Watercolour and Ribbon

"How's your project going, Weiss?"

The exasperated groan in reply was accompanied with the heat of frustration, enough that Ruby could almost feel it. She'd known the answer to her question before she'd asked, but she'd hoped perhaps the situation had, uh, improved since the last time she'd asked two hours prior. As Weiss ran her hands through her now free-flowing white hair, a long streak of green from her thin brush being left in the movement's wake, Ruby assumed the worst.

"Still not too good, huh?" To this, Weiss sighed hard and dropped her hands, digging the tip of her brush into her thumb with some force. Ruby didn't even know half of it. What on Earth had driven her to choose watercolour, literally one of the most annoying mediums to work with, in her art final? Clearly, her confidence in her skills had possessed her for a moment when writing down what her plan was. As Ruby bobbed behind her, inspecting the current mess of a painting with slight awe, Weiss cursed as she felt the wet paint in her hair. Everything felt just a bit out of her control.

"No, Ruby. It's not too good. At all, if I'm frank with you." Looking behind her at the dark haired teen, her gaze changed into a pointed, icy stare at Ruby's exuberance. Ruby had taken on the project with gusto, choosing the theme of 'togetherness' in her choice of work. This had led to the craziest contraption… thing... Weiss had ever seen. Last she'd seen Ruby had been disassembling an old NERF rifle to attach to a huge scythe Ruby had made prior, with the intention of not only attaching it to the weapon but also still have it fire effectively. The crazy girl had also wanted to make it possible to make the blade fold if she could, but they were on a deadline and Ruby had had to - with more than a little whining to her teacher - make do without. Weiss thought it barely fitted into the confines of the theme, but Ruby insisted it most assuredly counted as 'togetherness' - as least it wasn't those 'namby-panby lover portraits everyone else is doing' Weiss had overheard her say to Yang over lunch, and Weiss supposed she had to agree. Still, the fact that Ruby had very nearly finished her project eons before everyone else had her both amazed and slightly angry. Her slow progress seemed even slower in comparison.

Weiss' choice of medium had her separate from Ruby (in the 'engineering and construction arts' class, which Weiss still referred to as 'design and technology' in private as though still in high school) and also had her separate from Ruby's sister Yang, who was in with the music lot with her band 'Ember Celica'. The group not only played outside of the College of Beacon but also provided music for the theatre class, and Ruby sometimes played bass for them when their usual, Jaune, couldn't make it… which was often, since the teen had so little luck that it was almost guaranteed something would get in the way of practice. Ranging from surprise visitations from his grandmother who always demanded to see him to flat tyres on his bike when he tried to head to Yang and Ruby's place to suddenly having three billion chores to do, Jaune was arguably the most least reliable person on the face of the Earth. Still, Yang kept him in since he wasn't particularly all that skilled at anything else but playing bass and he at least played well when it counted - or showed up.

Yang's dedication to the band, regardless, meant even Ruby didn't see her often in Beacon since Yang would sometimes spend lunchtimes and breaks and free time practicing, and with Ruby so invested in her projects Weiss didn't see much of her either. Lie Ren, a relatively quiet young man, and Velvet Scarlatina, a similarly quiet rabbit Faunus with a knack for oil paints, were also in Weiss' fine art class, but she regarded them much more as just classmates than friends. In fact, Yang and Ruby were the closest friends Weiss really had, since they had an ability to get anybody to warm up to them - including frosty Heiresses. It had annoyed Weiss at the time, seeing them as scruffy, noisy ruffians when compared to the upper-class 'friends' she'd grown used to in high school, but their eccentricity was their greatest asset. The scarred teen had grown used to them being around much more often in the early part of the year, but work had split them up again. And, as Weiss struggled along, she found the newfound quiet was hindering her more than she'd expected. Ruby had been dropping in quickly every now and again to check, and Weiss had grateful for it even if she didn't particularly act like it. She knew Ruby knew better, anyhow.

Ruby cast her eyes over the watercolour again, her eyes falling to the loosely coloured sketch beside, a few references underneath. She thought it was coming along nicely, but Weiss clearly saw something wrong that she didn't. Then again, Ruby only ever picked up a brush for sweeping strokes to paint her builds, and was less experienced in the art of, well… painting painting. Painting pictures. That sort of painting.

