" Jack chuckled as he pointed to behind the counter, Sasha and Venetia turning to see Ruby had once again begun furiously kissing their nephew.
"Oh, young love~" Venetia sighed dreamily. "Careful, Arthur~ You wouldn't want to make me a grandaunt so soon, would you~?"
"Au-Auntie?!" Arthur squawked completely red in the face.
"We should probably take this outside," Yang hummed idly.
"Nnnever! You'll never take me alive!" Ruby cried linking arms with Arthur and a nearby support beam.
"See~? I told you the secret ingredient was Love~" Sasha grinned broadly.
"U-Uncle…" Arthur blushed deeply.
"Hold on, how do we know this guy is legitimately Weiss' uncle?" Jack asked aloud, voicing any lingering suspicion.
In turn, Sasha walked through a door that said Employees Only, returning a moment later with a framed picture. On it was an old, faded portrait of two brothers standing side by side. Though the picture was out of date, the subjects were undoubtedly Sasha himself, and Weiss' father before his hair had gone white.
"Ah. I rest my case," the Faunus acknowledged.
*NEW WORLD*
"So your brother's the head of the Schnee Dust Company, and you escaped to Vale to become a baker after marrying a woman he didn't approve of…" Blake hummed as she ate a delicious tea and cake at one of the patisserie's tables. "Definitely sounds like a soap opera."
"What can I say? Life is stranger than fiction," Sasha shrugged as he restocked the shelves. "I was honestly surprised when I heard my niece enrolled in Beacon instead of Watchtower, but if I tried reaching out to her myself, Jacques would've made things… difficult for me," he said crossing his arms
"Let me guess… He would've intimidated your business partners, make it harder for you to find reputable vendors for your business," Weiss huffed. The reason she wasn't surprised to hear about it was that in private, Jacques never shied away from being vocal about his uses (read: abuses) of power.
"Yes. But not like it matters now~ You figured it out all on your own~" Sasha grinned, an expression Weiss never saw on her own father's face without an undercurrent of hidden malice. "Tell me, did you ever get the birthday cards I sent with your Rainbow Ripple, or did he intercept those?"
"He did, unfortunately," Weiss sighed, having never gotten anything from the man beyond the tasty treat that only the rich and well-to-do in Atlas could afford to have shipped over. "He seemed quite cross that I wanted it every year, but I knew it was for something other than the money; he's never been one to shy away from grandiose purchases."
"Well, what's important is, we don't have to hide this from you anymore," Venetia replied with a smile. "The agreement Sasha made with Jacques was conditional on him never reaching out to you. Now that you've found him however, that clause is null-and-void."
"Not that there's anything wrong with standing down instead of standing your ground," Jack hummed, drawing incredulous looks from those there. "After all, you have kids to look after. And they come first."
"Kids?! You mean-" Weiss gasped.
"Éclair, Noel, stop hiding and come greet your cousin," Venetia called out to the kitchen, two tiny shocks of platinum blond hair and deep blue eyes peeking around the door to the kitchen before retreating. "Arthur, could you-"
"I'm on it," the part-time baker hummed. "Come on, you two, don't be shy…"
"So how are you Arthur's uncle?" Ruby questioned.
"I'm an in-law," the man answered. "After what happened to Arthur's parents at Mountain Glenn," he hummed somberly, "Venetia agreed to take her nephew in, and the rest, is history."
"So Arthur is Venetia's nephew and Velvet's cousin, Weiss is Sasha's niece, and Venetia is married to Sasha… What does that make Weiss and Arthur then…?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Hard to say," Blake said scribbling on a napkin. "Family tree looks like a big old mess to me," she said holding up her handiwork, which consisted of multiple family trees, a bridging line connecting Arthur and Weiss' names on the opposite sides arcing across the underside like a smile with a question mark in the middle. "I'm stumped to find the right word."
"Why is this so important to you anyway?" Weiss questioned.
"Because if Arthur and I get married someday, that'll make you and I sisters!" Ruby cried happily.
In response to this statement, Weiss audibly sputtered as did Arthur who chose that exact moment to return to the front of the shop, an adorable little Rabbit Faunus girl held in each arm. They were adorable little things in pale blue dresses and white shoes, somewhere between seven and eight years old and by the looks of them, were identical twins who took after their mother. The two looked at Weiss with wary eyes as they clutched to their cousin with tiny hands, adorable little rabbit ears folded back cutely against their heads.
Did I mention how cute they were?
"S… So cuuute~!" Weiss squealed giddily with luminous cheeks, her hands pressed to her face as she teared up in the face of their sheer adorableness.
"Éclair, Noel, this is Weiss, your cousin," Arthur introduced.
"No, she isn't," one of the twins said quietly, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his hair.
"You're our cousin, not her," the other finished cutely, doing much the same.
"OOF! That's gotta hurt!" Yang winced holding her chest sympathetically as Weiss stood there, looking for all the world like she'd been shot.
"Hurts so bad… but so cute!" Blake winced in agreement.
"Ar… Arthur's my cousin too you know…" Weiss forced out in desperation, the twins peeking up from Arthur's hair to look up at her. "We're… We're all the family we've got."
"I KNEW it!" Ruby squealed excitedly as the twins raised their heads, ears perking up as their deep blue eyes re-evaluated the would-be trespasser. "HUUUG~!"
"OOF!" Weiss winced as Ruby's arms caught hers and Arthur's backs, the little twins looking at Ruby confusedly as they shied away from her. "Yeah, now you know how I feel-"
"Future auntie-in-law, comin' through!" Yang whooped as she leapt onto Arthur's back, the Faunus' legs buckling as she wrapped her arms around the adorable twins. "CrapcrapcrapCRAP!"
A moment later and the tangle of limbs fell to the floor in a heap, Weiss groaning from the bottom of the pile.
"Well…" Blake hummed idly. "That escalated quickly."
" . . . You got that on camera, right?" Venetia asked hopefully.
"Big time~" Sasha grinned angling his head toward a nearby security camera.
*NEW WORLD*
"Weiss, I'm so happy for you," Pyrrha smiled once Weiss had been liberated by her cousins and 'in-laws'. "Family's the most-important thing to have, after all."
"Y-You're welcome…" Weiss blushed as she held one of the twins in her lap, Ruby and Yang doting on the other.
"You're just the cutest little thiiing~! Yes you is~ Yes you issss~" Yang cooed.
"You can't tell them apart, can you?" Ren questioned aloud causing the heiress' shoulders to hitch.
"O-O-O-Of course I can…!" Weiss stammered as the twins shot her judgmental looks.
"Really?"
"Then who-"
"-is who?" they said in sequence.
"Éclair, Noel, don't bully your cousin," Arthur chastised lightly as he eyed one, then the other, the two scurrying out of their respective holds to hide behind him as he worked the counter.
"Noooo…! My step-niece…!" Yang wailed dramatically.
"That is one tangled family tree," Nora hummed aloud. "I love it~"
"Hey Arthur, can I ask you something?" Jaune said aloud. "Why do you wanna become a Huntsman? I mean, you work here and you're basically printing money," he hummed eying the price tags that the steady stream of customers had no problem footing the bill for, and more than once he'd seen people buy out entire trays of the stuff at a time, "so why go into something so-dangerous when you could kick back here?"
"Nothing as wholly-altruistic as Ruby's reason, I'm afraid," Arthur responded. "I can acknowledge a moral responsibility to help others, but I'm no patriot either."
"Then… What's your real reason?" Ruby questioned aloud.
" . . . Because I don't want to get rolled over in the next Faunus Purge… Because if I want to give my parents a proper burial, becoming a Hunter is the only way I'll be allowed to so much as set foot in Mount Glenn, let alone survive a two-way trip."
"Wait, and this didn't come up sooner? Like, ever?" Yang blinked as she eyed Ruby who, while looking a little uncomfortable at the confession, seemed to nod her head in acceptance of his own motives.
"No-one ever asked, and Ruby always projected her reasoning and expectation onto the rest of us," the Faunus answered. "Andy's in it to supplement the family business and satisfy his pyromanic tendencies. Alana's in it because she's 'chivalrous', as well as to uphold the family tradition; the only reason I treat her reasoning as any different than Ruby's is because her own motives are just a little more self-serving."
