Sparks flew, dirt launched into the air, and the once pristine patch of grass behind the Xiao Long residence was no more.
CLANG
The cause for such a disturbance? Two fighters, each with a similar background, both warriors of renown in their respective causes, with similar weapons to boot. Both were using Scythes, an impractical weapon to most at first glance, but these two wielded them with expert dexterity. It was a shame that Ruby couldn't utilize her full abilities however, as the turrets on her scythe were meant to be used in conjunction.
"Stay still!"
"You're gonna have to make me, kiddo!"
Ruby leapt forward and slashed at her uncle, who easily dodged her strike. In the brief time since she and Qrow began their duel, several things were clear. Ruby had more strength than Qrow did, that was a given, but unfortunately, she did not have the same speed or experience as he did. Thus leading to her current impasse.
"Are you just swinging it or are you trying to cut me?! It's a scythe, Ruby, you have reach!"
Qrow went for a side slash, which Ruby was able to block by the slimmest margin. This was a great lesson in why Qrow was considered a top-tier huntsman.
"I'm not used to fighting humans!" Ruby retorted back, aside from the brief skirmish with Goodwitch, she had never fought another human before, even in her memories as Ulrich.
"Then don't think of me as one!"
"If I did, you'd be a fine red mist by now." For good measure, the turret on her scythe swivelled to aim at Qrow, causing him to duck on instinct.
"Hey! What did we say about guns?!"
That they weren't going to use them, this was a pure test of skill so Qrow and her father got an idea of Ruby's current skill level. She didn't want to do this so early, especially after Weiss introduced her to 'Dive-Bombing 101' last night, she was still ignoring the heiress's DMs because of that.
"I don't see how you're testing me by just swinging our scythes around."
"That's cause I'm not, I'm gauging you, there's a difference, also, always watch out for your opponent's legs."
What-
It was too late, Qrow had closed the distance before she could even mentally process what he said. In one swift motion, Qrow delivered an aura-enhanced kick at Ruby's legs, causing her to go down onto the dirt.
"Cheap trick!" Ruby lunged for her dropped scythe, only to stop right before her neck touched Harbinger's scythe. She looked up, to a victorious and grinning Qrow, it was bad enough when he had that look when winning in fighting games, Ruby didn't need to see him have one in actual combat now. Directed at her no less.
"Aaaaaand it's over. In Beacon I called that move the Branwen special, usually had Rave-nevermind. Come on, up you get." His scythe transformed back into the short broadblade he carried behind his back, while his other hand stretched out for Ruby to take. Having gotten up, Ruby dusted off whatever debris and dirt landed on her clothes, only to be bear-hugged again by a speeding Yang.
"That was fuc-freaking dope! Why did you go to the non-combat stream in Signal? You would have wiped the floor in your year!"
"I feel like everything I've said the past few days went in one ear, and out the other for you. You know why I didn't."
"Yeah, yeah, gotta keep your secret identity and all that, are you sure you're not a comic book fan? I remember you used to really like X-ray and Vav before…the whole awakening thing…"
Despite her mood drooping down at the end, Ruby did not mind her too much. Though the idea was a little bit funny, show up to Signal's combat class, and pull out a salvo of eight sixteen-inch shells for the first duel. She had a feeling her father wouldn't have appreciated that very much however, speaking of…
"Here, Ruby. Always remember to stay hydrated, especially after duels, you won't believe how many students at Signal forget to do that." Taiyang handed Ruby a water bottle, causing her to just stare at it in her hands.
"Kansen don't need water to survive, though it is a nice gesture." She would have to fight for hours to even begin feeling fatigued, this simple five-minute duel was nothing.
"I…see? Wait, then why did you try and sneak in that keg of beer that one time when you were-"
"I thought it was juice, nothing more." Ruby cut him off immediately, her past shame when she was ten years old did not have to be brought up today. Her father raised an eyebrow at her, but Qrow approaching got his attention quickly.
"So, Tai, whatdya think? Still worried about her staying out in Vale so late now?"
Qrow quipped, causing his old friend to sigh. "Okay, I'll admit, she can probably fight and win against anything that could trouble her in Vale, Grimm included."
"Hell yeah, where's my lien? Cough it up at dinner tonight." Taiyang grumbled in Southern Mistralian before turning his attention back to Ruby.
