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valentineforlemonandcherry · 11 months

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Foxtail & Wolfsbane 41

Summary: Your lifelong obsession to hunt down the Nine-Tailed Fox has not gone as expected, and seventeen years later, you find yourself coming back to the place where it all started: Hogwarts. However, with Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban and Headmaster Dumbledore’s hire of a certain Professor R. J. Lupin, you suddenly find yourself intertwined in the fates of those with whom you thought you had parted ways with long ago.

[Multi-Post Story] [Rowan Scamander x Reader] [Remus Lupin x Reader] [Young Sirius Black x Reader] [Tristan Graves x Reader] [Severus Snape x Reader] *Note: Rowan Scamander, Tristan Graves, Susana Holmes, Cas Carneirus, Henrietta Weiss, Thomas Picquery, and Magdalene Clarke are OC characters.

Note: Part 41 does not contain any smut.

*Please do not repost or copy my work without my permission. Thank You!

☾ Click Here for Foxtail & Wolfsbane Home Page (All Chapter Links) ☾

You and Remus traveled back together to Grimmauld Place. It was an odd journey because you were sure that Remus would want to return as quickly as possible – and yet he kept insisting on using Muggle transportation.

First, the two of you trekked through the forest together. You were both quiet, not speaking much. However, as you approached the forest outskirts, you felt as though a spell was about to be broken. Remus was about to step past you, when you grasped the cuff of his robe.

“Remus, wait.”

Remus turned and looked at you, waiting for you to speak.

You wondered how you could express the complicated thoughts feelings that had been running through your heart over and over again. “There’s something I’d like to make clear before we go back to the real world and lose ourselves in the chaos out there again. It hasn’t always been easy, Remus. When you said to me, all of those years ago, that you didn’t want me by your side…” Your fingers tightened on Remus’ cuff. “I understand now, of course. And Merlin knows you have every right to your own feelings. Only, when I realized that all of those years, you had kept such an important secret from me - ” You shook your head, frustrated because you weren’t saying clearly what you wanted to convey. “This isn’t – I’m not - ” Shaking your head, you started over, speaking as calmly as you could. “All of these years, there’s one thing I wanted to tell you, both when we were together and when we were apart…” You looked Remus directly in his eyes and said truthfully, “I’m glad to have met you, Remus Lupin. I’d do it all over again, every bit of it, to meet you again.”

Remus felt his heart shiver in his chest. He started to step towards you.

That was when you continued, “That’s not conditioned on any type of relationship. I’m not asking for – Merlin knows I’m not asking to – to be with you.”

Remus stuttered to a stop. Oh…

“What I mean is that your happiness is my happiness and your sadness is my sadness.” You gave Remus a brave smile. “I suppose I’m trying to say that I wish you’ll always be happy. That’s all.”

Remus felt as if everything was frozen in time. Lovely wants me to be happy… But not with her.

You waited for Remus to respond. Only, he continued to gaze at you like a deer in headlights. You broke the silence first by saying, “Well, then. Let’s get out of here, huh?”

You forged ahead, breaking through the last line of trees. Remus let out a long, low breath and straightened out his cuff (which you’d wrinkled) before he followed you out.

* * * * * * * * * *

Once you and Remus had found your way back to civilization, Remus suggested taking a ship instead of a Portkey back to Europe. You wondered aloud if that would be all right when “certain Order members in London” were bound to be waiting for him. Remus stared at you as though he wasn’t certain how to respond.

You turned away from Remus to avoid his gaze, but you didn’t regret saying it aloud. While you didn’t want to be overbearing, you also didn’t want to cause any friction between Remus and Tonks. Finally, you encouraged Remus to send a Patronus to let Tonks that he was all right and that he was on his way back.

When you bought your ship tickets, you realized (with huge relief) that only two months had passed while you and Remus were in the mythical world.

* * * * * * * * * *

That night, you lay awake in the bunk bed. Last time I was on this ship, I had Artemis squirrelled away under my cloak. She would fall asleep on my stomach and keep me warm. I always slept better when she was around…

Just then, you heard a light snore wander up from the bunk below you – where Remus was sleeping. You turned onto your side and pressed your hand against your sheets. You thought of Remus and his wolf self. There was so much hurt in his heart, you remembered. I wish I could be the one to help him through that.

But no, you caught yourself. I can’t think like that. Remus has Tonks. She’s better for him. She’s brighter than I am, and she’s effortless about it.

Right, you thought, rolling onto your back again. Now, it’s time for me to grow up and make something of my life. I should get a real job, for starters. No more of this chasing myths. You shut your eyes and made to go to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, you opened your eyes again. Damn, I can’t seem to sleep.

Giving up sleep altogether, you left your bed and climbed down the ladder. You started to put on your shoes and your cloak when Remus woke up. “Lovely?” he murmured. “‘S that you?”

You knelt beside Remus’ cot and pulled up the blanket around him. “Sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep, Remus.”

You began to turn away when Remus croaked out, “Wait, now - !”

You started to shout a warning, “Watch - !”

Thunk! Remus sat up too suddenly and clonked his head against the upper bunk. He immediately flopped over and put his hand to his head. “Ow…”

“Oh, Remus.” You came back to him. Leaning onto his bed a little, you rubbed his shoulder. “You’re taller than you think you are. I think it’s time you finally admit that, and stop being so clumsy.”

Remus moved his hand away and cracked one eye open at you. “And you need to stop moving about so fast,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep. “Give me some time to catch up with you before you go flitting off again, please.”

“I’m only going outside for some fresh air,” you replied. “I don’t need to wake you up for that, do I?”

“Well, perhaps not, but you did,” Remus murmured. With a sigh, he sat up again (carefully this time). “So I’m coming with you, if that’s all right.”

“You don’t have to,” you said softly, wondering if Remus was actually awake and aware of what he was saying. “You should stay in bed.”

“Why? Would you be uncomfortable if I came with you?” Remus asked.

You hesitated. Uncomfortable? I suppose so – since my heart won’t stay still whenever you so much as look my way.

Then, you caught the way Remus was looking at you, waiting for your reply.

Uncertainly, you replied, “No…” You fidgeted slightly. Since you were only half-dressed, with your shoes half-on and your cloak loosely hung around your shoulders, your awkward shifting made your cloak slip off one of your shoulders.

Remus reached over to fix your cloak. “Then, may I come outside with you?”

You shrugged. “Sure, but I’ll be right back, so there’s really no need.” Your shrug made your cloak slip off again.

Remus gave you a weary smile as he reached over yet again to fix your cloak again. This time, he fastened the button on your cloak for you. As his fingers gently brushed your throat, Remus replied, in his still-tired, raspy voice, “I know that’s what you intend, but I can’t help feeling like you’ll go flitting off on your next adventure any second now.”

“Flitting off?” you repeated, catching Remus’ odd turn of phrase.

But Remus nodded and said, rather seriously, “I’ve started to think that you are a myth, and you’ll disappear before my eyes at any moment. And while I don’t mean to keep you, I wish you’d give me a moment to get my bearings together before you disappear again.”

You couldn’t help but smile at this fanciful accusation. Reaching out, you touched the back of Remus’ hand to convince him, “What do you mean, I’m a myth? I’m right here, aren’t I? I’m just as human as you.”

As soon as the last words slipped out of your mouth, you wanted to take them back. You stilled, instinctively expecting Remus’ eyes to darken and for him to draw away from you, as he had always done. Instead, Remus’ eyes remained quite light, if not a bit sleepy, and he whispered back, “Thanks to you.” He slipped his hand from under to over your hand and he gripped your hand gently in his.

Oh… His hands… I’ve always loved the way his hands feel on me – No, but wait, this isn’t appropriate. Right, I don’t think Remus is fully awake. You abruptly snatched your hand away from Remus. Clearing your throat and shoving your hands deep into your pockets, you stood up and said, “Of course you’re welcome to join me. Put on your cloak, Remus. I’ll wait outside.”

With that, you quickly walked away from him.

Staring after you, Remus slowly turned his hand back over and he gripped the blanket for a moment before he got up and pulled on his cloak and shoes and followed you out.

* * * * * * * * * *

You and Remus made your way up to the deck. Although you were tired, you let out a sigh of relief when you felt the fresh sea air wash over you. Admiring the stars shining brightly above you and the dark waves crashing gently against the ship, you let yourself get lost in the vast vista of untamable nature stretching out before you.

I don’t know why, but I love the freedom of the unknown. This sense of adventure… It sings in my soul, you realized. What do I do, though, when I know now that adventure doesn’t build anything lasting in life?

You glanced at Remus, who was standing beside you. He seemed to be looking up at the moon.

Remus isn’t a werewolf anymore, you mused. That means that he’ll be able to move on with his life. He can build whatever life he wants with Tonks. The only thing holding him back from building his life was his werewolf self.

But I’m different. I don’t have a reason why I’m unstable. Rather, I’m simply not a steady person. I feel most at home with the fantastical, even when it’s detrimental to my ‘real’ life. You thought to yourself, I wonder if Remus sensed that about me. I wonder if that’s why he never trusted me enough to tell me that he was a werewolf.

You felt a familiar pang of hurt go off in your heart – and it was strange not to feel or hear the Nine-Tailed Fox reacting to that with a snarky comment. In fact, you missed her reactions. Without her, there was only hurt.

You chanced a sideways glance at Remus. All those years together, you never let me in. I have no doubt in my mind that I would have accepted your werewolf self. I would have loved you the same and respected you even more. Instead you shut me out, time and time again. I understand why. I understand that I’m not a stable, trustworthy person. I understood, too, the fear of being seen as less than human.

But what was I supposed to do? If I intruded on your privacy and forced you to tell me, you would hate me. But since you didn’t tell me, you kept me at a distance until I became a burden to you, unable to reach you when you needed me. Yes, you were always putting up a front before me, I see that now. All of those times I thought were happy times, like the first time we made love, you must have been so stressed. I sensed it back then, but I didn’t realize why that guilt existed or how deep it went.

Remus was indeed gazing up at the moon. It was a half-moon tonight. Out of habit, he let out a sigh of relief. Whenever he saw a nearly full moon, he still tensed up. Eventually, though, his eyes fell onto you. There you were, outlined against the darkness of the endless sea, with your hair becoming tangled by the salty breeze, and faint starshine reflecting in your eyes and glinting off your cheeks. He swore that something of the mythical realm, or perhaps of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s energy, stayed with you, even if you weren’t aware of it yourself.

“What are you thinking about?” Remus asked. “Your next adventure?”

“No, there’s no ‘next adventure’ for me, I’m afraid.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm, I think I’ve had my fair share of adventure with the Nine-Tailed Fox.”

“That is more adventure than most people have in a lifetime,” Remus agreed easily. “But then, what are you thinking so hard about?”

You shot Remus a questioning look. “What makes you say I’m thinking hard about something?”

“I know what you’re like when you’re fixated on something,” Remus replied quietly. “Your expression, your energy… They change when you’re ruminating.”

Giving up on feigning ignorance, you murmured, “I’m not sure you want to know.”

Remus waited patiently, looking at you with a soft, curious gaze.

Avoiding his gaze, you reached out and grasped the railing in front of you. You stared down at the dark waters below for a beat before you admitted, “If you want to know the truth, I’m thinking about why you didn’t tell me what you were.”

Remus’ eyes flashed. A moment later, his brow furrowed and his expression became tense.

With a sad smile, you whispered, “I told you that you didn’t want to know.”

Remus let out a long and heavy sigh. “So, you haven’t forgiven me for that, have you?” Then, he muttered to himself, “Well, of course not. It would be strange if you could forgive me.”

“You’re right. I haven’t forgiven you for not telling me, ” you acknowledged. “And if there wasn’t all of this – this otherworldly stuff going on, I’d be a lot more obvious about it.”

Remus shut his eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. He hated this. He could feel your your disappointment.

However, you then said, in a softer voice, “Though, in a way, I’m glad that I didn’t have the chance to react right away. Because it made me think about it a lot more. I don’t fully understand still, but I feel calmer about it now, for whatever that’s worth.” You let go of the railing and turned to Remus. “I’m sorry I wasn’t someone you could rely on. When I saw you with your wolf, it made me realize how you’ve always been struggling, all by yourself.” You paused for a moment, willing yourself not to become too emotional, before you continued, “The truth is that I can’t help but be upset because I always wanted you to trust me the way I trusted you. See, you were such a blessing in my life because I felt I could tell you everything and you’d accept me. The fact that you didn’t feel the same way about me – Well, it’s something I’m still figuring out. I’ve been thinking about our time together and I still think about you quite – quite often.”

You suddenly realized that you were very close to spilling out your heart to him. You quickly turned away. “Sorry, I’ve said too much.” You tried to lighten the atmosphere by joking, “I told you that you wouldn’t want to hear all this. Sharing late-night thoughts is never a good idea, especially because when I’m with you, I’m prone to saying silly, silly things…”

Remus didn’t move. You kept your head down. But as the seconds went by, you felt incredibly torn between looking at him to read his expression and running away altogether. Finally, Remus murmured aloud, “That day we parted… You left me a letter. I didn’t find it until after you’d gone, but I remember it very well. You…” He fell silent again.

In your mind, you begged him to go on, to tell you his thoughts.

Meanwhile, in his mind, Remus was recalling the words you’d written to him in your letter. After you had gone, all he had had left of you was this letter. He’d read it so many times that the pages had gone all limp and the ink had mostly faded away. You had written, “Just to be clear, I’m not angry with you, Remus. I’m truly not. I just feel sad, because you must feel that you can’t trust me as completely as I trust you. I don’t want to pressure you. I’m not writing to tell you that you have to tell me what’s going on with you or anything. But I just want to promise that I will work really, really hard to earn your trust and to be someone reliable enough that you feel you can tell me your deepest troubles.”

“Remus?” Your troubled voice brought Remus back to the present.

Remus gazed at you. “Nothing,” he said quietly, unable to tell you what he felt for you in words. “It’s only that…”

“Only what?”

Remus smiled warmly. “You haven’t changed at all, Lovely.”

When you heard Remus say that, your heart fell. He’s saying that I still don’t feel like a reliable person. He’s trying to make it sound endearing, but his point is clear. You pretended to nod at Remus, but it was really an excuse to duck your head down and hide how hard you were biting down on your lower lip.

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, back at Grimmauld Place, Sirius received quite the surprise when he found a piece of Muggle mail on his doorstep.

“How the hell did this get here?” Sirius wondered, flipping the envelope over to read it as he walked into the kitchen.

Tonks and Bill were already in the kitchen. Tonks called, “What is it?”

“A piece of Muggle mail. But Grimmauld Place isn’t visible to non-magical folk.”

“It must be a magical person that dropped it off, then,” Bill surmised. “They just happened to do it by Muggle means.”

“But why?”

Tonks stood up and peered curiously over Sirius’ shoulder. “Open it. Maybe it’ll give us a clue.”

Sirius ripped open the letter. He read aloud, “To a certain wayward Remus J. Lupin: It has come to our attention that you defaced the following books by ripping pages out of them. Unfortunately, these books have now been deemed ‘damaged’ and you are responsible for paying the following amount to replace the value of these books – Gulping gargoyles!”

Bill nearly choked on his spoon when Sirius shouted out such an outdated phrase.

“Two hundred and sixty Galleons!?” Sirius yelped. “What, did he go sharpen his claws on the whole fucking library or something?”

“What kind of books are they?” Bill asked curiously. “Does the letter say?”

Sirius reeled off, “Mysteries of the Lost Forests; Maps of the Ancient World Volumes I, I, and II; The Secret Geography of Japan; Magical Doorways and Cupboards: How Not to Lose Your Head by Accidental Head-Sticking-into-Dangerous-Holes’ – What in the name of…? The hell was Moony doing?”

“We can ask him when he gets here,” Tonks said. “He should be here either tonight or tomorrow morning.”

“Do you think he’s found fox girl?” Bill asked, having unconsciously picked up on Sirius’ nickname for you. “That’s why he left in the first place, right? And those book titles all indicate that he was trying to locate a specific place.”

“Yeah, I s’pse so.” Sirius folded the letter back up. As he tossed it on the table, he remarked, “He better have found fox girl, ‘cause he certainly can’t pay back this library all by himself.”

“Do you think the librarian delivered it to us?” Bill wondered.

Sirius shook his head. “The librarian isn’t someone we know, so she couldn’t have known the password for Grimmauld Place.”

“Strange,” Tonks remarked. “Wonder who got this letter to us, then.”

* * * * * * * * * *

In a nearby candy shop, Albus Dumbledore, the Head Managing Wizard of all magical libraries and friend of all librarians, whistled merrily as he bought himself a good helping of sour lemon candies. He planned to offer them to Remus Lupin to cheer up the poor fellow once he’d read the letter that Albus himself had taken great care to drop off at Grimmauld Place.

* * * * * * * * * *

You and Remus arrived in Europe. Now, the two of you had to head back to London. When Remus suggested taking a long train trip back, you said, in a rather confused voice, “Well, all right, I’m game. Merlin knows I haven’t got any plans. But perhaps you should send another Patronus to Tonks.”

Remus drew his wand and sent his Patronus to Sirius.

“And maybe another to Tonks?” you suggested.

Remus frowned slightly. “She’ll get the message. They’re both at Grimmauld Place, after all.”

“Oh.” You hesitated. Strange. Oh, well, it’s none of my business.

Recognizing that you weren’t telling him something, Remus’s frown deepened.

Just then, the train whistle blew and the conductor shouted for passengers to board. You and Remus boarded the train. Although the train was mostly full, you and Remus were able to snag a compartment for yourselves for at least a few minutes.

It was only when you had both taken your seats that Remus finally threw up his hands and gave into his long-suffocated curiosity. “All right, I have to ask. You keep bringing up Tonks. Why?”

Startled, your head swiveled as you turned to look at Remus. “Huh?”

“Why do you keep talking about Tonks? What about her is so interesting to you?”

To me? you thought incredulously. I was trying to think about you, Remus.

Unwilling to say this aloud, however, you ended up blurting out, “Uh, her hair changes more colors than mine.”

“Yes, but - ” Remus stopped and shook his head when he actually took in your answer. “Wait, what?”

You quickly fibbed, “She – um – She’s a Hufflepuff – No, an Auror – a Metamorphagi!”

Remus looked more confused than ever. “So – So, this is why you think I should send all of my Patronuses to her?”

Unable to think of a reply to salvage yourself, you were relieved when the compartment door opened and a family of four came in.

Although Remus did not try to repeat his question, you could feel his skeptical gaze boring a hole into the side of your face. I’ve never met anyone as kind and gentle as Remus, but Merlin, he really knows how to stare, you thought, flushing.

Trying to diffuse the tension, you pointed out the window and chirped brightly, “Look, it’s a great horned owl! He’s got a letter in his beak. Blimey, I wonder who was able to tame that owl for a pet. Rowan said that great horned owls are harder to tame than thunderbirds. ‘Course, he was exaggerating to make a point, but I… I think you get my… drift…” You had turned your head to look at Remus, only to find that his gaze had become even more serious and piercing. Your pseudo-cheerful voice slowly dried up into hesitant nothingness.

Keeping his voice very low, so as not to be overheard by the family, Remus said to you, “Perhaps it’s none of my business, but I feel I must ask, what happened to you and Rowan?”

You whispered back nervously, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Remus said, barely moving his lips now, “weren’t the two of you engaged?”

“Oh… No, we weren’t,” you answered. But then, thinking about it, you corrected, “Well, we were close. I mean, we were trying to get there. Rowan was being very sweet, committing himself to me. He was waiting for me to reciprocate, only I…” Your hands slowly balled up into fists as an intense feeling of guilt pierced through your chest. “…I found that I couldn’t.”

“Is Rowan still waiting for you, then?” Remus asked. “Waiting for a confirmation?”

You turned away from Remus, feeling deeply ashamed of yourself as you murmured, “No, he knows that there’s no point in waiting. I reckon he saw right through me from the beginning.”

“Saw through you…?”

“From the moment I came racing back to Grimmauld Place, Rowan knew…” you whispered. A heavy, dull throb of pain went off in your heart. There were so many painful things about what had happened between you and Rowan, but the worst was that you realized, in hindsight, that you had used him. You had never meant to, but you had taken so much from him and then failed to live up to the same level of commitment. Keeping your head down, you fell into talking to yourself as you murmured, “He knew I’d come back because I cared about someone else, and I selfishly dragged him along with me anyways.”

Remus frowned, not understanding your words. Lovely came back for someone else?

However, as those words ran through his mind, Remus suddenly had a flashback to the night you’d returned to the Order. As soon as you saw Remus and realized that he was hurt, you’d pounced on Sirius. Remus’ breath caught. Did Lovely actually come back to check up on me? Did she hear that Sirius had escaped and come to make sure that Sirius wasn’t using me again? Or am I simply desperate enough that I’m tying events together in an utterly nonsensical way?

Remus’ eyes flickered over to you, and he tried to gain a hint from your expression. Only, you had turned towards the window so that Remus could no longer see your face.

Just then, one of the children in the compartment screamed and accidentally threw her Chocolate Frog right in Remus’ face. Splat!

You looked up, only to find a half-eaten Chocolate Frog plastered on Remus’ cheek. Remus slowly pulled it off of his face. When you chuckled at his expression, Remus lifted an eyebrow at you.

Meanwhile, the child screamed, “He took it! He took my candy!”

“He did not take your candy,” the mother said, exhausted. “You threw it at him. You need to apologize to the nice man, all right?”

“Never mind,” Remus said graciously.

You silently offered Remus your handkerchief. He took it and wiped his face with it.

Ten minutes later, when the trolley lady came around to sell snacks and drinks, Remus ordered four Chocolate Frogs – one for each of the kids, one for himself and one that he put into your pocket, along with your handkerchief.

“Thank you,” you said quietly.

Remus nodded. Then, he peeled open his own Chocolate Frog. You couldn’t help but smile as you watched Remus, who had been staring at you so intently just minutes ago, now eating a Chocolate Frog with evident satisfaction written all over his face.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Last stop! Last stop!”

Someone nudged your shoulder. “Lovely, wake up. We’ve got to get off now.”

“Huh? Oh…” You had fallen asleep against the window without realizing it. You pried your face off of the glass and followed Remus off of the train.

Once you both were on the platform, Remus looked over at you to make sure you were still behind him. Taking in your state, he suddenly laughed. “Seems like you slept quite well.”

You quickly reached up and patted the side of your face.

“There’s nothing on your face,” Remus assured you. “It’s just that you’re looking a bit dazed there.”

“I’m fine,” you replied, blinking quickly as you tried to adjust your eyes to the sunlight pouring into the train station.

“Right,” Remus said. “But here, take my hand, just in case.”

Remus held out his hand to you and you instinctively took it. It was only when you felt Remus’ hand fold warmly over your own that you thought, Wait… What’s he doing? This isn’t right. What about Tonks? You paused, however, as you thought back to Remus’ evident confusion about you constantly mentioning Tonks. Does that mean they’re not together? But I saw them together, that night in the kitchen.

Remus finally pulled you free of the crowd. However, you suddenly dug in your heels and pulled your hand out of Remus’ grasp.

Remus paused. “What’s the matter?”

“We shouldn’t be holding hands like that, Remus,” you said firmly.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I was gripping your hand too tightly. I simply didn’t want you to get lost - ”

You finally gave up on the subtleties. “Oh, come on, Remus! You can’t be seeing one girl and then holding another girl’s hand like that. And of course you should send a Patronus to your girlfriend if you’re away for this long, especially if you’re with just one other person! Even if you don’t mean anything by it, it’s disrespectful to your girlfriend!”

Remus blinked owlishly. “My girlfriend?”

“Yes, your girlfriend! Or your date or your friend or – I don’t know what you’d define her as, but you know – Tonks!”

It suddenly clicked for Remus. “You think Tonks is my girlfriend?”

“‘Course she is,” you said knowingly.

Remus stared at you. “Why are you so sure about that?”

“Because,” you stated matter-of-factly, “I saw you two kiss in the kitchen.”

Remus inhaled rather sharply. It was a stroke of luck that there weren’t any flies nearby or else they would have suddenly found themselves zooming up his nostrils.

Seeing his expression and taking it as confirmation, you said sagely, “Yes, Remus, I know. You don’t have to pretend otherwise in front of me.”

Hoarsely, Remus said, “It was one kiss.”

“Sure,” you agreed, “but it wasn’t just the kiss. I mean, any two people can kiss. Besides, it was her birthday and she was drunk. Except you – It was the way you looked at her - ” Your eyes had slowly begun to slip down Remus’ tall frame throughout your little speech and by now, you were staring determinedly at his feet. “It was all warm. Like you were regarding her with – with love. You loved her. You love her. And why not? Tonks is wonderful. She really is. Her hair changes any color she wants it too, not like mine, where it was a dull blue for ages…”

Remus’ eyes flashed. “Is that why you changed your hair back?”

You flushed, realizing too late what you’d just admitted. But you held your ground and said firmly, “Remus, I don’t want to be the reason why the two of you fight or have a misunderstanding, especially when it’s taken you so long to accept your own happiness, Remus. I know how much you struggle with that.”

“But - ”

“I told you, when I saw you with your wolf spirit, I realized how lonely you must have been, even when you were with me. You couldn’t love him the way you should have, Remus. Because I couldn’t be there for you the way I should have. But now that you’re no longer a werewolf, you can have the life you want with Tonks, and I think that you should absolutely go for it - ”

All this time, Remus had been attempting to interrupt you by making little hand gestures, but you had steamrolled on in your surefire facts, spewing out a whole narrative for Remus. Finally, though, Remus had had enough of this incredible story of some version of his own life. Fed up with your nonsense, he grabbed you by the shoulders.

Upon seeing his furious expression, you suddenly fell silent. “Ah…”

“Are you finished yet?” Remus asked you brusquely.

“Um, um…” You stared at Remus with wide eyes. Seeing that he was upset, but not quite sure why, you offered a peace treaty by saying, “Well, you get to write the ending. It’s your life, after all.”

Remus let out a long, tortured sigh (this would have been the moment at which the poor fly would have been shoved right back out into the world). He had never had such a headache in all his life. Through gritted teeth, he spoke very deliberately. “Yes, it is my life, and I don’t appreciate you chalking it up to whatever story you happen to believe in.”

You cocked your head at him. “But I’m right, right?”

