As the last few remedials were ongoing before Winter Break(And because Ruby had done did a dumb and done got herself one such class), young miss Rose sat in Prof Port's class alongside Cardin and a few other dum-dums who decidedly failed the final, only to have to retake it now. Thank the maker, Ruby thought, that she'd actually studied this time.
Because, as luck and skill would have it, Prof Port himself said, "Well done, miss Rose! Quite an upgrade from your last mark," as he graded the paper a seven out of ten. Ruby beamed at that, but laughed awkwardly, scratching her cheek as she recalled that one of the many reasons she was stuck dealing with it was because of their little White Fang hunt.
"Thanks for letting me sit the re-test, prof Port," The girl smiled, then looked back at Cardin, watching the man write away. The two's gazes met and he furrowed his brows. He sighed and finished his own paper, bringing it over for grading, before crossing his arms. Ruby, in her usually calm self, asked, "You okay, Cardin?"
"None of your business, pipsqueak," He replied, but the usual hostility in his voice was missing.
She raised her hands defensively, then said, "Sorry I asked, jerk," in a sarcastic murmur. She smiled and waved to the Prof, then walked out with a skip in her step. She walked out into the surprisingly empty hallways of the class building and looked out the window at the gloomy, cloud-covered sky outside, barely letting any of the Sun's light pierce through.
She sighed deeply. Sure, the weather was gloomy, but she had something going on today that wasn't gonna let her feel down in regards to anything. It was her freakin' Birthday! She beamed at the thought, hoping to get to spend some time with her sister and their friends, so she began skipping again, jovial.
"Ruby," She heard Cardin call out. She stopped, dead in her tracks, then looked back, only to catch something mid-flight in front of her. He crossed his arms to his chest as Ruby looked at the item he threw at her. The girl's eyes went wide. She looked at him, surprise streaking across her face. He told her, "Your sister told me it's your birthday. Happy birthday and…" he seemed to pause, then scoff, "Sorry… I'm a bit worked up over something."
She blinked, almost in disbelief that Cardin freakin' Winchester would apologize to her of all people. Maybe today was a weird day of opposites, heh, but she wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth and mock the guy. That was Yang's ground. She simply smiled instead, stating, "Thanks, Cardin. And don't worry about it."
He nodded, then said, "Hey, do me a favor and put in a good word for me with those Misfit guys. I need to find a job," to which Ruby hummed. Now that was a bit sudden, but she shrugged and gave a thumbs up. He nodded back and said, "Alright… Thanks. Happy birthday again," before turning and walking to his team.
"That was so weird," She whispered to herself as she turned and walked toward the exit. Outside, she was met by a hearty, warm hug from her sister, her feet immediately lifted off the ground as she let out a yelp. She looked at Yang and barked, "YANG!?" to which her sister laughed as she put her down. Ruby, though confused, stared at her sister.
"Happy Birthday, Rubes!" She smirked.
"Happy Birthday!" Blake and Weiss also popped up, smiles on their faces. All three girls handed Ruby a gift each, with Weiss stating, "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find something we knew you'd like," as Ruby, as obviously excited as a dog receiving treats, basically wagged her non-existent tail at the sight of her newfound toys.
One was a headspacing gauge chain meant for various types of equipment. Weiss smirked, crossing her arms, then said, "Yes, you can praise me for the ge-GUH" and nearly choked when Ruby pounced on her to hug her. She coughed, then let out a weak, "Glad you like it," before rubbing her neck when Ruby let her go.
She then opened Blake's and found a rather beautiful addition to those gauges:A book on gunsmithing that she'd been looking into getting for herself with her first 'pay' from her 2nd year mission. She gasped, eyes wide and glistening like stars. She hugged Blake tightly, too, laughing, to which the black-haired beauty commented, "I and Yang saw you eyeing this thing and I guess it goes well with the gauges, so…"
Ruby giggled happily, obviously excited, before looking at Yang as she opened her gift, only to go bug-eyed as she saw a pristine and beautiful handgun placed with a pair of magazines. A point forty-five caliber handgun, specifically. She plucked it up, feeling how weighty it was, then grabbed the magazines. It even had awesome rose engravings on the side.
