"Have I mentioned how much I hate you lately?" Ruby asked, arms thrown back across the apartment's couch.

"Really?" Her boss, Vale's Composer, said lightly, cleaning her brush as she used her stupid amount of power to do something she couldn't in the Realground, "What for this time?"

"I'm not blind, you know." Ruby said, "Something's up in the Realground. It's so big even the Supports can feel the quakes."

"That still doesn't explain why you hate me."

"Because you're involved. I know your signature, Neo. You've popping up in the RG all the time lately."

"Maybe I need paint?" the multicolored woman asked.

"Then you'd send me, since apparently part of my job is to act as your goffer. You're up to something."

"Heh," Neo laughed, "Perceptive of you. What happened to the girl who all but bumbled through the Game on nothing but power?"

"She spent the last two years dealing with your conflicting orders and keeping the Reapers doing their job properly," Ruby said, pulling out a butterfly knife and beginning to do elaborate tricks as her boss worked, "Kin was slacking. I'm still finding things that should have been dealt with years ago."

"It's a good first test dear," Neo poked her head out from around her easel, frowning, "You didn't have that yesterday…"

"Yep," Ruby said, focusing on the crimson knife, "It's new."

"Why? I thought you had that scythe of yours. It's good, swap out your cloak with a black one and you'd be a walking stereotype."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Crescent Rose is my RG weapon. She's too recognizable, if I used it in the UG, or in the RG while in my Reaper outfit and someone recognized it, you, me and Hei would be in for one hell of a headache. So I'm trying this out. Weapons and fighting are my art, remember?"

Technically speaking, and in any other city big enough to have a fully realized Underground, Atlas, Mantle, Mistral, heck, even the nearly formed one at Kuo Kuana, the Conductor wasn't supposed to be 'in' on the existence of the Producer… but a combination of Neo's notoriously flakey handle on her job, Vale going three months without her naming a new Conductor after Neo Erased Kin, and the fact that Ruby was almost certain the men upstairs wanted her to take Neo's place at some point had led to Ruby getting informed of that secret.

"How much longer till the next game starts?" Neo asked suddenly.

"Soon," Ruby stood, "I should go."

"Buy me some paint while you're out!"

"I'm not coming back today!" Ruby called, walking to the elevator, "I've got other stuff I need to get done. I'm supposed to meet up with Yang for school shopping."

"Fine, fine. But I want you to be in the Realground at the shop From Dust till Dawn at nine tomorrow!"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. Why there?

Ruby stepped into the elevator, hitting the button that would send her to the lobby, and shifted down with a happy sigh. Reapers, even the strongest in all of Vale, weren't prepared for the strain of the Composer.

Ruby pulled out her scroll, sliding her headphones from the place around her neck and started her music as she read the list of prospective Players with a dull interest. She felt sorry for them, it was the week after a long break, so every Reaper would be out for blood.

The Reapers' Game was a depressing but necessary sin. They grabbed people with potential to create some form of art, from painters, to musicians, to couturiers. In Ruby's case it had been, and she was firmly convinced Hei had pulled some serious strings to pass this one off, her ability to fight. They grabbed these people on the brink of death, from car crashes, White Fang attacks, muggings and the like, and gave them an offer.

Pay the price of what was most precious to you for entry into the Reapers' Game and the chance to return to life. Each day the Game Master, this week it was Kolr, would assign a challenge and generally a time limit. If anyone completed the challenge, the timers that appeared on the palm of the players' hand disappeared and everyone moved on. Fail and the Reapers were allowed to go all out and Erase everyone in the Game, extending their own life.

Succeed all seven days, however, and Neo, through Ruby, decided what happened to the survivors. Those who had coasted by without any real effort were generally Erased anyways, they hadn't gotten the point of the Game. Occasionally they would be allowed a second chance at the game, with the caveat that they would be Erased if they failed again. No round three, no weedling out of it. You won or you were done for. Ones who broke the rules that Neo (or half the time, Hei or Ruby) assigned were of the same fate.

Ruby stepped out of the elevator, calmly walking through people while spinning her knife.

Some were offered the chance to become Reapers. A best of both worlds, of sorts. With the exception of the Conductor, in this case Ruby, you were expected to eliminate Players either through 'Walls' blocking the way to the objective if you were a Support or by hunting them if you were a Harrier. They could freely shift between the UG and RG (though they were frustratingly weak in the RG) at will and fight Noise without a partner. So long as they did their job, they could continue the life they had before.

