Disclaimer: See first chapter, but replace 'Rooster Teeth' with 'Viz Media'.

Grocery Shopping

"Okay Zwei, be good, bathroom's open, don't break anything!" Ruby called out. She heard a small bark from the back, and she knew that something was going to end up broken. Whatever, she could probably fix it. Unless it lit up all the dust in the shop, but by then she'd have more things to worry about.

Like her entire shop being blown up by a dog. She was sure the insurance would love that particular scenario.

She made sure that Crescent Rose was attached to her back in its small form, because she didn't feel safe unless she had a giant scythe cross sniper rifle within close range. Although she was getting better at hand to hand and various other weapons. If only because Taiyang absolutely refused to have a daughter who was good with only one weapon.

If she was back on Patch, she probably would have been able to lie to him, but since she had an arena right there it was difficult at the best of times. Especially because he could just say 'alright then Ruby, prove it!' and then he'd prove that she didn't know how so would assign her remedial work.

And the remedial work!? How was he to know, let alone justify in the assigning of, two hours in the arena per weapon in her shop!?

Granted, she had recently gotten a new high score with a great hammer, so maybe it wasn't all bad. Although the score was much, much lower than it was for Crescent Rose.

Of course, that didn't mean much considering the arena had been broken by her and Yang a few days ago. Fighting limitless robots, one right after the other, ahh...that was so much fun. She was going to have to do it again.

After she makes sure that it's safe and not likely to trap them in there until either they run out of aura or break the machine again.

But...no! Now was not a time to think about work, or think about doing work, or thinking about poor Zwei who was left alone in the shop all alone, by himself, with no one there to keep him company except poor defenseless so lonesome Uncle Qrow!?

That poor dog.

No! Today was one of the only free days she'd ever scheduled for herself, and so she was going to use it! Even if it was just to go grocery shopping and then going to the arcade because supposedly they had new games in there and that way she wouldn't have to live in the middle of the woods out by herself for multiple years until Beacon-

She pulled out her scroll, forcing herself to stop thinking for all of a second. "Alright, what do I need..." she said aloud. The grocery store that she preferred wasn't one of the fancy ones where everything was home grown like some kind of farmer's market, but a cheap one. That sold cheap foods.

And cookies. Lots of cookies. Although it, and she was sure that her dad and Uncle Qrow had something to do with it, had basically forced her to not spend more than a hundred lien on cookies. The store even had a small sign that said, 'Ruby Rose, not allowed to spend more than one hundred lien on cookies'.

It didn't literally have a sign, of course, but sometimes she felt that it did. It was just cookies! Besides, she could bake better than most of the store bought stuff anyways. And there was no actual limit to the amount of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter she could buy. And no limit on chocolate chips, either!

So if she wanted cookies, she'd have to make them herself. That was fine. She walked into the store, grabbing a small basket. Her scroll, supposedly, had her grocery list on it, even though she knew most of them by heart anyways.

She headed for the baking section first, because that was always her first stop. "Ruby?" she heard a voice say behind her. She turned.

A large man with a broad chest, and simple glasses on his head was at the end. He had small floppy dog ears. "Perry!" Ruby recognized. "It's been a long time, hasn't it!" she said.

He had a gray jacket on and black pants, making him look like some of the White Fang supporters but with enough gray to not stand out. "That it has, Ruby! Curious meeting you here."

"How? It's just the store," Ruby said, motioning around. Speaking of the store, she grabbed three large bags of flour, putting them in the basket.

"I mean it's curious we're here at the same time. I haven't seen you in a long time! How have you been?" Perry asked.

"Alright. Things seemed to have calmed down a bit after the thing with Torchwick and the docks a month ago."

Perry nodded. "Yeah that was bad. I heard about it from a few friends of mine."

"And Torchwick tried to rob my shop right before it too. He didn't get anything though."

"I heard he did," A much lower voice said from behind Perry. Another man, similar in build but smaller in height, with dark, almost blood red hair. He had an eye patch on one of his eyes, and the other was narrowed, as if testing everyone for...something. He had small horns on each side of his head.

