Disclaimer: See last chapter.

Ozpin's Offer

Ruby glanced up from her scroll, rolling the kinks out of her neck. She was manning the counter at the shop, waiting for the next customer to come in, signing some final documents for the darn insurance claims.

Zwei was next to her, sleeping peacefully in his counter bed, ignoring the bed at the top of the stairs.

Her homework was done, although her dad hadn't come by to pick it up yet. She'd seen him less and less recently, and hoped that he hadn't had a relapse into depression again. She could probably close up shop for a while and go visit, make sure he's taking care of himself...

It didn't hurt that the exile was finally up, and she was allowed back on Patch legally. Of course, legal or not it wouldn't have stopped her. The only reason she'd let it run out most of it's course was because she wanted to go to Beacon.

Two more forms left, she thought, as she went back to the scroll on the counter. Insurance forms were picky, and she had to be extremely careful on how she itemized everything. Money itself was the easy part, but the additionals, such as the chicken or the copy of Sundered Rose?

She wanted to ignore the chicken part, because it was just food, but no, the form had said to include everything and unfortunately so the chicken was on it.

If this 'Neo' was actually hungry, would it have hurt to just announce herself then say 'I'm taking this chicken' rather than eating it in front of her?

Ruby had later found out Neo had gone through her freezer first, but that was barebones. The last bit of frozen cookie dough had long since been thawed and eaten by her. And whatever it was that Neo expected to find, well, she didn't find it there.

"No, no actual construction damages, I didn't need to close up shop for a limited time, no, I still don't know how she got in, no, Atlas was not the cause of the break-in, why was that question on there..." Ruby muttered as she glanced over the scroll.

"Insurance forms, Ruby?" Ozpin's oil-like voice rang out. Ruby let out a loud screech and fell onto her behind. Ozpin chuckled mirthlessly as he stood in front of the counter, his cane whacking the floor gently. "Your bell is out, by the way. You might want to buy a replacement soon," he said, moving his glasses up a bit onto his nose.

"No wonder I haven't heard anyone come in," Ruby muttered. "Wonder how long that's been out," she said as she forced herself up. She brushed off the imaginary dirt. "Welcome in Professor Ozpin. What can I do for you?" she asked.

Seeing Ozpin in her shop was still...kind of heartrending if she had to be honest. She had been so close to getting into Beacon, and some stupid laws made sure that she had to wait until her actual time. This man could have been her headmaster. Now, he's just...another customer.

"Ah, not for anything in particular. I was wandering Vale, and I decided to come by and see how another prospective student was doing. You seem to be doing quite well," Ozpin commented. He made a show of glancing around. "And it appears you sold your mother's weapon."

"No, it didn't sell," Ruby admitted. "It got stolen a few days ago. A girl named Neo, if you know her. Actually, do you know her!? She was definitely trained like a huntress! Pink hair, brown and pink eyes, with an umbrella weapon!?"

Ozpin held up one hand, "I'm afraid while I recall a great many students, that one is one that I haven't heard. I know of her, of course, but I've never met her in person. From what I hear that's only a good thing."

Ruby scowled. "Drat. I was hoping you knew where she was so I could get my weapon back."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Rose, but I don't. If I had it's quite likely she would be in jail or otherwise contained," Ozpin said softly.

Ruby snapped her fingers. "That's what I was doing the insurance forms for."

"I did recognize them as that. I have to do far too many claims myself on behalf of Beacon, and I can't slide it all to Glynda. A headmaster has to do at least some paperwork," Ozpin chuckled. "Do remember to fill out section 3C, I've been penalized far too many times for that one."

"Is that the 'justifiable cause' section? That one always throws me off," Ruby admitted. She scrolled down to it. "Yep, there it is. 'Is there a reason-'"

"-that was possibly justified in an outside court of law'?" Ozpin recited with her. "My answer is of course, always no, but I've been denied several times because of such an oversight."

"I want to know what the purpose of some of these ones are. This form's new too, it was asking if Atlas was the cause of the break-in."

