Akashic

Chapter 138 - Tea time

"What took you so long? Wulfrum informed us that Poppy was on her way with you, where is she?" Willow asked as Arthur took a seat on the single seater sofa in the large lounge room where Willow and Weiss were already having their preferred drinks of wine and coffee along with a slice of sponge cake.

"Sorry about that, it uh, seemed like Poppy wanted to inform me about some house rules" he answered, wanting to avoid that topic entirely.

"Really? I haven't heard much about any house rules" she said, taking a sip from her wine glass.

"Well, to be fair, you are the lady of the house, anything you say goes" he shrugged while Willow nodded. "And Poppy went to berate Wulfrum for something" that was the best he could come up with to answer why she wasn't with him.

"Ah" yet Willow immediatly understood as she closed her eyes and tilted her head down like she was praying for Wulfrum's safety.

"So what was it you needed to get done in Vale?" Weiss asked him.

Arthur thought for a few seconds about what to say, "I… was dealing with a small problem I've been having, but I think I may have only made it worse"

"Oh? How so?" Willow asked.

"I can't say, it's… a little personal" he gave her a small smile, Willow and Weiss gave him a small curious squint but neither saying anything as they could see he didn't want to talk about it.

"Have either of you noticed anything… different about me?" he asked them after a minute of silence between them.

"No, not really, you seem calmer, I think?" Weiss answered first.

"Well, I haven't known you for long so I could not tell you, is something wrong?"

Arthur went silent for a few seconds before giving them both a small smile, "Oh no, it's just I feel like something's changed, but I can't put my finger on it" he chuckled, "Anyways, apparently I have a fansite" he diverted the topic, but neither Weiss nor Willow seemed surprised.

"What did you expect?" Weiss said, opting to just accept this diversion from something that was obviously bothering him "You dive head first into a fire to save a child, sprout wings like an angel, and yet at every moment you show humility, plus your also ha… nevermind" her face turned rosy as she quickly silenced herself, Willow giving her a small smile.

"Not to mention you are quite the looker" Willow gave him a wide smile and wink, while Weiss, went even redder as her mother accurately described what she was thinking.

"Even then, I really didn't do much" he shrugged.

"You don't need to do much to be appreciated, plus, I wouldn't call your speech at the ball 'little' it was broadcasted across the entirety of Remnant, add in Weiss's part about you rescuing all those people single-handedly and the way you stood up to Jacques at the end of the ball?" she laughed, "Just seeing the video of him gritting his teeth as you spoke to him was more than enough to win me, let alone some of the other girls who detest him"

"Wait what?" Weiss muttered as she heard her mothers last few words.

"And then take in your unique appearance and your semblances ability to change your hair from white to black and back again, and you end up becoming quite the exotic catch" Willow completely ignored her daughters confused expression as she looked at her.

Arthur could feel his mouth drop slightly, "Do people actually see me like that?"

"Why yes, yes they do" she laughed, "Though, I advise you not to actually go onto the site, I heard about it a few days ago from one of my maids, and out of curiosity I opened it and quickly learnt it was run by a quite… artistic girl" Arthur immediatly understood what that meant, especially when her last two words came out slightly hesitant.

"Right, yeah, good idea" he quickly agreed.

"Mother, what was that about him winning you? Your joking right?" Weiss asked, but was quickly ignored as Willow moved onto another topic.

"Ah, right, considering we're in Vale, why don't we go visit your team leader and her sister? I hear they live on Patch if I'm not mistaken" Willow said while avoiding Weiss's eyes.

"Mother, please answer me"

"They haven't heard from either of you in the last two weeks, so this would be a perfect opportunity to catch up, plus I have no doubt you team mates are worried sick about you two" she locked her eyes with Arthur's in an attempt to avoid Weiss's, "That and I would love to meet with them as well" she said.

"Mother, why are you avoiding my question, you didn't actually fall for him right? Right?" Willow still didn't respond.

"Yes, that's a perfect idea, why don't we go in the morning" she happily laughed as Poppy walked into the dinning room, her eyes nearly shut as she walked towards the table next to Willow before leaning down and whispering in her ear.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it seems something has come up that I need to deal with" She informed them and quickly downed the rest of her glass before getting up, "I will see you both at dinner" she quickly began to walk away, ignoring Weiss's calls for answers.

"Mother!" Once Willow left the room Weiss found herself staring at the door for a few seconds before slowly turning to Arthur with a heavy squint, from two directions as he could feel a much more hostile one from Poppy who was standing next to the door to the dinning room, apparently having returned to her normal temperament.

"Arthur… When we were in the shuttle, mother said something about three days ago… you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Arthur felt a shiver run up his spine as he mechanically turned to Weiss.

"Yes, please do answer that sir Arthur" Poppy decided to join in as she approached the table, standing behind Weiss, "I am also curious as to what the Madam meant by that" Arthur could feel Poppy's hostility chewing at him while Weiss's glare seemed to be much more one of irritance.

"Well, uh… oh yeah!" he shouted and began to awkwardly laugh, "I just remembered something I need to get done, ahahaha" he quickly stood and began to quickly walk towards the door, only to stop as a pillar of ice came from the floor and blocked the door.

"Arthur, answer me, now" as he turned around he could see Weiss standing in front of the table, Myrtenaster somehow being in her hands, even though he didn't see it anywhere in the room. Poppy had also moved off to the side as she widely smiled at Arthur as if to say he deserved this for his actions.

"Uh, Weiss, calm down"

"She wasn't joking was she?" Weiss's voice turned cold, "Mother despises Jacques, and she wouldn't touch any of the butlers, so there is only one answer to that…" her voice trailed of as she stared down at Arthur.

"It was one… one time" he hesitated as he wasn't quite sure if that night would exactly count as 'one' time.

"You hesitated, so you've done 'it' multiple times with my mother" she mumbled as the atmosphere around her grew darker.

"S-sorry?" he said and felt his back hit the ice wall.

"Sorry? What's there to be sorry about?" she mumbled, "It's not like have been sleeping with my own mother, who I may add is still married to Jacques, behind my back" she took a step forward a glyph appearing under her feet While Arthur felt a chill rising around his legs, looking down he saw that Weiss had used her dust to freeze him in his spot

Poppy began to blink rapidly as she heard Weiss's phrasing, "Your not…" before Poppy could even finish her mumble as Weiss shot forward, Myrtenaster pointed at Arthur.

His eyes shut as he expected some part of him to get skewered, and he would have continued to believe that as he heard the sound of her rapier easily piercing through something resounded next to his ear, while he also felt a soft sensation on his lips.

His eyes quickly opened as he saw Weiss, her eyes shut as she pushed her lips onto his, while Myrtenaster had pierced into the wall right next to his head, barely a centimetre away from his ear.

Pulling away from him Weiss pulled her rapier from the ice wall, leaving Arthur quiet and staring at her wide eyed as she gave him a small glare, her face calm as she turned away from him, "Be happy I didn't punish you today" she said and walked away and around the ice wall.

Once she had left Poppy walked up to him, silently glaring at him, somewhat disbelieved at how he had come out of that without another smaller hole in his body somewhere, or a missing eye.

Looking to her Arthur felt a smirk form on his face, "Told you I'm not the who starts this stuff"

"I saw" she growled in response, "Yet once again you couldn't even defend yourself from a girls advances, shows just how pathetic you are"

"Says the pervert who gets off to being verbally bullied" he laughed and starred down at her, noticing the blueish scales appearing under her collar once again.

"I do not" she calmly said.

"Then what was that with you lying on the floor, completely helpless as you more than happily began to finger yourself in the middle of the hallway?" he laughed.

"That did not happen, you must be hallucinating, your detestable, lascivious mind is playing tricks on you" she said and turned away from him ready to walk away to the kitchen but froze as she heard a woman's voice.

[No, nonono, don't stop! Please! I'm so close!] that of her own voice, turning around, her eyes had widened as she saw a book floating in front of Arthur, on it's page an image of her pleading to Arthur to not leave her in that state.

Shutting the Tome Arthur looked her in the eyes a wide smile on his face, "That was quite the hallucination, wasn't it, Poppy, it was almost like I could touch it and it would tremble in my hands" he chuckled.

Yet Poppy remained quiet, not saying anything as he scales made themselves known on her cheeks, before she silently turned away and ran towards the kitchen, escaping another situation like what had happened earlier.

Watching her run in embarrass.e.m.e.nt or to save herself Arthur felt satisfied, her expression having made him feel satisfied once again.

"Arthur" Ashe's voice came from the tome as it floated next to him and opened up, her image on one page while on the other was a reflection of Arthur's face, "I think I know what's going on" she said.

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Alternate Chapter names: [I have no idea what to put here so this will have to do]

So, I've now got a schedule for chapters

Monday: Akashic

Tuesday: N/A

Wednesday: Beasts

Thursday: Backlog release (If I have a backlog, otherwise N/A)

Friday: N/A

Saturday: Beasts

Sunday: N/A

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