Before returning back to the apartment, Rachel and Professor Graves decided it was better to finish their "RWBY" marathon in Rachel's car on Rachel's cellphone. They had gotten through volume 4 at that point.
"Okay… so what did we learn?"
"Uhhh…"
"Well?!?!?"
"You want an essay? Or…?"
"Just anything in general…"
"Well uhhh…" Rachel thought for a moment clearing her mind of all the mindless fighting animation scenes to remember if there was any real plot, "well, clearly there were some colonialism metaphors in there with the Faunas representing the more 3rd world countries of the world but with still a vibrant culture and many familiar bonds that…"
"NO, NOT THE BORING STUFF…"
Professor Graves whacked Rachel with her wand.
"Oww… are you going to be doing that this whole time?"
"Only if you focus on the unimportant stuff!"
She let out a long sigh and then looked at Rachel unamused.
"What I'm really asking you Rachel… is…"
"Is?"
"Who…"
"Who…"
"Is…?"
"Is?"
She looked deep into Rachel's eyes as if she was about to ask the most important question she had ever asked someone in the history of ever.
"Who is… CINDER'S SHIP…"
"…"
"…"
"What uhhh…"
"THIS FUCKING FANDOM SUCKS… WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT WHITE ROSE…YOU DON'T HAVE TO WATCH THE REST… JUST TELL ME WHO YOU THINK THE SHIP IS FOR CINDER…"
"Umm… spoilers? Also, isn't she like… the villain? I don't really decide the ships until after I finish watching..."
"Urghhh… fine whatever…" Professor Graves said crossing her arms, "we'll watch the rest later then… let's go inside for now. Lemme see your room."
"Sounds good! Allons-y!"
"…"
"…"
Professor Graves continued to stare at Rachel unamused.
"What is that, some old Weiss literature or something?"
"No… it's from uhhh…" she chuckled, "yeah… definitely literature. But it is French, you know!"
"French for?"
"Let's go?"
"Ohh… Ka ja!"
"Oh true… Ka ja!"
They went back into the apartment. As this point, Calypso and Sol had been fast asleep as Rachel and Professor Graves entered Rachel's room. One filled with many posters, plushies, and figurines.
"'Game of Thrones' really… that's so basic," Professor Graves said flying up to one of her posters.
"A show with absolutely no representation might I add!"
"…"
"…"
"That's because it's based off of real actual places in Europe… you know they filmed it in Iceland?"
"Okay… and there are other minorities in Iceland too!"
"Umm… I guess?"
"And what's this… Tennis?!"
"Oh! Do you follow? That's Andy Murray! He wasn't in the big 3 but…"
"A sport also with no representation…"
"…"
"…"
"Wait… that's not even true… my quartet mate Yuko was talking to me about Naomi Osaka the other day. Not to mention the Williams sisters, wasn't there some girl name Li Ni who won a major recently as well?"
"Grr…"
At this point Rachel was wondering if this was just Professor Grave's natural personality. She appeared to be perpetually annoyed.
"Don't say things that go against my narrative!"
"But…"
"This is REAL showbiz, understand rookie? The people want you to act a certain way, talk a certain way, and behave a certain way."
"But…"
"AND IT CERTAINLY ISN'T BY BEING BASIC…"
"…"
"…"
"Okay… could you like… define what being "Basic" even means?"
"For example… let me show you an example of something not basic." Professor Graves surveyed the room to see if there was anything that wasn't that mainstream. Her eyes fixated on Rachel's shelf where there appeared to be an assortment of British Television show figurines. But nudged between them near the back almost as if purposely hidden…
"That's Octavia, right?" Professor Graves said flying over to the shelf to grab the figurine which appeared to be of a grey cartoon pony playing cello.
"So… sorry?"
"Octavia… that's the name of this character, no?" Professor Graves said bringing the figurine to Rachel.
A cold sweat dripped down Rachel's neck as she darted her eyes back and forth.
"That's… that's uhhh… that's… that's my friends! I don't know who that is!"