Ozpin winced. "Yes, General Ironwood is a great many things, but I'm afraid subtle he is not. When one is a commander of the military and the headmaster of the Hunter Academy, he sees force as the easiest way to get what he wants."

"He can be subtle," Ruby tilted her head. "Just two days ago he sent in one of his students, Penny, to come in and offer me to transfer my insurance over to Atlas because I'd get paid out more."

"Ah, he's probably taken the Roman Torchwick problem to the extreme. I'll have to warn him off of that. Torchwick is unfortunately a very good thief, but he in general doesn't thieve, by the law's standards. He burgles."

"I always that was just called assault in general," Ruby admitted. "Although he fought like a Huntsman too, when I fought him a month and a half ago."

"I've heard that rumor, as well, but he was never in Beacon's files. I've checked with Shade, Atlas, and Haven as well and have not found a single sign of it. He might have been apprenticed to someone, or changed his name radically, but those are impossible to determine after the fact," Ozpin admitted. He smacked the cane on the ground again.

Ruby's eyes were directed to it. "Was that...all, professor?" she asked after a moment. She still had forms to fill out, after all.

"I believe it was..." Ozpin said before he focused on the wall next to her. Ruby turned to look, seeing nothing there. "Not, that's correct I was in here for another reason. How much do you know of the Vytal Festival, Ms. Rose?"

"Happens every two years, all Academies send someone to whoever opens their doors. There's a large fight in a giant arena and then it devolves into one on one fight between seniors."

Ozpin laughed, "It does tend to, doesn't it? No, the Vytal Festival is held for other reasons, as well. It's a show of unity in a world where we find all too many ways to separate ourselves."

"It's also a really big seller, because it attracts a lot of Hunters or potential Hunters into whichever city is the best, and everyone wants to buy things to celebrate it."

"Indeed it is," Ozpin nodded, "but one of the traditions that is most rare is that we almost always have a blacksmith on hand to assist in weapon repairs. The one Beacon had on file has retired and moved to Mistral, so we currently don't have a blacksmith or a weaponsmith set for the Vytal Festival."

Ruby's heart leapt up into her head. Was this...was this Ozpin offering her a job!? Instead of a student, she'd be the on-demand on-site weaponsmith for the entirety of Beacon!? So much better than sitting out in the forest for two years constantly killing Grimm...actually in hindsight there wasn't much better than that but being the on-demand onsite weaponsmith for Beacon was a darn close second!

"It would, of course, just be for the Vytal Festival so you're more than welcome to stay here in the shop, or we can have a small room outfitted-"

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" Ruby screeched, almost Petal Bursting over the counter to give the man a hug. Despite her incredible speed, Ozpin managed to sidestep her, carrying on as if she hadn't just interrupted him.

"Agreeing very quickly there, Ms. Rose. Perhaps you ought to finish hearing me out before you agree?" Ozpin provided quietly. "I trust your enthusiasm but please, let me finish."

Ruby rocketed back to the counter, staring at Ozpin with wide eyes. Zwei lifted his head up and tilted it, and one of her hands absently started petting his head. She never blinked as she stared at him.

Ozpin took that as the sign to continue on. "It would just be for the Vytal Festival, I'm afraid. Beacon doesn't have the funds to support a full time blacksmith on campus. However, your main duties would be to ensure that all competitors weapons are up to spec, and that all weapons used by competitors are known and won't be too majorly dangerous. I have to say that 'majorly dangerous' as the Vytal Festival is, at its heart, a blood sport."

Ruby kept up her stare. "It would also require a time limit, to ensure that everyone's weapons or armor, should they require it, would be repaired within the timeframe of the Festival. This is to ensure that the bouts are all equally apart from each other. You would not need to bring your own materials, as we have plenty on campus, as well as a forge and smithy for your perusal. If you need anything extra, such as dust, you will have to bring it yourself," Ozpin continued.

He waited a moment, and Ruby still hadn't blinked in that entire time. "Payment will be made after the Vytal Festival, at approximately ten thousand lien per day. In addition, you would be invited to certain Vytal Festival tasks and functions, such as the dance I have no doubt you heard about by now, and the opening ceremonies. You would also be allowed small advertising space and a tiny booth for the duration of the Festival, although you might need some more workers for that."