She pounced on Yang to the point she nearly caused the girl to lose balance. Yang let out a chuckle while listening to Ruby invariably just go full-speed "ThankyouthankyouthankyouTHISISSO FRICKIN COOL! THANKS, YOU GUYS!" and she almost sounded like she was about to cry. It was honestly kind of adorable.
Yang chuckled, hugging her sister and patting her on the back, before stating, "I'll be the first to admit I cheated a bit and went to Hass to custom-manufacture this for ya. Apparently it's using a bullet from Earth, Forty-Five ACP?" only to visibly see Ruby jump in her arms and hug her again. The girl laughed, then asked, "Oh, right, how was the test?"
"Passed it! Seven outta ten," Ruby grinned and high-fived her sis the moment she lifted her hand. Then, the girls started walking, with Ruby continuously playing with her new pistol, spinning it around on her finger and looking down the sights. She smiled brightly, holstered the gun on her belt, then looked over the magazines. They were double-stack.
For a big round like anything in the .45 Caliber area, it was something massive to have double-stack. Increased space for ammunition meant a lot more rounds of higher-caliber sidearm ammunition, which meant a lot higher of a chance to put something down if she ran out of ammo or dulled the blade of Crescent Rose.
She needed to think of a name for it, though. She beamed all the way through their walk, to the point she hadn't noticed they were heading somewhere else. Somewhere that wasn't their dormitory. Yang, Weiss and Blake all looked at each-other, then each put on a grin as they led Ruby over toward a specific House.
It was a decorated house. Had Jack-o-Lanterns in the front, music playing, orange streamers showing pumpkins with carved faces and a few other things. Ruby blinked, surprised, when she finally noticed it, then paused. The house's lights were turned off, however, making her think that nobody was in the strange place.
As they approached and Yang propped the door open, letting Ruby in first, the light came on and the entire force of the Misfit PMC jumped out, yelling, "SURPRISE!" which caused Ruby to take a step back, eyes wide. Food had been laid out on a longer table, ranging from various fresh produce and cooked meats to sweets and bread and everything else.
She was about to thank everyone, only to double over as she saw them all dressed weirdly. Paul was wearing what looked like a wig with longer hair, armor on his shoulders and a long black robe with red, as well as a strange gauntlet on his right hand. Beside him, Paula wore a strange head-dress with blue and white stripes and had painted herself orange.
Beside them, Vic and Vicky were wearing strange armor sets, while Vesna was wearing blue body paint with patterns and a suit. The only one who looked even semi-normal out of the pack was Robert, who was wearing a cream suit with a blue undershirt and striped neck tie and his hair slicked to the side. The others wore various other types of suits, so mixed and weird, they barely made sense.
"Welcome to the party, girls!" Nora cheered from behind them, too, wearing a costume with a beard and a blonde wig. "And happy birthday, Ruby! Hehe, we caught ya by surprise, didn't we?" all while she looked back at the rest of her team, who wore various costumes, too. Pyr herself wore an armor plate with abs on it, Jaune was in a full suit of armor and Ren was wearing what looked to be traditional garb from Sammy's.
Sam herself was wearing a black suit, black tie and a pistol holster on her thigh. She smirked, then said, "Yeah, we surprised them, alright," before looking back at Hassan, who was wearing a 1980s Soviet-Afghanistan War VDV uniform and Nicole next to him, wearing the labcoat, black bra and tight shorts of the Tactical Doll K-11 from Girls Frontline.
Alexi and Ayesha, meanwhile, wore nothing different from their usual uniforms, but had left their gear in the lockers nearby. They were guarding the massive haul of presents sitting in the back of the room. Aleksandr and the others weren't far behind them, though, each wearing a different costume meant to match the vibes.
"Holy crap…" Yang chuckled, "You guys took your time preparing this, eh?"
"Hey, we can't leave Ruby without a proper birthday party," Vic spoke, though he was muffled by the helmet he was wearing. He added, "Plus, we figure it'd be nice to introduce you kids to everything Earth-related about holidays, including Halloween. Which is why most of us are dressed up in funny suits and stuff."
