Weiss coughed a few times, trying to clear the ash from her mouth, her lungs.

"I don't think I'll be singing for a while," she rasped, throat totally destroyed.

After a second, Blake began to giggle, raising the back of her hand up over her mouth to hold it back. Yang broke a smile, too, crouched somewhere over Weiss's head, though her eyes were more fixed on Blake.

Yang mussed with Weiss's hair, thoroughly coating her own hand in the black powder that would inevitably stain everything. "Of course that's your first priority. We couldn't let the dorms go a week without hearing your shower singing, huh?"

"Well I think that's a real bummer," Ruby defended, looking eagerly to Weiss for some sign of approval. With her aura dropped, though, Weiss seemed a little too out of it to notice that Ruby was, in her own way, defending her.

Yang stood up when she noticed the medics had arrived to pull Weiss from the stadium. Beyond them, team FNKI were hugging and congratulating each other, but, despite being in an embrace, the girl with the funky hair's eyes were over on team RWBY, a wide, sly smile on her face.

"Oh! Weiss, the medics are here," Ruby announced, as if Weiss could not see that plainly enough for herself. Ruby scooped her arms under her fallen companion and rose up, cradling Weiss in her arms despite being, well, much smaller than Weiss. From how steadily and quickly she did it, Yang figured she must be expending aura just to do it.

"Oh, please, don't . . . do that," one of the medics said, but Ruby seemed to ignore them, laying Weiss down on a stretcher. "We're professionals, please let us handle it."

"Totally," Ruby said with a huge grin, unaware of the point. When one of them gave her a weird look, she pointed at them both and said, "And you're doing a great job! Thanks guys!"

Blake cradled her head with her palm, shaking away her secondhand embarrassment from her team leader. Yang, though, grinned appreciatively. Ruby may miss the point 90% of the time, but she didn't fail to misinterpret productively. And, well, Yang loved that.

Almost as soon as they were off the stadium and the official intermission between matches began, a streak of light blazed from the other side of the stadium. Ruby and Blake didn't seem to catch it, but Yang had just been keeping her eye on that rainbow streak for the past five minutes, and paused on the path while Ruby went to go find food.

"Hey, Yang, you coming?" Ruby called, though only in response to Blake stopping and turning to look first.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you in just a sec. Get me, uh, a hot dog," Yang said as she turned, waving her sister and teammate away.

The grinding of boots against pavement told Yang that her sister was saluting somewhere behind her. "Can do!" She said, and then Yang got a little too lost in the meandering crowd to hear anything more from her.

Yang's hunch was quickly confirmed as the streak ended about ten feet in front of her, and Neon canceled her semblance to skate the last few feet towards Yang at a more reasonable speed. She neatly dodged a young faunis boy, then skated a little past Yang.

"Hey girlie!" She called, quickly turning to loop around Yang and pull up in front of her. She really did wear those roller blades all the time, huh?

"Hey Neon," Yang greeted, placing her hands on her hips. Apparently, the constant, glowing smile wasn't just part of her infuriate-the-enemy tactic, as she quickly plastered it on at being acknowledged by name. "What can I do you for?"

"Okay, so, one," she held up a finger to indicate that there would be a list, shuffling her skates back and forth without actually moving anywhere. "When I said 'we' should party sometime, I'd like to clarify that that was for you. Schnee seems cool and all, but like, a little uptight. You seem fun."

Yang smirked, but just raised her eyebrows, waiting for #2.

Neon held up another finger quickly. "Two." She reached into her back pocket and retrieved a hastily torn piece of paper, offering it to Yang. "This is my number for when you want to hang. You kicked my ass, so I'll have a little more free time while we're here."

Yang plucked the paper from between Neon's fingers, and, somehow, the girl managed to grin wider.

"Cool," she said, and then started to wiggle a little to back up, apparently ready to start her sprint away again.

Yang didn't lower her hand after taking the piece of paper, instead using the hand to shrug lop-sidedly. "Why don't we hang tonight? I've got time."

Neon looked intrigued, but shot a glance at the center of the stadium. "You sure? These things go pretty late."

"Pah," Yang waved away the thought. "Trust me, the place I've got in mind's open late. Where are you staying? I'll pick you up, say, nine?"

"Wow," Neon exclaimed, a little sarcastically. "It's . . . dodgy. I like it."

She placed her hands on Yang's hips and pushed herself off the bike, handing the helmet over to Yang.

