Following a couple of short blinks, Ruby found herself perplexingly staring at her unmoving character on the screen.
It happened again, not that it was anything new.
"Ha ha!" Yang called with a vicious growl and grin. "Caught ya!"
The pair of sisters were engrossed in one of their favorite fighting games, although you wouldn't be able to tell with how Ruby's previously competitive face had nearly fallen off completely. Her eyes trailed away from the screen, which showed Yang's character absolutely decimating her's, and towards the scroll in her hands, which had acted as a controller. Her fingers were in the right places, but they'd stopped moving, meaning she was completely back in control - as if her conscious eye movements hadn't already given it away.
This was far from the first time she'd dissociated during... well, pretty much anything, so Ruby wasn't all that intrigued by it. However, it was the fifth time this month she'd gone on autopilot, which was a new record. Setting her scroll down, she flexed her wrist, getting out the kinks and such, and unintentionally earning the attention of her teammate, Blake.
Their eyes met, but neither of the girl's said anything; although, Ruby could tell her sister's partner was curious about the sudden change in attitude. Ruby, forgoing any comments, continued to look around the room, making sure she had fully wrestled back control of her body. That was the weird thing about these moments: they always seemed to lock her into whatever she was doing at the time. Usually, she wouldn't even notice these phases when they occurred, but lately, they'd been showing up in quantities too large to ignore.
"Something wrong, Rubes?" Yang finally seemed to catch on, or maybe she'd known throughout the entire match and just didn't say anything; she was usually content to let herself win first a competition before pointing out the oddities.
Ruby didn't answer immediately, merely pursing her face and running through the process. Or, to be more specific, she was waiting to see if another flash would wash over her. When it didn't, and she was still in complete control of her body after a solid minute, Ruby broke out a sigh of relief.
"Nothing... I just had a moment."
"Again?" Yang didn't look too pleased. "How many times does that make it?"
"Four this month, I think." Realistically, there could have been a few brief ones that were so quick she hadn't caught them.
"A moment?" Blake was the first to ask; not all that surprising, seeing as Weiss was engrossed in whatever it was she'd been doing on her scroll. Normally, her icy partner spent her spare time studying, or lecturing Ruby herself, but luck filled the air tonight and Weiss had taken to activities other than complaint. Blake, however, had no such commitments, and rolled over as she asked. "What's that?"
Before Ruby could get a word out, Yang leaned back and rattled off the short of it. "Basically, sis here will disassociate with everything around her, and zombie along for a minute or two." Crossing her arms behind her head, she added. "Think of it like turning on autopilot, but for people."
"That... pardon this, but that doesn't sound normal." Blake's apology was accepted, and Yang just shrugged from behind. "Meh. Ruby's had this since she was little, and we sort of caught onto it around her eighth birthday. Doctors say it's a little strange, but it hasn't caused any issues yet, so nobody's really all that worried; left 'em curious though, but they've since lost that curiosity when our dad made it explicitly clear what they were, and weren't, allowed to do during her checkups."
"Okay. So if nobody's worried, then why do you sound so annoyed?" A decent question, and one Ruby herself actually got to answer; sorry Yang, but sometimes you have to do things yourself. She didn't mind her older sister taking point, but when it came to her "condition," Ruby liked to be the one delivering the details.
She was, after all, the only one who truly understood the extent of it.
"Because it isn't always this frequent." Ruby set her scroll down, stretching and getting up on her feet - her legs were starting to cramp, and she kind of had to get ready for bed soon; it was getting late and she still hadn't even showered. "Normally, it only happens, like, once or twice a month."
Wearing a cheeky smile, her sister just had to jump in and make it weird.
"Kind of like a second period, but without all the blood and cramps."
"Yang..."
One of these days, Yang, one of these days...
.
.
Weiss wasn't one to barge in on somebody's business... okay, scratch that; she wasn't one to barge in on a stranger's business.
