Chapter 3: Grabbing Some CFVY

Continuing searching for my stolen past, I wander through an unfamiliar town. The scent of fire has stained onto me and is making me choke, despite the fact that I have already bid it goodbye. …Well, now that we've started out nice and dramatic sounding, allow me to ruin the mood by writing some comedy. When we left off, Velvet was one step closer to getting her dream in her grasp. Let's check in on her now, and see what kay-razzy shenanigans she and her friends are up to!

xxx

"What's in it for us?"

Coco posed that simple question after Velvet returned to Team CFVY's dorm room, and told them all about her wonderful plan to write and direct a school commercial. And, more specifically, where they all fit into that project. For some reason, her rabbit-eared friend was looking rather disheveled, as if she had just gotten back from some major altercation. Coco could tell in a few areas where Velvet's jacket was pulled at and nearly torn. But, since Velvet seemed to be ignoring that, she didn't bring it up. It must have been one hell of a fight she had gotten into.

"Yeah, did you even ask for anything when you took Ozpin up?" Fox added, reclining on his bed.

Velvet couldn't help but fidget with her fake glasses nervously. No, now that she had thought about it, she didn't ask for any type of payment, school or monetary wise. Looking back on it, she felt a little silly that she didn't ask to have something thrown in for her and the crew. Her sheer enthusiasm blew every other rational thought out of the water.

"I… um, y-you see… well, no. N-no I didn't," Velvet managed to stammer out.

Coco sighed as she walked up to Velvet. "Look, I know shit's exciting, but really, use your noggin next time, 'kay?"

"I-I just forgot, is all! I can still ask!" Velvet said in her own defense.

Fox sat up in his bed. "Yeah, but Ozpin might not give you as much now."

"This isn't all about taking, Fox," Velvet said, a little upset at her friend's avarice. "It's also about creativity and seeing something wonderful brought into the world!"

"Yeah, see. I can't wait for that," Fox dryly retorted. He waved his hand in front of his milky white eyes for emphasis. Sure, he wasn't all that upset about people being innocently insensitive to his blindness, but damn, he milked it for all it was worth. It worked a fair amount of times. He got free donuts out of it before, after all. That was pretty cool.

An awkward gulp traveled down Velvet's throat. Damn, now she was the bad guy! She needed to convince her friends fast, before this could spiral out of control for her!

"C'mon, can't you guys help me out on this? Please?" the rabbit-girl pleaded.

"I had a question about the racism bit," Yatsuhashi, the Eastern giant sitting in the corner chair, asked.

"Again with the racism?" Velvet muttered under her breath. Then, louder she replied, "What is it, Yatsu?"

"Why does it seem like you're just looking at either Faunus people or Easterners? You said that Ren person was like me, so I'm a bit confused."

Velvet hissed under her breath at Yatsu's accusation. The way she had phrased everything made it sound like the only race of man she thought was being prejudiced were Easterners. And that also implied that she was racist against them too. But really, she wasn't! She had Easterner friends! …Okay, maybe that wasn't a good way to put it either. However, that's all she had really to work with. Nobody could blame her for that, right? Faunus and Easterners were the only different raced people around her!

"W-well, I didn't think of it like that…" explained Velvet. "But, I can g-get someone else if it upsets you! Like Fox! Hey, Fox!"

"Nope," Fox replied from his bed. From what he was told, he had dark skin, whatever that meant. Even though he wouldn't be able to see what Velvet was going on about, he still didn't want to be dragged into some weird racism thing. That pretty much went the same for everyone else, he imagined.

"Well, it's okay…" trailed off Velvet. After all, Blake had already agreed to the role. She was fine with the cast she had.

"Ya know, you haven't even told us what you want us to even do," Coco pointed out.

"…Film crew?" offered Velvet. As if it wasn't obvious by now, she hadn't exactly thought out the specifics of her grand master plan just yet. She was trying to recruit her team for a cause that barely, if at all existed yet.

"Then why didn't you say that to begin with and skip all that other crap?" Fox groaned, adjusting his seat on the bed.

All Velvet could offer in reply was a confused humming noise, and a shrug that Fox couldn't see.

Coco adjusted her beret and sighed. "Look, we'll do it. But seriously, get to Ozpin on a price. Nothing comes free, ya know."

"…Like extra credit, or what?" Velvet pondered.

"Hell if I know," Coco replied. "You're the one who agreed to it. You figure it out."

"I'll think of something…" Velvet muttered, before flopping onto her bed face first. Her face was buried in her soft, memory-foam pillow.

As Velvet didn't bother to get back up, the rest of Team CFVY settled back into what they were doing before. It was a perfectly normal night before Velvet's project talk, and they intended it to be a normal night after it.

That's what the plan was, and they wanted to stick to it.

xxx

Meanwhile, in a different dorm room in the same building…

"THERE'S A DAAAAAY WHEN OUR HEARTS WILL BE BROKEN, WHEN A SHADOW WILL CAST OUT THE LIIIIIIIIGHT…!"

"Ruby, please would you just stop the singing already?!" Weiss demanded, covering her ears.

"AND OUR EYES WILL CRY A MILLION TEARS, HELLLLLP WON'T ARRRRRRRIIIIIIIVVVVEEEEE!"

Blake had had enough of Ruby's incessant singing. After somehow managing to struggle a sugar overdosed Ruby back to the dorm room after she ate all the snacks Velvet brought, the cloaked team leader had done nothing but sing songs from her scroll playlist loudly (and badly). It frayed everyone's edges very quickly.

So, it was almost a relief when Blake calmly walked up to Ruby's bed, where she was rolling around, and made a quick jab at a specific spot on her neck. Ruby went out quicker than a lit candle thrown into an ocean. Thank goodness.

"Was that really necessary?" Yang and Weiss questioned immediately, a bit miffed at the fact that Blake resorted to knocking Ruby out so quickly.

"It got the job done, didn't it?" tiredly retorted Blake. At that, she slumped onto her own bed and curled up on the blankets.

"Still…" Weiss muttered, her hands slightly clenching in anger.

Yang sat onto Blake's bed, next to her girlfriend. "Ya gotta calm the ninja stuff, okay? And that better not have hurt her…" she cautioned.

"Relax. She'll feel great when she wakes up," Blake dismissed.

"And how would you know?" questioned Weiss, an edge in her voice.

"Trust me. I do," was Blake's cryptic reply. Nobody pressed the issue any further than that. Not that they could, anyway. Team WBY was drained from wrangling R all the way back to here from the Theater Club office.

Weiss groaned to herself as she walked from her spot near the work desk over to the drink pile in the corner. Grabbing a can of coffee, she cracked it open and downed all of it in a few large gulps. She didn't care that she wasn't supposed to not have as much as she used to. She needed the buzz that the coffee gave her.

Tossing that empty can in the trash bin, Weiss grabbed another two. Tossing on to Yang, Weiss herself plopped down into the desk chair and opened her own coffee can. At least Yang showed as much concern as her about Ruby.

Yang glanced over the can. "I'm more of an Abomination type a gal," she said.

"Just take the can, Xiao Long," advised Weiss, before taking a swig of her coffee.

Shrugging lightly, Yang cracked open the can and took a sip. Eugh. Now she remembered why she was an energy drink kind of girl. She just didn't understand how Weiss could drink this bean water so strongly. Yang was on the same page as Ruby: coffee needed at least a dozen sugar packs and cream to make it taste good. But, at least Weiss' gesture was nice of her.

"So…" Yang said, hoping to start some conversation.

"What?" Blake moaned from the bed.

"What do ya think of this commercial thing?" Yang continued.

"Well…" Weiss began, before taking another sip of her drink. "I mean, I've always had a media presence. So, it isn't anything new to me."

"Of course…" Blake mumbled, turning onto her back. "I'm… Well, I'm not all that comfortable with it."