Remus growled, “How is it that you can figure out the Nine-Tailed Fox, but you can’t figure out me?”

Feeling wronged, you blurted out, in a flustered tone, “Honestly, she’s much easier to read than you. Listen, Remus, I’m only trying to look out for you!”

“I know that,” Remus said sharply. “I know.”

“Then – what’s the issue?”

Remus closed his eyes. When he did, he squeezed your shoulders tightly. Then, opening his eyes again, Remus said, “Forget about Tonks for a moment. Do you remember when we were lying down together in the attic and you were telling me to make a wish?”

You looked up at Remus curiously.

Remus prompted, “You knew that the Nine-Tailed Fox would grant my wish for me and you told me to focus on what I wanted most, right?”

“Oh,” you realized. “Yes, of course I remember.”

Remus asked you, in a serious voice, “Do you know what my wish was, Lovely?”

You answered at once. “To no longer be a werewolf.”

Remus shook his head.

“What? It wasn’t?” you said, entirely taken aback. “But I thought that that was what you wanted, most of all.”

“Of course I always wanted that, but…” Remus tensed slightly. “When you asked me for what I wished most, I couldn’t help but wish for something else.”

You bit your lip nervously. “What else could you have possibly wished for?”

Remus dropped his head for a moment. When he lifted his face again, you were startled by how much emotion was overflowing and clashing and breaking in those hazel eyes of his…

“What, Remus?” you whispered, suddenly frightened. “What did you wish for?”

Still holding onto your shoulders, Remus leaned down towards you and peered into your face as he confessed, “My wish, Lovely, was to be with you.”

#fanfic #fanfiction #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin #marauders #marauders era #harry potter imagine #foxtail and wolfsbane

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bridgyrose · 1 year

Note

Cinder gets handed a baby and has to find the "mother"... Turns out it's Ruby's (adopted) kid... Shenanigans result because the baby calls Cinder "mama".

“You have to be kidding,” Cinder said as she held a small baby by the armpit at an arm’s length away. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Emerald sighed and took the baby away from Cinder. “*That* is a baby and *you* need to return it to it’s mother.”

“And why cant you do that? You’re the one trying to be a hero now.”

“Because I promised Oscar that I’d take a mission for him in order to help me get a huntressing license. Besides, you’ve started trying to get your license too. And dont you dare deny it, I know you’ve been studying for the exam same as I have.”

Cinder sighed and rolled her eyes. “That doesnt have anything to do with a baby.”

“It does when she’s lost.” Emerald handed the baby back to Cinder and frowned. “Return the child to her mother and then we can be done with it.”

“Fine, but I’m not going to like it.”

“No one says you have to.”

Cinder held the child in her arms and frowned at it. Over the last couple years, she had been doing what she could to get a huntress license so she would quit getting in trouble for being a vigilante. Though returning a lost child to her mother seemed like the last thing a huntress would do and more something to leave to the kingdoms… assuming they could get anything done. Instead, here she sat with a baby in her arms and a few documents that Emerald had managed to scrounge up about where the child was from. With no real leads on who the mother was, all they had was a list of addresses, a first name, and the name of the orphanage the child had come from. Cinder slowly picked up the first page of addresses and started to read through them to find the ones in Vale and the villages closest to start her search.

“This is going to be a long day…”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another door slammed in Cinder’s face and another address was crossed off the list she had created to search for the day. No one had seen the child, let alone could narrow down who had a child named Garnet. Hours of searching had been a waste of time as she made her way to the nearest inn at the newly rebuilt Mountain Glenn. She walked through the streets and held the child close, groaning as it started to cry.

“Sounds like she’s hungry,” a voice said behind Cinder. “Or at least tired.”

“And what would you know about that?” Cinder asked as she turned around, holding the child close to her and her free hand moving to a blade on her hip. Her fingers relaxed and she frowned as she recognized the person behind her. “Weiss… what are you doing here? Did Emerald send you to follow me?”

Weiss shook her head. “Not this time, I’m here on my own mission.” She paused for a moment when she saw the child in Cinder’s arms. “Why do you have Garnet with you?”

“Wait, you know her?”

“That’s Ruby’s kid. Which means if you have her then…” Weiss didnt finish her thought and started to rush off. “Dont leave until I come back!”

“What do you mean this is Ruby’s kid? Weiss! Get back here!” Cinder sighed and held the baby close to her as she growled in frustration. “Of course she runs off without telling me anything.” With heavy steps, she continued to the inn and checked into a room for herself and the kid to take a small rest and to figure out what she’d actually need for Garnet. Even without being told to stay put, it hadnt been likely that she was going to find Ruby tonight anyway and would need to make sure she had the supplies for the kid since Weiss didnt seem to take her.

A smile crossed her lips as the baby started to quiet while laying on the bed, thankful that the crying was over for now. Though, the smile quickly disappeared as she heard a single word come from the kid and her heart raced in panic.

“Ma… mama.”

“Shit. Ruby’s going to kill me.”

#cinder fall #emerald sustrai #weiss schnee #drabbles #rwby #i'm not sure what to actually call this one #like I'm going to continue this because I have ideas #but like #no idea on a name #if anyone has any suggestions let me know

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flightofaqrow · 1 year

Text

smooth

qrow + Weiss ( @nixfactum )

“Ketchup isn’t a sauce, it’s a smoothie. Tomatoes are fruit.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“ketchup is a sauce. a bloody mary is a smoothie.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Silence, bootlicker.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“uhhh, nope,” he grins playfully and winks at the girl, “see, if my tongue was so busy bootlickin’, ya wouldn’t hafta hush me.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Well, the security system video footage says different, minus the pun.” A roll of eyes, “Tomatoes are fruits, therefore it’s a smoothie. Good beverages for the open-minded.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“that’s a bluff,” qrow retorts without hesitation, “an’ it’s a sauce. tomatoes might be fruits, but ketchup is concentrated. smoothies’re blended.”

his hand lifts and fingers pinch together, “it’s about th’ viscosity.”

he’s just being an ass.

“…course in tha’ case maybe ya could consider’t a jam.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Alright, believe it’s a bluff, take the risk. It’s not like I don’t have access to the security, being a Schnee and all.” A distant wave of her hand.

“But so, you’re telling me, it’s.. a smoothie, but thick?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

his eyebrow raises, “flauntin’ th’ family name, huh, Snowflake? now who’s a bootlicker?”

even if there is footage of him… what? being friendly with James? there’s still far more of him making trouble within the ranks and around Atlas as he saw fit. she’s got nothing on him.

somehow that has become more of an argument here than the tomato thing.

he sighs, “no i’m sayin’ it’s a fruit concentrate,” now he’s just being dramatic, with a flourish of his wrist, “the beginnin’ step, guess i’d be willin’ t’say a… a proto-smoothie.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Awh, thank you for agreeing that it’s a smoothie. It’s so good to know I have Qrow Branwen’s approval of such.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“eh, whatever.”

he goes back to drinking his bloody mary while she drinks her ketchup.

…Ruby and Yang have such good friends.

welcome to th’ bandit life: where y’can use dirty tactics whenever y’want and drink whatever y’like.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Can we hold hands too?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“physical affection?” he immediately shoots out his pointer finger in objection, it wobbles just a little along with unsteady feet, “now that’s where we draw th’line!”

after a few blinks, qrow breaks out into a grin,

“ah, i’m just kiddin’ Snowflake. c’mere.”

…speaking of sauce. it’s hitting him pretty hard.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Doubtfully, already this situation is discomforting. But the knowledge of it brings her to nod her head anyway, “Yeah? Well, lines are meant to be crossed sometimes, besides holding hands can be a form of guarding or guiding, not affection.”

Now she’s wandering over, offering her hand. “Lets.. go sit down and talk about your fancy, Bandit rules.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

”those jus’ sound like alternate forms’a affection, really,” qrow takes her hand, the same way he would to hold onto any other kid or student or one of his nieces, and realized a few seconds later it’s not as cold as he was expecting. maybe it was the gloves. that must be it.

speaking of crossed lines, Weiss really shouldn’t be the one leading him, but… call him guilty of succumbing to winging it.

“tch,” he scoffs, with good humor as he sits, “th’ thing about bandits’s there are no rules. …’cept workin’ together t’survive,” he rolls his eyes, “then goin’ right back t’each for their own. once every’ne’s safe.”

#nixfactum #* strain to see some fortune in tomorrow = vol 6 *#* how do you think legends and fairy tales get started? = thread archive *

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basicallyxneptune · 3 years

Text

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH YOU DONT UNDERSTAND AHHAHAHW ESPECIALLY WEISS I CANT AJAKSJDJSJSH

#rwby #rubyrose #weissschnee #blakebelladonna #whiterose #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers #rwby volume 8 #we stan weiss schnee #weiss is a queen #weiss schnee #rwby weiss #Weiss owns me #Weiss could step on my and I’d say thank you

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waitimcomingtoo · 3 years

Text

Oh Brother

Pairing: Peter Parker x Flash’s sister!reader

Requested by @forlaughingoutl0ud : Peter has a crush on you, despite how much your brother torments him

Masterlist

Flash was known to torment Peter.

You, being Flash’s sister, were known to defend Peter from your brothers antics.

“Morning, Penis Parker.” Flash came up to Peter at his locker. “What did you have for breakfast this morning? Food stamps?”

Before Peter could respond, you appeared behind Flash and grabbed his ear.

“Ow! Ow ow ow ow!” He whined as you pulled him by the ear, dragging him away from Peter. Peter watched you with a smile as you dragged your brother away.

“Let’s go.” You sighed. “If you’re late to homeroom, Mrs. Weiss is gonna send a note home. Again.”

It was an every day occurrence.

“Nice shoes, Parker.” Flash snorted. “Dumpster diving is so amazing these days, isn’t it?”

“Oh my God, you’re so funny.” You whipped around in your seat and narrowed your eyes at your brother. “Tell us another one. Please?”

He liked it to keep it consistent.

“Can anyone tell me what this number is?” Your teacher asked as she wrote the digits of Pi, 3.14, on the board.

“It’s Parker’s annual income.” Flash called out, earning a few laughs.

“Why is it that no one ever wants to hear you speak and yet you’re always talking?” You piped up in Peters defense. The class “ooed” at your comeback and Peter smiled shyly to himself.

“Whatever.” Flash scoffed. “You look fat today.”

“I’m sorry, Peter.” You directed your attention to Peter. “He’s a little cranky this morning.”

“It’s okay.” He smiled sheepishly. You smiled back and shot him a wink before turning around in your seat.

And that was when Peter realized he was whipped for you.

“Can anyone tell me what an impulse is?” The teacher asked the class one day. “Yes, Flash?”

“It’s something you really want to do and have no control over.” Flash answered. “Like when I give Peter a wedgie during gym class, I did it on an impulse. That means I can’t be held responsible.”

“No.” The teacher signed. “Can anyone else tell me what it is? Yes, Peter?”

“A change in momentum.” Peter said, just a little smugly. “Ft equals mv minus mu.”

“Thank you, Peter.” The teacher smiled. “That’s right.”

“I was technically also right.” Flash spoke up. “You didn’t specify what context it was in.”

“This is a physics class.” You laughed. “That’s your context.”

“Whatever. You don’t have to defend him just because he has a giant crush on you.” Flash shot back and the class reacted accordingly. It was common knowledge that Peter had feelings for you and Flash liked to use that to his advantage.

“What? No I don’t.” Peter stammered. “That would be stupid.”

“Why would it be stupid?” You looked at him curiously, sending a flush across his face.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Can we get back to the lesson, please?” Your teacher asked through a tight smile. “You three can sort this out in your free time.”

“Lucky for us, Peter never has anything but free time.” Flash taunted. “Being poor really opens up your schedule.”

“Leave him alone, Eugene.” You snapped. “This is why mom doesn’t love you.”

“She does too!” Flash took the bait. “You’re the adopted one.”

“I know.” You shrugged smugly. “Our parents chose me. You were just an unfortunate accident.”

“My existence is not unfortunate.” He stated.

“Aren’t you a Gemini?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” He said.

I’m a Gemini too I’m so sorry

“Then yeah, it is.” You scrunched your nose. The class stopped laughed at Peter and directed their attention to Flash. Peter looked at you in amazement and you winked at him.

“Thompsons.” The teacher interrupted. “I want you out of this class. Both of you. Now.”

You glared at your brother angrily as you grabbed your bag and headed towards the door.

“This is all your fault.” He growled at you as he opened the door.

“Oh, please.” Your argument was muffled as you made your way down the hallway.

Peter’s leg bounced in anticipation as he waited for the bell to ring, springing out of his seat as soon as it did. He immediately went to your locker, where you were busy putting your books away. Peter took a deep breath before he approached you, nervously making the first move.

“Hey.” He spoke up, making you turn your head in his direction. You shot him a smile that heated his entire face up.

“Hey, Peter.” You greeted. “Did I miss anything fun in physics?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “Unless you like learning about momentum.”

“You know what, Peter? I can’t say I do.” You chuckled as you took a notebook out of your locker.

“Thanks for sticking up for me before. I’m sorry you got kicked out of class.”

“Don’t be sorry.” You shook your head and shut your locker. “It was totally worth it to put Flash in his place. Plus, I’m totally gonna dip his toothbrush in the toilet later. Walk with me.”

He began to walk with you out of school and in the direction of the residential buildings.

“Do siblings do that?” He wondered. “I’m an only child.”

“Are you? You’re so lucky.” You sighed. “Do you know how many times I’ve fallen into the toilet because he left the seat up?”

“Yeah, thats never happened to me.” He laughed gently. “I take it you guys don’t get along.”

“It’s weird with siblings.” You shrugged. “One minute we hate each other, the next minute we’re talking about the stupid games we used to play on long car rides. There’s no way to describe it.”

“I can’t imagine living with him. It’s hard enough to spend 8 hours a day with him. No offense.” He added quickly.

“None taken.” You smiled at him. “It’s not fun to live with him. The amount of times I’ve walked into the bathroom after him and choked on his body spray is unacceptable. I think he’s trying to kill me.”

“I would be very upset if he did that.” Peter said softly.

“Did what?”

“Killed you.” He looked at you and held your gaze for a moment. You smiled shyly at each other before looking straight ahead.

“What did you mean before when you said it would be stupid to have a crush on me?” You wondered out loud.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “Flash has just been bullying me since first grade. It would be stupid if the girl I decided to pine after was his sister.”

“I don’t think that would be stupid.” You shrugged as you snuck a glance at him. Peter blinked in surprise as he made eye contact with you. You both stopped, standing alone in an alleyway now.

“You…you don’t?” He looked at you shyly.

“Not at all.” You shook your head slowly as you took a step closer to him. Peter looked at his shoes for a moment as he gathered some courage, just enough to do what he’d been meaning to do for years now.

“Would you wanna go out sometime then?” He blurted. “Like, on a date?”

“I’d love to.” You smiled. “You still have my number from that group project right?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, still swimming from the fact your said yes.

“Then you should text me.”

“I will.” He promised.

“Good. I have to walk back to school before Flash notices I’m gone. I’ll be waiting for that text.” You winked at him and he let out a flustered laugh. You took this as an opportunity to lean forward and press a kiss to his cheek, feeling his skin heat up beneath your lips. You pulled away and squeezed his hand before leaving him alone in the alley.

Yeah, he was definitely whipped.

“Penis Parker.” Flash slammed an open hand against the lockers next to Peter the following day. “Do you want to tell me why I kept seeing your name on my sister phone last night? Why were you texting her? Are you trying to colonize my families bloodline or something? No white men allowed.”

“What? And no.” Peters face heated up at the accusation. “We’re just friends.”

“You don’t have friends.” Flash snapped.

“Yes he does.” You appeared behind your brother and pushed him lightly. “That’ll be all, thank you.”

Flash narrowed his eyes at you before returning his attention to Peter.

“If you go near my sister again, I’m gonna turn your innie belly button into an outie.” Flash whispered.

“How?” Peter asked with genuine curiosity.

“You don’t want to find out.” He said through gritted teeth before storming away.

“He’s so annoying.” You rolled your eyes and leaned against Peters locker. “You look cute today.”

“Thanks.” Peter chuckled shyly as he looked down at his outfit. “I, um, I have a dilemma.”

“Is this about our date?” You worried.

“It’s just, your family is rich and my family is just me and my aunt. I know Flash makes a lot of jokes about me being poor, but they’re not really jokes.” He explained sheepishly. “I don’t think I can give you the kind of magical date you deserve.”

“Peter, I don’t need a fancy date. I just want to be with you.” You assured him as you stroked his cheek. “Why don’t you bring your favorite snack and I’ll bring my favorite drink and we can lay on top of your building and stargaze?”

“That sounds kinda perfect.” He admitted with a sly smile.

“Does tonight work?” You asked hopefully.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’ll text you my address.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in Physics.” You squeezed his hand before walking away.

You walked into your living room that night, all dressed up for your date. You stopped in front of a mirror to check your makeup, accidentally catches Flash’s eye.

“You look nice.” Flash said as his eyes flicked from you to his phone. “But you know, prostitution is still illegal in New York. It’s a damn shame, though. Sex work is still work.”

“You know, every once in a while, something intelligent comes out of your mouth. Gives me goosebumps every time.” You teased him as you applied your lipgloss.

“Wait, where are you going?” He put his phone down. “It’s a Wednesday night.”

“I’m going to a friends building to look at the stars.” You told him most of the truth.

“Are you walking there?”

“Yeah.” You shrugged. “It’s not that far.”

“Let me drive you. You have your mace on you, right?” He asked from the kitchen as he grabbed his keys.

“Always.”

“Okay.” He reappeared with his keys. “Let’s go.”

You kept light conversation as you drove to Peters apartment building, careful not to reveal who you were meeting. Flash parked out front and looked at the building in disdain.

“Your friend lives here?” He grimaced. “Is she poor?”

“Shut up. Those jokes aren’t nice.” You shoved him lightly. “Thanks for driving me.”

“It’s okay.” He nodded. “Text me when I should pick you up.”

“I will. Get home safe.” You told him as you got out of the car.

“Whatever. Don’t get pregnant.” He pointed at you. “I mean it.”

“Drive away.” You rolled your eyes as you shut the car door. You walked into the lobby and found the elevator, letting out a nervous breath as you got in. You were standing in from of Peters door in no time, anxiously waiting for him to open it.

Finally, he did.

“Are you ready to stargaze?” You asked as you held up a jug of apple juice.

“Are you ready to eat this entire box of goldfish?” Peter responded as he held up a carton of goldfish.

“You know it.” You laughed and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go.”

An hour later, you were lying on your backs in opposite directions with your heads pressed together, staring up at the stars.

“I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful than a night sky.” You sighed in content.

“I know something.” Peter looked at you, though you were upside down from his perspective.

“If you say me, I’m going kick you in the throat.” You laughed as you looked at him.

“Why?” He laughed as well.

“I don’t know.” You covered your face with your hands. “I’m not good with compliments. I don’t know how to respond.”

Peter turned his head so he was looking at you, eyes trailing over your side profile.

“I think you’re beautiful.” He told you, loving the way it made your draw drop. You rolled onto your side and looked at him before rolled on top. You rested your arms on either side of his face, admiring his face in the starlight, even if it was upside down. Your eyes flickered from his lips to his eyes and before he knew it, you were kissing him. He tilted his chin up so he could kiss you back, finding the position a little awkward as your nose bumped his chin. You both giggled into the kiss before continuing, only breaking away when you needed air. You flipped back on your back and let out a happy sigh, covering your face with your hand to hide your smile.

“That’s one way to respond.” Peter joked, breaking the silence. You laughed and rolled onto your side, him doing the same.

“I really like you.” You admitted, scrunching your nose at how weird it felt to say out loud.

“I really like you too.” Peter told you before leaning in for another kiss.

And that was the beginning of your relationship. You both knew Flash could not find out that you were dating, at least not yet. You had to cave and tell him you and Peter were friends around your second month of dating after he caught him in your room, but you didn’t tell him the full extent of your relationship. You disguised dates as casual hangouts, to which Flash heavily objected. He made his disliking for your “friendship” with Peter known.

“Ugh. You two.” Flash grumbled when he came into the kitchen to find you and Peter making cookies. You gave Peter a pointed look that told him to ignore your brother as Flash got food out of the pantry.

“Cracker.” He looked at Peter with a box of snacks in his hands.

“No thank you.” Peter said politely.

“I wasn’t offering. I was insulting.” Flash blew him a kiss before putting a cracker in his mouth. Peter looked at you for help and you gave him a sympathetic smile.

“How are you two friends?” He wondered. “You’re the worst people on the planet.”

“I beg to differ.” Peter began. “I think-“

“The beg.” Flash snapped before winking at Peter.

“We’re friends because we have similar interest.” You shrugged as you stirred the ingredients. “For example, we’re both very interested in you leaving the room.”

“Whatever. I was just making sure Parker doesn’t steal anything.” Flash shot daggers at Peter as he got a drink from the refrigerator. You and Peter stood in silence until you were sure Flash was gone, sighing in relief when he disappeared.

“Do you think he knows?” You whispered to Peter out of the corner of your mouth.

“He doesn’t suspect a thing.” Peter shook his head before pulling you into a kiss.

This was how it continued for month. You posed as friends and dated in secret, never letting your brother know the truth.

“Guess who?” You felt hands cover your eyes from behind. You immediately recognized Peters voice and turned around in his arms.

“What are you doing here?” You looked at him with wide eyes. “Flash could walk in at any minute.”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He smiled. “Happy three month anniversary, princess.”

“Happy anniversary, lover.” You smiled back at him before pulling him into a long kiss. For once, you didn’t care if your brother walked in. All you cared about was Peter.

“I have something for you.” Peter smirked once he pulled away.

“What? You didn’t have to get me anything.” You told him.

“Course I did.” He shrugged as he took a small box out of his pocket. “It’s okay if you didn’t get me anything.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t get you anything.” You winked at him before disappearing into your closet. You returned with a large carton of Goldfish with a bright red bow on it.

“Goldfish!” He lit up. “You remembered.”

“Of course I did, lover. How could I forget the taste of your goldfish breath the first time I kissed you?” You teased him as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Well you must’ve like it since you’ve come back for more everyday since.” He shot back before kissing you. “Open yours.”

You took the box from him and opened it up, finding a hand maid needed bracelet with a moon decal that looked like Peter had carved himself.

“The moon?” You looked up at him with a curious smile.

“It’s a waxing crescent. That’s what the moon looked like the night you kissed me. I have a matching one, see?” He held up his wrist to show you his bracelet. You stated at it for a moment before your eyes went back to his gift.

“Peter.” You mumbled without taking your eyes away from the bracelet.

“Do you like it?” He bit his lip as he waited for your reaction. You looked up at him with a grin before throwing your arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly.

“I love it.” You said into his ear. “Thank you so much.”

“I’m so glad you like it.” He smiled at you for a moment before getting serious. As he was looking at you, he realized he had never trusted someone more. Something came over him that made him want to give you every thing he had, including his deepest secret.

“I have to tell you something. No, I, I want to tell you something.” He corrected. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while, actually. Um, this is so hard to say, wow.”

“It’s okay, Peter.” You put your hand in his face when you saw how flustered his was getting. “I love you too.”

Peter’s face drained of color at your confession as that was not at all what he was about to say.

“What?” He squeaked.

“I love you too.” You repeated, not understanding his confusion.

“That’s…that’s not what I was gonna say.” He blurted and your face fell.

“Oh.” You withdrew your arms from around his neck, feeling embarrassment and disappointment all at once. Peter realized his mistake and tried to pull you back.

“No, no.” Peter said quickly. “I was gonna tell you I’m Spider-Man.”

“What?” You nearly screamed.

“But I love you too! I love you so much.” He took your face in his hands and kissed you repeatedly.

“You’re Spider-Man?” You pushed him away long enough to ask.

“Yes. But more importantly, we’re in love!” He kissed you again. “Happy three months.”

“Happy three months.” You giggled between kisses.

You stood with Peter outside of school a few months later as you waited for Flash to come out.

“This is my least favorite part of the day.” Peter pouted as he rubbed your hand with his thumb.

“Why?” You tilted your head.

“I don’t get to see you anymore.” He looked at you with a shy smile. You smiled back at his cuteness and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Marching band ends at 4 right? How about I come over after that? We can do anything you want.” You suggested as you played with the collar of his shirt.

“Anything I want?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I’m feeling generous.” You shrugged. You were about to lean in to kiss him when you noticed your brother in the distance.

“Oh no.” You sighed and stepped back from Peter. “Don’t turn around.”

“Hey Penis Parker.” Flash jumped behind Peter and smacked his butt before looking at you. “Sup bitch.”

“Hi Flash.” You smiled tightly at him.

“What are you losers taking about?” He asked. “How you’re never gonna lose your virginities?”

You and Peter exchanged a knowing look and he turned his head to snort.

“We’re talking about how grabbing peoples butts without their permission is sexual harassment.” You spoke up to cover Peters laugh.

“Oh, really? That’s cool.” He smacked Peters butt again. “Are you ready to go? My car is on and she’s ready to purr.”

“God, I hate you.” You sighed. “I’ll see you later, Peter.”

“See you later. Bye.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your lips, entirely forgetting that Flash was there. Your eyes widened as Peter was about to walk away, but Flash held his hand up to stop him.

“Hold up.” He looked at Peter. “What was that?”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at you, only realizing his mistake when he noticed your messed up lipstick. He let out a small gasp before looking at Flash, who was shaking with anger.

“Um…physical affection?” Peter said weakly. You slammed your palm against your forehead and let out a sigh.

“Thanks for the run down, Penis Parker.” Flash snapped. “You’re dating my sister?”

“Yeah, Flash.” You put a hand on Peters shoulder. “Peter and I are dating.”

“Excuse me a minute.” He held up and finger before bending down as if he was going to puke. “BLEH.”

You rolled your eyes as your brother continued to make puking sounds.

“I cannot stand this man.” You grumbled. Flash stopped for a moment and stood up, looking eerily composed.

“Y/n, could you give Peter and I a minute to ourselves, please?” He said through a tight smile.

“Um, are you gonna kill him?” You scratched your ear as you looked between your fearfully boyfriend and your suspiciously calm brother.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Flash said, never breaking his smile.

“Don’t go.” Peter looked at you in fear.

“You’ll be okay.” You decided. “I’ll be right over there.”