Some were given what they had been offered, back to life, away from what would have ended it. No questions asked, no strings attached. They would occasionally see into the UG, but that was it.

And Ruby was a key player in making sure it all happened like clockwork. Giving the dying hope and then dashing it. She had paid her hopes and dreams of being a hero for her chance. You were supposed to get your payment back if you won, but sometimes Ruby wondered if she had.

Unfortunately for this batch, Ruby strongly suspected that even with the pile up of three weeks of contenders, they wouldn't make it to Kolr. She couldn't know what the Supports were thinking, there were just too many of them, and even many of the Harriers were unknown. She did know the six who rotated through the Game Master spot, Kolr Bjorn, Hector Ambrosia, Orla Doyle, Griselda Grey, Irving and Rufina Bayard were eager for a bloodbath. Even with Ruby's powers, she knew there would be trouble if she didn't let it slide.

Pushing open the door to Hei's club, Ruby felt herself be forcefully shunted back into the RG. Hei's place was one of several throughout the city where Players could interact with the Realground. Places to get food, first aid or, for some reason that Irving and Rufina had explained to Ruby several times but she was still no closer to understanding, clothing stores.

Ruby preferred staying in the Underground whenever she was in Vale, unless she was with Yang, her Dad or Uncle Qrow. While she was amazing with Crescent Rose, she had many more tricks she could unleash if someone did something stupid in the UG.

Sure, she was allowed to tap into her power in the RG, any high ranking Reaper could do so to some extent, but it wasn't the same. Not unless she was working to avoid an UG collapse.

UG collapse was the unambiguous worst case scenario. Normally, if Neo gave an order, Ruby wasn't technically allowed to outright disobey. She could follow them to the letter, rather than the spirit, but she was ultimately Neo's proxy in the UG. However, if the risk of UG collapse was large enough, Ruby could declare an Emergency Call. Her and all the Reapers were free from Neo's rules during one, and they would do whatever it took to stop it.

A city had to have a UG. It was a reflection based off imagination and dreams. There was only one recorded case of a UG collapse, and it wasn't pretty.

For reasons to this day unknown, because there wasn't really anyone who could do so, the Composer was dead along with most all of the Reapers. One day Vacuo's UG had just, essentially, exploded. Reapers tied to it collapsed and died in the streets. With them, creativity in Vacuo died. Slowly, those with any artistic talent left for greener pastures, for a place with a functioning UG.

Ruby nodded to Hei, who was sitting at the bar talking with a man wearing a white suit with red hair covering one eye. Shutting off her music, Ruby pushed down her headphones, and spoke quickly and quietly, "Are they here?"

"Loft. You know how to get there," Hei said, "And would you please put that knife away? You're scaring the patrons."

Ruby stopped, putting the knife away in her pocket. She was wearing the outfit Rufina and Irving had made her when she became Conductor, and they had repeatedly redone every time it got damaged on some dumb job for Neo or when she outgrew it.

Ruby liked her day to day outfit more and steadfastly refused to let her fashion designer friends make a copy for her. She was willing to accept something for when she was Ruby Rose, Conductor, but not for outside of that role. When she was Ruby Rose, second child of a middle-class family, she shouldn't be walking around in designer clothes that probably cost more than the rest of her wardrobe combined.

She didn't want to think about how much money had been spent on her current clothing. Ruby had been a late bloomer, meaning they had redone the outfit several times as she grew.

The outfit itself was a very good blend of Ruby and Reaper. The general rule of Reapers was that the higher up you went, the more elaborate and easily identifiable your outfit got. It made sense, climbing the ranks generally meant you were more in tune with the music of the UG. Supports and low ranked Harriers tended to wear hoodies, but the mid-rank and higher often had more expensive outfits.

But Ruby wasn't one for elaborate. So while her outfit would give her away as Reaper to anyone who was looking for one, and as the Conductor to any Reaper, it was fairly simplistic. Well, simplistic if you didn't count being made out horrifically and embarrassingly expensive materials.

Around her lower half were a pair of dark jeans that Rufina had taken a pair of scissors to. Apparently at the time pre ripped jeans had been 'in'. Paranoidly, Ruby had taken to wearing a pair of tights under them just in case something ripped.

They had let her keep her blouse and corset, thankfully. In fact, Irving had decided he liked that bit so much that he had managed to bring it in vogue and keep it there for a solid year and a half which, Rufina had informed her seriously, was incredibly good. Yang, who while far from a fashionista did keep an ear to the ground on these things, had been impressed to see Ruby 'predict' the trend.

