"So Veronica and Lily-" Yang said, pointing to the weathered photo "Are probably these girls here, the one in the dress and the one with the hat."

"How can you be sure either of them is in this picture?" Weiss asked, scrutinizing the two figures

"I'm not, but he said they were friends of his." Yang shrugged "And, if this picture is his, then maybe the people in it are his friends from wherever this 'Mojave' is."

The whole of team RWBY, minus their plus one, were gathered in their room, the late morning sun poking through the windows of their room as they went about their work of studying the photo in their possession and pooling the small amount of intelligence they'd gathered over the course of the past week. It had not been much, but the girls were determined none the less.

"What about her?" Ruby asked innocently, pointing to the picture. Specifically to the blue giant, wearing a pair of feminine overalls and a straw hat. "Maybe she's one of them?"

"Uh… Sis, I'm pretty sure he's not a she." Yang said, as delicately as possible

"No, I'm pretty sure she is." Ruby re-affirmed "Just look at that hat."

"Their clothing doesn't mean anything." Weiss snipped "And wasting time on this doesn't help us anyway. Since, as far as we're aware, we've made no real progress on finding anything out. Right, Blake?"

"Hm." Blake agreed from her bed, reading one of her many books "Since we haven't been allowed to leave, finding out about that book isn't going to help yet. Considering we won't be allowed into Vale until sometime late this weekend or early next week anyway, we can only wait for that."

"Which doesn't help." Weiss said, pointedly "We don't have much to work with, and we can't ask him without him just dancing around what we're asking him."

"Well you can't anyway" Yang smirked "I'd say Blake and me were pretty good at it."

"W-well, maybe, but Blake's search didn't turn up anything, right?"

Both the white and yellow huntresses turned to look at their black haired cohort who in turn continued reading her book.

"… I wasn't able to find anything about an 'America'." Blake affirmed, turning a page.

"See." Weiss reiterated "That was a dead end too."

"No, I mean anything." Blake intoned "I've checked every atlas, history book, and research paper I could in the library. So far, there's not even a footnote that mentions anything about an 'America', or what it even is. Six made it sound like a place, but that makes even less sense."

"Because how can anything be from a place that doesn't exist?" Yang finished

Blake nodded "Maybe Tukson can turn something up that we can't, if the book is really from there. But until I can go see him, I have no way of knowing."

The team fell silent for a moment, the weight of their current lack of knowledge weighing on the heavily. Nearly a week and a half's searching had resulted in nothing for them save for a word and much wasted energy.

"… Then perhaps-" Weiss said "It's time we try asking him questions again."

"Weiss~" Ruby whined, sounding slightly distressed

"We won't get anywhere like this." Weiss said shortly "We can't find anything."

"And our only lead is a word that we can't find anywhere outside of a book." Blake said, slightly saddened in her agreement with Weiss.

"One that he lent us." Weiss added "We don't have a lot of options, Ruby."

"But-"

"We need to ask him."

Ruby looked at her partner with a pained expression. This was not what she wanted to do or how to handle this. She looked to Blake, but the outed faunus was staring stone faced into her book, trying to appear impassive, though the tilt of her bow implied she herself may not be comfortable with this either. Knowing she wouldn't find support in Blake, Ruby turned instead to her sister, only to see looks of similar discomfort.

"I'm not a fan of it either." Yang said "But we don't have many options."

Ruby's gaze fell sadly to the floor. She'd made her feelings on asking the courier questions known. She wanted answers, but not at the cost of pushing her friend away. But there weren't going to be any answers unless they asked him questions. They had almost nothing else to work with, and were otherwise trapped on campus until the end of their break. They were going to be forced to do something, regardless of how the situation turned out.

It only upset Ruby more.

"… we won't ask him." Ruby said at last.

"Ruby-" Weiss started.

"I will."

Weiss's expression switched to one of surprise.

"Are you sure about that sis?"

"Nope" Ruby answered honestly, putting on a brave face "But if less people are asking him, maybe we'll have a better shot at getting the answers."

Weiss nodded thoughtfully.

"I'm just… going to have to figure out how and what to ask him."

"And where he is." Yang said, heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Weiss asked.

"To go find him." Yang said, waving her hand "I'll message your scroll when I do, sis."

…

Part of me regretted not giving Ruby a mohawk. I'd respected her wishes and didn't give her one, but the fact is I think she would've looked good with one.

But, we've all got our own tastes, I guess.

The rest of my day after my apology to Yang had been uneventful, I'd meandered through it. It was the next day now, and I'd finally found some energy to do something. Maybe it wasn't what I should have really been focusing on at the time, but I'd take anything over nothing.

I was standing in the mostly empty weapons workshop, leaning over a work table with two sets of armor in front of me. My wrecked riot gear and a set of reinforced Mk.2 Combat armor. I'd brought it with me when I started this journey, on the off chance I needed to make repairs to the riot gear. The armor plating was made of the same material, so it made replacing the damaged bits a simple matter of cutting and shaping it.

Also painting it. Off-white plate metal clashed horribly with the darker colors of my normal armor.

I clamped a fresh cut piece of the plating into place and began hammering it. It was a miracle the workshop had all the tools I needed. I'd done this work in the past with literal rocks and sticks, it took me hours more than this had.

"If you don't mind my asking-" Coco said, leaning on the work table, visibly bored out of her skull "Why are you working on armor anyway?"

"Don't trust aura." I said, tapping the metal with my hammer "I've seen it handle plenty, but the one time it fails is going to be the time you die."

"And wearing armor would stop that how? If you're fighting a Grimm that's gone through your aura, you're pretty much dead anyway."

"You'd be surprised how good an inch thick piece of layered steel, Kevlar, and ceramics is at stopping claws and teeth… or bullets, arrows, spears, swords, shrapnel, and general mayhem."

"… Does it really work that well?" Velvet asked quietly, leaning over a camera she had rested on the work table.

"Well… It works well enough." I answered, shrugging "It's kept me alive so far, so there's no real reason to stop yet."

Velvet tilted her head a little and stared at the two sets of armor laid out on the table. I hadn't expected to run into either her or Coco. I hadn't really gotten the chance to meet up with them after I'd met them at Byz's a week or two ago so walking into the workshop and seeing them working on various projects had been a nice surprise. I didn't make a big deal out of them seeing my armors either. Far as either of them probably cared, they were fashion statements, or something similar anyway.

"So, here's another question then:" Coco said, staring closer at the combat armor "Why do you have armor that looks like it belongs to the Atlesian military?"

