Ruby Rose strolled easily down the streets of Vale. Normal people would rarely be out at this hour in this part of Vale City, and if they were out they'd certainly be keeping an eye over their shoulder and walking with definite purpose, not meandering down the street like Ruby Rose, but Ruby Rose was no ordinary person. Ruby Rose was awesome, badass, and super, super cool! And he was most definitely a guy! So what if most people named Ruby were girls? He had more than enough masculinity to even it out! Ruby's hand itched to slap Yang as soon as he thought that, despite the facts he was alone and he hadn't said anything out loud, he was still conditioned to attack his big sister because she would normally be snickering at this point in her teasing.
Ruby sighed and shook his head, pushing out the very well defined mental image of Yang laughing at him. What kind of name was Yang anyway? That sounded at least as masculine as Ruby did feminine! WAIT! NO! Ruby isn't a feminine name! Dammit Yang!
Ruby reached behind him and under his flowing red cloak to bring out Crescent Rose in her compact form. Crescent Rose never judged him, she was far too sweet! She was also at least ten thousand times cooler than any other weapon on Remnant. A small blush came to Ruby's face as he realized he had subconsciously brought Crescent Rose up to his chest and was hugging and caressing it like Yang did her hair. A quick look around confirmed no one was around to see the display of affection and Ruby gave a small sigh before tenderly kissing Crescent Rose and holstering her again.
A quick glance at the time on his scroll increased Ruby's pace as he realized he was starting to run late, he only had an hour to get to the Dust shop and back to the ferry station. Any longer than that and Yang would get concerned, and then she would call, and then she would make him feel guilty, and then if she didn't think he sounded guilty enough she'd tell mom, and then mom would cut back on his cookie allowance, and there was nothing more frightening to Ruby Rose than missing out on Summer Rose's cookies, except for anything happening to Crescent Rose. Crescent Rose was more important than cookies, and that was saying something coming from Ruby Rose.
With a smile Ruby Rose realized he had arrived at the doorstep of "From Dust Till Dawn," one of the best Dust shops in all of Vale. Ruby would know, he'd tried them all. He pushed through the door and smiled and waved at the kind old man behind the counter, he'd probably been working here since the Great War! Ruby moved to peruse the Dust on display. He needed a couple dozen vials of Mistrali Fire, several ounces of Grimm-Slayer™ brand Electric, and a few pellets of Wetworld Special for his own secret project that neither Yang nor Summer needed to know about. It still wasn't his fault he flooded the entire first floor, that was a freak accident.
Ruby looked over the collection of extremely volatile and dangerous Dust in his hands and smiled fondly as he imagined all the stuff he would blow up with it. He dropped his selections off at the counter for the old man to ring up and then went back to the magazine stand at the back of the shop, it would take the guy a while to properly secure the Dust, so Ruby could help himself to a little guilty pleasure reading.
A selection of publications greeted him, from tabloids exclaiming a Grimm had made it onto the Kingdom Council, to lifestyle magazine proclaiming that sprinkling low-grade fire Dust on granola bars was the best way to get pumped up for burning off those extra calories. What really caught Ruby's silver eyes was hidden a little farther down. A naughty smile sprouted on the teenage boy's face as he reached for a magazine promising "Girls! Girls! Girls! What the Beauties of Vale do to pass the lonely nights!" and reached right past it to grab "Weapons Weekly: 101 Things About Dust The SDC Don't Want You To Know!" Ruby idly petted Crescent Rose as his heart beat wildly in his chest, Oh baby, I'm going to put all sorts of things in you! These new Dust rounds are going to be so sexy!
The time sped by almost as fast Ruby Rose using his semblance, and just because he could turn into rose petals didn't mean anything! Flowers could be masculine! And he was startled when a hand shook him by the shoulder, he was even more surprised to realize he'd somehow put on his headphones and was listening to his favorite Weiss Schnee album. Oh! The man was shaking Ruby's shoulder to get his attention, Ruby took off his headphones, "Yes?"
The man, who was wielding a ridiculous red sword, said "I said put your hands in the air, now!"