Yang rolled her eyes, just leaving her helmet on top of her bike. Anywhere else, and she'd be afraid of it getting stolen, but anyone around here would quickly find themselves answering to her. "It's not that bad inside, trust me. Think of it as a trade-off between location and interior quality."

"Works for me," Neon said, accompanying Yang towards the large doors.

It was weird to see how her whole body bobbed slightly as she walked, especially with how short she was without her skates. Her hair would bounce with every step, and she was so small Yang was tempted to just drop her hand into the thick mess, but she didn't want to be 'that guy.'

The bouncers inside the door immediately flinched upon seeing Yang, but she was quick to snap her fingers into little finger guns. "Don't worry guys, not here for Junior. Here for the scene and a strawberry sunrise, promise."

One of the guys sighed loudly, as if trying to make himself heard over the music. "We don't want any trouble, blondie."

Yang smiled broadly. "And neither do I. Just here on a 'hang'."

He gave a pointed look at her wrists. "You're wearing those gauntlets"

She thumbs-upped in response. "Just in case."

He rolled his eyes, but made no more protest, so Yang grabbed Neon's arm and dragged her across the floor towards the bar.

Neon shot a glance back at the bouncers as they skirted around the people on the dance floor, then took several quick steps to pull up next to Yang. "Jeeze, what did you do to those guys?"

Yang took a seat at the bar, glad to see the bartender immediately deflate upon seeing Yang. She shot him a smile, but turned to Neon. "Well, I kicked their asses too. It's a hobby, really." She shot a quick look over to the bartender, "Strawberry sunrise, please. And, ah, whatever she wants."

Yang had barely gotten the words out before the drink slid into her hands, and Neon just landed a very impressed glance on her. She gave her order quickly while Yang took her first drink.

"Well, that's pretty hot."

Yang immediately choked on her drink, totally ruining her cool. She tried to wipe her cheek, but essentially ended up smearing it with Ember Celica. She ended up having to dab her mouth against her shoulder, which only led to Neon laughing entirely at her expense.

"Relax," she crooned, shoving Yang a little bit before turning to retrieve her drink. "I dish out compliments a lot - I'd prefer you didn't asphyxiate by the end of the date."

Yang was so used to controlling the tempo of a conversation that she was caught totally off-guard. She was left leaning against her own hand, elbow on the table, giving Neon a long, incredulous glance. "Are you always this forward?" she asked.

Neon did not appear to be paying attention, though, instead trying to catch the bartender's attention. "Hey, yeah, um, can I get a straw? Thanks."

When her her eyes turned back to Yang, though, the question clearly wasn't lost, as she replied, "Oh, yeah, definitely. I can't stand being evasive. Total time-waster and mood-killer."

When she got her straw, she quickly peeled it and stuck it in her drink. The way her cheeks pulled in and her eyes popped looked silly enough that Yang chuckled, though she looked away in general embarrassment.

"You're sure hard to hit for someone who can't be evasive." Yang took another drink, steeling herself in case she got hit from the side again with another comment.

Neon shrugged. "Nah, that was just me trying to grab your ass."

Yeah, like that sort of comment.

Yang just pursed her lips and focused on swallowing, glad that it wasn't the sort of drink that burned if you let it sit for a moment.

Yang tried to be cool this time around, and shot back, "Well, good tactic. It almost worked."

Neon seemed to take this in the most positive way possible, again smiling before taking a drink. When she was done, though, she replied, "Yeah, almost. Next time, though, your ass is mine."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Don't think there's going to be another Vytal festival while we're still in school."

"I wasn't talking about a fight." And she just took another drink.

If Yang got any redder, she was afraid she might burst into flames. Literally. And she'd prefer not to eat through the rest of her aura today.

She could play this game, too, though. "Oh? So you're firmly a butt girl, then?"

Neon shrugged. "Firmly, softly - any type works for me, really."

And Yang did not have a great comeback for that.

She just aimed a side eye over to Neon, who picked up on it quickly.

"So are you just trying to screw me or . . . what?" While Neon was much, much smoother than guys who normally hit on her in places like this, she still was getting too-forward vibes. It was leaving her a little antsy about the whole date.

"Oh, don't worry," Neon said, pushing her empty glass forward. "I'm just not pretending I'm not interested. It's like getting to know me really, really fast. But, like, I'm not going to try and do anything you're not totally on board with."

Yang quirked up an eyebrow. She really didn't know what to make of Neon - everything about her screamed expression, and yet she couldn't get a good read on who she was. It wasn't like Blake or Ruby, keeping up a facade so people wouldn't see what was going on inside. Yang was pretty sure she was getting the real Neon package here, but no idea what to do with it.

