章 1820: 51
Chapter 51Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Sooooo… what'd you get me anyway?" Yang asked, walking with her best big sis (and… only big sis, no Neo and Emerald didn't count- Neo hadn't married Cinder yet and Emerald was her older "cousin") with her hands folded behind her head, the two of them enjoying the light breeze and good weather as they strolled along the many paths. "I didn't see you grab anything out of your suitcases or nothin' when you got back, and we just left your guys' dorm room so…"
"Mmm… nothing that I could have carried home, sadly. It's pretty big, pretty expensive, and pretty… I'm going to be honest, it's a gift I could really only give you ," Cinder answered, humming as she walked along beside Yang whilst surreptitiously wiping the last of the cake residue from her lips. Thankfully, she'd actually remembered to share her cake this time- giving Neo an actually sizeable slice of that double fudge heaven and giving Emerald and Mercury… fairly decently sized slices of their own. And then she'd eaten the remaining two thirds of the cake herself, shoveling it down her gullet with such vicious intensity that for a moment everyone watching had forgotten it was Ruby that was half grimm instead of Cinder. Though- it wasn't like Cinder didn't give it her own go at times, if her own custom obsidian Nevermore mask was any indication.
She never wore it, but it hung in pride of place against her bedpost, just like Yang had unpacked her own personal stainless steel Sea Feilong mask and set it on her own bedpost.
Ruby couldn't take off hers, but… whatever. That wasn't the important part anyway.
"I'm assuming it's something pretty neat if it's not just like… a poster or something," Yang shrugged a little, willing to keep the suspense going as they headed towards Beacon's student garages- not that there were a lot of vehicles owned by students, but they were there just in case there were… and Yang had to park Bumblebee somewhere since Dad paid to ship it over all the way from Patch. "Wait, is it something for Bumblebee?"
"Mhmm. I recalled you were saying something about Bumblebee needing some upgrades and bodywork while I was out on my mission, and since our minder was, y'know, Dad , we had a lot of free time to explore the town we were protecting while he flirted with the barmaids," Cinder snorted, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the recollection of her father's surprisingly successful stint of one night stands- apparently, guys and girls went head over heels to sleep with a Huntsman or Huntress, even if it was just for a single night before they moved on. "Whatever the case was with Dad, I got to spend some time talking to the owner of a motorcycle store- a rather defunct one, seeing as the town was rather out of the way and not prone to tourist traffic since it's pretty out of the way of the main road from Vale proper to Valice up north. He sold me some of his better spare inventory for surprisingly cheap when I said you needed parts and supplies… and gave me a lot of useless stuff I couldn't use. So… I got you two motorcycle body kits to do with as you please… and a lot of spare parts, paint, tools, and whatnot to supplement what you already have."
"Nooo…. Really? Holy- Cinder what the- this is more stuff than Ruby's workshop!" Yang immediately gasped as they rounded the corner, seeing the massive spread of tools, paints, and other automotive detailing and servicing supplies set on an old workman's cart next to Bumblebee… along with an entire heap of spare parts both new and old, all of which were in surprisingly good condition. "Holy… fuck… this is too much- Cinder how- why- I thought you were gonna get me like a rare knockoff Achieve Men figurine or something, not all of this!"
"Anything for my second favorite sister," Cinder laughed, patting Yang on the back lightly and pushing the younger girl towards the massive pile of metal there. "I know how much you love your bike- I figured I might as well get something that you could actually keep for a long time, instead of crying over it when Zwei inevitably eats the toy."
"... Zwei really does like chewing on Achieve Men figurines for some reason…" Yang muttered, still rather in a daze as she stumbled forward, hands twitching in little grabby motions as she immediately surrendered herself to the urge to tinker with her bike- yes, the urge to fiddle with mechanical things was strong in their family… probably a result of Papa Tai always insisting on building things by oneself to figure out where the points of failure were and learn the best ways of fixing said problems before they spiraled out of control.
"Just can't get the same results with store bought" he always said, ignoring the fact that Yang and Ruby often had to fix the things he made to actually function as intended.
