11

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

"Y'know, it's a wonder how you've managed to keep this shop running," Cinder mentioned idly, the nineteen year old Branwen sitting at the bar setup in front of the counter of Neopolitan's ice cream shop, waving her spoon around in one hand in between bites of an absolutely delectable sundae. She sighed, poking at the scoops of vanilla ice cream for a moment before pursing her lips and looking to the side, the glass door partially papered over with a "Going out of business!" sign dated to just yesterday. "Or… at least, how you did manage to… you know that you don't have to follow me, right? I- as much as I wish you'd stay with me, I just-"

She sighed again, pushing her sundae to the side and shaking her head. "This was your dream, Neo. The dream you and I had been working towards for years . Freedom from your parents, no ties to the Vanille family name, more money drained from their accounts than you could possibly know what to do with- and this shop! I just… you don't have to throw it all away just to be with me- it's not like me going to Beacon is going to change how far I have to go to see you- hell, I'd honestly be closer than I would on Patch. So-"

Cinder blinked, silenced by Neo rolling her eyes and thrusting her scroll into the taller girl's face. After a moment of surprise, Cinder actually leaned back slightly to read what her girlfriend had written instead of communicating it by what little sign language Neo cared to actually use or just pure body language and/or telepathically glaring it into Cinder's thick skull. 

<It doesn't matter that you'd be closer than Patch, fireball. I'm going with you because I love and I've loved since the day we met. may have wanted this stupid shop told me get out of my parents' hold, but something more was to stay you. And if means a Huntsman school then I'll do too. learned enough from Lady Browning's in saved digital transcripts anyway this. You're not talking Cindy. End story.>

It was, in a single paragraph of text, almost the most that Neo had ever said all at once. Usually her girlfriend spent most of her time replying with selfies, single short sentences, or emojis- and in person, it was hard to get more than a smirk or an expression of sarcasm. To see all this? Cinder's heart was touched- truly. 

"I- Neo… Okay." Cinder breathed out slowly, nodding her head as she turned back to make eye contact with her girlfriend, smiling softly as she leaned over the counter and held out her hand- her smile only growing wider as she felt Neo's gloved hand lay on top of hers. "Okay. I'm sorry for doubting your choice. I just… wanted you to have a chance at a free and easy life. Or- at least… easier than being a Huntress or an assassin-"

Cinder paused as Neo flipped over the counter and poked her on the nose, two heterochromatic eyes glaring into Cinder's golden eyes with the most thoroughly unamused look that Cinder had ever seen on the ice cream obsessed girl. 

"..."

"... Okay, I'm aware that I'm being hypocritical about this," Cinder huffed, shaking her head as her long, wavy tresses fluttered about her shoulders, pouting slightly as she crossed her arms and tried to look haughty about her words. "But still! You just got out from under your parents last year! It took us years to drain enough from their accounts to make sure you had all the money you'd ever need for this life! I may have jumped right back into fighting for my life because I had fucked up ideas on what made someone strong as a teenager- don't give me that look Neo, I know I'm still nineteen shut up! Ugh! You're incorrigib- hey, don't you get handsy with me while I'm trying to lecture you!"

Cinder backed away, blushing and trying very hard to not lose her composure from the feeling of Neo's hands sliding up her bare thighs, an artfully executed slide out of her seat preventing those slender, gloved hands from sliding up the hem of her dress and doing things to her that they really shouldn't have been doing in a shop with a large glass front- even if the shop was now closed and near empty and contained only the basic furniture and the few tubs of ice cream that Neo had been saving to bring home to Patch, there were still people walking around outside.

Neo, for her part, simply smirked, leaned against the counter, and took a spoonful from Cinder's sundae in a way that was so deviously sensual that it made Cinder's entire body erupt into a volcanic blush the moment that Neo's tongue and lips closed around the scoop of ice cream and-

Fsshhh!

Ah, the sweet sound of Cinder's own semblance flash vaporizing the aroused sheen of sweat off of her body such that it erupted into a steam cloud straight out of one of Neo's Mistralian anime. Truly, one of the greatest benefits of dating Cinder Branwen- flustering her so hard she unconsciously activated Scorching Caress and turned into a little steam cloud out of pure gayness. Beautiful.

Neo tittered silently, sauntering over as Cinder just stood there- planting a kiss on her frozen girlfriend's cheek (and sadly having to stand up on her very tippy toes to even manage that much, how dare Cinder be almost an entire foot taller than her!) and just nuzzling up to the wonderful swell of Cinder's breasts while she waited for the raven haired Huntress in training to recover from her self induced coma of pure lesbian horniness.

"T-that was a dirty trick," Cinder muttered, still flushed bright red and self consciously looking away as Neo took her spot at the bar and dug into the remains of her sundae. "Ugh, I can't believe you- here I was all set to have an emotional heart to heart with you, and you get me all riled up and steal my ice cream! What am I going to do with you?"

Silently, Neo just turned to face Cinder with an altogether far too smug grin, Hush appearing at her side with the barest whisper of illusory glass fading away even as Neo offered an ice cream and chocolate sauce laden spoonful towards Cinder.

"Bribing me with my own ice cream isn't exactly going to work here," Cinder deadpanned, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes as she walked over- heels clicking on the checkerboard tile floor- and leaned down with her mouth open and eyes closed.

Neo gulped slightly at the sight of Cinder being so unintentionally erotic, her makeup highlighting her natural beauty while her black painted lips framed the pink of her tongue in a way that was… hoo baby.

Neo fanned herself a little as she faked a little swoon, feeding Cinder that spoonful of ice cream perhaps a bit slower and more salaciously than necessary. Was it getting hot in here or was it just Cinder?

Trick question, it was absolutely getting hotter and it was absolutely Cinder's fault, because when Cinder got her motor running, it was running , and Neo… well. 

Neo liked to ride the wave, as it were.

Buuut they were in a bit of a time crunch, unfortunately. Neo still had to pack up the last of her stuff and leave the keys in the safe and wait for Ruby so she didn't have to spend money on flash freezing the ice cream tubs with ice dust and then stuffing them into a temperature controlled insulated bag for the trip all the way back to Patch. Instead, the only threat was Ruby actually eating the ice cream while it was stuck inside that horrible grimm ooze filled dimensional pocket that was her torso. 

Honestly, Neo would take that bet, if only because she'd already promised to let Ruby help her move back into the Rose/Xiao Long/Branwen household (no, they had not found a better name in the five and a half years of Cinder living there) before they made their way to Beacon at the beginning of the next term.

Thankfully, Cinder had already received her acceptance letter, as had Neo. Though- it had only allowed them to attend initiation, which… was apparently the final barrier to entry? Whatever, they'd manage. 

…

Neo paused, pursing her lips as she tilted her head and considered Cinder for a moment.

"Yes, Neo? You only look at me with that face when you're scheming something," Cinder hummed, raising an eyebrow as she stared back at Neo, looking every bit the elegant Huntress as she waited for Neo's response. "Oh? Ruby? What about her- yes, she's still coming dear. No, she probably won't lend you part of her weapon collection- she's spent too long building it up, I'm afraid she's attached- what do you even need her to do with Hush anyway? You've killed plenty of grimm just with the blade…"

Neo huffed, rolling her eyes and motioning at Cinder with a casually aimed and fired finger gun.

"Ah. Yes, well. Ruby is the one in our family to ask with regards to extra firepower… just… don't let her talk you into anything larger than .45, because you'll ruin your wrists if you're not prepared for it," Cinder sighed, rubbing her own wrist and reminiscing about just a little over yesteryear, when Ruby had finished Crescent Rose and invited everyone in the family to try it out using the specialty tooled autocannon rounds she'd somehow gotten a hold of. 

Qrow had barely managed to actually aim and fire the damn thing without bowling himself over. Barely. Taiyang had knocked himself on his ass trying to one-hand the rifle the way he'd once used Sundered Rose's rifle form. He'd also managed to bruise his wrist, shoulder, and almost sprain his elbow.

Yang had gone flying thirty feet back because she didn't brace herself properly. 

Cinder herself had nearly fallen, but managed to melt some footholds into the ground and brace herself as the cannon disguised as a ninety seven pound sniper scythe nearly flew out of her hands.

All of them had been summarily a little bit emasculated when Ruby had started swinging it around and firing it one handed with exceptional accuracy (hip firing too! What the fuck kinda bullshit was her little sister on!? Oh right, she was half grimm) and bouncing around like an out of control weedwhacker on crack.

If Ruby tried to stuff a .50 caliber gun into Hush… Neo would probably break her damn arm, Aura be damned.

Neo rolled her eyes, patting Cinder's leg as if to reassure her girlfriend that everything would be okay.

They shared that tender moment for a long while, staring into each other's eyes as if they were the only things in the world.

And then Ruby slammed open the door.

"IS IT ICE CREAM TIME!?"

"Ruby!"

[This picture of Neo caused a five hour delay in chapter posting because I remembered at the last moment I hadn't drawn a Neo design yet]