"Do you have any further questions?" Ozpin asked. Ruby kept up her stare. "You may...move now...?" he questioned himself as Ruby assaulted over the counter again. For an old man he was surprisingly agile, Ruby found, as she kept trying to pull him into a hug.

"Just send me the forms and I'll have them back faster than you thought you sent them!" Ruby said, her eyes pratically starring. "Although, that does mean...hmm...would I still be able to watch the Festival bouts?"

"Amity Arena does have a place for the weaponsmith onsite to watch the bouts, yes. You would not, however, be able to reveal anything about any weapons any person may have to anyone else currently fighting. That means your sister, mostly, just so that way you can't tell if someone is, say, using a three-tier mechashift weapon."

"No spoilers then, got it. I wouldn't be acting as a judge or anything, right?"

"Goodness no. Unfortunately the judging falls to Headmaster General Ironwood and his chosen deputy, Winter Schnee, and myself and Glynda, Ms. Goodwitch," Ozpin answered. "As much as I'd like to be able to put it off on someone else."

"You don't like seeing how far your students have come?"

"I am in the business of hunting Grimm, Ms. Rose. I have always thought the Vytal Festival fights were nothing more than mere blood sport, something to drive up excitement in order for recruitment to go up. Grimm are the enemies of the world, Ms. Rose. Not each other."

"The White Fang don't seem to think so," Ruby answered quietly, before she put her hands over her mouth.

Opzin chuckled. "No offense taken Ms. Rose. The White Fang are a...unfortunate side-effect of sapient thought. I have always said that we are all similar enough to be able to disregard such differences. I wish I could do more, but I have done all I can. It's now up to the rest of the world to catch up."

He turned around and started walking back out the door. "I'll have Ms. Goodwitch send you the documents. I'm eager to see if you can back up that claim of sending them back before we even realized we sent them," he chuckled as he left the door.

PABY Morning

Ruby wasn't sure exactly how fast she had turned in those documents back to Beacon, but it was certainly less a turnaround time and more of 'return to sender' time.

She'd gotten the message from Ms. Goodwitch at eight that night, and two minutes afterwards in which she sped read everything with her Semblance going off like crazy because she was so excited, she'd send it back.

Most of the terms were the exact same as Ozpin said. She'd get access to the onsite forge and blacksmithing shop. She'd have to do armor too, for the people that use it, but armor was easy compared to mechashift.

She'd then immediately called her dad, and asides from one moment in which he thought she'd sold the shop and now worked at Beacon permanently, he was completely excited for her.

And the only other emotion she'd gotten was confusion, because he'd thought that if she worked there that she wasn't going to be allowed to go there in two years' time. Which, if she was going to be the weaponsmith on campus permanently, was accurate. But she wasn't, it was just for the Vytal Festival.

Her excitement meant that she didn't sleep a wink for a while, constantly looking over the terms and memorizing them. Not because she didn't know what they were, but rather because she couldn't focus on literally anything else.

Zwei had to drag her hand to his food and food bowl, and if she fed him a few more times than she should have, well...she should pay more attention to him. As it was, he was laying on her chest panting happily as she looked over the terms again.

She doubted that she was Ozpin's first pick at onsite blacksmith, as the position was actually called. Probably why it took him almost four or five months to come back down from that hill of his. And why the invitation came so late, usually the onsite blacksmith was known with three months left to go.

Instead, the Vytal Festival bouts were only a few weeks from now. The 'dance' that Ruby was patently refusing to think about going to, was in a week and a half's time. For one, she didn't have a date. For two, she didn't have a dress.

For three, she got a message from Velvet saying that Team CFVY wasn't going to be the ones actually hosting it this year because there was an emergency mission that they were 'signed' up for. And thus they had to go take care of that, rather than the dance that was their other punishment.

She had no idea who was going to have to organize that thing now. She'd enjoyed listening to Velvet's ideas when the faunus was here for several hours getting Aneisadora fixed. A small band in the corner, easy check in, and non-alcoholic drinks catered by one of the smaller restaurants in the area. Simple, no fuss, and still plenty of decorations.