Cinder was just good at making things out of glass.
"You go tinker. I'm gonna go hang out with Ruby for a bit- I promised her lots of puppy snuggles and I hate to say it but I really need it after a month out in the back end of nowhere," Cinder called faintly, grinning as Yang all but ignored her (save for a half hearted wave over her shoulder) in favor of immediately starting to strip off Bumblebee's side panels so she could work on the internals. Ah, Yang. Always made fun of Ruby's obsession with weapons… still somehow didn't have the self awareness to realize that she had a similar one for her own bike.
At least Yang didn't think car magazines and automotive catalogs were a good substitute for actual literature, unlike her philistine of a baby sister who mooned over new weapon catalogs as though they were the finest of classics.
At least Ruby was cute, Cinder thought to herself as she walked away, idly scooping a handful of silica sand from the pouch she always wore on her right hip, superheating it and starting to squash and stretch the material between her fingers to keep her hands busy while making the trek back to the student dorms- the first year dorms instead of the second year building. Hmmm… She'd left Mercury there with Ruby, and Emerald had decided to shower and sleep… gods knew what Neo was up to but if she had any knowledge of her girlfriend (which she did considering how intimate they'd gotten) then her best little ice cream gremlin was raiding Beacon's kitchens for the supplies to make her own.
Neo never did trust any ice cream she didn't make for herself- somehow the little minx had spoiled herself for all other kinds after perfecting her own process.
Wait.
She'd left Mercury , her (and Yang and Ruby's) insufferable smug asshole of a cousin. With Ruby . More specifically, Ruby's Team (and that Penny girl, who was apparently supposed to be somewhere else but was basically AWOL and loving it).
"... Oh gods, he's probably telling them shitty sex jokes and exaggerating the embarrassing moments of our mission right now," Cinder murmured to herself, playing up her own horror as she started jogging faster towards the dorms, hoping fruitlessly that she wasn't too late to stop Mercury from corrupting her dubiously innocent baby sister and her baby sister's friends (except Yang. Yang was kind of a lost cause at this point in her endless competition with Mercury) with all manner of stupidity, terrible puns, and excruciatingly awful taste in media (seriously, the guy liked stage comedy shows! The freestyle kind only available at bars with open mic night!) If Cinder wasn't already specifically aware of him being a trained killer, she would have thought he was a serial murderer for how much he laughed at all of those godawful jokes.
"Shit shit shit shit shit- oh hey Daintree, Raisin, Rangoon, Kachi- shit shit shit shit shit-" Cinder chanted under her breath, pausing only to wave at the members of her fellow second year team, DRRK (Dark) (who… she didn't talk to enough, honestly) before moving on- only pausing a little awkwardly when they invited her and the rest of CMNE out for drinks at some point.
She had to decline, she really didn't trust Neo and Emerald to not start something stupid if they got drunk.
Shaking her head, Cinder sped up slightly and raced over to the dorms in the span of the next few minutes, feet pounding against the floor as she burst past the doors and into the stairwell, glass clinking with every step as she shaped her heels into red hot running shoes to get some extra speed and traction (and to avoid slipping. Cinder still had bitter memories of the first time she tried walking up the stairs in glass heels. Thank gods for Aura) until she came to the same floor that the RWBY dorms were on- completely abandoning the red hot glass in a corner of the concrete lined stairwell in favor of sprinting barefoot down the carpeted halls (don't think about the last time you used Scorching Caress near carpet, don't think about it, don't think about almost dying in a house fire from sheer gay stupidity) until she came to a halt in front of her sister's dorm, keying in the code Ruby had sent via her scroll and flinging the armored door open to reveal-
"And then I said- Poker!? I hardly know her!"
Oh gods, it was worse than she'd thought.
Cinder stared, gaping in sheer horror as an event far beyond her worst nightmares came to pass.
Mercury… was using Taiyang's Dad Jokes.
"Fffffu-!"
Notes:
Mercury isn't technically that bad, his sense of humor is just terribly groan-worthy. Yang is like, the only one who thinks he's actually funny and only when he's making dumb puns.
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