#jaune can cook like no one's business

[novankenn]

... is greater than the sword!

On the roof of Beacon Jaune was once again flat on his back.

Jaune: I can't do this!

Pyrrha: Come on Jaune, you're getting better and better, just keep at it.

Jaune: Just admit it Pyr... I'm not good enough. I'm just wasting your time.

Pyrrha: Stop it Jaune! You are not wasting my time. You never have. I want to help you. I chose to help you.

Jaune: I'm an anchor around you, Nora and Ren's necks. You'd be better off with out me.

Pyrrha: Jaune, please stop talking like that. We just need to find your strength.

Jaune: Strength?

Pyrrha: Maybe Crocea Mors is not the weapon you should be using? There are plenty of training weapons, we can take time and let you try them all... see if something sticks.

Jaune: Something that suits me? Maybe...

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: I just had an idea. Can we call it for tonight? I need to work out a couple things.

Pyrrha: I guess. Are you sure?

Jaune: Please?

/==/

Class: ROARING IN LAUGHTER!!!

Pyrrha: Jaune what are you doing?

Cardin: (laughing) What you going to do, Arc? Make me an omelet?

Professor Goodwitch: This is HIGHLY unorthodox, Mr Arc.

Jaune said nothing as he just stood there waiting for the spar to start. Shaking her head Glynda gave the signal.

Cardin: Prepare to eat dirt...

CLANG!

KLUNK!

DONG!

DING!

THUD!

Class: CHOKING ON LAUGHTER AND GASPING IN SURPRISE!!!

Professor Goodwitch: Ah... winner Jaune Arc?

Cardin: Mommy... I don't want to go to school today!

Jaune shot Pyrrha a smile as he flipped a cast iron frying pan into the air and caught it without looking by the handle.

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: You said use what I'm good with... I'm good with a frying pan, in more ways than one.

Pyrrha: Yes, I did say that, but...

Jaune: How about in celebration of my victory, I make you some chocolate crepes?

Pyrrha: YES!

[howlingday]

Trio Arc Mom Au: Can we get the moms showing off baby photos and embarrassing childhood photos of Jaune to his friends (and/or girlfriend) like when his sisters put him in a dress?

First / Previous / Previous

Yang: Wait, you knew our mom?

Mama Arc: I knew both of them, actually. In fact, I fought them by myself during the Vytal Tournament. I would have won, too, if she didn't fight dirty.

Yang: Sounds like Raven.

Mama Arc: Oh, no, she was actually the more honorable of the two. Summer was the one who was the underhanded one.

Ruby: Wait, what did Mom do?

Madame Arc: Oh, she did all kinds of things, if you can believe it. I've never met a woman so skilled in so many facets. Business, fencing, dance, art, cooking- There was nothing that could stop her!

Weiss: My mother? Really? She seems so... different now.

Madame Arc: Well, there's a reason for that, and it the one man who I'd call her only weakness.

Weiss: Was it my father?

Madame Arc: Pfft! Ohohoho! Hardly! Why, I wouldn't even call him a man! Khm... Excuse me. I was out of place. I meant no offense by what I said.

Weiss: Even if there was offense intended, I wouldn't hold it against you. My father's actions speak for himself.

Misses Arc: I thought as much. It seemed like a book you would enjoy.

Blake: I had no idea this book even existed. Where did you find it?

Misses Arc: It was stowed away on the shelf, next to "The Girl Who Fell Through the World". I thought about lending it to Jaune, but he seemed less interested in olden court intrigue and more fixated on comedic adventures, like his Pumpkin Pete books, as well as his comic books.

Blake: That makes sense. I never could get interested in them.

Misses Arc: Neither could I until I found an interesting loophole. See, Jaune loved his comic books, but he could never sit through one chapter of "Jester's Reign" until I found a graphic novel version of the story. Then I found other novel set in the world of his comic books. Soon enough, I'd found a common ground and managed to get him to read the entire "Harlequeen" trilogy without even realizing it!

Blake: Oh, I love that series!

Misses Arc: And so did Jaune.

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

Nora: So... What do you think your moms are doing alone with Team RWBY?

Jaune: Knowing my luck, they're showing my baby pictures again.

Ren: Again? I thought they only had the one photo album.

Jaune: They have three albums for each one of us, AND a slideshow for ALL of us.

Pyrrha: Well, for what it's worth, Jaune, you were a very cute baby.

Jaune: (Sighs) Thanks Pyrrha.

[reashot]

Trouble with Baby.

Baby: Wahhhh!!!

Ruby: Oh no the baby is crying, what do we do?! 😵

Yang: Wow, wow! What are you looking at me for. I'm supposed to be the wild and irresponsible one, remember?

Blake: *ugghh* Would someone please do something about it. I'm trying to read here.

Weiss: I'm trying to find a nanny through this app. Is 3000 lien a week sounds reasonable to you girls?

Ruby: *smell something* Eww.... The baby just pooped! 😨

Baby: Wahhh!!!

Blake: And... That's my cue to bail out. Sorry sisters but this is where the bond of sisterhood absolutely doesn't matter.

Yang: Oh no you don't. You don't get to take the easy way out and run away like you usually do.

Weiss: Whose great idea was it to babysit other people's baby?

BY: *Points towards Ruby*

Ruby: *Gulp* But his parents are in the hospital right now and they need someone to watch over the baby for them in the meanwhile. 😣

Weiss: That doesn't mean it should be us. You dolt. There's must be someone more capable to take care of a baby.

Ruby: But everyone is busy with the Vytal festival. And I just can't say no. 🥺

Weiss: So instead you volunteer the entire team to take care of a baby without asking us before hand?

Ruby: Well what's done is done and you seems to forget the most important thing here. That someone still have to change the baby's diaper.

Weiss: Well it won't be me that's for sure.

Yang: Eeehhh. Is it too late to run away with you Blake?

Blake: I know I'm the last person that should say this but you can't run away from your responsibility.

Ruby: I can't believe you girls would just abandoned a baby like this. And you call your self a hero. 😠

Blake: Uh... No we never call ourselves that.

Weiss: Quit dragging us to your problem. And if you will excuse me I have a date with Neptune.

Yang: And I also gotta go do... Polishing my bike, I guess?

Baby: Wahhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Ruby: Wait please don't go! 😭

Jaune: Don't go where Ruby?

Ruby: Jaune. You came. 🤤 And why is Ciel holding your arm like that? 🤨

Ciel: Hello again Miss. Rose. As you can see Jaune and I are on a date together.

Ruby: D-d-date?! Both of you are on a date?! 😳

Jaune: What no. I'm just showing Ciel around the festival. And what is that smell?

Ruby: Uh I have a baby... I mean I'm taking care of someone's baby for a while. And I might have bitten off more than I can chew. 😞

Jaune: Ah I see. Well Ruby if you are having trouble taking care of the baby then I can help you with that.

Ruby: You sure? I don't want to trouble you or anything like that. 😟

Jaune: It's my pleasure Ruby. *effortlessly changes the Baby's diaper* All done. You are brave boy aren't you. Yes you are.

Baby: Yay!!

Yang: How do you know how to do that?

Jaune: Oh. I just have a lot of younger sibling growing up. So I'm expected to pick up the slack and help take care of them. Not limited to just changing diaper and that's include cooking, cleaning and other things. And I don't mind it because I really-really like babies.

RWBY+C: *The collective sounds of their uterus descending*

Blake: LEWD!!!

Weiss: No-no it can't be right I did not just think about Jaune like that...

Yang: Gods damn Vomit Boy. You got me worked up like when the time Ruby visit a gun store... Isn't that right Ruby... Eh, Ruby why are you looking like that?

Ruby: Heh... Heh.... Heh... Heh...

Jaune: Ruby are you feeling okay. Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?

Ruby: Yes... Yes... We can do it in the infirmary... I mean take me there. There's probably a clean bed we can use... I mean a bed you can put me in. (While I close the door behind you.) 😶‍🌫️

Ciel: Oh Jaune you are so nice to offer her. But I think she is too busy with the baby stuff. And you promised me first to show me around Vytal. And Jaune I think we should end the tour in my room. There's something I want to show you later. What do you say?

Jaune: Your room? I don't know what you are trying to show me, but okay. I'm sorry Ruby I have to finish giving Ciel a tour. Call me in my scroll if you need anymore help.

Ciel: Oh I think we would find it rather enjoyable. *turns towards Ruby* (Get a hint brat he's mine.)

Ruby: Stay away from him! I saw him first! 😡

Ciel: All is fair in love and war.

Baby: Wah!!!!!

Jaune: Stop it you two are scaring the baby!

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

So the Rusted Knight reveal... Yeh. I think gonna write something about it.

So what do you guys think should my next post be Lancaster fluff or Angst? And by Angst I mean Angst - Angst. I mean heartbreaking and wrenching stuff here. The fluff is just okay.

[sunny6677]

Okayyyy I'm gonna try continuing that one Spooky Month x Disney AU I did a while ago (the one where it's like the different Disney movies are actually their past lives and shit and the characters are in place of the Disney characters for each movie)

PRINCESS AND THE FROG IS NEXT LETS GO!

The main character is Tiana, a hard working woman of color in the 1920s who tries her best each and every day to earn money for her dead dad's dream restaurant, and overworks herself to the point of having like 3 jobs and barely gets any sleep. She doesn't attend parties and stuff because of how busy she is. And is independent, very good at cooking, doesn't really have time for any man (besides Naveen later on), and has her opportunities for her restaurant shut down by some racist company folk if I remember correctly. But she also doesn't let people boss her around and can stand up for herself.

[erros429]

headcanons for team rwby?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED ANON!!

lets start with ruby:

she/they ace lesbian

despite always being kicked out of the kitchen for overcooking everything because her mind can’t conceptualize how the fuck a frying pan works, she’s an EXCELLENT baker. give her an oven and she’ll win the great british baking show EASY

we all know most of her interests stem from her admiration of qrow, but the way she can make a plan off the top of her head is exactly the same as summer (because i say so). and her determination to flip a bad situation onto its head definitely comes from being tai’s daughter

ruby is definitely not stupid or naive, but it’s her lack of effort in the boring subjects in school that bring her grades down. pls try to point someone out to me who can make a scythe gun at 15 and tell me they’re an idiot

actually isn’t very good at action video games. she prefers the puzzle-y type ones, but since she’s grown up playing with yang, she kinda had to.

a master at manipulation. if she REALLLLY wants something, she throws on the doe-eyed look and pouts until her victim cracks. 99% success rate, probably going to be how they defeat salem

wants to be the uncle qrow type of aunt to yang and blake’s kids, but you know… without the alcoholism

weiss:

she/they demisexual lesbian

weiss’s gay awakening was pyrrha 100% — she is a little concerned about her thing for redheads (pyrrha, ruby, penny, probably nora)

allergic to peanuts. learned this the hard way when she was trying one of ruby’s peanut butter sandwiches (weiss very begrudgingly tried it, she was worried she’d get crumbs all over herself)

once found out she and jaune liked one of the same shows and then she immediately began to dislike it. even tried to have the show canceled just to spite him. later on when she’s finally started thinking of him as a respected friend, they have some fun discussions about it

always smells ridiculously good without even trying. seriously, she could go a month without showering and she’d still smell like the finest perfume bottle in existence

weiss adopted a lot of the same mannerisms as klein, like placing her hands behind her back, giving people food from the cafeteria after-hours, and speaking uncharacteristically softly when she sees someone hurt

despite wanting to use her abilities as a huntress to better the schnee name, she’s still extremely business-minded, and it sometimes shows in her daily interactions with people.

blake:

nonbinary bisexual

ilia was blake’s first kiss (stole this hc from @/technicallyblakebelladonna from a comment on one of my old posts, sorry!! i loved it way too much) childhood catmeleon my beloved

lactose intolerant, but consumes dairy anyway because if she can be an ex-white fang member and say “fuck society’s system” then she can say “fuck my digestive system” too

gossips with ren. all the time. they are actually besties. they both love observing people and they’re ridiculously good secret-keepers, so they just dish out all the drama to each other and trust that neither one of them will tell anyone else

hates the enemies to lovers trope. much prefers best friends to lovers

wraps herself into a blanket burrito when she sleeps, unless it’s really hot — then she curls up into a ball, hugging her knees into her chest

very very picky eater, maybe even worse than weiss. she doesn’t have a particularly refined pallet, but she’ll take an hour eating her meals just because she’s trying to individually remove pieces from her food that she doesn’t like

yang:

she/her trans lesbian

used to curse a LOT but when she realizes ruby’s been saying fuck at the ripe old age of 12, she kicks the habit.

the best cook. idgaf what crwby says. she is a homebody. she also loves gardening!

when yang came out as trans, she wanted to have a gender reveal party because she thought it’d be funny.

doesn’t believe in expiration dates until she learns the hard way. she’ll never forget the time she spent an entire week just throwing up.

her sneezes are explosively loud. honestly, everyone around her is convinced that she’ll spout fucking fire from her nose or cause a mini-earthquake one day

learned guitar from tai, but hasn’t done it in over five years. when she lost her arm, she’d stare mournfully at it as it collected dust in the corner of her room, and she tried to pick it back up for a bit after she got her prosthetic

team dynamics:

in beacon, ruby and blake formed a secret little book club after bonding about it one night because they know weiss will just throw really informative nonfiction books at them and yang won’t be interested in the first place.

the only one out of the team that actually drinks is blake. yang and ruby have had bad experiences with qrow’s alcoholism and weiss with her mom’s.

during the beacon days, yang forced weiss to play fuck-marry-kill their teachers (but it’s kiss-marry-kill bc weiss insisted she wouldn’t play if fucking was part of the equation). weiss reluctantly said she’d marry ozpin and yang has never let it go.

in atlas, ruby forces them all to make a pillow fort to parallel their time at beacon. but really it’s an excuse to use yang’s ridiculous body heat to get through the night.

none of the teammates comment on blake’s shower singing because they’re scared she’ll stop if they do

weiss and blake both have ridiculously long skincare routines before bed. yang and ruby secretly keep score of who takes longer every night

similarly, weiss and yang both take ridiculously long in the shower (weiss because she’s scared of having so much as a speck of dirt on herself, and yang because shampooing her hair takes forever and a day). blake and ruby secretly keep score of who takes longer every morning

weiss and ruby bond over NEEDING to pop all the bubbles on bubble-wrap

to get revenge on yang drawing mustaches on them while they’re sleeping, the rest of the team bands together to completely vandalize her face one night. ever since, she’s never been the first to sleep

the team becomes so accustomed to each other, they can all tell their footsteps apart. ruby’s feet slide a bit against the floor, weiss’s basically dance, blake’s are nearly soundless, and yang’s are heavy-footed and make the floor creak

when blake and yang start dating, they’re so fucking insufferable, weiss is certain she’ll have a stroke. at one point, she thinks she’s finally gotten used to them constantly touching each other or looking at each other for prolonged periods of time, but then she’ll catch them making out on her bed, and she decides to just throw the entire mattress away.

weiss is touch-starved (nobody’s surprised) but ruby gives her the best tackle-hugs to make up for the years lost

[melonishus]

Frostbyte Week Countdown (Day 6)

Hey everyone, I'm doing this skit for the countdown to @frostbyte-week. I hope you enjoy

-----

[Weiss went rigid as several spikes plunged into her chest. She gasped in surprise despite knowing what she was in for when she rushed in front of Penny . The feeling of being stabbed is never expected , even if you’ve been stabbed before , a sudden prick before realizing something was very very wrong ]

Penny - WEISS !

[Weiss fell back as the claws retracted , Cinder looking at her fingers coldly before turning back to Weiss]

Cinder - Well I suppose it’s only appropriate [licks blood off fingers] Unfinished business from Haven

[Penny rocketed off with Weiss as Jaune took to the battlefield , pausing by a gate and overlooking her friend]

Penny - Weiss NO[hands move over Weiss’s body as she tries to think up what to do] It was not supposed to happen this way

Weiss - I know ….I’m sorry

Penny - [starts crying] I do not know what to do

Weiss - I do you dolt [chuckles as she places a palm against Penny’s cheek] I want you to live Penny Polendina [coughs blood] You go and make more friends , and let them know just how great you are

Penny - I do not want other friends , I want friend Ruby, I want YOU

Weiss - We’ll still be there. If you think death will keep me from you , you’re crazy

[Penny's hand brushed against the staff of creation, her eyes widening. She looked out over the battlefield , the last of the citizens were rushing out of the portals]

Penny - I am afraid that might not be possible Weiss

Weiss - Excuse me ?