Ruby might have been more impressed if she wasn't completely aware of how he had managed it. Being in the UG made it easy to manipulate thought. Not to the point of mind control (as far as Ruby knew) but little nudges in the direction you want it to go. Even Players used this trick in a limited fashion during the Game. She would be willing to bet that Irving had used at least one day over the course of his weeks where the only thing he did was have the players working to keep it popular.

Over that was a hooded coat that, and Ruby was certain they were using Psychs for it, somehow never got in her way despite it reaching her legs. Crimson red with the sprawling black tribal designs Reapers' favored. When she pulled on the hood and zipped it up, it was a passable impression of her cloak and hid any remaining sign of her identity.

Ruby toed open the door to the loft. Technically it was hers, but she had little use for it outside of a place everyone could meet. Her friends were in various states of relaxation in the room.

Kolr was probably the one Ruby could actually get away with hanging out in the Realground. The bear faunus was around the same age as Yang and they were of similar social standings. They had hung out a couple of times, though not often to avoid drawing anymore attention than needed.

Korl's outfit was even less elaborate than Ruby, though that made sense given what he did. His black hoodie was splattered with stains of spray paint, he had a red bandana pulled down around his neck, just a slightly messier version of the standard Harrier look, and was sitting there cutting out a stencil for his next job with his black hair short again.

Hector was, as his all too fitting name suggested, cooking in the kitchen in a blur of knives, pans and the occasional hearty swearing as he grabbed one of those pans and dumped it into the trash, his green hair matted with sweat. It was rare that they went nearly a month without gathering like this, and he was apparently making up for lost time giving his test dumi- er… friends new recipes to try.

Irving and Rufina were rushing around Orla, their suit coats off as they took a variety of measurements from the guitarist. Irving's brown hair was pulled back into a braid today, while Rufina's golden hair was starting to fall into her face.

Griselda was sitting on the couch opposite Korl leaving her back to the door, and Ruby, as she typed away, working on the next novel in her series. Ruby snuck over, looking down at the words being written, "Zelda, what did I say about writing filth in my apartment?"

It was funny to see her jump slightly, Griselda slamming the terminal holding the filth shut as she turned to look at Ruby, "Ruby! You're here!"

"About time," Kolr said, putting his stencil away, "I was starting to think you did something stupid and the Composer erased you!"

"Nope, meeting ran a bit long," Ruby said, hopping over the couch back and landing next to Orla's guitar.

"Hec," Orla called as the Bayards let her return to her seat, "Is that poison almost ready yet?"

"Fuck you too!" Hector laughed.

"Isn't that why you feed it to us first?" Irving said as he sat down with his wife, "Because we can survive it?"

"Composer as my witness," Hector said, brandishing a heavy pan, "I will throw this at you!"

Ruby joined in the laughter, pulling out her knife and resuming her tricks as she waited for Hector to finish the food and hand out plates.

The group fell into easy conversation. Kolr wanted to hide out at the loft because the White Fang was out recruiting and it had seemed to take a headlong tilt into crazyville a couple of weeks back, Orla had used the two weeks to go relax on the beach, which wasn't easy to tell, given her dark complexion.

"What do you know?" Irving said, as he pushed away the plate, "Hec actually decided to not poison us for once. I knew he could do it!"

Hector didn't dignify that with a response, focusing on Ruby, "So, who's in charge of the game this week?"

The air turned to tense excitement as they all turned to her. A completely understandable feeling, no matter what any of them did for a living in the RG, they were Reapers first and foremost. Each of them played their role like clockwork, and that role was to be the horrid hunter stalking the Players.

"...Kolr," Ruby said.

"DAMMIT!" Kolr punched the table, "I spend the last two weeks planning out new tricks and now I'm stuck here?"

"Better you than me," Irving laughed jumping up and pulling Rufina with him, "Orla, give us a song!"

"At least pay the girl first," Griselda cracked open her terminal, opening a new file full of plans.

"How many do we have this week," Hector was grinning wildly, handing a bit of lien to Orla so she'd amuse Irving.

"Hundred and seventy," Kolr continued, "It was gonna be great, I was gonna finally catch up with Rufina!"

"Only in your dreams!" Rufina called from where she was dancing with her husband to the waltz Orla was playing.

Despite the morbidity of the topic, Ruby couldn't help but give a small smile. This is what they were like. The Reapers' game was a competition, both between the Players and the Reapers and between the Reapers themselves.