The night had gone by without much more to talk about, but throughout most of it, Weiss had been conflicted and curious. On the one hand, she found an interest in the 'condition' the oddball sisters had spoken about, but on the other hand, she'd not mustered enough intrigue to be bothered by it until after everyone had fallen in for the night. And so, she'd been forced into an uneasy sleep until morning came and they'd readied up for classes.
Weiss considered waiting until after lessons were done before speaking up, but right here, in the middle of Professor Port's drab lecture, the desire for answers had reached its peak.
Weiss knew she should have spoken up when it first struck, but she'd been busy sending an update on her progress through Beacon to her sister, and Winter did not tolerate tardiness. Sticking to the schedule was essential for success, and so, for as irritating as it could be, Weiss had vowed to remain resolute through the idea, never once missing a beat.
"Ruby."
"Huh?" Her leader's voice droned out lazily as she blinked at a snail's pace. Apparently, her partner and their team leader, Ruby Rose, had fallen at least partially asleep. Rolling her head over, obviously not caring much for being caught by the professor - not that he had the capability to notice with how enamored in his own tale he was - she spat out a broken response. "What's who?"
Throwing out a half-hearted sigh, Weiss resigned not to comment on the travesty of dignity that Ruby currently displayed. Personally, she'd claim to believe the professor's lesson was essential to their learning, but embarrassingly for her, that would be a lie. As much as it pained her to say, she didn't exactly find Professor Port's lectures all that useful. Perhaps there was a method to his apparent madness, but she clearly wasn't enough of an intellectual to understand the intricacies littered throughout his story of beating back a horde of Grimm to protect a carrot patch.
To her credit, she'd caught enough of it to know he'd saved at least three or four of the vegetables.
Right on cue, Professor Port delved into a new story, and Weiss chose then to make her move.
"You were discussing a medical situation with Blake last night. Would you be willing to specify?"
"What?"
Okay, so Ruby wasn't all there right now; it seemed she was still somewhat down under. Weiss decided then to dumb it down a little, and hope her partner would understand if she outlined the answer.
"Tell me more about your condition."
Ruby raised a brow as she rolled her head over in her arms. "Hmm? I thought you weren't interested."
"I was. I merely chose to let you speak, as Blake had asked the question I was already thinking."
"Then you heard about it already?"
Ruby was making this increasingly more difficult than it needed to be, and Weiss huffed back a grumble, retaining her steady tone in a bid to remain mature, all without coming off as pushy - a challenge for one adamantly pursuing a target.
"Yes, but I was hoping you could go into greater detail, if that's not too much trouble."
Propping her head up on a hand, Ruby shrugged.
"There isn't much more to it. Sometimes at random points in the month, and for a few minutes of the day, I'll lose control of my body."
Weiss couldn't keep her eyes from widening, and upon seeing this, Ruby gained a bit of life to her as she quickly attempted to downplay the situation.
"B-but it's only for a minute or two."
That did not make it any better, but despite the sudden presence of dread at knowing someone apparently lost complete control of their body, Weiss took hold of her emotions once more. That had shocked her, truly, but that was no excuse to lose her cool. As she planted a firm, mastered, expression of apathetic intrigue back on her face, Ruby relaxed a bit again, continuing on, albeit with far more awareness over her phrasing.
"Sorry... I have a habit of making it sound worse than it is."
"How so?" Weiss interrupted, cutting sharply through the air and even looking to make her partner jump a little. "Losing control of your body is, last I checked, something very much terrible. How can it be made to sound anything less than horrifying?"
"Because it's not like I'm being forced to do weird things." Ruby made her attempt to ease off the situation anyways, and while Weiss wasn't about to let this go without a fight, she would at least let her partner try to make it sound sensible. "I don't "do" anything I wouldn't normally do..." Sighing after, Ruby covered her face with both hands, and her words became muffled. "How do I put this…?"
Crossing her arms, Weiss sat patiently, until Ruby finally unmasked herself a minute later.
"It's like this: I'll be doing something, like anyone else, but then I'll feel a little fuzzy."
"Fuzzy?" Weiss's question went ignored as Ruby chose instead to keep going.
"And all of a sudden, I'll just keep doing what I was going to do, but without having to think about it. Does that make any sense."