Penny - I will do what I can for you

[Penny takes the staff]

Penny - [whispers] Ambrosius

[The gate world shook, knocking Jaune off his feet. Cinder looked out over the field to see Penny holding Weiss]

Cinder - NO

[Cinder shoved Jaune off the balcony and rocketed to Penny as the floor disintegrated around them. Her hand just barely missed seizing Penny as they both plummeted into nothingness and disappeared]

…..

[Penny woke up with a throbbing headache in the middle of a lush jungle-like field. She sat up and felt a bandage around her head, which hurt to the touch. Looking around in a fog, she heard the sound of a campfire and then saw the familiar shape of ...]

Weiss- Penny.... [crawls to Penny's side] You need to rest [gently lowers her back down]

Penny - Weiss ! I !

Weiss- Don't. You need to rest, so the dramatic hugs can wait....

Penny - [cries] You're safe

Weiss- I am [places hand over heart] I'm not sure how you did it, but I do seem to be alive

[Penny hugs her tenderly, Weiss frowning a little but returning the gesture]

Weiss - I'm a little worried... something's not right with me

Penny - [tense, as she pulls back to look Weiss] Everything is fine. Where is the staff

Weiss - I found it close to you. I didn't see a reason to throw away something that could LITERALLY make an...

Penny - [snatches the staff] We are never using it again

Weiss - [confused] Penny ?

Penny- [frowning as she hugs the staff close to herself] I mean it Girlfriend Weiss

Weiss- We're on a deserted tree island, I don't think we'll have much of a choice if we need food ...

Penny - We will be fine...[stands up] We are together, and that's all that matters

------

[Weiss sighs and takes a taste of her concoction, frowning again]

Weiss- Sorry Penny, it seems I'm still not much of a cook.... [serves Penny a bowl of porridge] It's so tasteless....

[Penny quietly took the bowl, looking guilty as Weiss examined herself. She took a bite and found her face growing warm, so much so that it had become unbearably uncomfortable]

Penny- Oh MY [starts trying to wipe off her tongue as tears roll down her face]

Weiss- What's wrong ?

Penny -The food has broken my tongue !

[Weiss tries to summon an ice shard with some dust she scavenged from the barrel of gambol shroud, but finds herself unable]

Weiss- I'm sorry ! It seems I've become helpless

[Penny clutches to her, guilt renewed in her pain]

[Weiss stands up and walks up next to Penny, placing her hand on her shoulder]

Weiss - Penny...what’s wrong

Penny - I think I did something bad [looks down] And no one will want to be my friend anymore [looks down]

Weiss- I’m sure whatever you did wasn’t that bad… we all had to do some things in Atlas we regret, but….

Penny - Let us go find our friends ….

[Penny glances back at the food in fear]

Weiss - I’m bringing it along

Penny - But Weiss …

Weiss - But Weiss nothing, you have a meat person stomach now. You need to eat

Penny- [flailing in fear] But it HU

[Weiss kisses her on the lips, Penny freezing in place in shock]

Weiss- How about now….

Penny- S….Shutting down

Weiss - Penny, you don’t do that anymore

[Penny faints]

Weiss - Oh, I guess she does

,,,,,

[Penny wakes up to the sight of Weiss’s lips drawing closer to her own, in a panic, she covers her mouth with her hand]

Weiss- [muffled] Oh Penny, you’re ok

Penny- [red] W...what

Weiss- Oh Penny, you’re ok

Penny- I mean...why

Weiss - I didn’t know how to check if you were breathing, so I attempted CPR

Penny- O….oh

Weiss - What did you think I was do….

Penny- kissing

Weiss- O...oh

Penny- [nods]

[They both turn around so they couldn't see one another and made various gestures of silent despair as they fought off their embarrassing demons]

………..

[Ruby and Blake emerge from the jungle, and find Weiss and Penny in the depths of despair]

Ruby - Hey guys =D

[Both girls are unresponsive]

Ruby - Wow really….

Blake - [kneels next to Weiss] Not even a little happy to ….

Weiss- [mumbles] She thinks I’m a buffoon

[Ruby crouches next to Penny]

Penny- [mumbles] I already did this, and now I flinch away from kissing ? She must hate me

Ruby - ….you two had kissing problems didn’t you

[Weiss and Penny collapse and cry]

_____

Writing Requests are OPEN

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms part 2

Part 1 <-

Yang:Okay Weiss, your turn.

Weiss:What!? Why me?

Blake:Because you’ve been bouncing in your seat all through Yang’s story. You clearly want to gush about your kids.

Weiss:Pffft, What!? Nooooo, a little. Hehehe I can’t believe I’m that obvious. *smiles*

Ruby:Aww look at you, I never believe Weiss Schnee could look as warm as campfire.

Yang:And wearing mom jeans!? Little jealous that you still look completely gorgeous. Why does mom energy make you prettier?

Weiss:What can I say? I’m great. As far as my universe goes, I argue that I’m the strongest mom!

Blake:Such a bold claim.

Weiss:I carried twins! *points to self* this body handled two buns in the oven!

Ruby:Couldn’t be me. *shutters* I’d sooner loose an eye. Speaking of eyes, your scar has a friend. Got this whole upside down cross basically.

Weiss:Oh that? That’s uhhhh- how would I even explain this?

Yang:And your hair! It’s short!

Ruby:Yeah you’re just a surprise all over.

Blake:Guys, let her start from the beginning!

Ruby and Yang:Oh right. *covers mouths*

Weiss:(Yep, they’re the same sisters anywhere.) Thank you Blake. Now then...a good starting place? Well I suppose I could lay the ground work of Jaune and I getting better acquainted. It was about two weeks into reaching Atlas. Winter learned I got impaled and berated me not giving any kind of thanks. Since I had waited so long to do so, words wouldn’t do for her standards and she made me take him to a proper dinner. I think it was that night we actually talked openly to each other. A piece of me was annoyed at first because I thought he’d get the wrong idea again. But...he didn’t. He was just happy to spend time with me. That’s when I realized he had changed a bit *red* and apparently I changed too. Sigh, because that annoyed feeling was actually me forming a crush.

Blake:Looks like you changed more than he did. I think we can all agree that we’re pretty rough to deal with at Beacon in the beginning?

Yang:Hell yeah!

Ruby:Preach! Hehe, but it meant you grew the most too.

Weiss:Hey! You’re all assuming that I was terrible! Who knows, I could a Saint compared to your Weiss. Maybe I was a sweetheart at Beacon.

RBY:.....

Yang:Were you?

Weiss:*red* I’ll never tell.

Blake:(That’s just a no...) Two weeks into Atlas huh? I bet feelings raged whenever the whole place was under attack huh?

Weiss:W...What attack? Barely anything happened in Atlas.

Blake:Excuse me?

Ruby:Pfft what? You’re joking right? There wasn’t any threat of things falling out the sky or war threats?

Weiss:No? We showed up, put the relic in vault, and took time fortifying things while planning with Ironwood. The most exciting thing was a grimm wave and two of Salem’s goons showing up at a ball, but we handled that.

Ruby:....I...that’s...oh my head.

Blake:So what you’re saying is time in Atlas was a piece of cake?

Weiss:Well I had to deal with my father and and a lot of other family drama so I wouldn’t say it was cake. It was actually very stressful.

Yang:Well I think we found the massive shift between worlds. Atlas was different. I would say I dealt with anything like falling kingdoms. Atlas for me was one long Mission Impossible sequence. Espionage, jail break, fake deaths, but please continue with your love story.

Weiss:You sound a little envious. Anyways there isn’t too much of anything to tell in that part. Dates, fighting together, sibling healing, I was disowned publicly, Penny was being amazing-

Blake:You were disowned?

Ruby:(Penny is...alive? Huh, well, imagine that?) .....

Yang:*whispers* You okay Rubes?

Ruby:Yeah, processing. Hey Weiss? Not to control the narrative or anything, but how is your Ruby exactly? I get the feeling she’s quite different from me somehow if things like the adventure in Atlas are different.

Weiss rubbed her chin. She could tell the Ruby in front of her was pretty perplexed by the differences so far. In fact, Weiss could tell mentioning Penny made them all flinch a little. It was safe to assume they all hadn’t heard that name in a very long time. It made her feel a little bad. Did she somehow get a more ideal world?

Weiss:I think I might be able to answer that if you could humor me by getting a little further into my world’s reality? I don’t know how but I do get a since the two of you might have a key difference.

Ruby:I’m all ears.

Weiss: Blake, I’ll circle back to being disowned a little later. It’s one of the biggest reasons I am who I am now. Let’s see now, ah, the plan. After Atlas was infiltrated it was hard to save face to the rest of Remnant. That was until the world learned about Salem. It was a secret that was doing more harm than good at this point. On that day, our journey really began for us. Team RWBY wasn’t just four girls and their friends. It was one of four four girls commanding troops, organizing meetings, rallying others. We were the face of a revolution: along with JNPR of course.

Ruby:The world just...believed in Salem?

Weiss:There were plenty skeptics, but it’s harder not to believe it. Pen- our winter maiden, showed off magic. Then the others on our side followed the example. We had two relics to show off from the start, and a variety of ways to explain questions throughout history that nobody could answer before. We gave humanity’s suffering a face. People were more than eager to cling to it. From that point it was hard for Salem to make a move that wouldn’t give further validity to our story.

Ruby:An army huh, lead by us?

Weiss:Yep, mainly you when it came to the battlefield. You were anxious at first and definitely made moves that you regretted. But...after some time and experience, you stood tall in front of dozens to give a speech the night of the final battle. I still get chills. There wasn’t an eye that wasn’t on you. A person who didn’t want to march into battle with you. I don’t think I ever seen you more sure of where you were meant to be.

Ruby:Is that so? Hmm, I think...I think I get it now. Your Ruby must’ve stumbled quite a bit, but had people by her consistently. It was other’s strength that enabled her to get stronger. How old was she when the war was over?

Weiss:It ended on her twenty first birthday.

Ruby:Makes sense. An army isn’t made in a day. Plans and caution for everyone involved. A united force like that sounds like a thing Oz dreamed of.

Weiss:Actually, it was. My world beat Salem by gaining the relics. The gods witnessed the effort the world put in and stripped her of immortality. It was actually thanks to you that Salem went peacefully. Instead of damning her to a cruel fate, the gods let her pass on to her kids per your request. After that, gods and magic came back. Both are still mysterious. The gods are hard to find and there’s only one person born with magic so far.

Yang:Magic is a thing there!? That’s so unfair! Just imagine me with more fire!?

Weiss:Like you need it!? You’re already like a generator. Life after Salem wasn’t any calmer really. Terrifying grimm lurked where their could, an entire new way of life had been dropped on society, and even the world itself seemed to react. Weather has been more intense as of late. There was a lot things to keep people busy. Ruby being her usual self, started hunting. Blake used the momentum of faunus and humans working together to further her equality agenda, and Yang helped both of you out.

Yang:Look at me! I’m a great girlfriend and sister!

Blake:*mumbles* There at least.

Weiss:Yeah. Oscar and Penny decided to embarrass more of normal lifestyle, mostly. Penny went back to being protector of Mantle, but had way more free time to be a normal girl. Both of them had gotten really close over the years and eventually married.

Ruby:*wide eyed* Awwww, good for them! I always had a feeling those two would hit it off.

Weiss:They weren’t the only ones. You may have been busy, but you always made time for Whitley. The two of you were dating since our original trip to Atlas. There wasn’t a problem that either of you didn’t come to me for. You know hard it is to navigate other people’s relationships when you’re lost in your own? The blind was leading the blind. Worked out though. You were probably the prettiest bride out of all of us. Then again, you went ours and literally took notes.

Ruby:Hehe, that sounds exactly like something I’d do. You haven’t talked much about the charmed life after the war for you.

Weiss felt her face heat up. She placed her head on the table as if she gave up on something.

Yang:Yeah! Give us the scoop!

Weiss:Charmed isn’t what I’d call my life exactly. I was disowned, completely cut off. Even though I made my own mark in history, it’s not like people were gonna roll out red carpets. The world had to rebuild, and I needed a roof over my head. Thus began the modest life of Weiss Schnee, owner of a two bedroom Argus apartment. Fancy clothes a food were no more. Just clearance sales and two for one. Honestly, I didn’t hate. But that’s mainly because I wasn’t living alone.

Blake:Jaune?

Weiss:Living back home was just as unappealing for him as it was for me. That and the fact that I couldn’t cook for shit was concerning, to say the least. Moving in and splitting rent just made sense. We weren’t dating yet technically, but.....it didn’t take long for the relationship between us to...expand.

Yang:I cannot believe a Weiss Schnee finally caved to tall blonde and scraggly. I should be jealous, but I’m strangely proud of Jaune’s achievement. It’s like the first time I lost to him. I was upset, but man did he work for that win.

Weiss:Took about a month before all of you had learned just what the living situation was like and man did you three let the teasing begin? *smiles* it was fun though. If I had to wrong about something then I’m glad it was about me not thinking a person is reliable. Especially since they’ve bailed me out of trouble many times. Normal life had its pitfalls. We were constantly working to pay rent. Sometimes one of us had to work harder. Getting sick was disastrous, of long term assignments. What’s the relationship I have with Whitley in the other worlds?

Ruby:Casual. The two of are always throwing ideas back and forth to help the company.

Blake:The two of you are fine. I’m not too sure how much you actually hang out, but you both are pretty snarky whenever you’re together.

Yang:Thick as thieves. That man was always shifting money and finding sneaky ways to let us know when important things popped up.

Weiss:Good, that’s really good. *exhales* I can’t count the times he sent money without father knowing. I’m glad we reconnected. Without his and everyone’s help, I don’t think I would’ve managed. Especially when mom died...

Ruby:Oh. I...I’m sorry to hear that.

Weiss:It’s bound to happen when you drink the way she did. But yeah, didn’t handle it any easier. Between that and stressing over money, I really got overwhelmed often. I was very glad I didn’t live alone. Even if I didn’t want to talk about things, Jaune was always there to listen. I think it was around that time I realized just how in love I actually was with him. He makes me happy. That idiot must’ve known how much of a weakness I had for him. It was only a few months later that he proposed.

The simple memory of Jaune asking her under a street light on a cold yet peaceful night, made Weiss’s face a healthy shade of red. A gentle smile was all she could make thinking about it. A smile that left everyone stunned. They had never seen Weiss look so warm. So genuinely filled with love, happiness. To think she was once called Ice Queen? This one really did look like an Angel. Weiss quit daydreaming and got a little embarrassed.

Weiss:Uh, sorry! I guess I little mushy there. I’ve been told I’ve gotten pretty sappy through the years.

Blake:I think that’s beautiful.

Yang:Seriously. I’m...speechless really.

Ruby:A hardworking Weiss that struggled making ends meet. I gotta say that you look good doing it.

Weiss:Yeah well, that time has passed. My father got sick and in an attempt to “clear his conscious” or whatever he was feeling, he put me back in the family. I only saw him once when he was on his deathbed. Truthfully, I don’t visit my parent’s grave. I wanna say old emotions don’t get stirred up, but there’s certain feelings towards people that just can’t die I guess.

Yang:That’s fair. Who knows, maybe you just need a decade or two?

Weiss:Hehe, perhaps. However, before I got my fortune back, I was granted an either better one. Two in fact. That sly knight of mine managed to overachieve like he always does and give us a boy and girl.

Blake:I got a sneaking suspicion that you weren’t upset?