It was good to see her friends like this. Sometimes dealing with Neo's seeming inability to actually do her job made Ruby wonder why she kept the job. Then there were moments like-

-Hei flying through the wall and into the back of the couch. His normally impeccable suit a mess.

"Holy shit," Hector vaulted over the couch, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," The Producer winced, "Takes more than that to knock me out. Your sister's here," Hei directed the comment at Ruby.

Yang was here? And, Ruby checked, currently trashing the club. That wouldn't stand.

"I'll be right back," Ruby said, pulling her hood on and flipping her butterfly knives into hand.

"Rub-" the Conductor fell, cutting off Hei's call and going to face her sister. This was going to be really awkward.

- X Hei X-

Hei "Junior" Xiong wasn't like most people. He wasn't even like most of the 'not like most people' people who came into his club.

For one thing, he was (legally) his own father. For another, he was actually over four hundred years old. For a third, he was an Angel.

Ok, so technically he had fallen somewhere around the Great War, but that didn't change that he was still an Angel and answered to the rest of his kin. Which is why he was Vale's Producer. The last line of defense if both Neo and Ruby failed at their jobs.

Sitting at his own bar, Hei looked back at the cough from behind him. The person leaned against his bar, a man in a white coat.

"Roman Torchwick," Hei said with a friendly smile, "What are you doing here?"

The robber nodded toward him, "You're Hei?"

Hei's lips tugged downwards. Only Ruby and Neo called him Hei. They saw each other on a near daily basis, even if it was just Ruby trudging in for a mug of the hot chocolate from the Conductor's apartment. Just because the Game wasn't going on didn't mean problems stopped forming in the Underground.

"Call me Junior," Hei said, "Everyone does."

"Call me Roman then," Torchwick said with a smile that probably was supposed to be friendly but only served to put Hei on guard, "A mutual friend of ours pointed me your way. Short, carries an umbrella, adorably sadistic."

Dammit. Neo.

Hei breathed in slowly through his nose in an attempt to hide his ire. This was what the bosses meant when they expressed concerns about Neo's fitness to compose. Sending a diagnosed sociopath his way, what was she thinking?

Before he responded, Ruby walked in, dodging around patrons as she flipped one of the larger than average butterfly knives he had helped her get. Pushing down her headphones, the Conductor spoke quietly, "Are they here?"

"Loft. You know how to get there," Hei said, "And would you please put that knife away? You're scaring the patrons."

Ruby did, flipping the knife closed and walking towards the back.

"Cute kid," Roman said, "Little sister?"

"Something of the sort," Hei hedged around answering, "So Neo sent you. Why?"

"Well," Roman grinned, "I'm getting ready for a job, and need men. Neo said you could get me them. Was she wrong?"

"No," Hei said, "I can do that. How many men and when?"

"Let's go with… ten by tomorrow."

Great.

"They'll be here," Hei said, "but you need to pay in advance."

"And I will. Tomorrow," Roman turned, "See you then!"

Hei sighed as he left, turning to the faunus tending the bar. A Harrier during the Game, "I need a drink, Rob."

The Reaper handed over a glass of whiskey, leaning down, "Sir. A young woman just walked in."

Hei looked back, eye widening as he saw a girl he had never met, but certainly knew of. Long blond hair, purple eyes, a black flaming heart on her yellow top.

"Listen to me," Hei whispered, "Act natural. If you get a call from the loft, do not use names."

"What? Why?"

"Because that is the Conductor's sister."

Robert froze for a second, before calmly walking over to Yang, "What can I get you?"

"Strawberry Sunrise. No ice and, uh, one of those little umbrellas."

Hei stood up, walking over, "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking, Blondie?"

"Aren't you a bit old to be called Junior?" she responded.

She didn't know the half of it.

"So, looks like you have me at a disadvantage. Got a name, sweetheart?"

"Several. But instead of sweetheart," Junior squeaked as she crushed his groin, "Call me sir," Yang pulled out her scroll turning on a picture, "They say you know everything. Tell me where I can find this woman and I'll let you go."

Hei looked down at the image, a woman with black hair and red eyes, "I've never seen her before, sir."

Ruby owed him for this.

Yang let go of him, and Hei turned away and walked away. He would let Ruby deal with th-

"Hey, hey that must have been embarrassing for you. Getting manhandled by a girl in front of your men!"

Compared to dealing with Neo or Ruby? Not really.