Without conscious effort Ruby had already evaluated the threat the man posed, many thousands of hours of practice and sparring classifying him as nearly harmless to him, even without Crescent Rose. This was going to be awesome! He could be just like the heroes from the books, stopping this criminal and saving the old man! A lot of those heroes had badass one-liners though. Quick! He had to think of something! "Careful where you put your hands, this Rose has thorns!" And then Ruby punched the mugger in the gut, following it up by delivering a solid kick to the man's face as he doubled over, sending him flying across the shop.
Another thug took notice of this and raised a gun at Ruby, this was going to be too easy! Ruby activated his semblance and in a burst of rose petals he flew at superfloral speed at the criminal. Crashing through the storefront window Ruby had only one thought, I'm a frickin' badass! Looking over his shoulder Ruby noticed several more nameless thugs staring at him through the broken window, a dapper orange-haired was stood behind them, scowling at him without any trace of the fear the other robbers displayed. I need to keep up my image! Ooooh! Maybe they'll make a comic about me, I'd be the best comic book hero ever! The Cookie Crusader!
Sweet thoughts of pastry justice ran through Ruby's head as he drew Crescent Rose, the weapon elegantly shifting from its compact form to its full scythe form. Ruby brought what he thought was a smug smirk to his face, though it looked more like the smile a small child had opening a gift. He twirled Crescent Rose around and brought its main blade down into the concrete. He also remembered to turn off his headphones, that thing ran through batteries faster than he ran crooks through windows!
"Oooooooooo-kaaaaaaay…" The orange-haired man tilted his head in mild confusion before looking at his henchmen in agitation, "Get him!"
The thugs immediately complied, rushing out the main entrance, guns and blades drawn. Ruby could tell none of them had ever used their weapons on anyone more dangerous that a little old lady with pepper spray. Maybe I should add pepper spray to Crescent Rose? No! Focus!
The first thug swung at Ruby with an over-sized meat cleaver, his aim was sloppy and the swing was so slow Ruby thought he could have sidestepped it with no difficulty, but he didn't sidestep it. Instead he effortlessly pulled Crescent Rose out of the concrete and swung it upwards, catching the criminal on the top of Crescent Rose and lifting him up and behind him, he fired as the criminal passed above his head, sending the thug flying down the road and simultaneously launching Ruby at the next combatant
This thug had the presence of mind to raise his gun at the quickly approaching teenager; no doubt intent on letting off a shot that Ruby would have no hope of dodging. What he didn't expect was for Ruby to bring Crescent Rose around from its position trailing behind him clutched in his left hand, reaching his right hand back to grab it and bring it around his right side, swinging it into the side of the thug and sending his body skipping down the road like a stone skipping across a pond.
The final thug came rushing at Ruby from behind, but his lightning fast reflexes caught the sound of the sword being swung. Ruby jumped, the blade cutting through empty air that had a moment ago been occupied by Ruby's waist. Ruby simply let the momentum of Crescent Rose carry him around in a circle, the inner edge of the main blade caught the assailant on his back and with a quick pull of the trigger he went flying backwards, or forwards from his perspective, while Ruby expertly twirled the weapon around him, killing its momentum and preventing him from following the criminal backwards. He landed softly, cape flowing behind him and Crescent Rose held in one hand, standing proudly by his side.
The dapper leader of the criminals stepped calmly past the unconscious body of one of his henchmen, dropping his cigar and crushing it underfoot while he twirled his cane in one hand, the other hand gestured at the battlefield around them, "Quite the mess you've made of my night, Red. I don't suppose a girl like you is for hire?"
Ruby Rose was so offended by this casual assault on his manhood that he deeply and furiously roared, and most certainly did not have his voice break and screech, "I'm a guy!" He also did not hear his mental image of Yang fall onto the ground laughing uproariously. This was not how the heroes in the stories were treated!
The criminal leader, for his part, leaned towards Ruby, eyes squinting to focus on him, "You sure kid? You're not like one of those transsexuals or something?"
"Yes I'm sure! I'm Ruby Rose! Certified badass and defender of the streets of Vale! Criminals like you will soon cower in fear when my, very manly, name is spoken and-" Ruby was cut out of his mirror rehearsed speech by a loud cough from the criminal across from him.