"To be fair, there isn't anything wrong with any of those motives," Weiss spoke up, seeing that Ruby and Arthur were on the verge of their 'first fight'. "You can't expect Hunters to do what they do out of charity. If they're expected to do their work for free, it just stems their availability because they have to make money on a different job for income. And it isn't like sniper rounds come cheaply these days either."
"Is… Is that really how I treated you guys…?" Ruby asked meekly.
"You didn't do it out of spite or anything, and I think it's quite noble that your first instinct is to think the best of everyone you meet," Arthur answered. "However, you should probably take a page from Jack's playbook, and treat this all as a serious endeavor; not expect it to play out like a fairy tale or a video game where you 'beat the Final Boss' and 'save the world' before the credits roll. The people you're trying to save… are also a part of 'the problem'. Like a 'Final Boss' with infinite lives."
" . . . Sniper rounds are kind of expensive…" Ruby admitted after a moment.
" . . . I think you two just had your 'first fight' without really fighting," Venetia hummed aloud.
"Really?" Ruby blinked.
"I think so," Sasha shrugged. "Take it from a married man; you don't bottle up your differences. Is bad for relationship and bad for younglings."
"Well, I mean… Arthur and I can resolve our discourse like mature adults," she sulked.
"Giggidy~"
"Quiet, Yang!" Ruby cried, afronted.
"Is good to hear. Have cookie."
"YAYYY!"
"No, Ruby! You'll ruin your appetite!" Yang said putting Ruby into a Full Nelson.
*NEW WORLD*
It took a bit of doing, but Team RWBBY was finally able to tear their illustrious leader away from her newfound wonderland of delectable delights and/or boyfriend. Arthur had prepped a to-go bag of "O-Face Cookies" as Nora called them, and Weiss as Ruby's partner and Arthur's own "cousin" was well within her rights to hold onto them for safe-keeping so Ruby didn't eat herself into a cookie-induced stupor and drool everywhere. That or secrete less lady-like bodily fluids.
With all this done and promises exchanged to meet up another day, the two teams departed Gele Patisserie for some final errands before returning to Beacon.
"C'mooooon, Yang. It's just a little snack," Ruby whined.
"Ruby, your boy-toy gave you a whole bag of O-Face Cookies for later," the blond chastised.
"Those are for special occasions," Ruby pouted. "And besides, Jack needs to get gas anyway."
"Hey, Vincent."
"Yeah, Jack?"
"How's the station wagon doing? You need gas?"
"A little, yeah."
"Alright then. We'll pull into the Just Right up the street. Follow me," Jack hummed. "Looks like you'll be getting that snack after all."
"Yay!"
"Jack, you really spoil that girl sometimes…" Weiss sighed with a good-natured shrug.
"Hey, come on, Weiss. Let's not wean her off her childhood all at once," Yang hummed.
*NEW WORLD*
A few minutes later at the Just Rite…
"Really? You can only drive stick?" Jack blinked as he and Vincent topped off their vehicles.
"Why does everyone keep asking that?" the RA gawped from his place at the neighboring pump.
"Well I mean it's just so weird. Most of the time it's people can't drive stick, never 'can only'."
Meanwhile inside the Just Rite…
"So uh… Weiss?"
"What is it, Jaune?" Weiss returned as she perused 'the snack of the working man' out of idle curiosity. Compared to what she had imbibed on in Atlas, the ingredients for these were incredibly cheap, and yet, her Team couldn't get enough of them.
'Okay, she's actually talking to me. Progress,' the blond thought to himself, assuming her adorable cousins had put her in a better mood. "I didn't get the chance to ask before… but what is this 'Rainbow Ripple' you were talking about earlier?"
"It's a confectionary I had at a party once when I was a little girl; wanted it for my birthday every year since then," Weiss answered. "It's made with the Rainbow Fruit, a Legendary Ingredient that's gone almost completely extinct out in the wild, but the IGO maintains a plant in their 8th Biotope, and also any knowledge of where the remaining few in the wild might be. Predators use the sweet scent they give off to attract prey, so it's extremely hazardous to acquire. Only the rich and wealthy can afford anything made from it. They even say the nectar is so concentrated, that just a single drop could turn a whole 25-meter pool into a bowl of fruit juice. Of course, even among rare Ingredients, that has to be an exageration…" she trailed off idly.
