[RWBY] The Great Temporal Step-Sibling War!

[Gur40]

Zaroff wanting to die in an epic world shaking conflict to someone named not some random nobody
could also see him training or gifting Mercury to be his legacy as a Legacy is Immortality... and pissing on Marcus grave as an ex teammate sounds funny

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The two of them were seated by the cafe staff as soon as they crossed through the doors, and only a few moments later the pawn themed waitstaff had taken their order and explained the basic functions of the holotables. The minutes waiting for their food to arrive were spent familiarizing themselves with the controls and setting the board up to play.



It honestly surprised Jaune how calm he felt in this moment. The prospect of this first date going wrong should have been setting him on edge... but after the last few days this was fine. It was like the part of him responsible for generating anxiety had given up and collapsed from exhaustion a few hours ago and the part that would normally take over had refused to come in and start their next shift early. Or maybe those parts of him were on strike?



Well he hoped they'd stay on strike for the rest of the week.



"So, Argusian or Vytalian tournament rules?" Winter asked as she gave herself pieces that looked like they were spun from icy glass and crowned with sapphires. "I'm assuming your Great Grandmother favored her own country's rules when she was teaching you?"



"She did," Jaune confirmed as he gave himself pieces that looked like they were carved from ivory and then heavily inlayed with gold. "But Nana made sure I was proficient with both, so I'm good with either."



"Vytalian then," Winder decided with a nod. "Since we chose blue and gold for our colors instead of the traditional white and black shall we flip a coin to determine who goes first and then use the Walker Rule of alternating turn order?"



"That's fine by me," Jaune answered with only a moment's thought. "Are we using a real coin or do we let the table flip a coin for us?"



"We can let the table flip," Winter allowed. "Heads or tails?"



"Heads."



The table generated a coin toss. Tails. Winter would go first.



Their food arrived at that juncture; a plate of apple and cherry strudels as well of a plate of cookies made for dipping with large mugs of hot chocolate to dip them in. Winter grabbed a cherry strudel before moving her queen's pawn forward. Jaune grabbed one of the apple strudels as he moved his queenside knight.



"So tell me, out of everything you could have chosen to do, why chose to be a Huntsmen?" Winter inquired as she moved another pawn forward.



"Starting off with the big questions, huh?" Jaune answered as the laid the groundwork for a queenside castle. "Well, I had a lot of reasons to want to be a huntsman growing up. I spent a lot of my early years in and out of the hospital, and because of that I wanted to do something that actually mattered with my life. It's part of what kept me going when I was feeling like a burden to my family; the idea that one day I'd walk out of the hospital and do something of real consequence that proved I was worth all the time and effort they put into me."



"Something of real consequence..." Winter mused as she probed Jaune's defensive line, rapping her fingers on the table during his moves as if to distract him. "Our line of work does give us the opportunity for such things. But you could have found similar opportunities on other paths, so what's the rest of the story?"



"Well, it started with stories," Jaune completed the castle and rebuffed Winter's probes. "Some of them fictional, others form history with some from family history in particular, all of them meant to give sick kids a reason to believe in a future. Most stories have a hero, and being a Huntsman is as close as you can get to being one of those heroes."



"Not every Hunter fits the hero's mold," Winter noted as she started to aggressively advance her pawns, the first exchange of pieces was imminent. "But enough of them do that I can see why you'd chose the Huntsman's path if your goal is to be a hero. You still had other options though. The Valean Rangers might be criminally underfunded right now but they still do good work with what they have, and every town worth the name has a militia you could have climbed the ranks of. Why be a hero here instead of there?"



"There's the good reason and the kinda dumb in hindsight reason," Jaune carefully placed his defensive line. "The good reason is that as a Huntsman I'll basically be my own boss so long as I'm decent at it and manage my money right. I can pick my own contracts for my own reasons and take the contracts others ignore because they don't pay enough or aren't high profile enough or whatever. Do good for the sake of doing good and do the right thing because it's the right thing without having to worry if it's convenient or not."



"That's a very admirable reason," Winter acknowledged as she took one of his pawns. He took that pawn with another pawn. She took with a knight. He took with a bishop. She took with her queen. He threatened with a rook protected by his own queen. She withdrew her queen, neither of them truly ahead after the exchange. "As a specialist I've traded that flexibility for the security of Atlas directly backing all of my missions. It's worked out well for me, but if our current leadership was less righteous I could see myself envying that flexibility. Now what's the dumb in hindsight reason?"



"Stubborn pride," Jaune shrugged before taking a pawn with a knight. Winter shifted her defenses in response as Jaune continued, "When I first told my parents I wanted to be a Huntsman my Mom gave me a firm and definitive no. She then spent next several years doing everything she could to push me in a different direction, namely medical school, and at the end of the day that made me want it more."



"So your mother still wanted you to follow in her footsteps, even though she wanted you to skip the hunting portion of her career?" Winter surmised as she took a pawn with another pawn. The took her pawn with a knight, she took his knight with a bishop, he took with his queen. With his queen in a different position she felt confident to advance a rook.



"I guess that's one way to look at it," Jaune allowed as he adjusted his defenses, "It felt like she was trying to cut me off from the rest of the family legacy though, like I was supposed to ignore everything about our history in favor of the new direction she wanted to take things in."



"Is that so?" Winter reached for her next piece.



"Yeah, and I guess that's another thing that was part of my choice," Jaune reflected, "The family legacy of heroism is just too big for one person to decide all of it needed to go in a completely new direction, even if that person's my mom."



Winter's hand hovered over her queen, hesitation evident in the flexing of her fingers. She made to grab it once, twice, and a third time always stopping before she had properly touched the piece. A frown of deep thought had taken over her face, and in the end she reached for a cookie to dip in her hot chocolate instead of making her next move.



"That's..." Winter dipped the cookie, took a bite out of it, dipped it again. Her chewing was contemplative as thoughts beyond the game swirled behind her eyes. She found some words after she finished the cookie, "It really would be a shame for one person to change the trajectory of a family legacy as long and storied as your own, even if the new direction didn't detract from the old legacy..." She reached for her queen again and took Jaune's bishop, not noticing his rook was ready to take, "Though reaching back to the older legacy is probably easier when the new blood hasn't eclipsed the old blood in reputation."



Jaune took her queen, and Winter's eyes grew wide as she comprehended her blunder. One fury of exchanging pieces later and it was clear that Jaune would win the game. Winter conceded the match with an impressed look in her eyes and they reset the board for the next game, Jaune moving first this time.



"My family legacy isn't the only one you're thinking about right now, is it?" He asked as he moved a pawn forward to assert control over the middle of the board.



"You're right, it isn't," Winter sighed as she dipped another cookie in her hot chocolate. "My Grandfather pioneered revolutionary new Dust extraction techniques that lifted thousands of people out of poverty and helped build the new Kingdom Atlas from the ashes of the old Kingdom of Mantle. The man wasn't just a captain of industry leading a fledgling economy to new heights, there were a couple of decades where he was the nation's economy. That's why the Schnee name became revered."



Winter aggressively advanced her knights as she found the words to continue, "Hardly anyone talks about that now. My father has fully supplanted my grandfather in the public's mind, and people use the family name with wariness or contempt. As the eldest I was old enough and aware enough to notice the change happening. As the presumed heir at the time I was expected to support my father in what he was doing... and I became so disgusted with it I wanted to cut myself off from the family name and legacy. So I went to the one place where I could make a legacy that was separate from the family name; the military, where I aimed for a position that could only be obtained through merit."



"Well, I'm guessing the legacy you wanted to make for yourself is already pretty impressive," Jaune moved his kingside bishop forward to threaten one of her knights. As she pulled it back he continued, "I mean you're the right hand woman of Atlas' top general and you're only, what? Four or five years older than me? How'd that happen?"



"I suppose it started all the way back during my first year at Atlas Academy," Winter mused as she probed Jaune's defenses with a rook. "I was made leader of Team Whiskey-Alpha-Foxtrot-Love, and we rapidly became the top team of our year."



"Whiskey-Alpha...? W-A-F-L? Waffle?" Jaune asked as he repositioned one of his knights.



"Ah," Winter blushed as she advanced a pawn, pointedly not looking Jaune in the eyes. "Yes. WAFL. We were called WAFL."



"Well don't worry, I won't tell Nora you're on the other side of the Pancake vs. Waffle debate," Jaune gently joked.



"Oh? Well. Good," Winter internally sighed in relief that he hadn't thought of the other definition of waffle, something the rival teams at the academy had thrown around every chance they could. Sure having a team named after breakfast food was an embarrassing source of teasing, but it was one that could be done in a friendly manner.



"Anyways," Winter pushed on past the subject of her team name, "As my team climbed in the school's rankings there was a string of unexplained disappearances around school grounds... this isn't really the right place to share all the grizzly details but the long and short of it is another student had a psychotic break and became a serial killer. My team figured out who they were, how they were committing their crimes and how to counter their shadow-bending semblance. We were suitably reprimanded for capturing them ourselves instead of informing the school faculty first, but it all worked out in the end and it put us on the top brass' radar."



"So Weiss being immediately down with vigilante stunts is actually a family trait then?" Jaune smiled as he grabbed a couple of the dipping cookies.



"I suppose it is," Winter chucked at that. "But vigilante stunts wasn't the only thing that made my team noteworthy. As a top team we were selected for some joint training exercises with Shade Academy in Vacuo, and while there we stumbled upon and vanquished a massive Grimm Wyrm. We also had respectable placements during both of the Vytal Festivals, and we all graduated with top honors." Fondness graced her smile as she reminisced for a moment, "That was honestly a surprise to me. Don't get me wrong they were all great teammates and I couldn't imagine myself going through the academy with anyone else, but we drove each other crazy half the time and I honestly thought they'd get me expelled more than once."



"I think I can relate," Jaune contemplated aloud, "I have no idea how I'd manage Nora without Ren there to balance her out. I wouldn't trade her for anything but she's like three of my more hyperactive blood sisters rolled up into one, and that's a lot of concentrated enthusiasm to deal with."



"After meeting her on Saturday I can see that," Winter chucked. "In any case Team Whiskey-Alpha-Foxtrot-Love didn't stay together long after graduation, but before we split we..."



The words hung in the air for a moment. Winter absentmindedly moved a couple of pieces around the board as her eyebrows scrunched together in deep thought. They were still good moves in spite of her apparent distraction.



"...So when WAFL split up...?" Jaune prompted as he organized his impending attack.



"Sorry," Winter apologized as she refocused on the present, "I just realized I don't know how much of that mission is classified or not. In any case after the team split I... no wait that mission is definitely classified." She moved her queen forward, making Jaune reassess his plan of attack, "Then there was the mission in Balto where I... Oh. That's classified too." Winter frowned, "After that I was assigned to Rana Niejta where I... No if that isn't classified it ought to be..." She suddenly snapped her fingers with a eureka look on her face, "I survived a fight with a Jormungandr! Destroyed one of its' eyes too! That's not classified!" Winter suddenly looked doubtful, "At least it shouldn't be."



"So you did a bunch of stuff I might have to sign a NDA to get the full details of, and that's why you've obtained a position that'd normally go to someone twice our ages?" Jaune surmised as he took one of her bishops with his knight.



"More or less," Winter agreed as she took his knight with a rook.



A comfortable silence fell between them as they focused more directly on the game. The rapid exchange of pieces did not let up. Within a few moments they found themselves in a rook and pawn endgame.



"This is going to be a draw, isn't it?" Jaune noted with some embarrassment in his voice.



"It is," Winter agreed equally embarrassed. "Letting you take my second knight was a massive mistake on my part."



"I shouldn't have sacked my bishop to take your queen," Jaune highlighted what he thought was his biggest error in this game.



"No... I think that could have worked out for you if you had followed up with the other bishop."



"A double sacrifice play?" Jaune considered it. "Maybe. Do you want to game it out?"



"...Yes. Yes I do," Winter set the board up to resemble that moment, "Now if you sack the second bishop you could threaten with the queenside rook..."



"...Which would let me move the knight if you try to cover with that pawn..."



"...Yes... and if I try to cover with my bishop instead then you could-"



"Hey guys, It's good to see you're having fun," Theodore beamed from right beside them where he hadn't been the split second before. Winter and Jaune may or may not have jumped a little at their son's interruption.



"Theodore!" Winter gaped in surprise, "Why are you here?"



"Yeah, sorry for interrupting," Theodore sounded sincere enough and just a bit embarrassed at having barged in. "I just need my semblance boosted by Aura Amp for a little project I'm doing. It will just take a moment and you guys can get back to your date."



"How much of a boost do you need?" Jaune asked as he turned to fully face his son.



"Eh, doesn't really matter," Theodore shrugged. "Any serious use of Aura Amp will supercharge the beneficiary's semblance for roughly twenty-four hours so long as a minimum amount of aura is transferred. So like think about the amount of aura you'd use to sooth a stubbed toe and you'd be in the right ballpark for that minimum."



"Okay," Jaune frowned as he placed a hand on Theodore's forearm and focused on his semblance. Aura flowed between them, and Jaune removed his hand once he guesstimated that he had transferred enough of it.



"Thanks," Theodore smiled before turning to his mother with a hint of trepidation. "Alright, so fair warning: I didn't actually need to borrow your hair dye to touch up my roots this morning. I'm a natural snow-hair."



"What," Winter's eyes grew wide.



"Yeah, me and all my full blooded siblings have natural white hair," Theodore sounded more and more chagrined with each syllable leaving his lips. "The gene just skipped you for some reason."



"Then why did you ask for the hair dye?" Winter's bewilderment was obvious.



"Well you see I had a can of experimental nanites on me that are supposed to destroy dyes and restore someone's natural hair color and I didn't want to keep lugging it around everywhere and I saw a chance to get rid of it," Theodore shrugged with a nervous grin. "Anyways if you used it to touch up any of your roots while you were getting ready for this than they should have done their work in ten, nine, eight, seven,"



Theodore abruptly teleported away.



Winter scrambled for her scroll and turned the camera on, using it as a mirror to check her hair.



A look of terror grew across her features as an inch wide stripe of black faded into existence starting from her bangs over her right eye and going straight back into her bun.



"He's grounded," Winter hissed. "No. Court Marshaled. Latrine duty until he graduates. No. Until he's sixty. Fifty laps around the city walls every day. The outermost walls. Potato peeling every night until..."



Jaune waved to a waitress for the check as Winter's list of appropriate punishments grew longer and longer. Winter didn't even notice him paying. Her ranting continued uninterrupted as he gently coaxed her out of her chair and guided her out of the cafe. Penny followed them at a distance as he guided Winter through the streets as venomous words continued to spill forth from her lips.



"...He'll disassemble every bullhead in the fleet all by himself and polish ever bolt before reassembling all of them by hand..."



Jaune was finding her ranting disturbingly impressive, coming up with new and unique punishments for over five minutes was an inspiring display of creativity. Also lung capacity, because he wasn't entirely sure she'd paused to breathe at any point. In any case he saw something that might help derail the rant and maybe help her feel better about her looks.



Winter only noticed he had pulled her into a photo booth when the camera flashed. This turn of events surprised her enough that she stood stock still as Jaune did goofy poses around her. Soon the strip of photos he had paid for were printed out and he presented them to her proudly.



"Wow, these turned out great," Jaune smiled at her as she finally returned to the present moment. Winter took the strip of photos and couldn't help but snort at her deer-in-the-headlights expression, its contrast to the dopey smiles and coy looks Jaune was sporting as he posed around her still-as-a-statue form was enough to finish derailing the last of her rage.



"Do you want to talk about it?" Jaune gently asked now that she was calm.



"Ugh," Winter sagged as she sat down on the booth's bench. "I have my father's hair. The Schnee blood ran true for all of us but we each got something that was unquestionably from him. Whitley got his eyes. Weiss got his ears. I got his hair."



"And you don't want to look like him," Jaune concluded.



"No, no I don't," Winter forlornly agreed. "I didn't want to be like him when when he was just a crooked business man and a lousy father, and now that the future has shared his secrets... he's done so many terrible things already. I never want to be like him. I never want to look like him. That's why I started dying my hair. It was like I cleansed myself of the thing that marked me as his."



Jaune sat down next to her on the bench and carefully gave her a side hug. She leaned into it.



"Sooo... I've seen photos of him in the newspaper recently. He has white hair now," Jaune cautiously ventured.



"He started dying his hair to give his image the authority of age now that he's too old to maintain the image of youth," Winter scowled. "I dyed my hair first, and I am not abandoning the classic Schnee look now that he's doing it to."



"You know, I'd bet he'd never give himself an off center black stripe," Jaune theorized.



Winter's scowl became contemplative, "No... No he wouldn't."



"You want to take a few more pictures? See if this look that'd be all your own suits you?"



"...It wouldn't hurt..." Winter allowed.



Jaune paid for a few more rounds of photos.



The first couple of photos were serious, the kind of practical photos one would take for examining a look. Then Jaune struck a dramatic pose, and in the photo after that Winter adjusted her stance to be a good match for his.



The pictures continued in the vein one would expect of photo booth fair. The two of them went from pose to pose, some dramatic, others silly. They poked and prodded each other as the poses demanded until they were embracing in the side hugs one would expect, Winter laughing as she tried to give Jaune moose antlers.



The last three photos were as follows:



In the third to last Winter pecked him on the cheek.



In the second to last she kissed Jaune full on the mouth.



In the final photo Penny reached into the booth to pull them out, her Virginity Alarm blaring.

 

[FreqShip]

Shouldn't it be The Date with Winter not Willow?