"The heck is Rob supposed to be, then?" Ruby asked.
Robert suddenly had a grin on his face while the others began to laugh. An off-tune guitar started playing a slow, but upbeat tone as the man stepped forward, a box in his hands. He spoke, "Hi, I'm Saul Goodman. Did you know you have rights?" which garnered a look of pure confusion in the girls' faces. He handed the gift over and watched the confused Ruby Rose prop it open, revealing a bulletproof vest fitted specifically for her. She gasped.
"It's perfect!" Ruby smiled.
"Perfection is the enemy of the perfectly adequate," Rob grinned, then bowed out from the exchange.
"I have zero clue what the hell you're saying, dude," Yang mumbled as they walked inside to the feast and the overall party. Robert seemed almost offended at that, while Yang asked, "Okay, so… What the heck are you all dressed as anyways?" before the group of soldiers all looked at one-another. Yang raised a brow and asked, "What?" the moment all eyes fell on her again.
Vic murmured, "I forgot these kids don't know Earth media. Holy shit," before pausing as he heard Katja walk in. He looked back and grinned the moment he saw her in a familiarly Polish dress uniform, just with a skirt and leggings and weirdly arranged hair. She stepped up to the group, flaunting her cape, then pulled out a USB drive.
"Hey. I see you kept that-" Paul stumbled as soon as he saw Katja in that specific costume, his face burning red. He'd have expected her to be Padme Amidala, his 'wife' technically, considering he was cosplaying Anakin Skywalker. He blinked, staring at her while she grinned brightly and tossed Ruby a small pendant made out of a bullet.
"Happy Birthday, Roza," She stated, then winked at Paul while his sister giggled mischievously. Vera was behind her, wearing her normal EMR uniform and nothing more. Katja then continued, "Let's let her go through her presents, folks! Then we can start eating our dinners and watching movies with the Roob, hooah!?"
"Hooah!" The gang all cheered, letting Ruby have her fun opening presents. As the night faded into twilight, the gang sat at the table, eating the stuff Vesna, Sam and Ayesha had cooked. Ruby herself seemed to clearly enjoy the local dishes from China, Russia and, much to Victor's surprise, Romania and Hungary.
Kat grinned when people realized they were eating actual Goulash, with Paul and Paula giving the girl thumbs up. She snapped a quick salute, then looked at Ruby, who was now clad in the bulletproof vest and toting the new pistol Yang had had built for her, not to mention the other stuff like the pendant she'd made for the girl with actual silver and steel, representing her emblem.
She looked over at Paul, then asked, "Hey, Skyguy. Any chance you kill a kid today?" only to see the man crack a smirk, while his sister began to laugh. Much to Yang's concern. Katja looked at the girl and waved it off, stating, "It's a joke. You'll see when we force you all to binge both the Prequels and the Original Trilogy with us today."
"Sounds cool!" Ruby giggled, still overly excited over all the cool stuff she got. Basically the entire Misfit Company and team JNPR all beamed at the sight. It was honestly like looking at an excited little gradient-haired puppy. She sniffed the air, then paused and looked over to the left to see Vesna and Vic coming over with multiple plates of cookies.
"Homemade, choc chip, just like Yang told us you like them," Vesna smiled, almost a motherly smile. Ruby jumped for joy again, before waiting for Ves and Vic to put that stuff aside and jumping to hug them both. Vesna laughed happily, while Vic pat the girl on the back, smiling brightly, too. A visible change of pace from how he was barely months ago.
Yang smiled, too, crossing her arms. Weiss told her, "Glad to see you can enjoy your sister's happiness… Heh…" And she smiled a little melancholically, too, recalling her own elder sister, Winter, and how they'd celebrated each-other's birthdays together before the elder sister had signed up for the Army. It was honestly lovely.
Blake never had siblings, but she could hazard a guess just how nice it was, considering her three team-mates had family like that. She chuckled and asked, "Hey, Vesna. How is it being a Faunus now, by the way? I heard you don't have our kind on Earth," and she scratched her cheek. Honestly, she'd been told by Sam on a grocery run yesterday.