"Yeah that's great little lady, I'm shaking in my designer boots, really I am. But, I'm running a little late, so no hard feelings," The criminal raised his cane, the straight end pointing at him and its bottom flipping up into a crosshair, "but this is where we part ways." He fired and Ruby immediately realized the projectile was a very explosive and compact form of fire Dust. A swift semblance enabled jump took him out of harm's way, but when he landed the criminal was nowhere in sight! He was obviously a criminal mastermind that would dog Ruby for years to come, his arch-nemesis that would drive him to a series of morally questionable, but dramatic and ultimately heroic episodes culminating in a-
Ruby was shaken out of his comic book storyline plotting by a hand shaking him by the shoulder. The old man was stood in front of him, and with his other hand he was pointing at the criminal leader making a hasty climb up a ladder onto the roof of a nearby building, "Oh, I knew he was there the whole time, I was just, uh, giving him a head start, to be fair!" The old man looked unconvinced as Ruby ran towards the ladder shouting back at him, "Sorry about your window!" before using the recoil from Crescent Rose to propel him to the rooftop in one shot.
The old man could only sigh as he bent down to rummage around the pockets of the unconscious thug at his feet, maybe they were carrying enough lien to cover the damages. He could use the insurance money to retire.
Up on the rooftop Ruby confronted the criminal face to eminently dressed back, "You're a persistent girl, anyone ever tell you that at a tea party?"
"I'm not a girl!" And with a very masculine battlecry, that was at least two octaves higher in his mind than in Roman's ears, he launched himself at the taunter. His battle screech was part of the reason he didn't realize a bullhead had emerged from the alleyway and was hovering at rooftop level. Ruby promptly got a mouthful of bullhead after Roman jumped upwards to dodge him, Roman fell back onto Ruby's head, delivering a swift kick to his face with his heel, using the momentum to push himself into the waiting passenger hold of the bullhead. Ruby stumbled backwards and fell flat on his rear end, clutching his stinging face even as his aura worked to repair the damage.
Roman laughed and brought his free hand up to wipe a tear from his face while he kept Melodic Cudgel aimed at Ruby, "Heh, thanks for the laugh kid, but I'm afraid we're going to have to cut your slapstick comedy career short." He swiftly brought his free hand down from his face to grab a fire Dust crystal out of a pouch and throw it at Ruby. Ruby could only look on in horror as it landed at his feet and a shot from Roman's cane followed it up quickly, his last thought before it exploded, I hope Yang takes care of Crescent Rose.
An explosion blew past Ruby Rose, the roar of air combusting and being pushed outwards at supersonic velocities not doing nearly as much damage to his ears as he thought it would. Also the whole explosion thing seemed to do a lot less life ending damage than he initially had thought it would. Tentatively he opened his eyes, somewhat expecting the ghost of his father, Taiyang, to greet him in the afterlife. What instead met his teenage male eyes was the rather pleasant sight of a well developed female posterior.
Ruby quickly cut those thoughts off when he noticed the riding crop the woman was holding, and when he noticed the glyphs and telekinesis she used he promised he'd swear a life of celibacy before ever thinking about her like that again. If being raised by Yang and Summer had taught him anything, he did not want to get involved with a huntress like that, he'd prefer for all his bits to stay exactly where they were, thank you very much.
While he had been contemplating the many ways a girl with the skills of Summer or Yang could have painfully killed him, the huntress who had saved him had done considerable damage to the bullhead, but then a woman had replaced the criminal in the fight. Between her Dust use and outfit, which almost gave Ruby a couple of unintentional shows, Ruby felt confident in saying Yang would have described this woman in one word: hot.
But never let it be said that Ruby Rose would sit by and let women fight his battles for him! All those times Summer and Yang did exactly that notwithstanding! And so, after quickly checking her for damage, Ruby switched Crescent Rose to her dedicated sniper form and let off a few shots at the fire Dust user. Ruby was a bit irked when she brought up her hand to block all of them like she was warding off tennis balls, And this is why I do need high explosive rounds on me at all times, mom!