Her scroll rang, bringing her thoughts out of it. Yang's face shone brilliantly from the caller ID. "Yang! I was wondering if you'd forgotten me down here!" Ruby said as she answered it.

"Me forget you!? I thought you'd forgotten me! Hanging out with those other friends of yours!" Yang's voice echoed out. Video hadn't started, which was odd for Yang. But audio was still coming through.

"Ruby has other friends?" Jaune's voice came out. "Also hi Ruby!"

"Jaune says hi," Yang deadpanned. "And Pyrrha's waving at me, probably to tell you hi too."

"Hi Jaune, hi Pyrrha! Seems kind of early for you to be calling me. So what's wrong?" Ruby asked. She waited a moment to see if Yang would place it on video. When she didn't, Ruby asked, "You didn't misplace Blake again did you?"

"Misplace!? I wasn't misplaced!" Blake's voice came out.

"Yes you were," Ruby said at the same time that Yang did. It was a running joke that she and Yang had, originating from a most definitely non-funny source. But they had to cope somehow.

"Oh, you know, wanted to check in. It's been a while. Also Blakewantstoknowifyouveseenthewhitefangaround!"

Ruby blinked. "Hold on, say that again but slower?" she asked. She'd gotten...one word. Blake. Okay...

"Blake wants to know if you've seen the White Fang around," Yang asked again.

"Oh sure, just go ahead and be blunt. I thought you said you had tact Yang!"

"Yang, tact? Blake, those are opposites," Ruby joked. She grinned at the 'hey!' in Yang's voice. "But no, not lately. I mean there was that Neopoliton girl that broke in, whose supposedly working with Torchwick-"

"Someone broke in!? Again!?"

"Yes? She stole that copy that I made of Mom's weapon, Sundered Rose, you remember that right Yang? And a lot of lien, but I got most of that back through insurance. And some chicken."

"She stole some chicken? That seems weird for a thief..." Jaune's voice said. "Maybe she was after the money and happened to go right past you?"

"Or she was after Sundered Rose, but that thing wasn't capable of firing, was it Ruby? I remember Mom using the rifle portion a lot, but the axe..." Yang said.

"No, I didn't want to think too hard on it, so I kind of just left it. I'll probably make a new one soon once I get to the forge again. I'll make it better than the replica! Oh, that reminds me! You're gonna be seeing me again real soon up there!"

"You got into Beacon!?" Yang's voice was excited. The video was kicked on, and Ruby realized why exactly she'd had it off. Yang hadn't quite taken a shower yet, her hair disheveled and all over the place. Behind her, Blake was laying on her bed with a book in hand.

"Not...exactly."

"She's already been up here," Pyrrha's voice called out. She walked into the frame, her striking red hair almost glowing in the early morning sun from the window. Unlike Yang, she looked normal and orderly. She also had steam rising off of her skin, so she'd probably just gotten out of the shower. Ruby glanced out the window. Huh, it was morning already.

"Wait, when were you here, and how come you didn't tell us!?"

"I uh...snuck in? In Port's class. Pyrrha was the only one awake enough to know who I was. Jaune was asleep."

"He's in the shower," Pyrrha said, "but we'll tell him that," she joked.

"You mean I missed the chance, again? Darn it. Blake you were supposed to tell me when she was done!" Yang whined to the black haired faunus. Ruby noticed that she didn't have the bow on her head, hiding the cat ears underneath. She must have gotten much more comfortable with her team around.

"I did tell you. But Pyrrha called it immediately afterwards, and beat you there," Blake explained. "We have an order, Yang."

"But...now Vomit Boy's going to take up all the hot water."

Ruby grinned as she listened to the arguments. It'd been a long time she heard Yang whine so much. It was almost refreshing, especially as it wasn't focused on her. "I'm sure that Jaune doesn't take too long in there," Ruby acquiesced.

"I don't know Rubes, he has a bit of..." Yang trailed off. Blake stared at her, obviously amused. "Um...shoot. How to say this..." she said softly, blushing lightly.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I don't think he takes that long," she said again. "But no, I got the onsite blacksmith position for the Vytal Festival!" she finally couldn't stop the excitement from coming and just yelled it out.

