Kapitel 1827: 58
Chapter 58
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Is it just me or is Team RWBY getting really… weirdly tense lately?" Jaune asked, feeling much like Team JNPR had been largely ignored for a while even though they hung out with Team RWBY nearly every day and Ruby herself had still been attending the team meetings. "Like, it's not just me right?"
"They do seem a bit more distant after that incident at the docks… and there's that new girl, Penny…" Pyrrha hummed, rubbing her chin as the two teams went their separate ways entirely- Team RWBY to their afternoon classes and JNPR to theirs. Even if the two teams were largely considered sister teams due to their proximity in dorms and how they hung out all of the time (largely because Jaune and Ruby ended up making something resembling a friendly connection first, then the rest of their teams followed) and their closeness in general across-the-board academics and combat scores… Team RWBY seemed to be pulling away to do their own thing.
Hushed whispers, furtive glances, Blake heading to the library all of the time…
Wait no, the library thing was something Blake did regularly, that was normal. What wasn't normal was Blake staying there for hours on end instead of picking up yet another trashy romance novel or smut book about ninjas. Jaune privately wondered why Beacon's library contained so much porn, but ignored it in favor of thanking that the library also had a huge selection of comics.
X-Ray and Vav was nice, but it was always fun to see stuff he hadn't been able to get out in that little farming town he and most of his sisters had grown up in (and most had escaped from).
"What's up with Penny anyway? She's… a little weird, don'tcha think?" Nora hummed, rubbing her chin as she thought about the excitable redhead that seemed rather oblivious to a lot of social norms and common knowledge things, but was strangely good at everything academic and also… never really seemed to eat ever? Not full meals at least, though she'd seen Ruby sharing cookies with the new girl.
Which…
Hm.
Nora blinked, narrowing her eyes. "Guys…. I think Penny is Ruby's girlfriend!"
"Wait what? How did you come to that conclusion just by saying she was weird?" Jaune asked, tilting his head awkwardly and scratching the back of his head, the four of them sort of slowly making their way to their next class while they spoke- not slow enough to be late, but definitely not fast enough to get there early.
"Because! Haven't you seen all of the time they spend together? Even more than Ruby spends with her sisters!" Nora half shouted, raising her arms slightly for emphasis and shaking her hands dramatically. "Cinder stays with her own team and has a weird mission schedule, Yang is right there all of the time, but every time we've seen them Ruby has always been with Penny! And- and, they're so touchy with each other- like, more than Ruby already is! They're bumping shoulders and holding each other's weapons and giggling over everything and they're basically always touching and it's been like three weeks since they met- they're like WeHaul lesbians and they're… uh… how old is Penny again?"
"About fifteen and some, almost sixteen," Ren stated idly, patting Nora on the shoulder as he spoke up for the first time in almost half an hour, having not had anything to say due to them being in class up until a few minutes ago. "That's what Ruby said at least."
"And they're only fifteen-ish!" Nora continued without missing a beat. "And- and! Ruby shares her snacks with Penny . She doesn't let anyone near her snacks! She tried to bite me the one time I tried! I swear there was poison in her fangs and everything!"
"She does very casually manifest grimm traits like it's nothing," Pyrrha hummed, remembering the incident in question, in which Nora had attempted to snatch a cookie from Ruby some weeks ago, only to nearly get her hand bitten off because Ruby hadn't been as distracted by Blake's offhanded headpats as JNPR's thunder gal had thought. Literally.
Pyrrha seldom saw Ruby transform her teeth quite the way she did the rest of her body, but… gods, the amount of fangs she'd snapped at Nora with before pulling her plate of cookies and brownies closer… they'd been dripping green and poisonous yellow at the time, and Pyrrha still didn't know if it was poison or acid.
Thank goodness that Nora had pulled away faster than Ruby could bite down.