"How'd you feel about that, Ruby? I know Qrow is not exactly a beginner-friendly sparring partner, but you held your own pretty well, at some points I could see Qrow actually believed he was going to get-"
"Nuh uh, don't you start with that. I had it all under control. What are we agreeing on though? Personally, she's sloppy, and needs a ton of work to even think about touching me."
Ruby glared at her uncle, causing him to hastily add to whatever point he was trying to make.
"Buuut, by Beacon standards you can probably take care of a first-year team solo, with your odds getting progressively worse as you fight teams of higher years. That's just counting your scythe skills by the way, there's also all your other…stuff we haven't even begun scratching yet." Taiyang placated next, while glaring a warning at Qrow.
She scoffed, "As if your winning blow was ever going to scratch me."
Qrow shrugged. "Maybe, probably, Winter found out the hard way from what I hear. There's always a bigger fish though, I don't need to tell you about that now do I?"
Against the natives of Remnant that she could potentially fight? Other than the Atlesian Navy or otherwise, Ruby was pretty certain of her odds in winning, collateral damage not included. However, there was a reason Kansen were never deployed on land, and unfortunately for her, she was going to learn how to be a Battleship on land. A landship? No, that was stupid, but she could learn how to fight like a huntsman, without ever being one of course. There was one threat, however, but if they had not shown up for Remnant's entire history, there was little chance they were going to show up now. Wait, she had to touch wood, better not jinx it.
Tapping the tree she was under for shade, Schwarz was summoned, finding a good spot right next to her for a nap. "Schwarz thinks I could beat them, don't you?"
A quiet hiss was all she got for a response.
"That's not fair, asking summons won't get you very far. Look, training under me won't be that bad, don't think of it as huntsman training, think of it like…excercise, and I'm just your coach helping you get better at it."
"And what exactly do I need to improve on?"
"Footwork, balance, your swings are too wide, you leave yourself way too open, you're kinda slow-hell, I know part of it was probably due to your uh, memories, and fighting on the open sea and all that. But after a while I realized you're used to fighting large enemies, right? Almost the size of a Feilong or something similar, cause I would be using those moves if I ever found myself fighting one."
Replace Feilong with Siren ships, and Qrow was correct. Siren ships were bigger than a Feilong however, so not quite correct either.
"Try not fighting anything seriously for fifteen years, see what happens to your fighting prowess."
"Shouldn't it be ten? Since, y'know, you were five when-" Qrow was about to continue, only to be stopped by Taiyang who nudged him, which made him remember the other Xiao Long who was present.
"Oh come on, I'm over it! You don't need to avoid it like I'm seven!" Yang grumpily responded, to which Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's fine, don't blow up over it, literally."
"What that supposed to-"
"Anyways, I guess we will be continuing these training sessions?"
"Don't ignore me!"
Yang was ignored, at least for now. Qrow coughed into his fist, getting Ruby's attention again.
"Yeah, when I'm here. Since you still have like, what? Two and a half years in Signal Tai will be following up with you, mostly cause he's always here. He may be a brawler, but I'm willing to bet you know some hand-to-hand as well, or am I wrong?"
"I know the basics." Generally speaking, when Kansen were deployed to fight, Destroyers went first, along with heavy and light Cruisers, followed by Battleships and Carriers in the backline. Despite being the most heavily armoured, Ulrich's role often included being in the backline, sniping away from a distance, though if need be she could also engage in close quarters 'brawling' as the term went. Though his idea of brawling was probably markedly different from what she was used to.
"And that's not going to cut it. In this household, we're all going to be learning the Xiao-Long family martial arts, guarantee it'll be better than any third-rate Mistralian dojo that scams their students in Vale." Oh yes, something like that. Her father did tell her stories about his ancestors, some of which Ruby thought was bullshit, but nevertheless kept quiet on.
"But that's for another time, we have years to whip you into shape now that you're learning how to fight. Sure, you might not be going into one of the four academies, but just knowing how to fight is already a good skill to have anywhere in Remnant. Come on, I've made lunch already, we're having hand-stretched noodles again!"
Qrow and Yang groaned.
"You mean the ones that are soggier than a sponge?"
"They're supposed to be soggy! That's how my grandmother made them, I've said this like a thousand times-"
As Qrow and Tai began the argument over noodles for the 50th time, Ruby began to follow them back to their house. Hanging back, Yang soon approached her with another one of those expressions. The kind that she'd make when she really wanted something from Ruby, like borrowing four hundred Lien for example, but something told her this was different.
"Sooo, I've heard you have a working relationship with Junior…"
Ruby mentally prepared herself.