Weiss:Not for one second! I love my babies. My darling little Nick and Summer Schnee. One named after our grandfather, and Jaune and I are both really thankful for all that Ruby has done for us, so our daughter got named Summer. It meant a lot. My Ruby...she can’t have kids, or I should say getting and staying pregnant is extremely difficult.

Ruby:...*sniffling* These aren’t tears by the way. Just dust.

Weiss:My Ruby cried.

Ruby:Oh I bet! That’s some powerful stuff. Probably ugly cried too. Someone please say something? *misty eyed* Fuck, man that was a lot. *puts hood up* give me a sec, please keep going. *holding Yang’s hand*

Yang:Weiss, weren’t you a little scared about your living situation?

Weiss:It was a weird thing. We talked about having a family before hand. Money was always a concern, as well space; but I also knew that I did want to have a family of my own one day. So when the day came that the nurse told me I was pregnant, I should’ve been more worried. I wasn’t. All I felt was joy. Maybe it was because I had faith we could handle anything. We did have you all to help. Yang, you might as well be a superwoman honestly. You have been so amazing throughout my life.

Yang:Aye! I really love this other me.

Blake:What about me?

Weiss:You remain the most sensible person in my life and I thank you for it. Everyone else is crazy.

Blake:Yeah that’s pretty on brand. *smiles*

Ruby:Picture please?

Weiss gladly pulled out her scroll and showed off her children. It was quick to see both of them had gotten their father’s dorkiness. They stood in front of the camera playfully winking and were pretending to take a bite out the gold medals they had around their necks. It was crazy how much Summer looked like her mother, but clearly had Jaune’s eyes. Her brother on the other hand had the Schnee eyes and messy Arc hair. The two looked like barrels of fun. Then there was the man himself, Jaune Arc. He looked from the one in Yang’s photo. His hair resembled his days traveling to Haven and he was clean shaven, but he was noticeably healthier. It wasn’t even a physical thing much, though he did look good. He just seemed more vibrant.

Yang:Mine is cuter.

Weiss:Yours looks like your dad with the scruff.

Yang:Can you not?

Blake:How old?

Weiss:Sixteen. Little devils want sports car. I’m not dealing with that. Nick is really good at figure skating and is the oldest, so he’s the heir. Summer decided to be a little like her mother and pursue singing. Doesn’t have my voice though, but her range is better than me. I’m jealous. Both of them are always pretty decent in a fight if I do say so myself. Sigh, they grow up so fast. They still have a lot of growing to do though. Teenagers...

RBY:Preach...

Ruby:Everything okay though? Nothing too tough going on?

Weiss:Can I lie and say yes?

Yang:Hey I unpacked my baggage. Unload yours.

Weiss let out a large sigh. She looked at her kids lovingly, but had a smile that seemed...somber. All of her energy was brought down a bit and it showed.

Yang:Umm if it’s too much-

Weiss:It’s fine. It might be a little therapeutic to talk about it. Personally, I don’t I’m doing all I really can do. When they were very young, we all took a trip to go skating at a frozen lake. While I was there I found this strange ice dust that I’ve never seen before. Nick and Summer had gotten into a fight and by accident, Nick set off the dust. The shrapnel from it hit everyone, but Summer had it the worse. I’m talking it was lodged in her in multiple places. Not to mention the blast sent her flying into the water. I was hit so hard that I nearly blacked out. Thankfully, Jaune was the furthest and dove into the water while I managed to get Nick. He avoided a lot of it due to distance and was winded more than anything.

Ruby:Christ...

Blake:How young?

Weiss:Five. We rushed so fast to the hospital as soon as we could. The dust in Summer was freezing her until Nick activated her semblance and most of the shards got used up. Still, Summer ended up hospitalized for almost a year. Surgeries, comas, seizures; it was difficult to put it lightly. That picture doesn’t show it but she has puncture scars across her body, and a slight scar under her jawline she covers with makeup. That dust, though highly dangerous, it also healed her eventually. Summer had virtually no chance of survival. Not even counting the organ damage, that water should’ve put her into shock. But...she made a full recovery, on paper.

Yang:On paper?

Weiss:Several years later, Summer came in contact with the dust again and she...changed. Her eyes looked like mine, her light blonde hair went white, and she went mad. Her scars glowed with the dust that was still in her system and Summer started attacking everyone. I saw my twelve year old just use ice that was cold enough to burn. My extra scar is from me trying to restrain her. In the end it took my gigas pinning her down before she came to her senses. Summer had no memory of it. She said all remembered was feeling cold and hearing her own laughter. It wasn’t long after that it kept happening. Any time she got cold, this other...thing would come out. It eventually called itself Shiva.

Blake:Shiva? So...it’s a multiple personality?

Weiss:We don’t know. There’s so many inconsistencies. We got her checked up by the best and every test was normal. Her brain looks normal. But any time Shiva comes out, her blood turns blue and all she wants to do is hurt us. Shiva and Summer are even aware of each other now. There’s almost no day where Summer doesn’t hear Shiva in her head, wrestling for control. Between that, people at school who hate her, the scars, everything; Summer has become pretty reserved. She barely wants to go to school and she’s depressed most days. Nowadays she doesn’t open up about it outside of therapy. I...I can connect with her. Not in the way that matters.

Yang:I...shit, I don’t know what to say to that.

Weiss:That’s okay, few do. We’ve gotten good at preventing situations that get Summer cold but it’s through trial and error on something we know nothing about. Even with how far we’ve gotten, there’s a looming fear in everyone’s heart. Make no mistake though, that doesn’t stop any family from loving her with everything, but the mental strain of it all is more than anyone should deal with. Nick is kind soul. He blames himself for this and is constantly doing all he can to be there for everyone and put on this brave face, but he suffers inside. For a time, he went to therapy. Your sister almost killing you is a visceral experience. Getting him to sleep and take a break is like telling a fish not to swim. He is pretty open about this though, which helps a lot. It’s just...how do convince somehow they’re good enough when they think they’re not?

Ruby and Blake:You can’t....

Weiss:Exactly. It’s so...*tearing up* How am I failing at helping my kids worse than my own mother?

Yang:And that’s where I draw the line. *stands up* Now I can’t begin to fathom dealing with a a situation like this, and what I’m about to say is gonna be a little hypocritical but I really don’t care. Weiss, the last thing you are is a bad mother. I could tell immediately from the way you are that there hasn’t been a single as a parent that you haven’t made a choice without your kids in mind. I get feeling like there’s a gap that disconnects you from there; but the fact you keep your arms stretched out to bridge it makes you mother of the year in my eyes! Don’t believe for a second you’re a bad mother. Your the gold standard!

The room filled with silence for a moment. Weiss felt a lump form in her throat as she fought back tears that she eventually had to wipe away. She tried letting out a small laugh, but with it came more tears that ran down her face. Weiss couldn’t tell if it was from Yang’s words, or the stress. All she knew was that right now, she felt very thankful for being here.

Weiss:Damn it Yang, making me cry is something you’ve always been good at. Maybe that’s why I look up to you so much?

Yang:*red* Y-You what?

Weiss:My Yang, I downplayed just how much I adore her. Her daughter, Veronica, she’s got her fair share problems that stresses Yang out, but I never see her stop trying to connect with her. Even when she’s sad it’s like it’s only for a second, then you’re trying twice as hard. It’s amazing. If I’m being honest, and this is embarrassing, but I kinda picked up a mother from you. You’ve always been a bit motherly.

Ruby:She’s right.

Blake:Mom energy since day one.

Yang:Really? *rubs head* I was just being myself. Never really thought about it. Now then, wipe those tears! It’s upsetting that you look pretty why you cry. Meanwhile I look like a hot mess, and not in the fun way.

Weiss:*wiping face* Oh please, I don’t wanna hear that from someone who’s never needed make up. Those genes of your went to Veronica. Kids a genuine beauty. She’s just angry all the time.

Yang:Yeah that sounds appropriate... Weird to think I have a daughter that’s not Yujin. Wish I could see her.

Blake:Me too. Though I think I’d be overwhelmed seeing all my different kids. I’d probably want them all.

Ruby:My hands are full with ones I have and I wouldn’t say I’m juggling them well, so I don’t need other kids from universes. I’d be so stressed.

Weiss:Especially if they’re violent.

Ruby:Yeah, that would bad....

Weiss:Phew, I do feel a bit better. Even though I said all those things, my family still had good times. It’s not tense and we joke around like everyone else. As a family, we’re happy. We just have shit we gotta sort through.

Blake:Rich or poor, life has certain things that hit everyone. Is Jaune doing well.

Weiss:Yeah, he gets through to Summer pretty well, and he’s typically calm when it comes to giving guidance. He had his fears, but that’s why I’m here. We confide in each other.

Blake:May you and everyone else find a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ruby:Hey Weiss. Does....actually, never mind. Forget it.

Yang:We both know that’s not happening. Spit it out.

Ruby:I was just about Shiva. I’ve encountered weird things in my world, but this is unique. I was wondering if you have any positive experience with her.

Weiss:Not a single one. Here since of enjoyment in the displeasure of my children is a thing we disagree on. Though....her eyes, they do throw me off. For some reason, they don’t match her joy.

Blake:Maybe that part is still Summer. Eyes are the window to the soul and all that jazz.

Weiss:Maybe? I hope the kids are okay right now. I wonder what they’re up to?

xxxxx

Summer:WHAT’S UP VALE!!!!!!!!

A massive crowd screams “what’s up Summer”in excitement. Flashing lights and chanting fans’s voices make the sold out venue shake with their passion. Summer can only bask in it. There’s no better feeling than when she’s on stage. She looks to herself excitedly. This one was extra special. Nick comes out on stage with a base around him and a second microphone.

Nick:WE CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!

The crowd chants louder. Summer responds by starting a rift on her guitar. She faces Nick with a smug look. Yes, having him on stage is always a joy, but that didn’t mean Summer wanted him hindering or stealing the show.

Summer:Well look who’s here!? Atlas’s favorite son! Think you’re ready to play with the kids up here. This isn’t your normal stage.

Nick smiled. He responded by playing the bass and letting the audience speak for him. Summer was chessing fool. Slowly she bopped up and down, urging him to do the same. It wasn’t long before they in sync. Drums, piano, and other background musicians began building up the tune as planned. The twins whipped around to face the crowd.

🎶Get down! We won't let you go!

This time, can you bring us down?

Back up! fly far through the sky

BLACK ROVER!

Let's go! All together now

And at last this world can't slow us down

For now, let's dye it all in black

BLACK ROVER!🎶

The two stood back to back...

🎶As more join and stand beside me,

The void doesn't feel so empty!!!!!

I know there is much more in store

Let's open that door -!🎶

Nick looked over his shoulder and saw Summer doing the same thing. This was gonna be one for the books. Jaune watched from backstage with one of the stagehands.

Stagehand:Should we tell them to save their energy? This charity event is six hours.

Jaune:Nah, let them have fun.

[alexadru]

White Knight - Morning talk with Yang

Jaune and Yang were busy preparing breakfast for their teams. Since the group was on the road, it was decided that they would rotate to cook their meals in pairs and it was the turn of the two blondes to handle breakfast for that morning. So far, things were quiet as Jaune and Yang each worked on their taks, but Yang soon broke the monotony and addressed him.

Yang: "Weiss has been looking quite happy these days. I guess we have you to thank for that, right Lover Boy?"

Jaune: "What do you mean?" The boy tried to sound surprised.

Yang: "There's no need to hide it. Everyone knows you two visit each other at night."

Jaune: "Oh?" Jaune suddenly looked a bit nervous. He had not expected everyone to be aware of his and Weiss' late night meetings. "Well, it's not like we tried to keep it a secret or anything. It's just..."

Yang: "Don't worry, I understand why you need to be tight-lipped about this." The girl turned his way and gave him a look of understanding.

Jaune blinked in surprise at that. How much did Yang know? He was pretty sure that Weiss had not told anyone about them and Jaune himself didn't talk with anyone about this. Not that he couldn't, but he wanted to wait a bit until he felt more comfortable with the idea. So to hear Yang claim that she knew of their situation, it filled him with both curiosity and nervousness.

Jaune: "You do?"

Yang: "Of course. Weiss seems to be the shy type that will ask you to keep the lights off when you two sleep together because she's embarrassed. I get why someone like her would want to keep your... nightly activities under wraps."

Jaune blinked again at the declaration and stared directly at Yang's confident face. The girl seemed sure about her reasoming, but Jaune remembered last night's event.

Flashback

Weiss had him pinned on her bed with her lithe body slowly brushed against his. Her curious hands roamed, making his whole body melt under her soft and meticulous touch. Her lips slowly kissed and lightly bit at his neck, before she lifted her head until her mouth was right next to his ear.

Then, in a voice that was filled with desire, she whispered her request.

Weiss: "I want you to fuck me until my pussy will never forget the shape of your cock."

His blue eyes widened at her words, but his body reacted strongly to her teasing. A reaction he could not hide with her straddling him.

Weiss smiled as she felt his growing arousal right under her, then she captured his lips with hers in a hot kiss and began devouring him whole.

Flashback end

Jaune felt a wave of heat go through his body as his cheeks burned, the events from the previous night still vivid in his head.

Yang: "Well, am I right?" The blonde regarded him with an expectant look and a confident smile as her question brought him back from his day dream.

Jaune: "I can't say it's one or the other because, like you said, I'm sure Weiss does not want for others to know what we do in private." It would be something he would have to talk about with the girl, but for now, he'd rather keep quiet and not say anything about the nature of their activities.

Yang: "Heh, so a bit shy." Yang nodded proudly, satisfied with her 'accurate' assessment.

Jaune: "Yeah, she's... not quite what I expected of her." Even now, Jaune was having a hard time believing everything that happened between them was real. Their first night was something he would never forget.

Yang: "You be gentle with her, okay? Both of you have been through a lot and I want the both of you to be happy."

That was something Jaune agreed with. He'd do anything to make sure that a smile would always be on Weiss' beautiful face.

Jaune: "Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of hurting her. If anything, getting to know more about her... I might be falling head over heels for her..." His cheeks burned a bit more as he admitted how he felt about the snow themed girl.

Yang: "Well said. Weiss would be very happy to hear you say that." Yang nodded approvingly at his words, before her head tilted to the side as she appeared to look behind him. "And I think that she is." She added immediately with a small smile.

Blinking in confusion, Jaune turned around and saw a figure in the door frame of the kitchen. A very familiar figure in the shape of the girl he and Yang were discussing moments ago.

Hiding almost shyly behind the frame, Weiss' baby blue eyes seemed seemed to glow as she looked his way. She had clearly heard him and under the power of her smile, he swore that his heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, she moved away from the door frame and turned around to walk back to the bedroom, the modest nightgown she had on accentuating her gentle lines and nature. Their eyes meet briefly and he catched a familiar glint in her eye that simply called out to him, asking him to follow her.

Next to him, Yang saw the look Jaune had on his face and couldn't help but giggle. He was completely enamored with Weiss. This brief exchange was almost like a love sick puppy that was called by their master to join them and Yang decided to throw him a bone.

Yang: "Say, why don't you go and cuddle... I mean, catch another half an hour of sleep? There's still some time and I can handle things here."

Jaune snapped himself out of the spell he had fallen at the Snow Angel's hand. His eyes met Yang's teasing look. Embarrassed, he simply nodded as he was unable to form words and almost jogged after the snow themed girl.

Yang: "Ah, young love..." She sighed and returned to her task. Despite having extra work on her hands now, she couldn't help but get a bit giddy at the thought of her two friends finding happiness together.

[rwby-diaries]

Happy birthday Ruby!

Our most adorable shooting star is up! Ruby was born on October 31st (kept from CRWBY canon)! She came into the world just a pink little thing, and she stole everyone’s hearts with just one look. Her family loves her so much and so do we!

Line Art by: @bosiphas

Colour by: @data-plays-viola

Ficlet by: @lameclub

Edited by: @bosiphas @yang-diary @data-plays-viola and @thetopazvulpix

Ficlet under the cut!

“Happy birthday Ruby!’’ Different voices all cry out in unison as Ruby stands there with her eyes big and wide.