"Camera shy?" Yang asked.

Blake explained, "Not exactly…. I don't want people to know that I'm still out here. Dangerous people. You know what I mean."

"Ah…" Yang nodded, understanding what she meant. It really seemed like they couldn't escape the White Fang at all. Like that one thing with Sun and Neptune last week. It wasn't like they had a White Fang cell raid penciled in for that week.

The room grew quiet with Blake's implication. They all knew that if push came to shove, they could fight off the White Fang if they decided to come after them. But, like what any good warrior understands, they would rather not have to fight at all. Thing were much easier that way.

"Well… Don't worry, kitty cat," Yang cooed, stroking some of Blake's bangs. "I'm sure it'll be okay."

Blake pressed her tongue into her cheek. At least the sentiment was nice, even if it didn't match reality. "Sure," was her bland response.

"Maybe I can coach you on it," Weiss offered.

"Maybe," the cat girl parroted back.

"I'll drink to that idea," Yang said, before chugging down the coffee. The sooner the stuff was gone the better. Might was well sound supportive while doing it.

"It isn't as hard as you think," elaborated Weiss. "Once you have the image down in your head, it gets easier to do."

"You've been in commercials before, right?" Yang asked.

"Well… when I was younger, yes. But, after a while, it turned into public presentations. At parties and fundraisers and what have you," Weiss explained further.

"How were those?" Yang asked, now curious.

"Tiring," Weiss admitted. Quickly finishing her coffee, she placed the empty can on the desk before continuing. "I had to act like the good little girl people wanted me to be all the time. Like wearing a mask…"

Weiss looked down, a somber gaze in her eyes. Picking her head back up, she continued. "But, now I feel like I can do it naturally. It's like turning off and on a switch. It's just something you learn, I suppose."

"Doesn't sound all that good to me…" Yang thought out loud.

"Not everything you learn is good initially," added Blake.

"That's right," Weiss agreed. "But, it can be used in something useful. If anything, it just depends on how you use it."

"Just like anything else, I guess," Yang mused.

"True," noted Blake.

Yang stretched and yawned loudly. It was time to lighten the mood. "Man! Look at all us, gettin' deep and shit. I guess all those books aren't for show, 'ey Blakey?"

Blake smirked. "I guess not. Maybe you should read some to find out."

"Do they have naked people in them?" Yang posed.

"…I can't directly answer that," Blake quickly said, before slightly blushing. Everyone in Team RWBY knew that the answer was, of course, yes. Still, it wasn't something that you discussed out loud. Well, except for Yang. But she was in a category of her own. Still, three-fourths of a team wasn't that bad of an amount.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Ugh. You two…". Still, it was nice to get back to some regular banter after that… conversation. It stirred up some uncomfortable feelings in Weiss' stomach. So, at least that was a nice distraction.

Turning around in her chair, Weiss picked up the remote to the small television on the desktop and turned on the TV. It was a Friday. She could take a break from studying, if only for an evening. Plus, there was a movie she was looking forward to seeing on the LifePrime Network. It was the premier of Miharu Ratokie: Spy for Love. Sure, it was complete schlock, but Weiss still had a thing for movies with romance in them. So, it was worth watching for her.

All they could have asked for was a normal night to close out Friday, like Team CFVY. And like their counterparts, they got it as well. It only made sense for the people bound by similar circumstances to want the same.

And they most certainly got it.

xxx

Upon seeing what hell is like, my heart dries up. I've grown weary of fighting. If it is my fate, I will make up my mind, so please cut me some slack for now. Surely there will be a tomorrow, aah, after today. Well, it's only appropriate to close out this chapter with how it opened. So, I hope you like it all! That's all any author can hope for. So, before I leave, be sure to leave a review and tell me how much you enjoyed this story so far, or how much you hate it and my guts. Or both. It might be hard to pull of both, but yet again, tsunderes do exist. So, it's a possibility.

Anyways, this has been The Draigg, and I'm signing off for now!