Flash waited until you walked away until he started interrogating Peter.

“How long had this been going on?” Flash started out.

“Seven months.” Peter told him.

“Is it serious?”

“I love her.” Peter smiled shyly.

“Gross.” Flash gagged. “Does she love you back?”

“Yes.” Peter nodded. “She tells me everyday.”

“So every time I drove into the slums of New York to drop her off at the cardboard box you call an apartment building, I was dropping her off at your place? I was hand delivering my sister to you?” Flash realized.

“Yes.” Peter repeated. “Are you mad?”

“You know what”,Flash let out a breath, “I’m okay.”

“You are?” Peters jaw dropped a little. He had been expecting a beating, or at least a wedgie.

“Yeah.” Flash put his hand on Peters shoulder and rubbed it. “She couldn’t be in better hands, Spiderman.”

He had whispered the last part, making all the blood drain from Peters face.

“How did you-“

“I eavesdrop on people constantly.” Flash cut him off. “I can’t stop. My therapist says it’s because I didn’t get enough attention as a kid, but what does that bitch know? I overheard her husband on the phone telling her that their kid bit somebody again. Again! I never did that. The moon bracelet was a nice touch, by the way. She really likes it.”

“You just told me way too much about you.” Peter blinked a few times as he processed what he just heard.

“Now we’re even.” Flash smirked and shot him a wink.

“Are you gonna tell anyone?” He asked nervously.

“Course not. I would do anything for Spider-Man.” Flash stated firmly. “That secret is safe with me. I am, however, gonna tell everyone that you and her are dating.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s super embarrassing for her. Later, Parker.” He held out his hands for Peter to shake, pulling him in when their hands touched.

“Swing me around the city in your arms and I won’t kill you for dating my sister.” He whispered in Peters ear. Peter looked at him in fear as he walked away. You immediately ran up to Peter once your brother was gone and put a hand on his arm.

“What happened?” You asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Peter told you. “I think I have a date with your brother.”

“You - huh?” You asked for clarification but Peter just shook his head.

“I don’t know.” He sighed in defeat. “I’ll text you after band practice.”

“Yeah I’ll-“ You were cut off by Flash honking his horn and calling your name.

“I’ll text you later.” You grumbled and shot a look at Flash.

“Okay.” Peter kissed you before you began to walk away. “I love you.”

“I love you.” You called over your shoulder as you made your way to Flash’s car. Upon hearing this, Flash just had to chime in.

“I love you too Penis Parker!”

Tag List 🏷

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling @weirdr-artiest @serendipitous-amor @dummiesshort

@lavender-writer @captainmandeestudent17 @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @theolwebshooter @andreasworlsboring101 @guksmyfav @waiting-to-be-myself @letsloveimagines @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @justcallmehitgirl @averyfosterthoughts @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @mara-twins @iamaunicorn4704 @maryjanee23 @geeksareunique @emmamarshmellow @unbelievableholland @rebekkah4766 @flixndchill @sovereignparker @thisisthebiplace @spideydobrik @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @caelestii-e @eridanuswave @itscaminow @fiantomartell @solarxmoonchild @where-art-thau-romeo @canyouevencauseicant @illwritetomorrow @thehappygrungelife @saysomethingspiderman @parkerboop @smilexcaptainx @quaksonhehe @kelieah @kickingn-ames @babeyspidey @seasidecrowbar @lovelessdagger @love-sick-blues @electraheart-3174 @lou-la-lou @unbelievableholland @yourtypicalhotmess @spideyanakin @horanxholland @thesuitelifeofafangirl @anapocalypseinmymind @marshxx @heyheycharlatte @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie @tomshufflepuff @cookiemonstermusic258

@maybemona @young-romanoff @alexxcorona113 @fancyxparker @lethal-wisdom @xo-spidey @im-still-tryin-to-find-it @big-galaxy-chaos @pandaxnienke @theincredibledeadlyviper @thestylestour @officialsimppage @mrvelscaptains @peterspideysstuff @reemusluupin @perspectiveparker @itsemohours @satanswitchings @okkulta @amorhollands @parkerlovebot @sarcasticallywitty15 @mati4188 @geminiparkers @alwayssandy

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peter parker fluff #peter parker fanfiction #Peter Parker secret relationship #Peter Parker x Thompson!reader #Peter Parker x flash’s sister!reader #flash thompson #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #iron man #peter parker imagine #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfiction

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noneatnonedotcom · 3 years

Note

Dark rwby smut:

Raven has Yang and Weiss hostage and won’t release them. It’s up to Jaune to challenge the bandit leader for the sake of his friend’s freedom.

A knight strode into a bandit camp with purpose.

It sounds like the start of a grand story, some fairytale you’d tell children before bed.

The truth was very different. Jaune Arc had long since abandoned the ideals of heroism. But there was one idea he held onto even now.

An Arc always kept his word.

That’s why he was doing this, he’d sworn to help his friends no matter what and by the gods if he had to take on the most dangerous bandit tribe in fucking Minstral then he would do so. An Arc NEVER went back on his word.

He ignored the squelching mud under his new boots. Or the way his armor sat a little heavier on him than he’d like. The new gauntlets were closer to a robotic hand than the armor most people thought of. A side effect of telling ruby that he was off to save her sister. He’d only just avoided muscle armor. Still, there were worse things than having a suit of armor tailor-made for you by the best blacksmith this side of the afterlife.

It at least let him look the part.

Still, he’d stalled long enough, time to deal with reality.

Raven stood before him.

“You’re a long way from home, boy,” she said, not looking up from the drink she was enjoying. The scantily clad Weiss poured for her. Both her and Yang were chained around the neck.

“I’m here for them”

“Then you have the ransom?” she asked with a raised brow

“Yeah, I'll just be giving it to you in steel rather than gold,” he said, working hard to keep his voice calm as he drew his blade. He didn’t deploy the shield; he'd need the element of surprise if he wanted any chance of surviving this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven was worried, she’d heard about the arc family, hell she’d gone to school with the boy's father. There was a good reason why the area around the arc ancestral lands was so safe. Everyone who crossed the family died, or worse.

And his mother was definitely worse. A tribal just like her she’d fought Arc to prove a point, now thirty years later she was still a breeding sow for the family. Her warrior stock probably only made them more powerful. And now here he was ready to take her daughter and the Schnee.

If she had it her way she’d just give the boy both and be done with it. They weren’t worth her head. But that wasn’t an option. No, instead she’ll just have to offer something better than the satisfaction of her death.

“Very well boy, I'll take your steel. And if you manage to beat me I’ll even give you my body as well”

She only prayed that the Arc would accept it

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune wasn’t sure what to do, frankly, he wanted nothing to do with a woman who abandoned her daughter but if he didn’t take the deal then he’d likely be jumped by her entire tribe, who had begun forming a circle around the last patch of dry grass that hadn’t been turned to mud from them walking through it.

“Fine,” he said, annoyance in his voice, he just wanted Yang and Weiss back home with the team where they belonged now he’d have to deal with this too.

He took his place across from her, taking his sword in a two-handed grip that his father had tried teaching him when he was a boy. It was Pyrrha who taught him how to fight with a shield. Who taught him to protect others but jaune wasn’t looking to protect here. Only to slay.

There was no signal, Raven just rushed him. Normally he wouldn’t have been able to react to the speed. But months with Nora had taught him to use her peripheral vision. The added context to the attack that was about to hit him prevented panic and allowed him to dodge the blow as an ear-splitting screech tore through the air as dust-enhanced steel met angled armor. It was only sheer luck that let his pommel slam into her chin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boy was strong, Raven had a habit of toying with those weaker than her but for strong opponents, she tried to end it in a single strike. Using her aura to launch herself like a rocket at her enemy then causing another boost of aura to swing her blade fast enough to make a sonic boom like a bullet.

Not only had this jaune blocked it, but in the same fluid motion, he’d counterattacked. And now he was coming at her.

Gods’ why didn’t she just give him the girls?!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune stumbled forward catching himself just in time to almost run but not quite. Still, he was out of time bracing his shoulder he jumped forward slamming into her gut just as her sword would have split his head.

He’d told ruby he needed a helmet!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven was knocked on her ass and fear began to take hold, she couldn’t die here, this boy, this man was too strong and

NO!

She would defeat him, rolling to her feet she charged as much aura as she could into her blade and swung down, she’d be exhausted but the monster would be dead. Off to the side, she noticed that her daughter had freed herself and the Schnee. That would be a problem but it was too late for her to save her little boy toy.

Just as her daughter screamed the world went white

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune felt more aura coursing through him than ever before. And down there in front of him, on her back trying to crawl away in fear was raven.

“I give up!” she screamed as jaune lifted his sword, “please just take them and go!”

Jaune glared at the woman “I’d love nothing more than to leave your weak tribe and be fucking done with this” he said honestly. The longer he stayed here the more likely it was these guys would jump him. And even if he got lucky with raven he doubted he could take all of them “but unfortunately I made you a promise”

With that, he began to unarmor himself. Taking a step toward the retreating woman with each thunk of the heavy armor falling away until as he stripped his pants and showed off his cock to the world he once more sighed pulling raven back by her legs to him. He hoped yang and Weiss weren’t watching, he was pretty average and didn’t have much to show off. Then again, he didn’t have much to compare him with.

All the guys at beacon refused to shower with him in the locker room

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OF COURSE THE BOY WAS A MONSTER, HE WAS A FUCKING ARC!

He was carrying around a foot of cock and it was surely gonna ruin her. But as Raven tried to crawl away, her own aura utterly depleted she felt him drag her back in front of him by her ankle. Her hands pulling up tufts of grass in vane as she tried to avoid her fate

“Just hurry the fuck up and strip raven, I have better shit to do!” came the annoyed voice of the monster behind her

What?

She froze and jaune growled in frustration ripping her clothes apart and lining himself up with her snatch

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was tight, that was about all Jaune could say on the subject as Raven squirmed and struggled underneath him. He really wasn’t enjoying this. She was too shallow, too unused to him and SHE KEPT FUCKING CRAWLING AWAY!

Like, he got it, it was probably annoying to have to deal with him shoving himself into her, but damn it this wasn’t his fucking idea. And an Arc always keeps their word, so here he was trying to hold this whining bitch down so he could finish up and be done the entire fucking thing.

Finally getting tired of her bullshit jaune wrapped her hair around his hand and pulled her back into him. She screamed louder as he hammered into her, probably pissed that he was touching her hair like yang would be. Damn it he was starting to lose his boner! Think about Ruby Jaune! Think about that big, bubbly, Rubooty!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven was going to die, she was sure of it, his massive cock was sticking out of her stomach and she could feel her body struggling to accommodate him as he shoved that fucking pillar deep into her. Having already gone as far as her womb.

Then he told her he was halfway in! The fuking idiot didn’t seem to get that there was NO MORE FUCKING ROOM FOR HIM.

She screamed as her body was flooded with pleasure as he pulled her hair. Bringing her back into him as he fucked her like a common whore. Her daughter was watching with her friend and… oh gods he just got bigger!

He must have seen Yang masterbating to this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He smacked Raven’s ass, disappointed it didn’t jiggle like Ruby’s when she ran, and struggled to maintain the fantasy. With a grunt, he pushed in deeper and held her there as his first orgasm finally came.

Thank the Gods’

Only two more holes to go.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven thought it was over when she felt herself fill with cum, groaning in relief as jaune pulled out of her now leaking cunt. Ruined for all the world to see. But then she felt herself being pulled up by her hair. And suddenly she was being throat fucked, her vision filled by a sneering Jaune.

She felt herself cum again as he used her

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was official, raven sucked at this. It was a fucking blow job! How hard could it be? Nora had given him plenty when she was bored on the road and Ren couldn’t keep up with her anymore. Let alone when he imagined Ruby to be able to do it. No, that wasn’t fair. Maybe she was just out of practice. After all, it's not like many guys around here would give her the time of day.

Okay Jaune just lay close your eyes and imagine Ruby, you can do this

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He was thinking about someone else, Raven was sure of it now, the way he kept his eyes closed. The way he tried to force her deeper. Was it Yang? Was that why he was here to save her? She didn’t know she didn’t care. Right now that massive dick was being used for her, it was hers!

Her nose filled with his scent, her tongue slipping out from her mouth to lap at his balls. Oh gods what a man. To take her so utterly. To ruin her and have her be just another of his conquests. She wept with joy as she felt him cum down her throat.

She couldn’t give this up

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaune stared down at the clearly delirious Raven, he was a little worried that he’d gone too far as he had forgotten to let her breathe. Normally he’d just wait for the tap on his thigh but she obviously didn’t know about that.

Oh well, just anal left and he could head home with yang and Weiss. He hoped they weren’t too bored.

“Turn around slut,” he said, trying to sound authoritative. He’d heard girls like that, and he was willing to try with Raven since it didn’t really matter if she didn’t like it. Not like he was ever gonna see her again

He was pleasantly surprised to find he was right as he watched Raven squeal in glee before she put herself face down into the grass. Huh… good to know, maybe Ruby would like it if he used his leader’s voice?

Lining up with the older woman’s ass Jaune decided it was about time to wrap this up so he wasn’t gonna go with the slow and steady pace he had before

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven’s world was one of sensations alone as she felt her master slam his cock into her ass. Her eyes swam with colors and her body twitched as she felt orgasm after orgasm. Pain and pleasure mixing in a delirious cocktail that her brain drowned in. and her hands, no longer being used to hold her up, Rubbed along the imprint his cock made in her. Trying to give him the same pleasure she felt

Every breath was praise for him.

This was heaven.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven was annoying as hell.

“iloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouiloveyouILOVEYOU!”

“Please just shut the fuck up Raven!” Jaune screamed back as he tried to finish himself off. Groaning in relief as he felt another set of mouths on his balls. Turning around he saw Yang and Weiss doing their best to help him through this chore. They were great friends and jaune owed them for this.

What they lacked in skill they made up for in enthusiasm. And Jaune soon found himself about to cum slamming home in the bandit queen jaune moaned in relief as he flooded raven’s body with his seed. Slowly pulling the still hard cock out of the twitching mess of a woman and letting Yang and Weiss try to clean him up.

Oh yeah, he owed these two a lot. Though he did come to save them in the first place. But that was only to help his friends so yeah, he’d still owe them.

Nodding in agreement with his train of logic, he said out loud “welp time to go home” to his surprise the Raven opened a portal to …. Qrow?

OH HEY, THERE WAS RUBY!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby was a very happy girl, her sister was safe, as was her bestie Weiss. And Raven had even learned the error of her ways. Yeah, today was great.

It was also great because she was slamming her nice thicc ass back on Jaune’s dick like nature intended. Honestly, what was Raven thinking trying to take a dick this amazing with an ass like that? At least Yang had the common sense to use her tits to get jaune off. And Weiss…. Weiss was willing to help however she could.

So that’s why she let her sister and friend join in on her fun with her boyfriend.

Slamming her ass down on his dick faster, Ruby relished the attention that was on her as Raven whimpered in the corner.

Yeah, Yang and Weiss got to help, but Raven had to study hard if she wanted to be a good slut. That’s why she was being forced to watch her and Jaune go at it for hours on end.

It totally wasn’t because ruby liked putting the snobby bitch in her place. Ruby would never do that.

Moaning in pure pleasure as she arched her back and Jaune came inside her. Ruby smiled before resuming her work with a kiss from Jaune.

And they all lived happily ever after

#rwby #smut #questionable consent #jaune just wants to go home #ruby is a happy girl #you are not immue to hot dorky blonde

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Sunny Side Up

Summary: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? And for Mike, there’s no better way to start it than by eating his favourite thing, ever.

Pairing: Mike Weiss x Reader

Warnings: Smut (NSFW, 18+) Brief mentions of drug addiction- nothing graphic. Language!

A/N: So this was what popped into my head after seeing @imanuglywombat post that damned latest Sex Position as part of her downright filthy and wonderful “Is That Even A Sex Position” weekly challenge. This position is called “The Special Breakfast”. See here for more information. And you can totally blame @sweater-daddiesdumbdork for this one. I wasn’t gonna write it but…yeah, I did. Sorry not sorry. I’ve tried to make the reader as non-descript and as inclusive as I can but I don’t usually do reader x fics so I apologise if it hasn’t quite hit the mark.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar the reader. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Tagged my permanent tag list.

Main Masterlist

********

“No, that’s not the same, at all.” Mike’s voice drifted up the hallway of you house as you closed the door behind you, shutting out the bitter January wind that has descended over Dover. “Yeah, well they signed up to the terms so....”

You glanced at your watch, it wasn’t even seven-AM yet and he was already on to someone about the current case he was working. But then, that was Mike all over. An addict, only now you were glad to say the only thing flooding his system was adrenaline and passion for his work.

You hung your jacket up on the pegs by the door, unwrapped your woollen scarf from round your neck and placed that over the hook above your jacket and then reached down to unzip you boots, before toeing them off. Your sock clad feet padded down the wooden floor of the hall towards the kitchen and you walked in to see Mike was bent over a file on the island in the middle, already dressed for the office.

“Clause ninety-one, paragraph twenty, sub-bullet two. Yup. We’ll present that to them today, give them chance to respond.” He paused for a moment, his head turning to you, a warm smile spreading across his face as you leaned over for a quick peck before you headed to the fridge for a soda. “Yeah. Okay, no problem, see you about half eight.”

With that he placed the cordless phone down and turned to face you.

“Morning, Baby.” He grinned, before he nodded to the Diet Coke in your hand. “Interesting choice of drink for breakfast.”

“Technically it’s not my breakfast time.” You shrugged back. “More like dinner, I suppose.”

Mike chuckled as he crossed to space towards you, his hands falling to your hips before he bent down and brushed his lips against yours in a hardly there kiss. “Good shift?”

“A heart attack, car accident, two broken legs, couple of flu cases and a shit tonne of idiotic drunks, the finest Delaware has to offer.” You shrugged. “Usual shit.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Dr Y/L/N”

“Lucky for you I do, or we’d have never met.”

“And I’d be dead.”

“Don’t.” You shook your head, swallowing a little. The memory of that night almost eighteen months ago was still raw. If you hadn’t stopped by at Mike’s that evening following an argument the pair of you had earlier in the day, you’d never have found him almost dead from an overdose. It had been a long road to recovery, and whilst nothing was ever proven, Mike and Paul were convinced that it was something to do with the safety needle case they had been working. Despite the fact that there was enough heroin in his system to stop his heart, Mike swore blind to you he hadn’t taken anything but a few lines that night, and there was something about the way he said it that made you believe him. And so did Paul.

The authorities never managed to prove anything, but there was one good thing to come out of it. When you had broken down and told Mike how scared you’d been that he was going to die and that you couldn’t cope anymore with the constant fear that one day he would kill himself for real, it gave Mike the final kick he needed because he didn’t want to lose you.

So he got clean. And this time he did it for good.

It wasn’t easy, for either of you. Once he was medically fit enough, Mike had been placed on a programme at a Rehab Centre, whereby he saw no one bar trained medical specialists and councillors for six weeks. It felt like the longest six weeks of your life but he did it. And when you went to pick him up, you instantly burst into tears at how different he looked, how better he looked, how healthy he looked.

The road to recovery is a long one, paved with temptations, you knew that being a Doctor. And whilst Mike knew and understood his triggers thanks to his programme, those temptations met him everywhere, especially because he knew exactly where and how to get his fix. So the pair of you agreed to take a fresh start. You traded Texas for Delaware, the State you were originally from, and you were beyond proud to be able to honestly state that Mike Weiss had been clean now for eighteen months. Well, apart from alcohol that is. But even that was enjoyed in moderation, and to be honest, you’d rather him sit at home with a glass or two of bourbon each night that sticking fuck knows what into his veins.

You cocked your head to one side as his hands flexed on your hip and he gave you a little side smile. “Sorry. Oh, hey guess who I got a call from?”

“Who?” You asked as he stepped back, grinning.

“The Alligator Farm. Snappy’s got himself a lady friend. They’re gonna send me some photos and stuff.”

You smiled, giving up that beloved alligator had been a hard sell to Mike. “That’s great.”

“Yeah. Oh and Paul was thinking of coming over with the family in the spring. I said they could stay here, I know it’ll be a squeeze but is that okay?”

“Course it is.” You reached up to cup his cheek. “It’ll be lovely to see them again.”

Mike smiled and dropped another kiss to your lips, this one slightly stronger before you pat his chest as he rest his forehead against yours.

“I need to go shower.”

“Want me to come join you?” He asked, eyebrow raised and you smiled.

“As good as that sounds there’s something else I want more.”

“Oh yeah?” He grinned, his eyes flickering down to the buttons on your blouse and you laughed.

“Calm down, Stud. I want pancakes and bacon, I don’t give a shit what time it’s supposed to be for me.”

Mike groaned as you moved away from where you’d been stood with your back to the large, stainless steel fridge and headed out of the room. He watched you go, the gently sway of your hips in your well fitted black pants made his groin twitch. He was half tempted to fuck your demands and go and jump you in the shower whether you wanted him to or not, but he’d seen the flicker your face had given when you’d described how your twelve-hour shift had gone down. Despite your blasé tone, he knew you too well and understood exactly how tired and stressed you were feeling. So, instead, he turned his attention to making breakfast.

Something he prided himself on was his cooking ability. He’d picked it up pretty fast since you’d moved here, he found it was a welcome distraction, so much so you very rarely made meals now, bar when you insisted on doing a roast which he never argued against. Within fifteen minutes he had a stack of pancakes, bacon, eggs- sunny side up, as you preferred- all laid out on the island and ready for you to help yourself to. He’d just poured you an orange juice when you walked back into the kitchen, hair piled on your head in a messy bun, wrapped in a dressing gown and he was pleased to see you looked relaxed.

“Oh, Mikey, this looks great!” You smiled as he wrapped an arm round you, kissing your head. He watched as you helped yourself to a huge plateful before making your way over to the table and sitting down with a sigh. Mike tucked his tie into his shirt to avoid it dropping into his food and plated himself a helping up before he sat down at the place next to you, cracking his neck slightly. The pair of you chatted about the day ahead, which for you consisted of sleeping until it was time to get up for your next shift, Mike’s contained a meeting with a company who he was currently in the process of negotiating a settlement with on behalf of a client. When you’d finished, Mike made to clear away the dishes but you gently placed your hand on his arm and stood up, insisting on doing it as he’d cooked.

When you returned to the table, Mike pushed his chair back slightly and patted his knee.

“Come ‘ere.” He smiled softly and you grinned, settling yourself on his lap sideways, your arm looping round his shoulder, fingers gently playing with his suspenders. He gave a contented sigh as he wrapped his arms around you and pressed a kiss to your head, happy to simply be close to you for a moment.

“You doing okay?” You asked and he smiled, your words carrying that hidden meaning- ‘Do you want a fix, today?’

“I’m good, Babes.” He pulled back to look at you. “I promise.”

Smiling you gently placed your lips on his in a soft kiss, which soon became heated as Mike’s hand slid up to the back of your neck, holding you in place as his tongue slid along your bottom lip. He was pleased when you reciprocated, opening your mouth slightly to allow him in. He could taste the sweetness of the syrup on you from your pancakes and, as your tongue gently swirled against his, he let out a little groan from the back of his throat and he felt you smile.

“How long till you have to be in the office?” Your voice was lower than you’d intended, betraying exactly what you had in mind and Mike grinned at you, pulling back a little, as he glanced up at the clock.

“Just over forty-five minutes, why?”

You bit your lip, fingers toying once more with his suspenders which were clipped to the waistband of his light, grey trousers and sat over a maroon shirt, set off with a black tie. “Do I gotta spell it out to you, Weiss?”

“No, I just like hearing you beg.” A cheeky glint flashed in his eyes and you gave a snort.

“I do not beg.”

“Really?” He arched an eyebrow and in a swift moment he stood up, causing you to give a shriek of a giggle as he sat you on the table in front of him. “I bet,” he pushed on your shoulders causing you to rest your weight on your elbows as he loomed over you, gently reaching for the tie on your robe, “that I can have you singing my name and begging for more,” his hands made quick work of the knot and pulled it open, before his fingers slid up the front, opening it to leave you bare in front of him, “in less than five minutes flat.”

“Less than five minutes?” You looked up at him, his eyes blown with lust and you smirked. “You’re so full of shit.”

He wasn’t though, you knew full well that you were the one full of shit. Mike had on many an occasion had you crying his name in less time than it took you to sing a verse of the National Anthem, and he knew it as the cocky expression on his face showed.

“Oh, Baby Girl.” He chuckled, bending over, his mouth brushing against that spot on your neck, the bristles of his short beard scratching your skin. “Have you learnt nothing, yet?”

“Only that you’re a cocky little bastard.” You tried to keep your voice level but it didn’t work. Your words came out a shaky whisper as one of his hands gently splayed on your stomach and brushed up your body to your sternum as he peppered hot, opened mouthed kisses across your collar bone, before his lips ghosted up your neck, over your chin and his mouth claimed yours in a searing kiss as his hand palmed at your breast. As he rolled your nipple between his finger and thumb you gave a moan and he smirked against your mouth.

Suddenly, he was gone from over you and you frowned, missing his sudden presence and you propped yourself up on your elbows to see him settling back in the chair by the table.

“Mike, what the-“

You were cut off as he reached over, grabbing your ass and hoisting your pelvis up, pulling you towards him. Before you could register what was going on, your legs were over his shoulders and you just caught a glimpse of his face, as he quirked an eyebrow at you, lips curled upwards in that maddeningly smug bastard grin, before his mouth was trailing up the inside of your thigh.

“Oh, Jesus.” You let out a little groan as he neared the place you now desperately wanted him and he chuckled.

“No, just me.”

“Fuck off you-“ But whatever it was you were going to call him flew from your mind as his tongue licked up your sex, and grazed against your clit, teasing it with quick, hardly there flicks which, you were ashamed to say, had you riled up something feral. His hands palmed at your ass, his fingers curling round the outside of your thighs as he quickened his movements, his mouth expertly devouring you, tongue flicking into your entrance as his lips circled that sensitive nub, giving a suck that made you cry out, your back arching off the table, pushing yourself further onto his face.

Mike let out a chuckle which vibrated exquisitely against you and you gasped again, your hands slapping onto the cool surface of the table, fingernails feeling the grain of the wood as he upped his efforts dramatically, lips and tongue teasing you in a way that was so delectable it was teetering along that fine line between pain and pleasure. His mouth expertly devoured every inch of you, from your inner and outer pussy lips to the depths of your walls, tongue fucking you like you he was starving, despite the breakfast the pair of you had eaten moments ago.

“Fuck, Mike, I need…” Your voice was croaky, the words sounded far off as they bounced around your lust addled brain and once again he chuckled.

“I told you.”

“Yeah, yeah you arrogant sh-oooh fuck!” You cried as he gently nipped your clit. “Shit!”

You were willing yourself to remain grounded, wanting to prove him wrong but you couldn’t. You couldn’t fight the urge you felt to ride over the edge which was building like a fire inside you. When his mouth was over you completely once more, tongue deep, you felt him move one of his hands and his thumb pressed against your clit, before the pressure eased off and his tongue slipped away.

"Okay, okay you win, Mike, please for the love of God!” You groaned and with a final, maddeningly smug chuckle he dove back in, only this time when you felt your orgasm brewing he didn’t stop. One of your hands flew to his hair, pulling lightly on his soft, spiky strands and he gave a growl as you tugged, his efforts doubling once more as his beard scratched against your sensitive pussy and inner thighs. The coil in your belly was tightening, your entire body quivered and with a final flick of his tongue you gave a cry as your orgasm crashed over you. Your toes curled into his back just below his shoulders, your own back arched as your walls clamped down over nothing, the room fading out as everything went silent and the lights erupted in front of your eyes, your entire body feeling like you were floating.

Mike grinned, guiding you through your release before he stood up, pulling you further to the end of the table as he undid the flies on his trousers, freeing his painfully hard erection. The swollen head of his dick gently swirled around your folds before he buried himself inside you, groaning as he felt you fluttering around him in the after throes of your orgasm. You let out a low groan and finally opened your eyes, looking up at him as he pounded into you, fully clothed, those fucking suspenders that drove you wild still looped over his shoulders.

He slid one, large hand under your back and pulled you up causing you to cry out as he drove deeper into you, his hand on the base of your back pulling you up and towards him as he dipped his head to give you a dirty, sloppy kiss whilst he rolled and thrust into you. Then His lips moved down, nipping at your neck, his breath hot on your ear as your head fell back, a low moan rumbling in his throat.

“God, I love seeing you like this, fucking wrecked all because of me.” His panted words made you groan even more as the heat in your groin was beginning to mount again. “Makes me higher than any fucking drug ever could.”

His thrusts continued, hard, deep, and you felt his dick throbbing inside you as he drove up against your spot, his lips back on yours as he kissed you hard, swallowing the pants and whimpers you were making as you began to teeter on that cliff edge again. With a deep roll of his hips you let out a low wail and came, once more, your core spasmed around him as your entire body tingled, and that was enough for him to follow you. With a powerful thrust he stiffened, a low grunt stuttering from his lips as he pulsed inside of you, his hips growing sloppy before they stopped completely. His chest heaving, he pressed his forehead to yours, the pair of you gasping for breath as you came down from your high.

“Shit, Mike.” You managed to stutter as he grinned, his lips meeting yours in a soft peck. “That was…”

“Yeah, I was pretty good.” He chuckled and you slapped his arm as he moved and pulled out of you. You straightened your robe and stood up, wincing as you felt his release trickled down your inner thigh.

“I need another shower.” You grumbled, before you glanced at his crotch, the damp patch where he’d pressed against you was clear as day. “And you should probably change your trousers.”

Mike glanced down before his eyes met you, and he shrugged. “Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll go into the office like this and then every time I see it I’ll be reminded exactly what a damned good breakfast I had this morning.”

You blinked before you shook your head, scoffing. “You’re gross.”

He laughed. “You love it, Sweetheart.”

“I love you.” You corrected, your hands sliding up over his shoulders and he smiled, a pure, innocent smile that made him look like a schoolboy before he took your face in his hands and kissed you deeply, pulling away, his nose bumping against yours.

“I love you too.” He whispered, his eyes locking onto yours. “Now go, before I decide to play hooky for the day.”

“Don’t tempt me with a good time, Weiss.” You smirked, before with one final quick peck you left the room.

Mike watched you go, before he ran his hands through his hair and turned to glance around the kitchen, his eyes falling to the table he’d just fucked you senseless on.

He should probably clean that before he went to work…

#uglywombatsexpositionchallenge #mike weiss #mike weiss x reader #mike weiss x you #mike weiss reader insert #reader insert #mike weiss fanfic #mike weiss smut #chris evans #chris evans characters

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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honestly in my personal opinion, the weirdness around crwby's handling of queer characters comes back to their core sentiment of "queer people have to earn their rep," which was said by monty iirc. which is just an incredibly outdated & homophobic opinion anyways because like you pointed out in your ask, the heteronormative relationships didn't have to earn their existence. characters are assumed cishet by default, they're seen as the Standard & therefore don't have to earn their place.

queer characters & queer romances go against that heteronormative standard & have to be "earned" in the eyes of mostly cishet creators. kiersi is queer but well, she's not a point in the right direction for mkek considering her writing of nonbinary & asexual people.

it's even more disappointing to see this parroted by queer people in the fndm, that mkek are right, that we have to wait when ... why? cishets didn't have to wait for three separate heteronormative relationships in tandem.

Hey, sorry this has taken me so long to answer. My blood has been boiling over 'queer people have to earn their rep.' What a homophobic sentiment... and honestly, that really makes me think that Bumbleby was not planned from the beginning. Which of course isn't to say that MK was wrong to go with BB, but it's certainly annoying that people involved in the project are claiming it's been planned when the creator of the show was of the belief that 'queer rep has to be earned.'

Like... How? Someone please tell me how LGBTQ+ people can earn representation in media when I can't think of very many pieces of media (especially popular media) that doesn't display at least one opposite-sex relationship. I just looked through the collection of movies myself and my sisters have on our shelves, and outside of a couple of movies I don't know, every movie on our shelf but two depict opposite sex relationships (the two that don't btw are Bolt and Kung Fu Panda 1, which both include single parents, but no depiction of romantic relationships at all iirc.) I defy anyone to list one cartoon Disney movie that doesn't include a straight ship (even if it's just married parents.) How are queer people supposed to earn their fucking representation? Why are queer people thrown scraps and then told to shut up and stop complaining?

There's explicit bias in company's even like RT, who depict same-sex people, but always do it in comfortable ways or always in only small ways or always in hints. It's still homophobia, especially when it's very clear that their lack of inclusion isn't about the media just not being about any sort of romance (like Bolt or Kung Fu Panda 1 could say,) because they have relationships featured, just never LGBTQ+ relationships. RT has no problems forcing a love triangle between Jaune, Weiss, and Neptune despite none of that being believable or developed. RT has no problem introducing Sun with romantic theming for him and Blake, having them go on an explicit date, having Pyrrha in love with Jaune for who knows what reason and kissing him right before a tense fight scene to further the plot and freaking dying. RT has no problem with having 'boyfriend meets girlfriend's over protective and unnecessarily rude dad' esque jokes shoehorned into volumes 4 and 5 when it comes to Sun and Blake, or having Nora and Ren kiss in the middle of a high-stakes political rally right before a bunch of murders happen. RT has no problems making Ironwood flirt with Glynda in his first introduction, making Qrow talk about "the size of the waitress's skirt length" in like, his third scene, making Roman flirt with Cinder, making even characters like Penny and Ruby who have story plots that have nothing to do with romance or relationships talk about 'cute boys' at least once. Straight people get rep at every single turn, and yet gay people have to earn even an acknowledgement, even a passing comment.

What it is to me, really, is 'queer people have to prove we can get a profit out of their rep.' That's all I'm hearing. 'We're not ever going to do this because it's the right thing to do, we'll only do it if the pros of the money we can squeeze out of you outweigh the marketing risk of alienating homophobes who will turn off our show.' 'We'll only depict what we know is still comfortable to the casually homophobic viewers who are fine with a dash of gay here and there to appease people without 'forcing it down their throats,' or who are comfortable with seeing gay girls since that's been fetishized for straight men, but wouldn't be comfortable seeing gay men because they consider it a threat to their masculinity.' That's what I'm hearing.

It makes it even more annoying when I see fans talking about 'we should be grateful for the beautiful rep RT has given us.' NO THANKS. I'm not going to be grateful for the fact that MKEK are trying to queerbait me and other LGBTQ+ people into shutting up about the 'bmblb' song and Clover's death by trying to make us buy their fucking jackets and convincing us that Blake and Yang are already confirmed. I'm so sorry to get so heated over this. XD I'd thought I was calm, but this 'earn your rep' thing has gotten me so steamed. When have straight people ever been asked for the same? There are content creators fighting tooth and nail to be able to depict same sex relationships in their shows on bigger networks, and it really seems so very brazen of MKEK to still be holding back on confirming Blake and Yang and trying to convince us they're still champions of the LGBTQ+ community and our friends, and are selling pride merch with our favorite *non-confirmed* girls on it.

Adding onto that, the only rep we've officially gotten is girls. Ilia, Saffron and Terra, and May. And then heavily hinted Blake and Yang. The closest we've gotten for representation for men is Clover (a wink, a couple lingering looks, tweets suggesting he and Qrow will be together, only for him to be murdered,) and this picture.

This freaking nothing picture of two nameless guys with a heart shaped plant in the background of one shot in Mistral. Like, don't get me wrong, I'd like to know more about this unfashionable couple, and I'd like to know if one of them has a semblance that lets them control plants or if the heart-plant is decorative and was a gift from Sandy Hair over there... But my point is, no one should have to latch onto two rando background nameless punks and their fucking plant to be able to see themselves in media. This isn't representation for men in the LGBTQ+ community. It's honestly just tiring. I don't think I'm asking for too much to say that if companies are going to advertise 'pride,' that they commit to actually representing queer people and not just through the lens of what's comfortable to their homophobic or heteronormative audience members. May was a step in the right direction and I know that there are a lot of trans people who felt really validated seeing her in action and as a more important character during this last arc, and that the way that MKEK handled the in-universe confirmation of her being trans was respectful and well done. That's great. But it's 2021, if they're going to post 'pride merch' and claim to be for us and that they're trying to be inclusive, they need to stop queerbaiting Blake and Yang, and they also need to step out of the comfort zone of only portraying women on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Male LGBTQ+ and non-binary and genderfluid people ought to be able to get representation too.

#rwde #anti rwby #anti mkek #rwby bashing #rwby hate #canoncrit bumbleby #anti rt #anti rooster teeth #ironpines

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musings-from-mars · 2 years

Text

Rosebloom AU - part 5

This definitely wasn’t an Uber. Ruby could tell mostly by how the driver was wearing a suit. She was certain that was not an Uber dress code requirement.

“Good evening, Miss Ruby,” the driver greeted. “Are you ready to go?”

Ruby nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her in the back seat. “Uhh, yes. I’m ready.”

The driver nodded and pulled away from the curb.

The seats were black leather stitched with silver thread, and it looked brand new. This was by far the fanciest car she’d ever been in. She leaned to the side to see if she could catch a glimpse of the odometer. 1,203 miles. Yeah, this car was new.

Ruby texted Weiss as the car got on the highway: “This car is so fancy!”

Weiss: “Yeah, I know. My mom insisted.”

Ruby: “Sooo...I’m guessing your family is pretty rich?”

Weiss: “Yeah.”

Ruby didn’t know what to respond with, so she decided maybe changing the subject would be correct: “So am I eating at your place? I was a dumb and forgot to eat at home”

Weiss: “Sure! Do you like pizza?”

Ruby: “I LOVE PIZZA”

Weiss: “Lol okay, I’ll order some. Any dietary restrictions or preferences?”

Ruby: “No onions!”

Weiss: “Oh gosh, no, I’d never do that to you”

Ruby: “👈😎👈”

Weiss: “;P”

Ruby didn’t realize how much she was smiling until she caught sight up the driver smiling at her in the rear view mirror. “You know, Miss Weiss has been quite excited about you visiting.”

Ruby wasn’t sure how to respond to a stranger telling her that. “I’m...excited too.” It was sweet to know that Weiss’ eagerness for Ruby to visit had been so apparent to those around her. But now that she knew Weiss’ family was rich enough to afford...all of this, she was now much more apprehensive. Did they have an entire service staff? Like, housekeepers and landscapers and personal chefs? That last one may not be the case since Weiss offered to order pizza. Whatever the case, she knew she’d end up feeling very out of place wherever Weiss lived. Hopefully she’d get used to it in time.

They were heading north of town, and Ruby recognized the housing development the driver was entering. This was where her family would always go to drive around and look at the holiday decorations in the winter, because the houses were huge and the people there had the money to hire professional decorators to make their houses look grand and festive. She’d never been around here outside the month of December, and it all looked almost boring compared to the bright lights and snow cover Ruby was used to seeing. But still, it was a huge development of multi-million dollar houses, so still rather incredible.

And yet, the house the driver eventually pulled up to made all the houses they’d passed look like tool sheds by comparison. For one, there was an iron gate that led to the driveway which the driver had to enter a code on a keypad to open. They then drove up the stone-tiled driveway to the front of the house, or rather, a mansion, three stories high with towering marble columns on the front porch. The front door consisted of two massive wooden double doors with iron accents, and standing on the porch was Weiss, dressed in an adorable spaghetti strap white dress with a sash around the waist and a pleated knee-length skirt. She waved as Ruby got out of the car (after the chauffeur opened the door for her, naturally).

“Hello!” Weiss greeted with a wave.

Ruby smiled and waved back as she walked up the steps to the porch. She wondered how much of a contrast her plaid skirt and black t-shirt mast have made in comparison to everything around her. “Hi, Weiss!” Ruby greeted. She was really tempted to say something dumb like “Nice house!” She figured that wouldn’t really be a compliment, so instead, he skipped to the next thing on her mind: Weiss’ gorgeous dress. “Your dress is so pretty!”

Weiss beamed, and Ruby felt she might fall backwards down the steps for a moment. “Thank you! Gosh, you wouldn’t believe how much time I spent trying to pick something to wear.” Then her cheeks turned a faint pink, and Weiss quickly changed the subject. “Uhm, would you like to come in?” She sounded almost apprehensive, in a sort of “let’s get this part over with” kind of way.

Ruby nodded but struggled to think of something to say. “Yeah, uhh...” She gestured up at Weiss’ house. “Maybe the inside will make up for the totally hideous exterior.” Ruby’s gut twisted with regret right after saying that, but Weiss let out a loud laugh, which she cut off quickly, surprised by the volume of her own voice.

“I could give you a tour, to show you just how hideous it gets.” Weiss opened one of the double doors, which swung open almost menacingly, like they were entering an evil sorcerer’s castle.

Ruby chuckled as she followed her. “Show me to the bathrooms first so I know where to run in case the ugliness of it all makes me sick.”

Weiss giggled again, and wow, Ruby was feeling awfully proud of herself so far. The banter! This was off to a pretty good start.

The foyer had the vibes of a room obviously meant to impress visitors as they walked in, and it was certainly impressive. Marble and bronze everywhere, a grand staircase leading up to the second floor, not to mention a gigantic chandelier hanging in the center of the oval-shaped corridor. It’s like Ruby had stepped directly into one of those home improvement shows her dad liked to watch. Everything looked literally spotless.

“Sooo...this is the foyer,” Weiss said.

“It’s so gaudy!” Ruby remarked, her voice echoing up the rounded walls.

Weiss’ giggle followed. “Isn’t it? It’s too much, huh?”

“That chandelier is probably made of plastic, huh?” Ruby asked, pointing up.

“You know, I’ve never inspected it myself, so it probably is,” Weiss admitted, still laughing.

Okay, maybe Ruby wasn’t as out of place as she worried she’d feel. She was feeling rather confident right now. Weiss was laughing so much. Ruby was drowning in positive social feedback, and in Weiss’ cuteness. She noticed how Weiss would cover her mouth when she laughed, how her nose wrinkled with she smiled like that.

Weiss seemed to head towards the staircase for a moment, but paused. Instead, she turned to the doorway that led further into the first floor.

“So here’s the family room and kitchen. Open concept, of course,” Weiss said. It was a huge space with lots of expensive looking furniture. The flatscreen TV mounted to the wall was huge!

“Boring,” Ruby sang, making Weiss laugh again.

Weiss continued to show her around, and while Ruby was certainly struck by just how many rooms this place had, dunking on everything left and right made it seem less magnificent. Sure, it was a huge house filled to the brim with performative excess, but it wasn’t much of a home.

Ruby didn’t voice that last part, figuring that would be a deep cut.

As Weiss led Ruby back to the main foyer to lead her up the stairs, the same man who drove Ruby here was coming down the stairs. “Your pizza arrived and I have delivered it to your room, Miss Weiss.”

“Thank you,” Weiss said. Her voice sounded oddly stilted, completely different from how she’d been talking to Ruby. She sounded like how Ruby sounded when she had to read aloud in English class. They both continued up the stairs.

“So let me guess,” Ruby said, breaking the awkward silence. “Your room is just covered in boy band posters, right?”

Weiss scoffed and laughed. “No, I’m afraid it’s more of the same.”

“I’ll say right now, I’m not going to roast your room,” Ruby promised. “I reserve that to the eighty other rooms in this place.”

Weiss smiled at her as she stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. “Thank you.” She opened it and led her inside.

Weiss’ room really wasn’t more of the same. For one, there was more color, especially a lot of blue. The walls, her bedding, and even her nightstand and dresser were a light blue, like a sunny blue sky in winter. Ruby somehow felt calmer just from entering.

“This is my room,” Weiss said with a shrug, grabbing the pizza box off of the bed tray on her desk. “Boring, right?”

“The blue theme is pretty,” Ruby said, slowly turning in circles as she looked around.

Weiss was silent for a moment as she watched her wander around. “It’s my favorite color,” she admitted.

“I wish I could paint my room my favorite color.” And install an attached bathroom, she thought with a glance at the bathroom door near the entrance to the room.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Black.” Ruby turned her head to Weiss dramatically, glaring at her. “Like my soul.”

Weiss giggled. “I think you have a very colorful soul.” Her face then lit up bright red, and she stammered a bit before holding up the pizza box. “Wow, that was cheesy, uh, want some pizza?”

“Yeah!” Ruby hurried over and jumped to a stop in front of Weiss, pulling the box open. “Mmm, cheeeese.”

“I went basic with the toppings,” Weiss admitted. “Wasn’t sure what you liked.”

“This is perfect. Thanks, Weiss!” Ruby said as she picked up a slice.

“Of course,” Weiss said as she sat the box down and picked up her own slice.

They sat in the small adjoining seating area in the far side of the room, on a window bench with a view of the front driveway.

“So,” Ruby said between bites. “What do you do for fun around here?”

Weiss pondered her answer while chewing. “Uhm…I like to read.”

“Oh, same!” Ruby said. “What do you read? Sappy romance novels?”

Weiss covered her mouth and laughed. “No genre in particular. I do enjoy a fairy tale fantasy, though.”

“Nice. I’m more of a sci-fi kinda gal.”

“Hence your Red Hallow Manor obsession?” Weiss asked.

“Exactly!” Ruby blushed. “But I promise not to ramble on about that for an hour like I did last time.”

Weiss chuckled as she finished her slice. “I told you, I enjoyed listening to you.”

“I know, I’m just…worried about annoying you,” Ruby admitted, looking out the window.

Weiss shook her head. “You shouldn’t worry about that. You aren’t annoying at all.”

“Oh, I am capable of levels of annoying that you couldn’t even imagine,” Ruby joked.

“Well, I guess you’re right. I can’t imagine you being that annoying.”

Ruby looked down and smiled, her face warm and tingly. “Thanks.”

“How about we listen to an episode together?” Weiss suggested.

“Really?” Ruby looked up and smiled.

Weiss nodded. “We can’t just eat this pizza in silence, can we?”

And so Ruby pulled up an episode of RHM on her phone while Weiss retrieved the pizza box. Ruby picked the Season 1 finale, since they’d both listened to it before and Ruby really wanted to talk about it with her. All throughout the episode and Ruby’s ramblings and oddly specific questions about Weiss’ takes on popular fan theories, they’d managed to almost finish the whole pizza.

“Ugh,” Ruby muttered, shaking her head. “I think I’ve had enough. Got too distracted to control my pizza intake.”

“Same,” Weiss admitted as she set the rest of the pizza aside. She let out a slow sigh as she turned back to Ruby. “So, you were saying?”

Ruby stared at her for a moment. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Weiss nodded unconvincingly. “I just ate too much.”

“Yeah, we both did,” Ruby agreed with a chuckle, and she hit play on the podcast.

The last ten minutes of the episode were spent in complete silence as Ruby was enthralled in the closing scenes. Once the episode ended, she looked up and smiled at Weiss. “Okay, so, I gotta know, do you think that…” Her voice trailed away once she realized how uneasy Weiss looked. “Are you…?”

Weiss avoided her eyes and stood from the bench. “I’m sorry, one moment,” she said before hurrying to the bathroom and closing the door.

Ruby stood from the bench as well but didn’t follow, unsure of what to do. Maybe Weiss was just having tummy trouble, and she’d tried to hide it. Ruby could empathize, Weiss must feel embarrassed. She would make sure to reassure Weiss when she’d come out.

But after ten minutes, Weiss didn’t come out. Now Ruby was even more concerned. She finally walked over and knocked on the door. “Hey, uhh, you good?”

“Yeah,” Weiss answered, sounding like she was half asleep. “Could you…grab something for me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“In my nightstand, top drawer, there’s a light blue pouch. Can you bring that to me?”

Ruby turned toward Weiss’ nightstand and went to open the drawer. Besides the pouch Weiss had asked for, the drawer was filled with what looked like medical supplies—alcohol swabs, syringes, boxes labeled Test Strips.

“Ohh,” Ruby murmured, starting to understand as she grabbed the pouch and turned back to the bathroom.

“You can come in,” Weiss said after Ruby knocked.

Ruby gingerly opened the door and stepped inside. She found Weiss sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, facing the toilet. Weiss smiled at her weakly, her face flushed. “Thanks.”

Ruby came over and handed Weiss the pouch. “What’s wrong? Did you throw up?”

Weiss sighed as she unzipped the pouch. Inside was a small electronic device. “No. I’m just an idiot,” she answered, pulling out a small white strip from a tube and inserting it in the device. “I didn’t correct for that pizza.”

“Correct?” Ruby asked as she watched Weiss pick up a plastic device and cock its base back like a shotgun.

“For the carbs,” Weiss answered, and held the end of the plastic thing against her finger tip. She pressed a button, making a metallic clicking noise. When she pulled the device away, she squeezed her finger, and a drop of blood pooled on her fingertip.

Ruby blinked as Weiss held the blood up against the end of the white strip sticking out of the device. The blood got sucked in, and the device beeped, a spinning loading wheel appearing on the screen. It let out one long beeeep. A number appeared, 476, with an up arrow next to it. “Damnit,” Weiss whispered.

“Is that bad?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah,” Weiss said with a nod, removing the white strip and turning the device off. “My blood sugar is way too high.”

“Sooo, you’re like, diabetic?“

Weiss nodded as she flicked the white strip at the trash bin by the toilet, missing. “Type one.”

Ruby looked down for a moment. “You could’ve told me. I could have reminded you to…correct.” She reused the word Weiss had used earlier.

Weiss chuckled softly. “I didn’t want to make you worry.”

“Hey, I worry whether I need a reason to or not,” Ruby joked, making Weiss smile. “Uhm…do you need, like, insulin?”

Weiss nodded. “In my closet, there’s a mini fridge. Grab one of the white boxes off the top shelf and one of the syringes in my drawer. Please?”

Ruby nodded and stood. “Got it.” She left to retrieve the supplies Weiss had asked for. The mini fridge in her closet was filled with the white boxes Weiss had mentioned, plus bottles of water and Gatorade. Something told her to grab a bottle of water for Weiss, too. She grabbed a syringe from the drawer and returned to Weiss. “Here.”

Weiss noticed the bottle of water and smiled. “Thank you, Ruby.” She took the supplies and opened the white box. Inside was a glass vial. Using the syringe, she drew some of the clear liquid into it. “Don’t look at my underwear,” Weiss joked as she pulled the side of her skirt up, about to poke herself in the thigh with the short needle.

“Wait, don’t you need one of those alcohol swab things?” Ruby asked. “Before you inject it?”

Weiss paused and sighed. She looked up and smiled at her. “I forgot, yeah. Could you…?”

Ruby nodded and saluted her. “On it.” She left and quickly returned with an alcohol swab. She handed it to Weiss, then sat down next to her as Weiss tore open the package and wiped at her thigh with the swab. “Uhm…does it hurt?”

“No, just a little cold,” Weiss joked.

Ruby snickered. “I meant the needle.”

“Only sometimes.” Weiss readied the syringe once again and pressed it into her leg. She didn’t flinch. After a few seconds, the syringe was empty, and Weiss pulled it out and recapped it. She flicked the syringe towards the trash can and missed again.

“So that’ll bring your blood sugar down?” Ruby asked.

“Soon, hopefully,” Weiss said with a nod.

They sat in silence for a moment. Well, silence besides Ruby idly drumming on her knees.

“I’m sorry,” Weiss finally said.

Ruby turned to her. “For what?”

“I didn’t want my type one to interrupt us. I guess I just got too nervous.”

Ruby scoffed. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I just wanted this to be a normal…” She hesitated, “Day.”

Ruby looked down and shrugged. “Well, I mean, I wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. We still have time.”

Weiss was quiet at first, then she took a deep breath. “I guess you’re right.” She started to stand, and Ruby quickly got up to help her to her feet. Ruby held Weiss by her wrists until she was upright. Weiss looked at her, holding her breath.

Ruby blinked, then quickly let go off Weiss’ wrists. “Uhh…” She reached back and scratched her back of her head. “You mentioned you have a game room?”

Weiss smiled at her. “So, you want to lose to me at table tennis, then?”

Ruby grinned. “Oh, we’ll see about that.” They both began to leave, but Ruby paused. “Hold up, doesn’t that need to go back in your mini fridge?” She asked, pointing back at the vial that Weiss had left on the floor.

Weiss turned and chuckled. “You’re right.” She went back to grab it, looked at it for a moment, the smiled. “Thanks for reminding me. I’ll just keep it with me for now.”

“Hey, if you need reminders to check your blood sugar again later, I can…try my best to overcome my crappy memory,” she joked.

Weiss rolled her eyes and laughed. “You’re such a dork,” she said as she walked past her, the water bottle Ruby had brought her tucked under her arm.

Ruby lingered behind and smiled. Her heart was hammering in her chest at the moment. She wasn’t sure why, but it felt like a good reason. Weiss had smiled at her so much. Maybe she really was being helpful. “Hey, Weiss?”

Weiss stopped just before opening her bedroom door. She looked over her shoulder, striking an inadvertently cute pose. “Hm?”

“You know,” Ruby said, fidgeting with her hands. “I can’t in good conscience leave here until your blood sugar is, like, absolutely perfect. So, I’m staying no matter how long it takes.” She straightened her back and crossed her arms.

Weiss rolled her eyes fondly. “So you want to sleep over?”

“If that’s what it takes,” Ruby said with a nod.

Weiss giggled. “I’d love it if you did. But I’ll have to ask my mom.” She opened the door and waved for Ruby to follow. “Now come on, dork. The sooner we get down there, the sooner I can destroy you at ping pong.”

#rosebloom au #diabetic weiss #rwby #white rose #ruby rose #weiss schnee #drabble

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razorblade180 · 3 years

Text

Interdimensional Moms pt4

Part 3 here! <-

The tales had be interesting. The tales had even been emotionally gripping, yet all of them so far didn’t seem to register at the moment as Ruby’s teammates looked at her with the same excitement she used to give her own mother during story time. Ruby couldn’t help but give a little smile.

Ruby:I take it you’re ready for my turn? You do know it’s not exactly a sunshine and rainbows story, right?

Weiss:We figured as much, but....

Yang:You’re so different! From the moment you showed up I could just feel it in my gut. You have this...presence about you. Not to mention intsene confidence.

Blake:Yang is right. You said you beat your Salem when your seventeen. That’s...scary if I’m being honest. Such a drastic departure from any of our worlds.

Ruby:*red* Hehehe ummm I guess I’m just awesome? Really I don’t think it’s the most outstanding feat. At least by my worlds standards I suppose. I mean sure, I’m consider cream of the crop there too but there’s talented people and challenges all over that would put me through my paces still. I’m just...me.

Weiss:Sigh...honestly, I suppose that means our own skills must pale in comparison to our counterparts.

Ruby:Mmmm I wouldn’t say that for sure. My Yang would kill me if she heard this but there’s something about the one right here that has spark I dig.

Yang:Really?

Ruby:Uh huh. Can’t put my finger on it but I think you take her if you want it bad enough. As for Weiss....couldn’t tell ya. Haha, I know better than anybody to not underestimate the power of mother, and you pumped twins out.

Weiss:Not sure if those are pity points or real ones but thanks either way.

Blake:You don’t even have to tell me I’d lose. Just gave an entire story about me an my condition.

Ruby:Don’t feel too bad about it. I can’t imagine much reason for you two to fight for any reason. You’re both too reasonable to not reason with yourself.

Blake:Aw I’m touched.

Yang and Weiss:We aren’t....

Ruby:Hahaha I’m just saying! So, I guess I take things from the top like you all? From what I learned from all of you our Beacon experiences really are more or less the same, not counting certain interactions between a bookworm faunus and an adorkable blonde knight. Enrolled early, blew up the entrance, Weiss was rude, Yang ditched me, all the same beats.

Yang:There’s no super badass change like you beating Cinder the night of dance and making our entire lives easier?

Ruby:Ha! I wish I was that legit. No, I was very much the young girl tripping in heels that night. Vytal festival came around and was attacked, then Beacon fell. Pyrrha was lost and so was Penny. Difference being that was my last time seeing her, unlike Weiss’s story apparently.

Weiss:Yeah that...that’s a little bit of shock to be frank. Sorry.

Ruby:No worries. Not like you did anything and it was decades ago for me now. After that day is when I started to get a bit more serious I think. I had always taken being a huntress seriously and never slacked of in trying to live my dream. However, my perspective may have honed in on just how do or die life his when you’re the one choosing to walk into unknown danger. Team RNJR’s first and only mission, save the world!

Yang:Sub mission: Flirt with Jaune Arc.

Ruby:*blushing* We do not choose who we fall in love with it. But yes, that may have been a personal pseudo mission for me. He’s my first friend at Beacon for crying out loud and I you know.....thought he was cute then too.

WBY:Yeah that checks out.

Ruby:What does that mean!?

Weiss:Ruby, even my Ruby admits to finding Jaune attractive and having a crush on him back in the day.

Blake:Same.

Yang:I already went into enough detail on how my little sister feels about Jaune. Your just the reality where you pounced on the opportunity and never let go. Struck when the iron was hot and none of us were around; sly fox.

Ruby:Gee you make it sound underhanded. It isn’t like I intended to actively pursue him. Everyone was really sad and stressed traveling to Anima. There was a tension in the air. One that really strained us. I did my best to keep focus, but a leader is only as put together as team. Ren and Nora confided one another as usual and I tried being there for Jaune because seeing him emotionally shut down was rough; so I did my best to be there for him. Then...he ended up being there for me and I was the one who needed comfort. All the airing out and late nights just...led to....*red*

Blake: “Breaking the tension?”

Ruby:I guess that’s one way of putting it. We were lonely. I hid my feelings best I could under the veil of comfort in the moment. Not that needed to. He made it pretty clear that he wanted me in the same way I wanted him. I just the two of us were too scared to ask for promises we weren’t sure we could keep so we loved in the moments we could, so to speak.

Weiss:If it wasn’t under dire situations, all that sounds oddly romantic.

Ruby:Right!? Looking back at it makes the entire thing seem romantic but I definitely wouldn’t wish a similar experience on anybody! I guess it’s what I wished for when I fantasized huntress life huh? Things obviously got better along the way. Our relationship got a bit more serious right before we got to Haven. Then Tyrian and other crazy stuff happened that threw all of us into panic mode again before slowly getting better again by a lot.

Yang:We showed up?

Ruby:Bingo! You and Weiss, met Oscar, and then eventually Blake came back. Things were on the up and up.

Weiss:Uh, Haven attack?

Ruby:We lived, up and up. Yeah you got stabbed but you know...that’s not new I’m sure.

Weiss:Yeah I have the scar and I’m still little pissed.

Ruby:Valid. Anyways, so my Atlas experience was different as hell. There was no formation of Remnants armies like Weiss spoke of or even between two kingdoms like Blake. Yang, what happened yours again exactly?

Yang:Nonsense. Cinder showed up with lackeies but not Salem’s lackies. Those people showed up separately, then Adam came back from wherever the hell he- a lot! A lot of people showed up for different reasons but also the same reason and to be frank, we all almost got shot by the military for being in bases that quote unquote, “didn’t exist.”

Ruby:Man I wish we traded. That at least sounds crazy enough to be fun. Just a rollercoaster in the dark basically. My experience was probably as hectic, but also way more streamlined. We showed up, and then all hell broke loose. Specially a mass grimm invasion lead by Cinder and her annoying associates. We were there for about three weeks updating General Ironwood and getting our barrings together when it happened. I wanna call it a hit and run tactic but it was clearly planned in advanced. Mechs were hacked again, traitors in the military, grimm lying in wait before hand; it was chaos! All for the relic.

Blake:Who was the maiden?

Ruby:Never met her. By the time we got there, Ironwood was panicking because she had vanished, taken right from under his nose. It was some young girl apparently, really young. The attack on Beacon looked like child’s play to this. Mantle got attacked, grimm were on the chains, they tried dropping Atlas to the ground; all a diversion for a relic. We all should’ve died, and yet, we didn’t. Winter and Weiss weeded out traitors, huntsman and military held the line, Yang bested Hazel with Nora, Qrow and I cut down Tyrian! Ren, Blake and Jaune helped the kingdoms while Ironwood struck down Watts. Nobody was in the mood to die that day. There wasn’t gonna be another Beacon. By all means, we were pissed. Even Raven showed up of all people.

Yang:What!?

Ruby:You can’t attack a kingdom without the world knowing. Especially when traitors leak info. Honestly she came for you though, or she never left to begin with. Couldn’t tell ya. Thanks to Maria I had a bit more handling with my eyes. That helped a lot. Without them and Os-

She stopped herself, choking on the words. The zest and excitement of recalling the heroic feats of her friends dimmed slightly with her smile. Her joyful smile became bittersweet like the memory.

Ruby:Then there was Oscar, the real warrior on that flamed filled night. That battle had to have been three days at least. We were so driven, and so tired. I was tired, but Cinder, Neo, and the others with her at the time weren’t; always showing up at the worst time. I managed to push Cinder back in a fight but grimm and others still swarmed. We were at a point that grimm very well might’ve did us in and the villains didn’t have to push any harder. But Oscar changed that. Hehe, what’s it about country folk that makes people like him and I not hesitate to grit our teeth? That dork looked at me, gave me the biggest smile on the the steps to Atlas, and then he left. His hair went white as he twirled the cane and then he left, forever. Oz came out, and he left nothing to the imagination. “Limited magic” my butt. He obliterated grimm and made a barrier aroma Atlas while everyone else cleared Mantle long enough for the world to send reinforcements. Salem didn’t get the relic, but she got the maiden and thousands of casualties. Oscar being one of them. Also, Whitley....he was in critical condition for a very long time.

Weiss:What do you mean...critical condition?

Ruby:Everything happened so fast Weiss. Panic was high, buildings fell....a piece on him. I wasn’t there but when I eventually found you, you were nearly hysterical and banged up. By some miracle he lived even though we could not reach him and he did not get aid for awhile. We thought him dead. It was only after everything we learned somebody got him. Being rich never paid off more than with medical bills. Thanks to youth and medicine he can still walk, but he can only do so much before being tired. He also left Atlas. The cold hurts.

Weiss:So, I run the company because he can’t?

Ruby:I wouldn’t put it that way, but it was one of dozens of reasons that made that goal stronger for you. Relax though, both of you get plenty of time to be witty siblings like I told you earlier.

Weiss:I know. It’s just, I guess it’s hard imagining Whitley hurt like that. I don’t think I could handle it.

Ruby:You definitely teetered in the moment. Knowing that happened though probably gave you anger and grit to fight the entire battle. You were a beast. Scarier than Winter. Anyways, that hollow victory was a real wake up call for the world. They didn’t know about Salem and we never told society in earnest. Cinder and other conspirators were enough to make Remnant work together to boost defense. Relief went to places that needed it and I, became the face of hope. Haven, Argus, Atlas, even people from Vale got to chattering of a particular group of people who always seemed to answer the call for help. Then the towns in between chattered. Yours truly had been carving a name in the history books and was only gain popularity the moment I stepped into Vacou, alone.

Blake:Alone!?

Weiss:What!?

Yang:Where were we!!!!!?

Ruby looked at surprised faces around the table, smiling tenderly. She looked down her dress and pulled out the cross she wore around her neck. Her thumb traced its edges as her mind began wandering down an old path paved with emotions raw to the core.

Ruby:I’ve always felt different. Not just because of my eyes but that there was just...a certain spark that never stopped going off for as long as I remember. There are plenty of people who can’t bare to watch others suffer, but there are fewer people I believe that truly feel the agony of other people’s pain. Beacon, Haven, Atlas, Argus; there was no place I went that I didn’t see the faces of others lamenting, and I didn’t make me want to grieve. Atlas took so much out of all of you and I just felt so....driven to stop that ache. For everyone’s sake, but mine as well. I wanted the world to finally get to the happy ending. Enough trauma had be sowed for a hundred lifetimes, so I went on ahead of everyone. I never doubted you all would follow but I wanted to get ahead of the curve and take on as much of the suffering I could do others wouldn’t. If the world wouldn’t give me a miracle than I’d be it myself for everyone else.

Yang:That’s suicidal! Salem wanted you specifically!

Ruby:It’s not like I went marching up to her door and said “1v1 bitch, I’m here” no, I just chose to move forward quicker than what we were all doing. Believe me, all of you were upset when you caught up, after I had already saved Vacou. *smiles* I really like that place. I told the people it was the next target and all they did was double down on pushing back. I managed to pin down the Summer maiden before the villains and thanks with the city on alert, there wasn’t a shift in the sand that didn’t go unnoticed. I got the jump on Mercury and Emerald, personally paying them back. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t take long before they realized how screwed they were with them being outed like this and Cinder having the nerve to retreat before hand. Both of them threw in the total, outing the plan against Vacou. A wipeout of a win. Not to mention they told me the location Salem’s little hiding hole.

Weiss:We missed all of that?

Ruby:That’s what happens when I leave in the dead of night and running on adrenaline. Like I said before, people were tired. As much as all of you wanted to hoof it, other’s were relying on you. Atlas almost dropped for gods sake. Eventually when you all caught up it was at a good time. Soloing was rewarding but difficult. Fortunately Sun, Neptune, Ilia, and a few other familiar faces were close by if I needed an extra set of hands. My little stunt earned the anger of everyone for awhile.

WBY:Yeah no shit...the leader left.

Ruby:Yang was the most upset, followed by Uncle Qrow, and you Weiss. I was ready for the blowback. Jaune and Nora saw me though and bursted into tears. Hehe, wasn’t ready for that. Felt terrible and cried back. To prevent that stunt again, my Yang convinced Raven to link me. A couple days of apologizing and rest smoothed things over. It also gave time for just a few close friends and colleagues to get together for an assault on Salem’s castle. A few were apprehensive about it at first but at the end of the day I was going. That attitude was infectious apparently. You guys, actually everybody, they started getting this hunger to end it all. Maybe it was the high of victory? Regardless, it sent me racing to the end with those that I loved most.

Yang:You’re a real “my way or the highway” kind of Ruby. I don’t get how that explains what made you so...elite.

Ruby:I’m not sure what to say. A fight needed to to fought so I fought it. A cry for help was heard so I ran to it. A grimm needed slaying so I slayed it. People needed me to win so I didn’t dare think of losing. Dying was never option, even when it stared me right into my eyes. I had things I wanted to do and people I wanted see for years to come. I guess...I am strong because of the fact I want things my way. A moment I’m not giving it 110% is a moment wasted. After all, a huntress is all I ever wanted to be.

A single dream she wanted since birth. The never ending desire to be the hero in stories told to her many nights ago. That’s all it ever was. That’s all it’s ever been. Even in meadow of beautiful red roses, one would be the rose that captured the eyes of many, that bloomed stronger than the rest. As simple as it was, that had to be the answer here. Weiss, Yang, and Blake were in front of that flower. The Ruby Rose that simply bloomed stronger than the rest. The one that clung to her dream as if letting go meant dying itself. The devotion was inspiring, yet also overwhelming. If this was Ruby they had lead them that day in the Emerald Forest, could they have kept up? Could she be the leader they followed? No, they couldn’t have. Something deep down inside them gave them that answer. No matter how she looked and how much she loved, this Ruby Rose was cut from a cloth they simply weren’t off. The same as others, but oh so different.

Weiss:You’re....kinda a monster, you know that right?

Yang:Seriously, I’m so...floored. It’s intimidating.

Blake:Not to mention humbling. I used to think I gave it all I had. Now I’m not so sure.

Ruby:Oh don’t be like that you three! You’re all living proof there was more than way to go about life, this war! Everything you gave was enough because you’re done with it! Nobody failed. Besides, I...am far from ideal. The assault was challenging. Getting around hoards of grimm and making it to Salem was hell made real. Neo tried taking another shot at me but Yang held her off with help. Everyone pushed the obstacles in front of me out of the way as I went to Salem herself. Cinder had been abandoned by her and stripped of a lot of her powers. Angry and desperate, she tried killing me again as a way to prove worth. I beat her. However, I let her walk away.

Yang:What!? Why would-

Ruby:Naive, I was...naive okay? She was all spent and though I hated her, I just couldn’t. Not when I looked into her eyes and saw that same hunger I had to claw and scream at my dream until it was in my hands die inside her. We both knew from this point on there was absolutely nothing she could do where this ends her way. All she worked for turned burned to ash. So I gave her the choice to not burn up with it. Cinder swallow her pride and then fled. A part of me couldn’t help but rationalize killing her didn’t solve or justify any of my beliefs or desires. It would’ve done it because I hated her like she hated me. That was the dumb logic of a seventeen year old who never quite learned to take things slow.

Blake:....I don’t think it’s dumb. Naive for sure, but maybe that’s good? Even my Ruby, she never wanted to act on hate. She didn’t. Salem lives.

Weiss:Mine sent her soul to be at piece instead of passing a cruel judgment.

Yang:As a person who’s seen what you looked like with nothing but vengeance inside, I can say it doesn’t fit you. Before that day you had a warmth inside you to even foes that were somewhat admirable. You chose to leave Cinder’s fate up to those who had that hate and Salem was undone by her own doing at the very end. That’s what really makes you special Ruby. That’s why you’re called an honest soul. Good will is your nature.

Ruby:....Hmm, you sure know how to butter me up. *scratches head* I guess that part of me is uni-I mean multiversal. Strangely, that makes me feel better, to a degree.

Weiss:Do we even have to ask what happened to Salem at this point? I doubt the story ends with you loosing and having to retreat.

Ruby:Who’s to say it doesn’t? I could’ve been beaten to death before the gods themselves descended down to revive me with awesome power.

Yang:....Did you?

Ruby:Wh-No! Haha, I made her an immortal statue.

Blake:I-It was that easy?

Ruby:Well I wouldn’t call rushing into hell’s castle easy, or Salem. I lit her up at least a dozen times. My head pounded from each use, I was tossed around a bunch, magic is annoying, and not to mention running out of ammo. I left nothing to the imagination in that fight. If it were easy then I wouldn’t be rooting my horn and my age doing it. I was so tired I blacked out afterwards. I woke days later with a sore body and the title of “Remnant’s Savior.” Apparently beating Salem had weakened the grimm everywhere and all of you made sure who was to be thanked for it. That’s the tale of how I saved the world with my friends. Love, trust, elbow grease, and a lot of bullets. Before the final battle, Ozpin had struck a deal with everyone involved. In return for saving the world, he’d cut ties with us.

Yang:Seriously? What brought that about!?

Ruby:Good or not, he lied and was a schemer. Sure I was gonna try to save the world regardless of his interference but there wasn’t a person alive that didn’t to finally take a step towards the future after all this. All of us finally had time chase dreams and help the world the way we wanted to before all of this. Blake begin mending hate, Weiss took back her company, if Yang wasn’t with Blake then she was seeking more answers to Raven on wild adventures.

Yang:You mean Raven still left after all that!?

Ruby:In her defense, both of you made everything fucking awkward when she was around. It’s like you both wanted to talk about something but knew any subject was a land mine so you all you ever did was...stare, like weirdos. Glad that’s in the past. She just lives with dad now and you two now to hold a conversation. I dare not ask for more. I’d be a granny by the time I did.

Yang:Sigh...I don’t know what I expected. Shit it the fan several times and children were born before mom and I found solidarity and understanding. What did you do afterwards? Your goal was already met.

Ruby:Like hell it was! I started busting my butt traveling around the world, visiting every place to help in anyways I could. Ren and Nora tagged along for awhile before going off to make an orphanage in Anima near Ren’s old village. That left Jaune and I to do our hero thing.

Yang:As well as other things....

Ruby:Hey, what can I say? We were young and going up in the world. By the time I was nineteen, I was now a married to my partner and best friend.

Weiss:Uhhhh-

Ruby:He’s my partner on RNJR and you’re my BFF, gosh did I really need to explain that hehe?

Weiss:I just had to make sure. Crazier twists could happen.

Blake:Wow you married young. Not that there’s a problem but I’m surprised. Then again you also dated earlier than my Ruby. Hehe, weapons were on her brain for a long time.

Weiss:No kidding. When I learned about you crushing on my brother I was shocked to find out you liked anybody in general. Especially a person who isn’t a weapon nut in the slightest.

Ruby:*shrugs* All you’re telling me is I’m clearly the most impatient or impulsive Ruby you all know. Don’t know how that happened. Maybe I was dropped as a baby or had one too many coffees growing up?

Weiss:I’m willing to bet it’s both.

Ruby:Ruuuuude. So yeah, that’s...the story of how I saved the world and married Jaune. We even built a home just outside Vacou, overlooking the kingdom and neighboring town in the distance where Maria grew up. Yeah, that’s me....more or less. All the triumphant parts anyways. Anything later on is......

.......

Blake:R...Ruby? You okay?

Ruby:Nope, not really. *clenches cross*

Yang:......You know, I never really got religion, especially after learning the truth. It just seemed completely hollow when you learn of the real gods, ya know? However, I changed my tune a bit after being a parent and then some more when uncle Qrow died. It was never really about the truth behind if those other gods were real-

Ruby:It’s the piece of mind in believing in a better place for loved ones and having people watch over you. It’s truly based on blind faith in every sense but that’s okay as long as it gives peace of mind, to stay strong. Yeah....that’s why I wear this.

Yang:If that’s the “why” then I guess the unavoidable question is what happened?

The reaper leaned back in his chair, letting out a long sigh. Ruby brushed her hair out of her face while her face went pale. Then, Ruby’s eyes, her teammates watched a pair of stunning silver eyes dim, becoming akin to a clouded mirror.

Ruby:Being a huntress was all I wanted. The plan of having a family and settling down never appealed to me much. I feel, I felt like being in the field was where I was meant to be. It’s where I was most myself in a way. So the day I learned that I was pregnant was more than a little upsetting and terrifying, until dad and time itself filled me with the most genuine joy I may have ever experienced. Dustin Arc Rose, my first born son. He opened a door to a world and life I never knew I wanted to be apart of. Then...that door was shut minutes after, when Cinder and Neo stole him right from my arms. I couldn’t do a single thing about it other than blackout. That single act of good will I showed, it did nothing but kill me inside. The same way I did to her.

WB:.....

Yang:Ru-Ruby....your eyes.

Ruby:Hmm? Are they clouded? Funny, I would’ve thought your Ruby would’ve had a similar change. Maybe that’s a world exclusive thing, or a testament to the will you Ruby has to endure. Clouded eyes on a silver eyed warrior means the person has lost the desire or rather the mindset of persevering life. Be it their own life or wanting to end another’s life out of resentment, strife. My entire world fell apart when I woke up and learned nobody was able to retrieve Dustin. I was in pieces, Jaune was broken, nobody was the same. There wasn’t a soul we didn’t know that hadn’t tried to find a lead, but we never did. He was just...gone; and I couldn’t cope at all.

Weiss:I don’t think any mother could. Ruby, I’m so sorry that happened to you.

Ruby:I’m sorry too. I lashed out in anger, and shut people out. My eyes clouded and I dove into my work for a little over a year doing nothing but searching aimlessly as I took and every job back to back. The more time went by meant the more people eventually had to go back to their own, and it drove me up a wall inside. No one could reach me. I didn’t want anybody to. Not even Jaune. I....*teary eyed* I left him alone in house. There was no part of me that could even attempt to understand his pain because I was drowning in mine. I was told he tried his best to catch them at the hospital. I never hated him for not succeeding but I...he... I just, I can’t. I don’t know what I thought. All o knew was I didn’t even want him to touch me. How cruel is that? *hugging herself* I made him drown in despair in the same way I was. I wasn’t home so often that I never realized he eventually left it abandoned to live with dad. Yang and Blake I didn’t even show up to your wedding. Jaune did that much. Hell, Raven attended. Ruby Rose as a person didn’t exist any more. I was only a wandering huntress looking for answers or the challenge that might’ve ended me.

Blake:What changed?

Ruby:Oz, he did what nobody else dared to do. He fought me. I don’t think he thought twice about it. He was prepared to accept all the anger I kept inside until I eventually broke down into tears like I’m trying not to do right now. Thinking about that time is still, extremely difficult. Oz let me lament, encouraging me afterwards to finally except the fact Dustin was gone and that I needed to process it properly. First I went to you Yang, in order to have a my big sis to lean on. Can you guess how that went?

Yang:With me holding you tighter than I ever had before.

Ruby:*smiles gently* I don’t deserve you. You and Blake then came to patch with me where everyone else waited for me and helped me face Jaune. That may have been the hardest thing I’ve done. Grieving or not, the fact that I left him in such a state. I know what that does to people firsthand and yet I left. For the first time in over a year we embraced and finally grieved together. The next two years were spent trying to heal and cope. During my time away the world had fully acknowledged me. I even got a proper nickname, but it all felt hollow. Imagine that, achieving your dream but not caring? If that’s not salt in a wound then I don’t know what is.

Weiss:What’s your title?

Ruby:I am the person people want to see when evil comes to cut their story short. I am a symbol that their tale still has more to tell. Remnant has named me The Storyteller. Curtsey of Maria, who spread the name around. Healing was slow and most nights I felt a pain in my heart, but then everything changed. One moment made me dare to try again to open that shut door in my life. *looks at Yang* I held your son in my arms. Sweet little Kovu.

Blake:*smiles* Kovu? Now I wonder who named him?

Yang:*red* Huh...how about that? Hehehe, wish I could meet him. I know he isn’t technically mine but I can’t help but feel all warm now. Also I can’t believe I named him that!

Weiss:I can. Veronica’s middle name is Nala.

Yang:Okay, maybe not marrying Blake was a win? Clearly I can’t be trusted to not name my children after other cats.

Blake:The wrong kind of cat too. I’m a panther faunus, not a lion. Even if they’re blonde that’s still false advertising of what they are.

Ruby:Well Yang was the one giving birth so you lost a majority of the option to complain.

Blake:That is fair.

Weiss:You gave birth to Vee, so I think that solves who picked her first name.

Ruby rested her head in her propped up hands that rested on the table. She felt exhausted reliving that chapter of her life mentally. Still she managed to smile, then smile bigger. Her eyes unclouded and a warm feeling filling her again. What Ruby said earlier about what made her different may have reign true, but her friends could since that there was now more to it. Ruby had spiraled into an unimaginable tragedy, yet was able to bounce back thanks to loved ones. To smile as she does, it was truly a strong sight to see. Even if she wasn’t fully aware of that.

Ruby:Carmine Arc Rose, my second born and the first child to call me mommy. Followed many years later by itty bitty Garnet. He’s my little man, five years old while is big sis is seventeen now.