From the way she worded it? No, not at all. But Weiss was smarter than that, or, at least she liked to believe she was. And so, seeing as Ruby appeared to struggle with getting her point across, Weiss decided to throw her a bone, and explain it for her.
"So, what you're saying is you'll be aimlessly working, and then you'll feel "fuzzy," and from then on, without reason, you'll find yourself carrying out your work without too much thought, almost like acting out of habit?"
"That's most of it." Weiss didn't like the word 'most,' for it implied her reasoning did not cover everything. "You got the brunt of it, but it's not that I do just a little thinking. I don't have to do any thinking when I'm having my moments... as in, at all." Ruby looked a little sheepish as she explained. "When my body does its thing, like last night where I watched it play the game, I'm able to focus and think about other things."
Weiss wouldn't lie, every word had her hanging on the edge. Sure, she'd heard of becoming so skilled that you don't need to put much focus on the tasks you excel at, but never before had she heard someone say they didn't need to think at all. With this concept, or rather "condition," in mind, Weiss wondered aloud, intending for Ruby to answer.
"Are you saying your body does one thing, and you're able to look around and take note of other aspects?"
"No, not look." Ruby corrected quickly. "I can't move my eyes either, but I can focus on what my eyes are looking at. It'll still be blurry, but I can kinda pay attention to things outside of my main sight; you know, that blurry space all around the edges. And I can also focus on sounds too, like how Blake purrs a little when she comes across one of the dirtier parts of her books."
"Huh… That's interesting." Weiss, yet again, had no idea what to make of it... until she focused her own mind on the specific example Ruby unfortunately chose to use. "Wait, how do you know Blake's books contain a considerable amount of filth?"
"I'm sixteen, not six."
Oh, Weiss knew that, but it wasn't the girl's innocence she was questioning. Slipping on a sly grin, Weiss elaborated with far too much guile to go unnoticed on her young leader.
"That's not my concern. I'm asking how you know Blake purrs only when coming across those sections." Leaning in, Weiss saw the tiny beads of sweat begin to form along her leader's face. "That would imply you know explicitly which parts of the book contain such scenes."
The implication was clear, and rather than rebut her accusation, Ruby made the wise decision to grovel.
"Please don't tell Yang."
Rather than immediately sway one way or the other, Weiss opted to savor the tiny bit of blackmail she now held over her leader by leaning back with a content smile. She had no real plans to use such information, and nor did she intend to reveal to Yang that her sister was making use of their local rogue's unsavory stash. But regardless of this fact, Weiss would make sure to enjoy Ruby's squeamishness for a bit, at least until the girl got it in her mind to seek revenge, which Weiss had no doubts Ruby would try - in the way of pranks, of course.
Still, Weiss couldn't let go of the tiny bit of irony afforded her.
Blake, their faunus teammate, seemed to - yet again - conform to stereotypes. It had been, what, two weeks since they'd shared in the lust-lover's secret? Don't get it twisted though, Weiss didn't believe for a second that all cat-faunus loved fish and purred; Blake just so happened to be the exception.
All things considered, Weiss liked to think she was doing a good job on not defaulting into a miniature version of her father; that man would have reported Blake the second he learned she was of White Fang origin. But no, Weiss had taken the risk and decided to give Blake a chance. Ruby and Yang would never leave her alone if she didn't at least let the woman prove herself, and so she just had to accept there was a potential killer sleeping in the same room as them.
Blake was lucky she'd looked so pathetic, otherwise Weiss couldn't honestly say she would have caved. In the end, though, she supposed Ruby had a hand in that too, as her constant insistence on finding Blake and her willingness to charge into danger for any of them was both admirable... and immensely stupid. And here she was now, Weiss Schnee, indulging the idiocy of the situation and risking it all just on the hopes that Blake Belladonna truly meant it when she claimed to have turned over a new leaf.
Weiss blinked to herself after her thoughts had settled, and came to a startling conclusion.
Oh Brothers... Their stupidity is rubbing off on me, isn't it?