"Nah, one of my friends was there to help. That was lucky!" Ruby said. "Who's your friend?" she asked.

"Oh, this? This is Adam. Adam, this is Ruby, she runs Summer's Weapon Shop a few blocks down," Perry said. Adam's eyes seemed to narrow, as he subtly nodded.

Why did the name Adam sound familiar to her? Ruby glanced down at her basket, filling it up with a few more pounds of sugar and chocolate chips. Eggs and butter were left, along with some chicken and beef. Maybe some pork, depending on price.

Now she remembered, somehow, where the name was familiar to her. Blake had told her! She'd mentioned a guy named Adam, and to be careful of him. Probably not this guy though. He looked strong, but he didn't have a weapon and Blake had told him to beware the red katana on his hip.

"If you're here though, who's running the shop?" Perry asked.

Ruby grinned. "No one! Today's my day off. Shop's locked up tight. Hey, I was going to head to the arcade after this..."

"Oh, we were too! Can we join you?" Perry said with a large smile. Adam looked at him like he was insane, before Perry glared at him, needling him a bit with an elbow.

"You don't mind having two faunus along?" Adam asked, his voice terse. Perry's eyes widened, and he tried to shake his head.

Ruby wasn't sure what was going on. "No? Why would I?" she asked. She turned around for a bit, glancing at the butter prices. "Did they raise the price of butter again!? This is almost highway robbery! Seriously, it's thirty lien higher than it was this time last week!"

There was some whispered conversation behind her, and some hushed words. Ruby rolled her eyes as she brought a few more pounds into her basket.

There was a crash behind her as she turned to the eggs. "You alright?" she asked Perry, on the floor. He was crashed down on the ground, one leg in the air, as he seemed to dive where she had just been standing.

"Yeah, just peachy," he said, groaning softly.

Adam facepalmed as Ruby helped Perry back up. "Are you surprised at these butter prices too?" she asked. "I hope eggs haven't gone up."

"I doubt it," Adam said darkly.

"What makes you think that?" Ruby asked as she walked down to the eggs. The cold refrigeration felt nice, especially because it was still warmer than the air outside. Seriously, she could probably freeze the eggs just putting them outside for like ten seconds.

Actually Vale was pretty warm even in the winter months.

"White Fang doesn't target chickens," Adam growled out.

"No, but they take out other suppliers," Ruby answered instantly. "Thirty five caliber ammunition was near impossible to get for a while because the supplier was paranoid that the White Fang would come at them, despite them going after anything besides dust was unheard of."

"You...don't immediately blame them?" Perry asked softly and quietly.

"For what, stealing dust? Yeah, because they do! For everything else though it's just paranoia. Name one time the White Fang have actually stolen ammunition," Ruby reasoned.

"Twice. Both in Atlas," Adam answered instantly.

"And that's how long ago, and how far from Vale?" Ruby said. She'd never heard of that, although she supposed it wasn't that far off. Ammunition and dust were pretty close together after all...

"She is right, b-Adam," Perry said, cutting himself off from another word he was about to use. Ruby glanced at the prices, ignoring the byplay. If that's how they were privately, that was up to them. What they did on their own was their business, not hers. Unless they went to her shop. Then it became her business.

Fortunately, it seemed that egg prices had in fact not been raised. Actually they seemed rather standard, which was perfectly okay in Ruby's mind. She got a twenty four pack, which was enough for nearly twelve batches of cookies. Maybe. Unless she wanted to bake a frittata or something.

"What else was there," Ruby wondered aloud as she looked at her scroll. Perry and Adam were talking to one another in hushed whispers again. "Let's see, got most of the ingredients, still have plenty of baking powder from last time...right, chicken and beef. Maybe pork."

"Beef?" Adam asked, his eye narrowed.

"Yeah," Ruby admitted. "I'm not good at cooking, but I am good at baking, and I've gotten pretty good at even being able to do steaks in the oven. And when my cranky uncle is there..." she said, heading off for the meat section.