"I do. But Dad told me to stop being there, what's your point?" Her career as a smuggler may have been over by now, Taiyang was not exactly happy with Ruby's exploits either way. Besides, she was not hungry for more Lien, Ruby was comfortable exactly where she was right now. Yang leaned in next to her ear to whisper.
"You think you can get some info about the Branwen tribe in Mistral?"
Ruby nearly tripped, she had been expecting something like this ever since opening up, but she didn't expect it to come that quickly. Making sure that Qrow was still arguing with Tai, she turn to Yang with a scowl, intent on dissuading her from continuing any further.
"Information like that doesn't come cheap-"
"I have enough-"
"Even if you had to sell Bumblebee?"
Yang looked pained for just a few seconds, before hardening once more.
"E-even if…"
Damn, she was entirely serious about it. With the way Yang was looking at her, there was no way Ruby could just shrug it off like her other requests, this required a more delicate handling.
"I'm not gonna make any promises." Speaking of, she had not asked Junior about his progress on the Von Rosen yet either, might as well tick off both things at the same time.
"That's good enough, Ruby. That's good enough…" Yang seemed content with her answer, though Ruby knew her long enough to know that was not the case.
What troublesome sisters I have, in both lives.
Neither of the two said anything more, instead, they looked towards their soggy lunch, neither particularly finding that enjoyable as well.
"What do you mean I need to 'keep it safe' for now? I don't like where this is going, Roman."
The next morning, Ruby had left for Vale once more on the local ferry from Patch. With Summer officially starting in Signal, the Battleship turned high school student suddenly found herself with a lot more free time than usual. She did not quite know what to do with it, though finding activities that were suitable for Kansen and regular teenage girls were quite the difficult thing to do, especially if your name was Ruby Rose. So, she decided to go into Vale, for a visit to Junior's club, at noon when it was closed. On her way there, however, she received a call from her least favourite person in the world right now. Or more accurately, most hated.
"Exactly what I said, you're going to have to keep it for a few more days, maybe a week. Maybe more. Just keep it in that protective armoured ship of yours, okay?"
"That is not our deal. However, I could just dump it in the ocean-"
"...actually, that sounds tempting-yeow! Okay, no, don't do that, we'll get pointed questions if it's gone. Look, we're kinda screwed right now with our storage situation, and with those Atlesian patrols out there 24/7, it's way too risky for you to come to us or vice-versa. That shipment of Dust you have is the most secure one we have, I'd almost ask for you to take the rest of our supply but I know what kinda heat you're packing so I'll refrain from it."
Ruby wanted to punch the wall, actually, she did. Leaving a fist-sized dent in the brick wall next to her, thankfully few people walked into this part of Vale to notice her. The original plan was to meet with Roman, and then 'convince' him to give up whoever this Cinder Fall was, lure them into a trap and have Uncle Qrow take care of everything. Though everything hinged on getting Roman to accept, not too difficult, but only if they could meet face to face alone.
"How long then? A week? Maybe longer?"
Roman went silent, Ruby did not like how this was going.
"...more like a month, maybe a month and a half-"
"Roman."
That was two weeks before her next school year started in the worst case.
"Oh no, the signal's really bad, I can barely hear you! We're underground, and kinda moving quickly, uh, talk to you later, see ya, Red! Remember, our bosses wouldn't want our Dust to go missing!"
"Torchwick! I'm going to shove eight HE shells up your-hello?! Bastard…"
The line was dead, however, Ruby received one last message from the Bowler hat menace.
Bowler_Hats_Should_Return: Also, just so that you don't come after me later, Adam Taurus is looking for you. Might want to lay low for a couple of weeks, he'll have left Vale by then.
Bowler_Hats_Should_Return is offline.
She was duped once more, no, after this last job, she was going to retire for good. Junior could probably help her get the word out or fake the death of 'Hutten the Smuggler' if need be. Speaking of, she was right at the entrance to Junior's club, right now it was closed, but if she remembered correctly, the doorman today should be…
"Jimmy."
"Heya Kid, here to see the big boss?"
Ruby nodded, out of every one of his goons, she and Jimmy got along the best, even if it were just simple greetings every time.
"Alright, he's working at the bar, as usual."
"Thanks, tell Mary I liked her recipe."
"Will do."