"Hey, c'mon… it can't be that dangerous to get at them… can it?"
"According to rumor, the Rainbow Fruit tree in IGO custody is surrounded by Troll Kongs, 'Capture Level 9'. They're basically 'real-life kaiju', even if they're only on the small side, and the only weapons powerful-enough to kill them from a safe distance would irreparably damage the tree too. So the only real way to get to the Rainbow Fruit is either around or through their impromptu 'guardians'," the heiress answered. "The IGO has attempted to grow them in isolation, open them up for consumption by the masses, but so far the endeavor hasn't… borne fruit~"
"Hey, puns are my thing! Get your own!" Yang shouted from the next aisle over, the heiress pulling down an eyelid and sticking her tongue at her in retaliation.
"Wow… You really know a lot about this fruit?"
"Well, like everyone else who's ever had any, I became completely enamored by the taste when I first had some," the heiress answered, looking off into the distance with a nostalgic look on her face. "When the juice evaporates, it gives off a rainbow, and when you eat it, the flavor shifts seven times in your mouth. It's practically an addictive substance, so people are cautioned against eating too much of it; and not just because it'd empty the bank account of anyone who did manage to get addicted. Wild animals that manage to get a hold of any will instinctually continue eating it, even as they're eaten themselves."
"Well that's… a vivid image…" Jaune hummed as he imagined a rabbit nibbling on some of this mysterious ingredient without a care in the world, even as a coyote or something ate it alive. "Well, how about this," he said puffing out his chest and giving her his best winning smile. "When I'm strong-enough, I'll get you a Rainbow Fruit all for yourself. What do you say?"
" . . . Your funeral," the heiress hummed with a roll of her eyes, causing the blond's shoulders to slump.
"There, there," Pyrrha said patting his shoulders.
"There, there!" Nora added with a shoulder-pat of her own and practically flooring him.
"Shall I patronize you as well, Jaune?" Ren inquired.
"Please don't…"
*NEW WORLD*
"Come on, girls, let's go, let's go! I wanna be out of town before sundown!" Jack said as the two teams exited the Just Rite.
"Yes, daaad!" Nora said rolling her eyes.
"You think you got enough?" Vincent inquired as he eyed the piles of food in their arms. "The school does cater, you know."
"Yeah, but sometimes you just wanna sit in and be lazy, you know?" Blake asked, offering a bag of tuna-flavored chips for him to take.
*BAM!*
"Thieves! Somebody stop them!" a man in a Just Rite apron cried as two men with pantyhose on their heads and bags of money in their hands scattered in opposite direction.
"Sonova… It's always something," Jack sighed as he withdrew his axe from his hip. "GET SOME, ASSHOOOLE!"
*Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-SPLACK!*
"AIIIiigh…!" the robber shouted as the axe blade bit deeply into his back.
"Yeah! One down!" Jack whooped. "What about you, Ruby? . . . Ruby? Hey, RUBY!" he said whirling over his shoulder, the second robber still making a run for it. "RUBY! Everyone's clearing a path for you! Shoot his ass!"
"B-B-But they don't have Aura!" she cried as the second robber continued shouldering his way through the parting crowd.
"Who?! Caaares!?"
"I care!"
"Don't worry, I got him~!"
"Nora NO!" Jaune cried tackling his teammate.
"Well guess it doesn't matter now! Asshole got away!" Jack huffed angrily as the man rounded a corner with his ill-gotten gains. "I hope you're happy, Ruby."
"I didn't become a Huntress to kill people, just monsters," the hooded girl pouted.
"You're not a Huntress yet, Ruby," Weiss said walking past her and climbing into the car. "Also, shotgun."
"Shotgun-fuck!" Yang swore as the heiress pre-empted her.
" . . . All in all, I think this was a very productive day out," Blake hummed as Jack retrieved his shotgun/axe from the thief's back and returned half the stolen money.
"Hey uh… Is he going to be okay?" Vincent asked warily of the downed robber.
"Just get in the car," Ren hummed.
*NEW WORLD*
As seemed to be the tradition in Vale, the police didn't arrive until after the robbery had taken place. Yang was worried when the police walked up to Jack with his veritable "smoking gun", cleaning the blade of his axe with a shop rag and detergent the Just Rite-owner was kind-enough to hand out, but to her surprise, the cops were both Faunus, not Human.
As it turned out, after the VPD HQ was ripped to shreds by the Grimm that'd gotten into Vale through the sewers, there had been mass dropouts at the police academy by those not wanting to share the same fate, necessitating that the city not only fast-track new applicants into active service with more workplace experience supplementing classroom learning, but also allowed Faunus to apply for the vacant positions as well.
Officially, Faunus had as-much right to apply for policing jobs as any Human. However, long-standing prejudice (then referred to as "tradition") by instructors and management alike had stonewalled them from successfully graduating, one excuse or another used to bar all save those that could pass for Human. It was an open secret, and one that no-one had ever really challenged.
That paradigm thusly shifted when a large portion of the "old guard" had been "stripped for parts" and the remainder had been traumatized into taking an early retirement. Those that were neither killed nor traumatized were urged to retire anyway, since even civilians knew that "negativity" made Humans irresistible to the creatures of Grimm, and the corruption of those that had survived was also an open secret. One that IA could finally act upon when many of the "old guard's" backers began to retract their support. The resulting power vacuum at headquarters was thusly filled by those who had been "banished" to the more under-funded precincts in the other areas of Vale for the "controversial" views held by former management.
As such, the two Faunus policemen were much more accepting of the methods Jack took, giving him a "stern warning" as men in uniform were expected to do, waving them back to Vale with little other fanfare.
Following this, by the time the two Teams got back to Beacon, the local news station, chomping at the bit for anything of note to report on, had already plastered what had happened at the Just Rite all over the evening news.
"Wow, that made the news?" Nora asked. "Must've been a slow day."
"-ther news, the east-side Just Rite was subject to a blatant smash-and-grab. One robber was apprehended, albeit in critical condition, by a student of Beacon Academy," the reporter noted as a security clip of one robber running away was shown, Jack's axe spinning through the air and catching him in the back from off-screen. "The other was allowed to escape by a student of the same school."
"The fuck?!" Ruby cried as the opposite end of the street was shown by a security feed, albeit un-flatteringly as she herself was shown waffling about with her sniper rifle while the robber fled unimpeded for several seconds before escaping. Her face was never shown, but her iconic red hood and weapon of choice would be easily recognized by anybody at Beacon; Jack's feat on the other hand allowed some room for deniability, since the Faunus himself was never shown.
"Yeah, that… That looks pretty bad," Black acknowledged.
"The robber in question then proceeded to take two hostages, killing one and severely wounding the other before police snipers took him down," the reporter continued.
"Wait, what…?" Ruby blinked as she got a sinking feeling in her gut.
"We now go live to our reporter on the scene; Slade Shin Shaitan. Slade?"
"THAT guy?!" Yang shrieked as a lightly-tanned, devilishly-handsome man with a trimmed beard, thin mustache, and in a red suit with a gray button-up appeared on the screen, standing outside a hospital room.
" . . . A mother dead. A child severely injured. A father made a widow," the man named Slade narrated morosely. "I ask, why didn't you do your job, Huntress? There are two reasons that little girl lost her mother today. The first was a criminal scumbag who in the end was brought down by our city's brave police force. The second, a wannabe 'hero' who lacked the courage to pull the trigger."
A moment later the screen was dominated by a still image of a little girl in medical scrubs and pigtails, her body wrapped in bandages, tubes and wires connected to her body.
"I thought Huntresses were supposed to save people. Why didn't she save my mommy?" a gut-wrenchingly distraught voice inquired, separate from the still.
"So much for the quality of Beacon. So much for the perception of their headmaster, accepting a little girl from Signal Academy years before she was ready, just because she beat up a few thugs in a Dust shop robbery," the reporter said on the return, shaking his head. "A little girl who wasn't ready to pull the trigger when it really counted, resulting in yet another child, who will have to grow up without her mother. I say this to her, and all other children like her; This isn't a game. This isn't a fairytale. This is real life, and there are real consequences. Real life doesn't need pretend heroes. I'm Shin Shaitan, signing off," he then saluted at the screen with a smile on his face.
"HRAAAAAGH!"
