Chapter 1813: 44
Chapter 44Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"So… did… anyone happen to see a blond monkey faunus running around while they were grocery shopping?" Blake started the moment they all met up outside of one of the more faunus friendly cafes near downtown- it was in a quieter section, of course, and the windows were clearly reinforced with Dust, but otherwise it was in good repair and had surprisingly good food and drinks. "Because I swear, I was minding my own business and he almost got me arrested because he stopped to flirt. Apparently he was a stowaway or something?"
"Oh! I saw him too!" Ruby interjected, raising her hand and waving it in the air as if she was in class, grinning widely as she leaned forward and let her ears twitch and stand upright in her excitement. Beneath her cloak, Blake could faintly see Ruby's tail wagging at high speed. "I was being chased by Penny because she could sense that I'm part grimm and wanted to take me to General Ironwood for some reason but I thought she was gonna arrest me so I ran around for like two miles and then I nearly crashed into the railings right next to the river and barely managed to stop and I was right there when that monkey faunus guy jumped off of a cruise ship and ran up the stairs and he jumped over me and I fell into Penny's arms and he used Penny to jump onto a lamp post and then ran into the city! I guess that was right before he met you, actually. Did you get his name? I wanna punch him for being a jerk to Penny."
"... His name is Sun and… who is Penny?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow before tracking her gaze from Ruby to the rather… odd… seeming redhead behind her- the orange haired girl grinning wide and waving. "... I'm guessing that's her. Also… where are your grocery bags?"
"Yup! That's Penny! She's got cool swords… and I'm pretty sure she's a gynoid," Ruby stated, her voice dropping into a whisper at that last bit. "Also, I stuffed my groceries inside me so I wouldn't drop 'em. You want me to take yours?"
"... Sure," Blake muttered, handing over her bags- with Weiss and Yang doing the same as Ruby looked over at the other two.
"Salutations! My name is Penny Polendina and I am Ruby's newest friend!" Penny spoke up after just a moment, having judged that it was an acceptable time to introduce herself. "Also, I am not a robot- hic!"
"She hiccups a lot when she says that," Ruby stated dryly, as if that explained everything. It didn't, honestly.
"... Riiiiight… so… what's all the fuss about a monkey faunus anyway? And did you flirt back?" Yang asked, rolling her shoulders a little and keeping her arm wrapped firmly around Weiss' waist- making sure the heiress couldn't wander off to the nearest Me-Nagerie's (the world's worst named family restaurant/sports bar) and gorge herself on extra spicy wings until she either threw up or passed out. Again.
How Weiss got into so many fast food related shenanigans when they were only a month into the semester was… frankly, quite concerning. Yang was starting to think that either the taste of freedom from her father was too much for Weiss, or that the heiress had gone insane. She quietly ignored Weiss blushing furiously before ducking away from under her arm.
"I didn't flirt back, no. He's not really my type of guy anyway," Blake rolled her eyes, huffing as she shook her head and opened the door to the cafe so they could all go in and get off the sidewalk- seeming quite distracted by Yang suddenly stretching her arms over her head in a way that made her loose fitting tank top ride up enough to expose more of her stomach. "Honestly, considering that he was blond, tall, muscular, and had really nice abs, he'd have been more my type of girl ."
She paused and froze as everyone else suddenly turned to look her way. "... Um. Ignore that bit. Actually just forget I said anything at all."
Silence. Then-
"I will forget everything you just said, new friend Blake!" Penny saluted, still smiling as she followed Team RWBY into the cafe and shut the door behind her, not at all getting the sudden awkward silence that had befallen the team. "Is everything alright? You all seem quite focused on friend Blake."
"... Wait how do you know any of our names, we didn't tell you anything yet?" Weiss asked, cocking her head to the side and frowning slightly as she focused back on the present instead of her rumbling tummy that craved the spiciest fucking wings she could find in the city.
"Friend Ruby talked very much about you three while I accompanied her on her grocery shopping!" Penny answered, that guilelessly happy smile still on her face as she pointed to Weiss, Blake, and Yang in turn. "You are Weiss Schnee. This was quite obvious as your name and face are known worldwide both as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and the singer of many operatic music singles such as Mirror Mirror and This Life is Mine! You are Blake Belladonna. Friend Ruby described you as the black haired ninja cat faunus who is really cool but also keeps leaving smut in weird places all of the time so Ruby has to put them away quickly before Weiss finds them!"
"You what!?" Weiss half screeched, keeping her voice down only because they were in a nice cafe that she actually cared about getting kicked out of, the five of them awkwardly shuffling to an empty table so they wouldn't disrupt the line at the ordering counter. "Blake! Really!?"