Moving words around her mouth as Weiss looked at her painting with growing concern leaving cracks upon her near-flawless skin, Ruby finally came out with "So what's wrong with it?"

"Everything!" The heiress burst out, throwing her arms - and subsequently her paintbrush - up into the air, green droplets following the brush's arc down towards the floor where the utensil landed with a high clink, rolling away somewhere behind the teens. Weiss immediately turned, swore, and then retrieved the brush, her worry over the fine bristles adding green paint to her hands that was well at home with the rest of the paint that decorated her forearms. She frequently painted on herself to alleviate her tension when working, and Ruby was sure there was more on the girl than on her board. Shaking her head at Weiss with a smile, she again looked at the image - and still found nothing wrong to her eyes, not even when she tilted her head. It looked exactly as the sketch had planned.

Weiss had done a different theme than Ruby's 'togetherness' and Yang's 'passion' in her project collaboration with the dance group - she'd chosen 'nostalgia', and had gone for a classic project choice. Inspired by the watercolour illustrations in children's books, Weiss had wanted to recreate an illustration from a copy of 'Peter and the Wolf' - once a composition to be played by an orchestra - she'd read when she'd been young. She barely remembered the image save for a few details: the dark silhouette of the wolf in the foreground and the young boy Peter up the gangly tree in the background, snow all around as a blizzard seemed to rage. Weiss had loved the picture as a child, looking over it for an extra long time every time she'd read it. The wolf's black shape left her terrified, Peter's questionable safety leaving her tensed, and the movement of the snow on the old pages leaving her in wonder. She'd finally be able to recreate it, she'd thought when she's eagerly jumped for the chance, but now it didn't seem possible.

As she returned to Ruby's side, the younger girl's gaze questioning in the edge of Weiss' peripheral vision, Weiss sighed hard again and began to erratically motion to the image, Ruby dodging the wet brush as she launched into explanation.

"Firstly, that tree look so unlike a tree I've caught myself thinking it's an umbrella - myself, Ruby, that's how hard I've screwed up here - and the grey seeped into some of the blue I put into the snow to add some colour to my palette and the next thing I know the place looks like it's next-damn-door to one of my father's factories! Then even my wolf sketch looks more like a damn cat than a wolf and to top it off…" She paused, breathing hard as Ruby looked on silently, opting to stay quiet in the face of the tirade. "And to top it off the image has none of the motion the original had. That I know it had. It looks… really still. And that's not how I planned it at all."

Ruby grimaced as Weiss looked on, defeated, and her eyes flicked to the clock at the back of the studio, noting it was nearly time for lunch. There were two ways to get Weiss to clear her head - either let her finish entirely, or drag her away for a bit. It seemed the latter was in need for this particular scenario, and Ruby gently pried the brush from Weiss hands and dipped it into the jar of water, taking hold of one of Weiss' decorated arm and pulling her away from the board. It must have been bad, as Weiss didn't even complain as she was pulled out of the studio, and she merely huffed as Ruby pulled her out into the corridor.

Weiss didn't want hot food, not feeling very hungry, so the teens got sandwiches instead with bottles of juice alongside, snagging some window seats in the dining area. Ruby shot a message to her sister inquiring as to where she was, but the reply wasn't too much to be joyful for.

'probs eatin with guys pyrrha wants one more run thru of the dance' was all it said, and Ruby sent off 'okay :)' as a reply, but the smile wasn't on her face. Cheering Weiss up would be much easier if she had Yang by her side. She could make anyone smile. Still, Ruby could understand. Pyrrha was the lead dancer in the music/dance collaboration and she was very committed to her art form. Then again, she was committed to just about everything she was interested in. She knew more martial arts than Ruby had fingers and toes, it felt like, and as such dance suited her. Her movements were powerful, every motion controlled. The theme of 'passion' suited both the dance and music class, as well as Ember Celica. They'd need all the practice they could get to make it perfect. So, as Ruby put away her phone, all she could think was how to get Weiss' mind from the apparently-failed painting. Ruby was planning to walk around the other studios and maybe even peek at the dance, but now…

"Oh, Weiss!" Ruby perked up with the sudden remembrance of something else she'd planned to do with Weiss. "Have you met the student who came here about a month ago now? As part of that, uh, united colleges scheme?"