"Thanks I guess?"

Neon turned to face Yang directly. "I mean, it's like this. I'm up against this totally cute girl - girl?" She offered a hand towards Yang as she said 'girl the second time', and it took Yang a few seconds to understand what she meant.

"Oh, um, maybe. I'll let you know." Yang felt a surge of appreciation for the consideration, but before she could voice it, Neon was still on her way.

"Okay, so, totally cute person, and they're buff and they've got great hair and just sick gauntlets, right? And then, like, they've got this whole unbridled rage thing apparently so hard-wired into them that it's their semblance, and they totally kick my ass because of it. And I'm like, wow, that sucks, I lost, but also, I'm interested. Hair? Check. Muscles? Check. Rage? I can totally work with that, check."

Yang ran a hand through her hair, a little abashed. She never really thought of her semblance that way, and she definitely didn't try to dissect other people's. Semblances, outside of a combat setting, were usually taken as a deeply personal and revealing thing, a manifestation of their soul in its rawest form. Although so few people had them, so she couldn't exactly say it was against social custom to bring them up, it felt a little exposed.

"So I'm . . . your type?" Yang's eyes were somewhere near Neon's knees, but she quickly felt like she was ogling and pulled them back up to her eyes.

"Basically," Neon replied, grabbing her refreshed drink and sipping on the straw. "Plus, I really wanna ask about your semblance. I know it's a bit much for a first date but like, there's a story there, and I'm not gonna get you until I hear it."

Neon's interest was a little too much for Yang, and it left her with a bit of a frown on her face. Neon seemed to read that quickly, though, and reached out to settle a hand on her knee. "Hey, look," she said, "you don't gotta tell me. I'm just letting you know, I'm interested, and not just about your body or whatever. You . . ." she seemed to be fishing for the right word, "intrigue me."

Yang shifted a little bit, but she didn't try to get rid of Neon's hand. Despite the fact that the girl left her a little on edge, her touch was actually . . . surprisingly comforting. "And you flatter me. How do you keep it up?"

Neon shot her a dazzling smile. "I'm unabashedly me. You should try it sometime."

Yang thought that that was admirable. Neon had certainly not been what she was expecting when Yang had discovered their doubles round would be against an Atlas team. Atlas, in her mind, was all about conformity, rigidity, precision. But here was this bright, energetic faunis girl. Being so proud of who you were in that sort of context was . . . well, it was pretty amazing.

And Yang felt the first tug of attraction to the tiny girl across from her.

"Yeah . . . I try," Yang admitted quietly, then turned back to finish her sunrise.

Yang's scroll vibrated a few seconds later, and she checked it quickly. A notification from Blake read:

Blake =3: Still out on your totally-not-a-date?

Yang cracked a smile at that, though quickly drawn away from the message as Neon suddenly deflated.

"Oh," Neon said glumly, a totally new tone for her.

"Huh?" Yang asked. "What's up?"

She hoped she hadn't annoyed her by looking at her scroll.

"You already have someone," Neon said.

Yang tried to ignore how her tail drooped along with her shoulders.

"I . . . what do you mean?" Yang asked, cocking her head to the side. Every little motion of her head sent her hair spilling everywhere, but she was so used to it that it didn't bother her (only the bartender).

Neon pointed up at Yang's face, immediately leaving her a little self-conscious. "That look. That's a special look. Family member or girlfriend. Boyfriend? Theyfriend? Whatever: was it a family member?"

Yang shook her head, more confused at what Neon was trying to say than the words themselves. "No, it was just my teammate."

This did not seem to comfort her. "Your teammate who you're in love with, though. I didn't know."

What in the world was she going on about now? "I'm . . . not in love with Blake."

Neon seemed less than impressive with this statement. "Right. Well, some faunis can see through the dark or whatever, but I can see right through girls - or, uh, people - in love. It's like a twinkle, trust me."

Yang wanted to protest further, but she could see that the conversation was quickly frustrating Neon, and it wasn't making her feel much better. Still, she didn't want to sour their hang-out over one little look at her scroll.

Yang turned in her seat towards the dance floor. "Look, hey, we're in a club, right? We're young, we're hot, we can kick everyone in here's asses, let's just dance, all right?"

