(A/N: Only been a week but its feel like forever since I posted. Lets just call that my Christmas break and get right back into it.)
XOXO
"What about him?"
"The Vytal Festival is a pointless distraction I have no time for. I believe those were his exact words along with some tangent about Winter's studies. You'd think he'd pay some attention to her with how much he likes to mouth off about what she should and shouldn't do." A heavy sigh followed those words. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"Look on the bright side, you don't have to worry about all that while you're here."
"Thankfully."
Eyes closed, I tuned out the nearby babbling and TV, listening to the hushed conversation Summer and Willow were having. Encountering her was unexpected but what little I gleamed lined up with how things would soon be in the show despite this apparent friendship. Winter and Weiss were born and, while clearly not at its climax just yet, there was obviously some measure of disdain for Jacques Schnee who was busying himself almost completely with their company.
Vainly interesting as all that was, I couldn't say I cared too much about any of it at the moment.
The Schnee family wasn't just known for their company but the hereditary semblance passed on between those who actually shared their blood. According to what I've read over the years, while they weren't the first example of the unexplainable aberration, they were the most well known for it, both the renown of their ancestors as huntsmen and their company's unparallel growth in recent years ensuring that.
And it was an ability to be proud of.
Summons, some form of time dilation, gravity effects, platforms. The list of things their glyphs were capable of would cause anyone to gawk, huntsmen and ordinary civilians alike. It wouldn't be a stretch to call the thing RWBY's Sharingan equivalent. It might've gone underutilized in the show, specifically the latter seasons, Weiss losing just about every significant fight that featured her, but the thing was literally hacks given form. Not only did the Schnees have the distinct advantage of learning from those who used it before them but how in the hell was a singe semblance capable of all that in the first place when just about every other one was restricted to one character defining ability?
I guess I can't really talk with the Sharingan I'm rocking.
If their ability to pass it down between one another was just some other aspect of the semblance itself and it had nothing to do with their genetics, I should be able to copy it. My Sharingan, Glynda's telekinesis, the Schnee's Glyphs. Would there be any point in copying other semblances with those three?
I mean, I'm definitely going to keep copying what I can, but those three all being used by one person? Overpowered. Which was exactly what I needed to be.
Willow's backstory was a bit unclear to me though, either because it'd been nothing but minor details or the show never went into it. Assuming she had the training to use aura and unlocked her semblance how did I go about getting her to use it in front of me?
Annoying pain that I was far more familiar with than I'd liked to be flared up. Hand balled up around a dark gathering of my hair, Weiss had crawled to my side of the fancy sofa we'd been left to sit on, babbling as she tried to pull it towards her mouth. What was up with babies and putting every little thing they could find in their mouth?
After all that struggling with Yang whenever she decided my hair would make for a good snack, I easily slipped a finger in place of it. Giggles left her as she tried to pull my hand about, a little resistance here and there keeping her entertained.
Short snow white hair, bright blue eyes, and a generally pale complexion all topped off by a chubby face. Seeing her like this was just as weird as the first time I laid eyes on Yang.
The final Schnee stepped in front of me. The same snow white hair carefully styled into a neat ponytail, the unique shade of eyes, and pale skin; anyone could tell that the three were related at a glance. Winter, however, arms crossed and side eye aimed at me, lacked the clueless wonder of Weiss here and the matureness of Willow. Despite the shirt, vest, and skirt all being far more formal than anything I'd seen other kids wear, she didn't seem all that different from anyone else in our age range.
Hopefully she wasn't a spoiled brat. That would be a real pain to deal with.
"Nice to meet you." She said, voice quiet in spite of the formal greeting. She tried to maintain eye contact but ended up glancing everywhere but me.
So not spoiled but shy.
"Nice to meet you, too." I said, smiling at her.
Might as well be nice to her especially since Summer went out of her way to set this up.
Spending the Vytal Festival with the Schnees wasn't something I expected.
XOXO
"Oooo, a blow straight to the face. Aura or not, I wouldn't want to be that guy." The voice of one of the announcers commentating over the battle below was the only thing capable of rising above the combined cheers, boos, and gunfire.
Binoculars glued to my face and my Sharingan activated, I tracked the fight going on below, jumping between the different fighters. Watching all of the would be huntsmen and huntresses in training go head to head hammered home how much the others were taking it easy on me during training, the way even those without any speed based abilities moved about something else. An untrained eye wouldn't be able to track many of the exchanges taking place.
One of the fighters I was tracking had their weapon smacked away from them only to rush forward as they tapped their hands to some of the metal on their clothes. Their fists, skin now a metallic silver, slammed into the face of their opponent, a quick combo of punches unleashed.
I dropped a hand to the underside of my hand rest, finding a screw on its underside and mimicking the fighter's aura. Pulling my binoculars away just a smidge and glancing down, I couldn't help but smirk, my finger having lost its coloring in exchange for a metallic finish.
That marked the second semblance I copied here, the other some kind of high frequency scream that could stun those around the user, and the whole festival was only just beginning. I doubted I'd get anything on the level of Glynda's semblance, but this place was shaping up to be a buffet for all sorts of abilities with their own use cases.
A tap hit my shoulder.
My eyes tingled, Sharingan deactivated as I fully pulled my binoculars down.
"May I see, too?" Winter, seated directly beside me, asked loudly while leaning in. Plenty of people, including her, were struggling to track all the action with a full view so I doubted she'd be able to make use of the thing, but I just handed them over. As expected, after managing to find anyone she jerked around trying to keep them in sight.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this Vytal Festival stuff, but it was like the whole thing had been ripped out of the show and scaled up.
I had only ever been to one similar event, a Superbowl game that my far richer cousins brought me to, but that chaos paled in comparison to this. Deafening sounds from all over at all times with uncomfortable numbers of people in every which direction. All kinds of smells, plenty from people who needed an updated definition on what a shower was, abound.
Getting out of here was going to be a pain especially with our seats high up and further from the exits.
Summer sat to my left with the others past her, Tai helping Raven calm a crying Yang while Qrow was stuck balancing all their food and drinks. Willow had the seat to Winter's right, carefully balancing Weiss to get a look at everything.
"I can't see anything with these." Winter complained, finally giving up and lowering the binoculars as she leaned in to talk.
"Just got to train your eyes." The current four on four match had gone on for quite a bit with a number of close exchanges so I doubted anyone else was hiding a semblance. Either way, even if I couldn't make out all the details from this distance their aura was clear as day with my Sharingan active so I wouldn't miss anything I was really concerned with.
"And our now metal clad fighter has knocked his opponent out of his arena and is moving to help one of his teammates! This will certainly change the momentum of the match!" And the loud ass commentators wouldn't let any obvious semblance use go unannounced.
"I'll hold it for you." I said taking the binoculars back and steadying them at one of the exchanges below for her. Winter didn't waste a second looking into them. She did end up in the Atlas military, so it did make sense for her to have an interest in the fighting of huntsmen.
I sneaked a glance towards Willow. She didn't seem all the interested, only paying attention when Weiss wanted to get a look at things but otherwise talking over us with Summer. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure she used her semblance at point during the Atlas volume, but I still wasn't sure how to bring it up, especially since they were still going with that cover name rather than revealing they were Schnees.
Either I was going to have to give up on getting that semblance this early on or take a chance and make my own opportunity rather than waiting for one.
XOXO
(A/N: Winter and Weiss should be coming off as nothing more than footnotes from Talon's perspective. Very intentionally on my part. They're just kids and meeting them changes nothing for him so he doesn't care to really focus on them, all his attention on semblances right now. Greedy little bastard.
I'd be doing the same.
While I wasn't posting this past week for the holidays I was doing some writing when I was on my own. Partially for my elden ring story, still working on getting that done, and for a random Skyrim thing I'm trying to keep from spiraling out of control. Blame blackrock for constantly going on and on about Talos if you all see a story for that pop up in the future. All that talk of Talos got me to download the game once again and wow, the modding community has really changed. One click of a button and I can download a whole collection or modlist that changes my whole game. Its crazy.
Anyways, for those who want to read ahead:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
I'll see you all soon. I don't really do much for new years or anything like that so I shouldn't be too busy to write. Oh, of course, happy early new years to you all.)