110

Chapter 111 Chapter Text

"So are you ever gonna go… talk to them?" Yang asked quietly, bumping her elbow into Cinder's side with a raised eyebrow as the two of them quietly observed the pair of Charlotte and Anastasia Unicorn while the two other girls sat across the cafeteria. It was entirely likely that the pair of strawberry blondes knew that they were being watched, but neither Cinder nor Yang had the time to care if they knew or not.

"I don't know. I don't want to know. They hurt me for years and I was so, so close to fucking killing them when we were kids. To see that they're here now… I don't like it. I don't know if they're up to something or not, but Ruby's said that they have a weird mismatch between what they say and what they feel and I don't know if that's just them being good actors and assholes or if it's something sinister," Cinder answered, grimacing as she shook her head and did her best to try not to look too hard at the sisters who'd utterly ruined her life along with their late mother. "I just… don't know. There's too much else going on- what's going on with Mountain Glenn anyway? Dad didn't say anything recently, but I know he's been rescheduling some of his classes…"

"Yeah, Ruby said he's been doing flybys over the area and reporting in some stuff- also, y'ever notice how Team CALC and Team VERM keep going out into town all the time? I mean, I get that they're really good and third years but…" Yang frowned, chewing her lip thoughtfully as she tapped her knuckles against the table. "It's either like they either don't care about their education, or they're up to something. And they're way too good at fighting to be a bunch of floozy party girls… even if Neo says she remembers them being bitchy rich girls."

She paused, then frowned heavily. "Wait… didn't… Neo say something about them… going to Lady Browning's? The…"

Cinder blinked, a sudden chill running down her spine as that tidbit of information stuck out in her mind's eye. Neo had mentioned that she knew the members of Team CALC and Team VERM- six of them, to be exact, with Cinder knowing her bitchy ex-stepsisters anywhere from just how much they'd hurt her. Neo, meanwhile, knew them from Lady Browning's, where they'd all seven of them been trained to become expert assassins. Neo had been the best, of course, which was why she was one of the best person to person fighters on Team CMNE (with Mercury being a close second thanks to his assassin training). "The assassin camp, yeah. The one with ties to Spider."

"... Spider. Oh gods wait shit, Spider has branches all over town too- fuck," Yang hissed under her breath, clenching her fist as she felt a sudden wave of panic as well- Melanie and Miltiades from Junior's club! Fuck! Those two were Spider gang too! And a bunch of the other brokers and newer thugs around town! Fuck fuck fucking- what was Spider doing in Vale!? They were a Mistral gang! "Shit, do we need to tell Professor Ozpin about this? Do you think Team CALC and Team VERM are Spider gang?"

"They may very well be. I'm not a hundred percent sure but I swear I've seen some of the members of Team VERM with spider themed tattoos and markings," Cinder muttered, rolling a glob of molten glass in her fingers before reshaping it into a thin stiletto blade, keeping it hot and pliable as she fiddled with it and tapped her heel against the ground as a nervous tic. "It could end up being dangerous for us if Spider is here- maybe they want new operatives that can use their Huntsman connections to get into places that they couldn't before?"

"That doesn't make any sense- a gang like Spider would have already had Huntsmen and Huntresses on their payroll considering how much of Mistral they already run. It's kind of a miracle that they don't actually own Haven yet, but…" Yang shook her head, continuing to tap her fingers on the table as her body heated up slightly, not noticing that both her and Cinder were starting to leave small charred spots on the wooden table they were seated at even as her hair began to spark slightly with her Semblance. "There's no point in speculating, I think. I mean, even if they were doing that- we wouldn't know for sure and it could just be some benign thing for the most part. Maybe they're fine, maybe they're not. I know we should tell Uncle Qrow about it though…"