Yang:Damn! That’s a gap. Oh, also congratulations. Almost forgot that part. I’m glad you got to be the super awesome mom that-

Ruby:I am easily C-teir.

Yang:Oh come on! What!?

Ruby:Listen, I know I got on you all for calling yourselves bad parents, but I will hear no debate about me understand!? I flop a lot of times.

Weiss:That doesn’t make you a C-teir. That makes you a new mom, silly.

Ruby:*grumbling* I agree to disagree but thank you. It’s just a lot okay. Too much to dive into honestly.

Blake:Summarize. Give us an abbreviated version.

Ruby:Ummm so Carmine is real special kid. The absolute love I have for her is unbreakable but gods damnit if she isn’t the most... “me” I could be! In a way similar yet different from myself, Carmine has always had this sense of urgency in her and a love for the world around her. She recognizes that it’s a fragile piece we have and just how hard I’ve worked with everyone to make it. I could tell that from her when she was five. I’d sound crazy, but the fact she used her eyes at the age proves I’m not.

Yang:She has silver eyes!? Why didn’t you bring that up?

Ruby:I thought that was obvious. All of my kids were born with then. Unlike her baby brother though, Carmine was a weird little kid. She didn’t socialize well. Still doesn’t, she’s kinda comes off rude and cold because of her bluntness. She doesn’t really express all her feelings or understand others fully. One might call her a little cold but the passion she had to protect life itself is a testament to how much she cares. Carmine is also a genius fighter. To put in perspective, people use the same nickname for her that they used for Pyrrha.

WBY:Oh....

Ruby:Yeah! It’s not hyperbolic to say ever since Carmine is far beyond any skill I was at her age since she turned thirteen. You called me a monster earlier but no, I merely gave birth to a beast. I mean she could pass the huntsman exam at fifteen if I didn’t make her wait. I can’t call her arrogant, she talks with confidence because she has that right by all means. Still, besides her face, that’s where the similarities start separating; besides terrible grades in general stuff. We’ve never been in step completely. To put simply in her own words, “What I am is a hero, while she is a huntress.” That good will and mercy I try to give everyone isn’t how she rolls. It drives a real wedge that has resulted in us not going on missions together.

Blake:Is she...killing?

Ruby:She has before, and it had valid reasons entirely, but I also know for a fact she is more than capable of bringing down people without taking that step. Not all cases are that intense thank goodness. Her overall aggressiveness is the root of the problem. You don’t have to put you back into it when handling thugs. They aren’t Hazel.

Yang:Ooo okay, yeah I’m seeing what you mean now. It’s like that one comic you always read!

Ruby:Sigh...yeah she channels a bit of Batman energy and I need her to not do that all the time. I suppose being an honest soul isn’t particularly hereditary. It always feels like we aren’t enjoying each other’s company these days. I can’t blame her though. So....you know how all of you have had one serious problem that has both destabilized yourself as well as the kids and their relationship to you? *clouded eyes*

Weiss:Wait...you loosing a child wasn’t that?

Ruby:Oh it was. It just so happened that it never ended. It grew day by day. Night by night. Jaune and I were cautious with Carmine. Going as far to give her contacts and giving birth to her off the record and not at a hospital. Just in case Cinder came back. Well, Cinder and Neo came back, with my Dustin.

Nobody said anything. What do you even say to that!? All they did was let out a stifled breath and tried to gauge Ruby’s look of guilt.

Ruby:Yet again we had gotten too comfortable. It happened when Carmine was thirteen. I don’t think Garnet was even one yet. That’s when the cruelest realization hit me. My son had been alive and hearing about how his so called mother being a person who saves everyone, yet she never came for him. She had moved on, letting his eyes become clouded with such seething hate for the world she did save; the children she had after. It’s been four years since the day he attacked Carmine and helped grimm try to invade Vacou. To this day it’s been a life of staying on gaurd, searching for them as they popped up countless places to tear Remna- to tear me down and I can’t decide what part hurts the most. The amount of anger that prevents me from killing Cinder in a blink of an eye, or looking at my daughter who has told me herself that she is going to kill her older brother because I’m too weak to do so. That I’m in no way as good as the world believes me to be. *puts hood up* Like I said, C-teir mom, at best.

Blake:That’s- you can’t- there’s no way for you to reach him? Maybe if you-

Ruby:He looks at me the same way Neo and Cinder do, Blake. They raised him to hate me. Besides, he hurt Carmine. She’s just not gonna let that slide and frankly I shouldn’t either. Carmine acts tough and for the most part is, but gets terrified like everyone else. In many ways she’s still just a young girl that I wish had never chosen to become a huntress. If I had it my way she’d just be a normal girl with normal knees; but her mother’s weakness and inexperience wrapped her up in yet another war. It’s ironic. I barely remember mom and yet I ended up putting my family in very similar situation as if she lead instruction. Happy endings, I’m not sure if I get-

Yang:You’re better than mom....

Ruby:......

Yang:Yeah I said. Look I love Summer Rose but at the end of the day she wasn’t around, not that she didn’t want to be, but it’s the truth. Several years of pleasant childhood memories and a lifetime of grief is what she left me, and all you got were tales you should’ve experienced first hand. Ruby you have spent seventeen years loving your daughter unconditionally and being there for her no matter if it’s for better or worse. Yeah you might not being doing it perfectly and I have no idea how to even fathom your predicament, but at least you are there trying. Take it from me, that’s all a daughter ever wants from their mother. It’s also what makes a pretty kick ass dad. *smiles* Chin up, hero. Your story isn’t over yet after all.

Silence filled the air and Ruby’s throat ran dry. Ruby pulled out her scroll to go to her pictures and displayed one of her favorite photos for everyone to see. It was Carmine’s fifteenth birthday. Ruby didn’t lie about the resemblance. the girl had short blonde hair that stopped halfway down her neck in the back and was longer in the front, reaching shoulders. Like her mother, the tips of her hair transitioned to red. The beautiful young woman tried to her hide her smile but her gleeful silver eyes were practically twinkling with joy as Ruby hugged her tightly from behind and a tall, more solid version of Jaune was smushing one of Carmine’s cheeks with an overly dramatic kiss to it. A tiny child no older than three at most was in his big sister’s arms. Garnet had his mother’s hair and eyes but something about the chubby face definitely showed Jaune’s features. The child had red frosting on his face and was reaching eagerly for more cake somewhere out of frame.

Yang noticed the girl took page from her father and wore some regular cargo shorts, but clearly didn’t lack flair by wearing a red crop top that showed off a fresh tattoo of the Arc crest on her toroso. Knowing her sister, that tattoo was most likely practical. The family looked happy, proud; and the mother of it currently sat across the table crying with her head face down in her hands cwhile Weiss and Blake hugged her from each side. Roses may have thorns, anyone who knew roses knew a simple truth. They’re still fragile flowers.

Yang:(Carmine Arc Rose. For you and your mother’s sake, I hope things go well)

xxxx

Though Carmine seemed cold by nature, people were quick learn the opposite. The most recent learner of this was a scared little girl that held on for dear life. It was nighttime, nothing but the sound of pouring rain and the distant glow of red and the warmth of Carmine holding the girl against her body while she sprinted through a mud ridden forest. The little payed no attention to the pain in her side, but the glow of roses, eyes, and flames through her tear filled eyes.

Beowulves chased frantically but then severed immediately by something the girl couldn’t understand, but it looked like the person carrying her. The dead beasts brought no comfort. Not when more followed close behind.

Girl:I-I’m sc...scared!

Carmine:Don’t look at them sweetie, it’ll be fine. Just keep being a brave little girl.

Girl:M...Mommy was back there.

Carmine:.....I know, she’ll be just fine. Your village, there are plenty of people there that will be just fine! Huff..... You got a name?

Mary:Mary.....

Carmine:Oh that’s a beautiful name, Mary. You know I was almost a Mary? Yeah my grandma was a really amazing person and I almost got named something similar to her. Mary is a very strong name!

Mary:You’re a liar! I’m sad, not strong. I want my mommy! Everything his dark and hurts and I want her!

The girl began painfully crying as Carmine followed her trail of roses to avoid getting lost. Things were getting worse. The storm raged and she could feel this girl burning in her arms. Not to mention the unsettling warmth the mixed with the cold rain against her body and dripped to puddles below. Any grimm near by could only be dealt with by many copies of her nearby, but that would only go so far when fear was out full force. Carmine’s boots felt like cement, but she still ran.

Carmine:Mary, you know what do when I miss my mommy? I sing! Yeah, my mom sings the best lullabies that made me feel super strong when I was little! It’s a magic song that makes everyone strong. How about I sing it you and they can sing it your mommy later okay!? But you have to close your eyes to really focus on the words!

Mary:*sniffling* Okay....

Baby deathstalkers swarmed the path made ahead as small Nevermores dove at her. Out of options, Carmine broke from the path, trying to rely on memory to go towards the safe zone while also singing lyrics to her favorite song.

Dream of anything; I'll make it all come true.

Everything you need is all I'll have for you~

Carmine never wavered. No matter how badly her lungs her or nearly slipped, she kept singing all the way to her destination where several other clones were seen racing towards with more civilians to injured or young to go themselves. An orphanage where Nora and Ren stood outside rushing people in while Jaune was keeping the grimm at bay. The sight brought a little ease.

Don't worry, I've got you; nothing will ever harm you.

I'm close by, I'll stay here; through all things, I will be near~

Carmine finally reached Nora and passed off the girl who’s grip weakened overtime. A few lyrics in and Carmine knew she was singing mainly for herself.

Carmine:Get her medical attention! I’m gonna go and find more! There’s still-

Jaune:Wait, it’s too dangerous!

Carmine:I know! That’s why I have to go! That fire is spreading and there’s stragglers pinned down! Dad.....I’m pinned down!

Jaune tensed up and looked at Carmine. No scraps on her and her clothes only soiled by others. It didn’t take long to realize. The man resisted the urge to run out to the ruined town and stood firmly.

Jaune:Carmine...end it. We’ll worry about the consequences later.

Carmine:....Okay.

Across the woods amongst the flames the real Carmine stood bleeding and bruised in front of two Beringel that charged over the vanishing corpses of their fallen with more grimm, her sword stabbed into the ground supporting her weight. Behind all living people that remained finally managed to flee. All except for a woman trapped by house debris. The woman watched this young huntsman stand proudly again. She wasn’t sure what happened next. All she heard was one sentence.

“Close your eyes...” before everything went white. Next thing she knew, Carmine was lifting debris off her as rain and wind washed away any evidence. A relief she didn’t care about in the slightest. She neither had the strength, or the time too. Much like Carmine, who began to pant and teeter. It was clear to the woman that whatever just happened didn’t come without cost as she watched the girl fall to her knees. Though she tried moving, Carmine was spent.

Carmine:Don’t worry...we’re safe....let’s-

Woman:Go...

Carmine:Huh?

Woman:I...my legs. Everything...I can’t move. Just go. I d-don’t think I’d las-

Carmine:Don’t talk like that! The hard parts over! I can-

Woman:Barely walk. *smiles* It’s okay. I don’t blame you. You fought hard.

Carmine:.....I...I’m sorry. *teary eyed*

Woman:Say, I know that face anywhere. Your Lady Rose’s kid. Funny, I thought your eyes were red? My daughter, Mary, she loves your mother. Makes me kinda jealous hehe, but hey I love her too. *crying* Do you know if Mary made it? She was wearing-

Carmine:A black dress, pink ribbons in her hair...

Woman:Yes! Is she safe? I saw you- one of you carry her off.

Carmine:...She’s just fine.

Woman:Good. That’s all....that.....

The woman never finished her sentence. Carmine’s body fell limp on the ground, facing the rain. Even with the cold downpour she could feel the warmth of her own tears, containing her emotions best she could as she looked through her clones eyes to watch Nora take Mary away from the survivors and out of sight to not stir further panic.

Carmine wasn’t sure how long she layed there, but it was long enough for Jaune to find her. The man didn’t say a word. The town was in shambles. Grimm were still fading and his daughter looked tired, but not in serious condition. Unlike the those who didn’t make it. Jaune put Carmine in his arms, carrying her away to safety.

Carmine:......Does mom ever save them all?

Jaune:No, but that never stops her from trying; or mourning.

She clenched her father’s shirt and let herself be fragile, to be a Rose.

Carmine:Next time. Mom and I, we’ll both get it right next time. A happy ending for all!

Jaune:Yeah, I know you will. Together....

#rwby #rwby au #the void #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #carmine arc rose #rwby rosebud #rwby lancaster

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shera-dnd · 3 years

Link

Had to split a simply colossal chapter into two smaller ones, so here is the first of those

Now featuring the faes’ true forms and an ungodly amount of simping

“I believed we had our winner when Lady Polendina got that perfect bullseye,” Weiss retold as she walked with her companions through the festival grounds, “but Lady Rose managed to, and I still cannot believe it, split her lover’s arrow with her own!”

“I’m certain there is an innuendo to be found there,” Ilia commented, earning her an offended scoff from the would-be-knight.

“Must you?” Weiss asked in exasperation.

“Believe me, Lady Gigas, she most certainly must.” Blake assured her, “but please continue. I’d love to hear more about our favorite couple.”

“Well, after they had finished utterly humiliating me in the shooting range,” she regaled, “they decided it was time to do so again in the sparring fields.”

“What is it with you knightly folk and sparring?” Ilia asked, seemingly annoyed, “is this your means of courtship? Were Lady Rose and Lady Polendina inviting you to join them in their tent?”

“It is a means to maintain our skills while coming to better understand each other!” Weiss countered, “and just because I now know where my preferences lie does not mean I’ll fall for the first woman to best me in combat!”

“Of course,” Ilia replied, though Weiss found no reassurance in her tone, “after all that honor would fall to Lady Blake, and we all know her preference is for women two times your size.”

“I have never claimed otherwise,” Blake replied with a shrug, “now would you mind procuring us some dinner, before you make our friend pop a blood vessel.”

“Very well,” Ilia sighed, as if she had been burdened with a terrible quest, “I shall meet you both back at camp. Please, do torment the Schnee in my absence.’

She offered them an over exaggerated bow and made her way deeper into the festival grounds, quickly disappearing amidst the crowd.

“You do know I could have just made us dinner, right?” Weiss asked, annoyance clear in her tone.

“And I’m certain it would have been delicious,” Blake replied, “but I’m not certain it would have been worth your sanity.”

“Of course.”

She hated to admit it, but she did not mind this at all. In fact she quite enjoyed the little trading of barbs that they partook in every day. It made for some interesting entertainment, and it allowed her to know Ilia a little better.

She was also quite enamored with the little laughs that would escape the fae whenever she got Weiss to make a fool of herself. No, she most definitely did not wish to question why she found Ilia’s laughter to be so endearing.

Definitely not.

Weiss decided then to archive those thoughts, and focus instead on the second most embarrassing topic in her mind.

“Thank you,” she muttered as they began making their way back to camp.

“No need to thank me,” Blake waved off, “wouldn’t want you two to strangle each other.”

“No, I meant…” Weiss sighed, “thank you for calling me a friend.”

Blake offered her a soft smile that only served to embarrass her further.

“I’m glad I got to call you that,” she replied, “and I’m sure Ilia thinks the same, even if she’ll never admit it.”

That got Weiss to smile back. Her life so far had been one of isolation, she had barely met anyone outside of the few select guests her father would allow into their manor, and had failed to find anyone who cared for her with the exception of Winter and Klein. But now she had been able to adventure beyond the walls of Atlas and find people who she could call friends.

Without Ilia with them to incite arguments and pester her, the rest of the walk back to camp was held in a comfortable silence. Though Weiss certainly missed the opportunity to get back at her friend for the earlier annoyance.

“If I may,” Blake began as soon as they arrived at their camp, “would you mind if I spent the night in my own skin for a change?”

It took Weiss’s mind a long moment to register what she meant by that request, but when it did she jumped to attention.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She asked, looking around to make sure no one had heard that.

“Our camp is secluded enough,” she shrugged, “and no one ever comes here uninvited.”

“If you’re sure,” Weiss replied, “then I would not mind.”

Blake smiled at her in thanks and began undressing herself. Weiss promptly turned to look away, eyes focusing on anything but her naked companion. What followed was a series of noises that she would fail to describe, though they tempted Weiss to look back at her, if only to make sure that she’s okay.

After a moment of silence she heard the heavy thump of something heavy hitting the ground, followed by Blake’s familiar voice, “you may look again now.”

Where once stood the proud Black Knight of Vale now sat something else entirely. Her form had grown tremendously, now easily challenging that of Lady Xiao Long, and her body had grown completely covered in black fur, with a small white spot on her chest and two others on the back of her now clawed hands.

Her hair too had grown longer and wilder, and the face that hid behind it now took the features of a feline, especially her golden eyes which now reflected the bonfire’s light with an eerie glow. Behind her sway a long black tail, though mostly catlike it was adorned with thorns and purple flowers.

No, not adorned, that plant was as much a part of her body as her tail.

Stunned was perhaps not enough to describe the state in which Weiss found herself right now. She had been raised on stories of the terrifying and monstrous fae that hid in the forests beyond the walls of Atlas, and though Blake’s true form definitely fit that description, she still carried herself with the same grace and nobility that she did in her human skin.

She was still a knight, and she was still Lady Blake.

Unfortunately Blake seemed to take notice of all the staring, “if this causes you discomfort, I could change back.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Weiss assured her, “I was simply unprepared.”

Pleased with that response, Blake began to vigorously stretch herself as if she had spent many hours locked inside a tight space - a comparison that was perhaps too appropriate for her much smaller human form - and behind her her tail swayed happily.

“I haven’t been able to don this form since we arrived for the festival,” Blake informed, “it is good to feel like myself again.”

“It won’t be good for long if the local knights decide to take our hides,” the familiar and ever cheerful tone of Ilia’s voice called as she approached camp and unceremoniously dropping a basket between the two of them, “though do enjoy your dinner while you can.”

“Thank you, I certainly plan to,” Blake replied, seemingly unfazed by Ilia’s usual foul mood, “now come, sit, take off that damned glamour for once.”

Ilia stared at her, as if she was trying to will her fellow fae to stop with this nonsense.

It did not work.

“She will not give in, Lady Ilia,” Weiss said, “we’ll already be in plenty of trouble if we’re found in the presence of one fae, a second one won’t make a difference.”

Lady Ilia was unamused by Weiss’s commentary, “and what, pray tell, is your plan in case they do find you in the presence of not one, but two fae?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She asked, standing up so she would be on the same level as her, “I’ll have a heroic last stand where I’ll fight off a dozen knights, before rescuing you on horseback.”

“Is that so?” Ilia asked, trying to keep her lips from twitching.

Weiss stepped closer.

“Oh yes, and then we’d ride off towards the sunrise and you’d…” she paused for a moment, trying to remember something, “what was it you said? Swoon and praise me for my strength and bravery.”

“Didn’t you say you held no attraction towards swooning maidens, Schnee?” Ilia teased, her smile slowly beginning to take hold.

“I’d be simply fulfilling my knightly duties, Lady Ilia,” Weiss insisted.

“You know what, Schnee?” Ilia began, with a smile on her face as she closed the ever shrinking gap between her and the Schnee, “I think I will doff this damned glamour, if only so I can watch you get skewered by those dozen knights while I flee on horseback by myself.”

“I’ll make sure to make it entertaining to you, my lady,” Weiss assured her, now face to face with the smiling fae.

A chuckle escaped Blake’s lips, earning her the most terrifying glare from Lady Ilia. The knight was, of course, unimpressed, seeming to consider a comment in her mind before reconsidering and letting it die without being voiced. A decision that Ilia greatly approved.

“Now will you please cast away that glamour of yours and relax for once,” she said instead.

“Very well,” Ilia surrendered with a sigh.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen, but then it was like the Ilia Weiss had known had shattered like glass, and what stood behind the illusion could only be described as breathtaking.

Eyes of light blue turned into pure glowing white, freckled skin turned to thousands of scales woven together into a tapestry of color. On her forehead now stood two large thorns, almost like a pair of horns, though they exuded the same regal air as a proper crown.

Lady Ilia then disposed of her - now much bleeker looking - dress to reveal a growth of leaves and vines covering her more...intimate places. Still it was not her crown nor her naked form that had Weiss in awe, it was her wings.

They were not unlike those of a butterfly, though no butterfly could ever hope to match their beauty. They were the light of her eyes fractured again and again into more colors than Weiss's mortal eyes could see, all of them weaved together in a pattern that could make even the stained glass of Atlas's grand cathedral look plain by comparison.

It took all of Weiss’s will not to fall to her knees in worship of the beauty she had been given the privilege to bask in. Though it didn’t seem she was able to completely hide her reaction, as when their eyes met she saw surprise in Lady Ilia’s face, and for a moment it was as if every fragment of color in her body had turned to the brightest of pinks.

“Should I give you both some space?” Blake asked, tail swaying slowly behind her.

“Absolutely not!” Lady Ilia shouted, sitting back down and refusing to look back at the still stunned wannabe knight.

It was now Weiss’s turn to shift through several shades of pink. She whispered a silent prayer that the gods would return to Remnant if only so the God of Destruction could completely remove her - and her shame - from the face of this world. This gave her some time to recover, at least enough that she could sit by the campfire with her companions again.

Unfortunately for the both of them that awkward tension lingered over the camp like a thick fog. It did not help that neither of them found it within themselves to look at or even address each other. They left it all to Blake to rescue them from their self imposed punishment.

“Ilia,” she called, “I believe you had questions for me.”

Lady Ilia seemed to take a few moments to recognize that she was being spoken to, but bolted up in attention as she understood the opportunity that was being given her.

“You’ve yet to tell me how you came to join the humans,” she reminded, “or why iron doesn’t burn you.”

That piqued Weiss’s interest as well. She knew Blake had to have some kind of magical trick to don her armor without burning herself alive, perhaps if she could share that secret they could use it to help those fae who wished to live among humans.

“This isn’t some trick you can replicate, Ilia,” Blake explained, killing Weiss’s plan on the spot, “this is not a weapon the unseelie can use.”

Ilia let out a sound not unlike a growl, showing that her teeth were much sharper than before.

“Not everything I do is out of spite for humanity!” She almost shouted, and her body shifted into bloody reds and harsh yellows. Though that display clearly failed to intimidate her fellow fae, earning herself only a raised brow, a reaction that caused her to change colors once more, this time to pinks and blues. “You left us. I want to know why.”

“But I have already--”

“No,” she interrupted, colors shifting over and over through her body, unable and unwilling to settle, “you don’t just change your mind like that for no reason. I want to know what happened.”

Blake sighed, tail wrapping around herself as she seemed to deflate, “this story is quite long, Ilia.”

“So is the night,” Ilia countered, “come, tell us.”

Blake looked at her, then at Weiss, who offered her her most reassuring look, “very well then.”

#rwby #prismatic ponytails #nuts and dolts #bumbleby #weiss schnee #ilia amitola #blake belladonna #medieval au #fanfic

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okay-victoria · 3 years

Text

What do people think of Tanya? AKA: Actually, a lot of people agree with Lehrgen

Summary: WHOOOOO BOY. You know it’s going to be fun when my subsections have to have their own subsections. Briefly, there is the Good [people who like Tanya both personally and professionally], the Bad [people who like/love Tanya professionally but not personally], and the Ugly [people who ideally, Tanya will never speak to, look at, send mail to, or be in the general vicinity of ever again].

I would say most people fall into the “Bad” category - they recognize her value as an officer, sometimes to a worshipful degree, but on a personal level range anywhere from thinking she’s a creepy child to actively disliking her. Unfortunately for Tanya, the people that fall into the Ugly category are as a rule higher-ranking than the ones in the Good category, and most people in the Bad category seem to like her specifically in her military role, and it is questionable they’d want her as even a coworker outside of that, let alone as a friend.

The Good

People who’re in here: People who have only ever heard of Tanya in the context of the Silver Wings award, people she interacts with in the Imperial Navy; rando soldiers; someone kinda high up in the later-war Eastern Army command; Ugar

People who only know her from Silver Wings:

V1/C1

Describes the nice aura people would see in someone who wins the Silver Wings.

The Navy

V3/C2

A naval officer does assess Tanya as having a predatory look, but doesn’t seem to think particularly badly of it, he just notes it, and then says “Degurechaff was a fellow soldier he could be proud of, which was why he extended his hand in utmost seriousness to wish her well.”

Rando Soldiers

There’s no real good single quote on this, but over time Tanya comes in to reinforce various units and leaves behind various impressions, ranging through Good, Bad, and Ugly, but anyway, there almost have to be low & middle ranking officers and soldiers who are presumably nothing but grateful to Tanya for rescuing them, even though we never get much of anything from their perspective.

Others

A superior officer of Tanya’s in Eastern Army command, in V5/C1, gets a transfer request for Tanya’s unit and reflects he is sad to be losing her.

Ugar - I don’t have down any specific pieces, but IMO it comes across in the LNs that Ugar is generally well-disposed to Tanya and doesn’t have the positive professional/negative personal thoughts that most other people close to her do.

The Bad

People who’re in here: Tanya’s academy/war college instructors, the 203rd battalion & later Kampfgruppe, Zettour, Rudersdorf, Generic Superior Officers, Romel, Lehrgen’s professional opinion

Tanya’s Academy & War College Instructors:

V1/C1

Tanya’s zeal during academy scares her instructors.

V1/C4

The instructors scrawled “abnormal” across the top of Tanya’s file.

“In the academy, we were told over and over – and, for some reason, over again – to love our troops. Weirdly, now that I think about it, I feel like they emphasized this the most when talking to me.” <= Tanya...you’re...you’re so close.

V1/C5

Mentioned that some teachers in the academy are on Lehrgen’s side of the What The Fuck Do We Do With Tanya debate.

V3/C5

Romel’s summation of her personnel assessment notes that at least on paper, the academy and the war college gave good overall evaluations of her.

203rd Battalion:

V1/C3

[Visha] “The moment she turned her icy cold eyes on us like we were objects to be appraised, I shrank from her in spite of myself. People might laugh at me for being afraid of such a little kid, but those eyes reminded me of the way a cat looks when it’s playing with a mouse, which creeped me out”

[Visha] “I was different from Lieutenant Degurechaff, who could calmly nail fleeing soldiers in the back with optical sniping or explosion formulas. I was relieved because I wouldn’t have to shoot.”

