RWBY Silver Eyed Warrior Chapter 8: Pyrrha's Big Day (Patreon)

Pyrrha stuffed a strand of her hair behind her ear, looking herself over in the full body mirror that sat in the corner of her hotel room.

A white sleeveless button up blouse with frills running up its center tucked into a long black skirt that stopped just past her stocking covered knees and a pair of cream colored zipped up boots to finish things off.

Nice and simple.

The most important part of her choice in outfit was her hair, carefully brushed with her bangs swept aside, but otherwise left to flow freely down her back for once. With all the training she did, she’d developed a preference for keeping it gathered up in a simple ponytail. It hadn’t been an intentional move on her part, but in a way, that had turned into something of an iconic look, at least according to others.

It was simple but sometimes keeping her hair down when she wasn’t wearing her armor kept attention away. Not always but sometimes.

If luck was on her side that sometimes would help her today.

Her eyes fell to her arms.

She’d trained a lot in her youth. Back then she hadn’t realized how much she was giving up by so earnestly chasing her dreams of becoming a huntress but after she realized how distant she was from those her age, that isolation just led to her throwing herself into harder training when her reputation came into play.

And aura made it far too easy to build muscle if one really put their mind to it, or, like her, maintained habits and routines that felt too odd to go without.

She wasn’t some body builder or anything but where other woman, even huntresses, would’ve only had a slight muscle tone to hint at their training, hers was defined enough that it was one of the things people’s eyes were drawn too.

This wasn’t some date. She didn’t need to worry about what he might’ve thought.

Even so she grabbed her red coat from yesterday on her way to the door, slipping it on to cover up her arms.

She liked the way those unique silver eyes had looked at her.

Taking the elevator rather than the stairs, it took her a while to reach the lobby, the few other people on it paying her little mind. As soon as the doors opened up to the first floor, she didn’t waste any time, held kept tilted slightly downwards as she made her way out of the hotel building and onto the cool streets of Vale.

“Pyrrha.” And with perfect timing. Waving to her, Corvo separated himself from a crowd of people, joining her in front of the hotel building. Dressed in plain black clothing not too different from the other day, along with gloves, boots, and a dark brown belt, this time he had a dark red coat with ends that stopped just above his ankles. Like any good huntsman to be, he kept his weapon handy, the handle visible beneath his coat at times. “Sorry if I’m late.”

“No, you’re right on time.” She said, a smile she didn’t have to force making its way across her face as he stopped in front of her.

Most importantly he looked up at her with a casual sheepishness. There was no real expectation or admiration in his eyes. Just an innocent friendliness that had nothing to do with who she was.

Those eyes dipped a bit, instantly jumping back up, a small bit of red dusting his cheeks. “Did you have anything you wanted to see in mind?”

She’d learned not to be affected by the looks of others. Between interviews and just being a known face, thick skin and composure had become requirements to get by unless she wanted every little thing to worsened her day.

In this case she felt her own embarrassment rise, only able to hope that it wasn’t so obvious as his.

While it wasn’t tight or anything she’d known full well that her choice in blouse might draw a look from him, her chest by no means the largest but in no way small. It was the one part of her that she was sure was universally attractive.

What people posted online, unfortunately, didn’t leave her much of a choice there.

“I’ve haven’t got the chance to go but I’ve heard about a mall near here that doubles as a kind of theater?”

“Oh, I know what you’re talking about. I head there all the time with my sister.” He said. “School hasn’t started yet, so it’ll be pretty busy, but I don’t think anything big has come out recently. Maybe we won’t have to deal with too much of a crowd.”

Pyrrha nodded along as she followed him, asking questions about Vale and, from to time, him.

This was not a date.

Even if she dressed up hoping to draw his eye. Even if she’d looked places up and already planned out things in her head. Even if she was hoping to experience what one was like.

This wasn’t a date and no matter how it went, she’d be happy to spend the day with someone who just saw Pyrrha, not Pyrrha Nikos the celebrity.

XOXO

 “You’ve really never read a comic?”

“I’m sure I may have when I was younger but I’m not certain I would even remember those.”

“Then what kind of books do you like?”

“Well-“ Pyrrha, after a moment of hesitation reached out towards one the books that had caught her interest, straining her arm a little to pull it from the highest parts of the shelves in front of them. It wasn’t particularly thick, its cover a plain white, and its title TV REPAIRS FOR DUMMIES self explanatory. There were plenty more like it up all that self, all referencing a wide variety of subjects. “I’ve found that I really like reading my way through how to books and other things like it.”

Corvo stepped in closer to her arm, reading the book over. It really was how odd such a small thing as proximity felt. Most people either kept their distance or were too eager as fans, attempting to cross unspoken boundaries. “That’s a random thing for a huntress to want to learn.” He snickered a little. “Imagine heading out on a mission just to find out you were called out to fix a TV instead of hunting Grimm.”