Ruby was let in, and she began making her way to the bar again. With everything that had happened, Junior did not throw her any potential jobs, but then again the Malachite twins might have told him something he was not meant to know. Sitting on the counter, she waited until Junior finished wiping his glass mugs before getting his attention with a cough.
"I know it's you, Jimmy only lets a few people in this time of day."
She placed a few Lien down on the table. "Strawberry sunrise, mix it with Schnapps."
"You know those are like, 40% alcohol right?"
"I'll need it for the consultation."
"Kids these days…the last time someone asked for one of those my club got wrecked."
Junior whipped up the pink-coloured cocktail in no time, Yang had mentioned liking those once during dinner, only for Uncle Qrow and their father to ask her how she knew of such a drink. There were some very awkward answers then and there…
"Here ya go, one Strawberry Sunrise, can't believe I'm willingly giving a cocktail to a minor, but from what the twins said, I think you deserve it."
Ruby took a sip, it was a perfect blend, despite using a spirit not originally meant for it.
"What did they say?"
"Not enough. Tight-lipped as hell, though they did say you pulled them out of a tough situation, fighting VPD ain't good for business, so thanks for that. They aren't here today, got some errands to run if you're looking for them."
So, probably nothing about her hull then, good to know.
"You don't need to know anything, we just evaded some authority figures, that's all."
Junior snorted. "If you call a chunk of the Atlesian fleet authority figures, I don't wanna know who you consider a cop. Anyways, we'll put that under us. What are you actually here for? I'm guessing this ain't no simple request."
Might as well not beat around the bush then, Ruby took another sip of her drink before responding. "First things first, any information on the Von Rosen?"
With all that had happened in the past few weeks, it felt like forever since she first asked Junior to look into them. Doctor Oobleck had also not gotten back to her either, but he assured her that he had someone in the Mantellian archives combing through their records. Junior rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
"I don't how to tell ya kid, but the contact who's helping me has found absolutely nothing. Aside from the publicly known stuff, everything about them has been systematically scrubbed from Mantle's archives. Normally there'd be something, anything to go off on, but there's not even breadcrumbs there. I know Atlas military secrets that are not as well covered up as this."
Ruby stayed silent, thinking about what he just said. "Someone does not want people finding out about the Von Rosen."
"More like a damn large group of people. One guy can't do something like this, especially to a family as prominent as the Von Rosen. It had to have been through decades of hiding and scrubbing, with a lot of people involved to make sure no one blabbered. I can only dream of having something like that in my organization, but alas, I'm only human. Are you sure this is worth going down? Things like this…tend to result in people disappearing, you get what I mean?"
Six feet under, erased from existence, tied with a block of cinder, all very imaginative euphemisms. Ruby was not deterred, however, but that just meant the mystery went deeper than she initially thought. With that avenue being a dead end, she had to go back to the drawing board. The Von Rosen could wait until later, she did not expect immediate results anyway. Right now, she had another priority, one that she wasn't particularly keen on pursuing, but had to nonetheless.
"I need everything you have on the Branwen tribe."
Junior groaned, the most expressive she had seen of that man today. Raising an eyebrow at him, the crime boss reacted by giving her a pleading look. "You won't destroy the bar as well, right?"
"I am not my sister."
"Your sis-THAT WAS YOUR SISTER?!"
Junior stared at an indifferent Ruby, he was staring at her intensely, probably trying to find some sort of resemblance. "Wait, if that blonde was your sister, then that means…you wouldn't happen to be related to a Qrow Bran-"
"He is my uncle."
"...small world, huh? I'm guessing he knows about your…"
"He knows, and he knows I've been employed under you."
Ruby could see the realization hit him with the subtlety of a delivery truck. "Don't worry, he won't come after you, I think."
"I'd like a hell of a lot more than 'I think' personally… Qrow and I go way back, and he's someone I don't want to cross."
"In that case…" Ruby brought out a thick sealed envelope, from her personal stash of Lien she kept inside an old red cloak she had. Once, it was a gift from her mother, but she did not need to wear cloaks for a long time. Yang would never think to look inside of it, making that the perfect place to hide her funds. "Depending on what you tell me of the Branwens, and specifically, Raven Branwen, I could convince my uncle to not do anything rash."
"Are you seriously blackmailing me right now? With the threat of your uncle busting down my door?"
"No, Junior, I'm paying you. Take the cash." It was the standard fee he charged for information, not before factoring in difficulty. But with someone like Raven Branwen, he was bound to have information on her already. Junior, defeated, snapped his fingers and directed one of his goons to retrieve the aforementioned information, he did have a file for her after all.
