Ch 9: Welcome to Beacon (2)
"Not you!" Weiss said, shoving Ray out of her way as she stomped over to Ruby. "You!" Weiss thrust her finger out to point accusingly at Ruby's face. "Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"
"Uh, sorry!" Ruby reached down to pick up a case.
"Sorry!? Give me that!" Weiss snatched the case out of Ruby's hands and opened it to reveal several clear vials of colorful powdered Dust packed individually in safety packaging. "This is Dust, mined, and purified from the Schnee quarry!"
"Uhhhhhh…" Ruby stammered.
[Wow. That is quite the head of steam that Weiss has worked up. I wonder what her dad did before she landed to put her in such a foul mood.] Ray wondered, knowing from the anime that there was no one that could put Weiss in this bad of a mood without giving her a chance to vent on them, thereby forcing her to instead vent on the innocent, mostly innocent, Ruby, besides her father.
"What are you, brain-dead?" Weiss's scolding was only increasing in intensity as she took a vial of red dust out of the case before shutting it with a colorful poof as loose Dust floated out from the force she closed the case with. She then proceeded to start shaking it in Ruby's face. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning. Energy!"
"I… I know…" Ruby tried to calm down the girl in front of her as she struggled to not sneeze from all the Dust that was being thrown in her face carelessly.
"Hey! Wait! Stop that!" Ray called out, reaching out for Weiss's wrist to stop her from shaking a half-open vial of Dust around in Ruby's face.
"Are you even listening to me?!" but Weiss ignored him. "Is any of this sinking in!? What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Ruby finally couldn't hold it in. *Achooo* Her sneeze ignited all the loose Dust floating around, resulting in an explosion of fire, ice, and lightning that completely consumed Weiss and sent the vial of red Dust flying across the courtyard to land at the feet of a young woman with black hair reading a book. She picked it up and, noticing the Schnee Dust Company logo on the side, turned her attention to the confrontation still going on in front of her.
"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" The explosion had covered Weiss in soot, but she was unharmed thanks to her quick activation of her Aura. As she literally shook with anger, the soot fell away, leaving even her hair and clothes clean and pristine.
"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby apologized profusely, poking her fingers together in front of her chest sheepishly.
"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" Weiss leaned forward to get right in Ruby's face.
"Well, I-We…" Ruby stammered and glanced over at her brother for help.
"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not-"
"Okay, that's enough." Ray clapped his hands in the gap between Weiss and Ruby's faces, interrupting Weiss and forcing her to take a step back in surprise. He then slid smoothly into the gap between the two girls to stand protectively in front of his twin.
"What…" Weiss was taken aback by the sudden interruption and tried to redirect her ire towards this interloper.
"First off, no one talks to my sister like that! Second, if you know Dust is so dangerous, why are you carrying it around in unmarked cases? Third, what kind of moron waves around a half-open bottle of powdered Dust around? There is nothing more volatile than Dust in its powdered form. Any five year old could tell you that!" Ray was annoyed at how Weiss had been treating his sister and had no problem showing it.
Weiss just stood there in shock with her mouth working, but no sound coming out. She felt extraordinarily offended but couldn't find anything to rebuttal with.
"YOU are the reason that explosion happened! Not Ruby! And since you are obviously such an 'expert' concerning Dust, you know that just as well as I do. Maybe if you spent less time venting your misdirected anger at a nervous, innocent girl and more time paying attention to your own actions, you might actually start behaving like a proper Huntress. As it stands, the only 'dolt' here is you."
Weiss's face contorted in absolute fury at that, glaring at him like she wanted to kill him on the spot.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Weiss screamed, her hands balled into little fists at her sides. "Do you have any idea who I am!?"
"A spoiled princess in dire need of a good spanking." Ray reported matter-of-factly with his arms crossed across his chest.
"It's heiress, actually." A soft voice off to their side interrupted Weiss's retort before she could even begin. The trio turned their attention to the young lady who had silently approached them while they were arguing.
At 5'6" with amber eyes, long ashen-black hair that hung down to just above her waist topped by a black velvet bow and milky white skin, the young woman could best be described as having a lithe figure with her slim, toned waist, long legs, narrow hips, and B-cup breasts. Her thin brows and sharp eyes gave her an aloof look that her pointed chin and small nose accented nicely.
She wore a black buttoned vest with coattails and a single silver button on the front that left her cute belly button exposed over a white, sleeveless, high necked, crop undershirt and white shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg. On her feet, she wore black low-heel ankle boots and full stockings with a color gradation of black to purple from her thighs to her ankles. Her emblem, a tulip styled in the shape of a tongue of flame, was visible on the outside of both her thighs, just below her shorts, in white. On her left arm, she wore a black detachable sleeve with a silver metal cuff around her bicep, and black ribbons twined around both of her forearms. A small, loose, black scarf around her neck, purple Cats-eye styled eyeshadow, and a grey magnetic backpack, hidden by her hair, completed her look.
Her weapon, Gambol Shroud, could be seen peeking over her right shoulder. A Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe, it was capable of changing from a cleaver-like sword while sheathed to a katana unsheathed and into a gun when the katana blade folded down. With the ribbon fluttering from its pommel, Gambol Shroud could also be thrown like a kusarigama in its gun form.
"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." The girl continued.
Weiss's fury faded away into a smug look as she felt her ego was being stroked.
"Finally! Some recognition" Weiss turned from the infuriating man to face the new girl.
"What?! The Schnee Dust Company?" Ray gasped, his hands covering his mouth in mock surprise before lowering the boom. "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces?!"
"Wha-"
"And questionable business partners." The new girl smiled, catching on to Ray's joke and playing off it.
"How dare-"
"And amoral leadership." Ray continued enjoying the rapport he was building with this beauty.
"The nerve of..."
"And ruthless business practices." the girl finished.
"Ugh!" Weiss gave up trying to interrupt their back and forth, snatched the bottle of dust out of the girl's hand, and stomped away in a huff as her helpers gathered her luggage and followed.
Seeing her leave and still feeling sorry for what had happened. Ruby, who had been covering her mouth with her hands to stop herself from laughing at Weiss's expense ever since her brother had started laying into her, got herself under control and called out to her departing back.
"I promise I'll make it up to you! *sigh* I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day… So, what's…" Ruby turns to talk to the girl who had helped her, only to see her sauntering away without a backward glance.
Ray tries to think of something to say to his twin to cheer her up as he watches her slide to the ground and fall to her back, looking like a beaten puppy.
"Welcome to Beacon…" Ruby murmurs to no one in particular and closes her eyes in defeat.
Ray knelt next to his defeated sister. "Come on, Ruby. It's only been the first day." He decides that riling her up would be the best method of getting her moving again. "Come on, little sister. Up, up."
"I'm not your little sister! I'm older!" Ruby's eyes snapped open at that.
"By seventeen minutes. Besides, I'm taller, more mature, and more skilled than you. Therefore, I am your older brother. Everyone says so." Ray looked down at his sister with a shit-eating grin on his face. His words transformed Ruby's face from that of a defeated puppy to a defiant she-wolf. The worst thing was that Ray wasn't wrong. He was nearly six inches taller than her. He did act more mature than her, in front of other people at least. And he did beat her every time they sparred. For those very reasons, everyone who met them for the first time considered him to be older. But still, Ruby hated it, and she was stubborn, so calling her the younger twin was always a sure-fire way to get a rise out of her.
"That has nothing to do with it! I was born first! Therefore I am older!" Ruby pouted, still laying down on the ground, but no longer depressed.
"Hey there." a voice called out to the arguing twin from the opposite side of Ruby from where Ray was kneeling. "Do you two need help?"