#ignore the quality i used my mom's scanner for these

[nalle]

reiki  |  ROCK AND READ 089

[ruffsficstuffplace]

And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 11)

“Shooting Star…! Shiny Rod…! FUSION…!” Akko cried as she raised both weapons up to the heavens.

Nothing happened.

Akko crossed the two weapons across her chest instead, and closed her eyes. “Oh Shiny Rod, weapon of the super great and awesome and amazing Shiny Chariot, please lend me your power…!” she prayed.

Still nothing.

Akko laid Shooting Star down on the counter in front of her, held the Shiny Rod up to her face with both hands, the light reflecting off some of the jewels making them look like eyes locked with Akko’s own. “Hey Shiny Rod, could you please fuse with Shooting Star again?” she asked, smiling hopefully. “I just want to see just how powerful you two are together, so I can know what not to use, and how much force is too much force. I promise I’ll try not to accidentally kill us all this time!”

On the side, Winter, Ruby, and Diana watched as Akko gave the Shiny Rod puppy dog eyes. The other students in the firing range either ignored them or started laughing.

Diana groaned. “I can’t believe I’m watching this...” she muttered.

“I can’t believe you aren’t more appreciative of this opportunity,” Winter said quietly. “Just think: we’re witnessing, live and right before our eyes, one of the most enduring and enigmatic mysteries of the modern era!”

Akko whined as she started shaking the Shiny Rod. “Come on, Shiny Rod, just this once, please!”

Diana gave Winter a look, Winter ignored her, Ruby stepped up and put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. Akko stopped shaking the Shiny Rod and looked at her.

“You mind if I try and ask for you?” Ruby asked.

Akko nodded and handed it over, sulked over to the side with Diana and Winter as Ruby began to talk to the Shiny Rod. “Hey there, Shiny Rod! Can you please fuse with Shooting Star again? Like Akko said, we just want to know how powerful you are so we don’t accidentally kill our friends or civilians while we’re fighting Grimm.”

There was a brief moment of silence. “Well?” Akko asked.

“It said ‘No.’” Ruby replied.

“But why…?!” Akko whined.

“It said ‘Now’s not the time.’”

“But when is the time? Is it when we’re fighting Grimm?”

“It said, ‘Again, now’s not the time, and yes and no.’”

“And what does it mean by ‘Yes and no?’”

“It said, ‘You’ll find out when it’s time.’”

Akko whined and flailed in frustration.

“I find it rather interesting that only you can converse with the Shiny Rod like that,” Winter said.

Ruby shrugged. “I guess it kinda helps that I’ve always really understood weapons, and you, know, it, uh, ‘talks’ the way it does.”

“Any idea on how it’s ‘beaming ideas and emotions straight to your brain’ since we talked earlier?” Winter asked.

“Well, nothing concrete, since I haven’t been able to examine it at the Forge”--she tensed up as the Shiny Rod began to pulse--“AND I’M TOTALLY NOT GOING TO DO THAT, EVER”--the pulsing stopped--“but I do have a theory now!”

“Mind sharing it?” Winter said as she opened her scroll, prepared to take notes.

“Sure, but I gotta warn you: it’s pretty long and rambly! I haven’t gotten the time to really refine it, or do some long research yet.”

“Ruby, right now, I’ll take whatever leads and information anyone can provide me,” Winter replied. “And honestly, you’re turning out to be a very good source.”

Ruby smiled, before her face turned serious. She took a deep breath and started. “Okay, so… I’m sure of one thing, and one thing only with the Shiny Rod: it’s definitely an ancient artifact, not something made within the last decade, not the last century, possibly even not the last millenia.

“It’s not made of any sort of modern alloys or commonly used traditional materials for weapons like wood and animal bones, nor is its construction and properties consistent with any sort of post or pre-industrial era techniques. So far as I can tell, it doesn’t have any sort of artificial aura amplifiers or dust capacitors I’ve ever seen or heard of, and yet it’s capable of seriously magnifying the effects of modern ammunition made long after its time, presumably through some sort of unique resonance and interaction with Akko’s aura and dust, possibly even the metal of the casing itself and the ignition mechanism, making it far more powerful than anything most dust munitions are capable of, or possibly even through the use of pure dust crystals.

“I hate to sound unscientific, but the only plausible explanation I can find with this weapon was that it was either made from incredibly exotic materials of legend, like the Starlight weapons forged from a giant meteor that crashed somewhere in Mistral in the Dust Age, or mundane materials processed with some technique either lost to time, or so secret that that we’d have a heck of a time trying to find someone who can explain how it was done, kind of like the Bloodborne weapons from the same era.

“Pretty much all of those weapons had some sort of special quality to them, kind of like its own semblance, and a lot of the accounts weren’t afraid to suggest, or just outright claim that they were just as alive as the people who wielded them. The Shiny Rod’s could definitely be its ability to fuse with and amplify the strength of already existing weapons, but I won’t be able to have even the slightest idea of how it’s able to do that so easily and efficiently until I know what it’s made of, what was used to forge it and how, and what it’s capable of.