"While he gets that file you want, I should tell you about your uh, aunt?"
Ruby took in a deep breath. Yes, technically, by familial standards, Raven Branwen, due to Qrow being her uncle in all but blood, would mean she would be her honorary aunt as well. However, there was the whole thing of her marrying her Taiyang before her own mother married him, so therefore, it could also be argued that she was her stepmother; Raven never divorced her father legally. This wall all to say it was very confusing, and the first time she thought about it resulted in her head spinning from all the technicalities. Why was her family like this? Sometimes she missed the simplicity of Friedrich being her only family member, no stupid drama like this would ever occur then. Seriously, was she in some Sardegnan soap drama she wasn't aware of?
"I have never met her, just refer to her as Raven."
"I sense some personal matters in there so I'll refrain from asking. Anyways, Raven Branwen, a real piece of work that one." Junior had a nostalgic expression on his face, as if he was remembering his long-lost youth. In the spirit of trying to get more information, Ruby refrained from commenting.
"Just like your uncle during his Team STRQ days, she did some odd jobs for me here and there back when we were still a small syndicate. That was like, what, twenty years ago? Been a long time since then. Not as many as Qrow, but definitely the more vicious fighter of the two, and I don't mean that lightly. There was one job I remember involving the Yamaguchi who were trying to expand into Vale-"
"Please get to the point."
"Right, was gonna begin rambling again wasn't I? Anyways, we weren't close, saw her a few times here and there during her stay in Vale. Always hung out with her team or with this girl in her team, Summer? I think we met one time-"
"Summer? Summer Rose? Red hair like mine, similar eye colour as well?" Ruby interrupted him, she had to make sure.
"Yeah, actually, wait, no, don't tell me…is she your-" Junior put two and two together, and he seemed to have his own revelation.
"Wait, but then if that blondie is your sister who did she-oh. They both married the blonde guy, right?"
"Are we here to talk about my family, or are we here to talk about Raven Branwen? But first, Summer Rose, what do you know about her?"
"Nothing. Didn't really get to know her that well, all I knew was that she was in Qrow and Raven's team, though they were particularly close. Wait, hang on…did she…I'll be right back…"
Junior disappeared behind the back door, into where his actual business was conducted. Ruby waited for around twenty minutes in the silent dance club. Eventually, he returned with two files. One that looked new, and another one that had a literal half a decade of dust stuck on it.
"Here." Junior laid down the first file, it had 'Branwen' labelled on it in big bold letters. "This is the stuff you want on Raven Branwen, it has everything I've got on her. Activities, locations…raids even. I don't need to mention that the Branwen tribe is a dangerous raiding clan in Mistral, but I'd like to see you return alive, kid."
He then laid down the second file, much older and caked in dust. This file did not have a name, but rather, an emblem. It was a white, burning rose, her mother's emblem, and later, hers.
"Around ten years ago, there was a strange request from one of my Mantellian contacts before Atlas finally got rid of his syndicate. I basically had to hand over an old collection of intelligence files to someone, they only gave me their emblem and had the initials of S.R."
Ruby opened the file, spilling out dust and its contents everywhere. "I'm guessing that was meant to be Summer Rose, and that emblem is actually related to her, right?"
She did not answer, too engrossed in reading the contents of the file. It was a collection of reports, from underwater Atlesian naval intelligence probes all around Remnant's vast oceans. Looking at the map, four distinct points were marked, one next to Menagerie, the eastern coast of Solitas, the Western sea of Anima and finally, the last one being just below the tip of the Grimmlands. They included coordinates, all four of them were marked the be deep under the sea.
"These are coordinates, to four locations all around Remnant…"
"Huh…guessing you'd need a boat for all four of 'em. You got one or do you need me to give you some recommendations?"
Hilarious, Ruby needing a boat for herself? No, Junior did not know, he was just trying to help. Closing the file, she quickly put it into her backpack for safekeeping. That would need closer analysis for a later time. "Is this everything on Raven Branwen?"
"Everything I have on her, which doesn't amount to a whole lot. That's the trouble with groups like the Branwen, they move around too much for anyone to get a detailed enough account of them. Though from what I've been hearing of them these past few years, they've been continuing their streak as if nothing ever happened."