*BANG-POW!*
Yang's fury-laden fist sailing toward the TV, a streak of silver stopped her dead in her tracks. Chromed fingers clamping around her Ember Celica, a trail of gunsmoke rose between metal knuckles as heteromorphic eyes of crimson and indigo met a pair of baleful crimson.
"Ms. Xiao Long," Vincent chastised as the two's hands trembled. "I know you're upset, but don't take your anger out on a defenseless television," he said reaching over with his free hand and killing the power. "There. That is how you turn off a television."
"Sooo…" Nora hummed aloud, bouncing on your heels. "What's your beef with Shady Shin there?"
"Guy's a complete slimeball," Yang spat angrily tearing her hand away. "Went after my dad for his neglect… my uncle for his drunken escapades and inappropriate sex scandals… and hooooooh boy, today, he CROSSED THE LINE! NO ONE drags my baby sister through the mud like that! NO ONE!"
"So he's a news pundit that goes after Humans for a change…" Jack hummed, a hint of appreciation slipping into his tone.
"It…" Ruby muttered. "It wasn't really my fault, was it? What happened to that little girl, I mean…"
"I mean… Only tangentially," Jack shrugged.
"JACK!?"
"What?! Do you want me to be honest, or to lie to her?" Jack rounded on the still-seething blond. "Fact of the matter is, this is just the sort of job being a Hunter is. People, count, on you. They rely, on you; and when you let those people down, more often than not, you're going to be the first person they blame."
"Then what's even the point!?" Ruby demanded, ugly tears welling in her eyes as that girl's defeated tone echoed in her head again and again and again like a pinball off of bumpers. "What's the point of even doing this if people are just going to BLAME me whenever I mess up?!"
" . . . If someone dies on an operating table, the surgeon gets blamed. If a car fails in the middle of a race, the mechanic gets blamed. If a criminal goes free, the prosecutor gets blamed," Ren interrupted in the pregnant pause to follow. "Fact of the matter is, we're all culpable for something. Responsibility and culpability go hand-in-hand. Just because we fight monsters doesn't exempt us from this. The bill comes due for everyone, no matter how much you run from it."
"Dude… That's some heavy shit," Jaune awed.
"I believe what he's trying to say is…" Weiss spoke aloud, putting a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder, "this is just another part of the job. This isn't a fairy tale where the Hero is held accountable whenever he fails, because that's just what it is; a story. In real life, people don't magically unite under a single goal and share any blame equally. There always has to be a scapegoat. Someone to make the masses feel better about themselves by reviling at a distance with impunity. Without any sort of recourse."
" . . . I hate this…" Ruby whimpered, fat tears spilling down her face. "I hate that I couldn't… do what needed doing…" she said as her hand trembled.
" . . . Do you want me to get Arthur?" Weiss offered.
"No… No, I…" she paused wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "I don't want him to see me like this."
"Ruby…" Pyrrha spoke up. "Maybe I'm not the best person to be telling you this… but isn't the whole point of having a boyfriend, having someone to lean on when you're hurting?" she offered.
"No. I… I just want to be alone right now," she walked off, shoulders slumped and defeated.
*NEW WORLD*
AN:
Sasha Snow (formerly Gelè), Venetia Snow (nee Scarlatina), Éclair Snow, and Noel Snow are all OCs. That they were concocted before we (Spaceman and I) even knew the name of Weiss' father (our go-to would've been "Eis" until proven otherwise) is proof of how-long I've been waiting to implement this idea.
Jacques Gelè would logically have a family of his own in Atlas from back before he adopted the Schnee name as his own, so I thought it'd be interesting if Jacques had a brother he was ashamed of and tried to keep Weiss uninformed of (for marrying a Faunus). The little half-Faunus snow bunnies were just too cute to pass up~ All cuteness aside, it was also nice to write in a bit of polarization in Weiss' extended family, since it's strongly implied that Nicholas is dead and any in-laws are completely nonexistent.
As for Slade "Shady" Shin Shaitan, he was a last-minute addition; "last day of production", actually~ We only ever saw Lisa Lavender representing "the media" in the World of Remnant, but I can totally envision that if the franchise were treated with a bit more respect, there'd be more polarizing characters such as this. Characters with a bit more nuance to them than "racist/not racist".
Anyway, tell me what you think. Spaceman and I would both appreciate the input~