“You never know. People do say the lives of huntsmen are unpredictable and the more we know the better we can help others.” She said, the idea vainly amusing given what they were actually training to do. “But I read most of these out of curiosity rather than any practical reason. I just find it interesting to get a little peek into subjects others are experts in.”

In a way it was like looking at all the other possible jobs and hobbies she’d turned her back on by focusing on her training. Entirely different walks of life.

“When you put it like that it doesn’t sound so bad.” Corvo looked up at the books, eyes settling on one after a scan. Comic lowered, he attempted to reach for it. His fingers could graze the spine of the book he was after with him fully strained and on his toes but not much else.

She reached up, her hand brushing against his gloved one as she brought it down.

MAKING FRIENDS FOR DUMMIES.

“It’s not that I don’t have friends. I do. Definitely.” She couldn’t help but raise a brow in the face of the unconvincing assurances. “Okay, maybe I don’t but like you said, I can peek into how the experts do it.” Red dusting his cheeks, he looked away from her as she handed the book over.

I wonder if he realizes how cute he is. Pyrrha thought, her smile growing a little. She hadn’t even done anything, and he crumbled on the spot, admitting to the lie. The height difference between them only added to it.

“I suppose we can both do with a little peek into that.” Pyrrha said, reaching up again to grab herself a copy so he didn’t feel so embarrassed by the admission.

Looking back, curiosity quickly overtook his embarrassment. “You didn’t have friends back in Mistral?” She gently shook her head. “Weird. I thought the good looking students always ended up the most popular.” If it were coming from someone else, she might’ve thought it was an attempt at flirting, but he was just pointing out what he was thought was true.

“I-“She paused, figuring out just how to answer. A lie wasn’t the way she wanted to start what might be one of her first friendships. “-suppose you could say popularity was the problem. Once people decide they already know you, that’s all they focus on rather than actually getting to know you personally.”

“Right.” He nodded along before his eyes widened slightly. “Oh, I mean I’m sorry you had to deal with that, but at least you won’t have to worry about it in whole new kingdom, right? Someone as nice as you shouldn’t have any problems making friends.” She could say the same about him. He didn’t have the best social cues but she’d yet to see any reason someone who had taken time out of their day to help a stranger would struggle to make friends.

“Hopefully.” If only that were true. He was an exception rather than the rule, after all. Throughout this small trip through the small she’d had to subtly hurry the two of them along when one too many gazes lingered on her. This bookstore was sparse in terms a few, but they were already getting glances that he’d yet to pick up on. And that’s why she had to pull out all the stops. “I hope that I’ve already made my first one?”

It took a moment for his confusion to clear up but when it did, he quickly nodded. “Yeah, totally.”

Friend acquired.

“Then, if you have the time, would you like to see a movie together?” She asked.

This wasn’t a date.

Walking around a massive mall together, checking out stores, and talking. Grabbing snacks together. And now heading to catch a movie.

It might not have been a date but according to everything she’d read they were following the classic framing of one.

XOXO

“That. Was. Awesome. Did you see the weapon the main character was using? Do you think one can actually have that many forms? I’m pretty sure they just used different props and effects but there’s no reason it can’t be done right? With the right-“

Pyrrha, once again while in his company, found herself smiling just as surprised as she was amused by Corvo’s change as they, alongside many others, filed out of a viewing room, making their way through the main hall of the theater.

He wasn’t quiet but he wasn’t proactive when it came to conversation most of the time either. She’d noticed that pretty quickly, most of their prior conversations started by her. Apparently, the weapons in that movie were enough to change that, Corvo moving on from gushing to theorizing how to make it himself. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was supposed to get a word in, but she didn’t mind listening to him.

It wasn’t until they were outside the combed mall and theater, the sizable parking lot for the place laid out in front of them, did he catch on to his rambling.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind it.” Pyrrha assured him. “I think it’s nice that you enjoyed something about the movie so much to talk about it like that.”

Still shaking off his embarrassment, he pulled a black scroll from his pocket, pulling it open just enough to see the time. “I thought we’d see more places but we kind of ended up spending a lot of time here.” He said, as though it were his fault when everything had gone as exactly as she hoped.

This might’ve been, no, was the best day she had in a long, long time.

“We still got enough time if there’s something close by you want to see?”

Despite being unaware of it, she'd just used him to fulfill one of her long time fantasies. For the most part. Preferably the perfect date should end with her being walked home then a parting kiss or more but that would be pushing for far too much.

She should let him choose how they spent the rest of this time.

“Is there something you think I should see?”

His eyes lit up. “If you haven’t seen them yet, there are public training rooms. It’s free to use for people.” Pyrrha’s stomach started to turn. “I know you aren’t really dressed for it, and you don’t have your weapon but how about we go? We can have a hand to hand match. I bet it’ll be fun.”

Her stomach and heart both dropped at the same, her smile straining a little.

Fighting was the last thing she wanted to do with him.