genessia | 2 Cookies Eaten [Action/Audio.]

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2 Cookies Eaten [Action/Audio.]

The next time Yang wants Pop-tarts, she can go and pick them up herself. The last thing Ruby had expected was a bunch of goons to ambush her on way from the store. While Ruby could say that the majority of these guys were going to be spending some time in the hospital after this encounter, she couldn't say that she won either. One of those goons managed to land a land a lucky shot that left her dazed and unable to defend herself from a second shot that knocked her unconscious.

This was the worst day ever.

When Ruby regained consciousness, she was welcomed by a throbbing headache and a pain in her back. The headache was probably thanks to shot that knocked her out and the sore back was probably thanks to the pipe she was tied up to.

...Wait a second... Those thugs tied her to a pipe!?

Normally Ruby would start to run around in circles and panic, but she couldn't do that at that the moment so flailing around against the pipe would have to do. Once she got the initial shock of her situation out of her system she took a few deep breaths and began to look around to see just how bad it really was.

It looked like she was in some sort of underground waterway or sewer. Her hands were tied behind her back. Rope pinned her to the pillar at her ankles, knees and waist. There was a steady stream of water flowing into the room, right now it go over her feet but seemed to be slowly rising. Crescent Rose propped up against a wall a few feet away where she couldn't reach it, great. There also seemed to be a note posted up beside Crescent Rose, it didn't take her long to read it over but by the time she was finished she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

1. Read off that speech and if you deviate from it by a single word you will die immediately.

2. You can talk to anybody but if you even attempt to speculate about where you are, or about who brought you here, you will die immediately.

This is the worst day ever.

Luckily whoever had done this to her had been nice enough to leave her phone in her reach. It took a bit of time thanks her to trembling fingers and not being able to see what she's doing in the first place, but she managed to start up an audio broadcast.

[Audio]

O-once upon a time, Little Red Riding hood was bringing a basket through the woods to grandmother's house. But in these woods were many dangers, and soon she found herself being hunted by the Big Bad Wolf. The little girl ran and ran as fast as she could but try as she might, the Wolf followed her through those dark woods until she had nowhere left to run.

Now the wolf has her and he's brought her all the way back to where her story began, and is getting ready to gobble her up. Unless a brave huntsman can come find her before that happens.

The water is rising and the clock is ticking. Three hours.

Move quickly. There will be no resurrections today, nomatterwhatpriceispaid.

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It's worth a shot. Better than anything I can come up with.

[She hates feeling so helpless and frustrated, but she can at least project calm and minor irritation. Never mind the fiery hair.]

[In comparison, Blake's almost cold about the whole thing. Panicking won't help, The Bay was a good guess but it was a dead end.]

[Still, she sees the firey hair, and even if it wasn't for that, she knows her partner too well.]

We'll find her, Yang, we just need to figure out this clue.

Think it's where the STORY began? You know, like at the library, or the bookstore? Under one of those places?

[It's probably stupid, but she's grasping at straws here as they sprint back to their apartment building.]

I don't know. "Stories" don't begin at the library, they don't even necessarily begin with books.

[Which just left the question. Where DID stories begin? There was the obvious answer of on the first page, but... that didn't feel right.]

I have an idea.

[And then she changes course, heading down toward the library.]

[And there's Yang practically stepping on Blake's heels like an overeager puppy.]

So it came from whoever wrote it? Or maybe there's a printing press on the inside cover? Then again, it could mean 'story' like a building--!

[Chatter chatter ramble.]

Jaune's already at the library, just stepping out of a taxi he took to get there.

"Alright Ruby, let's see this story..." He said, moving to hurry inside.

[Blake lets Yang chatter away while they rush toward the library... and wooshes right past Jaune at top speed, barely pausing to look back at him when she gets to the door.]

Are you here to find that story?

Whoa!

[Yang bumps right into Jaune, backpedalling quickly. Jaune's here too?! That's...kind of impressive. Yang didn't know he was all that smart. Then again, he hasn't really demonstrated any gross stupidity either, so.]

Blake's onto something. Guess you are too, huh?

Jaune pauses as Blake wooshes right past him with Yang in tow, who ends up running into him. He stumbles aside, blinking a few times. "W-Wha... Yes," He nods once affirmatively and the jogs to catch up to the two since Blake really seems to be blazing a trail, "I never read the story that Ruby's message was referring to. I'm not much of a reader, y'see..."

"... But when someone's in trouble, I'd read a whole novel if I had to," He sighs, "I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for her though. Blake reads a lot of books, right? I bet you guys have a great idea."

Blake's already pushing past the library doors and looking around for the section she needs. Otherwise, she isn't showing much in the way of emotion, keeping her expression neutral and calm. If she wasn't moving so quick, she might not have looked to be worried at all.

"I haven't read this story. I'm hoping there's a clue in there."

"I hope so," Yang sighed heavily, folding her arms. Librarians stared at her hair in alarm, and hunched protectively over their books. Yang kept striding forward like this weren't no thang. "We need to find out where the book comes from, where the story originated, and if this Red Riding Hood girl has a home somewhere. Those are the three places the stupid hint might be referring to, right?"

Jaune nods to Yang, but isn't sure exactly where to look, and Blake seems to be wandering around too... So, Jaune finds the cutest (youngest) librarian girl he can and while the girls look, he slips right up to them.

"Uh, yeah, hi~ Name's Jaune. Hey, could you be a doll and tell me where I'd find Little Red Riding Hood?"

While the librarian is a little put off by his suave, she does her job, and the answer comes as a little jarring.

"IT'S A CHILDREN'S BOOK?!"

*SHHHHH* He's shushed from all around.

"It's a children's book?" Jaune cringes, smiles apologetically to the other library goers, and then gestures for Blake and Yang to follow him.

Yes, it must be the "suave" that puts the librarian girl off. Must be. Whatever, she folds her arms and stands by while Jaune gets the information they need... and just manages to stop the instinct to "shh" him alongside her fellow bookworms.

A children's book? She just glances at Yang with a shrug and follows after Jaune.

Edited (What the hell did I even write there? That made no sense, me, gawd.) 2013-12-15 07:49 (UTC)

Wait, Jaune's taking charge now?

Yang glances back at Blake with a little shrug, as if to say 'Well he IS a team leader, I guess,' and follows along as well. And almost treads on his heels too. Hurry it up, blue jeans knight!

And hurry up he shall. The children's section is exactly what one might expect - a small, cornered off section with vibrantly coloured, plastic shelves and little tiny chairs to sit and read in and even a little table. Jaune hated it. But if the answer to that riddle was hiding in this deceptively pleasant place, then so be it.

"Okay, this place isn't even that big," He says, "Spread out and look around."

There's this little girl staring at his sword, and she goes to touch it, to which he responds by practically leaping aside and holding out his hands. "AH- tut-tut! N-None of that now, heheh..." He steps back and then aside, zipping off to look around.

Jaune could take charge all he wanted if it meant they found what they were looking for faster.

She heads off into the shelves searching for the book they needed with little success. ... Until she spots a table of children and catches sight of an illustration of a girl in a red cape in a snowy forest. That must be it.

"Hi." She says, crouching down by the table and folding her arms over her knees as she crouches down by the table with a smile. "My friends and I are looking for a very special story for a friend of ours. Can you tell me this one?"

Yang pauses behind Blake, smiling down at her friend. The Faunus has a gentle sweet side, doesn't she? She gives her partner a squeeze on the shoulder, brief but full of gratitude, and the warmth of her touch fades as she moves on.

Then she's moving past Jaune, surrounded by more and more children who are completely awestruck by his sword.

"Is it sharp?"
"Are you a knight?"
"Are you gonna marry a princess?"

Yang puts a hand to her mouth and giggles, then winks. Go get 'em, tiger.

By this point the fire has died down. They're on the right path, she thinks, mostly because M has shut up. So Blake's got the story covered. Yang swings around the shelves, past the children's section, on toward the study of literature itself. Her finger trails over the book spines. Honestly? She wants nothing more than to kick the shelf over and send all of the books flying into sparks and ashes. There's just too much to read, and too little time. Three hours is the maximum, and that jerk was right: it's cold outside, and the water temperature might really kill Ruby.