And, like Yang had dropped a spark on fire Dust, a grin ignited on Neon's face, and her whole body (tail included) perked up.
"Now we're talking!" she remarked with glee, and quickly (well, as quickly as a straw allows) downed the rest of her drink. Then she grabbed Yang's arm and pulled her standing with her.

As they made their way to the dance floor, Neon made a little jab for Yang's ribs with her elbow, though Yang carefully sidestepped it. "Just so you know, though, even if you're all over Blake, I'm still going to ask to kiss you sometime tonight."

Yang groaned, tossing her hair back as she looked up at the club's disco ball. "Goodness, you're like a dog with a bone."
She and Neon exchanged a small glance as Yang realized what she said, but Neon's wry smile let her know it would slide. This time.

"And you're like, a really attractive person with great cheek bones. I wanna smooch a babe, sue me."

Yang huffed, but now they were on the dance floor, and more important things were at hand. "Well, I'll let you know what I think about that by the end of tonight."

"I'm looking forward to it," Neon replied, beaming.
"Now, let's dance!"

It was 12:23 when Yang and Neon returned to Beacon Academy, walking Bumblebee through the campus to avoid irritating everyone in the dorms. While Yang had originally anticipated the overflow of students here for the festival would make everyone stay up and out later, the looming presence of the Atlas ships left you with the pervading sense that you were being watched.

Yang wondered if it was always like this in Atlas. Did security bots wander the streets at night? Did an attachment of ships constantly hover over the school, a warning that no Grim could understand?

Ever since the incident with the train, Yang was glad for the military's presence. But it had only left this vague threat in the air: some people would like to see this place burn. Pro-faunis or not, the White Fang had aimed to attack civilians, faunis and human alike.

Yang sighed. She had hoped the tournament would cast her hanging doubts away, but when she wasn't fighting or training, they yet remained. Ruby and Weiss seemed to have moved on quickly, but Yang could still see a tension in Blake, though she'd been resting more and finishing her food.

"Hmm? You all right?" Neon asked, cocking her head to the side. Bumblebee sat between her and Yang, and the distance had left her a little more quiet.

Yang shrugged, but made a point to look over and smile. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about how much easier this walk would be with roller skates."

That put a smile on Neon's face. She walked with her hands in her pockets, but there was a little more pep in her step immediately. "Every walk is easier with roller skates, once you get good enough. Cobblestone's terrible, but I barely even notice with my semblance."

Neon's comments about Yang's semblance, even if they'd been rude, had made Yang wonder what could result in a semblance like hers. It was so flashy. Had Neon really just been born like this, born for pastel tattoos and roller skates?
"So, I have to ask, how did you come up with your fighting style? I mean, until I met Sun, I thought nunchaku were pretty ridiculous. But the roller skates, the dust, where'd that all come from?"

Neon started laughing as soon as Yang brought up the nunchaku, but waited for her to finish before going in. "Well, basically, I was the worst when I got into the academy. I don't even know how I got in; I hadn't discovered my semblance, and while I'm pretty good with nunchucks, I couldn't spar for crap."

Yang just raised her eyebrows, surprised to hear Neon confess to having been bad at anything, ever. After dancing with her, Yang had been pretty convinced that she might not actually be bad at anything.

Neon seemed to read the look, "No, yeah, I wasn't agile, I couldn't get through anyone's aura, and like hell could I ring anyone out. And I was pissed, thought I'd flunk before I even got to fight a Grim. My team was cool, and all, but I was a total drag on them, even when Flynt made me the weapons I use now."

Yang's eyes turned forward along their path, trying not to make her pity visible. Yang knew she had joined an exceptional team ever since she was assigned, but she hadn't felt like a drag. After being chosen for the doubles round, she could be pretty sure no one else - the group had chosen her unanimously to be the person to go into the singles. It was like talking to a girl Jaune, only improved on almost all fronts.

"So, what changed?"

Neon gave a shrug way more casual and dismissive than normal, and said as if it were no more than a tack-on, "Joined a roller derby to let off steam, unlocked my semblance, and immediately got banned."

Yang blinked. "Just like that?"
And Neon nodded in reply. "Just like that."

But then, a grin broke out on her face. "But, like, I didn't tell anyone at first, especially seeing as I had so much trouble getting it to work without skates. Flynt found out why I got banned, though, and he made me some special shoes with wheels in them. I used them during a sparring match and stomped the dude I was sparring against. Never knew what hit him."

Yang snorted, as the image she had of Neon was suddenly restored. "Yeah? And when did you develop taunting as a battle tactic?"

