One Honest Answer... and something else

“Whoever loses has to answer one question honestly. And I promise I won’t get too personal,” he said, an easy grin crossing his face.

Ruby paused for a moment, clearly weighing up her options. His grin grew wider however as her expression changed to a competitive smirk and she carefully folded and put down Crescent Rose before stepping into the middle of the little area they’d cleared out for training.

“Okay, but also,” her grin widened to match his. “If you lose you have to call me Ma’am. How’s that!?”

It was all Cardin could do not to burst out laughing. Here he was trying to play it safe and careful, and his target simply hands him an opportunity for points on a silver platter.

“Only if you call me Sir if you lose!” He said while rolling his shoulders and easing into a ready position.

“Oh, you’re on,” she giggled, before suddenly disappearing in a flurry of rose petals. Cardin had barely a second to react before her fist passed through the space his face had just been before he flinched. Dodging and ducking, he was slowly being pushed backwards step by step, barely able to avoid getting hit.

“Come on Ruby… abusing your… Semblance isn’t… fair…” he managed to say through gaps in her floral flurry of fists. Each time he dodged, he would swing or grasp out in the direction of her attack, but again and again she would slip away, leaving nothing but a few petals in his grip. Rushing up on top of the little building which contained the stairs down to the dorms, his attacker giggled while hopping up and down.

“Don’t you mean, it’s not fair Maaaaa’aaam~,” she said, giggling.

“You’ve not won yet Ruby, now get down here and fight,” he replied, opening his arms wide as if to greet her with a hug. This was a gamble, but he couldn’t just sit here dodging till he was exhausted. Instead, he’d find a way to guarantee Ruby was solid for a moment… by letting himself get hit. From what he’d seen (and experienced when she’d pushed him out of her dorm room) Ruby wasn’t able to make only parts of herself roses. She was either all roses or all… Rose. So, when she finally struck, there should be a second or two when he could…

Another burst of petals exploded in his face as Ruby’s fist came rocketing towards his chest and impacted- with no effect whatsoever. The two combatants both paused in surprise, before Cardin swooped in his arms and wrapped the short girl in a bear hug.

“Gah… Cardin… leggo, you’re crushing me…” Ruby barely managed to say through her squeezed lungs.

“Really now Ruby, were you holding back on me? Trying to give me a win?”

The girl, for her part, began to ineffectually slap and kick at her captor. Cardin knew she wasn’t good at hand to hand… but he didn’t think she’d be this weak. It boggled the mind to imagine how the hell she could even lift her massive weapon, let alone wield it with the level of dexterity and skill she’d shown time and again. Regardless, Cardin ignored her protests both verbal and physical and gently increased the strength of his grip.

“This’s a fight, Ruby. This doesn’t stop till your aura gives or you surrender. So, if you want out,” another squeeze, “then give up.”

“Ugrh… okay, okay, I give up!” she groaned out (Ruby Rose -34 -> -32)

“No no, that’s not quite right Ruby,” Cardin replied, gently increasing strength with sadistic glee. He knew her aura would ensure he didn’t do any permanent damage, but it was so cathartic to have finally managed to turn the tables on one of his foes. “Its, ‘Please let me go, Sir, I surrender.’”

“I… I’m not calling you Sir Cardin…” Ruby muttered, her wild flailing slowing down as the grip around her proved unfaltering.

“Really then?” Cardin muttered before taking a big breath. “Guess I gotta take you all the way down then.”

“NNNhghhgghh… alriiiight…” she groaned. “P-please lemme gooo… sirr…” (Ruby Rose -32 -> -26)

“There, that so hard?” He said, letting up on his grip and gently lowering her until her feet were on the ground, leaving a supporting arm around her shoulder as she got her breath and balance back. “Woah, careful there. Sorry, I must’ve gone a bit harder than I intended.”

“It’s… alright…” Ruby panted, looking away with an embarrassed look on her face. “Aura protected me from any permanent damage. I uh… I guess you don’t need any help with unarmed combat huh? My sister’s always been better with the whole… punchy punch stuff.”

“I guess I won then,” Cardin grinned. “So you have to call me Sir. And for my question…”

Ruby really was an open book. Cardin could see all the anxiety, fear and nervousness spread across it as she prepared herself for whatever embarrassing personal secret he was about to **** her to reveal…

“Have you ever had a boyfriend before?”

“Wait… that’s it?” Ruby, catching herself as Cardin raised a finger. “I mean, that’s it Sir?” (Ruby Rose -26 -> -25)

“I can change it if it's too embarrassing,” Cardin said with a grin. “I bet a girl who’s strong, funny and cute as you has had at least one, right? It's just I’ve not seen you with anyone, except Jaune I guess, and he’s got something going on with Pyyrha.”

“I’ve uh… no, I’ve never gone out with anyone before,” Ruby muttered, turning away to hide a little flush that came to her cheeks. “I’ve never really had time, and guys uh… never really talked to me at all.”

“Really!?” Cardin exclaimed. “I can’t imagine why, you’re so approachable.”

‘Probably cause you spend more time talking with your weapon than with people,’ he thought to himself. Being so friendly and chipper was starting to grind down his patience, but he knew that the progress he’d made was more than worth a little annoyance. Simply imagining the many punishments he’d enact on her for the effort he’d made was enough to soothe his aggravation for now.

Before the pair could continue however, Ruby’s Scroll began to play a catchy jingle. Dashing over with a flurry of petals, Ruby tapped a button and turned to him with a pout.