The mysterious enemy brought her hand up and the roof beneath Ruby started glowing and making a, "I'm about to explode," noise, which was never a good sign, really. But, before Ruby could utilize the recoil of Crescent Rose in his patented, Get Me Anywhere but Here™, technique, he was pushed out of the way of harm by the huntress with the very normal butt. He was starting to feel kinda bad that this woman had saved his life twice in the span of two minutes, but hey, he'd put up with fifteen years of Yang Xiao-Long, so maybe this was just a down payment by karma.
Regardless of cosmic recompense for Yang's puns and teasing, the criminal bullhead turned to flee and flew away, leaving Ruby with only one problem. When the woman who had saved his life twice turned to regard him with a critical eye, Ruby said the first thing that came to his mind, "You have a very normal butt."
She turned to face him fully, an eyebrow arched and eyes that were like green steel, "I'm Glynda Goodwitch. You are quite skilled with your scythe…"
Several seconds of silence passed before Ruby realized she was waiting for him to give his name, "Oh sorry, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! Future huntsman extraordinaire!"
The answer seemed to intrigue the huntress, "You're the dau-son? Of Summer Rose?"
Ruby thought she could see both Yang and that well dressed criminal leader holding each other for support as they laughed themselves blue in his head, he could only sigh despondently, "Yes, I'm a guy, and yes, Summer Rose is my mom."
Glynda carried on without response to that, "Interesting. If you'd please stay for a moment while I make a call." Apparently she just assumed his compliance as she immediately turned from Ruby and brought out her scroll, diving into a quiet conversation that Ruby couldn't make out a word of. After about a minute she put her scroll away and turned back to Ruby, "You made quite a mess with those men, and you've caught the attention of my superior."
This was getting weird, he was thankful for the whole saving his life thing, twice, but all those warnings, about staying away from weird, older women determined to take him somewhere, from Summer were coming back into his head. Then again, he thought as he felt the weight of Crescent Rose in his hands, I don't think mom always remembers that I'm frickin badass. "So, who's your superior? And why do they want to see me?
Glynda turned away from Ruby and strode toward the edge of the roof, she looked back to him over her shoulder, "Professor Ozpin." And then she jumped straight off the roof.
Ruby followed her.
"They started it!" Seriously why couldn't this woman get that through her blond head?
"If it were up to me you'd be sent with a pat on the back," The blond in question said with the first smile Ruby had seen on her face as she walked around the table he was sat at, she raised her riding crop, "and a slap on the wrist!" Her riding crop came down, narrowly missing Ruby's hands as he jerked them away with a manly, "Eeep!"
Who just waves around a magical riding crop and smacks teenagers with it? If she was a teacher or something she'd be fired for it!
"But, there is someone here who would like to meet you." And right on cue a silver-haired man with the most ridiculous glasses Ruby had ever seen, and he'd seen all of Yang's novelty glasses, stepped out from the shadows with a steaming mug and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. He walked to the table and laid the plate of cookies at Ruby's hands before he sat down opposite of the teen.
The man, whom Ruby felt like he should recognize, took a long sip out of his mug before placing it down and regarding Ruby with a kind, wise face that bespoke of years and years of experience and wisdom. Ruby hardly glanced at the man as he desperately tried to resist the temptation to wolf down the whole plate of cookies in front of him, Be strong Ruby, you're stronger than a plate of cookies, no matter how warm, soft, and obviously freshly baked they are. His arm slowly crawled toward the plate, having gone rogue and refusing to follow orders from high command, This is treason! Mutiny! We're better than this! Stop it hand! The rogue hand grasped the cookie at the center of the plate and the top of the pile, it brought it up to Ruby's face where his treacherous mouth opened eagerly, No! No. N- The cookie hit his tongue and the next thing Ruby saw was a small flurry of dissipating rose petals falling slowly towards an empty plate. They tasted just like mom's, no wonder I couldn't resist. But we'll still have words later, hand!
It was then that Ruby looked up and saw the two adults regarding him. Glynda wore a critical and stern frown, the other an amused and patient smile. The elderly man spoke, "You have your mother's eyes, young Ruby, and I dare say her sweet tooth as well," The man chuckled as he took another sip from his mug, "but although your mother is a skilled huntress herself, she does not wield such a dangerous and esoteric weapon as your scythe. I'm interested to know how you came to wield it so expertly." He nodded towards Glynda, whose scroll was displaying camera footage of his battle, slaughter really, outside the Dust shop.
