Omake 4: My niece is a cat problem

"The best love is the one that makes you a better person, without changing you into someone other than yourself" – Unknown

I'm getting too old for this shit.

Oh? Welcome to our world-

[Now, now, there is no need to say something like that… but yes, it's not a novelty for us.]

Still… why?!

I suppose you could say that your own writing ended up becoming your undoing.

Ten years. That's how long I had been around in this world and… I had thought things wouldn't have strayed too far from what I could imagine.

I was wrong. Surprisingly enough, there was plenty of room to feel wrong about the two individuals I was dealing with.

These two idiots- this unlikely duo- this unexpected team…

Okay, maybe some context is needed… like always.

It was a fine morning here in Menagerie. I was happily enjoying the holidays away from work, and I felt surprised when a certain surrogate niece of mine decided to spend the holidays here at home with her closest friend.

While Blake wasn't the same kitty cat like the show, she still took a turn close to what she would've turned without my presence. And despite the fact she cared and loved me as a surrogate uncle, she was also known to lie to me whenever she did something I would normally frown about.

I expected her to lie to me, so I wasn't much surprised when the person that she brought back home wasn't someone I knew from canon. In fact, it was someone I shouldn't be knowing about in a situation where I didn't have any knowledge of the meta behind this world.

But here he was, the bane of my existence. The one that couldn't be named without me feeling a degree of sin and confusion crawl up to my shoulders to nag by merely being.

Short ear-long dark-hair hair, light-blue eyes… he looked positively tired as he sipped at his cup, the one filled with coffee that I prepared for him… and I knew him.

Not by appearance, in fact I would've recognized him much earlier if that was the case.

No, I was staring at someone I knew by proxy. In this case my past interest in writing stuff. Stories about this world and…

"I suppose you two aren't dating," I commented quietly, testing the waters about this very ludicrous possibility.

"No," the young man remarked. "We're just close friends."

I nodded, scratching my chin as I saw Blake pouting at me for having asked that.

"What?"

"I thought mom told you about him."

I frowned at that, dropping the little embarrassed act I got going to give an annoyed look back at her.

"Excuse me? Weren't you the one that asked Kali to keep quiet?"

My words managed to chop down the cat-girl's efforts to appear in the right, and her funny companion proved to be more than happy to offer a follow-up.

"I thought you promised to not do that," The guy pointed out, getting a groan out of the dark-haired girl.

I sighed again, turning my attention back to the 'stranger'.

"I've heard you're a waiter. The 'Morning Sip'?" I started to say, trying to make some conversation that wasn't that awkward.

[It still feels awkward. He is the one that told you that.]

It doesn't mean I can just shrug at the current circumstances.

But you can hold back and restrain yourself from making a fool scene. Man up like usual, John.

Ten years and nothing has changed between us… you pricks.

"Yes sir," The young man replied. "If I have to be honest, I wouldn't have expected for me to end… meeting you."

"Trust me, I've been told that too many times," I commented with a blink. "Still, I've a couple of questions that I wish to ask you, Mr. Tremaine. Of course, if it's not asking too much-"

"I will not mind. I know you're not the kind of person that would abuse my trust like this," Sid Tremaine, one of the Original Characters I've created to lead a RWBY story, said without a worry in his voice. He didn't suspect the meta-relationship we shared, and I wasn't planning to reveal it to him.

Too much insanity, not enough fucks to grind my brain against that.

"Okay. Then, I will start with something particularly simple," I muttered blankly. "Why are you holding hands with Blake?"

…

"She was feeling cold," The human calmly replied, ignoring the sudden blushing coming from his 'friend'. "There is no reason to-"

"I didn't accuse anyone," I interjected flatly. "But you sure are defensive about this topic, Mr. Tremaine."

"It's… Sid."

"I know, but I don't believe I have a reason to be that friendly with just a friend of my surrogate niece," I retorted. "In fact, I find myself doubting you mean it when you say that you love Blake as a friend."

Not-so surprisingly, he frowned at my accusation.

"What do you-"

"Let's see here… you mentioned that you helped my niece skip school because… of some drama at Beacon?"

"It… it was about the radical groups of the White Fang. They were hunting her down and-"

"It would've been smarter to escort her to Beacon. You know, the school that should prevent that kind of infiltration."

Am I right, Ozpin?

[Ouch!]

I hate you both.

"It- It wasn't that easy. There were other issues about-"

"You having trouble with your team," I interrupted again, unwilling to let go of this fun bone. "Wanna hear a fun story? All teams have fall outs once in a while. You talk through those-"

"It wasn't just that. There was this girl that was having mean words that bordered with racism-"

"And I suppose hiding away is going to make that issue fly away from everyone's heart," I coldly said, bringing the conversation to a stalemate.

I sighed once more. "You two are idiots, and that leaves me a little annoyed," I remarked. "I know you're a smart cookie, Blake. I can tell you're not that stupid on a normal instance, Sid, but I can't help but find your attempt to lie to me particularly frustrating."

"W-We're not lying," Blake shot back, expecting for me to believe her with that stutter she got now.

"We just lived together for a couple of months. There is no reason to-"

"Let me put it in a way that you may understand, Sid," I interjected, feeling irked that I have to have my meta-son squirm before my eyes to get this issue I had created solved for once. "If you're just a 'friend' to Blake and you have offered her hospitality, then I don't see why you need to behave like you are her boyfriend-"

"I'm not her-"

"Don't. Lie. To. Me!" I pointed out loudly. "I can tell that you're lying, and I can assure you that if you answer me with honesty, I will not judge or shame anyone in here."

…

…

"W-We've slept together. Once," Blake admitted, and I found myself surprised at that.

What? Didn't you expect them to go ahead of what you've written?

[I'm a little concerned that this revelation is tied to the reason for this unplanned visit.]

"Slept like-"

"I don't believe you need to ask, Mr. Bukharin," Sid replied, his face taking a darker shade of pink at that attempt to ask a question.

Oh well, now I know that things are indeed more complicated than anticipated.

I shrugged. "I suppose you didn't tell Kali and Ghira," I commented flatly, the secret couple looking guilty as hell. "And you came here expecting to find my support."

"Yes sir," Sid said while nodding.

…

That means I now can't exactly pull out from this endeavor.

Kali would probably squeal at the news. The chance of having many grandchildren now cemented by these two actually looking ready to tie the knot.

Ghira… maybe he will be murderous the first two weeks. He will be pissed for the following four months… surely he will never see kindly for his possible son-in-law.

Still, despite this sudden acceptance to answer, I couldn't help but feel like I was missing something important.

"Still, I don't see why you really need my help. Ghira could get harsh with Sid… but other than that I..."

"I want to drop Beacon."

I facepalmed. "What?"

"I tried to convince her that she needs to stay-"

"And she will remain there," I pressed without hesitation. "I hope you understand that you're walking towards hell if you drop things like that."

"I-I can just work as a civilian."

"All for love?" I questioned. "My dear niece, I've never had a reason to say no this strongly, and I sure hope you understand that the reason I flatly refuse to help you in this has to do with the fact this decision is a poor one-"

"D-Didn't you say you dropped from-"

"Don't bring my experience in this matter, young lady," I chided dryly. "Especially when this experience isn't the same as yours. One of the things I would've never done was ditching school for love. It's stupid and quite hurtful for your partner."

As she heard that last bit, her eyes turned to see Sid looking a little uneasy at that kind of attention he was receiving. And I knew well enough about it having been subjected to it many times in my lengthy relationship with a certain Tiger Faunus.

"I will give you a life advice that would've prevented many of the crappy situations I got myself into while trying to work things with Sienna," I added with a more serious tone. "If you want to leave Beacon… it's fine. But it doesn't have to be 'for love' or without you having done more than enough research about all possibilities."

"You would actually… support this?" The young man asked and I groaned.

"Not if she isn't smart about it. She needs to plan things out for the best if she wants to leave," I replied genuinely. "Blake… When I was your age, I too wanted to drop everything because I was tired of how things felt at school. I bet you feel stuck, like you're not doing any progress except getting frustrated and angry at things that will not help you much in most of your life."

"K-Kind of," She admitted. "It's more like… I don't like the fact how this will not give me an opening to a job beyond the Hunter Corps."

"And you want to broaden the chances of having a future as a civilian worker," I suggested, smiling as she nodded at it. "I guess Summer told you of how complicated it is nowadays to find a position as a teacher."

"Blake isn't that much… into teaching."

The playful jab at his shoulder just brought me a sense of nostalgia with how Sienna and I started.

Brutal honesty, no secrets. Then big secrets came and things got rocky on multiple occasions.

"Which is good since that sector isn't that much lucrative anymore. You would need something that would work with you and also pays you a lot."

…

"How about you ask Ilia?" I asked calmly. "I'm sure she and Ren would be more than happy to open up their activity to you."

"To do what?" The cat-girl snorted. "I suck at writing at their level-"

"But I bet you're still fine at drawing," I rebuffed, turning to the young man. "Am I right?"

He looked surprised at this comment, but nodded in agreement. "She is amazing at it."

The compliment got a blush out of Blake, and I stood up from my chair for a moment.

"Then I guess it could be tried. But first… do you two want any refill?"

I took the empty mugs and brought them by the kitchen, humming quietly as I prepared some more coffee.

This sure was a strange way to start the day. It was just me, my meta-son and his cat problem…