The two men followed her, dogging her every step of the way. More than once they went back into hushed whispers and talks. Ruby avoided trying to listen in. When she was in her shop it was a good skill to have but outside of it, it was just plain rude! No, if they wanted to talk with her they'd have to actually talk with her, otherwise she was going to do something weird like say how much she missed killing Grimm with Crescent Rose...

"Oh yeah, have you two seen Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked with a large smile. Perry shook his head, before Ruby grabbed it off of her back and showing it off. "She's my baby alright! A weaponsmith's dream, that's for sure."

"You're just...a weaponsmith?" Adam asked, his head tilted in obvious confusion. "And yet-" he turned to Perry.

"She's obviously good with her weapons! Just look at that!" Perry said. Ruby wasn't sure what they were talking about.

"Of course I'm good with my weapons? That's kind of basic. Any good weaponsmith knows their own weapons," she said, twirling Crescent Rose around. She got a few glares from some of the workers, and she gave a sheepish grin as she put it away.

"Hmm...you do weapons on contract, right?" Adam asked, suddenly his one eye showing a lot more malevolence. "I know a group that needs to be outfitted, mostly basic ones."

"Oh, like swords and shields and something? Sure, stop by the shop sometime and we'll talk!" Ruby grinned. If she managed to get out of this day with another weapon contract under her belt she was doing darn good!

She surfed through the dozens of chicken meats and beef steaks, before she settled on just plain chicken breasts. Perry and Adam continued in their hushed whispers as Ruby went up to the checkout stand.

"Thanks for coming to Nuzzle's, home of the nuzzler. Did you find everything okay?" the checkout clerk deadpanned, his eyes not leaving the computer screen for a moment. His eyes popped up on Perry and Adam, and he looked at them for a long moment before they widened, and he stared at Ruby.

Ruby was staring at a small sign on the cashier's table that said, "If your name is Ruby Rose, you are not allowed to spend more than 100 lien on pre-made cookies within this establishment."

"Darn it, they made it an actual sign here too," Ruby muttered, glaring at it as the checkout clerk tried to go faster, sweating profusely at the glare from Adam and Perry.

Zwei

Zwei was in his comfortable bed on the glass windowsill of heat, letting in the sun's rays warm up his body. His owner and current walker was playing some video game or another off in the corner as she waited for customers to come in.

And what fascinating scents they all had! Some had the scents of oil, others of dust and illusion, and even some of fire and water. Some of cats, and some of dogs or rabbits. A veritable mixture of impossibilities gathered in one place!

It made the shop one of his favorite places to nap. Forever bathed in the scents of the unfamiliar, a new thought and sensation around every corner! He was no cat, going around claiming every corner to be his, he was the best of boys, claiming nothing and yet hoarding everything!

The bell jingled, letting his current walker know that there were in fact some people in the store. Zwei sniffed the air, getting the scent of another dog, taller, in much poorer health and yet he was also covered in the scent of dust and ammunition. A bull, as well, accompanied him. They had on all gray, much like his current walker, and he heard his owner's words. There was a hint of something, like danger to them, despite the fresh shower he could smell on them both.

"Zwei! I'm talking contracts, so don't disturb me for like, half an hour okay!? I don't want to close the shop in case Yang or Dad show up, so you're manning the desk, okay!?" Ruby shouted. Zwei gave a quick bark.

She could count on him! He would dog that desk faster than any dog could ever dog a desk!

Whatever that meant.

Ruby led the two to the back, and Zwei noticed that she was about to close the door, and how dare she! That was his workshop as well, the workshop of the Zwei! He bounced the door off his paw, leaving it open just a crack. He gave a soft bark, satisfied at the door being still open. She had told him to dog the desk...which meant he needed to be higher!

He bounced onto the glass on the counter. It was much cooler here than it was in the radiant windowsill, but the scents here were much stronger because of it. Yes, he was the best of boys indeed. What did his current walker do whenever she was here for so long? She would often get the mechanical scythe rifle down and give it a thorough cleaning. He had no paws in which to grip the cleaning rag though, and the rag stank anyways, always of cleaning products and the laundry soap.

Whoever designed that laundry soap needed to be punished! It erased the hundreds of scents that his current walker emanated just from living! Did she not want to let all other people know how she was doing, that she was in fact healthy in the gut?