Her, not 'it'! Crescent Rose is a delicate lady! Ruby thought to correct him, but decided at the last moment the cookies had embarrassed him enough, "Sh-uh, Signal Academy."
"Indeed? They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" He seemed mildly surprised.
"Well, one teacher in particular, my uncle, Qrow." A man who loved alcohol almost as much as Ruby loved cookies, Maybe I should carry around a flask of cookie batter?
"Hmm, and why are you attending Signal Academy, Mister Rose? Following in your parents' footsteps?"
"I want to be a huntsman!"
"You want to slay monsters?"
"Well, yeah. My father was an awesome huntsman, and my mother still is, and my uncle is a huntsman too, and my sister is also trying to become a huntress, so I guess it's just a family thing, y'know?. I mean, they're all super awesome badasses, so why not me too? I mean, the police and the military are okay, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more frickin badass, awesome, and totally cool!" Ruby realized somewhere along the way he had thrust both his arms into the air and he sheepishly lowered them while muttering, "traitors."
The elderly man, sage and unflappable, looked down at Ruby past his wacky glasses, "Do you know who I am?"
It dawned on Ruby all at once, wise old man, works with a badass, if super scary, huntress that obviously defers to him, and wears spectacles that serve absolutely no purpose but to enhance his cryptic persona, "You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon Academy." Crap, if I make any of a worse impression it might hurt Yang's admission. If he thinks my whole family is as crazy as m-wait, my whole family is as crazy as me. Most of them are worse!
"Do you want to come to my school?"
"I'm sorry for th-wait, WHAT!?" Did he? Did he!? NO WAY! Oh my gods he said! Holy. Crap. I mean I know I'm frickin badass, but but, but, but, BEACON!? NOW!?
"I sai-"
"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES." It took Ruby a few seconds to realize that he was running around the room using his semblance while screaming at the top of his lungs, but when he did he decided that this reaction was one hundred percent warranted for the news that he, Ruby Rose, future greatest huntsman on Remnant, was getting into Beacon two years early! I'm going to be going with Yang, wait until I tell her! This is the greatest day of my life!
He still thought that two minutes later when Glynda realized he wasn't going to be stopping any time soon and brought his little race to an end using her semblance. But even as he was ushered out the room, hanging upside down and being carried by Glynda's telekinesis, he couldn't keep the smile from splitting his face. Look out Beacon, here comes Ruby Rose.
Chapter 2: Home Life
"…and that's pretty much it!" Ruby finished, hands held before him as if offering all that had he just recounted to his audience. His audience consisted of his sister and his mother, the former sat next to him in an identical cushioned chair as his own, the latter across from him in a well-worn love seat; all of them were sat in the cozy living room of the Rose family house on the island of Patch. Yang looked thrilled, beyond thrilled even, she looked like she was about rush out of her chair and grab Ruby up in a spine crushing hug, he had his semblance ready in case she did just that. Summer looked pleased, but not quite as pleased as Ruby had imagined she would be. She's probably just concerned about those criminals who escaped, Ruby thought, she's always thinking about stopping bad guys, she's so noble! I'll be just like you one day mom, I promise.
"That's incredible Ruby! I always knew my little brother was kickass, but this is something else! Getting into Beacon two years early and personally invited by the headmaster? Everyone's going to think you're the bee's knees!" Yang's smile was glowing and her pride and affection radiated off of her almost as palpably as her anger did when she used her semblance as she carried on about how awesome her little brother was, but now that Yang mentioned it he would be a center of attention at Beacon wouldn't he? And why'd she have to say something so lame anyway? Who says 'the bee's knees?' Even when I stop armed criminals she still talks to me like I'm a kid! He'd had plenty of attention at Signal too. Uncle Qrow and Summer Rose both taught there for one thing, not to mention he was pretty damn good at fighting and wielded the most badass weapon in all of Remnant. In spite of, or more likely because of, though Ruby was too young and naive to realize it, all his talents and familial connection he'd often been somewhat of a social outcast. His skills made him envied, his open and forward demeanor made him stand out, and his eccentricities made him easy to pick on. In fact most of the few friends he did have were only his "friends" so they'd have an excuse to spend time around Yang. Even Ruby wasn't blind enough to notice how many boys followed his sister around, his own friends included, and he had a pretty good idea of why that was. And, to drive the point home, the reason, or rather the two reasons, for that were happily bouncing up and down on her chest as she went through a range of motions to bodily punctuate the list of reasons why Ruby was going to be so "popular" at Beacon. He was pretty sure his sister was still going to be one of those reasons. Heh, I'm probably the only guy at Signal that didn't want to be smothered in Yang's chest. A slide show of memories of near suffocation trapped in Yang's cleavage flashed through his mind as he grimaced, I'm also the only one who was. Ugh!