V1/C5

[Visha] “Was she an agent of the devil or of God? It had to be one or the other. Ahh, I can’t believe I have an ally more horrible than the enemy. She’s not human. I would bet my life on it. Me and a few others saw it once. During training, one of our teammates dropped like he was dead. The captain gave him a good kick, and before we knew it, she was back on his feet. I had been staring into the abyss of death myself…the captain heaped abuse on me. But I know, I saw it: she charged into the avalanche to save me. Even after my friends told me that she tossed my busted body aside like a used rag, I believe. She is definitely a good commander, even if I’m not sure about her as a human being. Of course, we all laugh and bad-mouth her…if the captain is an apostle of God, then only the devil can possibly exist.” <= in good news, Tanya, you are currently winning on your quest against Being X and mostly making people believe that he’s the Devil for allowing you to exist!

V2/C1

[Weiss] also refers to Tanya as a vampire

[Weiss] thinks Tanya is arrogant

[Visha] “her thought is That’s so low, Major.” <= this is in response to Tanya pulling out her child voice to announce they were going to bomb Dacia’s factory.

[Weiss] “Weiss has only known her for a short time, but even he can pick up the displeasure his superior doesn’t bother hiding. Her mood is as dangerous as nitroglycerin. When Weiss quietly takes a step back, everyone discreetly follows suit. Nobody wants to be so close to Major von Degurechaff when she’s irritated.”

V2/C5

[Grantz] “If the devil exists, it has to be our instructor, the commander of the 203rd Aerial Mage Assault Battalion, the legendary Major von Degurechaff. The way she smiled. The way she looked at us like we were maggots. The way she seemed thirsty for blood. I’d believe she had tried to kill a rebellious underclassman or crack his skull open. If I screw up on the battlefield, she’ll definitely kill me. That’s how threatened I felt by the instructor who just had to also be my advisor…I wanna cry.”

[Grantz] “This was the major who had once said during a speech at the academy that deadweight should be killed…This is crazy. No one said it aloud, but it was the look on everyone’s faces. This was a nighttime mission to abduct enemy soldiers…Magic Second Lieutenant Warren Grantz realized he was shaking. My survival instinct was screaming. I wanted to avoid the war, the combat, the killing. I was hesitating. But one glance from Major von Degurechaff was enough to subjugate that instinct. She was far more terrifying…I was so terrified I hardly felt like myself anymore…How could the major just calmly sing a hymn?”

[203rd banter] Visha asks if anyone wants to trade places with her so she doesn’t have to be with Tanya all the time, and Weiss and Grantz are not itching to take her up on the offer.

V2/C6

[Grantz] Is really, really bothered by how chill Tanya seems to be about Arene.

V2/C7

[Weiss] Reflects on all the horrible things Tanya has put him through, but ends his reflection on the note that he understands why it was necessary to prepare them for war.

V3/C5

“Apparently, the troops serving directly under her thought she was a great field officer” <= Romel re: Tanya’s personnel file

V4/C5

“‘Please have the 203rd be part of your Kampfgruppe. All of us in the battalion wish to continue serving under you.’”

Tanya doesn’t get what she wants, is then pissed, and it gives off weird abusive-parent vibes where all her children try to flee and not be present, and for the ones who have to be (Weiss & Visha), they take it by flinching, cowering, praying to God for Tanya not to explode, etc.

V5/C4

[Visha] “Reality is far too unreal. She’s crazy. There’s something strange about her...The colonel cackled – no, she giggled, smiling like a child. It was positively surreal to see her eyeing the enemy with her tender gaze and licking her lips. She snickered, but what was so funny? She was terrifying...Dripping red liquid. Pink things that used to be humans, flying everywhere. And opposite that scene was a beaming little girl. It was so surreal, it made more sense for me to suppose I had gone insane. No, maybe I really did go insane. The sight of my superior officer nodding with satisfaction and beginning a confession of her faith was horrific. I didn’t get even a glimmer of madness from her beautiful, innocent eyes. They were the eyes of a stubborn servant of logic, full of pure reason. But that’s what was horrific: those eyes stuck on that doll-like face.”

V5/C5

Tanya has some good banter with her Kampfgruppe soldiers and it seems like everyone’s getting along.

V8/C4

T: ‘Are you saying you throw yourself into the slaughter purely, justly – sane and sober? Don’t make me laugh. That’s a broken man talking. Going to war after downing some liquid courage with a grimace is much more human.’ He frowns for a moment, perhaps thinking to argue back, and then whines, ‘So are you drunk, then, Colonel?’ <= yes, a random officer from Tanya’s Kampfgruppe just asked if she was drunk and that’s why she’s always throwing herself into battle so excitedly.

V8/C5

T: ‘Glad you’re safe, Lieutenant.’ V: ‘Thank you, ma’am. That said, I would have rather you spared me from getting caught up in that attack.’ T: ‘What choice did I have?’ V: ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Serebryakov puffs her cheeks out in a pout, which is surely a sign that she’s feeling better. <= Tanya, Visha wanted you to apologize, not excuse yourself, damn!

Zettour

V1/C5

“He doesn’t know whether they should praise her original ideas or call her insane.”

“Apparently, she hasn’t forgotten that she once said she wanted a battalion. She, a first lieutenant, to a brigadier general…something liable to provoke antipathy? She’s already done that.”

“The smirk on Tanya’s face reminds Zettour of some unpleasant rumors he’s heard about her.”

V2/C5

Zettour both remains horrified that Tanya was able to speak so frankly about a world war, yet he is sympathetic to the fact that she could do it because she understood what would happen.

V4/C3

Tells Rudersdorf that he “unwaveringly trusts” her military decisions.

V4/C5

Tanya comes to Zettour to request better units than he’s given her. He finds the request beyond arrogant, seeing as how pressed they are for men, especially for the fact that this is shortly after the Moscow situation and her battalion has “gone too far and been a handful”.

“Somehow, he didn’t think there could be that many damaged kids in the Empire like this young teen back from the battlefield. And actually, regardless of how he felt about it as a soldier, personally, the idea of interacting with them was terrifying.”

“But Degurechaff was unfazed and inquired about their experience with killing people. She saw people as products, and she was asking if they had been tested – that was the nuance. Could such a completely utilitarian view of people even be taught? Certainly, the army is an organization that pays attention to individual functions. Substitutability and cost consciousness are two factors hounding everyone. But can you really judge a human being by those criteria alone?...That innocent face and her straight back made her look something like a surreal doll. Doesn’t…Doesn’t anyone think this is strange?”

Zettour is mentioned to have originally had the same doubts about Tanya as Lehrgen, but after her performance he claims he is ready to “swallow any pill, no matter how bitter” (I think working with Tanya being the bitter pill) to win the war.

Zettour gives Tanya a little discretion to commandeer some equipment, she takes a lot of discretion. Zettour sort of laughs at off saying “this was Degurechaff” but does also mention that Tanya’s actions “amounted to a borderline interference in Supreme Command.”

V8/C4

Zettour is impressed with how Tanya has trained Grantz and thinks that if she wasn’t so good in the field, he’d put her in education.

“Sure, Degurechaff may have been broken, but not as an officer.”

Rudersdorf

V2/C1

Rudersdorf says that Tanya has a “distinct” [read: probably means difficult] personality, but if he just divided people into useful and not useful, she was useful.

V4/C3

Zettour and Rudersdorf debate Tanya, and he mentions that he only thinks she is talented in the military realm.

Generic Superior Officers

V2/C5

Tanya has a misunderstanding with her CO on the Rhine front. He wants her to train some new recruits normally, she mistakes it as saying “well, kill as few of them as possible, but do what you gotta do,” she gets kind of reprimanded over it.

V3/Intro

“Performance Evaluation: Major Tanya von Degurechaff:

Counselor’s Notes on character and conduct [this is printed normally]: Abundant loyalty and excellent fighting spirit. Follow regulations to the letter. Devoutly religious.

[this part is handwritten] Has a bad tendency to take matters into her own hands. Competent but as difficult to handle as a mad dog.”

V3/C1

“Some of the officers even added another thought in the back of their minds: Major von Degurechaff might actually be able to wring out even better results.”

V3/C3

Tanya goes wild on her base commander when he won’t let her sortie to Brest to prevent the French army from evacuating. <= Oddly, IIRC, no one ever like, apologizes to Tanya for not believing her, which is kinda rude, so mostly the incident reflects negatively on her instead of being a balanced: ok she did violate some rules, but...maybe if we’d listened to her we’d have avoided the rest of the fucking war, so seems like it might have been called for?

V3/C5

“The most important evaluations during a war are the ones from the battlefield, and those were all over the place.” <= Romel, re: Tanya’s personnel file

“The second was that although the evaluations were contradictory, she had achieved enough that she was considered an outstanding soldier. Awkwardly, regardless of how she was as an officer, as an individual mage, she was thought very highly of. Her number of kills was among the highest on the Rhine front.”

“In any case, strictly as a mage, she was unrivaled. As an officer, too, she was by no means incompetent. So they must have been giving her to him as reinforcements and as an excuse to get her out of their hair. Honestly, he felt like they were foisting off their problem on him. ‘They’re telling me to take a mad dog out on a walk with no leash?’ He let slip a complaint. Maybe it was just prejudice, but that wasn’t what it felt like to General von Romel. After all, he was basically being asked to bet on a bad hand.”

V4/C2

Everyone on the General Staff realizes the huge amount of fallout from Tanya attacking Moscow. The backstory of this is that when Tanya asked for permission, the General Staff thought she was just going to do a fly-by and freak them out, not attack the city. It pretty much kills any opportunity they had to negotiate a quick settlement with Russia in the cradle.

Romel

V3/C5

Romel’s first meeting with Tanya pretty much goes: “so arrogant it’s invigorating...unbelievably insolent...in addition to her self-important attitude, it exuded heavy sarcasm...not only was she arrogant, she was clearly horribly warped.”

“Any commissioned officer would understand just from hearing her make that one comment why the Northern and Western Groups couldn’t control her. Having a mage battalion drop out of the command structure was almost like losing a whole division” <= ie, Tanya’s previous superiors must have really disliked her to give her up.

“She simply decided she would be a patriot if it was good for the nation. In short, she’s a capable lunatic, but the bad part is she doesn’t realize she’s twisted…She’s crazy. And competent. And more sincere than anyone I’ve ever known.”

“Without a doubt, she’s going to end up being the most horrible person I know. And she’ll probably also be one of my most reliable friends on the battlefield.”

V3/C6

Romel reflects that she is a mad dog, and that she is an ego-crushing entity for the average officer. <= while Romel never brings this up, this has a *ton* of important real-world implications for Tanya, especially assuming men still have more than a little trouble listening to women outside the military. Even if you believe the best rumors about Tanya, you still might not want to hire her because she’s going to be better than you, and most people hate that feeling.

V4/C1

Tanya goes to the Eastern Front, and Romel reflects that he is sad to lose her and that once you got used to her, he found her easy to work with.

The Ugly

People who’re in here: Lehrgen’s personal opinion, Some wartime randos, OG Eastern Army Command, OG Northern Army Command, Imperial Government, people who mostly know Tanya from her Arene reputation, Western Army Command; Implied Future View of Tanya

Wartime Randos

V1/C5

“Some of those who had been on the front lines had a strange reaction to the name [the 11th Goddess] we picked. They claimed it was the worst joke they’d ever heard.” <= ie, Tanya was the Devil, not a goddess

V2/C1

Tanya is happy that Dacia has zero airpower. She displays her happiness by smiling maniacally and skipping around her tent. Everyone thinks Tanya is happy that they just got invaded again and the war is growing and she can go kill people.

V2/C5

A kinda random infantry guy is still having nightmares about Tanya in like, 1960, and reflects back on how he felt when he heard Tanya casually call for friendly fire to go right through where her men are flying. He questions why anyone listens to her.

“But when I replay the memories in my mind, I can’t help but shout, You monster! A hero, a star, and outstanding magic officer. You, ma’am, were a great officer. To all of us imperial soldiers serving on the Rhine lines, you were a god...Yeah, she’s a god – an immensely powerful one who presides over life and death. Her words, brimming with a spine-chilling anger, swept over the area as if she was planning to attract all the enemy hostility like moths to a flame. Major von Degurechaff had bared her fangs. It invited a violent reaction. The Republic wanted to hunt the devil. In other words, they devoted all humanity’s wisdom to killing the god of death. Gods don’t die, but those of us next to them? …They were right to call her a god of death. She killed the enemy, and the enemy killed our men. Then the noble major, with a glance at all the dead in the mud, took her leave. Fucking hell.” <= and you thought Lehrgen hated her. But, again, real-world implications of this could very well be that post-war, Tanya is a total persona-non-grata as someone that had a high degree of influence on how rabidly everyone fought against the Empire, and how the Empire was treated in the aftermath. I don’t make it out quite that bad, but it could be really rough if someone wanted to make it that way.

V4/C5

“The Guard Division had been on many assignments dealing with formal events, so we had experience…But what is that? That absurd, expressionless, doll-like creature was giving orders to people who appeared to be bloodthirsty mages just back from the war zone.”

“Could it really…could it really be possible for a child to wear such a smile?...Her hands were soft and would have looked more natural holding a doll, but instead, this odd, human-shaped creature spread her arms as she delivered a welcoming address. No one. None of the high-ranking officers present could raise an objection to this thing. The veteran mages all obeyed this inhuman being in the form of a person.”

OG Eastern Army Command

V1/C5

“The members of the eastern army had been openly angered by her annoyed look until days before, but now their faces were pale. She said exactly what she thought: ‘Incompetent, pitiful, lazy, arrogant, unprepared, mentally disabled, inattentive, no powers of observation’ and her conclusion was that ‘all mages of the Eastern Army group require reeducation’”

“The ranking officers from the regional field armies who had come to protest ended up bearing the brunt of the General Staff members’ critical glares.”

OG Northern Army Command

V2/C3

“With no idea when Colonel General von Wragell might explode in his seat at the head of the table, Lieutenant General and Chief of Staff von Schreise was inwardly annoyed, but at the same time, the atmosphere was so tense he wanted to bury his head in his hands.”

“Schreise couldn’t be the only one thinking that he would have thrown her out immediately if she weren’t a representative of the Central Army’s view.”

“‘You’re very humble, aren’t you?’ one of the staff officers murmured, curling the corners of his mouth into a smile that was more of a sneer.”

“Schreise had never seen a major with such a big head without making light of him…without hesitating even a little, she – a mere battalion commander – matter-of-factly gave her opinion to the staff and even had the audacity to disagree with them. Even with the sacred, inviolable General Staff’s power behind her, she was nearing an inexcusable challenge to authority. A head could be allowed to swell only so far. There’s a limit to what can be tolerated, even for recipients of the Silver Wings Assault Badge!...the major, though still rather new, was readily crossing a line of which all graduates from the war college should have been aware.”

V3/C5

“There was a pile of especially severe criticism from the Northern Army Group. They said she was transferred after voicing a clear objection to those in authority.”

Imperial Government

V2/C5

Tanya sinks a Commonwealth vessel, she is court-martialed, the military says she did nothing wrong [which I agree with], but the diplomats want to punish her to appease the Commonwealth. After the not-guilty verdict, Tanya’s smug-ass smile makes everyone go: umm...should we really have let her get away with this??

V4/C2

She then further makes the diplomats hate her over her Moscow raid.

V4/C3

Rudersdorf warns Zettour that Tanya going overboard is earning Zettour criticism from the government.

V4/C4

During her second court-martial, Tanya doing the most in Moscow manages to fracture the relationship between the government/supreme army command & the guys more in charge of the day-to-day war, like Zettour & Rudersdorf.

International Post-Hoc View on Arene

V2/C6

“They gunned people down like they were so many targets in a firing exercise. They got ‘points’ for shooting people. People had blocked themselves in, so they used heavy-explosion formulas to bombard whole districts. Those are all painful memories of the tragedy being shared today. Even counting only the confirmed deaths, the city of Arene lost half its population that day. In order to avoid the heavy responsibility for each soldier that would result if they went into the city and had to visually confirm their targets, they aimed to cause widespread fires via artillery bombardment from positions surrounding the city. A portion of the documents shows that they had chosen targets that were likely to spread the flames as proof-of-concept for firestorm.” <= the reporter doesn’t know this, but Tanya is the person that comes up with that proof-of-concept for creating a firestorm, as well as the person that creates the case to make it legal to repress a civilian revolt with a military. To me it seems like Arene is presented as the Tanyaverse Bombing of Dresden, except how it would be viewed if Germany had won WWII.

Tanya thinks about how if the Empire loses, her reputation is in the toilet if it becomes known that she did this.

Western Army Command

V2/C6

[The Lt. General or above that is in command of the Western Front] “A terrifying report or a proposal from hell. The one who thought of this was either a lawyer so cunning the devil would invite them to join forces or a criminal. This way of thinking is practically inhuman. Only a devil who forgot their reason and conscience in their mother’s womb could come up with such a tactic. That someone would equate having the technical capabilities for an operation with actually doing it…Are they deranged?”

“Luckily, an army corps commander summoning a mere major is extremely rare. Exceptional though it was, it meant there was a chance he might have to summon this monster again someday…Doing his best not to look directly at the monster straightening her posture in front of him, the army corps commander accepted that it was for work and met her.”

“The principles behind the actions of this major in front of him were impossible to understand using anyone’s logic or emotions. Her inorganic eyes compelled you to conclude that her thoughts, her frameworks, her way of being were all warped.”

This guy keeps going on and on more than I have here, tbh he’s one of Tanya’s main haters. It’s fine Tanya, it’s only the guy in charge of Western Army Command, who listens to him?

“I hope no one noticed that I just flinched, thought the army corps commander, sensing that he was distinctly afraid of her…No worries about what? He deeply wanted to ask what she was planning to do, but he held back. He told himself it was surely better not to know…But there is probably no one more suited to being a soldier than you. Perhaps you feel at home in hell on the Rhine front.”

V3/C5

“The Western Army Group declined to evaluate her, saying her good and bad points neutralized each other, so it was difficult to rate her. Furthermore, she had attempted to resist orders.”

Implied Future View of Tanya/The Parable of the Salamander

V4/C5

“From what I heard, the Salamander is adorable and very clever. If you show it affection, it’ll get attached to you. Like a German shepherd, it can become a trustworthy member of the family. Sometimes it begs or plays tricks, but apparently, everyone ends up overlooking these things. Of course, Mrs. Legen grew angry and screamed that it went too far, but…Well, in the end, everyone doted on the Salamander. Because when it’s even more reliable than a German shepherd, how could you not? At some point, though, the Salamander’s requests and pranks grew to be too much. But what do you think happened when no one was sympathetic to dependable Mrs. Legen, who had continued to angrily scold it the whole time? That’s right. No one was able to stop the Salamander! Of course, the Salamander loved and cherished everyone. But sadly, there was no one to teach it right from wrong. So the Salamander never realized that everyone disliked it. Soon it had exhausted everyone’s patience.” <= for reference, Tanya commands the Salamander Kampfgruppe; this is told as a cautionary tale that Andrew says circulates throughout the future Empire.

Your Author’s Take on Tanya’s Reputation vs Reality

The above should have real-world implications for Tanya’s personal life as far as friends, and for her career both within and beyond the military once the war is over, because, you know, people talk. Anyone who phones up an old pal because said old pal had some quality time with Tanya and they’re curious what she’s like is probably not going to receive a glowing personal recommendation, and the higher up those people are in society, the worse it is likely to be.

Even for people who think she has a genius applicable beyond the military sphere, outside of extreme circumstances people generally don’t want to employ anyone, no matter how smart, who is known for being unpredictable, uncontrollable, arrogant in the extreme, abusive towards coworkers, manipulative, possibly just straight up evil, etc etc. Within the military, after the war I would expect her to be hampered by the fact that a lot of people won’t want to work with her unless there’s a really pressing reason they need her skillset.

I can’t believe I’m bringing this show up from years past, but she’s sort of in the same position as Dr. House from the TV show - famously talented; famously toxic in the workplace; only one place will employ him, and at a much lower salary than his reputation should command, and even so, thinking that he could get away with that in real life is pushing the suspension of disbelief for the show. The same goes with friendships - very few well-adjusted adults are willing to befriend The Cool Asshole in real life.

When it does happen IRL, those relationships usually aren’t healthy & happy, and can easily end up with borderline-emotionally-abusive undertones because the follower is afraid of losing the leader, and molds themselves to fit what the other person wants so as to be an unchallenging, uncritical presence in the life of their idol.

For a story about an adult man reincarnated as a young girl fighting in magical WW1.5, YS manages to put a surprisingly interesting twist on the Main Character is a Cool Asshole Without Consequences model, with Tanya getting away with it in the present due to extreme circumstances, not realizing that the war is the only reason she’s getting away with it, and facing many implied future consequences for it.

While it’s entirely possible and often completely necessary to handwave Tanya overcoming this for storytelling purposes, as you can’t go many places story-wise if Tanya is as screwed as it sounds like she’s going to be, standard reality is that she’s gonna need to do some serious legwork to dig herself out of the hole she’s in, both personally and professionally.

I appreciate that the crux of a good Tanya story is often Tanya thinking normal reality will apply to her but then bypassing normal reality to end up somewhere she never intended on being, much to her chagrin, and readers therefore may feel adhering to realism violates the reality of Tanyaverse.

For the purposes of this story, I have chosen to stick with where the preponderance of evidence leads and apply a good amount of normal reality to Tanya, because that is exactly what allows me to proceed along a different avenue of Tanya misunderstanding things and ending up somewhere she never intended on being, keeping to the spirit of Tanya stories. Plus, Tanya doesn’t seem very intent on growing as a person in the absence of consequences and I need my character growth drivers.

...and I can’t avoid admitting I still end up handwaving some portion of those consequences for Tanya, since, as stated above, it’s...hard to go anywhere with a story if you don’t.

#LN Reference

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bridgyrose · 3 years

Text

Ruby smiled a bit as she looked… well felt… four months of work for her project. Her walking aide prototype was just about completed and ready for its first test run. And even better yet: no sign of Weiss or Penny for the last few weeks. No needing to worry about soulmates and no worrying about getting yelled at for not wanting to deal with it. Just herself and the mechanical aide she was ready to test-

Cruuuunch!

The sound of machinery being stepped on echoed through the room. Ruby hesitated as she heard exactly where that sound had come from. “My project…”

A familiar voice trailed into Ruby’s ears. “Shit. I didnt see that. I’m sorry.”

Ruby sighed and started clearing up the pieces to rebuild everything. “Weiss, why are you here? I thought I told you I didnt want to see you again.”

“A-and you dont have to. I just…” Weiss hesitated for a moment and gently reached for Ruby’s hand in a feigned attempt to help clean up the project pieces. “I just…. Wanted to come around to apologize.”

“And to do that you thought stepping on my project would be good enough?”

“I… I didnt see it…” Weiss brushed her hand across Ruby’s, watching as her vision slowly started to come back. “I wanted to say I was sorry about how I acted before. I… I didnt mean to push so hard before about all of this.”

“It should’ve been enough when I said no, right?” Ruby’s vision slowly started to come into focus as she kept her eyes on her project. “But no, I dont accept your apology. Right now, I just want to be left alone-”

“-and finish your project. I know. That’s… actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Ruby looked up at Weiss curiously, not quite understanding what she meant. “You wanted to talk to me about my project?”

“I was hoping I could help you with any trial runs that needed to be done.” Weiss sighed and watched her vision fade in and out a bit. “I… may have started pressing you about the soulmate stuff because… my vision is fading. Somehow, I have two soulmates: you and Penny. And I only found out about you because my vision… is starting to fade when I’m not near you.”

“So what, you were hoping that if you helped me with my project that I’d stay near you?” Ruby sighed and finished picking up the pieces to her project and looking over the remains. It was going to take weeks for her to rebuild everything. “I think I’ll pass.”

“That’s… not the whole goal. I mean, yes, there’s always the hope that maybe we could figure something out. But I really was hoping that maybe we could… talk.”

“About?”

“You.” Weiss stopped what she was doing and looked at Ruby. “I want to get to know you. Penny… said you mentioned a few things and it got me thinking that… maybe I really should get to know you instead of just trying to rush into things. Penny and I sorta hit things off really quick, but our circumstances were a bit… different from this.”

Ruby sighed and looked from her project to Weiss. “I’ll… I’ll have to think about it. I really dont want to do anything with soulmates, but… I’ll consider getting to know you.”

Weiss smiled a bit. “That’s great. Then maybe we can-”

“I said I’d consider it, not that I agreed to it.” Ruby started getting the pieces of her project together in her bag. “I need time to clear my head and to think things over. Give me a few days and I’ll let you know what I think.”

“A few days. I… I can do that.”

Ruby grabbed her bag after putting the rest of her project away and started heading back to her dorm. “Please dont make me regret this.”

Weiss smiled a bit. “I wont.”

Ruby silent walked down the hallway of the school to her dorm, a bit lost in her own thoughts. Everything from how Penny and Weiss acted, to the accidental destruction of her mobility aide started to weigh down her mind. Part of her thought that maybe going along with Weiss would be best since it’d give her sight, while on the other hand, she still wasnt even sure she wanted a relationship. The very idea of it all seemed a bit foreign to her.

Ruby was snapped back to the reality of the grey halls by the sound of her ringtone going off. She quickly grabbed her scroll out of her pocket, along with reaching for the cane hanging off her backpack as her sight started to blur. “Hello?”

Yang’s voice filled Ruby’s ears once more. “Hey Rubes. How’s school? Getting close to your first semester being over, arent you?”

“Why does it sound like you’re about to ask me about soulmate stuff again?”

Yang sighed. “That obvious, huh?”

“I told you, I’m not planning to look-”

“Jaune told me everything.”

Ruby groaned a bit. “Remind me to kill him when I get back.”

“He’s just trying to look out for you. Besides, now that you know who your soulmates are-”

“Yang.”

“-you can start dating them and letting mom know.”

“Yang.”

“She’ll be glad that you’re finally starting to come out of your shell a bit-”

“Yang!” Ruby’s voice started to raise while on the call as she became irritated. “I’m not going to date anyone! Yes, I know who my soulmates are, but I’m not interested in dating at all! And so far, the two of them are understanding that a bit more than you are!”

Yang went silent for a moment before starting to speak up again. “But… what if you never… you know… feel complete?”