Vesna nodded, "We don't… Humanity's mostly focused on hating each-other based on skin color and religious beliefs nowadays, though," and she shrugged. Blake frowned, to which the girl added, "And we don't have any Grimm to keep us from really fighting each-other, either, so you can imagine just how much worse our fights got."
"Two World Wars," Vic completed quietly, then said, "No time to talk about that, though. We're here to celebrate Roob's birthday, so-" he paused as there was a knock on the door. Turning to face it, he walked over toward it and propped it open, only to stagger back as what felt like a turbojet-powered something flew past him and struck Ruby.
The girl let out a groan, thankful for the armor, before looking down to see what the heck was choking her out and gasping. She yelled, "PENNYYYYYYYYY!" as she threw her hands in the air. A ginger girl with emerald eyes, freckles and green clothing stood up, beaming, before snapping a salute. Most of the team recognized the ginger-haired girl as one that had been at the docks.
"Salutations, Ruby, my friend! And friends Weiss, Blake and Yang! And Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren! And Misfits!" The girl smiled brightly, "I hope I am not interrupting the celebrations!"
"We were actually just getting started proper," Ayesha quipped as she grabbed a turkey leg from the table, "Take a seat, ginger," and she bit from the food. Penny gently sat herself down with a smile, then her eyes shot wide open. She handed Ruby a gift:A box of cookies from a nearby sweets store that Ruby had heard about.
Ruby gasped, then said, "DOUBLE THE COOKIES!"
"Hehehe," Ves chuckled, then elbowed Vic gently, "Well, Chief? Take a girl for a ride~?" to which he snorted and hugged her, giving her a peck on the cheek. Yang frowned for barely a moment before quickly returning to her smiling self. She couldn't afford to be selfish right now, but she also wished she'd get the reference.
Weiss herself seemed to think the same, asking, "And that was a reference tooooo…?" Drawing out the last word with a smirk.
"Well, that's a tale for another time… If we ever get back to Earth and I and Anakin Skywanker over there ever get XBOXes," Vic snorted. He got hit in the head with a plastic toy of some kind, then laughed and said, "Sorry, Paul!" before getting a middle finger as a reply from a grinning Hungarian man. His sister was laughing, though she was reserved as usual, while Vicky was busting her gut laughing.
Penny looked at her own hands and seemed to want to do that same symbol, but Vesna called, "No, no, Penny, please don't do that unless you actually know what it means…" which caused the ginger girl to smile and nod. Ves breathed a sigh of relief, then glared at Victor and Paul, but still smiled a little at the antics.
The men raised their hands to show Ves to stay calm, while Vera snorted and whispered something to Ayesha and Lita, the latter of which burst into a short laugh as she arranged her Captain Price boonie hat. Ayesha snorted and shook her head, then looked at Hassan and Nicole, both of whom were having fun chatting each-other up.
She sighed sadly, then sipped from her drink, which Yang noticed and genuinely felt. Least she knew she wasn't exactly alone when it came to the guy she liked not liking her back. She gave a wave to the redhead, who nodded in greeting, raising a glass of what Yang could only assume was Beer. Alexi walked up to the girl, too, then raised his own glass to Yang.
Yang snorted, then looked at Blake. She traced a line from the girl's gaze to the way she was looking, only to immediately see her staring at Paul, her cheeks rosy. She laughed a little, turned to Weiss and saw her smiling, too, before asking in a whisper, "Well, what thawed your heart today, Weissu?" with a smirk.
Weiss rolled her eyes and replied, "Don't ruin the moment, Yang," though she still smiled.
"Heh. Sorry, sorry," Yang chuckled, then sipped from the soda she had on the table. She watched Vic and Ves walk over toward the TV as Katja produced that USB stick she mentioned, then turn it on. It was on the Vale News Network and the headline Yang managed to read was 'UNREST IN VACUO GROWS:NOMAD TRIBES AT WAR, THE CROWN MOVEMENT GAINS MOMENTUM'.
Which didn't paint a good picture, she thought to herself as a series of images flashed, showing the nomadic locals of Vacuo in the midst of darkness, all of them armed with eerily familiar firearms. Green tracers lit the night behind them when the image switched to protests within Vacuo City itself, showing the shanties and the likes and the rousing speeches of members of the local tribes.