"…"
"Yeah, I mean! Who watches My Little Pony! Ahahahaha. That's such a silly show!
"…I didn't say anything about My Little Pony…"
"Oh uhh…" Rachel continued to dart her eyes back and forth, "but…"
"What's the big deal? The fandom was huge back in the day… it's not that weird to have seen a season or two… as much as I hate to admit it, it set a tone for the trends of a lot of modern fandom culture."
"…"
"…"
"Rarity's best!"
"…"
"…"
"So you did watch the show…"
"What! No… I mean…"
"It's fine. If anything, it will make you more relatable to gooners which is highly marketable."
"To whom now?"
"To degenerates… believe me, I had to memorize all their names too at one point for marketing purposes…"
"Oh, I mean… do we have to, though?"
"No… but why wouldn't we? It seems like a good fandom to start with in marketing you. Don't you know cosplayers do 10 different photoshoots in a month! The ponies have human forms too after all…"
"Again… why do I have to cosplay?"
"BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SELLS…"
"…"
"…"
She let out a deep sigh.
"I… I can't."
She took the figurine from Professor Grave's hand before putting it back onto her shelf with the other figurines.
"Just…"
"What?! What's the problem?" Professor Graves said, "you have to start as a cover artist you know…"
'Yeah but…" she sighed looking up at Professor Graves, "let's… do a different one, I just… I just can't with this fandom."
"…you're not going to get anywhere if THAT'S what embarrasses you…"
"No… that's not the problem… it's just…" she took a deep sigh before continuing, about to share one of her deepest insecurities with the mysterious Pixie, "it's what you would call… a Weiss girl problem."
Professor Graves raised an eyebrow.
"Go on?"
"You know what are…"
Rachel continued to look uneasy… unsure what if she wanted to utter the word.
"What, Bronies? Yes, Weiss girl… they have the internet in Pixie land to… I am well-aware who those degenerates are… and we'll be taking their money and stardust!"
Rachel shook her head.
"No… not bronies," she said, "Hor… horse girls."
"…"
"…"
They stared blankly at each other for a moment.
"Huh…" Professor Graves finally said confused.
"You know! Like… girls who are into horses a little too much!" Rachel said. "I had a lot of friends like that growing up… and to be honest, it always felt a bit weird to me. Animals in cartoons is one thing, but real life horses? I'm more of a human supremist. So… I never liked associating with the fandom to avoid being labeled as a horse girl myself. Does that make sense?"
"…"
"…"
"That just sounds like you're a closeted horse girl."
"WHAT, no don't say that!" Rachel said putting her hands on her face from embarrassment, "do you even know what horse girls are like?!?!"
"I don't need to… all I know is it's more fun to make fun of someone who gets overly defensive about something," Professor Graves chuckled, "but you're definitely a horse girl through and through. No doubts about it!"
"No I…"
"I mean… girl, it's chill, I'm a horse girl too! All the signs point to it for you too… I mean… I don't think non-horse girls buy figurines…"
"THAT'S BECAUSE OCTAVIA IS A STRING PLAYER NOT BECAUSE…AHHHHH"
She covered her face in embarrassment as memories of the past began flooding back in her mind. As she did, she heard a "click".
"Huh?"
As she looked up, it appeared Professor Graves had pulled out a small pixie polaroid camera and taken a picture of her.
"That's what the audience likes to see!" she said flapping the picture around before it came out showing Rachel's very cute and embarrassed face covered by her hands, "basically Aegyo!"
"…I guess…"
It was Rachel's face this time that turned to one of non-amusement.
"Oh, lighten up! Everyone gives a little fanservice to boost their popularity these days. That's just industry standard!" Professor Graves said putting the polaroid away. "But alright fine… if it's really THAT embarrassing to be a horse girl, let's try this show "86" then. You can study the main character's facial features perfectly!"
"Is that really a reason alone to watch a show?"
"… and it's also about your favorite thing in the world… colonialism politics…"
"Oh, alright! I'm down!"
"Urgh…" Professor Graves said searching the show up on Rachel's phone. "Weiss girls I swear."