"… Well, I don't know about that." I said, swapping to the next cut of material "It's just another set of armor I brought here from home. As to why it looks like someone's uniform, I have no idea."

Coco eyed the armor for a bit longer, probably wondering who I stole it from. Then she shrugged, and went back to fiddling with her handbag for some reason.

"So, my turn to ask" I said "Why are you two here? Its summer, shouldn't you be out doing whatever it is normal people do in hot weather?"

"It's a free kingdom." Coco said without looking up from her work "We can do what we want."

"Yatsu and Fox are from mistral." Velvet said, her tone surprisingly sweet "They wouldn't be able to travel there and back in time to enjoy their vacation. Coco and I didn't want them getting lonely over break, so we decided to stay on campus."

Coco stopped working for a moment, her hands freezing in place. Her face pulled itself tightly together in a look of embarrassment as her cheeks got a little flush, her unflappable façade crumbling slightly.

"… sounds like your teammate just sussed you." I said, chuckling a little.

Velvet blinked and looked at her Coco. Her rabbit ears drooped slightly and she gave Coco a pained, lopsided smile. "Sorry."

Coco sighed, relaxing back to her normal, hard to read feature, pushing her sunglasses up with the back of her hand and rubbing her eyes. "What about you?"

"My team and me did something stupid." I answered "Got punished by being stuck on campus for the remainder of this week."

"What'd you do?" Velvet asked

"Oh, you know; broke curfew, caused a couple noise complaints, foiled a few acts of domestic terror, murdered a few dozen people, the usual stuff."

Both Coco and Velvet looked at me like I had two heads, probably hoping I was joking.

"… I was joking about the murders." I lied

They both shared a look then gave a skeptical nod. What, wasn't it normal to thwart thieves and terrorists around here? I did that shit regularly back home.

I finished putting the armor plating in place and secured it. The plates were riveted to several sheets of Kevlar, separate from the main vest. Said layers were reinforced with leather and ceramics to make sure the weight didn't tear the plates free. It probably wasn't as weight efficient as the pre-war way of making it, but it worked and it worked well.

With the vest done, I moved on to repairing the duster, which was a bit trickier, since sewing isn't my strong suit. I couldn't exactly stitch bullet holes shut either meaning I was going to need to do a patch job. It was either that or pay for Byz to repair it, but being stuck at the school I'd have needed to wait before doing so. Considering I wanted my armor fixed before the next time someone tried to kill me, waiting wasn't an option. No one was going to wait around for me to be ready. In addition, my coat was probably in worse condition than the actual armor. Using it like a decoy may have been a successful idea, but the only thing left holding it together was hopes, dreams, and a few in-tact threads.

I set to work stitching the holes shut. They weren't going to be perfect, you'd be able to tell it was a patch job, but as long as it held together until I could get it repaired or properly replaced, I didn't give too much of a damn.

In my periphery, it looked like Coco and Velvet were getting into some kind of silent argument. I paid them only a little mind, and let them do what they needed to.

"Um… Six?" Velvet asked.

"Yea?" I answered, focusing on my stitching.

"I just wanted to ask, if it's not too personal, why are you wearing a helmet?"

"Hrm." I grunted "safety reasons, same reasons I wear armor."

"But you're not wearing armor now." Coco said, giving me a curious glance.

"Semantics."

"But you seem to always be wearing it." Velvet noted.

"Why's that such a big deal?" I asked "I don't want to get hit in the head, is that such a –OW!"

I pulled my hands from the coat and shook the one that hurt. I had jammed the needle I was using into my middle finger by about half an inch.

"You ok?" Coco asked.

"Yea, yea, just pricked my damn finger." I said, squeezing it.

"Language." Velvet said softly.

I stopped focusing on my finger long enough to look at Velvet. She must have thought I was glaring at her because she shrank a little and let her ears droop.

'What is it with everyone and telling me to watch my language?'

"… I wear my mask because it makes me comfortable." I answered evenly "-it also makes it easier to torment people because they can't tell when I'm being serious or not."

Velvet gave a little whine before, surprisingly, giving me a little glare. I think she was trying to go for serious or angry, but she just didn't have the natural malice for it, like Ruby. She came off more 'cute' than anything else.

"You sure you're not just trying to make some sort of statement?" Coco asked, smirking.

"Please, I wouldn't stand a chance against that sweater-corset combo you're wearing."

For a second Coco looked like I'd slapped her in the face. Velvet's ears pricked upright and I saw her slowly backing away from the two of us. Coco scowled and began glaring at me over her glasses.

"Or maybe we can talk about that one ridiculous lock of hair you have running along the side of your head?" I asked "I've got a straight razor, I can lop it off if you want?"

She kept glaring at me.

"You want to throw mud at my clothes, I can hurl it right back." I said flatly "You want to argue the casualties of fashion with me, I hope you're ready for a few war crimes-"

"It's a blouse." Coco said evenly.

"… Excuse me?"

"My shirt" Coco said "It's a blouse, part of Carmine de Violet's fall collection last year. Not a sweater."

"Uh-"

"Also, the thing around my waist isn't a corset. It's a clincher. A corset is meant to accentuate the chest."

"But-"

"And my hair-" Coco finished "-it's called fashionable asymmetry. Something you would know if you understood fashion. Tell me, are you really sure you want to have this argument?"

Coco gave me a smirk. She had just succinctly blown holes in my statements, and clearly knew more about 'fashion' than I did. This was not an argument I was going to win.

"Of course" Coco continued "Given how ugly that armor of yours is-"

"You better not insult the armor." I said seriously "Because style be damned, it's better than half the outfits anyone in this academy wears."

"Guys, please stop arguing." Velvet begged.

"Sorry V." I said, giving her a lopsided look "I'm afraid this is happening now."

"It doesn't have to." Coco said, still smirking "Just apologize for insulting my outfit."

"Not while I've gotta keep staring at the impractical mess that is you."

Coco's smirk faded.

"First of all, what's everyone's obsession with wearing heels?" I asked "That's a mark against you since they're a liability in a fight."

"We can use our aura to reinforce them." Coco said flatly "They're as practical as any other shoe after that."

'Right up until your aura runs out.' I thought

"What about that coat of yours?" Coco asked "It doesn't look very protective, and it's any easy target for any Grimm."

"My duster is made from an oil treated canvas." I stated "It protects me from the elements, is sturdy enough to resist some pierces and slashes, and can work as a makeshift blanket in a pinch."

I saw Coco's lip twitch at that last one. She probably thought it was funny. Maintaining appropriate body temperature while sleeping is not a joking matter.

"Second, what's with your pants?" I continued "I can understand the need for more pockets. But do you seriously need all the zippers? Or the half a skirt?"

"The zippers allow me to change the length of my pants at a moment's notice." Coco replied "That way If I need to change them for the situation I can."

"What situation-"

"As for my skirt, it provides cushioning for when I'm using Raze Couture." She said patting her handbag "Can you say the same about your pants?"

"My fatigues are made of a breathable material, with drawstrings built into each leg to make them form fit as needed." I growled "They're lightweight, can be layered, and have enough pockets to carry every bit of junk I could want."

"And have more belts than you could ever need." Coco drawled

"Guys-" Velvet said, "please stop-"

"They can be used as improvised tourniquets, have multiple holsters mounted to them, and can actually support a good deal of weight. Unlike that strip of garbage around your waist."

Coco bared her teeth at me now. "At least my belt has character. More than that stupid helmet of yours."

"Please~" Velvet whined

"My helmet has night vision and provides more protection than that rag you call a beret" I growled

"MY BERET LOOKS BETTER THAN YOUR ENTIRE-"

"STOP!" Velvet shouted

Coco and I stopped arguing and looked to the rabbit faunus. Her face had scrunched up into what I could only assume was supposed to be a look of anger. It was undercut, though, by what looked like a small blush and the fact she lacked the general ability to 'look' angry. The tint of my goggles still made it hard to tell, but her face looked a little discolored, so it was a guess.

"Please stop." Velvet reiterated "You both look ugly, now can you stop arguing?"

Coco looked like Velvet just punched her in the stomach. I wasn't as bothered by it, more amused than anything. But it was still surprising to see. Velvet struck me as being too meek to actually have a limit to the abuse she would take. Granted, the only experience I had to draw on for her never showed her being very assertive. So perhaps it wasn't supposed to be surprising.

"The little rabbit has teeth." I said "Imagine that."

Velvet continued glaring at me in her scrunched up anger, but her ears flopped to the sides of her head. If I had to guess, she was embarrassed now and trying not to show it. It made me chuckle a little.

"Alright" I said, taking a breath "I guess this argument is kind of pointless, right Coco?"

"W-whatever." Coco said, averting her gaze and crossing her arms.

I looked over Coco's outfit as a whole, instead of picking it apart. Taking in the different elements she'd used in it. "I guess, despite my own tastes, you make it work for you." I admitted "All the elements you pull together look good when you use them like this."

"… Thank you." Coco said after a pause "… I guess I can say the same for you. I'm not going to say it's fashionable, but you pull enough different elements together to give you a… distinct, look."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Coco just gave me a smirk. I rolled my eyes, which she probably couldn't tell, and went back to my sewing.

"… What about Velvet?" Coco asked

"What about her?" I asked

"If you're so obtuse about fashion, what do you think of her outfit?"

I looked back to Velvet, who just seemed to squirm awkwardly over her camera.

"I actually think she looks pretty good." I admitted.

Velvet blinked and her ears slowly returned to their normal position of her head.

"Really?" Coco asked, honestly

"Mm, Byz sold me on her outfit back when we met, remember?" I said, gesturing towards Velvet "He gave me enough reasons why it was practical and left it open enough that Velvet could make it look however she wants." I looked away momentarily from my work. "Truth be told, V, you look pretty good."

Velvet's face got a little discolored again, and she averted her gaze back to her camera. "T-thank you." She said, not looking back up.

"No need to be bashful." I said, narrowly avoiding pricking myself again.

"Why are you so concerned with being practical?" Coco asked "I guess I can understand the armor, but why the rest of it? Your aura should be able to take care of the rest."

"Psh, yea, aura." I said, dismissive "I'm not exactly on steady terms with the stuff. I'm a bit more comfortable relying on armor and equipment than I am on that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Coco asked, confused

"You'll probably understand come next term." I answered "Assuming Goodwitch was serious about sticking us with the upper classmen for sparring."

"You're going to be in our sparring class?" Velvet asked, chancing a glance up

"Not just me, my entire class." I corrected "A pair of idiots put a hole in the classroom wall, and until they fix it we're being moved into a class with you guys."

"I guess we'll be seeing more of each other then." Coco said "Plenty of time to convince you to do something about your taste in clothing."

"Oh, don't start that again." I warned "Because I won't win, but I'll sure as hell will take you with me."

"language" Velvet said softly.

"That's not a battle you're going to win either, V." I said, as warmly as I could "I suggest quitting while you're ahead."

Velvet just gave me a pointed look in response.

"Y'know" Coco said "You're pretty relaxed for an under-classmen."

"I am?"

"Yea, normally first years are all jumpy and acting like hotshots, thinking they're the next big thing. You're surprisingly mellow compared to everyone else."

"Meh, I've got a bit more experience than them." I answered "I know running around and shooting my mouth off at the drop of a hat is more liable to get you into hot water. Plus, I find people acting like Cardin completely disgusting."

"Yes." Velvet squeaked

"Agreed." Coco nodded.

"Great, glad we're all on the same page-dammit!"

I pulled my finger away from my coat again and tried to press my lips against it, in some instinctual urge to push the pain away. I wound up hitting my mask instead.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I looked at my coat. I'd sewed maybe three of the bullet holes shut, which was more than I'd done when I'd started. But that was three out of a few dozen. At the rate I was going, actually finishing the repairs was going to take forever. That spoke nothing of how the end result would look either.

I stared down at the coat for a bit longer, then began putting my materials away.

"You're giving up?" Coco asked

"No, just taking a break from it." I answered "There's more work than I've got patience for, so I'll come back to it later."

Once everything was neatly packed together, I set it off to one side and began taking out a different set of tools. Then I pulled out the Ranger Sequoia, That Gun, and my Cattle prod and set them on the work bench as well. I owed them a more thorough maintenance than they'd received recently but I'd also been so overtly busy it just hadn't been an option. I started with my Cattle prod, disconnecting the wires from the power-cells attached to the main shaft.

"What's that you're working on then?" Velvet asked, finally overcoming her bout of shyness

"Call it a Cattle Prod." I said, examining the terminals and wiring "Or the 'farmer's best friend' if you're feeling wordy."

"That doesn't exactly clear it up." Coco said dryly

I gave the fashionista a lopsided look "… you being serious?"

Coco looked at me over her glasses, an eyebrow arced, signaling me that she was in fact serious. Though whether that meant she had no idea what a cattle prod was or that they didn't exist in this world was a different matter.

"Well" I ventured forward "A cattle prod is typically a farm implement."

Now Velvet was giving me a confused look as well.

"Ok…" Coco said nodding

"It's used to help 'encourage' cows and similar cattle to move in a desired direction." I continued "Most effectively by shocking them."

"… So it's an electrode?" Velvet asked

"…"

I failed to resist the urge to smack my face into the palm of my hand. "I'm an idiot- Yea, that's probably a more accurate word for it."

"Then why didn't you just call it that?" Coco asked, chuckling a little

"I didn't think of it." I responded "Everyone back where I'm from just calls them 'cattle prods'. Since they, you know, prod cattle with them."

"Then why do you have one?" Velvet asked, one ear pricked up in confusion

"Because it's a fairly effective club as well." I answered "Solid construction, nice weight, and the added bonus of being able to deliver around 75,000 volts at .5 mili-amps."

The numbers didn't seem to mean anything to Coco, but I could've sworn the color drained from Velvet's face.

"What kind of cows do you have back home!?" Velvet squeaked

"Is it that bad?" Coco asked, confused

"Coco, at 1 amp, 75,000 volts is enough to kill someone!"

"Oh, neat." I said "You know you're stuff."

Coco and Velvet exchanged looks of horror for a moment, then looked back to me, and then at the cattle prod.

"… to be fair-" I said "They don't come at that level by default. I might have tweaked it a little bit so it would be more useful for general application."

"Why would you want that!?" Velvet squeaked again

"Because it's nice having an electrode that's got a little pep to it." I said "Electricity has a nice effect in pacifying most anything stuck with it long enough."

"By frying them!"

"Only if left long enough." I said, confused now "What's the deal V? People run around this place shooting each other like it's nothing, why is my shocking people… well, surprising?"

"Because you could kill someone if you use it wrong!" Velvet shouted "Doesn't that concern you!?"

"Uh… yeah, kind of. That's why I've also installed a dial that lets me control how much power I've got going at once."

I flipped the rod around to them and tapped at the dial, situated just above the handle. They both stared at it for a, surprisingly, long moment. Then they switched back to me, now looking slightly annoyed for some reason.

"… What?" I asked "Did you seriously assume I just had it set to instantly kill someone when I hit them? What kind of reckless idiot do you think I am?"

I'd actually tried it back in the Mojave, when I was feeling experimental. Wanted to see if I could save myself some trouble. It failed, catastrophically. The wires melted, the terminals corroded in seconds, the electrode proper crumbled to overheated metal shards, and the shaft went limp.

Also, the batteries exploded. Nearly took my hand with them. Had to get a new cattle prod after that.

"I'm careful when it comes to people." I said "There're a lot of things the human body can survive, but there're plenty more that we can't. My general aim is to avoid hurting people where I can. So relax, I'm not planning to go around electrocuting people."

Velvet continued to look pensive, almost as if she wasn't sure what to make of what I was telling her. She sunk slightly, despondent for reasons I didn't quite get.

"… Don't know if it'll make you feel better or not-" I said "But I've used it on Cardin in the past."

Velvet's eyes quirked back up to me, her attention on me.

"Sad as I am to say it, he's still amongst us."

Velvet blinked at me, then just gave this soft little chuckle.

"Can't say it did him any harm either. He's still as dumb as a bag of rocks."

"Worse-" Coco added "You might've made him smarter."

I shivered a little at the thought. "Please don't go wishing me ill like that."

Velvet kept chuckling, and a small smile began to cross her face. Guess the thought of Cardin's suffering cheered her a little.

I focused on finishing the disassembly and cleaning of the cattle prod after that. It wasn't something as prone to getting dirty like my guns and other weapons were so was more important that I check it to make sure nothing had been busted or knocked loose from all the abuse. From what I could tell, it was looking spick and span so I began re-assembling it shortly there-after.

It was right about then that the doors to the workshop swung inward. A blonde mop of hair peered its way in past the frame, scanning the room quickly. It didn't take her long to lock eyes onto me.

"Found you~" Yang said, giving a playful grin.

"Hey sunshine." I said, parroting her enthusiasm.

Yang glided through the doorway and approached the work bench. She pulled out her scroll while she did, her fingers dancing over its screen for a moment. Then she shut it and put it back, never once losing the smirk on her face. As she drew close, her eyes flicked back and forth between Me, Coco, and Velvet.

"Wasn't expecting to find you with company." Yang commented.

"Neither was I-" I answered, reconnecting the battery terminals. "But I'd say it's been pretty enjoyable."

"You mind introducing us?" Coco asked.

"Depends, you turn as shy as V?"

Coco gave me a small glare over her sunglasses, then turned to look at Yang, giving her a nod. "Coco Adel."

"V-Velvet Scarlatina" Velvet said, giving a little wave.

Yang smiled, giving a wave of her own "I'm Yang, Six's teammate… don't think I've seen either of you before."

"They're upperclassmen." I supplied double checking the soldering job on the wiring. "They tend not to run in the same circle as us."

"Guess so" Yang said, pulling up a stool to the workbench. "So~, what you up to?"

"Bit of maintenance." I answered, double checking everything before re-connecting the batteries "It's a bit overdue, and last thing I need is for it to fail on me when I need it."

With the batteries reconnected, I held the cattle prod at arm's length and placed my thumb on the dial, carefully cranking the voltage up to roughly 25% max capacity. I could just barely pick up a faint humming from the electrode.

'All good so far.'

"Is it supposed to be humming like that?" Velvet asked, ears pricked slightly

"A little, yeah." I said "Gotta put it through its paces to make sure I put it back together right though."

I cranked the dial further, skipping 50% and jumping straight to 75%. In an actual combat situation I wasn't going to have the luxury of letting it increase current slowly. The humming erupted into an ominous crackling almost instantly. The electrode gained a faint blue aura and small spurts of electricity crackled between the lengths of coil intermittently.

"That's definitely not right." I murmured "The electrode shouldn't be able to pull that much current."

"Maybe you should turn it off then." Coco said "Before you electrocute yourself."

"Yeah, probably not-"

Before I could finish, a couple of things happened at once. Firstly, I saw a faint green glow quickly arc its way up my arm and over the rest of me. It sort of 'warbled' over me like disturbed water for a split second, then faded. Second, the cattle prod made a 'pop' sound and suddenly the electrode stopped crackling.

Then, thirdly, there was a lightning hot pain that shot up my arm, chasing after the faded light. The pain shot through me and I could feel every muscle tense for a second.

The cattle prod was electrocuting me.

"SON OF A BITCH!" I said, my voice strained, pained, and tense.

It was only by minute instinct that I released the cattle prod, and stopped myself from being further electrocuted.

The cattle prod hit the work bench and died. My arm instantly coiled inward to my chest and I didn't resist the urge to let the rest of me do the same. Getting shocked was never a pleasant experience, and the only way to get through it was to ride the pain.

"Six!" Yang said, suddenly springing from her stool. Her voice sounded muffled, but that might've been because I was focused on curling into a little ball right then. I focused on letting the pain subside. Fun fact about electricity, it doesn't burn you the same way fire does. Fire, via thermal radiation, pushes excess heat into the cells closest to the heat source causing them to burst, burn, and so on. Electricity, on the other hand, didn't. It wasn't localized like fire, or based solely on radiation of heat. It was based in the transfer of free electrons which exist in everything on a subatomic level. Except pure water, anyway. But since the human body isn't made of pure water, and contains plenty of other elements, we transfer electricity well enough. So when you get shocked, the reason it occasionally hurts in more places than the immediate location is because the electricity is arcing through you to find a place to ground out. In the process of that, it destroys the cells it arcs through and 'burns' you. With a small enough charge, it hurts, but leaves you relatively unaffected.

75,000 volts at 5 milliamps is not a small charge. Even if I was hit with half that, it would still hurt.

It also causes immediate spasming and contraction of muscle tissue. If I hadn't released the cattle prod when I had, the electricity would've kept arcing through me until: A. someone knocked it out of my hand, or B. the electricity burst all of my cells in a slow and painful fashion.

I stayed as a tightly curled ball for a bit, giving my muscles a chance to spasm themselves out. A few deep breaths later, I regained cognizance of my surroundings. My body still hurt, but that was going to fade within a few minutes anyway. I clamped my eyes shut, reigning in my focus.

"..re ..u …k?" A muffled voice asked.

"Hmm?" I grunted, sounding strained.

I breathed deeply, the world creeping back in.

"..x, are you ok?" The voice reiterated, it was Yang's.

I opened my eyes and took stock. I was doubled over the workbench, half fallen off of my stool. Just off my left shoulder, I could see Yang leaning toward me. Her outstretched and a hand resting on my back. She looked to be making sure I was alright, I thought I saw a bit of concern in her eyes.

"'m fin'" I managed to slur out. Slowly trying to push myself back onto my stool. Bracing my arms against the work bench for support. My muscles responding about as readily as dry-rotted rubber.

'Fuck, is this what I've been doing to people?... Wow, I really am an asshole.'

As I slowly set myself to rights, I found a different bit of pressure acting on me. A soft 'push' around the center of my chest, and something equal on my shoulders. I glanced over and, to my surprise, found Velvet and Yang now standing next to me. They seemed to be carefully helping me upright, both showing some subdued level of concern.

"'m gud- I'm good." I said, clarifying my words. Regardless, they didn't release me until I was upright again and even then she kept a hand on my shoulder. Some part of me was actually thankful she did. Even braced on the bench like I was, I didn't feel very steady. So I stayed like that for a second, allowing myself to slowly regain balance. Once I could sit upright unaided, Velvet took her hand off my shoulder and moved back to her stool.

"Thank you, V." I said, just a tad breathless.

"Y-you're welcome, Six." Velvet answered, what was definitely a blush on her face. Not too sure why she was being coy, but whatever.

"What was that all about?" Coco asked.

"Something went wrong with the 'prod." I supplied, tentatively poking the shaft of the weapon.

"No kidding?" Yang asked "You alright?"

"Getting better."

When the cattle prod didn't shock me again, I knew it was slightly safer to work with it again. My first act: knocking the power cells back out of it. Rather than yanking them out with my hands and risking a repeat of the 'Six is a dumbass' show though, I took a screw driver and levered them out. Once they were free and clear of the cattle prod, I set the screwdriver aside and pulled the prod to me. I began disassembling the weapon once more, and had only just disconnected the electrode when I found the problem. Small miracles, I didn't have to tear the whole thing apart again this very instant.

The electrode came free and several small, charred and broken ceramic beads tumbled out of the shaft. Bits of wire clung to each of them. From the head of the electrode came a set of wires as well, Each tipped with broken solder and stiff as sticks.

"Ah, ok, I see what went wrong." I said.

"What?" Yang asked.

"The resistors were worn out." I said, rolling the broken bits around with a finger "All the jumping around and sudden changes in current must've taken their toll."

"So when they broke, there wasn't anything regulating the output." Velvet concluded.

I looked to the Rabbit faunus, curious. "You know about electronics?"

"Eh… a little." Velvet said, a small guilty smile on her face.

"Neat, then this shouldn't come as much of a shock." I said, tapping at the wires "With the unregulated current running through, the solder was the only major resistor, causing it to build excess heat."

"The heat weakened it" Velvet supplied "- and eventually got to the point where it broke loose."

"How'd you figure that out?" Yang asked, looking at the broken prod "It just looks like a bunch of wires to me."

"It was actually because of the wires." I said, touching one of the hardened strands "Copper doesn't anneal and harden like iron or steel. It hardens with slow cooling, and anneals when cooled rapidly. The constant jump back and forth in current would stretch the wires and put strain on them. So when the solder finally gave out, they broke loose." I looked over the broken wire and had a pretty good guess at what happened. "The return wire probably contacted the outer wall of the shaft and, without any the proper ohm count to stop it, gave me a straight shot of the current."

"Oum count?" Yang asked

"Standard measure of electrical resistance." Velvet supplied

'well, at least that crossed over too.' I thought

"Oh…That, sounds painful." Yang said

"It was." I mumbled, nipping the busted wiring out. "Fixing it now is going to be a bit more complicated, going to have to splice in some new wires and find some new resistors. Not to mention a soldering iron so I can reattach everything. Of all the tools I normally carry with me, that's one that doesn't get much use."

"… So I guess you could say this was pretty shocking then." Yang said.

I gave her a sideways glance, she was still standing next to me, but now she had this cheesy smirk on her face.

"… That is in incredibly poor taste." I said, slowly packing up the cattle prod.

"Aw, don't be like that, we just patched things up yesterday and now you're trying to bolt me out?"

I didn't respond to that one. I just stared at her with contempt.

"Alright, alright" She said, raising her hands, placating. She began walking around the bench back to her stool. Once she was seated though, she gave me another smile "But, wire you so against puns?"

"Because some people just can't resist making them." I snapped, more than a little annoyed

Yang didn't say anything, but there was a small twinkle in her eyes and her smile got a little bigger. I soon realized why.

"Ah, son of a- Will you stop that!?"

"Aw, c'mon, just admit you like them already."

"I do not like puns!"

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't, now stop prodding me- DAMMIT!"

Yang just kept smiling, and added as she started chuckling. "I'll get you to admit it."

While me and Yang were doing this comedy routine, I finished packing the cattle prod and began shifting focus to pistols. Velvet and Coco shared a look with each other like they weren't sure what was going on. Part of me wanted to assure them this wasn't a common occurrence but claiming that, unprovoked, could also have the opposite effect and be the spark to push them into believing it was. I wasn't about to go fanning the flames of that fire.

I set the sequoia to the side and took stock of That Gun. It looked to be in fairly good shape, all considered. A bit dirty, but still serviceable. I started by opening the over-barrel receiver and checking the plumbing.

Right about then, the door opened again. My opportunity to focus on work stolen from me once more. This time, it was Ruby who walked through the door. Curiously though, she didn't come in looking like I would expect. From what I could understand, Ruby loved weapons almost as much as I did so she should've had a look of excitement or happiness on her face. Instead, she was looking at the floor and her fidgety body language said she was uncertain. She was mumbling to herself, like she was rehearsing something.

"-youcandothisyoucandothisyoucandothis-" Ruby said, drawing close enough for me to hear

"What's wrong, tiny?" I asked

"Gah!"

Ruby's head snapped up. In her silver eyes I saw a look of near panic. Something was eating at her, and doing a damn fine job of it.

"… You ok?" I asked again

"FINE!" Ruby shouted "Totally normal, nothing strange going on here!"

"…"

There was something strange going on, and it was clearly bothering Ruby.

"Who's this?" Coco asked once more

"My baby sis, Ruby." Yang said "She's also our team leader."

"U-uh" Ruby stuttered finally noticing that there were other people in the room. "… hi."

Ruby continued to stand there, fidgeting awkwardly. I set her out of focus for a moment as I resumed my maintenance on That Gun. The over-barrel receiver looked to be in fairly good condition, but in desperate need of a cleaning. I put a dab of lubricant on some cloth and began wedging it into the nooks and crannies of the mechanism, cleaning the metal of grime.

"So… Six" Ruby said

"Yeah?" I asked, not looking away from the receiver.

"There's- uh- something I want to ask you."

"Well, I'm listening." I said "Depending on what it is, you may or may not get an answer."

An extra stubborn piece of grime clung to the guiding rod in the receiver. I removed the return spring and scrapped at it with a finger nail. It came off, and I returned everything to its place.

"It's just… I don't know if this is something I should ask around… other people."

I looked away from the receiver for a moment, giving a quick glance at Ruby. She was still fidgeting.

"Okayyy, Well I'm not sure what the question is." I answered "But unless it's something super personal, there's no need to be nervous. We're all friends here, right?"

"Eh, I'd say more like close acquaintances." Coco answered sarcastically

'Close enough'

The over-barrel receiver looked clean enough, so I finished polishing it and secured the cover back in place.

"… ok" Ruby said softly "Six-"

I pressed the cylinder release, and the cylinder quickly shot out on its hinge with a mechanical whine. I gave it a small spin and looked back to Ruby.

Her fidgeting had stopped completely, and she was fixated on the cylinder with a surprised look and glimmer forming in her eyes.

"Is… is that an actuated cylinder?" She asked, completely transfixed with my pistol.

"Mhmm." I grunted. A moment later, the ejection rod shot out before quickly retreating back into the cylinder. "Ejector rod too."

The glimmer in Ruby's eyes erupted into a near mirror like shine and a smile started to stretch across her face.

"That's so-"

"Cool~" Velvet finished

I turned from Ruby back to Velvet. She was staring intently at my pistol. Normally, that would be incredibly awkward. But this was a first, Velvet hadn't previously made any mention of her interest in weaponry.

"You like weapons too?" Ruby asked

"U-uh, yes." Velvet said, regaining herself "I think they're amazing, you never see any hunter carrying two that are exactly the same."

"Right!?" Ruby squeaked in agreement "They're just so cool, and everyone has their own way of using them."

"Absolutely" Velvet smiled "I mean, so many people use swords, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone fight exactly the same way. I personally prefer ones that are a bit more complex though."

"What about scythes?"

"Hmm… I don't think I've seen to many of them. I've heard they're supposed to be incredibly difficult to master."

"They totally are. My Crescent Rose is a beautiful work of weaponry, but it took a lot of practice with my uncle to figure out how to use it right."

"You use a scythe?"

"Mhmm" Ruby smiled excitedly.

"…Can I see it?"

"Shouldn't you two get a room before you start asking to check each other's weaponry?" I asked dryly "Or, at least, know each other's names first?"

Ruby gave me a look that said she wasn't entirely sure what I was referring to. Velvet started blushing again and proceeded to revert her gaze to the floor.

Yang and Coco proceeded to give me a withering glare with a white hot intensity that only overprotective friends or siblings can generate.

"… What?" I asked "I was just joking, wasn't trying to be rude."

Yang and Coco continued to glare at me for a moment, but slowly eased up. Probably recognizing I wasn't trying to be mean.

"… I'm Ruby Rose" Ruby said, giving a nod to Velvet.

"V-Velvet Scarlatina." Velvet said, returning the gesture.

Ruby and Velvet shared a small smile.

"Never would've pegged you for a- uh- 'weapons enthusiast', V." I said, cleaning the cylinder. "Considering you seem more transfixed on maintaining that camera of yours."

"That's a camera?" Ruby asked, tilting her head as she looked at the object in front of Velvet.

"Mhmm." Velvet said, dipping a small nod "I put a lot of effort into making it, it took so much testing to get it working right."

"Really?" I asked "It's just a camera, wouldn't think making it would be that hard… come to think of it though, how exactly do you fight with a camera?"

Velvet's face went blank. "Uhm…"

"That's a secret." Coco supplied.

"How much of a secret?" Yang asked.

"Probably about as much of a secret as Six's face." Coco said, looking at my helmet "Do you ever take that thing off?"

"No, he doesn't." Ruby said flatly.

"Far as you know anyway." I said, maybe a bit smugly.

I finished cleaning the cylinder and gave it a spin. I hadn't been as worried about That Gun needing to be cleaned, but figured if I was going to be doing it anyway, might as well not neglect it.

"… can I see it?" Ruby asked

"… excuse me?"

"You're gun" Ruby clarified, pointing at That Gun in my hand "Can I see it?"

"… don't see why not." I shrugged.

I clasped the cylinder shut and That Gun made its telltale whine, signaling it was ready to fire. I passed it off to Ruby and her eyes practically lit up. "It's heavy."

"Has to be to help handle the recoil."

Ruby turned it over in her hands, carefully inspecting the hunk of heavily machined metal. She focused in on the cylinder and arm. She ran a few fingers across them, likely noticing the extra material housing the actuators.

"Does it have a manual override for when you're reloading?" Ruby asked

"Wouldn't be much good if it didn't." I answered "Generally though, it works fast enough to not be a problem."

"What kind of cartridge does it fire?"

"5.56 x 45 millimeter" I said

Ruby looked at me wide eyed.

"… or .223 caliber, if you'd rather."

"That's a rifle cartridge!" Velvet proclaimed, perhaps slightly amazed.

"Technically it's more of a carbine round, but same principle really."

"But isn't that a rimless cartridge?" Ruby asked, turning the gun over in her hands "How would you hold or load it into the cylinder?"

"That's where the actuator comes in." I answered "It's got a locking mechanism built into it as well-"

As if on cue, Ruby pushed the cylinder latch again and the mechanism repeated it's discharging action. Once it was finished, Ruby held it up to the light and peered through the empty cylinders.

"Oh yeah~" Ruby said, a weird smile on her face.

'uh… ignoring that.'

The cylinder automatically snapped shut with a whine, catching Ruby off guard. She groaned in displeasure and lowered the weapon back to the workbench.

"Why would you use a rifle cartridge though?" Velvet asked, working her way around the bench "You wouldn't get the maximum acceleration out of it."

"Excellent question." I said "The answer: five-five-six is fairly common ammunition to find, and even if the short barrel doesn't make full use of the fuel, even the lightest loaded ones fly faster than most standard handgun rounds."

Ruby finally noticed the receiver lever on the opposite side of the cylinder. She worked her fingers around it and nimbly worked the cover out of place. It actually put a smile on my face seeing someone work on it. People in the Mojave were typically decent at maintaining weapons but it was rare to find someone who didn't make repairs solely by smacking things with blunt objects.

It was also rare to meet people who were so refined in the understanding of weapons that they could recognize what something was for right off the bat.

The cover of the receiver slid off easily and I could have sworn Ruby and Velvet's jaws hit the floor.

"A two stage blowback manifold~" Ruby said with barely contained glee

"Good eye." I said "Most people who see it have no idea what it is or does."

"If I had to guess-" Velvet said, a finger carefully touching the receiver's innards "- it captures the excess fuel and uses it to reset the hammer, but… there's something different about it."

"You're not too far off." I said, moving onto the sequoia "While it does reset the hammer, the excess force is also used to ease the pressure on the cylinder. Making for faster rotation and quicker follow up."

"Sooo cool~" Ruby said softly.

"Why make it a revolver then?" Coco asked "I might not as be up to snuff as Velvet, but wouldn't it make more sense at that point just to make a semi-automatic pistol with a box magazine or something?"

"Well… yes and no." I said, swinging out the sequoia's cylinder "While it would make more sense in some regard, trying to fit a five-five-six magazine into a pistol isn't practical. They're too long to fit into a hand grip, and placing it too far forward or backward would make it cumbersome. Also, I technically didn't make it."

"You didn't make it?" Velvet parroted

"Nope. I've modified, maintained, and repaired it, but I wasn't the one who designed or built it."

"Why not?"

"Because I'd never have thought to try and hack a rifle down into a revolver. From what I gather, that design's been around the area I'm from for something close to a century too. Though they're still rare to find."

'Lest you count those cheap knock-offs the Gun Runners try to pawn off on people. The fuck they think they're doing, covering the chrome with black.'

"… What about that one?" Velvet asked, pointing to the sequoia "Did you make that?"

"Nope, didn't make this one either." I said, running a wired brush down the rifling "None of the weapons I carry were made by me, they're just ones I picked up along the way and tweaked to either work more effectively or suit me better."

"I… suppose that's more efficient… but why not make a weapon that suits you?"

"Because it's hard to make something that can fit any role, and once you start removing choices everything gets harder. So instead, I just carry a bunch of different weapons with me and play it by ear. Dunno if it makes much sense, but it's what I do."

"N-no, I think I can understand." Velvet said.

I finished cleaning the rifling and gave the cylinder a spin. It moved freely and smooth as glass. I thumbed the hammer back and forth a few times to check the mechanism, all seemed in order there.

"Does it have a name?" Ruby asked

"What?" I asked in turn

"This gun" She said, closing the upper receiver "I know you said you didn't make it, but does it have a name?"

"… Y'know, that's honestly a good question. Most everyone I know just calls it 'That Gun'. I've never actually heard a name for it."

"Guess Ruby wasn't too far off then" Yang said with a small smirk.

"What about that one?" Ruby asked, stepping over to the bench and setting the gun down. She began eyeing the sequoia as I held it in my hands.

"'s called a Ranger's Sequoia, I think it's supposed to be named after a large tree."

"Why does it say 'Twenty Year's Service' on the barrel?" Velvet asked

I looked at the rabbit eared faunus for a second, then back to the barrel of the revolver. I'd honestly forgotten that was engraved on the barrel. Not good.

"Uh… well, it's something of an award/commemorative piece." I explained "Given to rangers of my area who provide twenty years' service or more."

"What's a ranger?" Ruby asked

"Uh, something of a local term for 'hunter'"

Velvet tilted her head "Seems an odd gift to give a hunter."

"Well, it's not like they were expected to use it-"

"Where'd you get it?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm?"

"You said it's an award, how'd you get it?"

"Uh- well- a friend gave it to me-"

"What friend?"

"A friend-"

"Were they a girl?"

"I don't see-"

"What's their name?"

"Ruby-"

"Were they a blue giant?"

"Were they what!?"

"What caliber is this?" Velvet asked, scrutinizing the sequoia "It looks huge."

"d-uh… .45-70"

"I've never heard of that."

"It's kind of an antiquated round." I said, quickly trying to change the conversation to something I could keep up with "the .45 denotes the caliber, while the 70 is the measure of powder in the cartridge."