“I am complete on my own!” Ruby sighed a bit, lowering her voice. “I dont need anyone else to “complete” me like you and mom keep telling me. And right now, I’m still not fond of Weiss or Penny with how they’ve been pushing things, but they’ve seemed to figure out what I need and are taking things slow with a friendship. And right now, that’s all I want. All I need. Now please, quit pushing it.”

“Mom and I dont want to see you ending up like Qrow.”

“Like what? Happy with the man lives with? Look, I dont need this right now. I need to go and rebuild my project. I’ll talk to you later.” Ruby hung up the call without waiting for a response from Yang, sighing and leaning against the hall. “Why does everything have to be so difficult?”

“Because if everything was easy, then what would be the point?” Penny asked while walking up to Ruby.

Ruby looked away when she heard Penny. “Hey… Penny…”

“Everything okay? I overheard a little of your call and well… you seem like you could use a friend right now.”

“I’m.. fine. I really just need to get to my dorm and fix my project.”

“Would it be okay if I help you? I know my way around with tech.”

Ruby thought for a moment before looking in Penny’s direction and smiling a bit. “Sure. And… sorry about what I said a few weeks ago. Weiss… sorta told me that you talked to her-”

“If you’re trying to apologize for what you said, its fine.” Penny smiled and took Ruby’s hand to lead her back to her dorm. “Besides, being friends right now seems nice. And I promise, Weiss will understand if you just tell her exactly what you’re looking for.”

Ruby smiled a bit as her vision started to come back, seeing Penny’s smiling face as she first looked. “Thanks Penny.”

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naejigo · 3 years

Note

My problem with the SDC plot in RWBY is that Jacques wants just Weiss personal villain

He’s ultimately the one responsible for Adams brand, and the deaths of Illia’s parents, as well as the deaths and maiming of who knows how many other workers,

He’s not just Weiss’ villain, he was Blake’s villain, Robyns villain, hell, with him monopolizing remnants only fuel source, he’s a villain to the entire world, of remnant,

And yet, when he’s defeated, it’s pure luck, and he’s forgotten almost immediately

Now the SDC, and all of atlas are destroyed, and not thanks to Weiss, or Blake, or the white fang, or any of the heroes, it’s because of Salem,

You are right to an extend. Although I think it's not surprising that Jacques's character role correlates with so many people indirectly or not. I like to put in real-life positions on characters sometimes to see it from a better perspective, and I see Jacques as a corrupted president of a country (think; Trump, Malaysia's prime minister, Philippines leaders, and more). Jacques is a lot of things, they positioned him as a conquer, a dictator, a cruel boss, a horrible father, a manipulative bastard. But his role needed him to be all of that to pace the story to what it is now. And that is why, while he is a villain in everyone's eyes, he was not one to anyone personally, it was that way with Adam, but then Adam became consumed by his hatred towards humans that eventually his villain became his emotion. Robyn started a resistance, a movement, Jacques stopped being her villain at some point, he started being her mission, partly, and then her villain was no more because Robyn had her vision and it was not solely there for Jacques. She had a purpose, she had no villain, is what I like to think. Blake's villain was never Jacques.

Blake's villain was herself. Adam and the White Fang were the stepping stone to reveal her. Aside from the WF role in working with the antagonists. Blake hated the Schnees, even Weiss. But with how she was not consumed by that shows that her hatred is not self-driven, she was simply a person, a faunus who was and is trying to find balance, equality and equity for her people with the human and it was perfectly understandable that she resented the Schnees. Until it eventually becomes ONLY Jacques. She met Jacques a few times in fact and was not visibly trying to kill him or even has negative look on her face. In Solitas, she was just there for Weiss. And I think it's beautiful that she even has the courage and the nerve to hold onto one of the worst man's daughter's hands in front of him like that. Because she is no longer trapped by her demon, she is no longer her villain and that gives her the courage to thrive and be there for her chosen family.

Jacques was never Weiss's villain, not in my eyes at least. Sure she was in his cage. But then he broke that cage himself, and Weiss was free. There's something about Weiss arc that personally bothers me. I don't see a villain. Although I do realize that Weiss was always destined to bring her family back together. Her character's development was not only for her but for the drastic changes within her family. Weiss has her past demons. But she has no villain. Not one that I can see. Or maybe it's just my writer's mind looking too deep into this, but I really don't think of Jacques as her villain. And that's what makes it interesting because then people speculate it might be Winter. And oh! That, that has some sense to it. Winter who has always been the object of Weiss's admiration. The one person she wants to impress. The only praises she wants to hear are from Winter's mouth. And it could be Winter, you know? However, some people also speculate the possibility of Winter's villain origin story. I can't say I agree with that theory. She wants to make Cinder pay. Cinder works for Salem. Winter has her maiden power given by Penny, who was her only friend, who she knows would want her to keep the people Penny once protected, safe. Weiss "died" because of Salem indirectly and purposely because of Cinder. She wouldn't join the villains. Winter being Weiss's villain would be so phenomenal if you ask me. I'd love to see that happen or be reveal. There's a lot more to Weiss's story, I think. A lot more to the Schnees. And it's more than Jacques and what he did.

Also, Jacques being forgotten is not an issue to me, Atlas fall, the people of Atlas and Mantle are busy running for their lives, busy worrying about themselves to think about a cruel leader who holds no significance in their lives. The moment Jacques was arrested, he stopped being a threat. Ironwood killed him because he annoyed him, and while it was an unjustified kill, it was understandable to the plot. In the middle of a brewing war, a man who had brought a lot of misery to people is not the priority at all. Moreover when he lost his power. So he was removed from the story. They could have done it in a better, more conclusive way but well. Still tho.

So yes, I wouldn't call Jacques anyone's villain. Jacques Schnee was a pawn character. He played himself. He got removed from the chest board. The game is still going, and it's simply better without him in it because he is no longer needed for the story. Jacques wasn't anyone. He was just a horrible link in the middle of everything, just so that some hatred can be justified.

#writer's opinion #rwby #weiss schnee #ruby rose #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #winter schnee #jacques schnee #robyn hill #adam taurus

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dreamer213 · 3 years

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Broken Machines: Lights The Dark

Chapter 8: The Charming Things You Say

Penny was feeling uneasy as she finished up her patrol and began her walk to the station. She had brought up what had happened at the end of her lesson to her dad during dinner that night and expressed her confusion with Whitley’s shift in tone. Once she repeated what she’d said about Weiss and Winter her dad told her that she may have unknowingly brought up some bad feelings for him. When Penny questioned how she had done so Pietro just said “ Well how would you feel if you spoke to one of my colleagues and they only know you were my child but because they found out on their own and not because I told them?”. She thought about it a moment and the idea that her own dad, her only family, would not speak about her to his colleagues made her feel so sad and unloved. He then asked her how she thinks Whitley must have felt actually hearing that and she’s felt absolutely horrible ever since. How could she not have notice how cruel her statements had been. Before she had just thought it was odd that she had never heard about him but after seeing his reaction and her dad’s explanation the truth of the situation was all too obvious.

She was still thinking about during the train ride and in the car on her way to the manor. By the time she was at the main entrance and being lead to a lounge room by a maid, Yuko, she gone over dozens of possible apologizes in her head, trying to come up with something to convey how sorry she was about her callous words. She was determined to make things right but she just couldn’t find the right words to say for something like this. She’s still contemplating when she enters the lounge room where Whitley was sitting on the sofa, waiting for her.

Whitley: Good afternoon Ms. Polendina.

Penny: Good afternoon.

There tense in the air as Penny takes a seat at the other end of the sofa, placing her belongings down by her feet, and pulling out the notepad and pen.

Whitley: Ready to continue from yesterday’s session?

Penny: Yes.

Whitley: Alright then, Rule Number 6, when confronted with someone who’s been continuously rude towards you walk away towards the nearest group of people socializing. If the person persist when they get close question them on why they’re following you and polity ask them to stop. Do this loudly enough that people around you hear. Don’t shout, speak clearly, keep your pitch at a normal range but increase your volume. The negative attention the statement will draw towards them should be enough to get them to walk away. Rule Number 7, never interrupt someone, especially when in a group conversation, wait until they’ve completely finished their story or statement then chime in at the first opportunity. Rule Number 8, take a few breaks during longer events like galas or evening parties. If you chat for too long you’ll seem like a gossiper or just plain nosey. Granted there are people known for that sort of behavior in high society but they’re usually more infamous then famous for it. Now this last rule is of a topic of its own all will most likely take up the rest of-

Suddenly Whitley’s scroll rings. He pulls it out and looks at caller id, it’s Octavia.

Whitley: Excuse me for a moment, I have to take this.

He gets and walk out of the room leaving Penny and Yuko alone. Penny looks around and tweedles her fingers still thinking about how to go about apologizing as Yuko watches over her.

Yuko: Would you like to watch some television while you wait for The Young Master to return?

Penny: Hmm, oh no thank you I’m fine.

Yuko: Then would you like some refreshments? Perhaps some tea and cookies?

Penny: No I don’t need anything but thank you for offering Yuko.

Yuko: Of course Ms. Polendina, please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.

Penny thinks for a moment, Yuko was one of the manor maids and had probably work at the manor for some time if she was assigned to watch over a session. So maybe she knew more about the situation with the siblings and could help her try and fix her mistake.

Penny: Actually, there is something I’d like to ask you.

Yuko: Yes?

Penny: How long have you work at the manor?

Yuko: Five years and seven months. Why do you ask?

Penny: I just wanted to know if you knew anything about the relationship between Whitley, Weiss, and Winter.

Yuko’s eyes go wide for a moment, she hangs her head and takes a few deep breaths before answering.

Yuko: That is a very Very touchy subject, so much so that the Master has forbidden the staff to even mention his daughters’ names unprompted, less they be fired immediately.

Penny: And Whitley?

Yuko: As far as I know Young Master and his elder sisters have never been close. Though he doesn’t share the Master’s visceral reaction to the mention of them, it is still a very uncomfortable subject for him.

Penny: Oh..oh no.

Penny puts her hands in her face and her head in her lap. The situation was far worse than she thought, things were so bad between them that their own father didn’t even want to hear their names anymore. And she had brought it up the first week of her etiquette lessons. As if this weren’t already painful enough.

Yuko: Ms. Polendina? Are you feeling unwell?

Penny: I mentioned it. To Whitley yesterday I thought it was just something she didn’t tell me because we don’t talk to each other much. I didn’t know it was this…this…I feel so mean.

Yuko: (Sighs) Please calm down Ms. Polendina, while it was not wise to say anything about them Young Master is quite forgiving. He’s not the type of person to hold an innocent mistake against someone.

Penny: That’s good because I want to apologize but I don’t know if-

Yuko: Then apologize the next chance you get. Waiting and acting pitiful does nothing to fix the situation so don’t delay it.

Penny pulls her head back up and smiles at Yuko.

Penny: I’ll be sure to apologize before I leave today. Thank you for your help Yuko.

Yuko: Of course Ms. Polendina, I am here to serve.

At that moment the door opens again and Whitley walks back in. He still has his scroll out as he walks directly to Penny. He stops in front of her, a small smirk planted on his face.

Whitley: I have some good news for you Ms. Polendina. I just go off a call with Octavia Foxglove, the daughter of one of your suspects. And she’s agreed to have you at her monthly tea party in a couple weeks.

Penny: Really?! That’s amazing! I’ve only been taking lessons here for a three days and you’ve already found an event with someone so close to a suspect so quickly!

Whitley: Well it’s not a hard task when you have connections with every important person, family, or business in the range. But back to the topic at hand I’ll be sending you some details on the party and your target after our lesson but before we can continue Octavia wants a picture of you in advance. She likes to have custom table settings made for each guest with their face printed on the placement cards. And since she’s not a very patient person we need to send it as soon as possible. Now stand up.

Penny obliges and gets up from her seat, while Whitley takes a few steps back and opens the camera app on his scroll. He points the camera at her face while Penny stands at attention, hands behind her back, and smile on her face. After a few quick snaps the picture is taken but as Whitley inspects it he finds it to be very unsatisfactory. While the picture is clear and Penny’s face is in full focus the wall of the lounge room had been so dark that it made everything look desaturated.

Whitley: This won’t do, the walls are far too dark. It’s draining all the color out of the photo.

Penny: Really?

Whitley turns his scroll around to show her the front screen. Penny eyes widened at the sight, though she rarely saw or took pictures of herself Penny could still tell something was off about it. The walls had indeed made everything look much darker, the worse of it being around every piece of black on her body. It was a half body pic so her bow, collar, and the top of her waist were all blending into the background with little bit of the surrounding green, white, and gold of the rest of her outfit peeking through.

Penny: This does look very bad, how do we fix it?

Whitley: We just need better lighting. let’s go the ballroom, if the currents are drawn it should be nice and bright right now.

Yuko already has the door open while Whitley walks towards it, Penny follows behind him and all three leave the lounge. They make their way to the ballroom where sure enough the currents have been drawn however it’s the mid afternoon and the marble floors seem to have just been cleaned and the white pillars waxed. With the sunlight beaming through the windows, shining on clean floor and off the pillars, the room has become very very-

Penny: Bright!

Penny, Whitley, and Yuko cover their eyes shielding their eyes from blinding light bouncing off the freshly clean surfaces.

Whitley: So it’s fairly obvious that we can’t possibly take a picture in here!

Penny: Yes, the camera lens won’t be able to pick up anything with this much light.

Yuko: Then may I suggest we go somewhere less blinding!

Yuko grabs them by an arm each and rush them out of the ballroom. Soon their back in the main hall and begin searching for a better location. They are headed towards the music room where they run into Mary and Sue standing outside the door, Sue spots them first.

Sue: Good afternoon Young Master.

Mary: Good afternoon Young Master and Ms. Polendina, is there something you need from us?

Whitley: Hello Sue, Mary, we’re passing through to use the music room for a moment then we’ll be on our way.

The moment Whitley utters the words “music room” Mary and Sue share a worried look, Sue starts nervously tap her foot and Mary rubs her temples before they turn back to trio.

Sue: I’m sorry Young Master but we can’t allow you to do that.

Whitley: And why is that?

Sue lets out a nervous chuckle then elbows Mary in the arm. She turns and looks at her pleadingly and Mary decides to give in and do the talking for her.

Mary: There’s been a several accidents throughout the manor today. This morning while cleaning the music room someone waxed the floor while others were still working and a maid tripped while carrying a number of different cleaning liquids spilled onto the instruments and the chemical reaction of the now mixed cleaners caused some damage. The repairs being done so no one can enter the room for now.

Whitley: (Sighs) I see, and the others?

Mary: Some equipment in the dance studio had a short and caused a small electrical fire and Mistress fell ill in one of the libraries after brunch.

Whitley: Meaning you couldn’t get her to eat enough food with her wine this morning and she projectile vomited again. Wonderful. That’s truly unfortunate.

Sue: B-but if there’s anything else you need we’re here to hell however we can do to.

Whitley: It’s fine we just trying to find a good location to take a photo, we look elsewhere.

Sue: A photo of what?

Penny: One of me.

Sue: Oooh.

Sue walks up to Penny, hands crossed behind her back, and pushes her face close to Penny’s. Sue circles around the redhead and looks her over. Once she’s done she returns to Mary with a smug smile on her face.

Sue: With her complexion and colors, she’ll look best in natural light with floral/woodland backgrounds.

Sue makes the camera sign with her index and thumbs in front of her right eye.

Sue: Though city night skylines could work to if the lightings right. But since we probably can’t wait for sunset there’s the only one place in the manor that could work with her looks and that’s the garden. With today’s good weather and the right angle, light, and posing, the green and white of her clothing could look very warm and calming plus the sun on her face could really make that red hair look radiant and her eyes pop on camera.

Everyone but Penny stands in stunned silence and looks at Sue, confused by her sudden musings.

Sue: I’m a photography major.

Whitley: I see…that’s good to know.

Mary: She is right though, the garden looks rather nice this time of day and it’s vacant at the moment, so it would a be the perfect option for this task.

Whitley considers it for a moment. After a while he gives them an approving nod the waves over Penny and Yuko and the three starting walking towards the garden. Sue and Mary hang back for bit, Mary looks down at Sue and whisper to her.

Mary: (whisper) Feeling better now that you’ve redeem yourself for your little chemical spill?

Sue: (whisper) That was 98% not my fault and you know that!

Sue then runs to caught up with the rest of the group while Mary trails on slowly behind her. Once at the double doors of the garden Yuko and Sue take a door each and open them, reveal the beautiful greenery of the Schnee Manor Garden. There’s nothing but flowers and trees as far as the eye could see with a white tile paths lining the ground as they enter. Penny skips ahead to go wondering, entranced by the beautiful of the grounds and all it’s foliage while the others are strategizes a plan for this mini photoshoot.

Whitley: Well we’re here, now how are we going about this.

Sue: That’s the hard part of photography, we need to find the right angle and light to put her under to get the shoot. And we also need to consider what kind of scenery we want in the-

Suddenly Sue stops, she staring at something with an intense gaze. The others turn their heads to see what she’s looking at only to see Penny squatting down with her elbows on her knees, balanced on her toes, and hands propping up her head while she stares dreamingly at a patch of pink crocuses.

Sue: This is it. This. Is. The. MOMENT! Young Master get over there, get out your scroll, get within half a foot away from her, get down to her level , and center the camera directly between her upper body, face, and the flowers! NOW!

Whitley quickly complies and goes over to Penny, while she’s absorbed in the flowers he pulls out his scroll then he squats down awkwardly. He’s lining up the shoot, trying to get the lens to focus and when it finally does he’s awestruck. Through his scroll’s camera he see Penny smiling sweetly and sniff the flowers. The warm glow of the sunlight brightening the curls of her bright orange hair, and gave a soft glow to her spring green eyes. The pink of crocus highlights the pinks of her lips and the contrast made her freckle dusted cheeks more pronounced and cute. She looks so natural amongst the flowers like a fairy lost in her own world of warmth and happiness.

Whitley: She looks peaceful, so happy, so-

Whitley shakes his head, there’s no time for this they’re already falling behind schedule. they need this done now.

Whitley: Ms. Polendina, please look over here and smile.

Penny turns her head towards him and gives him a gentle smile. Eyes glued to her gaze, Whitley is taking a few photos when suddenly he feels his heartbeat quicken and once he’s done he still can’t take his eyes off her.

Penny: Does it looks good?

Her question pulls Whitley out of his trance and he stands up heart now ponding in his chest. He turns his scroll around to show her the photos. While they’re looking over the pictures Yuko sneaks up behind Whitley. She stands about a foot away and starts waving her hand over Whitley’s shoulder and in Penny’s direction. Eventually Penny catches her waving out the corner of her eye, when she cox her head to get a better look she sees Yuko mouths “ Now’s your chance”. She’s confused for a second but then she remembers what they talked about earlier and decides to go for it.

Penny: Whitley.

Whitley: Yes.

Penny: I….I am very sorry for what I said yesterday. I did not know that you’re relationship with your sisters wasn’t good I just thought I wasn’t close enough to either for them to tell me about their home lives. I promise you I would never have said anything about them if I knew it was such uncomfortable topic, please forgive me for my rudeness.

Whitley is once again stunned, her integrity was admirable. It takes a lot of courage to admit fault and apologize, something very few people in his life had the capability or desire to do. To have someone so strong be so vulnerable and sincere with him felt….surreal.

Whitley: It’s fine Ms. Polendina, it was an honest mistake I know you didn’t mean any harm. Besides it not like I speak about them too much either, I suppose it’s just the nature of our relationship. Anyway now that we’ve gotten a good photo we can return to our lesson.

Whitley turns around and addresses the maids.

Whitley: Yuko! We’re done here, time to head back to the lounge. Sue and Mary, thank you for your help.

Yuko: Yes, Young Master.

Mary: Of course, Young Master.

Sue: Thank you, Young Master.

Whitley quickly walk towards the doors, Penny and Yuko follow behind him leaving Sue and Mary behind in the garden. Soon they reenter the lounge room, get seated, notepad out, and they’re ready to continue their lesson.

Whitley: Now that that’s been taken care of we can finally get to the most important topic of today’s lesson. Especially since you’ll need to know this subject well to successful at the tea party. Now this subject is something you probably already do in your day to day life but I highly doubt you know how to do it and use it properly. The topic is……how to compliment a person.

Penny: Huh?

Penny tilts her head a little confused but Whitley just smirks and continues.

Whitley: Now I know this sounds very rudimentary but compliments can be a powerful tool when dealing with elites. This is due to one of the major values in high society, vanity. Most elites are extremely vain and thrive off validation. They need people to know and admire how rich, how classy, and absolutely fabulous their lifestyle is, making most weak to flattery and praise. With a little praise you can make uptight elites feel at a bit at ease with you. However there are some rules you must follow to use this value successfully, the first is timing. The first compliment should be given after the first greeting, if your address a group give a general compliment like “You all look absolutely lovely today!” or something similar. If it’s a single person you can be more specific, which can be rather simple if you pay attention to how the person’s behavior and movements. Those who thrive on this kind of validation will make themselves noticeable by wearing the most eye catching outfit and accessories possible, even at most casual of events, and will show off their new pieces to garner even more attention. They’ll play with their rings and hair, twirl around in their dresses, and anything they can think of to show off what they have. This gives you easy objects to identify and praise, for those who aren’t so obvious look for them over discreetly first then compliment whatever you think took the most time, effort, and money to prepare. Now the second rule is the most important to remember, never give to much at once. While compliments are a good tool it can be a double edge sword, too much and you’ll seem like a brown nose, too little and you’ll seem petty.

Penny puts her pen down and raises her hand, Whitley acknowledges this and points to her hand. He can guess what she’s about to ask.

Penny: What does complimenting someone have to with color of my-

Whitley: Brown noser is the term for someone who give excessive praise and compliments in order to gain a person of high standing’s favor. The “brown nose” comes from the less polite term of ass kisser which is derived from the idea that this kind of people were so desperate to get the approval of someone in a higher position that they’d kiss their rear ends if it might they’d something out of it. The “brown nose” comes from the idea being that close to someone’s rear would get a bit of….well you know the only brown substance human creates down there. It’s just a negative metaphor for someone how praises and flatters someone of higher standing in order to get something.

Penny: Oooh. Ewwww.

Whitley: I know, and in order to avoid appearing like one of those people after you’ve payed your first compliment don’t give another for the rest of the conversation unless they actively try to impress you. For that situation set a limit of five compliments for women and three for men.

Penny: Why is there different amount for men and women?

Whitley: Because men don’t need as much validation.

Penny: Is that true?

Whitley: It’s what social norms dictate and in high society that’s all that matters. Now I’d like to see how much you’ve learned today, I want you to compliment three aspects of my physical appearance using my lecture as a guide.

Penny almost drops her pen at Whitley’s outlandish request. Now there was no lack of things Penny could say about his appearance in fact it was quite the opposite. There was so much she could say about him, from his snow white hair to his elegant figure and jewel like eyes there was almost nothing about him Penny didn’t find beautiful. Penny decides to focus on his instructions, he said to look the person over and comment on what most likely took the most effort. Penny stares over at Whitley, who’s sat on the other edge of the sofa, legs crossed with one arm propping up the other as he rest his head on it as he stares back her, waiting patiently for her to speak. Penny feels the drumming in her chest returning but she powers through and continues to ponder until she gathers the courage to finally speak.

Penny: Your outfit looks very nice, it’s very well put together and formal but casual.

Whitley: Well it should, the vest alone was quite an expensive piece. Continue.

Penny: Your haircut is very neat and your hair itself is very pretty. The color and texture reminds me of silk.

Whitley:.…My stylist is known for their skill and I do best to get it right when I have to.

Penny: That’s not surprising you seem very diligent with the up keep of your appearance. Besides your hair and clothing your nails are also nicely manicure and your skin is soft and smooth without any blemishes. Overall you’re truly a beautiful and dashing young man Whitley Schnee.

Whitley slumps forward and face palms. Penny tries to ask what’s wrong but he puts up one of his hands and motions for her to stop.

Whitley: Would appear that I overlooked an important point in my lecture. Rule three, compliments should be a short statement commenting positivity on an aspect of a person’s appearance or personality. It should never be more then a sentence or two and as a young lady you should never give such detailed compliments to a man of any age. It can come off as flirtatious and that is highly improper and inappropriate.

The information hangs in the air for a moment until it finally sets in and Penny realize what he’s insinuating and her face bright red as she becomes overwhelmed with embarrassment.

Penny: I-I didn’t-I wasn’t trying to-I really don’t know-

Whitley: It’s fine, just don’t make the same mistake again, others won’t take it so lightly. You’re dismissed.

Penny: Okay! Goodbye see you tomorrow!

Penny quickly grabs her things and runs out of the room not even waiting for Yuko to escort her, leaving her and Whitley behind in an awkward silence.

Yuko: That was…interesting. She’s a rather odd girl isn’t she Young Mas- YOUNG MASTER!

Yuko looks over at Whitley in shock, his face, neck, and arms, they’d all gone beet red! Yuko rushes over to him, trying figure out how he gotten this way.

Yuko: Young Master are you alright? You’re breaking out into a fever. I’ll call the doctor down immediately! Please-

Whitley: I’m fine Yuko, I just need a minute to breathe. Please give me some space.

Yuko: Yes Young Master.

Yuko leaves the room, once he’s alone Whitley throws his head into his lap as he tries to contain a scream. How could Penny say such things so earnestly! What was she possibly thinking spouting such praise like that!

Whitley: Why? Why did she say all of that! It was a simple task, “compliment my appearance” that was it. There was no reason for her to go into that kind of detail! Was she trying to act like a kiss up or is that really how she sees me?

Whitley was confused by how anyone could say such things so easily. For most of his life kind words had a few uses. They were used for personal gain and control by most elites, sparsely used by the staff as part of their jobs of caring for the manor’s inhabitants, and almost entirely nonexistent with his family. Yet this girl he’s known for such a short time had chosen to praise him so sincerely. She had been there less than a week and had already proven to be far more odd and unpredictable then Whitley could have ever imagined. However as much as he wanted to be annoyed by her actions a part him can’t help but long for tomorrow and their next lesson.

#penny polendina #whitley schnee #pietro polendina #broken machines #beta tester #rwby fanfiction #rwby #fanfic #cute #guys get flustered too

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