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ruffsficstuffplace · 6 years

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And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 39)

Evening came, a new nurse showed up at team AWRD’s hospital room. “Excuse me,” she said, “visiting hours will be over in fifteen minutes. I am sorry, but I must ask the guests to please prepare to leave soon.”

“Just 10 more minutes past seven!” Snowie cried, her eyes glued to the screen like almost everyone else. “Just let us finish the last episode of this season plus the epilogue, please!”

Taiyang looked up from the show and smiled at her. “Ten minutes doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

The nurse smiled. “No, no it does not; I will return ten minutes after seven. Excuse me, I will take my leave now,” she said, before she closed the door after her.

She returned when Haven Hopsital’s clocks all read 7:10 PM, to find the epilogue’s credits rolling and tissues were now being passed around, tears being wiped for those that couldn’t for physical injury (Ruby, Diana, and Akko), or how emotional they had become (Snowie).

The nurse smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are already over, and I must ask all the guests to leave. I’m afraid I can’t give another extension, too.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Snowie said between her sobbing and blowing her nose. “It’s not the first time I’ve ever been caught ugly crying over fictional characters in public, we’re going, we’re going!”

“Would you like me to escort you to the nearest bathroom so you may ‘ugly cry’ with some privacy, Ms. Schnee?” the nurse asked.

“No, it’s fine—trust me, it’s not new...” Snowie muttered. She blew her nose and wiped her tears one more time before she hugged Weiss and Akko both, Winter and Whitley following suit. “I’ll see you all as soon as things die down in Hoshiko,” she blubbered as she took one of the boxes of tissues with her. “Try not to escape and risk falling out a window and breaking your bones all over again on the pavement like Grandpa, okay?”

“We won’t, Mom/Auntie Snowie!” Akko and Weiss replied.

“And warn us when the Shiny Rod does more strange, significant things, so we can start mobilizing hunting parties earlier and get the defenses primed,” Winter said.

“We will, Winter!”

“And please try not to get killed or horribly injured by whatever misfortune comes your way, Shiny Rod or simply luck of the Schnees!” Whitley said. “As a medic-in-training, there is nothing more stressful and anxiety-inducing than learning the people you care about have gotten seriously injured while you could have conceivably been there to help them.”

“We’ll try, Whitley!”

On the other side at the same time, Taiyang kissed Ruby on the forehead before he ruffled her hair goodbye. “Get better soon, Ruby,” he said, smiling.

“I will, Dad,” Ruby said, smiling back.

Diana watched them go out single file, the nurse discretely scanning them and the room as they left. The nurse noticed Diana’s eyes, red and still tearing up since the epilogue, and prepared to go back in the room.

“No, no, I’ve got this, thank you!” Weiss said, climbing out of bed with one of the tissue boxes in tow.

“Are you sure, Ms. Schnee?” the nurse asked. “It’s no trouble at all.”

“I’m sure, you can go, thank you,” Weiss said as she made her way over to Diana’s side.

The nurse stayed for a few more moments, watched Weiss wipe the tears from Diana’s eyes and cheeks, the frown on her face slowly turn up into a smile. “As you wish, Ms. Schnee,” the nurse said, before she turned to the others. “Is there anything I can do for anyone else?”

Diana shook her head. “No, none, thank you for asking,” she said, Ruby and Akko saying much the same.

The nurse nodded. “Then good night, I will take my leave now. Please do not hesitate to use the call button should you need anything, and we’ll have someone assist you as soon as possible,” she said before she left and closed the door after her.

“Thank you for that, Weiss,” Diana said as the last of her tears were wiped off.

“You’re welcome,” Weiss replied. “Do you need a hug? Because you look like you need one.”

“Can we join in?” Akko asked.

“You know, in spirit?” Ruby added.

Diana felt her eyes growing moist again. “Yes, yes you may—physically, or in spirit...”

Weiss carefully hugged her, before she was back to wiping Diana’s tears up again.

“Can I just say something?” Diana asked after her eyes were dry again.

“Sure, what is it?” Weiss asked as she settled into the chair beside her bed, the box of tissues in her lap.

“I’m just… really rather surprised we’ve all gotten so close and familiar over the course of a single week.

“On the day of initiation, we were essentially strangers who only knew each other through our family’s reputations, and the only thing that was memorable to me about Akko and Ruby was that one had mentioned Shiny Chariot for the first time in years, and the other had an obsession with weapons, and wielded a high-velocity sniper scythe—not exactly the most common choice of weapons for young huntresses.

“Now, we’re all opening up about our mental health and the more unsavoury parts of our pasts, pledging and volunteering our time to help one another far past the point you’d expect most newly formed teammates would, and rushing off to save each other from whatever horribleness is threatening to kill us this time, regardless of whether or not there are perfectly capable professional hunters available.”

She chuckled humourlessly. “I even found myself seriously dreading, but still agreeing to a potentially disastrous and lethal ‘Kagari Express,’ something I doubt I’d have ever agreed to back in Combat School, the odds of an incredibly dangerous Grimm escaping or not.”

“Guess that’s just the power of the Shiny Rod!” Akko said, smiling at the weapon. “Shiny Chariot always said she loved using it to bring people together, even if it was only for however long her shows were.”

“Shame it seems to be continuing her legacy by attracting misery and danger to its new wielders, though,” Diana said.

“To be fair, it’s not like all four of us haven’t literally signed up to actively seek that out, mysterious, possibly sentient ancient artifacts or no!” Weiss said. “So, everyone still game for more anime?”

“Yes!” “Sure!” “Starlight Crusaders was rather enjoyable, more anime sounds lovely.”

“Anyone up for a different season of SC?” Weiss said as she went off to fetch the remote. “There’s still a lot of the really good seasons left, before we start having to go into the decent, but not incredible ones.”

“I’m actually wondering if there’s any other shows you might want to recommend,” Diana said. “Not to rail on the quality of the show, I’m sure it’s excellent for the most part, but it’s just that I find myself wanting to explore how diverse this medium can get.”

“Oh! Then I’ve got something perfect in mind: still action packed, loaded with humour and silliness, but a LOT darker, bloodier, and serious than SC,” Weiss said as she navigated the Haven Hospital’s extensive library of media.

“Seems like a sensible next step,” Diana said. What’s it called and what’s it about?”

Weiss smiled. “Oh, I’ll just let the title card answer the first, and the second, well… how do you feel about a just-before-the-Great-War era Valen gentleman doing battle with vampires using a fictional aura marital art, with a power similar to the sun?”

Diana blinked. “�� I would say my curiosity is piqued, if only to see how all of these connect...”

“What kind of show is this?” Ruby asked excitedly.

“A very, very bizarre one,” Weiss replied as she settled back into her bed, and pressed “Play.”

Meanwhile, outside AWRD’s room, just after the others left, the Schnees were saying a second round of goodbyes.

“Sure we can’t spare a little more time to see you off at the docks?” Snowie asked as she hugged Winter.

“Sorry, mom, I’m actually due there in five minutes,” Winter said as she hugged back. “Don’t want to stretch the first time in a long while I’ve ever asked to be late for something.”

Snowie sighed, before she pulled away and smiled at Winter. “Don’t go taking anymore ‘shortcuts’ off the roofs of buildings again, alright?”

Winter sighed. “This is going to end up as one of those incidents you’ll never let me forget, are you?”

“To be fair, it’s not exactly every day that a great deal of the Haven campus is treated to the sight and sound of a woman falling off the top of the CCT tower, screaming ‘Motherfucker’ at the top of her lungs before she safely landed back down on the ground,” Whitley said. “Remember to hand that padlock back before you go, now!”

“I will, I will!” Winter snapped, before she pulled Whitley into a hug, ruffling his hair before she turned around, waved, and hurried down the halls of Haven’s hospital.

Snowie sadly waved goodbye, before she turned back to the others with a big smile on her face. “So! Anyone got any plans for dinner? I hear the patisserie chefs here still seriously up their game every Sunday!”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to pass, mother,” Whitley said. “Between all the Grimm and anxiety attacks, plus all the time it took to pack and move most of my things here to Haven while our house gets repaired and reforested, I have not nearly made as much progress on all my schoolwork as I should have.

“And with that, I regretfully say dasvidanya,” he said, hugging Snowie’s side before he left.

Snowie frowned, and turned to Taiyang with a hopeful smile.

“My landlady likes having the whole building over at her apartment for dinner every Sunday, and I already RSVP’d...” Taiyang started.

Snowie frowned.