"... A girl has needs, Schnee. Though, I suppose I should stop leaving Ninjas of Love in the bathroom," Blake deadpanned, very poorly concealing her blush as she looked to the side and cleared her throat. "Continue."
"Affirmative! Friend Ruby had also neglected to mention that you are a very close match to Ghira and Kali Belladonna, and even share the same surname! Are you by any chance related to the chieftain of Menagerie?" Penny asked, drawing yet another wave of stares at Blake- bar from Yang, who was still a little frozen at the description provided for what Blake's type of woman was.
Blonde, tall, muscular, and with really nice abs.
All of which Yang had.
Hm.
Meanwhile, Weiss just glared heatedly at Blake, who had frozen in shock as her ears expressed nothing but immediate panic… but with Ruby's cape holding her down there was nowhere the flighty ninja could go.
"So you're telling me…" Weiss hissed, placing both hands on the table and staring dead into Blake's eyes with vitriol in her voice. "That you gave me all of that- that- that shit about being a princess because of my rich family… and yet here you are… the actual princess in the room!?"
"... T-the chieftain of Menagerie is a largely ceremonial, elected position, I'm no more a princess than any influential politician's kid is," Blake tried to protest, shrinking down a little bit in her seat.
"From what records on various forums on the CCT Network suggest, Chieftain Ghira is much more influential and unanimously agreed with in terms of Menagerie politics than many other equivalent local statesmen and women, and enjoys a much higher status including having one of the single largest homes in Kuo Kuana," Penny pointed out, then immediately swiveled over to Yang, who had yet to look away from Blake. "And finally, you are Yang Xiao Long! Friend Ruby had many things to say about you, including that you are the second bestest sister that she could ever have! Even though 'bestest' is not a word in the dictionary."
"Wh- Second!? Ruby Rose you little scamp! After everything I've done for you, you're still calling me second fiddle to Cinder!?" Yang immediately protested, shooting up out of her seat and glaring at her traitorous little baby sister with a dramatic point and a pout rivaling any of Ruby's own. Or- it would have, if Yang wasn't a nearly six foot tall brick wall of muscle and flame and badass leather coats. Even with her casual-wear, she exemplified the ideal of a hot motorcycle lesbian. "What did she even do that makes her a bestest sister over me!?"
"Well for one, she let me eat cake for dinner back home," Ruby deadpanned, raising a finger to punctuate her point. "And for two, she sent me a lot of fancy cheeses from Mistral while she was on that one training trip. And also lets me have shredded cheese whenever I want."
"That bitch! You know you're not supposed to eat cake for dinner! Or eat that much cheese!" Yang sputtered, sitting back down heavily and grumbling to herself as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder and glared at nothing. "Ugh. She better not start feeding you cheese again once she gets back tomorrow, or the grimm toots are gonna be atrocious."
"... I think I'd like to go back to the point in my life where I didn't know that you call Ruby's lactose intolerance grimm toots ," Blake sighed, rubbing her temples and wishing that this line of conversation would end already. "Can we please talk about the elephant in the room here instead? Ruby, how did you actually meet Penny? The full story please?"
"I mean… I told you earlier," Ruby started, kind of ignoring Penny's thoughtful frown and assertion that there was no elephant currently in the room. "I went down an alley to get to the store quicker and Penny shoved a sword at me and she was like 'I know you're a grimm' y'know cuz my Semblance is weird and I literally eat grimm and I was like 'no you have the wrong person' and then she did a bunch of weird stuff and wanted me to go with her but I needed my groceries so I just ran away and she chased me for like two miles and then I crashed into a railing and Penny caught me in her arms when that Sun guy or whatever his name is jumped off of the boat and came up the stairs and now we're friends because she needs friends and she makes my social anxiety calm down a lot now that she's not pointing a sword at me."
"... Uh… huh," Blake responded quietly, moving on to pinching the bridge of her nose before letting out a defeated sigh and idly reaching up to pat Ruby's head on instinct. "... I'm gonna go get us some drinks. I need more tea if I'm going to deal with all of the revelations coming out today."
"Ooh- get me a double espresso, extra cream, no sugar!" Yang called out as Blake stood, followed by Weiss ordering a single cup of fancy Atlesian tea, and Ruby's ever-consistent order of the largest chocolate milkshake they could make.
"Yeah yeah, whatever…"
And with that, Blake left the table, leaving an awkward silence behind.
After a moment, Yang cleared her throat awkwardly and raised her hand as if asking to speak.
"... So… who wants to know about the White Fang operation happening at the docks tonight?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone