As It Turns Out 04

"So... what do you guys wanna do?" In the end he thought it better to let them decide on the next course of action.

Mostly because he wanted them to be more or less comfortable in this... date. After all, while he was in a awkward position with the sudden marriage, they had to have way worse than him. No girl expected to suddenly become a member of a... harem, or whatever it was called.

Weiss curtsied, she sure was sophisticated. "Oh, I don't care about the place. Any time spent with you is sure to be magical." She sure had high expectations. Terrifying.

Ruby had stars in her eyes. "Then how about we go to a comic book store!?" Well, that sounded fun.

It wasn't exactly his type of thing, but he didn't hate them either. And he certainly remembered reading them occasionally when he was still a kid living in an orphanage. So maybe he could get some good ol' nostalgia injected into his veins.

Weiss glared at her. "Yeah, no." Or maybe he couldn't get that nostalgia after all. Yikes.

Ruby pouted. "Why not!? You just said anywhere would be fine!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I was expecting my husband to pick the location." She motioned to him. "I'm sure he would pick an amazing place, like... Vale's best restaurant, or a Opera place, not somewhere so childish." Ah, she was that type of person.

Wouldn't amazing places like those require reservations?

Also... "Okay, I'm just gonna be honest here. I got 5000 lien. That's my limit." Very low for a date with four people yes, but he wasn't exactly making big bucks.

He was using his savings for this!

It was embarassing to admit, but he was very much planning on pulling the good ol' split the check maneuver. Though in this age it was less embarassing, and more like it was expected. Right? Right.

Weiss waved him off. "No need to worry about money, Elroy. I'll pay for everything. As I usually do whenever I adventure out with these..." She looked at Yang, who was picking her nose. "Troglodytes."

He blushed. "No, no, it's fine, I can at least pay for myself." He appreciated the offer, but much like when Blake had offered help, he had enough pride in himself to reject a sugar mommy.

She squinted her eyes. "Dear husband of mine, I could spend literally hundreds of times the amount you are carrying, and my bank literally wouldn't raise an eyebrow." Ah. "My clothes are more expensive than your average house."

That's... "You make a very compelling argument." His pride only went so far.

Thankfully that pride was strong enough to resist commemorating in front of them. He was seriously saving up on money! He expected to be completely broke after this, but he had avoided such a fate!

She giggled. "I typically do." She was happy he had relented so quickly. A husband who argued against his wife was... no good.

"But back to the matter of where we should go..." She looked at Blake. "Do you have any recommendations, since you're the expert and all?" One could say she held a grudge.

Blake shook her head. "No. My hobbies are pretty niche, and I doubt any of you want to have a group reading while being shoulder to shoulder." Even she herself wouldn't want to do something so intimate with five people around.

Yang raised a hand. "Leave it to me! After all, there is always one place willing to take people like us that wanna have fun! A club!"

Weiss pointed at her younger sister. "Ruby."

Yang deflated immediately. "Oh yeah." There went her idea to party.

The young girl apologized. "My bad..." And silence took over the group. A very awkward silence.

And then Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh! I have an idea! Let's check an weapons shop!" She pulled out a strange thing from her back. "And now that I think about it, I haven't even shown Elroy my baby!"

That red thing expanded into a massive scythe, causing him to take a step back in shock.

The girl however, seemed unbothered by it. "This is Crescent Rose! She's a scythe. And a sniper. And the best. And my baby. Now let's go see other babies and gush about them!" She had a weird definition for the word baby.

His eyes wouldn't leave the scythe. "I..." If that's what she wanted to...

Weiss interjected. "Ruby, that's ridiculous... Of course he doesn't want to waste his time looking at weapons and—." She suddenly stopped herself. "Actually, this is a great idea! As expected of our team leader!"

It really was. First of all, men loved weapons, as Elroy was demonstrating with the awestruck gaze he was giving to Crescent Rose. Second of all, weapons were a Huntsman thing. Their goal was convincing him that becoming a Huntsman was the best possible choice for his future.

Therefore, they would seduce him with the power of weapons, and soon enough he would be sleeping by her side! If... if Beacon allowed that. But surely they would!

Ruby squinted her eyes, seemingly suspicious of her teammate. "You think my idea is great...?" And then she raised her arms in cheer. "Yes, Weiss points gained!" Sadly, she did not know that she was still in the negative.

Gaining Weiss points was hard, losing them was easy.

Elroy chuckled. "Okay then, is everyone else alright with that?"

Yang gave him a thumbs up. "Sure, I'm down." Her sister sure was excited about it at least. Hopefully her husband could withstand Ruby talking for hours about some random new type of bullet or whatever.

Blake shrugged. "I don't mind. I'm just here to be by your side."

He blushed, how did she say that without any hesitation? "Well, then it's settled. Let's go visit a weapons shop." Which is not where he expected to go for a date, he had to admit.

Maybe he just didn't get Huntress culture yet.



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"Oh, this one is neat!" Ruby poked at the glass surrounding the weapon.

By the way, there was a big red warning sign in the store telling people to not touch the glass. "It's a rapier, shotgun, lance!" Huntsman sure got addicted to mecha shift technology... "And the blade is mixed with red Dust!"

So it was like... a fire sword? "Neat." He didn't know if that's how things worked. But he would use the old social strategy of nodding and agreeing to everything she said.

She smiled from ear to ear. "It's more than just neat! It's amazing! You typically don't find these super high quality weapons in places like these... you see, to make a blade infused with dust you must—."

Weiss cut her off. "I'm sure he does not care." She knew this was mean, but she wanted to get him interest, not bored out of his mind!

Ruby whimpered in response, she resembled a hurt puppy. "Ow..."

And so it was his job to turn her into just a normal puppy. "No, I think it sounds interesting. It's okay." He did think the blade was cool. So maybe it really would be interesting.

Yang interjected. "Nope, trust me on this one hubbie, you don't wanna give Ruby a inch, she will take a mile." She looked at the sword. "It really is pretty well made though. I'm surprised the rapier part can withstand all that strength from the shotgun."

He tilted his head. "Huh. Do all you guys know how weapons work?"

Yang nodded. "Of course! Part of being a Huntsman is knowing how to take care of weapons... Though Ruby and I are a step above the rest."

Ruby giggled. "And I'm a step above Yang. Basically the queen of weapons, really. I mean, I made mine."

Yang squinted her eyes. "I made mine too, that doesn't mean much."

Ruby sputtered. "Y-yes you did, but I'm trying to sound cool, so please don't embarass me like that!" Of course Yang had to ruin everything! She still couldn't believe she was sharing her husband with her sister of all people!

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Then don't lie about it, dolt."

Blake leaned on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this." She was talking like he was being tortured.

"It's fine." It really was. In fact, he was just happy that they were comfortable enough around him to act like this. It was certainly better than if they all acted like girls being forced into arranged marriages. "I guess I like the mess."

Blake smiled in response. "If you say so... And I guess I like the mess too."

Weiss snapped her fingers. "Belladona, please stop hogging my husband for a moment."

"It's Reyne." She corrected her, but nonetheless stepped aside.

He got closer to Weiss. "So, what do you need?" He was worried. There was a strange grin in her face, and if he was being frank, it was not the type of expression he expected her to make.

She looked like a supervillain. "Tell me Elroy, did you like that weapon? Did it appeal to your primal male instinct?"

His primal male instinct? "Y-yeah? Sure?" He was not exactly a big weapon nerd, but swords were cool, shotguns were cool, and spears were cool too.

"Good. Good." Her plan was going off amazingly.

She would purchase that weapon for him. Not only would he then be incentivized to join Beacon, but he would also be incentivized to learn directly from her! After all, she was a master of the rapier.

It would be a temporary weapon of course, eventually Weiss would comission something specific for him. However, she knew that if she tried pulling that off right now, she would be coming out as too strong.

So finding this rapier definition has been lucky. Ruby gained another Weiss point. Currently she was on minus two thousand and two. "Well, here's an idea, how about I purchase that weapon for you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why...?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, why? I mean, he's clearly way more suited for some kind of longsword—."

She was stopped by Yang, who was now covering her little sister's mouth. "Not now, Rubes." She motioned to her partner. "Blake, please help me cointain this little menace."

Blake... agreed!? "Of course."

And so Weiss carried on, as if they just hadn't witnessed that scene. "I just think you should get something to protect yourself. You are dating a person of very high profile... No, not just dating. You are married to a person of very high profile."

He put a hand on his chin. "That is true..." Even if any stranger had yet to recognize Weiss.

She quickly pounced. "I'm glad you see my point! So I shall acquire that weapon for you, and we shall train with it on every weekend, and—!"

He took a step back. "Wait a second there, Weiss..." He scratched his cheek. "I don't think I can even own a weapon made for Huntsmen. Don't I need a license or something?" He definitely couldn't just buy it.

Weiss flinched. "Ah, well that's..." Her plans! So quickly defeated by a few words! She needed help! "Ruby, rescue me!"

At this point the menace had been released, so she quickly did. "I'm rescuing you! Blake, Yang, rescue her in my name!" A good leader knew how to delegate.

First Blake made her case. "It should be fine. Nobody will stop you as long as you don't go around swinging that thing in public, so Weiss can just buy it in her name and hand it over to you."

"Also, it's easy to get a license. The Valean council is always happy to accept any person who has interest in fighting the Grimm. And that's not even taking into account how you are married to Huntresses." He would get the okay pretty much immediately.

"Not to mention how Ozpin invited you to Beacon. It's quite possible the government already recognizes you as someone authorized to carry Huntsmen grade weapons." Though she could be wrong.

Then Yang made her case. "Fuck the law."

Weiss cleared her throat. "As you can see, Elroy. It should be fine."

He crossed his arms. "I guess in this case I'll defer to you guy's judgment." They were the professional ones here, and they were also his wives. He should trust them. "Just accepting such a expensive gift leaves a bad taste in my mouth though..."

Weiss put a hand on her chest. "Elroy, I am made of money."

He pouted. "Even you don't have infinite cash. Let me give a look around the store and find something cheaper." Saving money was very important, specially since Dust prices were going up and—!

"Made. Of. Money." He had a feeling she would not give up on this.



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He felt like a leech. A dirty leech that abused his wives and left the store with a briefcase that had a super expensive weapon inside of it. And so, to feel less dirty, he had bought ice cream for everyone. It definitely was nothing compared to the weapon, as expensive as it was, but it was a start.

Which is why he decided to make a promise. "I'm gonna pay you back in full someday, Weiss."

She sighed. "It's fine, really." She glared at her own ice cream. "Really, I could have paid for this." And now he had wasted his precious and limited money on her. What a waste.

Yang interjected. "Don't worry hubbie. Weiss grew up in another world, so she doesn't understand how normal people work." Although she was surprised at his resistance.

It had been awkward at first, when Weiss started paying everything for them, but they had quickly come to accept it. Though maybe Elroy just needed more time before he got corrupted with the power of money.

Ruby nodded. "Yep. Weiss is basically an alien."

She immediately received a glare from the girl. "Ruby Rose, I will slap you." And like that, she lost five hundred Weiss points.

Blake looked at the briefcase. "And speaking of money, we should test that to see if it was worth the money." Well, they had done some quick testing in the store, but nothing crazy.

"You're probably right." If Weiss had gotten scammed because of him, he would have to jump into a wood chipper. "Where though? Like you said, I can't swing this thing around in public."

"You can come to Beacon... in a weekend of course." She blushed. "And speaking of weeken, there is something special happening during this one..." Oh?

Yang had stars in her eyes. "Oh!? We are finally bringing that up!?" She was surprised Blake was the one who did it. "So here's the deal Hubbie, there's a dance coming up this weekend in Beacon! You're invited!"

He tilted his head. "Can I even enter Beacon without being a student?"

She gave him a thumbs up. "Yep. Of course you can, as long as someone invites you at least." It wasn't too rare for a parent to come see their kid.

Or in a better example for this scenario, Yang knew a guy who was bringing his civilian girlfriend to the dance. Though naturally this level of confidence from the school also meant that the student should keep an eye on their guest.

A small smile found its way to his face. "In that case, I would be honored to go." He shouldn't waste opportunities like this.

As the beginning of this hang out had shown, an opportunity to entertain four women was extremely hard to come by. Everyone had different tastes and all, so something like this that got everyone together was a golden chance to make them happy. Also, he was their husband, what kind of husband would reject this?

Yang gave the air a fistbump. "Yes..." She knew her husband wasn't about to reject her, but she still felt nervous asking him out.

Weiss smiled. "In that case, we should find you a suit eventually. I'll pay for it of course."

"Nah, It's cool." He was already a mega leech. This needed to stop. "I can manage something out." Also, this way he got to surprise her when the day came. That was a good thing, right?

Weiss began silently muttering to herself. "How complicated, I appreciate a man who doesn't love me for my money, but isn't this too much?" Money was her greatest tool to compete against the other harpies, she had to use it!

Meanwhile, Ruby shyly spoke up. "Do we really have to go on that dumb dance? It's lame. It's dumb." She called it dumb two times, just to really drive the point home.

Elroy flinched. "That's..." Damn it, he couldn't just dance with three girls and leave Ruby sad and alone. "I never went to a event like this, so I can't really say. Don't you wanna try at least?"

She crossed her arms. "No—."

But Yang put a... loving hand on her shoulder. "Rubes, if I don't get to dance with my hubbie because of you, I will snap Crescent Rose in two." Also, she wanted Ruby to go to the dance. It was bound to help her with her social anxiety.

Immediately Ruby paled. "Y-you wouldn't...!"

Yang leaned forward, and whispered in her ears. "I would."

Ruby trembled. "Okay, I'll go! I'll dance! Please just don't murder my child!" She couldn't believe Yang would say something so cruel. Did she have no love for her niece/nephew!?

Elroy sighed. "I don't think shouting something like that is wise..." He was not appreciating the weird looks their group was now receiving. "Also... Ruby, you don't have to force yourself to do anything."

He just knew that doing so would fuel discord. And he didn't want to cause that when they were all in the same team. "Though... I'm sure dancing with you would be fun."

Her face became bright red. "Oh..." She looked down. "D-dancing could be fun, I guess..." She didn't even know how to dance!

Blake raised a finger. "Now that the dance thing is decided, I want to do something I've been meaning to do for a while. Can I awaken your aura, Elroy?" He would need it to optimally use his weapon.

Weiss smirked. "A fine offering Blake!" It was another thing that could potentially convince him to become a Huntsman! Who didn't want Aura!?

To their surprise however, he frowned. "I don't know... I mean, you guys can keep using my Aura like Blake did, but I don't know if I have the time for it."

Blake's eyes widened. "You know I borrowed your Aura!? How!?" Though now that she thought about it, she did feel like something had agreed to it when she borrowed it.

"I don't know, I just kind of knew." It was a instinctual thing. "I figured you used to cheat in class or something." Which he was totally fine with of course.

She blushed. "I asked for permission!" And then she shook her head. "But nevermind that, why don't you want Aura?" It's not like having it would force him into becoming a Huntsman or anything like that.

He shrugged. "I mean, it just sounds like a lot of work." At least with the weapon, he could figure out how to shoot things and then forget about it. "I don't really have the time for it."

Blake squinted her eyes. "You don't have to master is, just knowing how to coat your entire body is fine." Which was the instinctive use of Aura. It was a waste of energy, but it could help him in a pinch.

"Isn't it just awakening it a pain?" They were talking about it like it was easy...

Blake shook her head. "Not really. Here, let me show you." She had done this before for plenty of members of the White Fang, so it should be used.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Really, I just have to flown my Aura through you." Some people used chanting with it too, but it wasn't necessary. More of a religious thing.

And so before long... Aura was shining across his body. "Huh...? It really was that easy?" He was glaring at his own Aura.

She took a step back, catching her breath. "Yes. You have a good amount of it." He wasn't a monster like Jaune, but he was just a bit below Yang. "And the color of it... is pretty unique." Mostly because it wasn't a single color.

His aura shined red, yellow, purple and blue.

Weiss interjected. "Oh, perhaps it's due to our Soul Bond?" They would need to check a few old books about Ozma, though from what she remembered he had normal Aura.

He nodded. "That's probably a good idea... I'm surprised awakening Aura is such a easy process though. Why don't more people do it?" Couldn't it save thousands of lives?

Weiss raised a finger. "Because the logistics would be a nightmare. Not to mention how any of these people could develop a unknown Semblance and cause chaos. Furthermore, there is a common belief that Aura can actually attract Grimm due to—."

Blake cut her off. "Because it's easier to control the lower class if they can't easily defend themselves from bullets."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"Blake, do not poison his mind with your cynic views of the world!"