Weiss squinted at her friend and shook her head slightly, a little out of the loop on such affairs, and Ruby sighed and picked at her chicken for a moment as she figured out her words again.

"Well, you know that thing where students from other colleges - like the College of Mistral - are swapping around to work with different teachers and stuff?" Weiss nodded at Ruby's elaboration. "Well, one student is doing their final project here, and they've been doing some amazing stuff! They're with the sculpturing class, the one who won the big National art competition like two years back-"

"The cat Faunus? From that College of Menagerie?" The heiress finally caught on, and Ruby nodded frantically, glad her description had come across well.

"Yeah! Their name is Blake, Blake Belladonna! They work with wood and, like, ribbons and stuff! One piece they did was of a hand and they told me how they soaked it in water to expand the wood and slipped a ribbon through, and when it dried it shrank so it was gripping the ribbon and that was one of the winning pieces and oh man Weiss you should meet them! Their project piece is awesome!"

Blinking at the barrage of words, Weiss tried to recall this 'Blake'. She remembered seeing a student she'd not seen before, indeed, about a month prior. Tall, dressed in dark clothes, a beanie with specially-cut holes to let black and violet ears peek out, looking around as the guide led her through the corridors… Weiss had been in a rush and hadn't had a chance to linger, but she recalled a sharp amber gaze following her passing, and Weiss could have sworn she could feel it burning into her back long afterwards. Now she wished she'd taken the chance for a second look. Weiss had definitely seen someone of a similar silhouette around, but like a shadow on the wall they were gone when she checked back over her shoulder, as if merely her mind was playing tricks on her.

"I guess…" Weiss began, picking at some black paint on the back of her right hand. "Sure. I don't mind meeting new people." So long as it kept her from that damned painting. Besides, Blake was a curious figure. She'd soon learnt to shrug off her father's racism once she'd met Velvet, who she'd collaborated with on a couple of projects, and the girl was mild-mannered and gentle and much unlike the 'scoundrels' her father had always claimed them to be. Chewing on her sandwich idly, she wondered what Blake would be like. Even from their gaze, they seemed… intense. And Weiss remembered that National winning piece - two people, neither of clear gender, with a blade at the other's throat with Blake's signature black ribbon wrapped around them. The wooden sculpture was beautiful and it was clear it had taken skilled hands, and the piece had been appropriately named 'Binding'. Weiss had greatly admired it at the time.

"What's their project theme?" Ruby had clearly conversed with the sculptor often, and as Ruby's eyes shone in the sunlight it was an answer she obviously knew.

"Ooh, it's a good one. Would never choose it myself but… they picked 'Loyalty'. It's a bit like their 'Binding' piece but… even better, I'd say."

Weiss couldn't even imagine what 'even better' would look like, so she made a point of eating quickly, and Ruby was quick to follow. She was a little excited to meet her properly now - Weiss' curiosity had been more than a little piqued.

The studio in which the sculptors were working wasn't far from Weiss' studio, and was next door to Ruby's studio. Ruby's 'engineering and construction arts' was still technically sculpting, albeit with the goal of 'things that work' and less of 'things that look like art', and as such the two studios were close due to a sharing of resources. As they made their way through, Ruby began to excitedly tell Weiss what she'd named her project.

"Have a guess!"

"No. Just tell me."

"Okay, okay." Ruby quickly relented, and with huge gestures she began to explain her reasoning. "So, the scythe itself is like a crescent, right? Kinda like the moon, so I was all 'okay, I want the word 'Crescent' in there'. Then, I wanted it to have something after me since I made it an' all, so I picked Rose since it's my surname and…"

"You called it 'Crescent Rose'?" Weiss asked, almost amazed at the lack of creativity. She'd expected something a little more original - to quote Yang, 'Something cool! I mean- hot! Fiery, even! Ooh, and with a pun!' Weiss didn't even want to recall the context for that quote, and as Ruby looked to Weiss sheepishly she could only grimace.

"Not to, uh, offend your skills but… that's a little…" Picking at the elastic hair band on her wrist, she tried to find the word for it, but Ruby only grinned as she bounded ahead towards the studio.

"Simple is best, Weiss. Or as Yang would say," Ruby paused outside the open studio doors, looking back with a sparklingly white grin. "Simple is sexy."

Weiss' grimace only deepened into a look of disgust, and Ruby laughed as she looked into the studio, waving Weiss over. The heiress did so, looking into the studio also, and marvelled at the projects going on.

Several had left for lunch, but some still worked at their projects. There was a variety of materials in use - some wood, some metal, some papier-mâché, some with simply stuff they had found lying around. Some were big and were twice the size of little Weiss, whilst others were small enough to be stood upon the tables and worked upon from chairs. Some were of people, others of things like flowers. Some were designed to give off a certain shadow silhouette when a light was shone in the right direction, and one was even a wax bust - of who, Weiss didn't know. All she knew was that it looked unnervingly realistic. Ruby nudged her in the ribs and pointed to the back of the studio, and the pale-haired teen looked over to see a sculpture of two people - life-sized, to boot - in the corner, being attended to by the same tall teen she'd seen a month ago. Their clothes were nearly the same dark attire as well, and as such they were unmistakable. Their project was half covered by another from the angle they were at, and Ruby leaned over to Weiss, whispering under her breath.

"There they are. Their project's good, eh?"

Weiss frowned, idly starting to tie her hair back up as she leaned over a little more.

"Would be nice if I could see a little better- wait, why are we whispering?" Ruby merely grinned again knowingly, looking back to Blake.

"Faunus have really good hearing, you know. Although they can probably hear us anyway..." With that, Ruby straightened from her position at the door and bounded in, Weiss quickly following behind as they navigated towards Blake and their project.

Closer now, Weiss could see the project in all its glory and it was most, as Ruby had said, awesome. She wasn't sure which wood was being used, but Blake seemed to have no trouble chiselling out quite large chunks. The sculpture itself was indeed of two people, but Weiss could now see they were back-to-back, one holding what was currently just an oblong ball in their raised hand, whilst the other person held up… an early rendition of a knife, it seemed, in their hand. The one with the knife was looking over their shoulder at the other, and the one with the ball was looking down and away, a wide smile sketched across their face for carving. The heiress couldn't see yet what this had to do with loyalty, but then again Blake's pieces always seemed full of symbolism, so she decided it would be clear in time. On the table by Blake was a huge reel of ribbon among various tools, and Weiss wondered if they would be wrapped in it like in 'Binding' or not.

As she stood there in thought, Ruby had bounced up to Blake with haste, stopping before the (far taller) teen with an excited smile on her face.

"Hey Blake! How're'ya doin'?"

The Faunus looked down to the bouncing teen coolly, and then a small smile grew on their face as they looked back to the sculpture, looking over the curves yet to be smoothed.

"Hello, Ruby. I'm doing well, thank you." Their voice was quiet, almost inaudibly so in comparison to Ruby's fast-paced speech, and the dark teen looked back to Ruby again, smile now turning into a grin. "And yes, I could hear you from the door."

With an innocent smile, Ruby turned and pulled Weiss closer, who'd been hovering a little further behind, looking at all of the tools on the table. Now suddenly thrust in front of Ruby and before Blake, Weiss huffed, pulled herself away from Ruby with another icy glare, dusted herself off and then looked up… and up… and up.

Lord, Blake was taller than Weiss had thought. Sure, Weiss was only about five foot (five-foot-one, she'll have everyone know), but she was used to the super-tall Yang being also quite wide with her broad shoulders. Blake was tall and very slender, meaning they looked more like a tree than the rock Yang was. Slightly intimidated and slightly distracting by Blake's ears that flicked with curiosity atop their head, the black beanie and dark hair making Blake's golden eyes stand out even more so, Weiss found herself suddenly struggling for words. Luckily, Ruby wasn't quite as awkward.

"Blake, this is my friend, Weiss Schnee! Well, she's a good friend of both Yang and I's… or is that mine and Yang's…? anyway, I thought you two should totally meet!" The excitement from the teen made Weiss even more nervous to try and make a decent impression, so with a quick wipe of her hand of her shirt, she stuck out a hand, avoiding the amber eyes.