"Yeah, Dad's gonna wanna know. I'll drop him a message once he's back- I don't know why he never actually uses his scroll when he goes out on missions but… whatever." Cinder sighed, then turned back to her meal with a quiet huff of annoyance at the fact that her shitty ex-stepsisters were right there and that as much as they had ruined her for life back when they were younger, they seemed to be doing alright now and it wouldn't be right to suddenly just attack them morally now that they were in a Huntsman school and gearing up for the Vytal Tournament. It just didn't seem… fair. "I swear, we've been keeping an eye on them on and off for over a month now but the most they seem to be doing is just… being… mostly normal? They don't really talk to people, though…"

"Maybe we're just making a big deal out of nothing," Yang grumbled quietly, then decided to change the topic before they inevitably got into a death spiral of worrying about stuff that was only tied together with circumstantial evidence at best and was grasping at straws at worst. "So… uh… on a less shitty topic… uh…"

"I'm gonna get Neo a ring after the Festival ends," Cinder deadpanned before continuing with a heavy blush and a breathy tone of voice that made her sound like a blushing maiden in love instead of the horny dumbfuck that was Yang's older sister. "I've been saving up all last year and this year and I know her ring size by heart considering that she told it to me straight off the bat. I even have a stone arrangement picked out- one big diamond in the middle, with a ring of pink and brown smaller diamonds around it. Plus a reinforced gold band and some lettering… It's going to be perfect … gonna need to distract Neo for a bit so I can go into town at some point and pick it up, but… oh, what do you think would be a good day for the proposal?"

"Beats me. Probably the anniversary of when you met, I guess?" Yang shrugged, thinking over the timing of everything and huffing a little. "That was… somewhere in December, right?"

"Yeah, I met her the day before Wynterfest when she tried to pickpocket me," Cinder continued, reminiscing about better times and sighing like a lovestruck maiden as she stared off into nothingness. "I barely caught her because her illusions weren't very strong back then… she was really pretty, even then… and I think I fell in love almost immediately but I didn't realize until a little later."

"And you've been together for years now blah blah blah, I swear you've told us this story so much over the last two years," Yang gagged for dramatic effect, looking away and groaning at Cinder's sappiness. "Gods, it's a miracle you three can even walk with how much you guys fuck."

"... Twice a week isn't that much, Yang."

"Twice a week- Twice a week!? That's only when we're here , Cindy!" Yang spluttered, glaring at Cinder as she scooted away to more adequately make her indignation known. "You, Neo, and Emerald were boning every fucking night that we were on break!"

"What we do in the privacy of our own rooms is none of your business, Yangles," Cinder sniffed disdainfully, sipping at her drink as though it were a fine wine and not a glass of People Like Blue Razzberry soda poured into a wine glass that Cinder had made herself because she was an extra, petty bitch like that. "And besides, we soundproofed everything so what's the problem?"

"The problem wasn't the soundproofing, the problem was the fact that someone kept slamming their fucking headboard against the wall and it was agonizing to listen to!"

"To be fair, it was a lot less loud than it otherwise would have been without the soundproofing foam," Cinder deadpanned dryly, rolling her eyes at her younger sister's rage. "Hmph. You've already gone over this anyway so why bring it up again now?"

"Because you and I know damn well that Ruby can sense and hear all of it." Yang answered dryly, narrowing flaming red eyes at Cinder's blazing gold. 

"... She's never said anything about it…" Cinder muttered, blushing and looking away awkwardly as she cleared her throat and tried not to look like she'd entirely forgotten that Ruby's emotion sensing ability covered her as well when they were within range of each other.

"Ruby's just happy that you're happy. I'm trying to make sure she isn't traumatized by our sex lives."

"Fuck you."

"Ew, no."

"Yeah I thought not, dumbass," Cinder snorted, then stood up and pulled out her scroll as she started walking away with her lunch tray in hand. "Anyway, I'm gonna go tell Dad and Professor Ozpin about stuff."

"Kaaaay, don't agree to anything he tells you to do."

"I woooon't… friggin baby squirt don't tell me what to do."

"Shut your fuck I'm taller than you!"