She grits her teeth and closes her scarlet eyes, opens them purple, and picks up a book of 'German fairy tales'. That's a decent start. The Brothers Grimm...?

Yang puzzles at that, and flips quickly through the pages. This has to be it! The Grimm can't be a coincidence! (Except yes it can.) She pores through it, stopping when she comes to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

'The Grimm Brothers weren't the original storytellers...'

DAMN.

"So who were?" She reads more quickly, frowning.

Oh god, children. This was really impeding on Jaune's ability to look for clues and it was starting to freak him out. He didn't have time to play with kids. "Uh, oh, um... Well, wait, hold on... No! Don't touch that!" He was practically dancing around trying to keep the kids from touching his sword.

Then he got an idea.

"Hey, kids, just hold on a sec," He said as he squat down to their level, "... I'm kind of like a knight. My Dad and Grand-dad were great heroes, and I wanna be like them. But right now I'm trying to rescue a damsel in distress. Now, I can't tell you more, because my mission is top secret, and the bad guy could hear me talking about it if I'm not careful."

He looks to each one of them. "I need to look around here for clues. Something about where Little Red Riding Hood's story started. But that's all I can say."

Blake looks back over her shoulder and nods to Yang, smiling a little bit.

She's doing much better with the kids around her. Brushing off attempts to get to Gambol Shroud easily, and playfully winking and shushing the inevitable question about whether she's a ninja to excited murmurs around her.

Finally, she gets a little girl to sit next to her in one of those small plastic chairs and read the story of Little Red Riding Hood to her.

The results were... unhelpful. The story began with a girl in a village who went out to the woods, to find her grandmother kidnapped by a wolf. And then she would have been eaten if not for a passing woodsman. What good was any of that?

"Thank you, that really helps. I'll go tell my friends about it right away." She smiles at the girl and stands up, looking around for Yang and Jaune.

Maybe they had better luck.

[Waiting is boring. Especially when this one is insisting on keeping so calm.]

You know, she is actually going to die if you don't make it. I'm going to make sure of it.

Worry more about yourself, you piece of sh--

[A child's head pokes around the corner.]

....hhhhhoelace. Hey there!

[Don't get mad. Don'tgetmaddon'tgetmaddon'tgetmad.]

We ARE going to make it, so shut up and stop trying to distract us!

I don't think you will. I think your precious little sister is going to die cold and alone and wondering where you could possibly be. And the last thing she thinks is how you weren't there when she needed you.

I told you to SHUT UP!

[Yang's blazing aura EXPLODES. The book in her hands bursts into flames, and Yang's eyes widen in horror. No, no no no! That sunuvabitch, that's why he was trying to get her mad! She beats at the flames with her hands, desperately trying to read the words as blackness creeps in from the edges of the curling pages.]

OriginallytoldbypeasantsinFran-- AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

[It's gone. The words are gone. A place that starts with F-R-A-N. Yang bursts out from behind the bookshelves, sorry librarians, she doesn't care about burning bits of carpet and precious books being burned.]

Jaune! Blake! Are there any places that start with 'Fran'?

lol

"Whoooa, you're really a knight?"
"Is the damsel gonna be okay?"

Jaune was uneasy about even nodding. Saving someone's life isn't something he's ever done before. But why worry a buncha kids? "Yes. She'll be fine. I wouldn't let anything happen to her," He says simply.

Then Yang BURSTS out from where she was and scares the living hell out of most of the patrons, including the kids, who huddle around Jaune for protection from the scary fire-girl.

"A place that starts with-- Uh, not where WE come from!" Jaune answers.

"France?"

Jaune blinks and looks to a slightly older kid who was huddled up to him - older then the rest of them anyway. "Wha?"

"France!" The boy repeats, "I see London, I see France, I see someone's underpants!"

Jaune gives the kid a sort of wry smile. "This is nuts... France? You think that's it?"

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Looks like we're going to the same place!

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