"... I don't think we should be saying whether or not they're dating if they haven't said anything yet… even if the cookie thing is really compelling," Jaune sighed, pinching his brow slightly as Nora continued to spout her "evidence" of Ruby and Penny secretly being an item- not that he'd begrudge the red Huntress that luxury, of course. Finding a loved one was pretty hard as a Huntsman or Huntress, as Pyrrha had stated to him once. Taking every opportunity to try and work things out with someone you could trust was important. "But… anyway. Back to the actual point- why is Team RWBY… so distant, I guess?"
"They're probably trying to uncover a super secret conspiracy!" Nora immediately pivoted on a dime, her voice raising in excitement as she pointed dramatically to emphasize her point, while Ren just palmed his face and shook his head. "A conspiracy where an evil figure from one of their pasts is working with some shady figure connected to the world's governments and using hundreds of disposable patsies alongside the grimm themselves to sow chaos and fear among the innocents of Vale!"
"She's been reading too many superhero comics," Ren sighed, not even bothering to try and translate what Nora was saying at this point- it wasn't like she was mistaken or anything, just lost in a delusion based on a plotline that she'd read straight out of his secret stash of Mistralian ninja comics. Not Ninjas of Love. He wasn't Blake . He didn't read filth.
"Uh… huh. I think it's just more likely that they're stressed from being in a massive gang fight and need some time to get back to equilibrium," Pyrrha stated dryly, rolling her eyes a bit at Nora's continuing spiel about the forces of darkness and the mind behind all grimm and also a lot of death and dismemberment for some reason- and, of course, Nora getting to break a bunch of people's legs. "What do you think, Jaune?"
"Eh…. I mean- yeah I think you're right. They're probably just having a hard time right now cuz there were a bunch of guys they had to fight all at once- plus Penny staying in their dorm now… I guess they're just trying to get back on their feet or something?" Jaune shrugged, then shook his head. "I dunno though… they've been spending a lot of time doing all sorts of things on campus and I'm not entirely sure what they've been doing…"
"I did hear Ruby chastising Blake for trying to sneak out of the windows in the middle of the night some few days ago," Ren offered, keeping a hand on Nora's shoulder, tilting his head idly as he looked to the side- staring out of the window to where he could just barely see Ruby dashing across campus and leaving a massive trail of rose petals- with Penny in her arms, interestingly enough. "And Ruby just ran across campus just now towards the forges. I suppose that there is some credence to the theory that she and Penny are together… Penny seemed quite happy to be carried in a bridal hold."
"They're meant to be! Have you seen how adorable they are!?" Nora interjected, jumping up and grabbing Ren as she shook him back and forth for a moment, a manic grin on her face as she all but vibrated from the (not really) confirmation as to the status of the cutest couple on campus. Sorry Coco and Velvet, but Ruby and Penny together was like… adorable squared . Velvet alone just couldn't compete no matter how sweet the two of them were together. "Every time they even talk it makes my teeth hurt! And I'm basically immune to sugar overdose! They're so sweet and cute together- I've never seen Ruby turn into a corgi for anyone other than her team and family before, and she does it with Penny all of the time!"
"Really? That's actually pretty rare…" Jaune hummed, rubbing his chin as he started getting really into the idea that Ruby and Penny were together- even if they might currently be oblivious to it. "I did see her hanging onto Penny's head while they were in the library the other day. Gods, that was so cute my heart almost exploded…"
"Please tell me you got pictures," Pyrrha murmured, poking Jaune's arm and making little grabby fingers as her eyes sparkled at the thought. "I need to see this."
"Yeah yeah, I got a few- it's kinda weird how close they are already…" Jaune sighed, pulling out his scroll and showing the pictures to Pyrrha with a light shrug. "Oh yeah, I got a couple of these from Velvet too cuz she's got a way better camera than mine."
Pyrrha paused, eyes going wide as she observed the first few photos.
The resultant squee was enough to make even Ruby's ear twitch from halfway across campus.
Notes:
Oh yeah, I forgot that Team JNPR is plot relevant... then again, they don't really become relevant for real until V2 in canon.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein