Part 3 — Chapter 16
Oscar and Ruby got back to the academy grounds just after sunset, Ruby paused in the courtyard to watch the street lamps flicker into life.
Oscar looked at her. "Miss Ruby?" He questioned curiously, pausing when he felt Ruby stop walking. He did take a second to admire how the darkened light and the shine of the moon reflected back from her eyes.
No matter how dangerous they were to him, he still found them exceedingly beautiful to gaze at.
She looked at him and gave him a smile. "C'mon, we better get back before Qrow has a fit." Ruby told him.
Oscar chuckled but nodded.
Coming into the main area of the compound they were greeted by Qrow.
Qrow looked them over but kept his observations to himself. "Have fun, kiddo?" He asked.
Oscar nodded, while Ruby started to rub one eye tiredly before Oscar gently took her hand away. "You really do forget that it makes things worse." He told her.
Ruby just yawned at him.
Qrow sighed at them. "I need you guys up early tomorrow, so get as much rest as you can." He told them.
Oscar looked at him with a startled blink, which told Qrow the scenario was new. "What for?" He questioned curiously.
"I'm going to talk to Leo again, to make sure he knows we're guarding the relic since no one else is." Qrow told them.
Oscar blinked, then his expression darkened. "It would be something he'd expect since he has no one guarding it, and what happened to Beacon…" Oscar muttered.
He could see where Qrow was coming from, and it would be expected that Qrow would offer to guard the vault door.
Oscar looked at him. "You know he will tell them." He said.
Qrow just groaned. "I know, kiddo. But it's better than no one being there and them slipping under our radar." He replied.
Oscar nodded and eyed Ruby, who had leant against his shoulder tiredly. "…Do you want to go to bed?" Oscar asked her, she lifted her head and regarded him. "I won't be long." He told her.
Ruby nodded, yawned and wandered in the general direction of where the stairs up to the second level, where their bedroom was.
Oscar watched her go. "…I really do worry about her when she's like that…" He muttered.
Qrow looked calculative. "…She can handle night missions, right?" He asked, having not seen Ruby or RWBY have night missions personally.
Oscar looked to him and nodded. "She can, she's like that now because she doesn't have a mission, and currently feels safer with us near." Oscar said.
Oscar shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
"So why do we need to be up early?" Oscar asked.
Qrow moved about to the kitchen, and Oscar followed.
"Right, Leo wants to meet early, I won't take you all the way, but I will need you to guard out of sight—you can do that right?" Qrow trailed off, looking to Oscar, who glared at him, offendedly. "Right. Never mind. Yeah. I don't expect it to take long, just to tell him we'll be guarding the vault in pairs, so he doesn't kick us out at night." Qrow told him.
Oscar nodded as he went about getting a glass of water. "Makes sense, he'd expect us to, since you know, the school is unguarded," Oscar noted, then looked back to Qrow curiously. "How do we define pairs?" He questioned.
Qrow lent back against the counters. "The usual, since it's just another duty on the roster for the kids." Qrow said.
The usual, was dictated by the previous mission they had, who won and who lost: who'd be paired with who to do whatever chore for that day. Several members usually stayed as pairs, such as Ruby and Oscar, which usually meant if either lost, that both did that particular chore. Other members, like the rest of team RWBY and Qrow, ended up bouncing between each other and the other members of JNPR because of this.
None of them seemed to mind, as changing partners meant changing their fighting styles. Which they knew to keep up for the battles ahead.
"…We'll probably need to stop taking missions soon…" Oscar noted.
Qrow nodded solemnly. "Ruby doing okay?" He questioned.
Oscar refilled his glass and ignored the turmoil in his stomach.
"She's as well as she can be, I think she'll be alright." Oscar told him.
"And her abilities?" Qrow continued.
Oscar flinched at the mention. "She can use them at her own accord, she knows how to reach her abilities without her emotions doing it for her." Oscar started, he drained his glass and set it aside to wash later and looked to Qrow. "So, unless Salem decides to show up, and someone, unfortunately, dies while during that fight, she will be fine." Oscar said.
Qrow gave him a fixed glare. "And you're sure about this." He demanded.
Oscar felt his arm ache. "Positively." Oscar returned.
Qrow gave him a glare, Oscar flinched and looked away, making the man huff at him.
"Make sure you don't do anything stupid either, kiddo. She'll hate us both." Qrow told him.
"And don't I know it." Oscar muttered, his skin crawled with memories that weren't his.
Seeing that Oscar understood, Qrow patted his head. "Off to bed, I'll get you two later." He said.
Oscar nodded, and scampered off, his thoughts too heavy for his age.
By the time Oscar got to his bedroom, Ruby had changed into her pyjamas, chose his bed to climb into, she was sitting up, with the doona pulled around her, most likely to wait up for him, before she had fallen asleep there. He noted that the hairpins were on the bedside table.
Oscar felt his stress melt away at her attempt to wait for him, seeing her blood-red cloak had fallen off the bed, he went over to pick it up to hang it on its hook. He then got quickly changed and walked back over to Ruby. She only grumbled a little when he moved her, so she was lying down.
Ruby reached out to grasp his nightshirt when she thought he was going to move away.
"Oscar…?" She mumbled sleepily.
It caused Oscar to smile, and gently pull her hand away so he could climb over her, so he could lie between her and the wall.
Ruby immediately followed, turning to her other side.
"It's okay, Miss Ruby," He told her gently, clearing her fringe away when it fell across her face. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise." He told her gently before he fell asleep next to her.
/
/
Oscar woke suddenly when Ruby decided to slam her arm into his stomach and wind him, causing him to groan awake.
"Ruby…" He groaned in pain.
She just whined, and seeing how early it was, she would continue to whine at him until it was an appropriate time.
He did wonder what time Qrow mean as early. Early for who?
It was a challenge to get out of Ruby's hold and when he did he immediately pushed a pillow into her arms to settle her.
She'd hold for hours like that. And he knew it.
Making extra sure she was still asleep, so he could change, he walked out of the room to see how early was early in Qrow's mind.
…It was apparently too early.
Since no one else was up or stirring for that matter.
Qrow, for some reason, was dead to the world on the sofa in the main area.
And not something Oscar was willing to deal with that early in the morning.
He had a few hours before he needed to, most likely.
Oscar went about waking to the kitchen and fixing something up for breakfast, setting something aside for Ruby when she woke as well.
He watched as team JNPR came in one by one as he refilled the kettle with water.
"So, yeah, hey," Oscar stated, and they all looked to him with varying degrees of tired. "Did Qrow happen to tell you how early, is early for him? Since early for me kinda meant sunrise…" Oscar asked as he turned the tap off and slammed down the kettle lid.
They all stared at him.
"Have you been up that long?" Pyrrha asked.
Oscar shook his head. "No, I woke up when Miss Ruby decided to punch me awake, so I decided to stay awake." He said as he flipped the kettle on once he put it on its stand.
They looked at each other in amusement.
"He didn't say, he just said early." Jaune told them.
Oscar just groaned. "What is the time?" He asked, grasping a mug down.
"It's still probably a little early to worry." Ren said.
Oscar shrugged. "Fair enough. I guess we'll wake him later." He grumbled and went about getting his drink, while JNPR went about eating breakfast.
By the time Ren went outside to meditate, and Nora fixed her fifth bowl of cereal, Yang, Weiss and Blake appeared in the kitchen.
"Did he tell you guys how early is early?" Oscar asked, in lieu of a good morning.
Weiss had bolted for the kettle while Blake stretched her arms and Yang yawned.
"Was hoping he'd tell you. Nice digs, by the way." Yang said.
Oscar just groaned woefully.
"By that response, I'm guessing not." Weiss said.
"Nope," Oscar grumbled as he crossed arms. "Who's with me to pour water on him?" He questioned.
"ME!!" Nora yelled around her cereal.
Nora ran over to get a glass and fill it with water, only to dash over Qrow with a grin that split her face.
"Wakey-wakey eggs and bakey!" She cried all too happily and evilly as she threw the water on him.
Qrow woke up screaming. "What time is it?!" He yelled.
"How early is early!" Oscar yelled back as the man raced to stand shaking his arms, which got the brunt of the water.
Qrow glared at them all, before fetching his scroll. "…Not early enough!" He looked around and missed a redhead. "Where's Ruby?" He asked.
Oscar sided his head. "Still asleep, why?" He questioned.
"Get her up! We're running late!" He yelled.
Oscar yelped and wasn't the only one to run off to get ready.
"RUBY!" Oscar yelled as he ran into the room.
Him being loud woke her up and got her jumping out of bed to reach Crescent Rose.
"Oscar?!" She screeched.
"Qrow say's we're late!" Oscar yelled, grasping his staff, and ran back out the room for her to change.
Leaving Ruby to grumble all the curse words she knew at her uncle.
How they made it to the Academy's doorsteps on time, they didn't know. Or how Ruby didn't spill her breakfast, once Oscar shoved it in her general direction, as they rushed over.
What they weren't expecting was Leo to be there to greet them in the great hall next to the Maiden statue, before Oscar had the time to split.
Ruby knew there was something wrong when she felt Oscar flinch next to her, and say something that sounded like a curse word.
"Leo!" Qrow cried out, nearly tripping over himself.
"There you are!" Leo responded, almost jumping ten feet in the air.
Oscar was just glad the lion didn't have his weapon on him. He was tense enough as it was since the entire scenario was new to him.
"Sorry, Leo woke up late." Qrow amended mournfully.
His hair was still wet.
Leo, by now had noted the newcomer. "And who are you, young man?" He questioned curiously.
Ruby was the only one who saw Oscar flinch before a show of a smile lit the boy's face up.
"Just a concerned citizen!" Oscar relayed.
Qrow jumped, while Leo frowned.
"…And your concern?" Leo asked nervously.
Qrow cleared his throat. "Leo is this the right place…?" He started.
Leo jumped. "Right…Right! Come to my office! All of you are welcome!" He suggested his tone overall nervous, still confused, but leading the way to his office.
All of them by now were giving Oscar confused glances, but the boy had a smile on his face that Ruby wanted to smack off, and dark clouds hanging in his eyes that made her not.
She doubted it boded well. At least, not for Leonardo.
By the time they entered Leonardo's office, they had gathered Oscar had a plan of sorts, and they were all exempt from it since he couldn't exactly tell them with Leonardo in hearing distance.
Leonardo turned around once they were all in his office, Oscar the last person to enter, closed the door with his foot to make it slam close. The loud bang made Leo jump. It almost made Oscar grin sinisterly.
He totally wasn't going to enjoy this.
"You didn't mention your name?" Leo asked, seeing RWBY and JNPR move around the room to make room for eleven people. Oscar seemed to move apart from the group and stand near the door.
"My name is Oscar! Oscar Pine!" Oscar greeted. His dark expression was gone when Leonardo was directly looking at him, replaced with that fake smile that made their skins crawl.
"…You said…you said you had a concern?" Leonardo asked.
Oscar flat out grinned. "Ah, see, I had met a Huntress before I came here who helped me, but I haven't seen her, or well, any, Huntsmen around recently, so I came here looking for some." Oscar said overbearingly innocent.
There was something flat and dangerous about his voice that confused Leonardo.
"But they can't've simply vanished. See! I met some on my way here!" He pointed to RWBY and JNPR.
Leonardo looked pale, and he retreated behind his desk, and while he wasn't looking, Oscar quickly and quietly punched the nearby wall, making those who watched him jump before they realised he was hitting a hidden button of some sort. He was back in position by the time Leonardo had looked back to him.
"I'm afraid most of Mistral's Huntsmen are away right now." Leonardo told him.
Oscar grinned again, as he bounded on his toes. "Not to worry! I'll stay here until I can find some, Huntsmen sure are real busy!" Oscar said.
"Are you… Are you a Huntsmen?" Leonardo questioned nervously, eyeing Oscar's staff.
Oscar cocked his head, grinning just a little bit darker. "I was trained outside the academies. So not a Huntsmen in those terms." Oscar told him.
Oscar wasn't about to say he enjoyed seeing the lion cower for his mistakes.
Leonardo flinched and looked to Qrow, who was visibly upset enough.
"And your reason for…being here?" Leonardo asked nervously.
Qrow sighed. "It's just as this kid said, there are no Huntsmen here, so I figured I'd tell you the students here will take over guarding the school." Qrow didn't say outright what he meant, for appearance's sake, but Leonardo understood.
"But…why?" Leonardo asked nervously.
Qrow scoffed. "Like we need one after Beacon?" He asked.
For the sake of appearances, Oscar gave them a confused glance.
Leonardo sat down with a tired sigh.
"When will you start?" He asked.
Qrow shrugged. "We're nearby, but there'll be at least two students here at night, alright?" Qrow asked.
Leonardo gave him a look. "As … As long as it keeps us safe and you trust them to do their jobs." He said.
RWBY and JNPR all gave him offended looks.
Qrow hadn't known what to expect if Oscar met Leonardo, but what he got chilled him, and he could see the pretences the boy had lied through his teeth to get were slowly degrading to the point where Leonardo kept glancing to him in confusion when he caught the boy glaring daggers at him.
Qrow really didn't want to see the kid throw his staff at the Faunus.
It would probably end up messy. And he didn't want to be the one to clean it up.
"We'll be around, Leo." Qrow said in way of goodbye.
"Good-Goodbye." Leonardo stuttered out nervously.
Oscar was the first to stalk out of Leonardo's office loudly, sending Ruby to chase after him, and the rest to chase after her.
By the time Ruby caught up Oscar, the boy was already in the entrance hall, pacing the width of the Maiden statue with his nearly completed staff out, whacking the air around him as he did.
Oscar had a frown, his eyes were dark: his overall expression wasn't something any of them had seen before.
"Oscar…?" Ruby attempted.
Oscar looked to her, and his expression broke, but he was still too keyed up to stop pacing completely.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, seeing he hadn't let her in, to not push it. Not when he was like this.
Qrow and the rest and gotten to them by that point.
"Kid?" Qrow asked.
No one stopped him from pacing or his movements with his staff.
"I… Really didn't want to believe it before. But, seeing this place, seeing the mission boards…" Oscar started, having stopped in front of the Maiden's statue to look up at it, with an unreadable expression that borderline saddened, before looking to the rest. "They're…They're not coming back." Oscar told them.
Qrow strode forward with a horrified expression.
"He…!?" He started before he gnarled his teeth in anger.
Oscar nodded. "I did wonder why no one of them returned to help that night." He muttered, staring back up at the stature forlornly.
"But why would he do that?" Pyrrha asked in confusion.
"To empty the school, and the vault so no one could protect it." Oscar said.
"But we're here!" Ruby protested. "We can protect! We can help!" Ruby told him insistently.
Oscar looked at her and for the first time that day gave her a sincere smile.
Seeing the expression, Ruby raced to his side and hugged him freely.
Oscar nearly dropped his staff in his haste to return the hug.
"You put the pins back in…" He whispered in awe.
Ruby didn't pull back but nodded into his hair. "Told you I liked them." She returned.
Oscar felt like the wave of dark emotions that had clouded him since he met Leonardo cleared as he nuzzled back into her. "Thank you, Ruby." He told her. Ruby gave out a little confused vocal, but he shook his head. "It's fine if you don't understand." He told her quietly.
"Maybe I would if you told me?" She asked.
"One day, I promise." He replied.
Ruby placed her chin on his head and looked outward to her teammates who were letting them have their peace and were heading for the hall doors to leave.
"I'll hold you to that." Ruby told him.
Oscar pulled away and smiled at her.
Ruby grinned and took his hand to catch up to the others.
"So," Nora bounded on her toes and looked to Oscar. "What was that little button you pressed earlier for?" Nora asked.
Oscar grinned good-naturedly. "Leo will suddenly not have access to his communication channels properly or the vault entrance." They all looked awed. "I built this school, I know where the panic buttons are." Oscar said gleefully.
The rest stared at the boy in astonishment because they hadn't known that previously.
/
/
"Okay, so I have a question," Pyrrha started as they entered the compound, and followed Oscar into the kitchen.
Ruby, seeing that Oscar was retrieving his mug, flipped the kettle on.
"I'll try and answer it, if your question is for me, Miss Nikos." Oscar told her, turning to her, noting that Ruby had gone to get the hot chocolate mixture got an extra mug out.
Seeing Pyrrha nod, he gave her his attention.
"We need to take turns in guarding the vault, yes?" Pyrrha asked as RWBY and JNPR settled around the kitchen to listen, while Qrow was sitting and fiddling with his scroll.
Oscar nodded. "The entrance for it, yes." He told them. "Just so we know if they try and take it." He continued.
Oscar watched as they looked to each other in confusion as Ruby handed him the milk and sugar.
"The entrance?" Ruby asked.
"There is only one way in and out of the vault," Oscar said, giving Ruby a mug before fixing his own. "The door to the vault can be opened by a mechanism that Leo has." Oscar told.
"That's why you flipped that switch? So, he couldn't open it?" Weiss asked.
Oscar nodded.
"Then why do we need to guard it?" Ren asked.
Oscar gave out a dark-like chuckle. "Because they don't know that." Oscar said.
They gave out a vocalisation of their understanding.
"So, where is it? The entrance." Nora asked.
"The entrance is the statue you saw at the great hall." Oscar said once he took a sip from his mug.
Ruby gave her mug back, seeing as she finished it, and gave him a smile of thanks for making it for her.
"The statue?" Jaune asked Oscar who nodded. "…Like the one at Beacon?" He continued.
Oscar gave him a startled blink.
"Which…?" Nora questioned before she brightened. "Oh! The one outside! Gotcha!" Nora said.
"Well, we know Beacon's okay, for the meantime, let's focus on Haven." Pyrrha reminded, making them all nod.
"So, how does patrolling it work?" Blake asked.
Yang looked to her. "In pairs, yeah?" She asked looking from Blake to Oscar for her answer.
Oscar nodded. "Pretty much just another chore for us to do. We still need to work out the logistics, since it will be needed to be guarded at night as well." Oscar said.
"…Does that mean whoever guards it, gets the next day off?" Ruby asked.
"That might be best." Qrow voiced as he tossed his scroll to Oscar, who barely caught it, having not expected Qrow to throw it. "Have a look." He told him.
Oscar blinked at him, then looked at the scroll.
Qrow had put them all in a rotation that fit all the chores in, as well giving whichever team had the night watch duties, both guarding the vault and overnight sentry to have the day of the next day, or at least the least amount of work in the evening.
Oscar knew that Ruby was looking over his shoulder and looked to her for her opinion.
Ruby nodded, seeing him wanting her opinion, but she had a frown she directed at Qrow. "I have a question." She asked as she took the scroll from Oscar to throw at Yang.
"Shoot," Qrow told her.
"Yeah, um, why're Oscar and I the first to guard?" She asked as Yang chucked the scroll to Blake.
Qrow just grinned, and she thought it best to leave alone.
"You're with me!" Yang boasted as she flung her arm around her Faunus friend.
Blake blinked at her, giving a glance to the scroll, then giving it to Nora.
While the scroll was playing pass the parcel, Oscar looked to Qrow.
"Have you been sending updates to Ozpin?" He questioned.
Qrow who had been eyeing his scroll, as if he thought one of the students were about to break it, looked back to Oscar, and nodded. "As much as I can with the Tower down, why do you ask?" He questioned.
Oscar shrugged. "This is all new to me, so I'm not really sure of his opinion on the matter." Oscar told him.
Hearing so, made the students stall and look to him.
"We've deviated?" Pyrrha asked.
Oscar nodded, then shrugged. "So, I'm not sure…" He trailed off, and looked to Ruby, with a slightly lost expression.
"Have they?" Qrow asked as his scroll finally came back to him.
Oscar just shook his head. "I'm not sure yet. But they most likely will, since we've offered to guard the vault." Oscar said.
They all looked to each other with varying emotions of concern and worry.
"So, I'm not sure how they will plan to go about trying to get the relic, but we need to be ready regardless." Oscar stated.
They all nodded, they weren't about to let that happen, could they help it.
They paused when Qrow looked thoughtful.
"Hey, Kid," He started, getting Oscar's attention from cleaning mugs.
Oscar turned to him and cocked his head. "What's up?" He asked.
"Are there any more of those panic buttons we don't know about?" Qrow asked.
They watched as a snide smile came across Oscar's face. "Yeah. There is." He said happily.
"Are there any in the compound? Or at the great hall?" Qrow asked.
Oscar took a second, as if he needed to recall the information, then strode over to the far wall that the fridge was on, then with a curious expression thumbed the wooden lining, and suddenly a loud screeching alarm sounded off, that made them cover their ears while there were sounds of exits being locked.
"Yes. Yes, there are." Oscar sounded.
"THAT'S GREAT TURN IT OFF!" Blake and Nora were the loudest to scream.
Once Oscar did, Ruby turned to him.
"…Maybe just explain where they are and what they do…?" She questioned.
Oscar blinked. "That might be best." Oscar noted.
"Are they all over the school?" Weiss asked, after Oscar explained several that were all over the complex, with a range of uses from the alarms sounding, exits locking, armouries opening/closing, and room explosions.
Oscar shook his head. "Just to this compound, the Great Hall and the headmaster's office." He explained.
Having them all over seemed a tad excessive. And they found out that hand and/or thumb placement was key, off by a little, and the button wouldn't work.
Oscar had great glee in watching them all try to activate one.
…They didn't talk about the hole Nora ripped through a wall trying to find one. Qrow just groaned woefully when he heard the banging and crashing, and decided it was a disaster that future him could deal with.
"Wait, does Lionheart know about them? Wouldn't he know the one in his office was tripped?" Ruby asked.
Oscar blinked at her. "He doesn't know about them." He told her, having automatically grasped her arm when she near tripped over her own feet when she stalled, caught up in her worry.
"And you're sure?" Qrow asked.
Oscar nodded. "The only reason I know is because I recalled it from Ozpin. Ozpin was the one who built the school before Leo took office. Ozpin never told the headmasters. If you haven't noticed Ozpin is kinda paranoid about telling things to others." Oscar told them. It had taken Oscar to be actually in the headmaster's office for the memory to surface in the first place.
Qrow shrugged as Oscar set Ruby back on her feet.
"You okay?" He asked.
Ruby nodded. "So, it also tripped his communications, right?" Weiss asked.
"It did, I wonder how long it'll take them to override it…" Oscar said thoughtfully.
"Hopefully a few days so we can set out a routine." Jaune muttered.
They hoped so.
/
/
Dinner came with as much noise as it usually did. Ruby and Qrow were the only exempt from helping to make it. As letting Ruby near the stove was like allowing Qrow near electronics — nothing good came of it, and often fires or things broke because of it. Qrow usually made himself scarce, and Ruby was delegated to setting the table. Always.
Sometimes Oscar helped her with the many bowls, plates and utensils they had needed so they could all eat. But with Ruby's speed, she usually finished her tasks before everyone else, it once became a competition between her and Nora who could finish their tasks first. Ren and Oscar were the ones to deny the girls profoundly after the first several times caused damage, in the many bowls and plates they needed to replace and walls that needed to be patched up.
But this time, Oscar had pushed her away, once she had set the table to pout at him.
"Nope. No, don't give me that look," Oscar demanded as he pushed her from the kitchen. "Go read your comics or something," Oscar told her.
Ruby had found him pushing her profoundly hilarious but hadn't resisted in fear she'd hurt him since she was still taller than him. "How'd you know…?" She questioned.
"Nope. Don't ask. Just go. I'll call you." Oscar demanded, pointing to the stairs that lead to upstairs, towards their room.
Ruby stalled when she saw his expression, and she really couldn't take him seriously. He wasn't exactly angry at her, nor was he firm. She doubted the boy could, not if the situation wasn't dire.
He really needed to stop being adorable.
It was really starting to affect her.
Ruby held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Fine. I'll go do girly stuff." She told him.
Ruby nearly snorted in amusement when she saw him stall.
Yep. He needed to stop that. He was blushing. At her.
Not good. Who was she kidding? It was totally good.
"Yep. Uh-huh. Go." He was able to manage.
She needed to stop terrorizing him too. Or she needed to see that boy blush because of her again.
Either way.
Part 3 – Chapter 17
Ruby and Oscar set out just before sunset for their shift to guard the vault.
"Okay, so how does this work?" Ruby asked as they walked towards the academy.
Oscar looked at her. "How do you mean?" He questioned.
"You know, not being seen by Lionheart while we're there. I doubt we can sit in the middle of the hall and play Remnant." Ruby said sarcastically.
Oscar chuckled. "No. No, I don't think that would work for us, seeing as I'm not supposed to be there at all. Since I'm a concerned citizen." Oscar told her.
Ruby gave him a look.
"So…?" She asked again, not really knowing why Oscar brought his backpack with him since she wasn't around when he packed it.
"We'll need to get there first, Miss Ruby." Oscar told her.
Ruby just grumbled at him, causing him to laugh.
They snuck into the Great Hall, and unsurprisingly, no one was there to greet them.
"Okay. Now what?" Ruby hissed.
Oscar looked at her then point outwards. "See the roof balustrades?" Oscar questioned.
Ruby looked out and nodded. "Yeah. What about them?" She asked.
"We can sit up there." Oscar noted, pointing to the balustrade directly above on the other side of the room, where they could see anyone come in or out to access the Maiden statue.
Ruby understood, gathering Oscar to her, she raced up to the structure.
./.
Only a few hours in, and Ruby had yawned, making Oscar chuckle.
"Would you feel better if we went in shifts?" He asked, knowing she wasn't exactly used to night watching without being on the move.
Ruby looked at him. "You don't mind?" She asked.
Oscar shook his head. "I'll wake you." Oscar told her.
"Thanks!" She said gratefully and set herself against Oscar's bag and took a nap.
./.
Closer to midnight, Ruby was dead bored. All she could hear were the crickets chirping, and nothing else, there was no activity, Grimm or otherwise. No one had come into the room. Since it was her turn to keep watch, she was finding it incredibly hard too. Not because she was tired anymore, but because Oscar was next to her, adorably asleep.
She lost her battle, and her attention turned towards him to regard him quietly. He usually woke up before her, so she hardly ever saw him asleep.
As Ruby gazed, she was reminded then how young Oscar actually was, and the sacrifices the boy was making every day just by trusting her. He had to have a huge amount of it, to stand next to her, even more, when she accidentally hurt him. She hadn't forgotten.
They really were too young for all of this, ideally.
But Ruby had made her choice, as had Oscar, to see this through to the end. No matter how that ended.
Ruby did hope that at the end of all this, that both of them were still alive so she could poke him and go I told you so! when Salem was defeated by other means then just her Silver eyes.
But damn was she getting hungry. She would need to remember that for the next night watch – these things were long, and they were boring. And she couldn't very well stare at Oscar all the time. Well, she could, but she doubted he'd stay asleep for too long with her staring at him. Even now he was stirring.
"Miss Ruby?" He voiced, waking a little.
"It's alright, Oscar, there's nothing wrong." She hurried to assure.
Oscar sat up tiredly and wildly grasped around for her scroll. She watched silently as he unlocked it to see the time. "Midnight." He muttered.
Ruby just groaned quietly. They still had ages!
Her stomach demanded attention, and it made Oscar chuckle, but reach for his bag to pull out a container.
"Here!" He told her, handing over the container.
Ruby blinked in confusion but opened it up, only to reveal cookies, much to her glee.
"I adore you." She muttered reverently.
Oscar blinked at her, as if startled by her, but then laughed quietly.
Had he known he'd get that response, he would have done it sooner.
//
Nothing had happened, as Oscar hoped. But that didn't mean it wasn't boring. Both Oscar and Ruby had packed up and left as soon as the sun's rays shone through the top windows.
They trudged back to the compound, Ruby immediately to the stairs, to go to bed, while Oscar headed for the kitchen to flip the kettle on.
His mind was half dead with a need for sleep, but he could wait until he had something to drink first. Oscar knew it was too early for just about anything, so while the kettle boiled he found the notepad and took out his pen from his pocket, and wrote:
Nothing happened, going to bed.
I will freeze anyone who decides to wake me needlessly.
OP+RR
And stuck the note on the fridge by the time the kettle boiled and paid no more mind to it as he went about getting his mug of hot chocolate before he woke too much.
Oscar yawned as he made his way upstairs, kicking the door shut with his foot and with his free hand picked up Ruby's cloak to hang it back up on its hook, he made his way to set his mug down. He shut the curtain seeing as Ruby hadn't. Then decided to get some sleep himself.
./.
It was midday before either of them stirred because of hunger.
Oscar pawed sleep away from one eye and shot out his other to intercept Ruby's throwing arm subconsciously.
"What time is it?" Ruby asked tiredly.
Oscar gave out an uncertain sound, before leaning over her to try and find her scroll on the bedside.
Once he grasped it to turn it on. "It's lunchtime." He noted as he sat up out of her way.
"Hungry…" Ruby noted with a yawn.
"You can't have cookies for lunch." Oscar told her.
Ruby whined at him.
They made their way downstairs, noting the compound was silent. Yang and Blake should have been around somewhere.
Ruby went about getting bowls while Oscar raided the fridge, noting the added notes on the fridge, surrounding his own from the previous day that he hadn't cared for at sunrise:
Store didn't have extra milk, they said their shipment is due later.
BB
WHY HAVE WE RUN OUT OF TISSUES?!
NV
Store is restocking red dust ammo + elemental dust and crystals by the end of the week.
Bought out lightning ammo since we were low.
JA+PN
How did you guys not die of boredom? This town is boring!
YXL
Why are you guys like this?
Seeing the Qrow's undistinguishable, unmarked scribble, Oscar snickered it was almost as if he could hear the old bird groaning in dismay. Taking note of the post-its, he noted that he and Ruby would need to take note of the post-its regarding supplies for their run. Since it was their chore.
The fridge was normally the casualty for post-its since they all left some type of memo on it somewhere for the others to see and regard. It made it an easier system for each covering group for whatever chore they were doing, and not doing digging through the house trying to list what everyone needed for the next few days.
But the other newer post-it notes on the fridge had Oscar's eye twitching.
WE STILL DON'T HAVE TISSUES!
NV
"The hell is that girl doing with them?" Oscar asked.
Ruby choked on her cereal, and Oscar eyed her suspiciously. "Don't change Oscar." She told him once she could breathe.
Oscar stared at her incredulously and in a rising confusion.
Ran out of milk.
BB
Oscar eyed Ruby. "How are you eating cereal with no milk?" He asked.
Ruby shrugged. "Dry? I felt like cereal." She said noncommittedly.
Oscar sighed as he took that note with along with Nora's to scan for other notes about supplies.
Need alcohol.
Oscar got out his pen to curse at Qrow and tell him where he could shove his remaining alcohol. He would know what the word meant.
Watch out for bandits Day Watchers!
YXL
Oscar walked over to the pantry and noted what else they needed.
"You want anything, Miss Ruby?" He asked as he wrote down what they low on.
"Cookies!" Ruby insisted enthusiastically.
"Already on the list." Oscar told her.
Ruby gave a shrug. "Dunno, then!" She replied and went back to her breakfast.
Oscar sighed, putting his list away and went over to the fridge. "Miss Ruby don't forget your scythe or your scroll, please." Oscar reminded.
Ruby gave him a salute and exploded into flower petals that raced out the room.
Oscar just sighed again and went about cleaning up her bowl.
./.
He was sure the supplier looked up to see them and paled when he recognised who they were. Oscar wandered if he did this for every pair of their group. He doubted Ruby could be much worse than Nora.
"The…The shipment hasn't come in yet…He said he'd be here in an hour…" The shop-keep told them nervously as if he was wary they'd take their weapons and impale him.
Oscar nodded "Sure! We'll be back after that!" He said brightly.
He swore the poor civilian gulped.
Oscar watched as Ruby skipped in front of him as carefree as she could be with her folded scythe on visible display. He paused when he heard one of his pockets hum out, and he recalled that Ruby had given her scroll to him.
"Miss Ruby!" Oscar said as he stalled to pull the scroll out and answer.
"Hey!" Came Pyrrha's voice.
"Miss Nikos?" Oscar questioned as Ruby came back to him. She…was on Day Sentry if he recalled.
"Oh, it's Oscar. You and Ruby are on Restocking, correct?" Pyrrha asked.
"We are. What's wrong?" Oscar questioned.
"Jaune and I are on Day Watch. Where are you two currently?" Pyrrha continued to ask.
Oscar blinked and looked around. "At the markets." He told her.
"Oh, good, you're on the other side of the city, pretty sure we overheard some people saying this gang were gonna rob the place. The male we caught won't tell us anything. Keep an eye out 'til we get there?" She asked.
"Sure. We aren't doing anything for a while!" Oscar told.
./.
Keeping an active eye out as they moved through stalls as they waited for the grocers to restock. Ruby kept closer to Oscar, who didn't mind. They made a point to keep an eye on the emotions of the civilians around them to gauge what they knew. Seeing they were calm, there wasn't anything they were missing.
Suddenly, both Pyrrha and Jaune dropped from the sky.
"Yo!" Jaune greeted with a happy salute.
"Sorry we took so long we needed to hand the guy we apprehended to the Mistral Police." Pyrrha noted.
Oscar nodded. "That's fine. We had to wait for the grocer anyway. Nothing's happened yet." Oscar reported.
"Call us if you need help!" Ruby said, waving goodbye.
"We'll keep in touch!" Pyrrha responded as Jaune waved.
With that, both Oscar and Ruby made their way back to the grocer, their hour up spent wandering the market, picking up several items their peers had asked for while there.
The vendor still looked as if he was scared out of his wits.
/
/
Ruby was sure she wanted to throw her scroll against the wall when it woke her before she was ready. She felt the bed moving, so Oscar was already awake and going about getting up.
"You should wake up now if you wanna eat before we go." Oscar told her.
Yep. That pretty much ensured she got up for the day.
Oscar was the usual one who paid attention to the post-it notes on the fridge.
"Anything for us?" Ruby asked, thankful to have milk back.
Oscar nodded as he handed her a mug of hot chocolate. "Miss Nikos has a warning for the bandit she and Jaune intercepted, to be on the lookout for the gang, they wear black armbands." Oscar noted.
Ruby sided her head. "Are they dangerous?" She asked.
Oscar looked up from the note. "They didn't say, so I would assume if only provoked." Oscar said, coming back over from the fridge to sit next to her to eat.
./.
The main difference between day and night watch was that during the day, the pair needed to interact with the civilians as well as the MPD, who patrolled both times the pairs did. They were fully aware of any alarms that were tripped in the future, were not drills. They were just glad to have Huntsmen working alongside them since they hadn't had any patrol with them for a while before they came into Mistral. And Day watch had more light, which was obvious. While Oscar and Ruby liked being in pairs, they both hated talking to strangers equally.
"Your turn." Oscar noted, pointing to the next civilian on their round.
Ruby paled. "Nuh-huh. I took the one back there!" She insisted.
Oscar looked at her and shrugged. "Well, okay then, I guess all the weapon jargon will go over my head then." Oscar said, seeing the caravan the civilian had.
"Never mind!" Ruby said and was suddenly racing over to the civilian.
Who had a heart attack at being rushed at.
"Hi!" She greeted loudly and bubbly while dancing on her toes, then pointed at a weapon, and Oscar was lost in a sea of words and explanations. At least the vendor seemed to understand her.
Oscar just took out Ruby's scroll, unlocked it to find the messaging profile to send a message to both Nora and Ren, who had restocking ammo the next day that the vendor was in town.
"Miss Ruby," Oscar called. This got Ruby's attention, and she stalled in her speech. "Is there anything I should tell Miss Valkyrie about the vendor, so she can drag Mister Ren with her tomorrow?" Oscar asked, praying she would use simple words.
The vendor lit up at the prospect of a sale.
Ruby just looked thoughtful, then to the vendor. "What ammo have you got?" She questioned.
The man was quick to show them.
By the end of it, he would be out of stock, but heavy in lien by tomorrow, if Oscar could judge the list Ruby compiled on her phone to Nora.
Oscar just hoped they didn't wake the pair with Ruby's enthusiasm.
./.
They took their break at lunchtime for a little rest from walking and talking so they could eat.
"We still have half the main city to look out for yeah?" Ruby noted around her chopsticks.
Oscar nodded. "Yep. At the moment the police are there, so they'll notify us if they see anything when we see them in passing the station. They were informed yesterday about the gang." Oscar told her.
"Uncle Qrow'll tell us if he sees anything in the lower levels, too." Ruby added, seeing as poor Weiss had drawn the shorter stick, and was put with Qrow, they were stuck with each other. Unfortunately for the both of them.
Oscar gave a light chuckle in humour at that.
Ruby's scroll gave a little chime to remind them lunch was over, Ruby got up to collect the bowls to give back to the vendor. Leaving Oscar to pick the scroll up and put it in his pocket. It sat with their shared lien cards and her extra ammo clips and elemental dust clips. Half of which she had probably forgotten she had given to him at some point, until she needed it, that is.
"Come on," Ruby started as she came back. "We better go talk to the station." She added with a groan.
"It's my turn, so why are you groaning?" Oscar asked as they left the store.
"Because I still gotta be there, Oscar!" She retorted, making him laugh.
/
/
They hadn't found the bandits at large but they put a post-it note on the fridge to warn Qrow about them once they got home before they went to bed. If anything, he would be bound to find them.
Oscar knew the table wasn't the exact place to finish up the roughing of his staff, but he hated doing it outdoors since Ruby was bound to follow him.
…And he kinda didn't want her anywhere near the ledge.
Twice was karma enough. He didn't need a third to push his luck, not with Qrow around.
Ruby was spacing between what she usually did on her days off — napping, reading, or tuning Crescent Rose. All of which she normally did at a stone's throw away from Oscar.
So, it was no longer a surprise to Oscar when she lent her chin against his shoulder, announcing her presence. "You've finished roughing!" Ruby told him, seeing the now smooth-all-over wood. "No more splinters!" She added, seeing as the one time she reacted to a nearby Grimm was to take his staff and whack it one, it only took her one time, but the wood decided to make itself a home under her skin. Since then she hadn't impulsively reacted and grasped it willy-nilly.
Oscar turned his head to her and grinned. "No more splinters!" He echoed gratefully.
He had been the one to take it out since Qrow made himself scarce at the time.
Bastard.
Ruby sat next to him, almost with giddy joy.
"Whatcha gonna do with it now?" She asked.
Oscar regarded her. "Well, that depends on our dust reserves, and how much lien we can spare…it might be hard to spare dust on it if we're low on either." Oscar told her.
Ruby looked at him repulsively. "Oscar, this isn't a weapon, it's a stick." She told him.
Oscar blinked, then burst out laughing.
It may be a stick, but that didn't mean it wasn't a weapon.
Ruby stood up. "Let's see our dust reserves!" She said, then grasped the staff, and his hand and raced out the room.
Opening up the dust reserves, was always like making sure they didn't trip off a bomb.
"Might as well categorise what we need while we're here." Oscar muttered.
He doubted they would have reserves of the dust he preferred, should he use any.
Ruby nodded and took a side of the reserves to catalogue.
"We should see about that shipment of fire ammo, we're running low." Ruby noted, noting the red dust reserves were low and remembering the note Weiss left.
"We should also stock up on all dust since we don't know when Atlas' embargo will affect supply here." Oscar noted.
Ruby stalled and blinked at Oscar in confusion. "There's a dust embargo?" She questioned.
Oscar looked at her. "…There should be?" He questioned back.
Ruby shrugged. "So, what do we need?" She asked as she pulled up her scroll to use as her notepad. "Aside from fire." She added.
Oscar took a minute to think. "We've got Miss Blake and Miss Weiss to note since they use most dust variations with their weapons. Most of us use ammo rounds. Do you still use lightning ammo rounds for Miss Valkyrie?" Oscar asked.
Ruby nodded. "We've just restocked that." She told him, causing him to nod. "What about you?" She asked.
Oscar, who had looked over the reserves, noted that the dust elements he had memories of mainly using were not a part of the reserves. "They're not stocked, …maybe they are hard to find?" Oscar ended up questioning.
Ruby sided her head. "We just need to check the dust store when we go next!" She encouraged.
Oscar laughed. "That's true!" He replied happily.
./.
Oscar was tapping his fingers against the table as he let his thoughts jump around in his head, since it wasn't dire, but he did have several things on his mind, ranging from imbuing his staff with dust, to what to pack the next time he and Ruby were out in the field at night in the next few days… Oscar sided his head and looked around. None of the other pairs were back yet.
"Ruby…?" He questioned, standing up, suddenly not seeing her, had she told him she was going to do something?
Maybe he hadn't heard her.
He did need to ask if her likeness for strawberries was passed onto her. If so, he could pack them, since they were better than straight up cookies.
Perhaps she was in her room?
He pulled his head through his bow-string, and headed up the stairs, looking around for Ruby as he did.
Their door was ajar, so he pushed it open.
The door creaked noisily open, and he was left to see her without much clothes on.
And everything stalled.
Her hair was wet. Wet? Yeah, wet. Shower?
Ruby screamed. "Oscar!"
So did he, as he scrambled to shut the door. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"
"Why did you walk in!" She yelled through the closed door, hurrying to put her clothes on.
"Why did you leave it open!" He yelled back, his face red.
"…I did?" She questioned.
"Yes! So I thought it was okay." Oscar told her.
The door moved, and Oscar hid his face with his hands.
"I'm not looking!" He cried.
Ruby giggled at his response. "I'm dressed, Oscar." She told him, and he didn't see her triumphant grin at his actions as if she had just won the lottery.
Not as if he believed her, he peeked through his fingers and it made her chortle and pull his hands away from his face to see it was red.
"You're still not!" Oscar insisted through a stutter. "Where's your cloak?!" He asked.
From where her corset covered her chest, to her armlets, she wore absolutely nothing. There was no undershirt.
"It's on its hook, don't worry, I said I was dressed!" Ruby insisted.
Oscar stalled again at the information.
Yep. He was never going to be able to look at her properly ever again. Maybe he should hide the cloak more often. Best not, he needed to be able to perform on some level.
"You had a reason for looking for me, I guess?" Ruby asked.
Oscar mentally pulled himself away from la-la land. "Right. Um. I…I was gonna ask if you liked strawberries?" He tried to ask.
Ruby blinked. "It's one of my favourite things to eat, why?" She questioned.
"Seemed like a better thing to pack then cookies for our next steak out." Oscar said.
Ruby pouted but nodded. "I guess that makes sense!" Ruby said as she bounced on her toes.
Qrow was so gonna kill him if he ever found out.
/
/
Oscar nuzzled Ruby's forehead with his own in an attempt to wake her up softly.
"Miss Ruby?" He asked.
Ruby gave out a questioning vocal.
"I've been thinking about what you said." Oscar started.
Ruby opened one eye to regard him. "'Bout what?" She asked with a yawn.
"How using dust elements with my staff." Oscar elaborated.
Ruby looked a little more awake. "Yeah…?" She prompted.
"…Would you mind if I took today to see if I can find the elements I want to use? You can go back to sleep." Oscar told her.
Ruby shook her head and sat up. "No. I wanna come with you." Ruby pouted.
"Don't forget we have Night watch, tonight!" Oscar called as he jumped off the bed to grasp his day clothes. "And I call dibs on the shower!"
Ruby just grumbled at him in annoyance.
./.
They ended up wandering into an unfamiliar dust store after Oscar couldn't find what he wanted at their usual vendor.
Everything around them seemed to be dust in its purer form, from cut crystals to crystals that had formed around wood or stone naturally. One purer green rounded crystal formed around a darker pine wood caught Oscar's attention, while Ruby was off flittering around the shop in interest of the cut crystals.
Oscar held it up to test the weight, it was the only dust crystal he had seen that was in one of the two elements he wanted. The wood was solid, as was the crystal formation. The wood's out layer only had a few natural formed holes, which he could work with. But since he wasn't expecting the crystal he would need a holder to keep both it and staff in place, such a thing could in theory act as both the placement and the hand hilt. All he needed was the necessary equipment.
Oscar wandered the store over to the accessories to try and find what he wanted. Finding one that was a golden colour he noted the engravings also could hold dust, if one knew the craft, as well as be used as a placement for the both ends to meet and not snap as they forged the two ends together.
Picking the accessory up, he noted the price was way down, in most likelihood no one had known what to do with it. That suited Oscar fine, since he knew how to work it. He took out of the unwanted items box as he went: an imbuing dust etcher pen, a red durable length of string, a silver feather and a metal connecting ring he planned to use as well as he went by to the refined dust containers.
He eyed the containers and the colours of dust, then looked to where Ruby was, racing from one item to the next, gaining the wary attention of the shopkeeper.
"Miss Ruby?" He questioned, and she immediately stalled and raced over to him.
"Here!" She saluted.
Oscar grinned at her. "Do you think you can help me find a vial of green dust particles?" He asked, Ruby nodded and was off to the other side of the table.
Oscar figured the green would be easier to find than the black purple-tinged one.
"Hey, Oscar?" Ruby called.
Oscar looked at her. "What's up?" He answered.
"Does it need to be in a vial? There's a packet, does that help?" Ruby asked.
"As long as the store sells empty vials, then we're good on that front." Oscar responded.
"I'll ask!" Ruby said, and then raced over to the shopkeeper.
She came back with a packet of green dust and a few empty vials in a shop basket.
"This do?" She asked.
Oscar nodded. "Thanks!" He said and put the rest of his items in once he took the basket from her. "Should only need a few more things." He told her.
Ruby nodded and was off flittering about the shop again.
Oscar kept one ear on her, and his eyes looking through the dust stock for the element he wanted.
He looked up when he heard her give out an awed gasp. "This is pretty." She muttered, holding up what looked like hardened aesthetic wrapping vines. He could use it, and not just because she found them pretty.
"Here, give them over!" Oscar called. "See if you can find some wood varnish that matches." He asked her.
Ruby grinned and placed them in the basket before going back to helping.
Oscar finally found the elemental dust he wanted long after Ruby came after with a packet of varnish the same colour as the wood holding the crystal.
"Done!" He called out to Ruby, so she would know they would be leaving soon.
./.
Ruby was bounding on her toes while Oscar sat at the kitchen table working on finishing his staff since the varnish dried brown he was working the hilt fixture, so he could attach the crystal pommel. Once fixed in place, he left the vine unwrapped, so he could still get at the staff's wood, leaving the golden ring off until the vine could be wrapped around. The metal fixture ended just under the opening he made into the wood which now made a bowstring into the top furthest natural opening in the crystals outer wood with a metal ring connector. The smaller natural opening he threaded through a red hardened string that he tired the silver feather to it, so it dangled and moved about in the wind.
Seeing so, he tossed the near-weapon to Ruby, who caught it in surprise.
"Go run and see if it breaks." Oscar asked.
Ruby stared at him. "…I'd rather not break it!" She insisted.
Oscar gave her a chuckle. "I need to know if it can handle your speeds, so go for a run." Oscar told her.
Ruby did so, albeit uneasily.
It didn't fall apart, so Oscar figured it was a win-win.
./.
Ruby looked at the downpour in wary, it was their turn for the Night watch. Why anyone would try anything tonight was beyond her, and she didn't exactly want to get wet. Ruby looked around for Qrow or Oscar, so either of them could tell her which route they were planning their pair to make. Not seeing them, she figured they were still working on it, she shrugged, and went to get ready, she would need her scythe, which she left in her room.
She opened the door to their room, and she immediately knew she had karma.
Oscar had stalled, blinking at her, his hand outstretched to get his shirt.
And he only had his pants on. Barely. As if he had just shimmied into them. His braces were still dangling around his hips. Had she been a minute before—A minute before he wouldn't have had—
Ruby stalled and but managed to turn away. "Um. Yep. Um. Route? Yeah, route. Scythe…?" She was able to say.
Oscar blinked at her in confusion. "Are you asking about the route we're taking tonight?" He asked.
He didn't see his words caused her to turn beet red as she nodded.
"Just a sec, I have it here." Oscar mumbled, and he ruffled through his pant pockets.
"Ah! Here!" Oscar found the folded map.
Hearing him she looked at him.
And he was still shirtless! He was definitely trying to kill her.
"See if you see any inconsistencies." Oscar was saying as he pulled on his braces without a care in the world what his actions were doing to Ruby.
She damn well try to find inconsistencies, with him maybe. That idea made her choke a little.
Ruby glared at the map, trying to make her eyes stay there as he dressed.
"Are we—are we breaking at the high walkway?" Ruby questioned, hating her stutter.
Her face went a darker shade when he came in closer, after shuffling on his belts, with a little prompting vocal, which she wasn't about to follow up with.
She pointed to the circle, which usually meant where the break-in shift was.
"Ah. Yeah. We're coexisting with the police on this watch, and to keep out of the rain as much as possible." Oscar told her then moved away.
Ruby tried to breathe when he finally had his shirt on. Not as if the image of his unbuttoned pants weren't gonna visit her sleeping hours.
Ruby may have learnt her lesson about leaving her scythe behind.
Oscar may have later realised her jittery red-faced response was actually to him shirtless, and he didn't exactly know how to handle such information. Aside from seeing if he could reproduce the response, maybe. If she didn't kill him the second time.
./.
Oscar brought along the dust sketcher and the vials of both dust elements on their Night watch duty. Most times they were sitting about in known areas of mischief, waiting for something to happen alongside the MPD. While he sat at his rest periods he engraved the known (and some not well known) dust symbols into the wood with the sketcher to embed the symbols with the black with the purple-tinged dust. While the engraving on the hilt as filled in with the green dust.
"So!" Ruby started, and she sat down beside him, making Oscar look to her. "What are you doing?" She questioned. She thanked any god still alive that she could still talk to him normally.
"Imbuing Dust into the wood." He told her, tapping the latest symbol.
Ruby looked interested. "Huh…" She said curiously. "How many are you gonna do?" She asked.
"Only a few more." Oscar told her since he was running out of dust and area to start with.
Ruby nodded. "The Police are doing their rounds, and they'll confer with us when they're done!" Ruby commented as she leant back against the support structure of the walkway they were holed up in for their rest, there they still had a good vantage point of inner Mistral, and all the entry points to Haven lit up in the rain. No one was about, but they still kept watch.
Oscar nodded, to tell he heard her as he sketched the last symbol. "All done!" He told her.
Ruby looked thrilled as Oscar put away the sketch and found both his knife and the golden slip ring. Putting those aside he wound the vine down, slipping the end around the ring, only to slip the ring onto the wood and tapped it down gently with the butt of his knife.
With that Oscar stood up to work out whacking the air like he normally would his cane to see how the staff would work.
It worked in a similar way, the only difference was that he needed to compensate for the pommels new weight. Aside from that, it worked exactly the same. Oscar looked to Ruby and tossed it to her.
"Have a feel." Oscar asked.
Ruby nodded and went about holding it like she had been taught and striking invisible enemies, while Oscar sat down and back to sentry.
Ruby plopped back down next to him, and gave the staff back, Oscar noted the intense gaze she had looked at him with.
"So! Whatcha gonna name it?" Ruby asked.
Oscar gave her a look of deadpan. "Ruby. It's just a staff." He told her.
Ruby shook her head. "No! It's a weapon! Give it a name!" She told him.
Oscar slumped, as he thought and stared at the weapon he made. He had imbued it with gravity and wind elemental dust properties. So, wind needed to be a factor in the name. Oscar watched as the silver feather fluttered about in the wind on its red string.
"Ventus Silvis." Oscar muttered, not exactly going to miss out on calling it something that resembled Ruby's eye colour.
"What does that roughly mean?" Ruby asked curiously.
"The wind in the forest leaves." Oscar elaborated.
Ruby gave out an awed vocal. "Sounds cool!" She gushed.
Oscar wasn't exactly sure if he should be grateful or not that she missed the double meaning.
/
/
They had come full circle, and their chore for the day was guarding the Vault once again.
Which did mean they could sleep the day away, which they did thanks to being up the night for Night sentry.
By the time they woke, most of their peers had already woke, left their messages and gone about their chores.
Oscar could see where messages had been pulled off the fridge, most likely by Jaune or Pyrrha since they had restocking. Everyone else seemed to ignore Nora's death threat and Qrow's quip of a meeting the following day. They must have missed the status report the previous night.
"How are things?" Ruby asked, fetching the hot chocolate mix with her cereal.
"We missed most of the post-its. So, I assume since your scroll didn't wake us up, that nothing has gone wrong." Oscar told her, taking the mixture from her so he could fix up two mugs.
"Are you worried?" Ruby asked as she sat down with her breakfast.
Oscar sighed. "It's not as if I want something to happen, it's just that…nothing has happened when I know something will." Oscar tried to explain.
Ruby nodded empathetically, she understood that sentiment well. They all did.
For Night watch, the pair needed to provide their own snacks and meals.
Oscar looked to Ruby who was finishing up eating.
"Want me to pack strawberries for tonight?" He asked.
Ruby nodded. "And anything else that will keep us awake, and not playing Remnant again!" Ruby laughed.
Qrow had a field day when he found out. He took the game away, too.
./.
Vault guarding was as they remembered it, boring.
"So, I don't think I've asked you, but what actually is your Semblance, if you don't mind me asking." Ruby asked.
Oscar gave thought. "I'm not sure how to explain…" He gave a minute. "It's…similar to Miss Nikos, yet not." Ruby sided her head as she listened. "In a certain area around me, I can suspend matter that is elevated in the air for a duration. That matter can be human or inanimate, but for it to work, it needs to be in the air at the time, and in my area. If it's touching the floor, or outside my range, it won't work. …Does that make sense?" He ended up questioning.
Ruby gave out a vocalisation of her understanding. "So that's why you imbued air and gravity!" She said, happy to figure out why he chose only those two similar elements.
Oscar stalled her when he heard something.
"Hold up," He muttered, hearing the unusual clanging that rung out.
Ruby immediately quietened and grasped her scythe noting Oscar went to hold his staff.
They both hid behind the pillar when they saw at least three shadows walk in the room.
All of whom they recognised. "Didn't she say there'd be guards?" A female hissed.
"And you've just alerted them that we're here. Well done." A male responded sarcastically.
"Quiet!" Another female hissed.
The door underneath them opened, and they watched as Leonardo scampered out nervously.
Oscar nudged Ruby. "We need to get to the middle of the room." He whispered.
"When?" Ruby asked.
"I'll tell you." Oscar said.
Ruby quietly pulled Oscar onto her back and waited.
"Open the path to the vault, Leo! Before they all realise we're here if they're not already alerted to the White Fang being here!" Cinder hissed.
"The White Fang is here?" Ruby asked worriedly.
Oscar ruffled about on her back to reach for her scroll in one of his pockets. "I'll tell Qrow, he's on night watch." Oscar muttered back.
"Tell the rest I'll come get them as well!" Ruby hissed.
"On it." Oscar told her, already forming a group message, before placing the device on silent so it wouldn't give them away.
Leonardo was at the statue below them, and he was the first to be puzzled when his device hadn't worked. "It's—It's not unlocking…" Leonardo stuttered nervously.
"What do you mean?" Cinder asked, coming in to inspect, bring Emerald and Mercury with her.
"Now!" Oscar hissed. "Land in the middle where the staircases meet!" He told her.
Ruby nodded and raced off as a trail of red petals silently to not catch their eye.
Ruby landed where Oscar told her to, and let the boy off her back, once he was off, she immediately left through the open window.
"Sorry!" Oscar called, making the four in front of him flinch and turn to him. "You'll find that door is closed!" Oscar told them civilly, and very actively, pressed the button in the floor with his boot. "And you'll also find now that everyone now knows you and the White Fang are here!" Oscar continued dangerously.