Vic blinked as he watched the video, showing Katja to wait a minute before putting the movie stick in. He murmured, "Oh, we're gonna have to fucking deal with this later on, aren't we?" while Vesna knelt beside them, watching footage showing the armed tribesmen and women wearing shemagh scarfs and raising high heavily modified Kalashnikovs and other familiar firearms.
"Seems like it," Katja mumbled, then sighed and said, "Sam's gonna talk to Oz about it later…" before slotting the movie drive into its specific place and yelling out, "Alright, ladies, gents, Faunus and Human, gather 'round! You're about to see the greatest series of movies ever shown on the Big Screen," only to start the 'first' movie chronologically. 'The Phantom Menace'.
… About eight hours into the binge, Ruby, Yang and Nora were basically glued to the screen, eyes wide as they waited to see how the saga of Anakin Skywalker would end. Katja, Paul and Paula were laughing with each-other, with Paul quoting, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can ever imagine," as older Obi-Wan Kenobi said it to Darth Vader(the guy he was cosplaying the younger version of).
"You guys can genuinely quote the entire movie series, huh?" Blake raised a brow as she looked at the Hungarians and Pole. All three of them flashed grins at the girl, to which she chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Hey, not judging. I can quote my favorite books from memory, too…" before gasping as she saw the scarlet lightsaber of the Sith Lord, Vader, cut through Obi-Wan, only for Ol' Ben to vanish.
"NOOOOOO!" Ruby, Yang and Nora all audibly yelled the same way Luke did in the movie, garnering the laughter of the entire crew. They watched the Millennium Falcon leave the Death Star while Nora teared up. Penny was right beside them, hugging them while they watched the movie, while, in the back of the room, Ayesha sat, sipping her drink.
Alexi joined her there, too, asking, "Not a big fan of the nerd movies?"
She chuckled and replied, "Eh. They're cool, but I like more action-y stuff like Die Hard," before offering him a cup. He took it and nodded in thanks, to which she asked, "What about you? I'd'a thought with how good of a friend ya are with Paul and Vic, you'd be all over watching the Star Wars trilogy again."
"I grew up on it thanks to mom, but… Eh," He shrugged, "You get up to some bad stuff and you suddenly can't relate to the goodie two shoes heroes anymore… Hell, if anything, I feel I'd be closer to Han Solo than Luke," which got a laugh out of the redhead. He raised a brow and asked, "What? I'm serious. Biker gang and all."
"Oh, I know, Stoyanov," She grinned, then looked over at Vic and Vesna, both of whom had basically fallen asleep leaning on each-other. Vera was sat beside them, smiling at the sight, while Nicole and Hassan were chatting each-other up about something. She sighed deeply, then rubbed her eyes, shaking her head.
"Hey," He spoke, causing her to look at him, "I getcha… Trust me," before he looked at Hass and Nicole, too, "But this ain't so bad. God knows Hass needed someone to help unlodge that stick from his ass," before hearing Ayesha laugh a little. He smirked and told her, "You weren't any better when ya first got to us, though you were his polar opposite."
"Oh, shut it, Bulgar," She snorted, covering her mouth, "Ugh, damn, I got some of this freakin' sparkly punch in my nose," before coughing and trying to spit it out or something. Alexi hated when sparkly drinks got into his no-
"Wait a fucking minute, I thought this shit was beer," The guy said, looking at it. He sniffed it, blinked as soon as the stinging smell hit, he realized, "Oh, holy shit. It's sparkly lemonade," before looking up at Ayesha. The two paused for a sec, then began laughing a little, obviously making sure to stay quiet so as to not disturb the Nerds. They both needed that moment of levity, though.
Ruby watched the exchange with joy in her heart. The gang was wonderful, honestly. Even as soldierly as they were, they were all pretty much just regular folk like the rest of everyone in Beacon. She was glad they'd managed to befriend Victor, because good lord the guy probably would've needed a lot of help otherwise. Her smile only brightened when she saw him and his wife-to-be asleep in each-other's arms.
Ves was nice and made her cookies, too, so immediate bonus points, she thought.