Summer cut into the conversation as Yang paused for air, her smile motherly and small, "You did very well, Ruby. I'm proud of you." Her ever present white cloak, the inspiration for her son's, rustled slightly as she glanced away from him suddenly to cough, "You said he offered you to start this semester right?"
"Yup! In just three days!" Her smile, small as it was, shrunk a little more at her son's confirmation, but Ruby didn't even notice as his mind was wholly occupied imagining the future, his future, as he talked, "I've got so much to do to get ready! I'm going to dismantle Crescent Rose fully to give her a full cleaning, which I was going to do anyway since her weekly fully dismantled maintenance was going to be tomorrow anyway, but I'm going to take extra care now! I might even do it twice, she's going to have to be in tip-top shape for her first day at Beacon! I've got to get all my clothes cleaned and packed, and maybe we can go to that Dust mage in Vale tomorrow mom to get another cloak for me? This one is still fine but I'd love to have a spare handy at Beacon just in case the Dust in this one messes up or something. And I'll need to get all my Dust packed up properly, I still have to make a bunch of rounds still too! And not to mention what I'll need for regular school supplies…"
Yang watched with a huge smile and a warm heart as Ruby went on and on about everything he had to do to get ready for Beacon. Some people, most even, might say Ruby Rose was shy, socially awkward, and naive, and while they were pretty much completely right, they were only right when it came to public settings. Put Ruby in a crowd of people and ask him to try and make a friend and he'd just stand there and look dumbly at you, Yang knew that from experience, but put him at home with his mom and sister and he'd talk for hours and hours about huntsmen, or Dust, or Crescent Rose. Especially that last one.
Yang cringed internally as she remembered the last, and only, time she'd told her little bro that Ember Celica was a better weapon than Crescent Rose, mostly just to get a rise out of him. And, oh boy, did it get a rise out of him! She wasn't entirely convinced at the time that Ruby wasn't about to burst into flames and use her own semblance on her.
Even in public Ruby could sometimes lose himself and get excited if you got him on the right topics, though instead of making him more sociable it unfortunately made him seem weirder to any prospective friends, Their loss, Yang thought. But after a few of those incidents early on in Ruby's time at Signal he learned to "control" himself and suppress any public outbursts of his passions. He'd gotten pretty good at it, she was sad to admit to herself, he shouldn't have to hide his feelings from people, but there were plenty of tells he had when he was excited. Take now, for instance, he was moving his hands all around, accentuating everything he said with thrusts and waves of his arms, if he was in a public setting and trying to clamp down on his feelings he'd not be doing that, obviously, but they'd still be fidgeting, messing with his cloak or petting Crescent Rose. Her little brother was a bundle of energy, and when he got excited he just couldn't help himself, he had to express that energy somehow. She remembered when he first got the inspiration for Crescent Rose, he had literally burst into rose petals and locked himself away in his room for over a day planning her out. She had plenty of jokes about how fast her little brother was, but she was saving those for when he got his first girlfriend.
And while Yang could read Ruby like a book it wasn't just because she'd known him for her whole life, Yang had a decent natural talent at reading people, their emotions, their motivations, what made them tick. She wasn't exactly a psychic, but she was decent. She couldn't read anyone as well as Ruby, obviously, but there were some others she could figure out easier than others. One of those people was seated next to her and listening politely to her son's long-winded and dizzyingly fast one-sided conversation. Even so, it wouldn't take someone of even Yang's modest people reading abilities to figure out that Summer Rose was not happy. How static her smile was, the way it wilted every time Ruby made mention of leaving home, how one hand kept playing with the hem of her cloak, I think that's where Ruby gets that from now that I think about it. It was plain to Yang Xiao Long that her stepmother was not exactly thrilled with the idea of her son leaving home two years earlier than she had anticipated.