“You guys shouldn’t have!’’ She says awkwardly - causing Yang tomorrow her eyes and smirk in her direction.  

“Jaune spilled the beans, didn’t he?’’

Ruby scoffs loudly, “Whaaat? How could you possibly assume that our good, kind-natured friend Jaune--’’

“You don’t have to defend me, Ruby. It’s pretty obvious,’’ Jaune says while scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. Weiss rolls her eyes as she walks over, taking Ruby’s arm and leading her in the other direction.

“You can count yourself out of the next surprise party,’’ Weiss says with a pointed look back at Jaune. Ruby giggles before turning around to better keep up with her friend. They begin to approach a round table not that far from them - causing Ruby to let out a giant gasp.

The table is decorated with many different trays of sweets and baked goods - carefully placed in order of colour and type. Ruby turns back towards her friends.

“You didn’t have to do all of this!’’ she says with a big smile on her face as her eyes well up with tears.

Nora giggles, "Ren spent the last two nights making sure every cupcake was perfect, didn't ya buddy?"

Nora finishes the question with a poke to Ren’s ribcage and a smile. Ren looks down at her with a puzzled look on their face, "You only turn 15 once - I don't see why I should hold back." Yang shakes her head as she leans on their shoulder with a smirk.

“We aren’t making fun of ya bud! No need to be self-conscious about the amount you made.

“Anyways,” Yang adds with an even bigger smirk, “Nora’s bottomless pit she calls a stomach will probably eat half of this in like an hour.”

Ruby giggles as she takes a single cupcake and, without an ounce of hesitation, bites into it. The sweetness burst to life in her mouth, causing them to hum in appreciation. “Oh! This is so good Ren, maybe the best thing I’ve ever eaten!’’ She exclaims as she quickly devours the rest of her sweet.

Yang whistles, “That’s a bold statement - considering we grew up around the self-proclaimed 'Best Cook in all of Remnant' - Uncle Clover.’’

Ruby blinks for a few seconds before she laughs in response. “Listen, both are on the same level as the other - actually this reminds me of my 13th birthday,’’ Ruby says happily as she finds herself becoming more distant and lost in thought.

~~~

"Uncle Qrowwww!" Ruby shouts as she jumps onto his arms; he catches and holds her up with ease. "I can't believe I get to spend my birthday with both you and Uncle Clover!" Her eyes sparkle as her legs dangle back and forth mid-air.

"How was the ferry ride from Patch? Hope it wasn't too scary to travel on your own." Qrow questions with a head tilt which only causes Ruby to scoff in response.

"You're talking to a future huntress here, Uncle Qrow - a little boat ride wasn't gonna scare me," Ruby says with a big smirk on her face before she continues "Besides I barely ever get to see you guys these days and no way was I going to spend my birthday alone!"

Qrow chuckles as he affectionately ruffles their hair. "Oz decided to let me have a free weekend. Coincidentally, Mr. Tin Man  felt the same for Clover," he smiles as she jumps back down to the ground.

"Tin man?"

Before Qrow could respond to her inquiry - the front door swings open and another voice is heard. "So, our favourite lil' whirlwind is here already?" Clover says with a smirk as he leans on the doorframe. Ruby lets out a squeal as she zips across the front lawn and practically leaps into her uncle's chest, knocking the man back a couple of feet.

"Uncle Clover, it's been so long!" Ruby cries out as they hug him tightly and Clover smiles warmly down at her. As she drops back down and takes a step back, she can barely contain her excitement, frantically patting her legs. Clover takes a few seconds to recover from the intensity of Ruby's hug, then looks down at her with a proud smile.

"I swear you've grown an inch or two since I last saw ya!" He exclaims with a short gasp - inspecting them closely.

Ruby giggles, "It's actually just my new boots," she explains as she shows them off proudly which causes Clover to whistle into admiration. Ruby pauses for a moment and gestures for their uncle to come closer, the other doing just that, as they stretch up to his ear in a stealthy fashion.

"But if anyone else asks - I finally had my growth spurt." Ruby whispers.

Clover takes a second to process that before he snorts and stands back up, "Your secret is safe with me munchkin." He finishes with a wink and ruffles their hair.  Ruby let's out a playful grunt as she frantically goes to fix her hair back to the way she liked it just as Qrow approaches from behind them.

"I'm gonna pop these bags up to your room, squirt, and then I hafta check on your birthday surprise," Qrow explains as he easily picks up and carries in her assortment of different backpacks and cases. "Why dontcha join your uncle in the kitchen?" He suggests with a smirk towards Clover - who beams brightly in return. Ruby nods enthusiastically and takes hold of Clover's arm.

"Yesss come on Uncle Clover, time's a wastin!" They cry out as they tug Clover in the direction of the kitchen which has her uncle laughing warmly; allowing for his nibling to drag him in the direction she wanted to go.

"We'll see you soon babe - shoot me a text when everything's ready!"  Clover shouts back towards Qrow and the other nods in agreement.

As the duo separated themselves from Qrow - they enter into the kitchen. The whole room was rather neatly kept - totally unlike Ruby’s kitchen at home, which often fell victim to plates and dishes piling up, especially if it was just Ruby and her dad.

On the table in the middle, there was a variety of different baking utensils and ingredients - all neatly sorted and ready to be used. Ruby gasps loudly as they sprint into the room, admiring her surroundings with great excitement.

Clover trails in not far behind the other and chuckles softly, "I was going to have the cake and everything else ready for you, but I remembered how much you love to bake, so I waited to make the cupcakes."  He tells them while watching the young kid take in the sight before them with big eyes.

"Always! Just because it's my birthday doesn't mean I don't want to make badass cupcakes-" Ruby stops herself when she realises what she let slip past her mouth and clears her throat. "Doesn't mean we can't make awesome cupcakes," they correct themself with an innocent smile. Clover rolls his eyes playfully, choosing to ignore that in favour of wanting Ruby to enjoy her birthday.

"Anyways! We should get started - would you like to do the honours?" Clover says as he passes her the bowl of butter and Ruby nods in a dramatic fashion. As she dumps its contents into the mixing bowl before her, her uncle pours some casting sugar in before presenting Ruby with the whisk.

"Use it wisely, young one." Clover says.

Ruby gasps while taking it carefully and nodding, "I won't let you down good sir." She tries to keep up the serious demeanor but she couldn't contain the giggles that were building up deep down. As they begin to whisk the ingredients together, Ruby starts to ponder on a few things.

She was excited beyond belief about spending her birthday with her uncles - it was a rare sight when both of them could attend. But… there were small things that were nagging at Ruby and refusing to let go. Their sudden quietness immediately catches her uncle's attention, who then turns to face her.

“Something on your mind?” Clover asks in a gentle tone - completely surprising Ruby who lets out a tiny yelp. It didn't take her long to recover from that sudden question as Ruby looks down at the mix and sighs.

“I'm happy to be here with both you and uncle Qrow but… It's my first birthday without Yang.” Ruby speaks very quietly as she slows to a halt and their hair falls onto her face - hiding her true expression. Clover watches with soft eyes as he lowers himself down to her level.

"I know how hard it must be with Yang being on that school trip and your dad being busy," Clover starts in a gentle tone while pushing Ruby's fringe back once more, "but trust me when I say you're going to have a great birthday with the most awesome surprise."  He gives her a big smile as the words seem to do the job of cheering her up. Ruby's expression lights back up and they wipe their eyes

"Thank you Uncle Clover," she says with a lopsided smile. Clover laughs as he kisses her forehead and stands back up - the pair returning to their tasks.

"So uncle Clover - a birthday surprise huh?" She asks with a sly smile.

Clover glances down for a moment before chuckling to himself, "You got that right." He doesn’t elaborate further, simply gesturing for her to stop the whisking for a moment. As he adds a small tablespoon of vanilla extract, while Ruby's curiosity reaches an all time high.

"I wonder what it could be - maybe a mega awesome present-"

Clover laughs, "Ruby I know you have long figured out I'm the weak link when it comes to surprises," he says with a side glance down towards the kid.

Ruby giggles. "Yeah I found out when you accidentally told Yang that dad was considering the motorcycle license-"

Clover hushes them with a small laugh, "Which your dad never ever lets me live down."

"But I promised your uncle I wouldn't breathe a word of it - so will a simple reassurance that you will love it suffice?" Clover asks.

Despite the desire to know brewing deep down within Ruby - she understood this was something super important to keep a secret. With a sigh, she finishes her whisking and nods in agreement. Clover pats her on the head

"Not much longer now," he says while taking the bowl away.

"Now remember - 15 minutes in the oven or you'll burn them!" Ruby calls as Clover goes to fill the pre-prepared cupcake pan with the batter.

Clover scoffs,"You're talking to the 'Best Baker in all of Remnant' here Ruby. I ain't about to let these cupcakes burn on my watch!"

After the batch has been fully cooked and decorated, Clover's scroll finally dings on the counter loudly. Ruby's head perks up.

"Is that Qrow telling us everything is ready?!" They ask while frantically patting the table.

Clover laughs, "Let's see." He walks over and picks the device up. After being silent for a few seconds, the man looks back up and smiles. "We have to head out back."

Ruby follows behind her uncle enthusiastically - as he leads them down the hallway.

Excitement was thrumming all throughout Ruby's body as they got closer and closer to their destination. About a dozen different scenarios were rattling around in their head at once - but they just couldn't come to a solid conclusion. Was it a new cape? Maybe they're getting a super cool motorcycle too?! Clover stops before the backdoor and turns to Ruby.

"Close your eyes buddy," he tells her with a big smile. Ruby did exactly as she was told and soon after did they feel Clover gently take their arm and begin to lead her forward.

Ruby could feel the cool breeze of the outside world as they were continued to be led by her uncle - the shuffling of feet could be heard too. After a few seconds, Clover orders her to stop and she does just that.

"Can I open my eyes now?!" They exclaim, growing more impatient by the second.

Clover laughs, "You can now."Ruby's eyes flutter open. After taking a moment to adjust to the sudden sunlight - Ruby focuses her gaze right ahead of her, letting out a huge gasp at the sight before their eyes.

"Happy birthday Ruby!"

Different voices yell in unison, coming noth only from her Uncle Qrow, but also from her dad and sister, standing next to Qrow with huge matching grins. Ruby begins to bounce on the spot before jetting across the grassy garden.

"Oh my gosh!" They yell, tackling all their family in one swift motion, everyone being knocked to the ground by the force of it. Everyone laughs wildly as Yang and Tai embrace Ruby.

"You said you guys couldn't make it!" They say with tears in her eyes and Yang swiftly wipes them away, a soft smile on her face.

"You didn't think I'd miss your big birthday bash, did ya sib?"

Tai nods, "I decided to get off work early and Yang finished up her Huntsfolk Observation Trip quicker than expected." The trio finally stand back up and Tai his head tilts in Qrow's direction before continuing.

"Qrow managed to pull some strings to make sure we were all here," he says with a smirk.

Yang scoffs, "I had to make sure these old timers were doing your birthday right." She gives both Tai and Qrow a smug grin. Tai playfully jabs his daughter in the ribs and Yang snorts in response.

Ruby's face lit up - not sure how to react. Tai's face softens for a moment as he turns back around to pick up an item he dropped when they fell, picking up a small book with a pink bow neatly placed on top of it.

"I wanted you to have this. We all spent the last week getting all the pictures printed and organized." He explains in a quiet tone while placing the book into Ruby's hands.

Ruby stares at it, seeing the words 'Ruby's Birthday' printed on the top stirred emotions deep down. Everyone crowds around them with supportive looks which encourages Ruby to open the book, letting the pages fall open somewhere around the halfway point.

As Ruby looks down at the page, she could see Yang holding their baby self with the help of Tai, her older sister’s eyes wide with wonder.

"Yang insisted that she held you the moment she laid eyes on you," Qrow chuckles fondly.

Yang gives a quick snicker in response, "I just knew how awesome my baby sibling was the moment I saw them," she says while ruffling Ruby's hair and the other pushes her off with a smile.

"What is it with all this hair ruffling today?!" Ruby asks with giggles sprinkled in between words.

As they flip backwards to the previous page, they see two pages of Qrow and Clover holding them as a baby as well.

"Clover of course, had to make a luck pun," Qrow says with a smirk in his husband's direction and the other stuck his tongue out playfully.

"So nothing much has changed between now and then?" Ruby points out which causes everyone else to laugh alongside them. Ruby turns the page further back towards the front of the book, seeing a picture of Tai.

"I remember when your mother went into labour - I quickly ran back into our room to specifically get that shirt," Tai explains with a short laugh, pointing at the red ‘#1 Dad’ shirt in the picture.

Clover scoffs, "You were planning that gag ever since Summer became pregnant too."

Tai waves him off “I’m the embarrassing father - I have an image to maintain!’’ He laughs and Ruby snorts in response ��- looking up at her dad with happy eyes. After a moment, Ruby’s attention once again falls back to the book before them - as they flip to the first page of the book and Ruby finds herself growing silent.

Tai looks down at them with sad eyes as he places his hand on her shoulder "She wasn't scared at all when she was pregnant with you - I was more frightened than her." That comment has Ruby look up to her dad with a sad smile as she let him continue.

"She did everything in her power to make sure you were brought into the world safely and surrounded by love," he explains as everyone around them watched on in a wistful way "Your mom loved you so much Ruby. Every moment she spent with you was everything she could've hoped for."

That was what brought on the tears - as Yang and Ruby both found themselves starting to cry. Everyone  then closed in for a group hug. Nobody moved for a few moments, just choosing to instead enjoy each other's presence in total serenity.

"One last thing," Yang says with a smile as she pulls back and taking out a small camera. "Every year me and Ruby take a picture together for their birthday," she explains as she gestures for everyone to squeeze together "And this is the first time we've all been together in a long long time."

Yang places the camera on the nearby picnic table and sets a timer "Everyone says cheese!" She cries out while rushing over just in time as everyone screams out that word excitedly. The camera clicks with a flash and everyone starts to giggle. Qrow gives Ruby a quick pat on the head.

"Now let's dig into some birthday cake, shall we?" He suggests and Ruby gasps loudly.

"Birthday person gets the first slice!" She exclaims as she zips over in a burst of petals.

~~~

“That’s such a sweet story Ruby,’’ Pyrrha says with a warm smile on her face and placing her hands on top of heart in a fond manner. “Would you like to take a picture with all of us?’’

That question easily catches Ruby’s attention as her eyes go wide, “Oh my gosh yes! I’d love nothing more,’’ they say while jumping on the spot and clasping her hands together. “It’ll show off our awesome costumes too. I dont have one good birthday photo in Halloween costumes, and I’ve almost always had a Halloween birthday.’’

Weiss raises an eyebrow “Ruby, you were born on Halloween, every year is a Halloween birthday." Yang hushes Weiss with a playful push.

“You can survive one night without making a sassy remark Ice Queen,’’ she teases which obviously irritates the other but after a moment, Weiss takes in a deep breath and seemingly composes herself.

“Does anyone have a camera then?’’ Weiss asks.

Everyone looks around at each other before shrugging and Nora groans, “Where’s Velvet when ya need her.” . Blake’s head perks up as she takes out her scroll and gestures to it.

“It’s not as traditional, but I think your scroll could work.’’ She says with a small smile.

Yang’s face lights up “Once again - Blake is here with the big brain,’’ she says with a wink which in turn causes Blake’s cheeks to flush red and she looks down at the floor with a tiny smile. Ruby takes out her device and beams brightly.

"Everybody squeeze in - I’m pretty short,’’ she says loudly and everyone begins to crowd in around them, all trying their best to get in level with the camera. With a bit of effort, Ruby manages to hold the scroll as high she possibly could and she gives a big smile.

“Everyone say cheese!’’ She yells and everyone screams that word at the same time.

A flash on the scroll lights up the room before Ruby lowers it down - inspecting the picture that was taken. As they look at the photo, tears begin to well up in their eyes and she sniffles lightly.

Yang glances down with a fond look on her face and pats Ruby lightly on the head, “All good Rubes?’’ Ruby wipes her eyes and nods frantically.