Ruby grimaced, was this really what Yang wanted to know? She debated between just leaving it with Junior or giving an excuse to her. At the same time, she also knew how long Yang had been searching for Raven, who was she to deny her? She would just have been like Qrow and her father, keeping the secrets of the family away from them for so long. Dilemmas…how she hated making decisions involving them. Give her a Siren fleet to obliterate any day, no need to think about its consequences at all.
She needed to think, but no here, there were better places to do so around Vale. Sliding the envelope full of Lien over to Junior, he raised a palm up at her. "Keep it, I feel bad for finding nothing in Atlas, didn't cost me a lot to ask anyway. Besides, the twins won't ever let me live it down if I accepted."
She took back the envelope, giving a nod of thanks. Crime boss he may have been, but among the true scum who were in the profession, Junior was as honest as they got. As she began getting up to leave, Junior cleared his throat, having something to say before she left.
"By the way, do you know a Faunus named Rory? She was asking for you yesterday, and says she wants to meet. I don't know why the Fang is interested in you all of a sudden, but you watch your back out there."
Rory? The White Fang lieutenant she met at the docks? What did she want with her now? First it was Roman's warning about Adam Taurus, and then it was Junior telling her about Rory. Call it a hunch, but she was guessing neither of the two were finding her for the same reasons. Or they were, just for entirely different goals she wanted no part of.
"I know her, did she say where to meet?"
"Tukson's book store, Docks district. She just tells you to mention her name, the guy inside will take care of the rest."
Tukson's? That's near where Valéan is located…
Maybe it was time to receive guidance from the old battleship once again, perhaps she could make sense of these documents, as some of them dated to the Pre-Great War era. Waving a final goodbye the Junior, Ruby left his club, taking a good, long walk to nowhere in particular.
She was given a lot of things to think about, and with her old training kicking in, she immediately prioritised them based on what was urgent from most to least.
Branwen information
Summer Rose's mysterious file
The White Fang (again)
The first one was what she could do immediately, theoretically needing to just give Yang the file, or not. The second one was something she needed further research and planning for, she couldn't just drop everything and head off to find exactly what those four points were in Remnant, she had other things to do despite Summer vacation having just started. Last but not least, dealing with the White Fang again. Maybe she should have just let herself be arrested by Goodwitch back then, save herself the trouble she was facing now…
"I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger~"
Ruby heard it, faint singing, but it was unmistakably in the Eagle Union language. The voice sounded very familiar, she looked around her, unknowingly, she had wandered into the old city by accident. But again, who was singing…?
"Traveling through this world below.
There is no sickness, no toil, no danger~"
Walking closer to the source of it, she heard what sounded like a banjo playing a simple melody as well. Coming upon a crowd of people on a side street, Ruby took a double-take, having identified who the singer was. It was Weiss Schnee, dressed in a disguise. Complete with glasses, a ponytail, sports cap, hoodie and jeans. In her hands was a worn-out banjo, which she played with warm familiarity. She did not recognize the song, but it sounded like an Eagle Union folk song, no one other than Ruby understood the lyrics there. Despite that, however, everyone there continued to stay and listen.
"I'm just going over Jordan,
I'm just going over home."
The song ended, and a wave of clapping came over the area. Suddenly realising she was there, Ruby hastily began making her exit, intent not to disturb her personal moment.
Screee
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you saw it, Grim landed on Ruby's shoulder, knowing full well who she was. Ruby stopped, it was too late to escape anyways. Turning around with a deadpan, she saw Weiss Schnee, a guitar case slung over her shoulder and looking at her with a wide, not at all unnatural smile. Were all Eagle Union Kansen this easy-going?
"Hey there, partner, fancy seeing you in these parts…Care to join me for a stroll?"
She did care, very much actually…
AN:
I get the show never addressed Ruby and Raven together, but imagine how awkward the meeting would have been. "Hi, I'm the mother of your half-sister who left soon after giving birth cause I was a coward, your mother and I were kinda chill until she died tho. Anyways, sup?" Like, how is Ruby supposed to react? Is there a correct reaction? Fanfics don't usually show an interaction between Ruby and Raven so I'm personally looking forward to writing that out.
Xiao-Long family dynamics can rival the most insane of telenovelas. Anyways did you know the North American Bald Eagle doesn't actually produce the iconic scream it's known for? The scream actually comes from the Red-tailed Hawk, with its scream usually edited over the Bald Eagle, the more you know. I've probably just shattered their perception for a few readers lol. Grim can do it cause he's a badass, and possibly a Kansen construct, so he gets a pass.
Be civil in the comments below.