“However, given that the accounts tend to be holey or super exaggerated, I don’t think we should put too much stock into them, and look for different explanations. I’m actually starting to think that the Shiny Rod’s rejecting people other than me or Akko could be due to some incredibly specific fine-tuning and aura resonance techniques that were made to specifically limit the kinds of people that could wield it, like a super efficient ancient DNA scanner based on aura resonances, and its ‘talking’ could just be unintended interference and disruption of my aura causing minor hallucinations, possibly because of the clearly shock-based security system malfunctioning and causing my nerves and brain cells to misfire.”

Akko, Diana, and Winter all stared blankly at her, some preliminary notes on the third’s scroll before she gave up.

“But hey, like I said, it’s just a theory,” Ruby finished.

“… Ruby, did you happen to write any of that down?” Winter asked.

“Yep!” Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll. “All in here, though I think I gotta give you a guide to decode my notes before you can really use it, or you know… read it.”

“Just send it anyway, please, Ruby, it’s not the first time I’ve had to decrypt unfamiliar code and other people’s handwriting,” Winter replied.

Diana sighed, her shoulders slumping.

“Something wrong, Diana?” Akko asked.

“Yes, but not through anyone’s fault; it just… bothers me that nearly everything about that thing just laughs in the face of all my knowledge, and believe me, I’ve studied most everything there is to know about weapons, Grimm, and huntsmen!”

Winter put her hand on her shoulder. “Don’t get too hung up about it: there’s plenty of other things out there in the world that simply defy explanation.”

“You say that like that’s supposed to be a good thing...” Diana muttered.

“No, it’s not, but it is our reality, and you’d do best to just accept it,” Winter said. “So, seeing as the Shiny Rod won’t be fusing with anyone’s weapons any time soon, and still seems to be intent in keeping its secrets until it’s ‘time,’ any of you girls mind if I go retire to my quarters now?

“It’d be ideal if I get some actual sleep before I’m off to the Celestial Hills.”

“Go right on ahead,” Diana said.

“Sleep tight!” Akko said.

“Bye, Ms. Schnee!” Ruby said, waving.

Winter chuckled. “Please: just call me Winter.” She frowned. “Believe me, last names and proper titles get cumbersome very quickly, when you’re in for the long-haul...” she said as she walked out of the firing range.

“You guys want to clean our weapons together?” Ruby asked. “I totally forgot to even wipe down Crescent Rose last night.”

“I was thinking of prioritizing our academics, but sure: I could use your expertise,” Diana said, before they walked off, talking about who was going to be fetching what from the supplies counter, and if Ruby could examine Gwragedd Annwn’s internal mechanisms again.

Up above in the rafters, their eavesdropper followed after them, steps so quiet and the shots down below so loud you would have barely heard them even if you knew they were there.

Winter opened the door to her room at the Haven Guest House, sighed as she saw Qrow sprawled out on one side of the floor, his flask in one hand and held upright to keep from spilling. She sighed as she stepped inside, decided to make do with the light of the afternoon sun blocked by some heavy curtains.

“Why am I not surprised…?” she muttered as she shut and locked the door behind her.

“You got a lot of experience with your mom,” Qrow slurred, still on the floor. “How is ole Snow, anyway?”

“I have no idea, and frankly, I’ll just wait till she calls me,” Winter said. “It can’t be easy for her, no longer having any of us with her in the house besides Whitley, and who knows how she might react to news that her daughter almost died before she even got accepted.”

“Meh,” Qrow said, raising and swirling his flask around. “She’ll survive, she always does,” he said, before he put the rim to his lips, pouring whiskey into his mouth and all over his face.

Winter sighed again, and shook her head, before she headed to the other side of the room, rolled out one of the mats and sat on it. “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

Qrow tilted his flask away from his face, swallowed and coughed for a few moments. “Managed to catch up with you-know-who. She’s happy that it’s finally made a comeback, but is stressing over whether or not she should actually step in and try to help with its new tour—she’s pretty sure it still holds a grudge.

“You?”

“There was a spy in the firing range earlier,” Winter said as she shrugged off her heavy top-coat, folded it up and set it to the side. “Probably wouldn’t have even noticed if it weren’t for these,” she said, pointing to her head just as an ethereal pair of arctic fox ears appeared, twitching and turning around. “I  kind of wish I was born with these things; the world is just so different when you can really hear,” she said as the animal ears disappeared.

“Yeah, I hear systemic oppression and a constant risk for violence and discrimination is so worth being able to hear everything, always, whether you want to or not,” Qrow muttered.

“Which is why I said ‘kind of.’”

Qrow raised his head. “You think it’s from anyone we should be worried about?”

“No—probably just from the pet project.”

Qrow snorted as he laid his head back down. “I didn’t realize something that size was a ‘pet project.’”

