RWBY - Child Of Light

Chapter 16: Beats Of Two

Back at the dorm, I'm half-convinced we're either about to start a fire or that Maroon is setting up a low-key meth lab. She's focused, pouring all her engineering expertise into constructing what looks like a personal distillery.

"Eeeeeeeeelden Lean~" she sings as she works.

A tangled maze of tubes, glass apparatus, and steaming contraptions crawls across the room like the limbs of a mechanical beast. The setup pulses with a strange vitality, the rhythmic gurgling of chemicals being boiled, mixed, and funneled into each other. It's an alchemist's dream—except I'm pretty sure this isn't alchemy. I follow the process as best I can, but it's too intricate for me to keep up. Finally, the concoction drips into a barrel-like tankard, the air around it heavy with the scent of something heady and dangerous.

Tonight's the last night at Beacon for a lot of people, and since I hinted at some kind of celebration, Maroon's taken it upon herself to ensure no one leaves sober.

I watch her go, slightly fascinated, slightly concerned. She takes sips from time to time, keeping herself in this bizarre sweet spot of blind drunkenness. Like an anime version of Rick Sanchez riding a sugar rush. Normally, I'd feel the need to step in—check her sugar levels, make sure she's still functioning within human parameters—but something about the way she's so completely in the moment gives me pause. There's a freedom to it, and I have to admit... she's kind of hot when she's not looking at the ground and just does whatever she wants instead.

It's then that Rain steps out of her room, and I blink in surprise. She looks... different. Gone is her usual armor, replaced by a short set of winter pelts that cling to her frame. And for the first time, I see her tiger-like stripes adorned with additional ink that curls around her abdomen, drawing the eye to the muscles beneath. It's subtle but deliberate— like she's daring someone to notice.

"Heeey, look at that. Did you get a date or something?"

Rain looks down at me with a slight tilt of her head. "Mhmmm... Just Weiss, hanging. Why? Feel lonely? Could keep company or something, if you need."

I mean... considering that Maroon will be too wrapped up to pay attention to anything else once the party starts, I was hoping for some quality catgirl time—maybe even show off a little in front of the poor souls heading home in the morning.

But when she says it like that...

"Nah, I just wanted to make sure you had someone to keep an eye on you if things get wild tonight," I reply, shrugging off the idea. "Guess it'll just be Pyrrha and me on the dancefloor again."

Rain tilts her head a bit more, her confusion deepening. "Pyrrha? No. She... indisposed. Sleeping early," she says, her tone dropping as if trying to be sensitive. "Woman stuff. Very bad, bleeding everywhere. Can smell it." She taps her nose. "Very metallic. Healthy. Some would—"

"Okay, okay! I get it! I'll just help Scary Spice finish her setup!" I cut her off, trying to erase the mental image she's planting.

"Gee. Humans—so sensitive, so emotional," Rain mutters, shaking her head as she turns to leave.

The room falls quiet for a second, then Maroon comes back, rolling through the carpet. "Fium! Fium, fium~"

"Maroon? Since when do you have rollers?!"

"Ehehe~"

❖

We end up spending another half-hour not just filling the tankard to the brim with whatever this drink is supposed to be, but also making sure her invention doesn't end up blowing us all to kingdom come once some of the ingredients inevitably start eating through the metal. It's part alchemy, part engineering, part pretending we know what we're doing.