“It’s everything I could’ve hoped for.’’

[bridgyrose]

There are tensions between Ruby and her team in Shattering Love? What's that about? How will they take it when Ruby keeps leaving more for Neo?

Ruby sighed as she absentmindedly stirred her coffee. “I… dont have tensions… per se…” 

“You say that like anyone’s going to judge you.” Pyrrha smiled a bit at her friend, glad they could have another coffee date. “Why not just tell your team how you feel? I’m sure they’ll understand.” 

“Okay, but… what if they dont? What if they get offended that I dont like being a third wheel? O-or what if they decide they want me out of the apartment?” 

“Ruby, everything will be fine. I promise.” 

“And how would you know?” 

Pyrrha smiled as she looked down at her own cup. “When Jaune and I started dating, we thought that Nora and Ren would have a few issues with it. And we were glad they didnt. In fact, since then, Jaune has started dating both Ren and Nora as well and he couldnt be happier. All you have to do is let them know and then ask.” 

“I… I guess so…” Ruby grabbed the salt by accident and added a bit to her coffee. “I’m just not sure I can handle being told no on this.” 

Pyrrha looked up and hesitated for a moment. “Ruby…” 

Ruby started adding a bit more salt, not paying any attention. “And I know I have feelings for Weiss and Blake, but I know they really only have feelings for Yang. And even if they say yes, I dont have as much in common with them anymore besides being a huntress and living under the same roof as them.” 

“Umm… Ruby…” 

“And then there’s the fact of everything going on with Neo. I didnt think I’d like her but she’s opened up the possibility of things I could never imagine. We can experiment together and there’s all sorts of things she’s into that I never thought I would be.” 

“Ruby!” 

Ruby looked up at Pyrrha, setting the salt down. “Yeah?” 

Pyrrha pointed to the salt. “I think you’re going to have some salty coffee.” 

Ruby looked over at the salt and took a sip of her coffee before making a face. “W-well… guess that’s ruined now.” 

Pyrrha giggled a bit. “But Ruby, quit worrying and just tell Weiss and Blake how you feel. I’m sure Yang wont mind and the worst they’ll do is say no. Besides, I’m sure they’ll be okay with Neo.” 

“R-right… of course they will.” 

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

Yang checked her scroll and sighed. “Ruby’s going to be busy again tonight.” 

“She’s ditching us for someone else again, isnt she?” asked Weiss. 

“Yeah, she is.” 

“At some point she’s going to have to tell us why.” 

“Isnt it obvious?” Blake looked up from her book, slightly disappointed in her girlfriends. “She’s embarrassed about whoever it is she’s dating.” 

“Who said anything about her dating someone? Could just be a friend.” Weiss sighed and sat down next to Blake. “Although, I wish she’d bring some of her friends around more often.” 

“Pyrrha has her team to keep under control. We all know there’s only one adult there. And…” Yang thought for a moment, trying to figure out who else Ruby would know. “Emerald and Cinder moved. Mercury… I think he’s in jail again. I dont think there’s anyone else that Ruby knows that would be around.” 

“Which means the obvious answer is that she’s found someone to date.” Blake went back to her book, smiling a bit. “And I’m happy for her.” 

Yang nodded, going back to cooking for her girlfriends. “Maybe we can get her to tell us who.” 

“Why? So you can hound whatever boy it is she’s dating?” 

Weiss smirked a bit. “Does that mean we get to hear the ‘big sister’ talk from you?” 

“I’m not that bad!” Yang turned her back on the stove for a moment. “I just want to meet whoever Ruby’s dating so I know what to expect. That’s all.” 

Blake nodded and watched as the pot behind Yang burst into flames. “Why dont you focus on dinner first, love.” 

Yang turned around and immediately jumped back to grab the fire extinguisher, turning down the heat and putting out the fire. “....maybe we should order takeout again.” 

Weiss shook her head and pulled out her scroll. “I’ll order the usual.”

[heliosthegriffin]

Himbo Dad AU; Breakfast

Achilles opens the door to his house, and then walks into the kitchen his father cooking at the stove, Heracles eating from his dog bowl, loaded full of sausages, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, and eggs, the dogs face covered in grease, Achilles could tell the dog was probably on his second or third bowl though, he’d probably need to eat one more before his food coma could start.

Achilles sat at the large table in kitchen and greeted his father with sleepy yawn. “Mornin, dad.”

Jaune looks over his shoulder at his son, his hands never leaving the stove in front of him as he was cooking enough food for a feast, and greeted his son back in a warm, fatherly tone. “Morning, sleepy one, did you stay up all night at your aunt Saphrons? Or did you get some sleep?”

Achilles blushed a little. “I got some sleep…”

Jaune rose a well-groomed eyebrow. “A little? So, you don’t need to take a nap when you go upstairs? Cause, after breakfast, I’m going on a 100k, and could always use a strolling buddy, if your up for it~”

Achilles paled. “Uh, uh, no thanks dad, I might have stayed up all night with Adrian.”

Jaune sighed and shook his head. “It’s bad for growing boys to stay up all night, but it’s the weekend. Just make sure your ready for school tomorrow.”

“Ugh, school. Why can’t I just go to Sanctum like Adrian yet?”

“You’re only ten, value your childhood while you can.”

Achilles whispers “Yeah, like you haven’t told me all that hundred times.”

Jaune turned his head at Achilles his eyes narrowed. “Hmm, what was that? Sound like back sass, and back sass sounds like another 100-kilometer run, mister. If you really want to give up your childhood and go to Sanctum, you’ll have to start doing those runs every day.”

His son’s tanned skin turned pale at the statement. “Uh, no sir! Sorry, sir! Please don’t make me run with you, it’s like trying to keep up with speeding bullhead!”

Crossing the kitchen with a couple of long steps, and ruffle his son’s hair and puts several plates in front of him. “I’m just playing Killies, I would never make you do something that you don’t want to do, but, I’m just not ready for my little boy to grow up on me. So, please, just stay a little boy for a little while longer? For me?” Jaune says kissing his son on top of the head.

Achilles bats away his dad with a blush, and mumbles out. “Fine… Just long as you train me like you are Adrian, please and thank you.”

Jaune lets out a beaming smile. “It’ll be my pleasure, my little warrior. Now eat up, and get some rest.”

Achilles looks at his plate full of food, with cooked bacon, crispy hashbrowns with cheese and onions, pancakes decorated with his crest of a spear breaking two arcs, with spear being made of strawberries and whipped cream and the arcs honey, scrambled eggs dusted with salt, pepper, and local spices, and then a tray loaded with fruit. Served alongside a glass of tea and orange juice.

Achilles found he didn’t need much convincing to eat up, giving a rushed thank you, and with no thoughts on why his father had made more than ten times the normal amount of food for himself, Achilles, and Heracles.

The boy didn’t notice as several newcomers entered the kitchen, with almost all of them taking a seat around the table, with one going up behind Jaune, having to stand on their tip of their toes, before slipping their arms around his neck, leaning their chest into his back, and laying their head on his shoulders.

“Mornin Handsome~,” Robyn said into his ear.

Jaune shivered slightly at the feeling of her breath on his neck. “Hey there, beautiful, not that I don’t appreciate what your doing, but let’s keep the PDA to a minimum, Achilles is back and I don’t want to give him any trauma today.”

“Oh, is that so? No wonder you had us screaming like little banshee’s last night.”

“First off, don’t make it weird, second off, I have my room sound and vibration proof. Third, I’m making you breakfast, you don’t have to seduce me, you’ve already won.”

“Maybe, I just miss your touch.”

Jaune rolled his eyes and with an impossible to follow speed, he had Robyn cradled in one arm while still cooking.

He gave her a little peck on the nose, causing a blush to run across her tan skin. “There, that make you feel any better?” 

Robyn had nothing to say, and merely blushing deeper.

Jaune returned back to cooking, one arm full of a blushing mess.

Achilles finally took a break from inhaling his breakfast to see his table no longer empty, but full of his… He didn’t know what to call them really, first to his left playing his hair was Ms. Fiona who used to watch him when he was little, but still hung out with his dad a lot. He didn’t mind her playing with hair though it felt nice. “I’d envy hair this nice if it didn’t tangle so badly,” He thought he heard her mumble. It was weird seeing her wear dad’s shirts though.

To his right was Ms. Schnee, she liked to do business with dad sometimes, something about hunting for the Argus Military based. But, it always bugged him that an Atlas General liked to a sleepover with dad, besides why did the general deal with contracts for Argus Military base, when she could have people there, do it? When he asked, she just said it was important for Generals to maintain connections with independent powers. Then gave him some lien to go buy a video game or something. Why she wore dad’s pajamas was beyond him.

The rest of the table was filled with Ms. Schnee’s friends? And Ms. Fiona’s friends, and oddly enough Ms. Nikos, their next-door neighbor… Actually, it’s not that weird, she practically lived over here.

Why they were wearing more of dad’s clothes than dad was wearing, he was only wearing a apron and a pair of shorts, was a mystery for another day.

The table seemed to notice him and gave him a series of hellos and good morning, he greeted them back, and got back to eating before they started asking about his grades and stuff. His social-studies weren’t great. He’d have to call Aunt Weiss or Blake for some help, Aunt Weiss would understand, plus she loved to spoil him. He knew Aunt Blake loved him, but deep down he was sure that she held a grudge for he bit her ears as a baby.

The sliding of plates across the table got everyone’s attention, a personalized plate for each seat at the table, along with bowls full of rolls, scones, and biscuits, baskets of bacon, sausage, and ham, and various pastries on plates.

Jaune put down Robyn into a chair, appreciating how his shirt looked on her, and took in the rest of the table with a pleased expression, really liking how his girls were looking wearing his clothes. 

With a clap, he got everyone’s attention. “First, off enjoy. Second off, don’t show weakness Heracles will steal your food. Third, if it goes into the air or floor, it’s Heracles. Fourth, if you have leftovers, put them in Heracles doggy dish, he will love you forever. We, good? Alright, everybody dig in!”

A wave of giggles took over the table, before the sound of forks and spoons clinking over took the giggles.

Robyn looked at her plate hungrily, it full of roasted, seasoned tomatoes, a personal favorite of hers, large slices of ham and turkey, eggs sunnyside up, several slices of toast coated in butter and jam, a couple slices of bacon, mushrooms, baked apple slices, and to top it off a large glass of ice coffee.

Robyn gave Jaune a saucy glance, “I’d kiss you, if you hadn’t bruised my lips last night, by the way, are you trying to make me fall for you? It’s working~.” Robyn said before digging in.

Jaune gave a playful roll of the eyes. “I don’t need to try for something I already have.” 

Next to Robyn, May sat in Jaune’s white undershirt, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders to cover what the shirt barely covered with how loose it was on her. She groaned at her leader, but quickly resumed eating her breakfast of an omelette stacked full of ham, sausage, cheese, diced onions, and bacon on a bed of cooked hash browns, with a stack of pancakes on the side, with a ice vanilla latte on the side. 

In-between Fiona and May, sat snuggly Joanna the only one besides Elm who could wear Jaune’s clothing without looking entirely ridiculous, but even then the flannel shirt was a size or two too big and she had to wear an undershirt underneath. She looked slightly amused at May’s annoyance and her leaders bad flirtation. 

Her breakfast could be described as meat, all the meat and eggs she could have. Bacon? Check. Eggs? Scrambled, sunnyside up, omelet, and poached on toast. Ham? Yes. Turkey? An entire leg. Sausage? Links, patties, and summer sausage. Chicken? She had them on biscuits. Steak? With the eggs of course. Finally she had some Lox and other seafood, with a side of biscuits, various cheeses, jams, and a large strawberry protein shake and glass of water.

Fiona sitting next to Achilles wore little more than Jaune’s white long sleeve sweatshirt, not that she needed anymore as she wore it more like a dress from how big it was. She had given up on getting all of Achilles knots out of his hair, she had talked with Saphron and Terra before on how hard it was to get him to take care of his hair, she dreaded when Yang found out he started growing his hair out like her, but refused to take care of it properly. Anyway she was trying to get her lover’s son to open up to her a bit more.

Achilles was too consumed by eating to notice. Fiona let out a sigh and went to work on eat breakfast, Jaune was good to her, too good in fact and sometimes loaded up her plate more than she could eat, but she supposed growing up around seven sisters and then hanging out with huntress gave him a skewed view on how much she wanted to eat.

The plate was full of cooked mushrooms, baked tomatoes, a omelett full of leafy greens, onions, and vegetables, biscuits, muffins, pancakes, a yogurt parfait mixed with banana, nuts and strawberries, some scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and finally a large breakfast tea to finish it off. She had her work cut out for herself, but Jaune’s food was bar none the best in Argus.

Achilles was half way through his plate.

Winter scrolled across her Scroll, making sure her schedule was clear today… for reasons. She smiled when she saw that the day was clear along with tomorrow and most of the week, she pulled her, formerly Jaune’s pajama’s tight, and looked with a smile at her plate. She would never regret loaning Klein to Jaune so the man could learn the butler’s ways.

On her plate was a large waffle cover in chocolate custard with strawberries forming a heart in the center, her cheeks blushing slightly, Jaune always insisted she get all the love she was denied as a child. Also on the plate was sausage links, orange slices, blueberry muffins, some donuts, sliced ham, crackers, cheese, and some turkey. To drink was a simple black coffee.

To Winter’s immediate right was Harriet digging into her food, dressed only in a large red sweatshirt to cover herself. Her breakfast consists of toast, cheesy scrambled eggs, apple cinnamon oatmeal, berry smoothie, a couple bagels with cottage cheese, and some ham. A glass of water to the side. She was really hungry after all the, exercise she got last night. So conscious thoughts were a bit away.

Elm was the only one who was actually close to Jaune in size, but since he hit his second growth spurt he was almost a head taller than her, with even broader shoulders! That said while his clothes hung loosely on her, it wasn’t nearly as bad as say on Fiona. Elm wore a simple robe and undershirt with boxers on underneath. She wasn’t much of a morning person, but she managed through simple questions when asked.

Her breakfast was similar to Joanna’s, only even larger. With an omelet loaded to bursting with steak, and an ever larger caffeine chocolate protein shake, an entire plate with hashbrowns full of meat and cheese and the occasional onion.

Next to Elm was the last lady of the table, Thetis Nikos, mother to late Pyrrha Nikos. She wore Jaune’s robe and a black t-shirt. Her breakfast was a parfait loaded with fruit and nuts, a stack of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, a muffin and a cup of coffee.

Finally Jaune had his own plate… Platter, he had a platter, full of every meat he had all sizzling, crispy and delicious, all the eggs, all of them! A waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, muffins, protein shakes and smoothies, sausage and toast, his plate full was nearing total collapses.

Breakfast went on for a while, everyone scraffing down as much as them could, Joanna, Elm, Jaune, Achilles, and Thetis going for second, eventually it was all gone with what little scraps being given to Heracles.

“You spoil us, you know?” Elm called out to Jaune, holding her full belly.

“Yeah, you don’t have to cook for us everytime we swing by. I'm down for going out for breakfast, I just don’t understand how you have the energy, when,” She wiggles her eyebrows at Jaune. “You do the most exercise around here.”

A series of groans emerged around the table. Achilles could only nod, his dad did work out a lot.

Winter coughed at that, and then spoke. “I concur with that statement, I feel the time could be used more, pleasantly.” A blush rose on her face. “If I ordered catering, you wouldn’t have to rise two hours early to make breakfast for everyone.” She then said under her breath. “And then you wouldn’t have to leave the bed so early.”

May smirked at her from across the table. “You just don’t wanna lose your big spoon? Do you princess bed hog?’ Her smirk growing deeper at Winter’s atomic blush.

“Alright, alright, I get it, but I like cooking for everybody,” Jaune said a pearly smile, making the women at the table go weak in the knees. “Anyway, I have get up early anyway, to improve myself, and keep my body top of the line.” The weakness came back in full force for the women, remembering the taste they got last night of how top of the line his body was.