“… But, she always likes having new guests over—just gotta try whatever it is she’s made for the main course, unless you’re definitely allergic to it. Then, you’ve got to try the alternate options she made specifically for that.”

Snowie nodded. “How would you describe her cooking?”

Taiyang paused and thought for a moment. “’Piping hot field ration lovingly warmed by a KP you’re fond of, and was generous enough to provide plenty of beer.’”

“Mantle Steinbier, by any chance?” Snowie asked.

“San Lorenzo, sorry,” Taiyang replied.

Snowie shrugged. “Eh, it’ll get me drunk, anyway, let’s go!” she said, smiling. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Don’t thank me just yet!” Taiyang said teasingly as the two of them started heading down the halls to the stairs.

“So, Tai, I couldn’t help but notice you wanted to try and name the Starlight Crusaders season earlier,” Snowie said. “I take it you’re a new fan?”

“Not exactly,” Taiyang replied. “It’s more like I try and keep current with whatever it is the kids today are watching, try and understand all the references flying about, and maybe try and connect with them on a deeper level.”

“How’s it worked out for you?” Snowie asked.

“Ehh… kinda hit and miss, but mostly miss, to be honest,” Taiyang replied. “It feels like it’s an entire part-time job just trying to watch the source material or find the time to do it, let alone trying to understand all the ‘fandom’ stuff...”

“Sounds about right!” Snowie said as they went down the stairs. “Trust me, Tai, unless you actually enjoy watching the show itself, you’re better off just feeling left out of your students’ conversations, if only because you’ll actually have time to do the things you actually do enjoy.”

“Ehh, I’ll take it into consideration,” Taiyang said. “How about you? You ever tried talking pop culture with younger people?” he asked as they went down another flight.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve tried, long time back, but generally I just try and keep it to online discussions now,” Snowie replied.

“Why not in real life?” Taiyang asked.

“Ah, whenever I tried, I always end up creeping them out if they don’t just awkwardly get out of the conversation, their parents or guardians can’t take them away fast enough, and/or I get the attention of nearby police officers and security, and not the good kind.

“Though, be fair, it uh, probably doesn’t help that I’m usually moving in between levels of ‘hungover’ and ‘drunk’ at any given moment. I try to be more the first than the second, though!” She paused. “Ah, operative word ‘try...’”

“Maaaybe it might help if you’ve got a job or a socially acceptable reason to be interacting with them anyway,” Taiyang said as they reached the lobby, headed out the doors. “You know, teacher, tutor, professional huntress consulting for the Academies or the Combat Schools?

“We’re always looking for that last one at the Bunker, especially new faces—I think you’ll fit right in, actually!”

Snowie’s eyes widened, she stopped, and started shaking her head and frantically crossing her hands in the air. “Oh, no, no, no, I really can’t!”

“Is it because you’ve heard it’s full of crazies?” Taiyang asked. “Because it is, but I assure you, they’re all functional, healthy, happy, and we’ve got plenty of staff specifically on hand to make sure they don’t pose a threat to others and themselves.

“I’m actually one of the teachers there who double as Meltdown-Cooldown patrol, and it’s rarely as bad as they make it out to be!”

“No, it’s not that!” Snowie cried. “I’ve heard lots of things about the Bunker—GOOD things, but also bad things, I guess, but I mostly pay attention to the good things and--” she groaned. “Could you give me a minute…?”

Taiyang nodded. “Take your time. Want to sit somewhere more comfortable while you’re at it?” he asked, gesturing at an empty bench nearby.

“Thanks,” Snowie said. The two of them walked over to it, sat down, and she took a few moments to collect her thoughts and think. She turned back to Taiyang, and said, “Tai… I can’t be near kids. Teens. However old they are and however you want to call them, just… basically anyone under the age of 17, and especially below the maturity of an adult, not without someone else who actually is an adult in age and level of responsibility!”

“I thought you were doing just fine back there with Ruby,” Taiyang said. “Pretty impressive, how you could keep up with her—lot of the R&D staff have to take her in five minute intervals.”

Snowie sighed. “That’s because she’s coincidentally into combat tech like I am, and I just happened to be a mechanical engineering graduate from Atlas.”

Taiyang brightened up. “Even better!”

“No, not better!” Snowie snapped. “Look, just—hmmnnn!” she sucked in a few deep, calming breaths, before she said, “You should know that I’m not legally allowed to have custody of my own kids—haven’t been since my divorce, which was little over a decade ago.

“My family’s contingency plan if the universe decides it’s finally time for the both of my parents to kick the bucket is to have Winter become Whitley’s legal guardian, with Akko’s folks as godparents, if that tells you anything.

“You remember what Whitley said earlier, about the convenience store? I spent an hour in there, half of it at the Kari-Kari section alone!”

“To be fair, there were 47 varieties on sale,” Taiyang said, smiling.

Snowie was unamused. “Still.” She sighed and looked away. “You don’t want me there at the Bunker, talking to and interacting with kids, Tai.”

Taiyang reached out to her. “Do you mind if I touch you?”

“Go ahead,” Snowie said.

“Thanks.” Taiyang put his hand on her shoulder. “Snowie, I’m telling you right now, I still want you there at the Bunker, talking to and interacting with the kids, preferably with Ruby, too.”

Snowie looked at him warily. “Is this some sort of weird, roundabout way for you to set up a play date for your daughter?”

“That, and a way to help the institution I love that also happens to employ me, yes,” Taiyang replied.

“… You really want her being friends with a woman three times her age, who just said to your face that she spends all her life in varying states of inebriation?”

“I still let Qrow hang out with her, and he’s always drunk!”

“… Fair point.”

“And conveniently, bringing him up allows me to illustrate just how liberal the hiring and guest policies are at the Bunker. You know he taught there, right?”

“Yeah, he mentioned that sometimes when we still went on missions together,” Snowie replied. “I always thought it was that ‘I had the job for a week before I got kicked out for my drinking’ sort of deal.”

“He had the job for two years, Snowie, went in at the same time as Ruby, left when he felt he taught her and his handful of other mentees everything he could about scythe wielding.”

Snowie blinked. “Wait, seriously...?”

“The Bunker is very generous with the interpretation of ‘functional and acceptable’ behaviour for its professors.”

“… Please don’t take this the wrong way, but are you guys over there really that desperate for staff?”

“Well, yeah, we are, but that’s beside the point!

“My point is: we at the Bunker understand that people have problems. Sometimes they have really big problems, problems that require professional and medical help, along with a sustained and extensive support group, a community, and organizations that will offer them the means and the resources to get or hold a job and live decently, especially when it’s hard for them to get it anywhere else.

“Maybe the position needs them non-disabled. Maybe their potential employers aren’t willing to offer the insurance, the facilities, and the flexibility they need to attend to their special needs. Maybe they’ve just been officially or unofficially blacklisted, because they’re ex-convicts, recovering addicts, or, like Qrow, are very high-functioning alcoholics, but alcoholics nonetheless.

“But whatever the case, the Bunker is a place to belong for everyone that’s found they don’t belong anywhere else.

“Me and the rest of the staff will love having you over there to talk with the kids one time.

“Ruby will love having a reason to go back there and see her old friends, after she got boosted to Haven early this summer.

“And I know, in my heart of hearts, that you’ll love having a reason to hang out with her for an entire Saturday surrounded by what is basically an entire combat school dedicated to creative and inventive solutions to problems most people will never have to face, never even realized were there until someone came along to give them a new perspective on it, or even show them a better way to do something they couldn’t have seen themselves because they had working eyes.

“… That, or just figure out how much armaments and armour you can equip a Battle Saddle with, just for the hell of it, and how much it needs to be downgraded so it can be street legal again!”

Taiyang took his hand of Snowie’s shoulder, held it to her. “So, what do you say…?”

Snowie looked at his hand, up at his smiling, hopeful face, before she slowly reached up, and gently pushed his wrist down. “I’ll say, ‘Ask again when I’ve got more beers in me.’ I make it a point to generally follow through on what I say drunk, so I have motivation to not say as much stupid shit next time.”

“Does it work?” Taiyang asked as they both got up.

“No, but it does give other people a great way to bypass my crippling menagerie of mental health and emotional issues!” Snowie replied. “Only thing worse than feeling like shit for not doing something, is to have already promised someone you’d do something and not done it!”

Taiyang laughed. “I’ll try and keep it to self-improvement and personal growth.”

“Thanks...” Snowie muttered. Her expression softened. “I mean it, honestly.”

“I know, Snowie,” Taiyang said, patting her on the shoulder again. “I know.”

#rwby #little witch academia #fanfic #au #and the awrd goes to #dianakko #white rose

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