(Quick A/N)
I want to thank my readers from all these fabulous places that don't normally have many English speakers: Sweden, (I'm sitting at an IKEA desk right now btw, thanks guys :D) Germany, Slovakia, Romania, the Philippines, and Malaysia! ^^ I didn't expect to get readers from these places!
Also, thanks so, so much for everyone who voted in the Wattys Best of the Past! I still can't believe BLAB won first place - seriously, thanks so much guys!
Not much is happening until July for the RWBY Wattys, but this book is only nominated for one category - if you think it should be in other categories, (idk, I feel like I'd be too biased to make that call XD) go leave a comment on the nomination book, on the amazing Jaceperry22 's profile ^^
Also you should watch Erased! It's really really good :D
***
The White Stag was had been unusually quiet today. Blake and Weiss were getting ready to hand over to Gwen and Nebula. The writer, who never said a word besides her order, was in the corner, typing away, glancing up from her computer every so often to survey her surroundings or look out the window, was basically the only person here, who wasn't waiting for a takeaway order. Emerald said she'd tried to have a conversation with her previously, but her answers, though not unkind, were short and brusque.
Emerald was a strange sort of character. Her past was implied to be...interesting. But somehow she'd ended up in charge of a coffee shop. She didn't actually show up much - money was transferred into their bank accounts at the end of each day. (It wasn't terribly uncommon for this to happen at 1am.) In the early hours of the morning, she'd bring in all the baked goods for the day, place them in the middle of the room in a pair of crates, and leave. Every employee knew how to contact her if a fire started or something, but otherwise, she didn't get involved in the actual selling of coffee and food.
"Thanks, by the way. For the other day."
Weiss looked up at Blake suddenly, frowning. "What for?"
"For giving Yang and I some time to be alone," she explained.
She smiled. "Oh, no problem."
"Is Ruby coming in today?"
"No - she had a tae kwon do lesson."
"Aah. Is that a weekly thing now?"
Weiss shook her head, passing her an empty cup. "She's helping out with one of the junior classes. It's a one-off."
Blake nodded, flipping it over to see what the customer had ordered. Hot chocolate.
"By the way..."
"Yeah?"
"If you get a weird email about the Schnee masquerade, it's an invitation. I was hoping you, Ruby and Yang would come."
Blake blinked in surprise. "Okay. I'll try to be there."
Weiss smiled. "Please do.
She hesitated. "Why would the email be weird?"
"It's a little..." Weiss trailed off, trying to find the words. "Well, it's very formal."
***
Ruby lay upside down, reading a book, with Zwei lying across her legs, snoring quietly. It was the same one that she'd been reading at the White Stag, a few weeks ago. She was getting closer to the end - maybe around seventy-five pages were left. But so much could change in seventy pages. Her heart had been broken my this author in ten pages before, let alone seventy...
'"Ground Control to Schwarz Leader. Come in Schwarz Leader. Can you give us your position?"
The voice crackled through Rolfe's speakers and into his ears, very nearly startling him from the relative silence and calm of the flight thus far. He quickly shook out of his serene state, surprised and angry that he had so easily allowed himself to blank out. He scanned the clear skies in his line of vision as he prepared to respond. He hadn't thought he would need to do so anytime soon. They were nearly back at base, returning from a long mission escorting bombers to their new base on the Austrian border. Rolfe was tired, drained, and running low on both fuel and energy. He could only guess his three accompanying squadron members were feeling the same. He fitted his mask in place to respond. "This is Schwarz Leader to Ground Control. We are currently on vector one-seven-three heading two-four-five, all seems well. Over."
"Thank you, Schwarz Leader. We have received reports of enemy fighters patrolling your area. Be on the lookou-'
Her concentration was broken as her phone vibrated. She blinked, then picked it up. No text from Weiss, unfortunately, but...is that an email?
She sat up, crossing her legs, opening the Gmail app. There was one new message from 'noreply-schnee@schneeandco'. Strange. She opened it up, her eyes slowly widening in surprise as she read it.
Miss Ruby Rose,
You have been invited by Weiss Schnee to go to the Schnee Company's annual Vytal Festival Masquerade, at the Schnee residence, on September 22nd. The gathering's primary purpose is to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Faunus War, hence it is expected that every guest's behaviour will be appropriate for the occasion. Please wear formal dress, an easily removable mask, and present ID at the door.
If you cannot attend, please notify Weiss or Winter Schnee as soon as possible.
Kind Regards,
Schnee & Co.
"There are somethings that money can't buy. For everything else, there's the Schnee & Co."
Ruby promptly fell off the couch, Zwei too, awaking with a surprised yelp.
She regained her bearings after a few moments, re-reading the email. F-formal dress?!
Confused, she read the email again, then called out, "Yang!"
The blonde poked her head around the door. "Yeah?"
"Did you get a weird email from Weiss?"
Yang frowned, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Maybe? I haven't checked."
Ruby shrugged, looking at the email again. Formal dress...
The elder sister frowned down at her phone. "She could have just sent a quick, 'hey, want to come to the vytal masquerade at my place?'"