Winter chuckled. “Forgive me: getting tangled up in the grand machinations of the gods tends to really change your sense of perspective.”

Knock-knock.

“Excuse me, Ms. Schnee, Mr. Branwen?” one of the Haven maids asked. “Do either of you need anything? Different styles of beds? Tea and food? A private bath and a change of clothes, perhaps?”

“Alcohol!” Qrow said. “They know what I drink, just mention my name, you’ll be fine.”

“Professor Schnee mentioned that, yes, Mr. Branwen. Ms. Schnee?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Winter said.

“As you say, Ms. Schnee. Excuse me, I will take my leave now.”

The fox ears reappeared as Winter listened to the maid as she went down the hallway, made sure she really did go down the stairs and in the direction of the kitchen. Then, she turned to Qrow with a surly expression. “Really, Qrow? Drinking this much so soon before a mission?” she said.

“You know I’m a better huntsman when I’m drunk,” Qrow replied. “Well, drunk-er than usual.”

Winter groaned. “No wonder and you mom got along so well...” she said as she pulled out her scroll, checked her messages. Aside from the usual deluge of general notifications for hunters, important world events, and messages from her contacts both professional and personal, she found that Ruby had already transmitted her notes over to her.

Like she had warned her earlier, it was a giant, unwieldy mess, even if the time-stamps said it was just her entries for that day and yesterday. Ruby seemed to be fond of using a ‘quill’ instead of the default keyboard, and used a bevy of personal shortcuts, codes, and symbols, with not a single legend or guide to be seen anywhere. She sighed and she started scanning it, stopped as she found a sketch of suitcases, and a simple portrait of Weiss, with the nearby words written in plain language.

“Almost blew myself up today! Accidentally fell on Weiss luggage”--there were arrows pointing to the drawings--”which turned out to be full of dust and ammo and SUPER explodey, but it’s okay: she and her friend Akko helped me get up and not blow us all up to kingdom come.”

Winter chuckled. “Hey Qrow, heads-up: looks like your niece mistakenly sent me her diary with her notes about the Shiny Rod.”

“That’s not a mistake, that’s a feature,” Qrow said as he still lay on the floor. “To Ruby, weapon notes are as much a part of her diary as whatever the hell else happened to her that day.”

“Well don’t worry, I won’t read any more into it than I really have to,” Winter said as she continued scrolling, passing over much more detailed, intricate sketches of weapons like Shooting Star, Myrtenaster, and all their components, a doodle of a bird with X’s over its eyes, and details about their repeated run-ins with the Grimm, until she finally found entire pages dedicated to the Shiny Rod.

To her dismay, it seemed Ruby’s lengthy explanation earlier was already collated and edited: her theories, notes, and examinations of the Shiny Rod jumped around from whatever aspect of it caught her eye, her hastily scribbled notes swerving around curving around each other as her numerous trains of thought did their best to avoid collisions.

Winter sighed, and set her scroll aside.

“Can’t figure it out on your own, huh?” Qrow asked. “Don’t worry: no one else back at Sanctum could, either.”

“I’m not giving up!” Winter snapped. “I’m just putting it aside for later…” she yawned. “It’ll be better if I do this with a clear, rested mind.”

“Trust me, Ice Queen, that only makes it worse, because then you realize you still can’t figure it out...” Qrow muttered.

Winter grumbled. “… Hey Qrow? I almost forgot: did she happen to mention that friend of hers? The one that actually studied the Shiny Rod, and tried to figure out what the hell it was supposed to do?”

“She did,” Qrow said. “Good luck trying to find her, though; she didn’t pull a disappearing act, but we don’t know what the hell she’s been up to this past decade, either...”

Winter sighed as she curled up into her futon. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to talk to her, and get her perspective on all this...”

“Careful what you wish for, Winter,” Qrow muttered. “From what she’ll tell me, it really wasn’t an amiable separation...”

Snap.

Croix smiled as she broke apart her chopsticks, watching all the news and bubbles popping up on the scroll giant screen in front of her—official news reports, activity from Haven students’ social media feeds, even the more credible rumour mills out there in Mistral’s vast, sprawling underworld—all with one subject in common:

The Shiny Rod.

Croix hummed to herself as she ate her cup noodles. Behind her, her disc-shaped Aura Units floated about, disassembling equipment, packing it into crates, or running her various experiments and constructs through last-minute, greatly hastened final testing.

It was going to be a hell of a time, relocating her entire laboratory from Atlas, especially with all the weeks if not months of readjusting she had ahead of her. But if there was anything she’d learned from all her years, in a place as big as Mistral, there was always a place to hide, you just had to know where to look.

“I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it, you know?” she muttered. “After so long, why now, why her, why there? But I guess I’m going to find out when we meet again, won’t we, ‘Shiny Rod?’ she laughed. “And this time…

“… You won’t escape again.”

Note: Can you all tell which aspect of Ruby I was REALLY unhappy to find had been relegated to something of a one-off joke?