"Pow… der?"

I gave Velvet a look as my brain tried to process. "… oh, you probably don't know what gunpowder is, right."

"Gun-what?" Ruby asked

"Gunpowder" I said "It's a mixture of charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulfur that was used to make bullets at one point."

"I've… never heard of it."

"Not surprising, it doesn't seem very common around here."

For once, I actually did some research. Following our little escapade at the docks I figured it was time I tried to get a better understanding of dust. Or rather 'Dust' since there was a distinction between the two. 'Dust', whatever it was, apparently was some naturally occurring mineral the dotted Remnant like sedimentary acne. It came in a variety of colors, was ridiculously volatile, and otherwise unknown in origin.

It also caused a variety of 'elemental' effects, like lighting shit on fire or encasing it in Ice.

Just because you don't call something magic, doesn't mean it isn't.

But, if I had to compare it to something from the pre-war world, it's basically the plutonium and uranium of this world, albeit, nowhere near as immediately dangerous. It powers everything; cars, cities, homes- literally everything.

It was also used in bullet cartridges in place of, you guessed it, gunpowder.

I only found a footnote in one or two books that mentioned gunpowder even existed here. But it was phased out so long ago no one even knows it existed. Some notes suggest that, as an explosive force, it was close to three times the strength of dust, meaning it was clearly the better choice for the job. Shocker. But Dust's more readily usable nature meant less effort needed to be put into producing bullets, it was just more economic. Compare that to the numerous processes needed to make Gunpowder, plus the unsanitary origins of saltpeter, and it was a no brainer why gunpowder all but disappeared.

"It's basically an old accelerant from back before Dust was widely adopted." I explained "It's fairly common back home, so we use it in our bullets."

"Cool, I'd never heard of it before." Ruby admitted.

"Well now you do."

"So this gun" Velvet continued, eyeing the sequoia "it doesn't use dust?"

"None of my guns do." I clarify "But that's not to say they can't. I could probably make some cartridges that have dust in them, but I'd have to test pressure tolerances and combustion rates. Otherwise I'd be turning my guns into hand grenades."

"… I don't get it then." Yang said, pointing to the sequoia "If That Gun doesn't use dust and doesn't transform, what's so special about it?"

"First off, This is the 'Ranger Sequoia', Yang. Second-" I picked up the gun and turned the cylinder towards her "Look at the size of the bullets this thing fires, do you have any idea how hard something this size hits?"

"Probably not as hard as me." Yang said challengingly

"Psh, please, I'll get more yang for my buck using one of these than having you punch something."

At first Yang looked insulted, then she realized something and just started smiling at me smugly.

"… What?" I asked.

"You'll figure it out."

"… aw dammit."

'And the corruption continues.'

"-Screw it, I don't think I can focus on this anymore." I said, packing up the my guns and tools

"Aw, don't be like that" Yang said "I'm just having fun."

"Yeah, well, take it out on someone else. Got enough to deal with without worrying about you tricking me into your pungeon games."

"Pungeon games?"

"…" I let out a heavy sigh "I need a drink."

Ruby pointed towards the door "There's a water fountain-"

"I meant alcohol Ruby." I growled, perhaps a bit too harshly.

"You drink?" Coco asked.

'Frequently and heavily.'

"Only sometimes." I grumbled "Really starting to feel a need right about now though."

"hmm… Well~" Coco said "I might have a way to-"

"I know a place that'll serve us." Yang interrupted.

My head snapped towards Yang so fast I swear I heard my neck crack. "You do?"

"Yup~" Yang smiled playfully "A club in the shady part of Vale. They'll serve… if you don't mind a little danger."

'I think you mean entertainment.'

"Yang~" Ruby whined.

"Oh relax, baby sis." Yang said, smiling warmly "We can't exactly leave campus right now anyway, So me and Six couldn't just take off and party all night anyway."

That seemed to settle Ruby a little, knowing her sister and me couldn't take off right this second and get drunk but, for me, it suddenly made me very focused on our punishment. I very much wanted- needed a loophole. After all the things I had going on in the background, I finally had alcohol within my grasp. No more waiting, I wasn't about to let it slip away.

So I found a loophole.

"How about Sunday?" I asked.

"Huh?" Yang said, looking away from her sister and back to me, curious.

"Our 'punishment' only lasts until Sunday at dusk, remember?"

"… Oh, hey, you're right! Heck yea!"

"I'm down to drink Sunday night… but how would we get to Vale?" I asked, rubbing the chin of my mask "I'm pretty sure the airships stop running before then."

"I'll handle that" Yang said smirking "A girl's got her secrets."

"Well then, drinks Sunday evening?"

"Sounds good to me." Yang said with a grin.

Ruby gave me and Yang a pouty look. Something a cross between disappointment and disapproval. I don't know what she had against alcohol, but I wasn't going to judge.

"… So I guess you've got a date then, Yang." Ruby said pointedly, a small smirk crossing her face.

"Aw, baby sis~" Yang said, going to hug Ruby "Don't be upset, you'll understand when you're older."

'… can I get some payback here?... maybe-'

"So I guess this is a date then." I said

Both Ruby and Yang's eyes popped open, but only Yang seemed to lose her chipper tone. Ruby's smirk, instead, grew three sizes at once.

"Whaaaat~" Yang said, suddenly floundering "No, c'mon Six, we're friends- this isn't a date-"

"*gasp* Yang! Don't be so mean!" Ruby said "You'll hurt his feelings!"

"But- but it's not-"

"Ah!" I gasped "My heart, it can't take the pain of rejection!"

I snuck a glance at Yang. She wasn't flustered, but she was certainly confused. I'd take it over nothing.

"But- but-" Yang stuttered.

"Ah! I must away, before my heart beats in agony no-more! Fair well, Ruby! You've always been a good friend!"

"Six!" Ruby cried "NO!"

I tucked my guns under my arm and made a break for the exit, back of my left hand placed against my forehead in mock dismay. I didn't stop running until I was out of the classroom, three turns and several hallways away. At which point, I leaned against a wall and laughed my ass off.

"Ha ha, eat your heart out Shakespeare!"

I pushed off the wall and continued onward toward the chemistry lab. It was time to get back to work.

...

Finally alone once more in the workshop, Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina allowed the newfound silence to pervade the air for a moment. digesting the entire exchange that had just transpired.

"… Coco" Velvet asked, softly, cautiously "What just happened?"

"… I believe-" Coco said, a sinister gleam on her sunglasses "-a 'rival' has just appeared."