Ruby wasn't listening. She was just vacantly staring into space. Formal dress. Why.
Yang shrugged. "Sounds fun. Bet the food will be good. Hopefully Blake's coming too."
Ruby finally voiced her thoughts. "Yang, will I have to wear heels?"
Her older sister grinned. "Yes."
Ruby would have sworn, if she hadn't been the total cinnamon roll that she was. She glanced over at Zwei, who just cocked his head to one side. I wonder if Zwei could wear heels...
***
Yang and Blake sat alone in the faunus' dorm room. Pyrrha was doing some extra study with Jaune, but Blake had a feeling Jaune was the only one who was benefiting. Well, in terms of study. Pyrrha got something else entirely out of her time with him.
She and Yang had just finished marathoning the first half of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, abusing Beacon's free wifi. (Well, free for students.) It was a bit of a stretch to watch that much in one go, and Blake had asked Yang multiple times if she wanted to stop, if this was enough for her, but the blonde seemed to be enjoying it. When they hit episode 50, they fell back onto the bed almost with relief.
Yang was staring at the ceiling. "I think...it's grown to the point where it feels wrong to not have that headphone in one ear."
Blake grinned. "We can rectify that and watch more, if you want."
"God, no! We've reached 50 - if we keep going I'll be here all night."
"Is that really a bad thing though?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Alright, let me rephrase that. I'll have been her all night, and we won't have talked."
"Much better. Did you get Weiss's invitation?"
"Yeah. Ruby and I are going. You?"
"Yep."
Yang shuffled a little closer to the wall, giving Blake some more room. "Do you think you'll go as a cat?"
"Yeah, but wearing the bow. It is a Schnee ball, after all. You?"
"I was thinking of like, a bear or something." Blake had her back to her. Yang grinned, and took her hair in her hands.
The faunus stiffened, her cat ears going flat against her head. She was wearing her bow, but Yang noticed it becoming very crooked all of a sudden. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm just braiding it!" she laughed.
"Oh. Okay."
Yang separated it into three strands, intending to do some sort of updo. She wasn't really sure exactly what yet. Blake's hair was really silky. A bit tangled, but silky.
"Yang?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm thinking of doing postgrad law, if I do well with this arts-psychology thing."
Maybe I'll dutch braid it down the side, then put the rest in a bun. "Good for you. I'm sure you'll kick ass."
Blake was silent for a moment. "But seriously. Does that seem weird? That I spend four years studying something totally irrelevant to whatever's coming next?"
"Dunno. What would you do with the law degree? Would you practise?" Yang asked, pushing her hand into her pocket to see how many bobby pins she had with her.
"No. I don't know. I...it was just an idea. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life."
The blonde sighed. "Me neither. I don't think I want to be a hairdresser."
"You're literally doing my hair right now."
"Yeah, but I don't want to spend my life being paid to do stuff with strangers' hair," she pointed out, continuing to play with the faunus's hair.
"True, true."
Yang bit her lip. "I've tried the army. I've tried uni. Now I'm trying bloody hairdressing. I'm not exactly the best person to ask."
"Does Ruby know? What she's doing with her life?"
"No. She just wants to help people."
"What, so like, in hospitality?"
"I think she had something a little more romantic in mind."
"Fair enough."
Yang grinned, securing the braid with a yellow hair-elastic around her wrist. Maybe I'll just leave the rest in a side ponytail. It looks nice that way. "You'll figure it out."
Blake grimaced. "Yeah. I hope so."
"Or we could just, pull a Fiyero and wing it."
Blake frowned. "Fiyero?"
"From Wicked?"
"Never seen it."
"You should. We should. Yeah, let's do that sometime."
They continued to lie there in silence, thinking. That conversation had brought to the forefront of Yang's mind something that she'd been ignoring for a long time - what was she actually doing with her life? She was nineteen, still living with her Dad and sister, which she supposed wasn't that unusual, but it's not like she had a plan or anything like that. She wanted to go overseas - she wanted to see more of the world, but how? She wasn't cut out for the army, managed to get herself kicked out of uni...
Damnit.
"Hey, Yang?"
The blonde blinked a couple of times as Blake cut into her thoughts. "We will figure this out someday, right? What we're doing with our lives?"
"I suppose we have to."
"But..." Blake bit her lip. "I don't know. I'm just worried."
"It's not like you'll end up on the streets or anything."
"Yeah, but...what if I end up stuck in a job that I hate?" she said, anxiety creeping into her tone. "What if..."
Yang shuffled forward and gave her an awkward lying-down-side-hug. "You'll figure it out eventually."
Blake sighed, lying there for a few seconds. Then she sat up, gently lifting Yang's arm off her. "But...how?"
Yang sat up too, then grinned. "What do you think?"
Their eyes met - Yang's were shining with mischief, while Blake just looked confused. "What do you think?" she echoed.
The blonde grinned even more broadly. "Come on, you must know what I'm going to say next."
Blake frowned, then realised. Then they both just started laughing.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Yang Xiao Long, in the face of an unanswerable question, will always come up with the response, 'magic'.