.
.
Today was a good day, Neo thought to herself all of twenty minutes ago.
"Think this one'll do?"
Unfortunately, she soon found herself being greeted right outside of Junior's by two of the worst urchins this side of the city. Mercury Black: son of Marcus Black, and a somewhat decent assassin in his own right. Neo had only heard tales of his papa's work, but if Mercury was anything like his old man, then there wouldn't be much in the way of tales about the kid either.
Sadly, his legendary exploits to be were on hold, as right now he was in the middle of holding up a small white summer dress, with little daisies printed senselessly across its surface.
"Eh." Emerald Sustrai, a nameless nobody until recently thanks to their shared bitch of a boss, gave an almost sorry look to the crumpled up mess that was granny's forgotten nightwear and waved it off. "Pretty sure she needs to look her age, not thirty years above."
Mercury shrugged, tossing it back into the bargain bin. They'd decided - well, Cinder decided, but it hardly mattered who - that Neo was a necessity for whatever plan they had in mind, and here she was now, clothes shopping with a pair of kids to sneak into a school of armed children and most likely murder it from the inside; not the best idea mind you, but they wouldn't tell her what they were really doing, or why it needed to involve her, so Neo was forced to guess.
Perhaps her imagination was getting the best of her.
"You keep saying that, but our budget is... what, thirty lien?" Slapping his hands on his hips, Mercury raised a brow while continuing to complain. "And I don't know about you, but nobody, and I mean nobody is getting anything decent out of that."
"We could just, oh, I don't know... borrow it." Emerald leaned a little closer for this next one, whispering through a grumble. "Like we have pretty much everything else."
"While I'd absolutely love to do that, we can't." Mercury slipped on a smirk. "Incognito, remember? Can't go showing up in liberated gear, right? Now tell me, who was it who said we need to be extra careful?"
"Cinder." Emerald huffed under her breath, and Neo got to watch - with a hefty helping of amusement - as Mercury's smirk deepened, and he placed a hand over his chest. "And who, if I may, was it who decided on the budget because she didn't want to waste money on anything but the essentials."
"Me." Another grumble, this time with a twitchy eye.
"Great." Bearing a wide toothy smile, Mercury waved them along the aisle, ending off by pointing towards another bin in the distance near the corner. "Now, shall we continue our expedition of dumpster diving in the not-quite garbage for something even somewhat presentable?"
Neo tuned the dynamic duo's song of stupidity out for a moment, instead using their argument as a chance to, rather obviously, just walk away. Thirty lien didn't sound like much, and it surely wasn't enough to get any huntress grade clothing. If they were willing to actually let her buy the damn outfit herself, then this wouldn't even be an issue. She'd gone undercover plenty of times before, and had an eye for what outfit matched the job.
But no, apparently they never considered her expenses.
Neo, not bothering to question the reasoning of morons, made her way down and turned off into a separate aisle. They'd chase after her once they realized she dipped, but based on Mercury's apparent taste for attire, she wasn't confident in their competence. Neo, by this point, made the sensible decision thus fold: she would, without their consent, pick out her own wear. Screw them and their money and budgets; a classy lady like herself was not about to show up anywhere looking like a twat.
Besides, who was going to stop her? Cinder?
Ha! Fat chance! Cinder had been trying to off her for the past month, even succeeding four or so times, but those were only basic murders, and it would take a lot more than that to seal the deal. Matchstick streetwalker needed to up her game if she wanted any hope of dealing a decisive blow actually worth a damn.
A few calls were heard coming from the morons, and Neo smiled a happy smile; one minute, it took them one solid minute to notice she'd gone missing. Passing a content sigh, Neo started mulling through the clothes on display. Knowing them, it wouldn't be long before she was found, so grabbing a set became top priority. They were infiltrating Beacon Academy: Vale's top institution for what boiled down to government sanctioned mercenaries. In the end, it was little more than a school meant to twist rowdy, gullible little boys and girls into killers with a hero complex.
And the people ate it up.