"I'm giving you one warning," Hei said, "Get out of my club and don't come back."

"Aww," Yang smiled, "Come on, Junior. I was just playing with you. Let's kiss and make up."

Hei stopped, looking at the girl and weighing his options. She was pretty, but if Ruby found out… yeah, not worth it.

"No," Hei said, pushing past her.

"What? Why not?" Yang asked.

"Because you assaulted me in my own club? I could press charges for that, you know."

"C'mon. Why would you do that?"

"I haven't done anything wrong since you walked in here," Hei let a bit of his power leak out, "I'm well within my rights to make sure you're of age when you order an alcoholic drink," he was sooo checking her age with Ruby after, "as am I to ask you to identify yourself. In fact, I could get in legal trouble for not doing the first one. Then you attack me and start making demands. Get out of my club or I will call the police."

Hei saw Yang clench her fist as the club had all but stopped, watching them. Then she hit him… hard.

Hei smashed through the wall, rolling to a stop against one of the couches in the loft. Ruby was paying to get that fixed… which meant Neo was paying to get that fixed.

"Holy Shit!" Hei groaned as Hector helped him sit up, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Hei winced as his chest ached, "Takes more than that to knock me out. Your sister's here," He focused on the Ruby colored blob.

"I'll be right back," Ruby said, moving her hands up, pulling on her hood and grabbing her knives.

"Rub-" before Hei could finish, Ruby stepped off the edge of the hole, falling down, "Dammit!"

"It's fine," Irving said, joining Hector in lifting Hei up and helping him to the couch, "Ruby can deal with this."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Hei winced.

- X Yang X-

Yang deployed Ember Celica as the twins confronted her. At the same time mentally berating herself.

How stupid could she get? Junior threatens to call the police for assault and she hits him? Wouldn't be the first time she had been brought up on assault charges and somehow she didn't think she would be able to get out of this one with just a court mandated therapy course.

"Melanie, who is-"

They were cut off by a dull thump, turning to the hole Junior had made. Standing there was a person wearing a red and black coat and holding a pair of large butterfly knives. Anything else was hidden by the coat. They pointed a finger at the twins, hiking a thumb up towards the hole he had just fallen through.

The twins shared a look before speaking, "Conductor…"

'Conductor' just repeated the gesture. Once the twins were gone, Conductor started to walk slowly back and forth.

"So," Yang said, "Conductor, eh? Please tell me that's not your real name. I don't think parents can hate their kids that much."

Conductor didn't say anything, did a trick with one knife.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Yang smirked, "You're just a show off. Nothing to back it up."

"Ha!" Yang blinked as a Faunus popped his head down, the hood of his hoodie hanging down. He looked… familiar. From where, though? "The boss can kick your a-ahk!"

Another hand reached down, yanking him back through the hole. Looking to Conductor, Yang saw their left hand had disappeared into the inky void of their hood.

Were they facepalming?

"So what was that abo-?" Before Yang finished the question, Conductor threw one of the knives at her. Yang's arm swung up, knocking it out of the air, "Ha! Is that the best y-"

Yang blinked as Conductor suddenly appeared in front of her, silently swinging two knives at her. Swinging for Conductor, Yang gaped as her opponent's head seemed to shift just enough for Yang's fist to sail past it harmlessly.

Yang's Aura flashed as Conductor's knives scrapped against it. Yang kicked off, firing twice to push herself further back.

Even as the shots should have hurt them, Conductor didn't respond. Lifting their knives, Conductor moved, appearing in front of Yang the moment the brawler landed and slashing at her side.

Yang dodged, only for Conductor to appear behind her and attempt to stab her. Turning, Yang swung for Conductor's head. Her fist passed through a familiar flurry of red flower petals and black smoke as the Conductor's body seemed to turn to the stuff and accelerate to the side.

No way…

Lunging forward Yang grabbed Conductor by the shoulder and grabbed her hood, forcing it back.

And found herself staring into the eyes of her little sister, "Rubes?"

Ruby froze, eyes wide, "Uh…"

"What are you doing here?" Yang frowned, "What are you wearing?

Why was Ruby hanging around a criminal base? What was up there?

"I," Ruby tugged at the coat, "What are you doing here?"

Yang crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Ruby..."

"Me and my friends hang out here a lot, ok?" Ruby snapped suddenly.

"Aileen hangs out here?" Anxiety ridden Aileen?

"No," Ruby said, "My other friends… the ones you've never met. Come on, I'll introduce you."

- X Ruby X-

Ruby marched towards the loft with a sigh, feeling Yang's eyes burrowing into the back of her head. This was going great.

"So," Yang's voice had a forced calm in it, "You come to Junior's often?"

"Every few days," Ruby admitted reluctantly, "Hei let's me use a place above the club."

The loft (though Neo had idly noted is wasn't actually a loft since it had separate rooms, but apparently Kin's predecessor had dubbed it such and the name stuck) was specifically the Conductor's. It had been Kin's before Ruby took the job. Other than a meeting place for her friends, Ruby mainly used it as a place to store her ever growing collection of weapons and keep an eye on the Game.

Despite what many Reapers thought, the Conductor was a lot more hands on than they looked at first glance. Forming unbreakable walls, generating Noise, keeping an ear to Vale's music… it was not an easy job, and it was even harder to do it from Patch.

Yang grunted, "Hei? Are you two… close?"

"We're friends," Ruby said simply.

"What about these other 'friends'? What are they like?"

"You're gonna meet them in a second," Ruby stopped in front of the door, breathing in and preparing for the impending mess. Finally deciding there was no point in putting it off further, she pushed open the door, "Come on."

-X Yang X-

The first thing Yang noticed was the wall of weapons in the back. Swords, spears, axes, guns, knives, and maces were held up, with even more on the table in front of it. The only uniform part of them is that they were all red and black.

Ruby walked forwards, jumping the couch and walking over to Junior, who was flanked by a woman wearing a denim jacket and next to a woman with a scroll, "How's things going, Hei?"

No. Seriously, what the crap was going on here? Ruby was wearing clothes that would look better suited on a movie villain, apparently regularly hung out at a club owned by a criminal who she was… what? Friends? Or was there something more?

That thought alone sent Yang's stomach rolling. If that was true, all regret for hitting Junior left.

"I'm fine," Junior said, "it takes a lot more than that to take me down, kiddo."

"Good. I don't want to deal with the headaches that would bring," Ruby turned, "Yang! Come on in."

Yang walked in, looking around. The two girls she had been about to fight before Ruby stepped in were leaning against an island, talking with the hoodie wearing faunus.

As she looked around, Yang's frown got worse. This was what Junior let Ruby use? It looked like it costed an arm and a leg, though was fairly Ruby in nature. Red and black all over, with bookshelves and weapons.

But there was a certain divorce from Yang's sister too. Something about it seemed too… expensive. Running a hand along the couch, Yang frowned. Leather.

"So," Yang jumped as a man and woman rounded the corner leading to a hall. The man was wearing a gaudy purple suit and the woman a red one, "Finally decided to introduce us to your sister?"

"About time," the woman said, "Kolr!"

Throwing one of the bottles in her hand at the faunus, he casually grabbed it out of the air, "Thanks."

"What are you two doing?" Ruby asked.

"Celebrating!" The woman laughed, sweeping past Ruby to grab Yang's hand, "It's a big day, after all! Hello, Yang. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Uh… Hi?" Yang asked in confusion, "Sorry. Who are you?"

"Rufina Bayard," she said, "And this is my husband Irving."

"Hello," Irving said, pulling out a keychain bottle opener and popping open Rufina's bottle. The woman immediately turned away, sitting down and drinking deeply from her bottle, "It's nice to finally meet someone from Ruby's family."

"You've," Yang looked around, noticing the man wearing an orange flannel shirt stepping out of the washroom, drying his hands, "Known Rubes for a while?"

"Two and a half years," the man said, approaching, "Give or take a couple of months. Nice to meet you, I'm Hector Ambrosia and-" something must have caught his eye, because he suddenly grabbed the bottle of alcohol Rufina had been drinking, "You bitch!"

"Hey!" Irving barked.

"This is my cooking wine!" Hector said, "I paid a fucking arm and a leg for this!"

"Hec," the denim wearing woman said softly, "Not now."

"...Fine," Hector threw the bottle into Rufina's hands, sitting down a sulking.

"I'm Orla Doyle," the woman said, "And this is Griselda Grey."

Griselda didn't break her focus on the scroll.

"Yang," Ruby said, "I know you're confused. Just, please don't freak out. Try to get to know them. please."

- X AN X-

I want your guy's honest opinion on this. The only feedback I've gotten implies it isn't very good… but SB and SV's RWBY boards think everything I write isn't very good. Apparently, Blake saying Yang hadn't ever deliberately kneecapped someone means she can't of hit someone without thinking.