“Sorry Cardin, but I should be getting back before the others start getting worried,” she sighed, gathering up her things and backing up towards the door. “This was honestly… kinda fun. You’re not as bad as everyone thinks.”

“Aww… thanks Ruby. That really means a lot.”

‘If only you knew, sucker.’

“Oh, wait Ruby, before you go… we should exchange Scroll info,” he said, reaching out towards her. “Give me yours, I’ll put in my details.”

“Oh yeah, sure!” She replied, handing over her device. (Ruby Rose -25 -> -24)

“Here… we… go…” he muttered, tapping away. “I’ll text you later. We can organise our next meetup.”

“Cool, sounds good gotta go now byee-“

Ruby’s rushed speech cut off abruptly as the heavy rooftop door slammed shut behind her. If he wasn’t at risk of getting overheard, Cardin would’ve given a cheer right then and there. Eagerly, he began to examine his Scroll for updates from the App.

[]

Weiss POV

Weiss didn’t know what the hell Ruby was up to when she’d snuck out in the early morning, but she didn’t like it, and Ruby showing up a couple hours later out of breath and claiming to have gone on an “early morning run” did absolutely nothing to allay her suspicions. Unfortunately for Ruby this time, the two of them were going to be in the dorm alone today, Blake and Yang had clubs. So she was going to get to the bottom of this…

“So…” she said nonchalantly. “Where were you this morning?”

“Ummm… on a jog? Like I said?” Ruby muttered, her eyes immediately darting to the ground and face flushing.

‘Oh you sweet summer child, couldn’t lie to save your life.’

“And where did you go on your jog?” she continued, sweetly.

“Around… the dorms?”

“Alright listen you,” Weiss threw all pretence away, along with the math assignment she’d been helping her suspect with. “You don’t go on morning jogs, and even if you did, there’s no way you’d be back after that log and that sweaty after just going around the dorm building.”

Ruby opened her mouth to give some other excuse, but Weiss silenced her with a simple raise of her hand.

“Abababa, not done. Also, I know even you aren’t so dumb as to use a second cup to make coffee instead of just refilling or reusing your own, and… you wouldn’t drink coffee black with no sugar if the world was going to end if you didn’t. Therefore, someone was here. And all logic suggests, you just went out to meet them, didn’t you.”

“W-well… haha… y’see… I… uhhh,”

[]

Cardin POV

Oh the little treats this App had given were almost more than he could take. Almost. He managed to control his curiosity enough to scroll to the very top of the notifications under Ruby’s profile, and now was eagerly going through them.

-CONGRATULATIONS!-

You’ve earned 10 points on target Ruby Rose. Full profile unlocked.

Curiosity piqued, I paused my notification reading to check, and sure enough, Ruby’s name was now accompanied by details such as;

Age- 18

Current Score- -24

Height- 5’ 4’’

Bust- C cup

Likes- Cookies, Hunters, Fairytales

Dislikes- Bullies, Homework, Vegetables

Semblance- Petal Burst

“Fascinating…” he muttered to himself. So, with a minimal shift of the needle, he’d get a little insight into his targets. Could definitely be… useful…

His jaw dropped as his brain made a simple connection. Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl, had managed to keep her Semblance a secret this whole time. What it was was a matter of a lot of speculation… and the App had just given him a simple 10 point ability to rip away that advantage from her. Filing that revelation away for now, he got back to the progress he’d already made.

-CONGRATULATIONS!-

New trait unlocked!

-”Please Teach Me Sir!”-

Note: Every trait that you unlock will have two different choices, two different paths. Once you choose one, you can't reverse the decision ever. So choose carefully. The traits are based on the victim's personality.

Route A - Silly Girl

-I Hit Like A Girl-

The target will begin to see the user as an authority figure in combat, and will desire to learn from the user to become a better fighter. They will accept what the user says as good advice, and will always somehow fail in spectacular and embarrassing ways whenever they choose not to follow it.

Route B - A Good Girlfriend

-I’ve Never Had A Boyfriend-

The target will begin to believe that the user is an authority on relationships. They will seek out the user to try to learn how to be a ‘good girlfriend’, and will accept what the user says as being fact.

Now this was interesting. He could custom build his sluts as he went along could he? This App was just the gift that kept on giving and giving and giving.

Looking at his options, it seemed ‘I Hit Like A Girl’ would be the most useful in the short term, he had already set up the idea of regular combat classes with her, they’d just swap roles a lot quicker and easier than he’d been planning. On the other hand, ‘I’ve Never Had A Boyfriend’ would be an ideal trait to slowly mould Ruby into the ideal slut for him. Ahh, decisions, decisions.

Cardin was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts with a jolt by the sound of someone knocking urgently on his door. Closing out of the App quickly, he checked the time and double checked his memory that he hadn’t made any plans bar the morning lesson with Ruby, before getting up and walking over to the door and calling out;

“Who is it!?”

“Cardin Winchester, you open this door this instant and tell me what the hell you’re planning with Ruby!” The voice of a pissed off Ice Queen sure did put a shiver down your spine.

‘Shit.’ He thought to himself. ‘Okay… time to improvise.’

A/N

Hello again, adoring public. Yes, I’m still alive, coming at ya with another update. We finally have some proper app shenanigans, and the first Trait poll of the fic. I hope you’ve enjoyed this next update, and (life and block willing) the next should be out soon enough.

https://strawpoll.com/xVg71jMK6yr