With the very existence of aura and semblances, there was little use in any practical protection in the form of body armor; save for identification purposes. Some people stitched up special outfits with dust woven in; looking the same as ordinary clothes, but with the added benefit of being able to draw energy straight from said dust for users who's semblances ran on the stuff. This was not that kind of store though, so Neo was stuck with regular clothes. This was fine; her semblance took nothing from dust anyway, so it was more or less a waste for this mission.
She didn't plan on fighting anyways.
While perusing down the line, her eyes landed on a cute little dress. Gothic in appearance, she found it somewhat out of place in its current position. Turns out it was a whole ass matching suit, which made it even stranger. Unlike the common wear, these particular items bore greater quality stitching, with the threads molding their own little patterns along the hems. Thin fabric against the back would darken - but not obscure - the skin it layered overtop, and the leather of the corset situated just below the ribs bore a strikingly smooth, and yet still firm, texture. This wasn't the fake crap used for cheap Halloween fare; this was genuine stuff.
With white little buttons sewn into the cuffs of the sleeves, it seemed almost regal, and yet the shoulders alone were left bare. A nice, wide collar stuck out nearly alone, attached to a vest underneath with the upper back exposed - no doubt meant to leave her shoulder blades visible so that the fabric of the undershirt could darken the patch. A window right above the chest, accented along the edges by a soft pink almost felt alien to the dark attire - then again, lust often disguised itself as love, so why wouldn't it now?
By now, Neo had flipped the suit over. All together, it came with a set of boots, leggings, and all matter of smaller nick knack accessories who probably had little use outside of drawing eyes. She wasn't really interested in anything but the core aspects, and with such an elaborate design, she only wanted to know one thing. Said thing showed itself, and everything came together.
324.66... plus tax.
Yep... that explains it. Underneath the lower end of the dress a small out of place plastic bobble looked to be stuck to it, and suddenly its odd placement in the discount racks made perfect sense. Someone had tried stealing this little baddie, but considering it was left on the sidelines, they may have been caught - or gave up, but who cared about semantics?
Still though, showing up in this would certainly leave a mark. As an added benefit, Cinder's little pet would most likely freak out when she saw the price tag; actually, that ended up sealing the deal. She'd done goth before when going undercover to buy time for Roman to empty some popular movie producer's personal vault, so it wouldn't be much of an issue to do so again; playing plaything had never been too hard then, and it wouldn't bother her now either.
At least this outfit was tasteful... and family friendly; or at the very most 16 plus.
By the time the others found her, she had indeed changed, and Neo made a point to put on a cheerful smile as she giddily handed the receipt over to Emerald, earning that oh so scrumptious squeak. Truthfully, she wasn't the only one, and like a good boy, Mercury made no attempts to stifle the shit-eating grin plastered across his face; who knew watching the color drain from someone could feel so good - spoilers: she did~ They shared a short low five below the table they'd situated themselves at for lunch, and while her personal bank account took a hit, this was an outfit she definitely wouldn't be throwing away anytime soon.
Especially when so many people couldn't keep from sneaking peeks. Sadly, that was probably also because Emerald kept her head reeled deep into her shoulders, looking as though she'd shat herself. For a supposed stealth expert, Cinder's little bitch seemed awfully good at making a scene.
Now if only the poor girl would notice that herself.
Author's note
...
Back again.
So, updates might be slow - as if you're not already used to that - but they might also not be. My time was supposed to be eaten up by life, but expectations aren't always on point, and so you get to have your chapter this time.
We get some time with RWBY and the like, goofing off until Ruby has her moment. Not to worry though, Neo also takes center stage again while shopping with Emi and Merc. And no, the new digs she gets for blending in aren't what she used in the show - don't worry though, she'll keep the black pigtails; I'm not a monster. I wanted to take the idea of 'Ghoul Princess' a little further, and that translates partially into the new outfit.
I know it's not a super specific description, and that's intentional; I'd rather you all just imagine your own versions of how you'd like it to look, using this here as a mere guideline. AKA, do the reader thing and use your bloody imagination for once!
Anyway, I'll see you all again later.