“Now, who’s up for a 100k run!” Jaune asks.

Only for all of them to groan, as they felt the soreness across their bodies from last night.

“Fine, I guess you girls got plenty of exercise last night.” Jaune said with a smirk. 

Achilles didn’t get why the women around his dad were so weird, but it didn’t matter to him that much, they were in a way family to him, sure they weren’t always around, but when they were he enjoyed it, and all of them united in their shared fear of his father’s insane physical routine.

[2manyfandoms2count]

Miraculous Tango

It was a murder, but not a crime

(aka the ML Writer’s Guild strikes again)

It all started with a crack discussion about jonks, thanks to @sukker-sugar; how did we end up here? Anyway, have a piece of crack songfic, cowritten by @deinde-prandium, @persistentchaos and yours truly. Hope you enjoy (read the tw before reading)!

Read on AO3

---

[SASS, spoken]

And now, the six savage superheroes of the Paris Prison de la Santé In their rendition of 'The Miraculous Tango'!

[GROUP] Pop! Six! Swish! Uh uh! Contre-attaque, Wishlist! Pop! Six! Swish! Uh uh! Contre-attaque, Wishlist! Pop! Six! Swish! Uh uh! Contre-attaque, Wishlist! Pop! Six! Swish! Uh uh! Contre-attaque, Wishlist! He had it coming, he had it coming He only had himself to blame! If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it I betcha you would have done the same! Pop! Six! Swish! Uh uh! Contre-attaque, Wishlist!

[CARAPACE, spoken] You know how some people just can’t help but bring you down? Like...Gabby. Any time you got your hopes up - pop! Never thought twice about bursting your bubble. But one day - and I won’t tell you how - I find out that this guy has been bursting bubbles left and right. Pop. Pop. Pop. So I say to Gabby - I say, “Gabby, you’ve got a chance to go good here. Do the right thing. But if you burst my bubble one more time...” And you know what he did? Pop. So I took my shield off my back and sent him a warning shot. And he lost his head.

[GROUP] He had it coming, he had it coming He only had himself to blame! If you'd have been there, if you'd have heard it I betcha you would have done the same

[QUEEN BEE, spoken] I met Gabriel Agreste aaages ago, when I was six. He was my Mum’s friend - stern, but hey, everyone has a parent like that, right? I was one of the privileged few to hang out with his son - I mean, it’s understandable, I’m the elite, right? So, anyway, I saw a lot of him when I hung out with Adrien. It was fun. Flashforward a few years and he’s gotten worse, stopping Adrien from seeing me. Can you imagine? So I go up to his office, asking – no, demanding – a word, and he has the gall to tell me he’s doing it for Adrien’s protection. And then I find out. Protection, he'd told me? Protection, my ass! Not only is he abusing him, oh no- he’s abusing the whole of Paris! One of those akuma lovers, you know? So I thank him for his service, offer him a nice bottle of Champagne… Didn’t hear from him later. Well, you know, I guess some guys just can't hold their venom!

[GROUP] He had it coming, he had it coming He was a bad guy all this time Because he used him; and he abused him It was a murder, but not a crime!

[RENA ROUGE, spoken] I’m a pretty good chef, if I do say so myself. But Adrien’s skills were...subpar. That’s how I found myself standing in his kitchen, minding my own business, sharpening my knives for a lesson on how to butterfly a chicken for dinner. Swish. Then in stormed Gabriel in a fit of rage. "You’ve been corrupting my son!" he said. He didn’t want his son to be learning how to cook. That was a commoner’s thing. Swish. But he was crazy, and he kept on screaming, "You’ve been corrupting Adrien!" He said he’d be making sure Adrien cut all ties with me. Swish. Mentioned this being the perfect opportunity. And then he ran into my knife! He ran into my knife ten times!

And if you'd have been there, if you'd have seen him, I betcha you would have done the same!

[FARFALLA, spoken] Quando ho incontrato Gabriele, mi ha prometto tutto. La fama, la fortuna...suo figlio. Tutto quello che dovevo fare era un piccolo favore. Dunque, due. E sempre più. Abbiamo fatto un accordo! Ma poteva tenerlo? Ovviamente no. Oltre al danno, anche la beffa! Allora, quando ho trovato il suo gran segreto, ho preso le cose nelle mie mani. Letteralmente. Io ci sono arrivata prima di quegli idioti mascherati, e….ho pareggiato i conti, capisci? Anche l’ho impostato Marinetta a prendere la caduta. Come avrei dovuto sapere che si potrebbe pensare Adriano l’ha fatto??

[RENA ROUGE, spoken] Yeah, but did you do it?

[FARFALLA, spoken] Uh uh, Marinetta!

[RYUKO, spoken] My mother and I used to attend all these fancy events when we were in Paris. Gabriel was always there, with his son Adrien. One day, at a fencing tournament, Adrien had been a little out of it. Parade, Riposte, Contre-attaque, Feinte, Coupé - his opponents cut through his moves like he was a mere Blason Jaune. After the match, I saw Gabriel take him to the buffet room. I didn’t think much of it. He was probably getting him to eat to get him back on his feet. Later my mother sent me to get a glass of water. As I entered the room, I saw them. Gabriel, sword in hand. Landing a contre-attaque on Adrien’s cheek. Well, you can imagine I was in such a state of shock, I completely blacked out. I can’t remember a thing. It wasn’t until later, when I was washing the blood off my sword, that I even knew he was dead!

[GROUP] He had it coming, He had it coming! He had it coming all along! I didn't do it, but if I'd done it How could you tell me that I was wrong? He had it coming, He had it coming! He had it coming all along! (He was a bad guy all this time) I didn't do it, but if I'd done it (Because he used him, and he abused him) How could you tell us that we were wrong? (It was a murder but not a crime)

[MAYURA, spoken] I knew Gabriel had a wishlist It touched me more than I could possibly say He was a real ambitious guy. Artistic. A fashion designer. But he was troubled. So many...setbacks. And his greatest wish was to “bring his wife back.” He’d try every night to find a way, and along the way, he found…Nooroo, Duusuu and Liirii. I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive And I saw him dead!

[GROUP] The dirty hawk, hawk, hawk, hawk, hawk! The slimy moth, moth, moth, moth, moth! They had it coming, they had it coming They had it coming all along! 'Cause if he used us, and he abused us How could you tell us that we were wrong? He had it coming, he had it coming He only had himself to blame! If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it I betcha you would have done the same--

[GROUP, spoken] You burst my bubble one more time-- Protection my ass-- Ten times-- Ho pareggiato i conti! Landing a contre-attaque on Adrien’s cheek! Artistic differences— (sung) I betcha you would have done The same

[Officer Raincomprix] Well… I’m not sure how all this ties together, really.

[howlingday]

real sorry about the gamut I’m asking lately, but I am burstin. Can you do a post-Mario SuperMarioLogan parody please?

I think I can, yes. And no worries on your asks. Ask asmuch as you'd like!

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

Yang: Ruby! Time for class!

Ruby: Okay, I'm just gonna finish eating my breakfast.

Yang: Ruby, you're not going to eat chocolate chips for breakfast.

Ruby: Well, I'm 18, and I'm going to do it anyways!

Yang: Ruby: You're 18 and attending Signal. Now eat your cat food!

Blake: Yang, don't make her eat cat food.

Ruby: It's fine, Blake! I like shrimp and biscuits!

Yang: See? She likes it.

..................................................................................

Ozpin: Good morning, Miss Xiao Long. I just came by to let you know that I sold your mortgage to the White Fang.

Adam: 'Sup.

Yang: YOU SOLD MY MORTGAGE?!

Ozpin: Indeed I did!

Adam: Do you know why I wear this mask? It's because I missed my mortgage payment, so I burned out my eyes myself to teach myself a lesson!

Ozpin: Excellent. I'll just leave you to talk.

Adam: So where's my money?

Yang: I... don't... have it?

Adam: Well, you better get it, or else I'm going to mucho gracias your tits!

Yang: ...

Adam: This is a nice house. Have a nice day.

Yang: W-What does that mean?!

Ruby: It means he's going to a lot thank you your tits.

..................................................................................

Goodwitch: You have cancer.

Yang: Is it bad?!

Goodwitch: No, it's actually the good kind of lung cancer.

Yang: R-Really?

Goodwitch: No, it's bad. It's cancer. It's always bad.

Yang: What can I do?

Goodwitch: Well, there is treatment, but it's hundreds of thousands of lien, and I know you can't afford that.

Yang: W-Well, what can you do for me?!

Goodwitch: Well, I can give these tissues so you can cry me a river. And since it's you, I'll also give you this hammer so you can build a bridge and get over it.

Blake: (Sobbing) Yang, what are going to do?!

Yang: Well, I'm the one with the cancer and the mortgage, so I think I'm the one who should be crying.

Blake: Oh, right.

Ruby: Don't worry, Yang! You can't be denied medical care, so just let your medical bills go to collections while you worry about your mortgage payments.

..................................................................................

Ruby: Okay, Yang, I got the snitch knocked out and tied up! What should we do?

Yang: What we always do to snitches.

Ruby: Okay! (Drags them away)

Blake: Yang! You're not cooking Dust are you?

Yang: No, no! It's, uh, rock salt! Old Xiao Long recipe and all that!

Blake: Okay, good.

Ruby: (Comes back) Yang, I got the fucker's head!

Blake: (Screams)

Yang: TIE THE BITCH UP!

..................................................................................

Pyrrha: I can't believe Dust is illegal.

Nora: I know, right?! So lame!

Ren: I would pay anything for just one chunk.

Jaune: I've never used Dust so I don't really care one way or the other.

Ruby: Hey, guys, want some Dust?

Jaune: OH FUCK YEAH! GIMME THAT SHIT!

Ruby: You guys are my friends, so I'll give you half the bag for forty lien.

Nora: Sold!

Goodwitch: Hello, class, I'm back from taking a- HOLY SHIT!

Goodwitch: Why do you all have Dust?!

Pyrrha: Jaune bought it for all of us!

Goodwitch: And where did you get it, Jaune?

Jaune: I AIN'T SQUEALIN ON MY HOMIES!

Goodwitch: Fine! Then I'll have to escort you to detention!

Jaune: FUCK YOU, PIG! I'LL USE MY ONE PHONE CALL TO CALL YOUR MOM!

..................................................................................

Blake: (Tied up, Locked away) HELP! HELP!

Goodwitch: (Opens the door) Good gravy!

Yang: TH-THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!

Goodwitch: Look, whatever weird and kinky shit you do is your business, not mine. So I don't want to see it.

Blake: WHAT?! NO, NO, NO! SHE TIED ME UP AND BANGED ME IN THE HEAD!

Goodwitch: I-I don't need to know where she banged. (Shuts door)

..................................................................................

Goodwitch: God damn, did you see that shit?! He fell off the cliff and drowned! Thst was way better than arresting him!

Yang: But... But he had story potential.

Goodwitch: Yeah? So do you. Fuck him.

Yang: Huh. Guess I never thought of it that way.

Goodwitch: Oh, and by the way, I took another look at your X-ray, and it turns out you don't have cancer. That was just my thumb pressed against the screen. So yeah, no cancer. (Leaves)

Ruby: Yang! I sold all the Dust! We now have 4.2 million lien!

Yang: That's great, but we don't have to sell Dust anymore. Our mortgage payment issue is gone.

Ruby: Oh... Well, wanna hit the arcade?

Yang: Yeah, I do!

Blake: ...Yang? ...Ruby? ...Anyone? GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLOSET!

[lotus-flower-moon]

Ren comforting Ruby after a nightmare during their trip to Haven in Volume 4

Hey uh long time no see! Been busy with different things in other fandoms but I recently got the Grimm game and playing it FUELED my need to go back and draw RWBY stuff

I've always loved the idea of Ren being a big brother figure to Ruby during the trip. Idk why but the idea seems so wholesome to me. Their small interactions in the show make my heart warm, like when Ren told her she was going to over cook something and she just says 'no im not shut up!'. Very sibling energy in my eyes.

So cue headcannons!

Ruby in no doubt has trauma from Beacon, so I'd imagine she gets nightmares frecently. And Ren being able to mask emotions with his semblance, he's usually the one to help her calm down. Nora helps time to time of course, Jaune as well, but having three of them over her can be too much. I would headcanon that Ruby finds some comfort when she's around Ren after a nightmare due to how quiet he is. Nora is kind of loud sometimes and Jaune would just be a worried mess.

I also headcanon that Ren is a good friend of Yang's (well...I mean they ARE but hear me out). They'd hang out time to time and at one point, Yang asks Ren that "if something were to happen to me or the rest of the team with only Ruby left, would you watch out for her for me?" And Ren would instantly say yes. He already cares about her but he wanted Yang to know he'd look out for their youngest teammate no matter what.

And that's exactly what he does during Volume 4.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 4 Review/Remix

A pretty good episode this time, and only 30% pain and despair so things are looking up! But when it goes mean it goes real strong with the mean. Lots to think about here, and boy oh boy do I wonder what we’ll see next week!

For a nice touch of levity, we open on Robyn telling a funny story about a time Joanna lost a fight to try and pass the time. Maybe she’s trying to cheer Qrow up too, but as someone who gets very bored at work pretty often I get the appeal of talking just to keep sane. She sees Qrow is too lost in his brooding about Clover’s pin to listen to the story, and Jacques is too busy fussing over a fly buzzing around his head (the Pence jokes write themselves). Tough crowd indeed, though her joke about Ironwood needing to pay for cell block entertainment does get a smile and a chuckle from the sad old bird. She takes this chance to apologize, possibly again and we’re just seeing this conversation now, for what happened with Clover. Many would argue it is really her fault for getting trigger happy back in the airship when Qrow was the one under arrest, but that’s an argument not worth having because the blame soup was being stirred by way too many cooks to make a clear verdict. Qrow, however, blames himself for deciding to team up with Tyrian, which was certainly a bad move. It was a heat of the moment thing, and he makes it clear he really would have preferred working with Clover to re-detain Tyrian again, but Clover just wouldn’t let up on his arrest orders. The real pain though, he admits, is that he had really started to let his guard down around this guy and thought her could actually make a partnership work again without his Semblance tossing 1,000 monkey wrenches into the mix. Feels like a fairy tale dream, vanishing like a rose petal on the wind, like every other friend. I of course added the part about rose petals, because you know he meant Summer and the unity of STRQ she probably represents in his mind. Robyn knows a thing or two about having a Semblance that impairs your relationships. Not many people like being around someone they can’t keep anything private from, and she can call out and mistruthing with a touch of the hand. Qrow has to admit he hadn’t considered someone else having that kind of personal trouble like he does, but their conversation is ended by Harriet coming in to toss Watts back in his cell. She’s pissy at Qrow and says he shouldn’t have Clover’s pin, but he retorts he has no reason not to have it since he’s not Clover’s killer. She still has a hard time believing that since Harbinger was the murder weapon, but Robyn finally raises a very good point. Miss Hill is a literal walking polygraph and all they would need to do to prove Qrow’s innocence is let her out of her cell and take her hand. But they won’t do that because they don’t want to prove what’s really true here, they want to cling to a convenient story so they don’t have to admit what really happened. Cuz if they put those glasses back on and face the facts, that means reevaluating what side their on if Clover died because he refused to help detain a serial killer before arresting a former colleague and that’s the real problem. Hare had already threatened that if she was gonna open the cell she wouldn’t use her hands for a friendly shake, and the dig at her allegiances and her ignorance towards Ironwood’s sins almost riles her up to the point of taking Robyn’s bait. But Marrow calls her back down to sensibility and she leaves in a huff. Robyn lays back and sighs at how there was almost something exciting happening.