Then again, she and older current walker had taught him how to use the room of resting. And he was quite good at it, too, only having missed the once when he was learning. But he was powerful now, and he never missed! No, he was noble Zwei, the never misser!

The bell jingled again, and this time the cat person came in, the dratted bow holding back the ears again. She smelled of amusement, and the shame. Shame because he smelled gun oil on her, as if she'd run out of ammunition.

She must be here for ammunition! Yes, he could do this dogging the desk thing! Although why current walker called it manning, he didn't know.

"Oh. Hi Zwei," she said quietly, shivering away from him. She had always been skittish around him, and he wasn't sure why. Her scent changed to fear again, and he rolled his eyes. No one needed to be fearful of the Zwei, no one! For he was Zwei, the fear-disappearer! Yes, no one should have any fear for Zwei was there!

He barked gently, and pulled over a small sign that had words written on it by current walker. The cat person must have caught it, as she nodded. "Just...just thirty fives. Two boxes, Zwei," she said.

Of course she wanted ammunition, for he was Zwei, the predictor of persons! There was no better predictor of any person than he, Zwei! The Human...predictor! What was a word that alliterated with human? Hmm...no matter! For he was needed!

To buy ammunition for this person in order to kill the Grimm. Yes! A most absurdly...why was she already going to grab the boxes?

Zwei let out a small whine as Blake went and grabbed three of the boxes. "I already know Ruby's prices. Who's she talking to in there?" she asked. Zwei gave a small ruff. He didn't know the names, but he knew the scents. Bull man, dog man, and current walker! His hearing was good, but it was nowhere near as good as his nose, and unfortunately he still wasn't all that good at hearing things spoken behind a mostly closed door when they were all well behind said door.

"I suppose it doesn't matter. She's safe?" Blake asked, depositing a lien card. Zwei gave a small ruff and started to punch in the numbers. Just because current walker wasn't there didn't mean he couldn't ring her up! For he was Zwei, the Radical Ringer! He alone was capable of anything and everything that needed to be rung, for the bells of toil and labor belled ominously over his birth, like a fate unwinding-

The bell jingled as Blake left, leaving Zwei alone with his thoughts again. That was rude of her. At least she'd taken her card and receipt, and Zwei hadn't even bothered to try to overcharge her. He had been thinking of doing a "Zwei, Coiled Checker!" discount. Of negative ten percent.

That money would go entirely into the Zwei fund, a fund opened and operated by him, Zwei, the Money Maker! For he would make more money than even current walker did at every moment, for everything hinged upon his making the moneys!

Although what exactly was money, he wasn't sure. Current walker and Dad of current walker always made it seem like it was this life changing thing, but Zwei had never known what it was about. Life changing was more...where to nap? What to eat, and where? Which bad guys in which to bite the butts of!

Ah yes, Zwei, the Butt Biter! The most egomaniacal of all the Zweis! For he alone would save the world against those that proclaimed its injustice! For those that would see the world burn, he would bite them, and they would change their ways, and everyone would love the bestest of boys.

Goodest of boys. Whatever it was that Ruby called him. He was pretty sure it was good boy, but he wasn't just good, he was the best. Hence, best boy. It didn't help that best boy was alliterative, whereas good boy wasn't. So what was the point of calling someone a good boy, if it wasn't even alliterative?

Perhaps he should spend less time with the dictionary and thesaurus. But no, for he was Zwei, The Rivaled Reader! He would spend hours upon hours scouring the pages of all things denotational, letting his intelligence out to defeat all those that would harm the world, and in turn get pets and food.

Maybe there was something to that non-alliterative idea. No, Zwei shook his head, that couldn't be it. All good names must be alliterative. That was in the rulebook. Ruby Rose, for example. Best name ever. Alliterative, factual, made Ruby out to be much more innocent than she actually was as Zwei knew better than most, and definitely understated the power of a transformational scythe rifle.