Yang had to try and do something about that. "Hey, Ruby."
"…and of course I'll have t-oh, yeah what's up sis?" Ruby tilted his head at her just like Zwei did when he was confused and Yang almost died trying to keep herself from d'awwwww-ing out loud. Which she did manage, if barely. You have no right to be so cute Ruby.
"I know there's a lot you need to get done before we go to Beacon, but I think it's just as important that we celebrate! So I think we should go out somewhere tonight to do just that, right mom?" Yang nodded to Summer and saw the appreciation in her eyes as her smile grew into a real one for the first time since Ruby broke the news.
"That's a great idea sweetheart! Honey, why don't you go wash up and change into some fresh clothes?" She nodded at Ruby, "They're all worn out from your fight."
Ruby's silver eyes widened like a pair of full moons, and he looked down at his clothes, quickly tugging a piece of his cloak into his lap to inspect it, "OH MY GOSH! MY CLOAK IS TORN!" And with that he rushed up the stairs to the second story, rose petals flowing after him in his wake while he cursed and swore vengeance on the criminals who had dared to defile his favorite garment. Yang would have found it funny but for the similarities in the way that she viewed her illustrious hair. If someone had damaged her perfect locks she'd, well, Junior had found out the hard way. She lovingly petted her hair, It's okay baby, mommy's never going to let someone hurt you again.
"Thank you, Yang. Going out together tonight is a wonderful idea." She smiled and patted the empty part of the love seat she sat on, "Have I ever told you that you're my favorite daughter?"
Yang rolled her eyes dramatically as she sat down next to Summer, leaning into the woman's side as she ran her hands through her stepdaughter's golden hair, looking for knots to untangle, she'd never find any of course, not with the fanatical way in which Yang cared for her hair, but it was comforting for both of them. "I'm your only daughter."
Summer laughed but didn't say anything for a while, the two of them sitting in peaceful silence, well, relatively peaceful, Ruby was making a racket upstairs as he ran around getting cleaned and fussing over his cloak. "I'm not just going to miss him you know." She put a hand under Yang's chin and turned her head to face her, "I love you too. I couldn't possibly love you anymore even if you came from my own womb." She bent down to kiss Yang on her forehead.
Yang sighed contentedly and nuzzled further into Summer's side, she leaned down to rest her head on the woman's breasts as she continued to stroke her hair, "I know mom, I know it just caught you off guard with how out of the blue it was. It caught me off guard too, I thought I wouldn't have to put up with the brat for a couple of years!" Yang chuckled as Summer lightly slapped her on the side of her head, they both knew Yang was just teasing. In fact, Yang knew for certain there wasn't a person in the world she loved more than Ruby Rose. As much as a handful as her brother could be, he was her only family, true blood family at least. Unless you counted Uncle Qrow, but calling Uncle Qrow family was like calling a chicken a bird. It was true, obvious, and you still loved it, but there were a lot of differences between it and a song bird.
"I'm happy for the both of you, and so, so very proud of you both. And I know you two will do wonderfully at Beacon and love it, my four years at Beacon were some of the best of my life. The only ones better have been the seventeen since you were born."
Yang was a pretty emotional person, not very "lovey-dovey" or "sappy," but she certainly didn't try to hide or suppress her emotions. So it was a somewhat uncommon but not entirely rare for her when she teared up a little hearing Summer's words and feeling her heartbeat under her breast. Yang knew Summer loved her, of course, and she loved Summer like she was her own mother, and by all rights except biological Summer Rose was Yang's mother, but it still felt good to hear her state her love and feel her show it from time to time, if only to put to rest the occasional niggling doubt in the back of her mind. "We'll visit at least once a month mom, and we'll call several times a week."