Cutting to an actually exciting scene, Yang Jaune and Ren are outside the city chasing the Hound through a mountainous canyon on their bikes. It can fly while they have to navigate the rocks, and their bikes aren’t handling the cold terribly well. Yang laments that none of them can fly, but that inspires Jaune to pull out his shield and get closer to Ren. He’s gonna get his teammate up there, and Ren immediately understands how. Leaping off his bike and onto Jaune’s shield, he’s launched through the air by the burst of Gravity Dust in the crest and uses his grapple line blade to wrap around the Hound’s leg... and get dragged through the air like Curious George at the end of a bunch of balloons. Still, he’s weighing it down some and can climb up the line to get in close... when he’s not getting swung around against the cliffside. To further slow it down, he shoots his other line around a big rock that gets dragged behind them for about 5 seconds before the Hound flies higher up and the line comes loose. Ren gets knocked around even more while Yang finds an inclined path that gives her enough height to start shooting at the Grimm. It handles this fairly well, by dropping Oscar from its mouth into its hands and flying ahead of her with a loud roar. Apparently one of its Grimm for all Seasons abilities is to call for backup, because dozens of Centinels suddenly burrow up out of the rocks and ground around them and several Teryx swoop in above. Navigating becomes that much more difficult for the blondes, especially when one Centinel spits acid and hits the thruster of Jaune’s bike. He thinks fast and leaps off his bike to launch off another Grimm in front of him and flip onto a rocky overpass where he almost loses his balance and falls back down. Luckily Yang instead zooms by and pulls him onto her bike where they continue their pursuit. She does a great job of bobbing and weaving around the insects, but a Teryx lands in their path. Jaune tosses his shield grenade in front of a large rock and they drive onto it to tilt it into a ramp, launching over the avian foe into a spin between two more big bugs. They bump on a rock, but the Grimm cannot touch them with Yang’s driving. Unfortunately, they have a far more dangerous problem: They’re heading towards the edge of a massive cliff. Yang tries to make a quick turn but instead flips the bike over and launches both of them off to go tumbling off the precipice. Jaune tries to plant his sword in the ground as an anchor, but he doesn’t keep hold of it with their momentum and they both fall with a very believable scream. Big props to Miles and Barbara for this and the dramatic performances soon to come. Ren comes swooping in for a massive save and grapples Jaune’s sword with one weapon and the poor guy’s leg with the other. Jaune grabbed Yang by the hand so she’s fine too, but an incoming Teryx might soon negate it all. Luckily, Ren instead negates all their emotions with his Semblance and the Teryx passes them by. Less lucky, Ren being here means he’s not hanging from the Hound. He let it get away with Oscar to save his friends, and you know he’s kicking himself for it.

Shifting scenes from that tense gloom, we see Weiss decided the safest place to take Nora for the time being is her own damn mansion. Whitley answers the door and is about to try and berate Weiss for this but she is having none of it. She holds him at swordpoint and insists that they are coming inside. Whitley is very against the idea of harboring fugitives after the hit the Schnee family’s reputation has taken in the wake of its patriarch’s arrest for war crimes, and Blake is quite frustrated that this is what he chooses to complain about. The staff is all gone, Willow has retreated to her room and assumable to the bottle, you gotta admit Whitley probably feels more alone now than ever and is... coping in less than ideal ways. Weiss still seemingly carries a chip on her shoulder of wanting to prove that she is doing something actually important and she made the right move by leaving home to be a Huntress, so she insists that Whitley has no right to nag them because they are saving the Kingdom here. At least, that’s what my 2 semesters of psychology classes would tell me. Ruby plays intermediary between the Schneeblings and lays down their very minimal terms. Let them stay here a little while so Nora can rest and recover, and then they will leave him to his sulking and riches. Whitley begrudgingly accepts and asks what he has to do, and Weiss seems to relish this chance to tell him to go to his room. Finally flexing her big sister authority without Papa around to veto her in favor of his adoring son. But like Willow said last Volume, Whitley has been stuck in this house just like Weiss and Winter, and they could certainly try to treat him with a bit more fairness and sympathy. I’m sure it hurt him a little inside to have yet another authority figure bossing him around without a care for his desires. Still, he’s not giving much reason to make us sympathize so I say wait a little bit to see if he’s got any softer moments to come. Weiss directs May on where to carry Nora, and Blake checks on Ruby while they have this quieter moment. Possibly because she wants the chance to talk to her too, Blake suggests Ruby should try calling Yang to make sure things are okay, both between the sisters and in general. But that’s just it. She did it 35 minutes ago. Okay not really, but I wanted to toss a Watchmen joke in. Still, as much as Ruby worries how that half of the team is doing, she’s already trying to call them and it’s not going through.

We fade back to our three battered teens as Yang collects what scattered pieces she can from her bike, the only one they still have. But like I said, it crashed into a rock after they tumbled off and it’s in no condition to run anymore. So Jaune is trying to call for help and transport back to Mantle, but either Ironwood shut down all communication in the lower districts or they’re just so far out in the tundra that a signal just won’t reach. The latter would make sense, and explain why Ruby couldn’t reach Yang. Giving up on the call, the three instead trudge through the snow in the light of the setting sun back more or less the way they came. Jaune is dragging the bike along while Ren leads the way to an outpost he saw while getting dragged by the Hound. Yang notes how low their auras have been drained due to protecting them from the cold this long, and like a kid on a car trip asks how much longer it will be. Ren has no immediate answer so she asks again and he gives a snippy “I don’t know”. She can tell there’s something more bugging him and tries to coax it out of him after sensing the hostility in his explanation that he only got a glimpse of their intended destination before he had to abandon Oscar in favor of saving them. He refuses to discuss his deeper feelings because he thinks it’ll just waste time. This riles Yang up and she demands to know what his deal is, to which he insists she not worry about it. The argument keeps escalating from there. Things aren’t going smoothly enough for Ren? No, they’re not going smoothly at all, but boohoo Ren, that’s part of the job as a Huntsman. He doesn’t think it’s a job they should have at all, they weren’t ready for it or to make the incredibly damming decisions they’ve had to since taking that position. Sure, they had a few lucky breaks and near miss successes, but then they entered this losing streak that they can’t seem to recover from because the losses are too drastic and every choice they’ve made has been the wrong one. Yang refuses to accept such pessimism and insists that even if they haven’t done everything perfectly they still had to do something because inaction would have made things worse. But how could they be worse than they are now, Ren demands to know as they freeze to death out here. Salem has the Lamp and Oscar, and they have nothing but the cold winds. They may not have an army but they have the Maiden, Yang tries to counter, but because they haven’t let her to open the vault for Ironwood all of Atlas is just a buffet waiting to be chowed down on and it will all be their fault when that happens. Yang rightfully asks him if he seriously thinks letting Ironwood try and float Atlas away to safety will work out for him or for the people of Mantle he’s abandoning, but he argues that they shouldn’t even be the ones asked to make that call. He’s trying to spit the hard truths no one else wanted to face, but this is way too harsh and mean, especially for Ren. What are these hard truths, you ask? That Ruby is still too young to be a leader, that he himself is an orphan from a town that doesn’t exist anymore (which I guess shows how unimportant he is for someone thrust into this decision making role), and that Jaune, who by the way has been trying in vain to get the two to cut the shit and quiet down this whole time, cheated his way into Beacon. A damn low blow there, bro. Bringing back the deep wound from Volume 1. And you can tell he regrets it immediately, but to say that would mean backing down from his point. Jaune doesn’t even address the personal callout and just says alright, you don’t think we should have the job, good for you. I’m still gonna keep walking and get out of the cold because like it or not we were given a goddamn job to do. Maybe not in those words, but the meaning was there. Ren and Yang silently let him take the lead, probably feeling the hot wash of shame distracting them from the arctic chill. Yang still takes one last dig at Ren though by asking if it’s his goal to push everyone away, implying he’s being an asshole and not even Nora is sticking by him. Well... in so many words anyway.

We get another change of scenery with a dramatic violin stroke like something out of a murder mystery movie. Oscar is regaining consciousness, and he hears Ozpin try to reassure him to stay calm and that it’s gonna be okay. When he looks up, however, he sees Salem leaning in a shadowy doorframe staring at a smoky apparition in her hand and welcoming back her long lost Ozma. Judging by the childlike laughter and general shape of her smoke display, I think she was manifesting a memory of her and Oz’s dead daughters to try and reminisce about the days when they were still lovers. Oscar realizes he’s being held in the air from the Hound’s mouth and tries to struggle free as Salem notes how young and weak this new vessel is. She’s not even acknowledging Oscar, just talking through him to Ozma. It’s been what may have truly been centuries or even a millennium since they’ve last met, and dear Oz has nothing to say to his wife? Oscar does his best Ozpin impression to try and fake it till he makes it, but Salem knows her man better than anyone and sees through it to grab him by the face and call his bluff. But he really is still a separate person from Oz, so maybe he can be more cooperative to her requests than that old wizard. She still wants to know where the Relic of Choice is, since Oz clearly must have used an extra layer of deception to hide it opposed to the others, and she wants Oscar to reveal the trick. But that’s not a memory he has access to, and he tells her plainly that he doesn’t know. She believes him, knows Oz would hold that one close to the chest longest of all, so she asks an easier question. How does she go about asking the Lamp questions? She gets the standard coverup answer, the Lamp is out of questions so it’s futile to even try, but she refuses to believe that one. Instead she blasts the poor kid with an evil magic rainbow laser and lets him scream himself hoarse for a bit. His chest has scorch marks, or at least his clothes do, and he fearfully tries to pull away from her “loving” touch. Lying so easily about these things, he truly was reincarnated into a like-minded soul... but sooner or later one of the two in this battered body will break and Salem will learn what she wishes to know. He tries to insist he won’t tell her anything, but that’s why she has backup. Hazel comes in to literally gut punch this 14 year old until he coughs up his guts or the truth, whichever comes first. And he justifies it all by saying this is revenge for his defeat at Haven and from the still unforgiven death of his sister.

Salem doesn’t stay to watch the savage beating, instead walking the halls of Monstra with her lovely new pet. Cinder has been waiting in this hallway for a chance to speak with her Mistress, but is distracted by her immediate discomfort in the face of the Hound. Salem claims it is an experiment that she is quite happy with the results of thus far, and wants Cinder to get on with whatever point she had so she can get out of the way. Cinder wants to search for Penny, she thinks she can make up for the past blunder and claim the Winter powers for herself. But Salem just laughs at this. “She thinks, she wants!” It’s like hearing a cockroach tell you about its hopes and dreams. Mommy Salami does not give a fuck what Cinder wants to do, she has done nothing to earn Salem caring about that. Cinder, to her credit, does not take this dismissal lying down and tries to argue that they are doing nothing to further their plans when Cinder could be achieving a great victory for her Mistress by securing their way into the Atlas vault. Salem does not slow her pace, and says when it is time to act she will tell Miss Fall what she needs her to do. Cinder tries to argue, and is met by the snarling maw of the Hound turning on its heels to send her shrinking back. Salem has been pretty damn patient with this bratty girl, but she will not repeat herself again. You are not going the the ball, Cinderella, you are staying here and doing what your godmother tells you to because if you don’t you will learn just how easily you can be replaced and forgotten. Cinder gives up her case and assumes the position of submission, which is to say taking a knee and repeating her self-depreciating mantra that without Salem she is nothing. This satisfies Salem and she walks away with her dog in tow, leaving Neo to glare at Cinder as if wondering who is really the domesticated little pet in this place. 

Cut to Cinder immediately rebelling against her given orders and heading for the airship insisting she just wants to go check on something and then they’ll come right back before anyone knows they left. Neo just floats along behind her because like hell she’s staying in the Satan whale when it’s this bitch’s fault she’s here at all. We get the last unseen shot from the trailer as Cinder looks out over Atlas and rationalizes that Salem doesn’t know Team RWBY like she does, she wouldn’t understand how determined they would be to try and save the world, and so it falls to her to check out Amity Colosseum again and see if they’re up to something. Neo seems annoyed and disinterested at Cinder’s petty little scheme, but they’re both caught off guard by Emerald arriving behind them and offering to tag along to help. She’s been getting better with her Semblance and asserts that she would be very useful. Poor misguided lass, searching so desperately for acknowledgement and praise you’re never gonna get... Cinder seems pissed that she was eavesdropping, but she’s not gonna turn down the assist. Time for an evil girls’ night out~

Back on the ground, night has fallen as JRY have found the outpost at last. Jaune hits a heater to get it running and prevent their freezing to death as Ren broods out the window and Yang is outside working on her bike. The leader takes this time to address the tension with his teammate. Yes, he did make a bad decision and cheat his way into the Academy. But when he found himself in that bad situation he realized he needed help and he asked for it. He turned his situation around and got better, became the strong person he is now. Holding onto this ideal that being strong means doing everything on your own? That was literally the issue Jaune faced in his mini character arc back in Volume 1, and he came out of it humbled and ready to accept support from his team. From Pyrrha. But she’s not here anymore, and Jaune is. Nora is, team RWBY is here for Ren. So Ren needs to understand that he can let them in, because the more he hides from how he feels the worse it’s gonna feel and hurt him inside. Ren goes outside to sulk under a streetlight, but Yang has come inside now to say that she’s found the part she needs to fix the bike so with a little more tinkering they can get it working and ride back into the city once they’ve got some R&R. Yang does take the time to say she’s sorry Ren said what he did because of her argument with him, but Jaune dismisses it for the time being as all three of them being under a hellish amount of stress. He’s been where Ren was before, he knows how much it hurts. Yang turns back to the tool bench to work on the thruster, but she’s got some inner turmoil of her own to vent about. She wants to know if Jaune thinks “She” thinks less of Yang for making the choice she did and staying to help Mantle instead of going to help fix Amity. Playing the pronoun game like this can be tricky, and Jaune fairly assumes she means Ruby since the two of them did have the verbal disagreement before splitting off, and Yang did question her leader’s decision making and leadership. He assures Yang that her sister will always love and believe in her even if they have squabbles like this. But it would seem Vomit Boy lost the pronoun game, and Yang was not actually asking about Ruby. Judging by the purple cannister she’s wrenching into the battered thruster, she was asking if Blake would think less of her because of these recent actions. 

A lot of people seem rather torn about this choice in priorities for Yang, but allow me to explain why I think it’s not that bad of a writing decision. If there is one thing that has been consistent in this Volume it has been the confidence of other characters that Yang and Ruby will endure this clash of ideals and remain loving sisters. Usually these sentiments have been given by characters who are siblings themselves and know the strength of that bond, like Weiss and now Jaune. We’ve never actually heard either sister personally express any anguish or regrets over that argument, but we can assume they’re both still a little sour about it. But they have been there for each other to a depth that few siblings have, as evident by Yang’s story in Volume 2 about how she had to step up in raising Ruby in a lot of ways after Tai went into grieving for Summer. They’ve been each other’s best friend and closest confidant for so long, I truly believe their bond is clad in iron and they know it too. Meanwhile, a lot of Yang’s recovery arc in Volumes 4 and 5 was dealing with being abandoned by Blake in a time of need and it continued into 6 as learning to accept her back into her life and find a way to make their partnership work again. Shipping or not, they do have a strong bond that has been renewed by dealing with their combined trauma and killing Adam. And when that happened they both promised they would stick together and back each other up, but now Yang has been the one to decide she wants to split paths and do something else. She has good reason to worry this might have upset Blake, and we the audience know Blake is worried about how she’s doing. So, when faced with a color that reminds her of her partner, it makes some sense that Yang would try and get an outside perspective of if she’s fractured their bond. And if you ship them, that more magnifies the interpersonal concerns than really changes the problems.

Regardless, Jaune realizes this is a problem he’s not quite equipped to deal with and decides he’s going to get some rest in one of the beds in the outpost. He gets the strong feeling he’s gonna need it cuz it feels like things will only get worse before they get any better. As we pan out past Ren, whom Yang promises she won’t let brood himself to death out in the snow, we see cracks start to form out on the ice. That can only bode poorly for these poor kids. Many folks think this is a frozen over lake with some scary aquatic Grimm waiting in the depths like a megalodon Grimm shark or the sulfur fish Grimm that apparently were the winners of a fan design contest this past year. Personally, I’m taking a note from the opening and saying it might be a cloister of Apathy since their gross grabby hands wrapped around Team RWBY when they fell through the ice at the end of the intro. But we will have to wait and see. Thanks for reading, hope to see you and your notes soon!~

Edit: this came out a week late and we did indeed see what it really was. Boy were we not ready for the truth...