Who else had an alliterative name, Zwei thought. There was Zwei, the butt biter. Zwei, Coiled Checker. Zwei, Radical Ringer, Zwei, Predictor of Persons, Zwei, the Never Misser...hmm. He'd have to workshop that last one. The Maligned Misser? No, that would presume that everything he did was misaligned, and that wasn't true. No, he'd have to workshop that one.

The bell jingled again, and the girl who smelled of oil and exhaust entered in. Her hair was the lightest of yellows, the same as her outfit. "Salutations Friend Zwei! Where is our friend, Ruby Rose?" she asked. Zwei, the questioning Quester! No, that didn't work. He gave a small ruff and pushed to the sign at his side, exactly as current walker instructed him to do.

"Oh, I see. Very well, I shall return at the designated time!" the strange girl said, giving off an Atlesian Salute that Zwei only knew because current walker and her friend, the boy who smelled like too many siblings, rust, and extreme emotional damage and secrets, were playing one of those moving games.

What was his name? Oh, what was he worried about names for? He was Zwei, the Name Nomenclature! Wait, that one didn't work either. Shoot, he was really going to have to work on his alliteration and thesaurus. It shouldn't be that hard to come up with some of these good ones!

The bell jingled as the girl left again, leaving the shop empty and cold and...empty. Yes, that was a good way of putting it. Cold and empty. And quite cold. And a bit empty, as well.

He grabbed a small feather duster in his mouth, the same one that current walker used, and set about doing the same chores for her that she always did at around this time. He would know, because it was precisely three hours to feeding time, and current walker hadn't once been late! That Semblance of hers ensured it, and so he was Zwei, the Glad! Glad...Gladiator? No. No that didn't work at all. Glad eater? Gourmandizer? Yes! Gourmandizer.

The Glad Gourmandizer! Yes, for he was Zwei, the Glad Gourmandizer! Yes, he was proud of that one, it just ticked into his head last minute. Another scent entered the shop, as this time current walker's sister came up. She smelled of shame, metal, and alcohol.

He was, unfortunately, very familiar with that last scent. Especially because the drunk bird decided to take up roost in Ruby's bed when she hadn't realized. Speaking of, it was right around time to go make the bed, as he woke up around this time didn't he? "Hey Zwei. You seen Ruby or Uncle Qrow around?" Yang asked as she walked up. There was little scent of alcohol this time, unlike the last time he'd seen her. Rubbing alcohol, maybe? Was she perhaps training and got injured? No, she had no visible bandages. It's likely then that she was the one that did the injuring!

He gave a small ruff, and his accursed tail betrayed him by wagging happily at her. Curse it! He wasn't happy at seeing the current walker's sister, he was annoyed! He was Zwei, the Annoyed Avatar! The Avatar of Annoyance! No, he might actually get in trouble for that one, Annoyed Avatar he was.

Yang read the sign, her head nodding. "Oh, alright. Tell her that Jaune wants to practice with Mors some more, against someone that's not liable to kick his ass while sleeping. Or while awake. Or ever, outside of practice time," Yang chuckled. "And...are those voices in there?" Yang said as she pointed to the barely ajar door. He gave a small ruff. "Yeah, I should leave her be. She knows what she's doing," Yang shrugged, heading out a moment later.

The door opened not a moment too late. "Thanks guys!" current walker said as she went behind the cashier's checking counter. "Okay, for just the basics like some simple guns, at a constant delivery rate..." she murmured. "Yeah, I can have the first delivery by end of next week!" she said, looking down at some picture of a cat, with words on the top. It looked worried, according to Zwei. There were boxes down below it.

"Thank you much, Ruby!" the dog person said, his small ears leaping up. Zwei envisioned himself biting his butt. But then again, almost all of them were gray except current walker and the cat person. The bull person came out a second later, nodding to Ruby gently as he walked out of the store.

There was something that was off about that guy, but Zwei didn't know what it was. But he was Zwei, the Hatting Hunter! And he would hunt to the end of all hats if he needed, he would find what that Adam guy was hiding!

Also he really didn't like that smirk that came from him as he left. Well...Zwei wasn't worried. It was time to go get the drunk one up.

I don't know what drug I was on when I wrote that second one but I want more of it.

Until Next Time!