Neon made a little show of pointing finger guns over at Yang, then cocking them as if she were pumping a shot gun (which fairly prompted a giggle), and said, "Nah, hun, that bit's just for you. You're hard to resist."

Yang rolled her eyes, just as they made it to the parking lot for student vehicles, which was really just an extension of the airfield near the dorms.
"Good to know I'm so 'top heavy' that it makes me a target even in battle. I was really hoping that was a bar-specific sort of thing, but no; maybe even the Grim will eat me for it."

Neon pulled her hands out of her pockets and placed them on her hips, allowing a short beat before finally replying, rather quietly, "Well, if I were a Grim, I'd definitely eat you."

Yang pursed her lips, but wasn't sure how to respond without trapping herself again.

Yang decided to walk Neon all the way back to her team's quarters under the firm logic that 'she knows the campus better' and 'she has shotguns on her arms'. However, Neon had one final counterargument: they would have to take the stairs. Yang didn't really mind, but they had only gone up a few flights before she thought to ask:
"Wait, why exactly didn't we take the elevator?"

Neon was already on the next landing that Yang was making her way to, but she paused and turned back at this question. "Because it's a steel box of death, that's why," and then she continued up the next flight before Yang could quite catch up.

"You . . . don't like elevators?" Yang asked, quickly starting to not dig the stairs. If she weren't worried about the destruction of school property, she could probably launch herself upwards floor-by-floor, but these steps were just so annoying.

Neon's next response was a whole flight ahead; "Can't say I'm a fan!"

And Yang decided not to press it, instead deciding to pick up her pace and catch up to Neon. How did this girl have so much energy? She had fought that afternoon, danced for about two hours that night, and still her tiny legs shot her up these stairs? How?

Neon was leaning against the door onto (apparently) her room's floor by the time Yang arrived, embarrassingly out of breath from her attempts to catch Neon. The way Neon's massive, bright-red hair spread against anything she leaned against looked like huge ears, though, and Yang's panting quickly turned to laughter.

Although she couldn't possibly know what Yang was laughing about, Neon folded her arms and scowled. "Hey," she said, her tone scolding in a way it had never been before, "you're ruining my suave moment."

"Oh?" Yang stood up straight, patting her jacket smooth as part of regaining her composure.

"Yeah," Neon replied, turning her head to the side. It took Yang a few seconds to realize that her offense was facetious.
Neon slid Yang a side-eye. "I was going to ask you to kiss me. But first, you totally missed our race to the top, and then you come here and laugh at me while I was trying to give you the face."

"Hmm?" Yang leaned forward, her hands on her hips. "The face?" She wasn't sure how else to evade the pseudo-question.

Neon nodded, turning her forwards. "Yeah, the face. The kiss-me face. It's like this," she said, taking a few seconds to close her eyes, relax her face, then open her eyes very slowly, giving her a heavy-lidded look that set her eyelashes over her eyes. After a second she inhaled deeply, her lips parting while her chest expanding pushed her body slightly up the wall.

Yang immediately got what she meant about 'the face', but she wasn't going to be so easily drawn in. She just blinked, clearing her thoughts and impulses, and replied, "It looks sort of like your 'I'm going to punch you' face."

And, without missing a beat, Neon pushed off the wall, planted her feet, and slugged Yang in the shoulder.

Neon's eyes popped open, and she pursed her lips in intense contrast to the expression she'd just been making. "Good read," she said, and leaned back against the door, this time pushing it open.

Yang felt a twinge of guilt, but at the same time, she knew she wasn't ready. She had kissed enough people at Signal to know that it could be meaningless, but there was a part of her that wanted to like this girl, and she wasn't going to spoil it for herself.

Before Yang even managed to make it back to her dorm, a new message appeared on her scroll.

Neon =^.^=: i'm asking you out tomorrow, btw Yang: As in tomorrow you're asking me out, or you're asking me out now for tomorrow? Neon =^.^=: yes

Yang rolled her eyes at that, but she couldn't pretend that, well, it was really, really cute. She wasn't sure whether it was Neon herself, or just her unflagging interest, but something was getting to her.

Yang: Sure

Neon's last replies didn't come until Yang was in the bathroom, in her pajamas with her scroll on the sink.

Neon =^.^=: amazing. you're adapting to the turbulence of high-speed bonding with remarkable ease.
Neon =^.^=: i'll see you after the matches tomorrow. you can take me downtown!

And although she hadn't expected it, Yang liked that idea very much.

Yang: You would be amazed what I can adapt to - and I look forward to it :)