"Hello- Hi. I'm… Weiss. Schnee. Like Ruby said. It's, uh… good to meet you. Blake." Of all the times for words to fail her. She was good at verbal stuff, usually…

Still, it seemed Blake didn't mind, as after a moment Weiss' hand was grasped by a larger, more calloused hand, a small shake to accompany it. "It's good to meet you too, Weiss. I'm a part-time student here, so I'm only here on certain days, but I'm sure…" Weiss peeked upwards, and the smile Blake had seemed genuine. "... We'll have time to get to know each other better."

Blake's smooth voice and the insinuation they'd be talking more often suddenly made Weiss feel very embarrassed, face reddening as she took back her hand, letting it drop numbly to her side. Here she was, covered in paint, hair frazzled and a little greasy from all the times she'd run her hands through it in frustration, more paint than she was probably aware of mixed in with the white locks before this tall, articulate Faunus who moved and spoke with all the grace of the cat features she had. She'd even lost all control of her words and oh lord she must've looked like a wreck and a half-

"Weiss? You okay, friend?"

She'd been staring off into space for about a minute, and as her embarrassment grew into some mix of mortification and a continual need to look somewhat… normal, she spluttered out "I look forward to it!", before averting her eyes as an awkward silence settled. This was one of those days when Weiss wondered if it had even been worth getting out of her own bed.

Luckily, the silence was broken by one of the other sculptors heading to the laptop at the front of class. Weiss recognised him vaguely as Russel Thrush, since his hairstyle wasn't one you could easily forget who it belonged to. As he approached the computer he looked over to Blake and called out to them.

"Hey, Belladonna - mind if I put on some tunes?" Blake merely gave him a thumbs-up, and with that he began to browse through the music library as Blake turned back to the teens before them. Finally finding some words again, Weiss looked to the sculpture again, having to admire the contours and detail.

"So, uh… does this piece have a particular title yet?"

Blake seemed glad the conversation had changed topic, and looked to their project with vigour in their eyes. Placing a hand on the shoulder of the one with the ball in hand, they seemed to contemplate their answer for a moment.

"... No. Well, maybe not yet. I was thinking of just naming it after the theme."

"'Loyalty', right?" Ruby chirped, and Blake smiled at the sculpture, moving to pick off a splinter from the roughly carved nose.

"Yeah. It's a powerful theme."

Weiss took a moment to move around the piece, looking over the two bodies. Even in their unfinished state they still looked like real people when in the corner of her peripheral vision, and Weiss admired the smoothness of muscle, the strength of stance. She couldn't help the notice, however, that the one with the knife had an almost saddened expression sketched across wood, whereas the other had had a smile. Walking around it once more, she looked to Blake, weighing her words as the taller teen watched her carefully.

"Forgive me if I offend you, but… my interpretation of this piece seems to be the antithesis of loyalty. In fact, it seems almost as if…" The heiress trailed off, Ruby looking increasingly concerned at Weiss' ballsiness. She really didn't want her friend to offend Blake the first time they met. However, Blake looked almost amused at this, gently pressing Weiss to continue with a murmur of "Almost as if…?"

Weiss had almost stopped breathing as she carefully considered where she stepped next. "It's as if… they're going to backstab the other." she finished a little lamely, pointing between the two figures. At this, Ruby frowned, starting to see it herself, and as music played from the far side of the room Blake's amused chuckling was almost washed away.

"An accurate interpretation," They murmured, and Weiss blushed. "There's even more to it than that, but you'd be quite right. I think… it's more to do with the absence of loyalty. What happens when the people you trust the most suddenly become the most questionable?" Blake looked directly to Weiss with this question, and she spluttered again, unsure if Blake actually wanted an answer or was merely being rhetorical. However, before she could answer a new smile came across Blake's face, and they looked back to the figures, moving their chisel between their hands.

"It's something I wonder a lot."

The awkwardness Weiss felt dissolved in favour of growing awe. The piece clearly meant a lot to Blake, and it only made her even more curious. Was 'Binding', a similarly strong piece, also related to something that had happened to Blake? Or was it a mere representation of the things they thought about a lot? The heiress wasn't very philosophical, preferring hard facts and evidence, but Blake seemed the type to like that sort of thing. Then, just before she could ask a little more, another voice suddenly joined the room, loud and brash above the heavy beats of the music.