"That's awesome!" Yang grinned, punching her first into the air. "But I have no idea what is or what that means!"

"I assume it's the blacksmith, the weaponsmith or armorsmith, that's on campus for the tournaments," Pyrrha said. "The tournaments at Mistral also had a few on staff at almost all times. That's a high privilege, Ruby."

"I know! Ozpin was in here yesterday-"

"Wait, Ozpin went to see you?" Yang interrupted. "Weird, we haven't seen hide or hair from him recently."

"You mean since we're still working off the detentions for the docks," Blake commented.

"Yeah. I would have thought he'd keep troublemakers like us under 'control'. So what all does that mean then?" Yang turned back to the screen asking her.

"Oh! I get to be on campus during the tournament bouts, I get to use Beacon's smithy and forge, I get a small shop in the main event square, and I get access to all of the Vytal Festival events. Oh, and I get some free advertising."

"Darn Rubes, that sounds like a great deal! What do you have to actually do though?"

"I'd have to make sure that everyone's weapons are in good condition, everyone's armor is in good condition if they use it, it has to be done timely..."

"Generally they give each person minimum half an hour or an hour depending on which round it is. That gives each person plenty of time to get everything fixed, and to determine if they're bowing out," Pyrrha answered. "So you'd have to be pretty quick, Ruby."

"Yeah. I don't think many people would have schematics either," Ruby admitted, "but still! I'm excited! Gahh it's going to be great!" she cheered.

Yang's smile also widened. "Wait, you said 'all events'. Does that mean you're coming to the dance too?" she asked.

Ruby froze. "Ahh, no, Ozpin didn't say anything about that I asked and he said no so sorry Yang I guess I can't come to the dance haha isn't that so funny-"

"Ruby, you can't lie to save your life," Yang grinned. "Alright, you're coming. No matter what, I'm bringing you."

"Yang! Ozpin said I wasn't, so I can't-"

"Most onsite blacksmiths are perfectly allowed," Blake commented from the side. "According to the rules, at least," she kept going, a teasing smile on her face as she slowly turned a pamphlet that said 'Vytal Festival Rules & Regulations'.

Ruby froze again. "I, ah-"

Jaune's voice cut in. "It'll be fine Ruby. Besides, Team CFVY is handling it. You know how chill they are," he said. Yang looked up, and getting one of those teasing smiles she turned the scroll around.

Jaune was in the middle of changing, apparently, and hadn't realized what Yang was doing, so Ruby got an eyeful of a surprisingly muscular back and arms as he slid on some pants. "Yang! What are you doing!" Ruby cried out.

"Just letting you see some of the eye candy you'll find up here in Beacon! Oh this is going to be so much fun! I get to bring along my baby sister to her first actual dance!"

Yang turned the scroll around just as Jaune was about to turn around. "Wait, what's going on?" Jaune's voice asked. Blake rolled her eyes; apparently this was a normal occurrence?

"Oh, nothing you need to worry about Vomit Boy," Yang gave that teasing smirk she was well known for.

"Stop calling me that!"

"When you stop throwing up on Bullheads, sure!"

"Almost time for the shop to open!" Ruby tried to come up with some excuse to leave. Yang was getting 'bored' and that meant dangerous things for everyone else.

"Wait Ruby I'll come down there today and we can get a dress-" Yang tried to say before Ruby disconnected the call.

Her scroll fell onto Zwei's back. "Why, Zwei, does she hate me so!?" Ruby complained dramatically. "Although I wonder why Blake wanted to know about the White Fang stuff. I haven't seen them in months!"

Wait, hadn't Yang said something about her coming down there today? Ruby glanced at the calendar. Today was a normal day in the shop, which meant that ha! She had a perfectly valid excuse to not have to go out today.

The problem was getting Yang to listen to it...as if to agree, Zwei gave a large yawn before he nuzzled into deeper into Ruby's chest, using her as a makeshift bed. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn he purred. She wasn't getting up anytime soon...

Until Next Time!