Summer sighed, and Yang couldn't tell exactly what emotions Summer was hiding behind that sound, but it wasn't sad and that's all that mattered, "I know you will sweetheart, I know you will." Summer Rose was a lot like Yang in the emotions department, like Yang she wasn't afraid to show her emotions, but after so many years as a team leader, then a solo adventuring huntress, then a single mom, she'd grown accustom to handling all of her emotions herself and putting them aside for the good of those around her. But Summer Rose wasn't afraid to cry, which was evident every time Yang or Ruby did anything even mildly impressive and Summer would go on and on about how amazing her children were.
It was also evident every time Yang went downstairs in the middle of night to get a late night snack and caught Summer watching a trashy romance movie and eating out of a tub of ice cream. Yang had been tempted to tease her about that once or twice, but she had a pretty good idea what, or rather whom, Summer was thinking about when she watched those movies and cried to herself in the dead of night. Sometimes Yang would stay down there with her mom and they'd cry together and eat ice cream together, but they never needed to say much to each other during those times. The few times Ruby had caught them he'd mumbled something about over emotional girls disturbing his sleep and would wonder aloud why all women couldn't be like Crescent Rose. Yang thought it spoke volumes about her brother's psyche that he found more comfort in the idea of a super deadly gun-scythe with enough blades on it to open a sawmill than he did the female body and soul.
It was pretty scary to think that Ruby Rose of all people was the least emotional person in their little family. Heck, even Qrow could downright sentimental when he was drunk, not regular people drunk, obviously, but Qrow Branwen drunk, which meant really frickin drunk. Yang shuddered at the memory of the bear hug her uncle had given her that one time, Is that how Ruby feels when I hug him? Maybe I've been cruel to my little brother.
Ruby Rose coughed loudly from the top of the stairs where he was stood. His red hair still looked wet from his quick shower, and Ruby could take might quick showers, Yang idly wondered if he could just turn into rose petals and wash himself that way, Oh gosh, what if he did that as part of a date? Turned into rose petals in a tub of water!? Ruby had told her many times that he didn't have that level of control over his semblance, yet, Yang always added to herself. She was probably one of the only girls in the world who never wanted a suitor to present her with a bouquet of roses on the paranoid suspicion it might contain her brother in disguise. Yang shook her head to dismiss that line of thought as Ruby spoke, "I figured out my cloak wasn't damaged, mom," Ruby looked accusingly at Summer who put on one of the best, "Who? Me?" faces Yang had ever seen, "Part of it was just being used by my semblance since I guess I got a little excited when I was talking." His face flushed a little and Yang found it hard to resist the urge to rush up the stairs and pinch his cheeks while asking him why his face was so rosy.
Ruby rushed down the stairs and came to stand beside Summer, who was still cuddling Yang. She patted her knee and Ruby sat down on it before leaning backwards to snuggle into her chest himself. Summer hummed a little tune for a bit as she rocked slightly, side to side, her two children snuggling up to her and held tightly to her bosom. "So where do you two want to go? It's celebration for both of you, after all." She squeezed Yang a little tighter as she said that.
Ruby answered first, "Anywhere Yang wants to go is good with me!" As long as they have good cookies, it went unsaid. Yang and Summer both knew him well enough to know that automatically.
Yang flushed just the tiniest bit at her brother's casual kindness, normally it wouldn't have affected her so, but after her short heart-to-heart with Summer it was just an extra bit of sweetness that was so quintessentially Ruby. "Awwwwwww, that's so sweet of you!" She laughed and wrapped both arms around him before he could run away, she hugged him tightly into her breasts as he struggled futilely against her, beating his arms against her back and making all sorts of suffocating noises that Yang was seventy percent sure were over dramatic. It was hard to tell sometimes, she did have very powerful breasts.
Summer laughed and wrapped her arms around them both, holding them in a tight hug that Ruby had a decent chance of not surviving.
This is the most important thing in the world, Yang thought to herself as she loosened her grip enough for Ruby to take in a great gasp of air and start ranting at her about the merits of not suffocating her brother in her, as he so elegantly put it, "over-sized milk jugs." Yang playfully knocked him on the side of the head as he kept ranting at her, silver eyes flashing in indignation though he never made the slightest effort to actually push away from her, He's the most important thing in the world to me.