"Hey Blake! You coming to lunch or what?"

They turned to see a young man walk into the room, bare chest seen through his open shirt, and Weiss narrowed her eyes at the swinging monkey tail behind him. This was one of the other college students that she did know.

"Sun." She addressed him sharply, and as he looked to her he blanched, tail dropping down behind him. She was pretty sure throughout her entire life she wouldn't forget him using her art bag as a convenient bin, which Weiss hadn't realised until after the weekend when the banana skin had made it smell so bad her eyes had been watering. She hadn't yet made a plan to get him back, but mark her words as a Schnee-

"Hey, Sun!" Ruby perked up, waving to Ember Celica's guitarist wildly. "Has Yang stopped practice for a bit?"

To this he shook his head and stuck his hands into his pockets, grinning cheekily. "Nah, Yang let me leave to get lunch because I forgot to pick it up. Since I know Belladonna here has a habit of forgetting to eat…" He went to swing an arm around their shoulders, but with surprising agility they ducked the motion smoothly and he nearly toppled over before correcting himself, the blonde turning his cheeky smile towards his fellow Faunus. Blake's smile was small but genuine, and they looked to Weiss and Ruby as they placed down their tool.

"I'll head for lunch then. It was good to see you again, Ruby… and it was nice to meet you, Weiss. I hope we can talk again soon." Now their smile grew into another catlike grin, and Weiss felt her face go a little hot again. "I'd like to hear some more about your interpretation sometime, if you don't mind."

Weiss shook her head, rubbing the paint off her arms absently. "O-of course. It was… it was nice to meet you too, Blake."

With that, Blake turned and began to walk with Sun out of the studio, Sun looking a little worried for his safety when Weiss glared at him as he exited, more than a little aware of the grudge he'd caused with the Schnee. Weiss would get him back someday, somehow. It was just a matter of in which manner her revenge would be enacted-

"So!" Ruby threw her arm around Weiss' shoulders, but with none of Blake's remarkable agility Weiss couldn't avoid it, so she settled for moving her glare over to Ruby who ignored it anyway, continuing on. "What did you think of Blake? They're nice, aren't they? And they're quiet too, so I figured you might get along, and I think they liked you!"

The glare was dropped for a smile instead, and Weiss watched Blake's shrinking figure as they rounded a corner at the end of the corridor, disappearing from sight.

"Yeah, they seem… nice." More than nice, was what Weiss wanted to say, but she instead shrugged off Ruby's arm and approached the sculpture again, letting her fingers run over rough wood as she contemplated the teen who'd stood there just moments before. Blake Belladonna… she most assuredly hoped to speak with her again soon. With renewed vigour Weiss whipped around with a vicious grin, and she grabbed Ruby's arm and began to drag her back towards her studio, determination glowing in ice blue eyes.

"C'mon, Ruby. I've a painting to rock!"

Ruby didn't know where this new vitality had come from, but she was glad her plan of getting Weiss' head cleared had worked, so as her was dragged by Russel and a few other students she cheered, glad everything had fallen together. And, to boot, now Blake and Weiss - the quietest students Ruby knew - had a new friend, so it had all worked out well. Ruby just hoped it didn't happen again; she was, frankly, running out of friends to introduce.

[Author's Note] This was very spontaneous of me, but I really needed to get back into the swing of writing as my only other fanfic, WATHM, has been greatly neglected. I've been sitting on this AU for a while now since I feel like my knowledge of RWBY has greatly withered since I first saw it forever ago, but I couldn't help it - the opportunity for symbolism was too great. I don't know yet if I'll make a follow-up chapter yet, since I'd love to write about Weiss and Blake explaining the symbolism to each other, particularly as both of Blake's pieces in this relate right down to her... 'troubled' childhood. Maybe I will. WHO KNOWS.

Final note: 'Peter and the Wolf' was originally a musical composition from the USSR and written in 1936. It's my very favourite children's story of all time and it does, indeed, relate a little to Weiss' childhood as well HOHOHO.

[Edit]: changed a few things, namely 'canvas' to 'board' because I'm a dumbass, and changed all of Blake's pronouns to 'they' because I headcanon a non-binary Blake. Also played around with the formatting.