[izaswritings]

Title: desert dawns

Fandom: RWBY

Synopsis:  Finally in Vacuo, the team gets a chance to breathe... but for Oz, things are a little more complicated.

(Or: in which Oz actually has a nice moment, for once, somehow; team JNR attempt a baking gift, and Oscar is Sir Sleeping Through This Fic. Home may be far away, but that doesn't make where you are now mean any less.)

AO3 Link is here.

.

For a moment, Oz does not know where he is.

Eyes open, a ceiling above his head, the sheets are too warm but when he pushes them back something feels wrong—that is not my hand—

Awareness comes back to him. No, he realizes. That is not his hand at all. Oscar’s hand. Their hand.

He is awake. Oscar is not.

Oz takes a moment, sitting up, reorienting himself. The sense of Oscar, there in the back of his mind, is still deep in sleep and doesn’t seem keen on waking up anytime soon. Which is reasonable, Oz admits, looking out the window. The desert sky is as dark as it is clear, and the moon shines down bold and bright. It’s either incredibly late or unspeakably early; if Oz tries to get Oscar up, the boy will no doubt be cross with him.

And yet—Oz is awake, now, and in such a way he is not sure he can sleep again. Neither does the idea of lying still waiting for Oscar to wake up appeal to him. Their lips press. He frowns down at the hands that are not his own. Oscar does not stir. The room the boy shares with team JNR is utterly silent, soundless but for Oz’s own soft breaths.

Oz hesitates, then carefully pushes away the covers. He won’t go far, he decides. He’ll just… make a drink. Hot chocolate, maybe. He’ll sit in the small living room area of this house and watch the sunrise. It’ll at least be something to do.

They have been in Vacuo for almost a week, and even now the pause in the action is unsettling to him. Though kind of Theodore to procure them a place to stay, the almost-peace of Vacuo is weirdly off-putting after Atlas. There’s a tension to it, a sort of hesitation that lingers on, not just in Oz but in all the others, too— waiting, always, for the other shoe to drop.

The anxiety, from Oz and Oscar both, is exhausting. Combined with the heat of the desert, well… they have not been sleeping well at all lately.

Though it isn’t exactly hot now, of course—  with the darkness comes a sharp drop, icy midnights. Oz has always loved this about the deserts: the swiftness with which it changes, the rapid shift in temperature and landscape. He has been reincarnated in Vacuo numerous times, and the memories remain, faint and fond. One incarnation had loved the desert sky so much he’d used to wake up at the break of dawn to watch the sunrise, each and every morning without fail.

Which—  may explain why Oz is up, actually. Old habits die hard, and Oz is nothing if not full of old habits.

He considers this, turning to sit with their feet dangling over the edge of the bed. The desert midnight chill is in full swing for the moment: frost edging the window, icy wind snapping in the air. Oz pulls on a pair of socks—the floor is bitterly cold, and while Oz doesn’t mind it, Oscar might rouse at the sensation—and then drapes Oscar’s jacket on their shoulders. There, warm. If the boy wakes up anyway, he can’t say Oz didn’t try.

He picks up the cane as he heads out the door, and flips it through their hands as he walks.

The house is deathly silent as Oz heads for the kitchen, the whole house under the spell of sleep. The hallway is not nearly as dark as he thought, though, and Oz pauses when he sees why. The kitchen. The door is closed, but light spills out underneath. He can hear the very faint clatter of dishes. Someone else is up?

He considers turning back around, but, well. He’s come all this way for hot chocolate, it seems silly to turn away now. And it’s not like he’s against having company.

Perhaps it’s Qrow. He hopes so, vaguely. They are still not—on the best terms, he and Qrow, but Oz would like to change that. He… misses the other. Sometimes. Which is an incredibly strange feeling, given Qrow is right here with all the rest of them, but well. There is no-one for Oz to blame for that but himself.

He opens the door, stepping into the light, and regrets this decision almost at once.

“Cute boy Oz!”

Their eyes squeeze tightly shut, and Oz inhales deeply. “Miss Valkyrie,” he says. He doesn’t protest the nickname. It is, he has realized with something in his soul that might be despair, apparently useless to try. Eyes open again, he surveys the rest of the kitchen. Jaune Arc and Lie Ren are there too, all awake. A team meeting, perhaps? But why in the dead of night? And— odd. They had not tried to rouse Oscar.

He realizes suddenly he had missed their absence in the room, and frowns. How…unobservant of him.

“What are you doing up at this hour?” he asks, mild, and raises a brow when all three exchange immediately guilty glances. Interesting.

“Um,” says Jaune Arc, and then nothing more.

Well then.

Oz nods, understanding, and moves on into the kitchen, heading for the counter. None of his business, then, and if they don’t want him involved he will respect that. He extends the cane and taps it absently against the ground as he searches. Now, where do they keep the cups? And the powder, too, that’s important. He rifles through the cupboard. Cocoa, cocoa, cocoa… aha.

Lie Ren clears his throat just as Oz is getting down a cup; Oz glances back at him. “Is Oscar…?”

“No. He is still sleeping.” Oz considers the three of them. “I assume this is something you wish to keep from him?” He cannot exactly hide the sudden distaste this idea gives him. Oscar is fond of these three, to such a degree that Oz is beginning to feel the same, if only by proxy—they are Oscar’s friends, his confidants, and at this point, perhaps even his team. This exclusion bothers Oz in a way he cannot deny feels strangely personal.

But already Jaune Arc is waving his hands, looking panicked. “No, no, not like that,” he says, waving his hands down at Oz. “It’s just—um—”

“None of your business,” Nora Valkyrie is insisting, hotly.

“It’s a surprise for him,” Lie Ren says, and both teammates turn on him.

“Ren!”

“You can’t just give it away!”

“He just said Oscar was asleep. It’s fine.” Lie Ren meets Oz’s eyes. “Oscar… misses home. Mistral. He hasn’t said as much to us directly, but…”

“...It’s obvious,” Nora Valkyrie continues reluctantly, when the other trails off. Oz cannot deny that statement. It is indeed very obvious. Oscar had done well in Haven; had managed in Atlas. Vacuo, however, is unlike anything the boy has ever known—he has not complained, but his dejection had been obvious—to Oz, and, apparently to them.

He considers them. “So?”

“He mentioned this thing his aunt used to make,” Jaune Arc says, finally, apparently resigned to spilling the secret in full. “A Mistralian breakfast dish. So we thought, we were going to try…” He gestures. Oz follows his gaze. Pots, pans, ingredients on the table behind them.

“I see,” Oz says, mind whirling. He goes to take a drink, but he has yet to finish the cocoa—powder puffs before Oscar’s face and Oz draws the cup away, frowning down at it. He turns to the sink. Hot water, hot water… “That is kind of you.”

Nora Valkyrie is laughing at him. Oz ignores it with the ease of long years of practice, and reaches for the milk. Fantastic. Hot chocolate at last.

When he turns back around, Jaune Arc is staring at him. “…Don’t you want coffee? Or, like… tea?”

Now, why would he want that? “That is Oscar’s preference,” Oz explains, and sips at the drink. Not nearly as good as his stash at Beacon was, but store-bought powder will have to do. At least it’s sweet.

Even Lie Ren is squinting at him now. “…is that all you drink?”

Oz takes another sip. A long sip. He draws it out. All three children are leaning toward him, enraptured, caught in the spell, looking desperate for an answer. Jaune Arc is about to fall off his seat.

Oz lowers his cup. “Yes.”

Jaune Arc cants to the side. Nora Valkyrie puts both hands on the table and leans toward him, looking delighted. “But!” she says. “You had a teapot.”

“That I did,” Oz agrees. He still misses that teapot.

“Was it just—that whole time—” Her voice squeaks. “Cocoa?”

Oz takes another long sip. Jaune Arc twitches. He hides his smile in the rim of his cup. “Yes.”

Nora Valkyrie puts her head in her arms and cackles. Lie Ren looks exasperated. Jaune Arc looks somewhere closer to despairing. Oz steps forward, still smiling faintly, and surveys their table of food. “Ignoring my drinking habits,” he says, lips twitching with honest amusement when Nora Valkyrie cackles louder, “how goes your cooking attempts?”

Nora Valkyrie stops laughing. All three look at the oven with something like dread.

Oz takes another sip. “I see,” he says, and does his best to keep his laughter entirely internal. He taps the Long Memory against the ground, a rythmic knocking, and considers the problem. Now then. How best to go about this?

Oz looks down at the table, noting the ingredients and calling upon new-old memory. He knows the dish they are talking about. It is Oscar’s favorite, and a Mistralian staple; Oscar’s aunt, however, often put her own twist to the recipe. Oz takes another long drink of cocoa and lowers his cup, decision made.

“Oscar’s aunt makes it with cinnamon,” he says, turning away from the table to head for one of the nearby couches. “Also,” he adds, taking a glance at what looks like to be failed cooking test number one, “it cooks best under gentle heat.”

“Gentle heat,” Lie Ren repeats, sounding disgusted that he had not realized sooner, and Jaune Arc says, “Wait, do we even have cinnamon?”

“I’ll look!” Nora Valkyrie calls, and rockets off to the cupboards.

Oz smiles, faintly, and settles back on the couch, leaning the Long Memory by their side. He finishes his cocoa as they cook, only speaking when he sees a mistake in the making—  less and less as the session drags on, and team JNR gets a hang of the dish. They are not bad at cooking— just chaotic— and soon he feels it’s safe to sit back and watch.

He doesn’t offer much more conversation beyond instruction, however. It is not that he and team JNR are on bad terms—  it is simply that they are on more neutral ones. Oscar adores them, and they appear to adore him in kind; if not for the echo of Pyrrha Nikos who still haunts their footsteps, they would by now likely have started introducing themselves as JNOR. Oz gives them another two months before they start doing it anyway.

So no, they are not on bad terms—but the lingering shadow of Oz’s lies and the lives it cost them still hangs heavy. He suspects they do not blame him for Pyrrha Nikos’ death, for all that he blames himself, but rather they blame him for everything else—the false hope, the lie of possibility, the fact that every chance he gave them made it sound like they could save the world—a chance Pyrrha Nikos took and died for, never mind that the foe she faced was not Salem.

Lie Ren is setting up the dish on the counter, Nora making towers out of leftover ingredients, and Jaune Arc has transitioned to doing the dishes. Even with the hole in their team, Oz thinks, they are remarkably in-tune with one another. He is… glad, to see it. In the face of adversity, they have faltered and stumbled and then grown stronger together.

He may have never given them the same attention he gave team RWBY, but he always thought these three were capable of remarkable things. It is why he let Jaune Arc stay in Beacon, despite his painfully faked transcripts. It is a relief to know, at least on that… Oz wasn’t wrong to give them a chance.

The cooking drags on, and soon, so does sunrise. By the time the sun begins to poke out over the horizon, the final attempt is in the oven to bake, and Nora Valkyrie has bounced over to bother him once again.

She throws herself to sit at the couch armrest, and kicks her feet in the air. Her gaze is thoughtful, considering and suspicious in equal measure, and they both ignore the way her teammates have collapsed in exhaustion on the kitchen table behind her. “You,” she declares at last, “were being very helpful.”

“I am a teacher,” he reminds her.

“Was a teacher.”

“I have a degree,” Oz informs her, dryly. “Multiple, even. Am a teacher.”

She clicks her tongue. “Ugh, what-ever.” She leans back, eyes rolling, and kicks out her feet into the air. Oz waits, watching her, letting her gather her thoughts. At last she seems to find the words. “...Thanks for helping us not fuck up the dish, I guess. Jaune was super worried about it.” She glances back at the table, a momentary flash of worry on her face. “It—it is Oscar’s favorite, right?”

“Oh, no. He hates it.” Her head snaps around. Oz laughs quietly. “I apologize. That was in poor taste. Yes, Miss Valkyrie, it is his favorite. I think… he will like this very much.”

She scowls at him, then blinks, her eyes catching on something—  the Long Memory, resting beside him on the couch. She gives the cane a puzzled look. “You brought your cane with you?”

He looks down; the cane, as it should be, is by their side. He puts a hand on the knob and shrugs. “Yes.”

“You just bring that thing everywhere, huh?”

“It is… dear to me.” He considers her, wondering how to spin this— but her expression is open and curious, her questions meant honestly, not mockingly. For all that Oscar is not awake, Oz can almost feel the echo of his exasperation. He hesitates. “Ah… you could say, Miss Valkyrie, that much like what the dish you are making means to Oscar… this cane, too, reminds me of home.”

Nora Valkyrie stops moving at once, her legs stilling mid-air. Behind them, Lie Ren and Jaune Arc have gone silent, pretending badly not to eavesdrop, and Oz can see them exchanging glances. Nora Valkyrie does not look back, however; instead she looks down at him, considering, her expression strangely solemn. “…Do you miss it, too?”

The question catches him off-guard, and for a moment Oz falters. The memories rise up in flashes, echoes of a different time, different places. A warm house and warmer hearth fire, the table they set for four. The two children, never willing to wait and never wanting to sit still—blue eyes, and a laughing face, a hand in his.

“Yes,” Oz says, after a long moment. The words are stilted. He suddenly feels very old, tired all the way to his bones. He puts down the empty cup.

Nora Valkyrie snatches it up. Oz blinks.

“One sec,” she says to Oz’s blank stare, and flies off to the kitchen. Oz watches, bemused, as team JNR confers around the cup and then repeats his actions from before, making a new batch of cocoa, that Nora then takes back and brings to Oz. She holds it out for him. Oz takes the cup warily.

“Thanks for helping us, old man Oz,” Nora says, and grins. “Give us a warning before Oscar wakes, okay?”

“…Of course,” Oz says, thrown by the new nickname, and watches her bounce back to her team. She chatters, and they laugh, the moment forgotten. He looks down at his cup and takes a sip of the cocoa. It’s not his usual mix—  there’s a bit of spice to it. Cinnamon and chili powder?

…It’s good.

He stares down at it, contemplative, and hesitantly takes another sip. He looks back up at the team. They are laughing, distracted, debating on whether the dish is done or not. All three are smiling.

Oz considers them for a long moment, and then he turns away. This time, he’s smiling too.

Oscar wakes up mid-way through sunrise. When he senses the boy rousing, Oz takes the Long Memory in hand and raps the cane against the ground to alarm the team. They rush to hide the dish, freshly-baked; Oz turns their head to the window, and keeps their eyes on the desert sun.

What…?

“I apologize,” Oz says. In the reflection of the glass, Oscar’s eyes burn gold. “I woke before you. I wanted to see the sunrise.”

Oh. He gets the sense Oscar would yawn if he could. That’s fine… There’s a momentary pause, considering. Then: Why do I taste chocolate?

“It is a perfectly fine drink,” Oz says, in mild protest. Honestly, he has no idea what the boy has against it.

Sure, but in the morning? It’s an evening drink. Coffee is better.

Oz shakes his head, smiling faintly, and fades away to the background rather than rehash the old argument. Oscar’s head dips forward; the boy just barely catches himself from knocking them out against the glass. “Ow.”

Careful.

“Mm-hm.” He rubs his forehead. He goes to turn around—

“SURPRISE!”

—and screams at Nora abruptly popping up and shouting in his face, toppling right off the couch.

…Ah.

“What!?”

“Nora!”

“Ah, we just woke the whole house, didn’t we…”

The house is warm and bright, the desert outside turning a brilliant gold underneath the dawning sun. It is not home— it is nothing more than a temporary stop— but as Oscar splutters and Nora grins and the rest of team JNR clamor up behind her, there is a warmth that lingers on. They help Oscar to his feet and fumble to present their gift; they beam bright at his wordless joy.

The boy is delighted, and his team is pleased— team RWBY and Qrow and the others wander in with calls of confusion and delight and annoyance at the noise— and the smell of cinnamon lingers heavy in the air.

And it is not home, maybe, but it is something half-way there, and so Oz laughs, quiet and sincere, and sits back to watch the show.