In the afternoon, the sun shone brightly through the ornate windows of the Schnee family quarters in Beacon, casting a warm glow over the elegantly set table. Weiss sat with her older sister Winter, sharing a rare mont of quiet as they enjoyed tea and a selection of pastries. Winter sipped her tea, her sharp gaze softening as she observed her sister.
"Weiss," Winter began, setting her cup down delicately, "I've been aning to ask you about Crimson Rose. I understand he's your teammate Ruby's brother?"
Weiss nodded, carefully cutting into a small slice of cake. "That's right. He's Ruby and Yang's younger brother. Though, calling him 'younger' feels odd considering how capable he is."
Winter raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. "What do you an?"
"Well," Weiss began, placing her fork down, "Crimson studies at an art school. He's part of a youth orchestra that actually perford here at Beacon not too long ago. Their performance was magnificent, though I had no idea he was part of it till Yang brought it up before the party."
"An artist and a musician? Intriguing," Winter comnted, taking another sip. "But what about his huntsman training? Surely, soone with his abilities must have formal education."
"That's the strange part," Weiss admitted, leaning forward slightly. "He's had no formal training. None. His strength, speed, and skill seem to have co to him naturally. He's a prodigy—growing stronger over ti without any real effort. It's honestly infuriating."
Winter's eyes narrowed slightly. "Infuriating?"
Weiss sighed, her posture relaxing. "Yes. I've spent so many sleepless nights perfecting my own skills, honing every movent to be as efficient as possible. anwhile, Crimson doesn't even want to be a huntsman. He studied our training material just to help his sisters. He wrote notebooks for them, filled with detailed, organized notes. His handwriting is so precise it's practically calligraphy. Even Blake and I, my fourth teammate, referred to them and benefited greatly. "
Winter listened intently, her expression neutral but her mind racing. "And his combat ability?"
Weiss smirked and pulled out her scroll. "Oh, you'll love this. Pyrrha Nikos herself challenged him to a one-on-one match, and he won."
Winter's calm deanor cracked as her eyes widened. "He beat Pyrrha Nikos? Mistral Champion?"
Weiss nodded and tapped on her scroll, showing the match recording. The video displayed the Pyrrha and Crimson match. How crimson was in control the whole fight. In the end, Pyrrha despite all of her efforts was defeated, the match wasn't even close.
Winter stared at the screen, her mind whirling [If this is what he's capable of without formal training, how much stronger would he beco if he actually trained?]
_______________________
At the sa ti, back in RWBY's dorm, Ruby sat cross-legged on the floor, clutching a controller with fierce determination. Across from her, Qrow lounged with his own controller, a smirk on his face as their characters clashed on-screen.
"You will never beat , old man!" Ruby scread.
"You're nothing but talk, kid," Qrow replied confidently.
"You can do it, Ruby!" Yang cheered from the side.
"Soaring Ninja wins! Total annihilation!" the screen announced as Ruby lowered her head in defeat while Qrow smirked victoriously.
"Who owns these books?" Crimson's voice ca from behind.
Qrow and the girls turned to look at him. He was sitting on a chair with a book in his hand, frowning, and near him stood a mountain of books.
"This is just filth. Sexual content with no real substance. You don't read this, do you?" Crimson looked at his sisters with narrowed eyes.
"Of course not! They're disgusting!" Ruby answered imdiately, not wanting to be associated with them.
"These are Blake's books," Yang said, laughing.
"To think the quiet one enjoys this kind of stuff," Crimson comnted offhandedly as he put down the book.
"It's always the quiet ones," Qrow said with a laugh.
"You know, I feel pity that the tournant is only for huntsn in training," Qrow spoke again, then looked at Crimson with an interested expression. "I wonder how things would play out if you were to participate—one-man team coming from an art school and winning the tournant. That would be interesting!"
"That's a terrible idea. People would lose faith in the schools and huntsn. You can guess what cos next," Crimson replied.
"That doesn't make it any less entertaining, right girls?" Qrow said with a smirk.
"That would be cool," Ruby said.
"Even better if we could have a three-sibling team and dominate the tournant," Yang fantasized from the side.
Crimson shook his head and spoke, "I still haven't asked you—why were you antagonizing Winter Schnee?"
"Well, I thought it would be interesting to bring down the arrogant specialist a peg or two, and you didn't disappoint at all. That, and I've had so conflicts with her boss. Ironwood can't seem to get simple facts into that thick tal head of his," Qrow answered.
"You know the general?" Yang asked curiously.
"I know everyone to so extent. You're talking to a mber of the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon," Qrow said, pulling out an old photo. He continued, "Team STRQ. That's where I t your parents. We were pretty well-known back in the day."
"Known for your old-fashioned sense?" Ruby asked sarcastically as she saw the photo, while Yang stared silently at it.
"Hey! We looked good, and I have a number of inappropriate stories to back that up," Qrow said, noticing the look on Yang's face. He imdiately pulled back the photo and continued, "But I'll save those until you're older. Now, Crimson…"
Qrow looked at Crimson with interest in his eyes. "What's this I heard? You beca a guest at Beacon for a week, went on to make students and professors equally uncomfortable with your answers, bullied a poor boy, and even bested the invincible Mistral champion?"
"That's an exaggeration," Crimson said, not liking where this was going.
"Oh, that's an understatent," Yang, who had recovered from her trance, imdiately spoke up while Ruby nodded.
The next few minutes were filled with the two describing everything Crimson had done and said, their enthusiasm palpable. Qrow was enjoying the tales while Crimson sighed.
"You really should change your mind and beco a huntsman… I know, I know, don't give that look. It's just—you act and think like a huntsman more than your sisters, who are training for that purpose," Qrow said, lantation lacing his voice.
"That's not fair! We are acting like huntsn already! The other day, we stopped the Roman attack on Vale!" Ruby said, not approving of her uncle's words.
"Last I checked, it was almost stopped. And yes, you've started to act, but you don't think like one. After Roman was caught, the cri rate didn't drop—it stopped completely. Do you really think that by catching Roman, all the problems in Vale are solved?" Qrow spoke with a more serious tone.
"Well, I an… I did, until you said it just now," Ruby said nervously.
"Soone else took Roman's place and probably planned sothing. This is the calm before the storm," Crimson comnted from the side.
"See?" Qrow said, pointing at Crimson while looking at Ruby, then continued, "Yes, you're right. That's exactly what the great general can't understand."
"He brought an army with him. Sure, that will make so people worried. But if sothing goes wrong, we'll have extra firepower to deal with it, no?" Crimson asked thoughtfully.
"It's not that simple," Qrow said with a sigh. Crimson's thought made sense, but it didn't account for their hidden enemy.
Qrow thought for a mont, then said with a smirk, "But I'm willing to give you so details if you agree to beco a huntsman."
Crimson looked at his uncle with an expressionless face, not bothering to even answer him.
Qrow, seeing his reaction, stood up and said, "Welp, it was worth a try. Anyway, I'm too old and cool to hang out with a bunch of kids."
He walked toward the door but stopped again, turning to look at Ruby and Yang. "Just rember, you still have a long way to go. Don't think for a second that graduating ans you're done. Every day out there is worth a week in this place. You two are going to go far, but only if you keep learning—if you never stop moving forward."
His eyes then turned to Crimson. "As for you, I hope one day you'll stop being stubborn and put your talents to good use."
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